Q:
Thief 80 | Elementalist 80 | Mesmer 80 | Necromancer 80 | Revenant TBA
Q:
Bit curious, I’m starting to utilize my mesmer in PvE now, as the class has become rather interesting and fun for me, but I’m completely stumped on runes (and to more extent, gear for WvW).
I’m focusing on as much offence as i can with phantasms and mainhand sword with mantras, but I can’t think of a rune that would go well with this build, I’m not a fan of Scholars and I can’t think strength would be all that viable in this build.
Then on the other hand, for WvW i have no idea what sort of build would be effective for what i want to do.
I’m more of a solo player in WvW, roaming, flipping camps, taking out dolyaks and stragglers, so if this is what i wanted to accomplish, should i be focusing on Condi or Power? I’ve grabbed 6 Centaur runes to abuse the heaing mantra for permanent swiftness, but apart from that, i have no clue what i should be doing.
Any advice from more experienced mesmers would be greatly appreciated, cheers!
Anyone? 60+ views and no ones helping out!
Regarding PvE,
Xyonon published a table here yesterday that made a strong argument for Eagle runes in conjunction with Assassin’s armor.
I’m not sure if Ranger runes are still working as intended or bugged to allow illusions to count towards the 6th rune bonus. Strength runes don’t seem very attractive unless you run some sort of Illusioned Burden or Bountiful Interruption build, both options being quite the departure from the usual straight-up phantasm builds you see posted here.
Regarding WvW,
If you are a solo-roamer, I would strongly suggest running Traveler runes unless you are using focus off-hand or staff for the about-face phase retreat trick. If you are using a focus, you can easily maintain swiftness by slotting in harder-hitting Pack runes with Signet of Inspiration (swap out before combat of course). The benefit of running Traveler runes is likely to diminish once the Chronomancer elite specialization arrives. There is an old build by Dooid that utilizes centaur runes with transformation tonics to proc the 6th rune bonus, though I don’t think the condition pressure from Sharper Images is anywhere as dangerous now with the June 23 patch changes. If you really want people to hate you, you might be able to get away with Scholar runes in a Power-PU shatter setup, though I’d expect that to get nerfed any day now.
If you participate in small-group roaming, havoc teams, or focus parties/“gank”, I would strongly recommend you to consider Pack runes. Access to boon duration post-patch is much more limited post-patch so topping your team off with extra time for boons that stack in duration, e.g., swiftness and fury, is a smart move.
If you pugmand or drive on your Mesmer, Pack, Melandru, and Lyssa runes are all strong options that offer different benefits. The last patch brought changes that made Mesmer a lot more viable in large scale non-periphery roles. There are things like the stealth buff to Mantra of Concentration, changes to mantra recharge mechanics in general, baseline traits, revamped utilities and elites, resistance, boon-sharing, and party-wide Distortion, just to name a few.
note:
I personally use Pack runes for PvE (mainly fractals) because phantasms don’t benefit from any percent damage modifiers other than Empowered Illusions. I usually engage bosses head-on in melee and my micro isn’t good enough to maintain a very high Scholar’s uptime. This is also the same set I use for WvW so it’s very convenient to not have to switch back and forth, even though I realize that the 4th rune bonus is redundant in group play. With the amount of interrupts and Power Block procs I’ve been getting however, I may pick up a set of Eagle runes in the near future since interrupt damage does benefit from those aforementioned modifiers.
(edited by expandas.7051)
That was a brilliant and well written reply, thanks for that expandas.
As i’ve got my build and playstyle for PvE sorted, is there any specific build you would recommend for WvW if my main intention was to flip camps and roam solo?
I’m not really looking for anything cheesy with little counterplay, but something capable of standing it’s own in a 1vs1 while being very competent and soloing camps, as that’s mainly what i enjoy doing in WvW, sneaking around on my lonesome and flipping camps and targeting dolyaks.
Looks like I’m going to have to focus on getting a set of assassins gear though, but that shouldn’t be a problem, I’ve already got some traveler runes to go, and getting some eagle and pack runes shouldn’t be a problem either.
Lately I’ve been trying to integrate Mesmer focus into my guild’s roaming composition by running an Interrupt build with Domination, Dueling, and Chaos. S/F is great for clearing camps due to pulls from curtain and the cleave and projectile destruction of your warden. GS is a good complement, but staff can also work if you swap the traits around for more reflects. I had to decide whether to use Deceptive Evasion or Harmonious Mantras but wound up picking the dodge clones because Interrupt builds are very much about the mind games. Powerblock and Chaotic Interruption are going to be amazing for clearing npcs though, so make sure you hold onto your Domination traits.
Is “S/F” sword and focus or scepter and focus?
I would suggest for utility to take at least Nullfield as it is both condi cleanser/boon stripper and en ethereal field which you combine with leap finisher from Sword then you will have also have Chaos Armor which will provide you both with boons and condi to enemy that hit your aura. The same goes in combo with focus and sword as it also work as light field which will give you 2 sec Retaliation and 8 sec Vulnerability (when struck). With focus you will also have a condi cleansing from focus iWarden (whirl) (and projectile destroyer), so with it you will have many tool at once for melee camp NPCs and still be able to control NPCs to not get to near you for damage. You will also have two auras which will provide you with some useful boons and condis. Add to this Signet of Ether which will provide you with more health as the more illusions you will be able to keep alive, the more health you will gain. This signet together with Signet of Illusions , trait from Duelling (Deceptive Evasivion) and maybe trait from Dominition line for Blurred Inscriptions to get reduced cooldown fot those time you are forced to make use of signets activation. This would also work well with the elite skill Signet of Humility as for now Time Warp will not get to reduced cooldown and this signet are probably more useful for both defiant NPCs and those time you will be stunned or feared from enemies at camp.
Something I have noticed during my play with this kind of set up and with assassin gear, berserker trinkets/rings/earrings/amulet/backpack and some condi damage (I use mostly berserker here) from weapons is that you will get a small army of illusions up and those will be able to handle several foes at once during melee (at least for NPCs) on their own. You could use bloodlust or precision sigil (both are stacking – but remember that you will need at least one more for your underwater weapon to not be losing your stack each time you will be in water). Some sigil have become very expensive so you have to judge for yourself it is worth to invest that much Gold to have sigils which can be hard to later transfer to another weapon because how this game could change for how these sigil will work later on as there are plenty going on until HoT will be more or less finished.
For the second weapon set I would actually suggest to try GS as this weapon have both defensive and offensive capabilities and you might want to start your fight from some distance to trigger aggro from just a few NPCs at camp at time to make it more easy. With enough Power (Precision + Ferocity) stat from gear and other sources you will be able to down these rather fast and in combo with reflective (feedback/focus) skill, utilities (retaliation/illusions health) and dodges which will provide you with more illusions (work as both decoy, health through signet and damage dealer) you will be able to use shatter more often.
For runes I use Runes of Grenth as those provide me with some control when I am low on health, will reduce skill (=attacks) and movement from foes and give me a condition damage at 175 + 45 % duration of chill and the best are that those cost almost nothing compared to torment or confusion runes today. Both of these more expensive runes will cost you around 7 × 12 G= 84 Gold only for one set of armour (don’t forget that you want to have the same rune on your aqua breather to keep the 6th effect as it will replace your head armour). With Grenth you only need to spend 3 Silver 60 Copper for each piece which will be like 25 Silver for a 7 piece armour.
With Superior Sigil of Hydromancy which trigger on swapping weapon set I something I would recommend to do as often you can because this will provide you with skill fresh from CD and more opportunity to combine skills. Hydromancy completes Grenth as both will reduce pressure from enemies with chill which make it easier to use offensive weapon (like GS) with less need to use dodges and have time to select target.
Sigil of Battle and other popular sigils have become rather expensive and these runes and sigils do almost the same job that these more expensive one, I think for now it is better to save your money for later and first learn how to adopt as a Mesmer (and until all balancing changes will have become more stable).
(edited by ShadowCatz.8437)
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