Guild Wars 2

One of the coolest things about the Mesmer is the sheer amount of viable builds there are. Every time I get semi-bored I either read about or come up with a new build idea to try!

I’m going to use this thread to keep track of the builds I use over time (once I feel comfortable releasing them of course). I’ll post the link to the gear/traits and just give a few notes about how each one works.

Swordplay Build (added 6/10/13)
Traits
10(III)/20(II, IV), 20(IV, X), 15(IV), 5
Gear
Knights/Berserker/Valk Armor, Cavalier Trinkets (I only have two ascended at the moment, but one is P/V/T, which I kind of regret)
Runes of Hoelbrak on armor
Sigil of Battle on MH Sword
Sigil of Accuracy on OH Sword
Sigil of Battle on Staff

And here’s a link of the build in an editor: http://tinyurl.com/k3uw7w4

This build was inspired by a combination of Osicat’s Heavy 2.0, Seven Mirror’s latest build, and some tweaks/preferences of my own. It’s actually funny, because this post originally inspired Seven Mirror to try something new, and when I heard him talk about it on the podcast, it inspired me to try something new as well! Gotta love it.

Anyway, I’ve tweaked this build quite a bit, and I’ve found it gives the perfect balance (for my playstyle anyway) of active defense, passive defense, and damage. My phantasms hit like trucks and I’m incredibly hard to take down. Last week I won a 1v6 with this build by kiting, dodging and distracting the group with a few well placed Decoy/Blinks all while my phantasms wailed on them. It was amazing.

Decoy and Blink are always on my bar unless a specific group situation requires me to switch them, but the third utility is always changing based on the situation. I find myself constantly switching between Null Field, Portal, Arcane Thievery, and Feedback depending on the situation.

That said, you’ll have to take my word for it because my crappy computer doesn’t play well with video recording software. I’m in the process of saving a few bucks to upgrade it, and I promise videos will come immediately after that! I’m dying to get some up here

Scepter/Sword Block Build (added 5/29/13)
Traits
0/30(II, III, IV), 20(IV, X), 15(V), 5
Gear
Knights Armor, Cavalier Trinkets (I only have one ascended at the moment, but it’s P/V/T)
Runes of Melandru on armor
Sigil of Battle on Scepter
Sigil of Accuracy on OH Sword
Sigil of Leeching on Staff

And here’s a link of the build in an editor: http://tinyurl.com/pvqe7n2

The blocks from Scepter/Sword are especially interesting in this build, as you’ll see in just a bit.

For utilities, I use Decoy, Blink, and Null Field. Null Field provides me with great condition removal, boon stripping, and another combo field to grant Chaos Armor with either Phase Retreat or the iSwordsman. I’ve been toying with replacing this with Signet of Illusions, but I find the utility great and usually end up going back to Null Field.

I take traits II, III, and IV in Dueling. I find that clones on dodge will sometimes kill my phantasms, so i instead took the trait that gives me retaliation on blocks. Between the two weapon blocks and the aegis blocks I get from Chaos Storm, the uptime on Retal is quite amazing,

The Chaos/Inspiration traits work well together, and give me constant regen and protection, as well as extra retal damage.

So there you have it. It’s a blast to play, so try it out, let me know what you think! And of course if you have any suggestions/comments I’d love to hear them!

Sadly my current computer can’t handle recording software at the moment (I plan on upgrading it soon so stay tuned for some videos in the near future) so I can’t show you the build in action, but it’s very effective both soloing and in small groups.

And of course, if you have any questions about my builds, I’d be happy to help out!

Edited to make it easier to read….also reserved for future builds/posts

Reserved for updates

The build seems focused a lot on defense, which mesmers can do pretty well. How is yourdamage? With such low power and just average crit chance and damage…

One more question, why not use mimic?

Nice build though. And I agree, the diversity is what makes mesmer the best class !

Cygnus.6903:

One more question, why not use mimic?

Mimic instead of Scepter allowing you to use Sword Mainhand would increase your damage output while allowing you more blocks.

To use Mimic, get as close to your target as possible while spawning 3 staff clones (at least 1 is needed, but more means it’s faster unless you have insane reaction). Activate Mimic, store Wind of Chaos bounce —> Start Blocking everything for 2-3 seconds.

@Cygnus – You’re right, I focus a lot on survivability, mainly because I find myself constantly running into 1vX fights. My damage is definitely lower than some of the other builds I’ve run, but I find that I still do plenty of damage enough to drop people rather quickly, unless they’re a bunker build. But between food and the near constant might/fury I get from my sigils and phantasms I do plenty of damage.

The Mimic idea is actually very interesting. Changing Scepter to Sword would also make the IV trait in Dueling even more beneficial, adding to my DPS quite a bit. I’ll have to try this out when I get home tonight.

Esplen.3940:

To use Mimic, get as close to your target as possible while spawning 3 staff clones (at least 1 is needed, but more means it’s faster unless you have insane reaction). Activate Mimic, store Wind of Chaos bounce —> Start Blocking everything for 2-3 seconds.

It took me a minute to figure out what you meant here, but also a good idea. If I’m reading it right, you’re saying to activate Mimic when I have staff clones out so that it absorbs the bounce, because the Mimic skill absorbs the first attack and then blocks for the remainder of the cast time. In other words, the sooner the first attack hits, the more blocks you will get, and therefore the more retaliation.

Thanks for the ideas guys!

Along the same thought, switching the Chaos trait from IV to III here would be another nice boost. You figure with 3 cones out you get 9% reduced damage, but the III trait reduces the cooldown of Mimic by 20%, with the added bonus of reducing the cooldown on Blink. That means that every 20 seconds I have 4 seconds of block (Mimic), and every 8 seconds I have 2 seconds of immunity (Sword 2).

Just goes to show how many possibilities there are, always evolving.

Grimms.9016 (Seven Mirror) currently runs a very similar build. In fact, I think the gear choices, including runes and sigils, are actually identical. The trait point distribution is also the same, although you two have some slight variability in Major Trait choices and Utility Skill options. (Most notably, he uses Deceptive Evasion, but I completely understand why you’ve decided not to)

Some fun gameplay videos here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Seven-Mirror-WvW-Mesmer-05-26-13/first

I’ve tried this build out and it’s very survivable while steal dealing some nice damage. My main issue with it is mobility – Swiftness does wonders in World versus World. Blink helps, but doesn’t quite fulfill the same role.

Null Field is great for the reasons you’ve outlined, (Condition removal, Boon stripping, extra Ethereal Combo Field) but the recast is a little long for my tastes. I often feel a little cheated on the duration too, since it doesn’t seem to last as long as its tool tip indicates.

I’d encourage you to try out Mimic, especially since you’re using the Dueling III trait and often find yourself in 1vX fights. You might find that 4 seconds of channeled blocking will give you a pretty sweet Retaliation duration stack every once in a while, and the initial absorb can potentially be triggered by your Staff Clones too.

(Whoops, most of the points about Mimic have already been addressed – sorry for repeating!)

Sinaya.4201:

Grimms.9016 (Seven Mirror) currently runs a very similar build. In fact, I think the gear choices, including runes and sigils, are actually identical. The trait point distribution is also the same, although you two have some slight variability in Major Trait choices and Utility Skill options. (Most notably, he uses Deceptive Evasion, but I completely understand why you’ve decided not to)

Some fun gameplay videos here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Seven-Mirror-WvW-Mesmer-05-26-13/first

I’ve tried this build out and it’s very survivable while steal dealing some nice damage. My main issue with it is mobility – Swiftness does wonders in World versus World. Blink helps, but doesn’t quite fulfill the same role.

Null Field is great for the reasons you’ve outlined, (Condition removal, Boon stripping, extra Ethereal Combo Field) but the recast is a little long for my tastes. I often feel a little cheated on the duration too, since it doesn’t seem to last as long as its tool tip indicates.

I’d encourage you to try out Mimic, especially since you’re using the Dueling III trait and often find yourself in 1vX fights. You might find that 4 seconds of channeled blocking will give you a pretty sweet Retaliation duration stack every once in a while, and the initial absorb can potentially be triggered by your Staff Clones too.

(Whoops, most of the points about Mimic have already been addressed – sorry for repeating!)

Hey Sinaya, thanks for the reply. Actually, some of this build was inspired by Seven Mirror (love his videos!) so there are definitely a lot of similarities. The main differences are exactly like you said, some trait choices and the utility skills. Although after reading the earlier responses, I’m probably going to try a main hand sword to see how it works with the build. I just like staying ranged, so we’ll see how it works out.

In terms of mobility, I find that I’m incredibly mobile during fights between blink, phase retreat, and my various stealths. This includes running away, since between stealth direction changes and blinking away every 6 seconds I’m very difficult to catch. For swiftness I just keep my bag open and swap in a focus when I’m running around. A minor pain, but not all that bad.

I find Null Field up usually when I need it, but you’re right in that it can be rather situational. I find myself playing with that last utility skill a lot, and I’m pretty excited to try out Mimic when I get home. It seems like it has great synergy here. My power is pretty high, so I should be doing some decent retaliation damage!

Updated with my newest build. I might have found the perfect fit for my playstyle this time (until 4 hours from now when I think of something else and theorycraft a build around it…..)

Sadly still no videos Someday, I promise!

Enjoy!