Guild Wars 2

This is not a flame. This is a legit question. I’m a lvl 31 mesmer and loving the profession but don’t understand all the GS love. It’s single target, has a range requisite or the auto gets weaker, #3 is useless in open world, and its phantasm seems lackluster.

I’m no mesmer pro, so explain to me why GS is a better ranged option than staff or scepter/x.

Scepter is generally slow, and staff is actually a mid to close field weapon as it improves dramatically the more bounces you get.

While the phantasm bladestorm warriors damage may seem low, remember it also bestows cripple and gives the mob another unit to target. Follow that up with a sword throw which delivers a clone. Then fire up your laser beams and go to town. In my experience the mob frequently stays at range, which maximizes your beam attack. If it runs at you, you’ve got a knockback on 5 and can recripple, reclone, and laser some more.

It’s basically sort of a single target complete package.

Staff is really good too though. I also like sword/focus or sword/pistol.

Depending on the conten and build….
Typically the staff is considers the best defensive weapon we have. The skills tend to favor escape. The GS is an offensive weapon that has a focus of power. It world well with a phantasm build and has a long range, to keep you away from the front line. The scepter is more of a condition weapon. With the nerf to confusion it has dropped in popularity. So it’s not so much of a “why this over that” as it is a build style. I hope that helped a little.

Please name another Mesmer ranged weapon option that does good damage from range.

Gaidax.7835:

Please name another Mesmer ranged weapon option that does good damage from range.

lol,

just about to post the same question to OP.

“What’s so great about the Greatsword?”

Absolutely nothing.

So it’s basically just that it’s the highest damage ranged weapon we have based on its autoattack. That’s it?

Velimere.7685:

“What’s so great about the Greatsword?”

Absolutely nothing.

add that to sword and focus too.

Actually, I’ve been using sword/focus for the majority of my damage with great success. The iWarden hits hard and so does by #2 on a relatively low CD.

Seras.5702:

So it’s basically just that it’s the highest damage ranged weapon we have based on its autoattack. That’s it?

Fastest (very important) and highest. Easier to AoE with #2, #3, #4. Add Fire sigil on AA for more AoE greatness. Shatter.

Most of mesmers wear GS and Sw/Fc.

Ahh I see Krispera. Fast attack for crit procs. And the #4 sort of spins thru the enemy right? So it’ll hit anything in its path aoe?

I should point out (as I dont see it any where else here) that GW #1 isnt exactly single target, it will damage enemies that are between you and your selected target.

When you use GS #2 at mid range the blade will bounce back to you granting you might. (Tho iv read there are some issues now that bounces can jump to clones).

While I try to stay with Sw/Sw for my mesmer in PvE (thats my build and im sticking with it) I do find a noticeable damage jump when I fall back and switch to GS. Which kinda makes me sad, but i understand. The swords are defensive weapons with block and evasion, just wish I didnt suffer from 1-2 sec delays on activating them 2 abilities.

I don’t know about PVE. All weapons are good for PVE Not to mention grinding to lv 80 mostly doing in Group.

What so good about GS.. Let see… Mostly from WVW View. Basically it’s a Sniping Weapon

1. All ur attacks are unblockable by Anti Projectile
Yes.. All of it… iBerserker is melee Spin AOE but it can be summoned from 1,2k range. So does Mind Stab GS #3

2. Most of GS Skills can be use from far away and fast
With special case iBerserker u can summon him even ur enemy is on ur back. GS#1 has no “travel” time. It’s so good

3. GS has 2skills to summon a clone next to enemy
iBerserker and GS#2. Very useful vs Running Enemies then SHatter them for long range spike damage.

4. U can have projectile finisher every 4,8 sec
Light field + Projectile finisher GS#2 = Condi remove… But i still don’t know who will get the effect. Is it the mesmer or an ally nearby the Light field.. lol

5. U have AOE Interupt / GS #5
With Not very long CD. Very useful when Stomping, kicking THief from their house, or to make other enemies fall.

6. Good AOE
From iBerserker.

The bad side of GS = No mobility. When enemy is close. Either blink to gain range or switch for Melee combat.

Everything Nevhie said is spot on.

Also it’s auto-attack is fast and pulses many small attacks over the duration. This is good for:

1. Tagging (especially dolyalks in Wvw). iZerker is also good for multiple-mob tagging.
2. On-Crit effects from Sigils
3. Vigor on Crit trait

From range the GS damage is excellent. As mentioned it’s not as good up close, but that’s when you switch out to Staff (really an up-close type of weapon) or Sword (totally awesome as well).

It’s the only long range power option.

Staff- mid range, mix of cond/power
Scepter – worthless for both specs, mid range

….and stop.

If you do not take in account off hands.

Also is the best weapon to stack bleeding from clones of any weapons excluding trident.

What’s great with GS? I’d say close range might stacking. It’s the only weapon that can give you easily 18 stack of might reliably (By the use of GS#2). Ain’t it great?

Btw it’s the best weapon to proc sigils to or all on crit stuff.

As nerfed as the GS has been recently, it’s the best ranged weapon because – well, we have nothing else. That’s the sad truth.

Already some great posts covering why it is the best ranged weapon.

However when it comes to any form of cqc or duelling, I’d prefer S/S or staff. GS just lacks solid defence/mobility at close range. You can use traited mimic with #2 for a makeshift block, but it is slow and clunky.

Also as you said, #3 is hard to land, #4 has issues and #2 is no longer guaranteed personal boon stacks with the elasticity problems.
You end up auto attacking a lot more than with any other weapon I’d say, interspersed with the odd mirror blade.

Seras.5702:

This is not a flame. This is a legit question. I’m a lvl 31 mesmer and loving the profession but don’t understand all the GS love. It’s single target, has a range requisite or the auto gets weaker, #3 is useless in open world, and its phantasm seems lackluster.

I’m no mesmer pro, so explain to me why GS is a better ranged option than staff or scepter/x.

Actually, it is not a single target weapon. The beam skill hits up to three enemies in it path (and often adjacent to you and the beam as well). Throwing it bounces. Mind stab can hit multiple enemies. iBerserker is great to throw in the middle of crowd for lots of hits and is capable of beating the 5 limit of most AoEs. Finally, the knockback can hit multiple targets.

What’s so great about it? Well, it looks pretty and you can go PEW, PEW, LAZORS!

…and then die to an up-leveled ranger.

Its a good weapon to use while zerging I find. Just stay in the back and deal maximum damage to the enemies at the front.

greatsword is the nicolas-cage-weapon under all of the mesmer actor-weapons
some think it is greatest of all time
some dont need it
some think its the best of the worse (or mediocre)

FinalPatriot.8034:

…and then die to an up-leveled ranger.

I never die to WvW rangers (up-leveled or otherwise). I usually regard them as free badges.

For PvP a shortbow pet ranger is only a challenge when running as a staff condition bunker mesmer. I eat them up with my GS mesmer.

Greatsword has the highest ranged damage in a power build.
The auto attack can hit 3 targets at once,
The phantasm is one o the few aoe ones (the warden needs alot of time to finish the attack and tends to dissipate while doing it)
And it shoots pretty putple lazors while you spin your greatsword in the air.

I use greatsword in dungeons simply because it has more damage, but i use staff in pvp where i need the defense

Alissah.9281:

Greatsword has the highest ranged damage in a power build.

Wrong.

Provided it doesn’t get any worse, I’ll be sticking it out with greatsword and sword/focus… but greatsword still has the same problem it’s had for months: the phantasm is broken. For a damage skill, on a power-focused weapon, to deal only 4-8k damage (when it isn’t hitting for 800-1200) on a 20 second cooldown, while other professions can deal 8-12k on a lower cooldown (some can even spam these attacks ahem) seems wrong somehow.

On another note, Mind Stab should be a blast finisher. Then it might be useful and not just something you use when everything else is on cooldown. Enemies love it when I root myself for .5 seconds, only remove 1 boon (if any) and only deal 800-1200 damage, it seems.

Mesmers damage without reflections is the second worst in this game, so…

Dub.1273:

Mesmers single-skill damage (without reflect) is the second worst in this game.

ftfy.

We can perform some of the highest burst combos in the game.
Key word: combos.

We have to set it up after a higher number of steps than most professions using multiple skills and traits.

It’s also a very telegraphed burst combo. You’ll always see it coming.

It’s also very easy to avoid. A single dodge will get you out of it every time.

There’s also a large number of other ways to avoid it. I’ve had people avoid my burst just by backpedaling. Very irritating. ;p

It has a time and a place, but honestly – in a party greatsword feels inappropriate. It’s AoE DPS is less than that of a sword and lacks the utility of an offhand, while staff brings major boons, party support and survivability to the table.

I always feel that if I’m bringing a greatsword, I’m sacrificing utility that could improve the parties overall effectiveness (And risking getting my own ask kicked by mobs) for the sake of a small boost to my personal DPS.

It’s just something of a niche weapon and requires knowing in advance whether you can sacrifice the support/utility or AoE DPS for single target DPS in that situation

Aneirin Cadwall.9126:

Dub.1273:

Mesmers single-skill damage (without reflect) is the second worst in this game.

ftfy.

We can perform some of the highest burst combos in the game.
Key word: combos.

We have to set it up after a higher number of steps than most professions using multiple skills and traits.

It’s also a very telegraphed burst combo. You’ll always see it coming.

It’s also very easy to avoid. A single dodge will get you out of it every time.

There’s also a large number of other ways to avoid it. I’ve had people avoid my burst just by backpedaling. Very irritating. ;p

I didn’t say anything about single-skill or burst damage but damage in general, especially sustained. And the only professions dealing (very slightly) less damage in this game is ranger.

I run a GS in WvW if I’m zerging, I run a staff in WvW if I am small group roaming or running around solo.

Greatsword is a great weapon if you are with a group.
The phantasm is can tag multiple targets which helps soften up mobs.
It has the greatest range.
It has a fast clone generator.

However, the Greatsword is not nearly as good if you are alone. Alone, enemies tend to close on you fast, so the GS damage is reduced. GS3 is almost completely useless, GS5 is a nice knockback, but the cooldown is too long.

For level 31, the staff is a better choice, IMO.

Use GS 5 and shout “Getsuga Tenshooooou” in team speak. Hilarity ensured.

TooBz.3065:

I run a GS in WvW if I’m zerging, I run a staff in WvW if I am small group roaming or running around solo.

Greatsword is a great weapon if you are with a group.
The phantasm is can tag multiple targets which helps soften up mobs.
It has the greatest range.
It has a fast clone generator.

However, the Greatsword is not nearly as good if you are alone. Alone, enemies tend to close on you fast, so the GS damage is reduced. GS3 is almost completely useless, GS5 is a nice knockback, but the cooldown is too long.

For level 31, the staff is a better choice, IMO.

This is what I’ve come to figure out. Since I’ve only just hit a dungeon-appropriate level I’m running solo and the staff is much more useful. Once I just into a dungeon I might swap to GS. But then I feel like I could be of more group use by dropping chaos storm. Also, would the staff#3 phantasm deal more damage in a dungeon with all the potential conditions than a GS#5?

Seras.5702:

TooBz.3065:

I run a GS in WvW if I’m zerging, I run a staff in WvW if I am small group roaming or running around solo.

Greatsword is a great weapon if you are with a group.
The phantasm is can tag multiple targets which helps soften up mobs.
It has the greatest range.
It has a fast clone generator.

However, the Greatsword is not nearly as good if you are alone. Alone, enemies tend to close on you fast, so the GS damage is reduced. GS3 is almost completely useless, GS5 is a nice knockback, but the cooldown is too long.

For level 31, the staff is a better choice, IMO.

This is what I’ve come to figure out. Since I’ve only just hit a dungeon-appropriate level I’m running solo and the staff is much more useful. Once I just into a dungeon I might swap to GS. But then I feel like I could be of more group use by dropping chaos storm. Also, would the staff#3 phantasm deal more damage in a dungeon with all the potential conditions than a GS#5?

It’s really hard to compare because of all of the conditions.

I think the GS phantasm does more total damage but it’s spread out.(The wiki says 196 × 4 which is 784 if they all hit.).

The Staff phantasm does 438 + 43.8 more for each condition.

I think you are definitely right to prefer the staff when soloing the open world. With 5 other team mates you can keep range better. If you go into a dungeon, bring both and see what works best for you.

TooBz.3065:

I think you are definitely right to prefer the staff when soloing the open world. With 5 other team mates you can keep range better. If you go into a dungeon, bring both and see what works best for you.

A thing to remember with staff in dungeons is that chaos storm provides chaos armour (with combos), has a chance to stun the enemies, weaken and chill them, and provide aegis to your friends.

While staff’s DPS might be lower, it enables the rest of the team to engage more recklessly for the duration – in most cases this’ll provide a net increase in party DPS; teamwork isn’t about having the biggest numbers, it’s about making the combined numbers of the entire team bigger.

I think GS is a solid weapon choice and good for dealing solid aoe damage at range. for my tastes though, the gameplay feels limited and somewhat boring. I can certainly see why people use it, though. At lower levels, I imagine the damage differential isn’t noticeable, so it probably seems like an all-around inferior weapon, but it does good damage, and being ranged, lets you build somewhat glassy.

i can only assume after all the deungeon runs ive made, that greatsword is mostly dumped down to its lowest damage in fights. its simply the whole package that makes it feeling like its, compared to other professions, a mess of a weapon/class design forced to jump constantly between range midrange and close combat while forced to deal not that much of a damage evry mesmers thinks he is doing.

in fact most of the time i have to act like a jerk or use closecombat weaponsets and building up illusions and combofields like mad to go even close to other professions utilities (the fact that my engineer is building up stacks of confusions in closecombat better than my phantmesmer says it all. besides all the other condition damage PLUS direct damage so to say. and noone complains about confusion of engineers, in fact noone even reckognizing them)
the rare situtations where mesmer shines doesnt fill the monstrous gap.
plus i dont give a kitten about 1vs1 abilites of certain mesmer builds.

no wonder most people use staff shatter builds.

Dub.1273:

Alissah.9281:

Greatsword has the highest ranged damage in a power build.

Wrong.

How is this wrong?

Check the ranged options of scepter, GS, and staff, and maybe pistol. For a flat-out power build, GS is the highest sustained damage at range.

juno.1840:

How is this wrong?

Check the ranged options of scepter, GS, and staff, and maybe pistol. For a flat-out power build, GS is the highest sustained damage at range.

At which range?

(not a irrilevant question.)

AndrewSX.3794:

juno.1840:

How is this wrong?

Check the ranged options of scepter, GS, and staff, and maybe pistol. For a flat-out power build, GS is the highest sustained damage at range.

At which range?

(not a irrilevant question.)

The OP said “at range” which to me implies that you are not in melee, or even mid range, but at the range of the weapon.

Agreed that if you are using a GS in “melee” that it is not the best, and may actually be the worst. However that’s not “at range” and clearly not what the original poster said.