Guild Wars 2

It’s another morning after an awful night in WvW. Most other classes steamroller me 1v1.

I’m ready to delete my Mesmer with all her Ascended gear ( 5 accesories built around power precision and a power toughness Greatsword, Berserker Armor ) and cut my losses. I’ve tried multiple revisions and different builds.

Here’s my suggestion; Allow Mesmer to pre rez Phantasms and for them to be re targetible.

My Minion Mistress Necromancer is far more successful in WvW despite her second rate gear. She keeps 4-6 Minions up ( with some proc’d if she kills ) as much as possible and can reasonably hope to seriously endanger a Warrior.

My Mesmer is lucky to make a dent despite high level gear and much trying.

A power GS build isn’t going to hurt a roaming warrior build. The best you can do is PU condi or power and chip away at them. Best case scenario they run. Worse case they lock you down.

Any warrior roamer with stacks just don’t even bother.

You’re the opposite of me. I’ve always found my Mesmer to be the closest thing to a “hard counter” to the majority of 1v1 fights in WvW. It might be due to the fact I run a lot of interrupt Traits. (Although, there’re some Warrs floating around with this hellish combo of warp speed and crazy healing … they’re some kinda obnoxious.)

As for rezzing Phants, it rather runs counter to the idea of illusions being “in the target’s mind.” Note that Mesmers:

1. Don’t have nearly the “Pet AI” issues of Necro or Ranger.
2. Can send Phants out a heck of a lot faster.
   If we could resurrect ‘em, you’d better believe that IMage’s aeons-long CD would then become the new “fast-cast” Phantasm.

In general, I’d suggest not deleting your Mesmer. Especially since the 4/15 patch’s gonna shake up Traits something fierce. There’s a fair shot that’ll change up the “top dog” slot, somewhat.

If you’re having problems 1v1, try any iteration of a PU build.
Here’s the one I’m running with great success: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS4xCKyg1dg

Now, don’t bee too dramatic. What I think is that you don’t have the sufficient reaction or skill to play a Mesmer which so low defence.
Try to get more defensive stats, traits and playstyle

PU works wonders so try it out or tweak it for your own taste.

You know I missed the point where mesmer became the worst class in the game. Apparently i’m playing a terrible class and don’t even know it. With the best elite skill in the game (time warp), lots of support utilities, really 2 class features (phantasms/clones and shatters), condition removal rivaling the necro, ability to spam clones with the scepter (Which is your main 1v1 weapon btw), condition spam and escape skills with the staff, damage avoidance skills with the sword, stun with the pistol, a great long range weapon with the greatsword with cripple to make sure targets dont get away.

Obviously you can’t use all these weapons and skills at once but take your pick, you have a ton of options. If you arnt winning 1v1s as a mesmer, it’s not the class, it’s you.

I dont even use shatters at all, my fingers never touch those buttons and I kill things just fine. Guardians, warriors, thieves, whatever. If they’re alone they’re dead unless they run as I don’t use the greatsword.

Honestly, don’t do 1v1. It’s a terrible format which isn’t even supported by the game.
I have no idea why players are so fascinated with it, especially given that we play in a genre which usually features mechanics which are anything but 1v1-compatible. As well, GW2 also isn’t.

If you still want to do it, PU. It’s nearly the apex predator of 1v1, though “predator” is a bit tricky because it needs the other person to also want to fight 1v1.

Still, the smarter way is to play properly and play to win, not play to 1v1.

Carighan, you’ve said that multiple times now. Define “proper”? I should be the obedient wife and hide behind my warriors in shining armor perhaps?

What is it that you mean by playing “properly” and “to win”?

Ithilwen.1529:

Carighan, you’ve said that multiple times now. Define “proper”? I should be the obedient wife and hide behind my warriors in shining armor perhaps?

What is it that you mean by playing “properly” and “to win”?

I think the take-home message is that 1v1 fights are one of the areas of this game that mesmer absolutely excels. A well played mesmer of any effective build can demolish almost any other class and build. Problems in winning 1v1 fights are always due to one or both of two things:

1. Using a really bad build
2. Not skilled enough

The first is easily solved with quick trip to the build list, but the second simply requires practice and experience.

Pyro, I think you are one of a small group that does very well with Mesmer. My experience has consistently shown that the class is badly under powered and that Warriors, Guardians and Engineers can consistently out heal whatever I can dish out.

Your implication that the problem must simply be that I am a bad player is arrogant, nasty, elitist and dead wrong.

Every forum says the same thing. Wah wah my class is terrible nerf other classes buff ours. It’s a little ridiculous.

Mesmers are well-known to be one of the better classes across all game modes. They’re in a pretty solid spot, especially regarding 1v1s. Probably the best dueling class in the game.

Note that I gave a couple options there, and also note that needing more practice is not a bad thing.

From your explanation, you sound like you were running a very glassy build. Not everyone can just jump into a super glassy build like that. I know that I didn’t, my main build was the Immortal build for a long time, before I expanded my playstyle to include more glassy builds.

I know many mesmer players that are able to take apart most classes at will. While warriors and whatnot are undoubtedly easier to play and pick up, past a certain level of skill that stops mattering. See, in 1v1 fights, most any fighting build and class is viable. The differences between classes matter much less, and the individual skill level of each player starts to matter much more. Even when someone is running an “overpowered 1v1 build” such as MM necro, there are counters to that that a skilled player will know and use. Ultimately, the more skilled player will win the 1v1.

It’s possible you simply got outplayed. It’s possible that you happen to be using a horrific build. Either of those are possible, and there’s no shame in being outplayed, it just means you have room to improve. I don’t win every fight I enter, but I don’t treat that as a personal offense, I see it as a learning experience.

Actually, Lthilwen, I would say that Pyro is right. I think mesmer is very effective in 1v1 situations when you are running a good build. Not saying that i’m a pro or anything (Because i’m definitely not) but I sucked for a long time. Mesmer just takes a lot of patience and practice. I actually put out a couple vids recently of nothing but 1v1 fights against various classes. I’ll link them below, feel free to check them out and hit me up if you have questions.

Nymeria duel Montage #1
Nymeria duel Montage #2

1v1 and 1vX mesmer is amazing. P/d thieves are a tough fight on my condi build and properly geared power warriors are my power builds weakness, but other than that i feel like a god in wvw. Its all about getting the right build together and learning how to play it and the builds your opponents will be using. When all else fails just use the terrain+blink to your advantage.

Raid builds and roaming builds are normally very different so make sure you have the proper one set up.

And Pyro didnt say you where a bad player he said bad builds and lack of experience can lead to losses in 1v1, which is incredibly true. And a good chunk of small fights is knowing the enemies build and skill rotations also. Dont get so but+hurt.

Ithilwen.1529:

Pyro, I think you are one of a small group that does very well with Mesmer. My experience has consistently shown that the class is badly under powered and that Warriors, Guardians and Engineers can consistently out heal whatever I can dish out.

Your implication that the problem must simply be that I am a bad player is arrogant, nasty, elitist and dead wrong.

well if you’re not a bad player, then it’s your build as mesmer is THE 1v1 class. Unless you’re fighting an engineer underwater, it’s really hard to lose.