Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow illusionists, im in a mood to dust off my mesmer, been playing warrior for the last 6 months, now im hungry for the clone fest again…

I like WvW random duels, so i wanna know, whats the best 1v1 build atm? I’m not a fan of condi, but open to test it if necessary…

Thanks in advance!

If you are talking strictly about ‘organized’ duels, phantasm mantra heals is probably the strongest 1 v. 1 spec in the game.

CI Rupt mesmer hands down.

Shatter is my personal preference though. Both builds for either of these can be found on metabattle.com

For dueling CI is really good. It’s under lockdown on meta battle. But for a beginner I’d advise swapping the focus for a pistol. CI is known to be one of the best mesmer dueling builds but is more of a expert level build because it requires more than just knowledge of the mesmer class. You need to know all of the classes animations fairly well

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfRl0npRtlpxGNcrRipxYqeOVVkMgDK9IjvAA

You guys think this could work?

shimmerless.4560:

If you are talking strictly about ‘organized’ duels, phantasm mantra heals is probably the strongest 1 v. 1 spec in the game.

What is the build muffin?

pupi.2465:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfRl0npRtlpxGNcrRipxYqeOVVkMgDK9IjvAA

You guys think this could work?

There’s a lot of weak trait choices and lack synergy in this. You also didnt put in gear so its hard to assume exactly what the build is going for, and what it will/should look like.

pupi.2465:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsfRl0npRtlpxGNcrRipxYqeOVVkMgDK9IjvAA

You guys think this could work?

No, not really. That build doesn’t really have any idea what it’s doing. There’s no coherent thought process behind how you want to deal damage, survive, or really accomplish anything in particular.

I Just tested the lockdown build, its really beast indeed, thanks guys for the help everyone!

shimmerless.4560:

If you are talking strictly about ‘organized’ duels, phantasm mantra heals is probably the strongest 1 v. 1 spec in the game.

It can seem pretty ridiculous in testing on mobs, but against real players I think it would only be a matter of time before people realize how to beat this. Kill the Phants and the Mesmer is just a lame duck. Now if you don’t have the DPS or AoE to do this, you will certainly have issues, but the build is so one-dimensional it’s actually very easy to beat. You require so many utilities that you won’t have any (or much) Condie removal, so a heavy Condi build should also trash this build concept pretty hard. (The iDefender won’t help you vs. Condies, and Phants in general will get eaten up by Condies.)

I’m surprised no one has mentioned Condi PU, that’s still one of the single best dueling builds in the game IMHO. Using Staff + Sc/To and dual Doom sigs, it’s really hard to beat this build in duels. Yes it requires your opponent to be very aggressive, which is why it’s great for dueling…and not much else.

Get good at landing Sc #2 and you will wreck just about anyone with this. That is your primary burst, so the key to success for this build is to land that off-block Torment over and over. Let the burns, bleeds and poison cover and keep up the pressure until the next 5x Torment arrives.

As mentioned already, Ross’ CS/interrupt/phants build is also a fairly strong 1v1 build, especially against thieves. This is one of my favorite builds at the moment, because it’s quite good in 1v1s, but is also a very team friendly build…a rare combination for us.

Windwalker.7421:

shimmerless.4560:

If you are talking strictly about ‘organized’ duels, phantasm mantra heals is probably the strongest 1 v. 1 spec in the game.

It can seem pretty ridiculous in testing on mobs, but against real players I think it would only be a matter of time before people realize how to beat this. Kill the Phants and the Mesmer is just a lame duck. Now if you don’t have the DPS or AoE to do this, you will certainly have issues, but the build is so one-dimensional it’s actually very easy to beat. You require so many utilities that you won’t have any (or much) Condie removal, so a heavy Condi build should also trash this build concept pretty hard. (The iDefender won’t help you vs. Condies, and Phants in general will get eaten up by Condies.)

Quite the opposite is the case honey, mantra heals has possibly the best condition removal in the game (since the change to the triple charge trait). It demolishes PU condi handily.

@StickerHappy, there are a wide number of variations, this is the basic template : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAscWl0npMtNqxINcrRiqxYqXOZTJRqAKdJbPAA-TpQSgAA7PAWGAA

If you’re in WvW you can mix parts celestial in to your usual zerks.

interesting, do we have good ppl around making videos? i only remember Osicat and have found nothing lately.

shimmerless.4560:

Quite the opposite is the case honey, mantra heals has possibly the best condition removal in the game (since the change to the triple charge trait). It demolishes PU condi handily.

@StickerHappy, there are a wide number of variations, this is the basic template : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAscWl0npMtNqxINcrRiqxYqXOZTJRqAKdJbPAA-TpQSgAA7PAWGAA

If you’re in WvW you can mix parts celestial in to your usual zerks.

No need to get defensive, I completely misunderstood what kinda build you were talking about. I love MoR+RM+MP+HM, it has very nice synergy and have used it in many builds, and always kinda miss it when not using it. (but w/o HM, MoR is pretty hard to justify)

I thought you were suggesting using RM to heal your phantasms, and keep them alive via iDef + Sigil of Illusions. Against test mobs you’re basically invulnerable 1v1, and your phantasms near unkillable, but against players it just doesn’t work.

For what it’s worth, there was a 1v1 tournament not too long ago that had some solid players in it, and the winner played a phantasm mantra build w/ knights ammy. The fights weren’t even close. Just keep summoning phantasms and kiting, while each cast of your mantra heal clears condis and provides healing.

I think anything phantasm-based works best for dueling as mesmer, because you can focus on kiting and staying alive while your phantasms apply strong passive pressure.

I also think a mtd shatter is a very strong 1v1 build for sure. Even the best condition clear management toons will succumb to this build.

Windwalker.7421:

shimmerless.4560:

Quite the opposite is the case honey, mantra heals has possibly the best condition removal in the game (since the change to the triple charge trait). It demolishes PU condi handily.

@StickerHappy, there are a wide number of variations, this is the basic template : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAscWl0npMtNqxINcrRiqxYqXOZTJRqAKdJbPAA-TpQSgAA7PAWGAA

If you’re in WvW you can mix parts celestial in to your usual zerks.

No need to get defensive, I completely misunderstood what kinda build you were talking about. I love MoR+RM+MP+HM, it has very nice synergy and have used it in many builds, and always kinda miss it when not using it. (but w/o HM, MoR is pretty hard to justify)

I thought you were suggesting using RM to heal your phantasms, and keep them alive via iDef + Sigil of Illusions. Against test mobs you’re basically invulnerable 1v1, and your phantasms near unkillable, but against players it just doesn’t work.

I didn’t intend to come off as defensive :P I agree it needs HM to really shine.

Jackums.3496:

Any decent Thief with offhand dagger completely shuts down phantasm builds. Blind on CnD off of phantasms for upwards of 5k damage, usually one-shotting the phantasm, followed by consistent 6k+ Backstabs. Or simply switch to shortbow and Cluster Bomb for complete phantasm shutdown and AoE damage pressure on the Mesmer.

I find interrupt is more versatile and overall effective, though it requires more skill/experience, but it’s only really heavily countered by Acro Thieves.

This is based on WvW. In PvP, with the lower stats and variety, it’s a different situation.

You can also include interrupt skills in a phantasm build.

ResJudicator.7916:

Jackums.3496:

Any decent Thief with offhand dagger completely shuts down phantasm builds. Blind on CnD off of phantasms for upwards of 5k damage, usually one-shotting the phantasm, followed by consistent 6k+ Backstabs. Or simply switch to shortbow and Cluster Bomb for complete phantasm shutdown and AoE damage pressure on the Mesmer.

I find interrupt is more versatile and overall effective, though it requires more skill/experience, but it’s only really heavily countered by Acro Thieves.

This is based on WvW. In PvP, with the lower stats and variety, it’s a different situation.

You can also include interrupt skills in a phantasm build.

Yes, yes you can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz3vb8fBIoY

Still he’s right. WvW is a different playing field with different “rules” at work.