Guild Wars 2

Hi, fellow Mesmers.

I’ve been reading a lot of y’all’s posts and have been messing around with my own build a bit. It definitely has aspects of multiple builds already posted, but I was hoping to get some feedback in case I missed something obvious, or perhaps some advice for fine-tuning.

I typically roam solo, roam in small groups, (2-3 people) or sometimes larger mini-zergs (6-8 people)

I’m admittedly sort of on the phantasm / stealthy bandwagon at the moment, although the torch is something I’d entertained myself with even before the new Prismatic Understanding buff.

Here’s a link to my current build:

IntoTheMists Linkie

Breakdown

Gear
Armor – All Berserker, except Celestial Hat
Runes – Centaur
Weapons – Sword (Knight) / Torch (Berserker) & Scepter (Valkyrie) / Pistol (Berserker)
Sigils – Accuracy / Hydromancy & Force / Paralyzation
Trinkets – Cavalier Accessories, Berserker/Valkyrie Combo Amulet and Rings

Traits
20/20/30/0/0
Domination – Empowered Illusions (III), Cleansing Conflagration (IX)
Dueling – Far-Reaching Manipulations (I), Duelist’s Discipline (IX)
Chaos – Master of Manipulation (III), Illusionary Defense (IV), Prismatic Understanding (XII)

Utilities
Mirror, Arcane Thievery, Blink, Decoy, Mass Invisibility

Gameplay

My role is mostly to distract and then surprise with bursty damage. The Prestige offers a nice 4-second, (traited) instant-cast stealth that also provides an AoE blind on cast, allowing plenty of time to get into position for a quick burst or phantasm cast.

Casting Phantasms does not break stealth, nor does using Arcane Thievery. I try to use this to my advantage as much as possible. Scepter / Pistol is generally use for ranged attacks and chasing people down, which seems to end up being the case somewhat often for me. The extended Range on Blink and Arcane Thievery help with chasing down runners since I can steal their boons, (usually including Swiftness or Stability,) Stun them with Magic Bullet, Decoy, Duelist, weapon swap for Chill, make short-range madness with Blurred Frenzy, Prestige, Illusionary Leap, etc.

Sometimes I drop Arcane Thievery for Feedback to allow for Ethereal Field combos (Chaos Armor, Confusion), but I like to utilize my Manipulation traits if possible so usually prefer the Boon / Condition swap of Arcane Thievery.

I’d love any opinions or insight that might be shared! I have a pretty good time with this build, enjoy the mobility granted by the Centaur Runes and Blink, and generally feel like I can get away when I want to and can deal good damage when desired. (I miss some of the support capability of the Inspiration line, but it doesn’t fit with this build very well.)

Thank you for reading!

Also, just in case it comes up… the Celestial Helm is an experiment. I swapped out my Berserker’s for it, resulting in the following stat change:

-25 Power
-12 Precision
+1% Critical Damage
+20 Toughness
+20 Vitality
+20 Condition Damage
+20 Healing Power
+3% Magic Find

The Celestial helm has the semi-anomalous increased critical damage stat when compared for Berserker, Valkyrie or Cavalier helmets so I thought I’d try it out. (It results in less power / precision lost than the Top or Trousers would cause)

Looks nice.

With Prismatic understanding i;m sure u are hard to take down coz the prot effect and also nice for Sigil of Hydro. With ur Torch and Prismatic understanding i;m sure u can go melee and go out easily. Well some 2small questions if i may..

1. Stun sigil +15%, Is it good? 2,3s Stun then from magic bullet?
2. Tell me ur thought about Torch Phantasm in this Build. Simply to shatter?

thats nearly the same build i’m using, its so much fun! i swapped out some berserks for rampagers because you can put up a lot of conditions and works fine too. Full celestials would be working to….

Nevhie.6079:

Looks nice.

With Prismatic understanding i;m sure u are hard to take down coz the prot effect and also nice for Sigil of Hydro. With ur Torch and Prismatic understanding i;m sure u can go melee and go out easily. Well some 2small questions if i may..

1. Stun sigil +15%, Is it good? 2,3s Stun then from magic bullet?
2. Tell me ur thought about Torch Phantasm in this Build. Simply to shatter?

Thanks, Nevhie! The Chaos minor traits and Prismatic Understanding buffs definitely make this build a little tankier than it might seem with nearly full Berserker gear. To answer your questions:

1. I honestly am not sure if it makes a real difference or not. I know that you don’t need the full second in order to have an effect like with damage-based conditions, (Burn, Bleed etc.) but I can’t really say if that 0.3 seconds makes a huge difference or not for the Stun. (I’ll have to try using it without the signet to see if I notice a real difference)

2. Since I use the Torch trait out of the Domination line, the Phantasmal Mage’s bouncing attack also removes conditions, which I find really useful. It’s also nice because the Mage’s beneficial effects can still affect you even when you’re invisible, as long as you’re close enough to the target for the bounce to affect you. (Granting Retaliation and removing conditions)

Its damage is admittedly low though. Due to lack of much Condition Damage with this build, the 3 second Confusion it applies isn’t that useful, and the base damage only crits for 1-2k on its attack. It’s decent shatter fodder though, (long cooldown unfortunately) but luckily it it isn’t seen as much of a threat most of the time and gets left alone.

Thanks for the feedback and questions!

blutstein.2468:

thats nearly the same build i’m using, its so much fun! i swapped out some berserks for rampagers because you can put up a lot of conditions and works fine too. Full celestials would be working to….

I might try a piece or two of Rampagers for the extra crit chance… I usually stack up with Perception Sigils, but it might be nice to have even more Precision from the get-go.

Thanks for reading!

This is a really similar build to the one i am using, although i run it a little more offensively than you.

Here is the build thread
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Stealth-Phant-Hybrid-Build-Update-7-6/first#post2423819

With so much berserker gear i would honestly drop the scepter and pick the greatsword, and for your offhand you could go either sword/pistol or sword/torch. Izerker hits like a truck with this setup, and you can get extra might from gsword 2, and also get Iwave which gives you lots of chances to interrupt, which brings in the idea of using BI in the chaos tree to get more might and random boons.

The nice thing is you wouldnt even have to switch around from 20/20/30, you could run torch with the cooldown if wanting extra stealth and condition removal while running solo, and say you get a couple extra people to help out so you want added damage you can drop the torch CD, pick up the gsword cool down, and switch torch for pistol.

Just some thoughts, i really love how many options this setup gives, and honestly the damage it gives out is reminiscent of my old phantasm build, except now i have lots of boons and stealth to increase defense and offense.