Guild Wars 2

Hey! Let me start by thanking anyone reading this and giving me a moment of your time.

So I just recently (like maybe 2 weeks ago) started playing GW2, after having to wait forever to finally get it. Having played GW1 in it’s entirety as a Mesmer I had to make that my main character. Absolutely no regrets, the class is so cool now and is what I always envisioned the Mesmer to be like.

I’ve only recently gotten to level 35 and have started thinking about my traits. That’s the one thing I don’t entirely understand about GW2 yet, as they are kinda like the old attribute points but you need to pay to change them, and I don’t want to regret my choices. Anyway, I was wondering what traits I should be aiming for?

Currently I use the Staff/Sword+Pistol combo and since I mainly play PvE so far (and guild-less) I tend to be alone most of the time so my playstyle involves dodging and summoning and shattering like a mad woman while taking on mobs solo.

Any tips? ~ Thanks in advance!

I think you can find what you want in “Post your build thread”, there many different builds fits your playstyle

AH! Didn’t even notice that. Thanks bunches, I wasn’t really looking at other threads, being my first time on here and all. Wonderful, a thread with build ideas is perfect.

np, bro enjoy Mesmer~~

Whatever you choose, make sure to take Illusionist’s Celerity (5 points in Illusions). It is pretty much mandatory for every Mesmer build.

@Whiterose, as you soon 40 I can start recomend work a little on a viable shatter build. Its a solid way to play the class and wery fun, if you thu prefere power Gs, condition or phantasm build do what you think is fun.

I run a guild on one mostly aimed for wvwvw and pve who is ok and work. Some videos in it, mostly wvwvw stuff thu. If you interested have a look at the thread and mabye se a video or 2, any questions you have about the build or shater mesmers in wvwvw in general I try answer in the thread.

welcome to the mesmer community and Hope you have fun.

/Osicat

Guide link: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/first

Also, the books you purchase at levels 20, 40, and 60 reset your traits, so you can play with different builds now, and switch your traits when you buy that book. Even at 80, a full respec is under 4 silver iirc, so it isn’t that expensive.

That being said, most builds take at least 20 in dueling for deceptive evasion, and 5 in Illusion for Illusionist’s Celerity. Lots of builds do 30 in Illusion for shattering purposes, with the remainder being spent based on what weapon set you use. I always build my builds around my weapons. I almost always want the 20% Cooldown on my weapons, because I swap often, and like having my abilities available sooner.

Resetting traits is cheap at 80. It costs little more than a waypoint does.

With that said, I’d suggest you go into sPvP and try some builds out.

I agree with Oci though, your best bet is to aim for a shatter build. I’d suggest power/precision but really you can make a shatter build to fit your preferred weapons.

My personal ‘go to’ traits for my Mesmer were 5 Illusion and 5 Duelist. The illusion CDR is a must have no matter your build, it’s cooldown reduction for 40% of your weapon skills and many of your utilities. The Vigor proc is awesome for keeping your energy up for dodging. You’ll need the extra dodges to avoid damage.

Oh so it’s not that expensive if I want to change? That’s good. Today I decided to change out my sword/pistol for the greatsword, and still using the staff as my secondary. It’s made soloing mobs a lot easier. Right now at lvl 40 I put 10 points in Dom, 10 in Chaos, and 10 in illusions, with the two Mind Wrack traits and my clones putting random conditions on an enemy when they are killed.

I haven’t tried sPvP yet, but I do go into WvW like every night after I’m done doing whatever I wanted to accomplish in PvE for the day. I do pretty decent there, but my server seems to always be losing. But like I always say, you learn the most in a game when you’re losing, cause then you’re forced to think outside the box. ~

You don’t have to actually play sPvP, just click the crossed swords and enter the mists. You become a level 80 version if yourself with merchants that sell all types of weapons, runes, and Sigils. Gear doesn’t have stats there, instead you choose a Neck item which is sort of a stat package.

There are target dummies and npcs all over the area so you can practice and see what you like and what you don’t.

As to your current build, shift the 10 pts from Chaos to Duelist and pick up Phantasmal Fury. It’ll make your Zerker and Warlock crit 20% more often. 5 more points in duelist and your illusions inflict bleed on crit. Since GS clones hit 3x per attack they stack the bleed really well.

In big events you’re unlikely to be able to do much condition damage, there is a cap on the stacking and only the highest damage conditions stay up, the weaker get pushed off. Since you’re not 80 that’ll likely be your conditions. However, with that said, I found that summoning 3 Warlocks on the boss usually guaranteed me Gold even if my conditions couldn’t stick.

Xavi.6591:

Whatever you choose, make sure to take Illusionist’s Celerity (5 points in Illusions). It is pretty much mandatory for every Mesmer build.

^This. No reason not to take Illusionist’s Celerity trait. There is no situation in which I would trade this trait for, well…. anything.

By far the Mesmer’s best Minor trait.

Lots of awesome advice here, thanks guys!

I’m just guessing that Phantasm focused builds aren’t really that useful? I used to always try and maintain Phantasms up for DPS, but ever since I focused more on Shattering I’ve been clearing things a lot faster and rarely getting “downed” unless I’m facing a champion and I couldn’t dodge around fast enough.

WhiteRose,

Welcome and let me start saying I am only level 29 with my mesmer. The best piece of advice i can give you for the mesmer and it is offered here in a number of threads is to watch the mrprometheus youtube vids. They are long some about an hour, but he goes into fantastic detail about how mesmer mechanics work and combo fields and weapon types and skills. Really very comprehensive and changed my mesmer experience. enjoy