WvW Condition Build Question
I have 0 issues applying enough conditions make use of geomancy and doom sigils to help keep up pressure by adding even more conditions.
Made a post about my roaming condition 1vx build you can see in my video I don’t have any issues in 1vx situations.
XOXO Female Asura Mesmer NSP | Female Sylvari Engineer
I have the same gear. I used to run the same weapons as well but due to the lack od burst like you i switched mine up a bit.
Swap to Greatsword and Scepter/Pistol combo, get 2 Bleeding Sigils(one for GS and one for either Scepter or Pistol) and the 3rd is your choice i am thinking either Corruption or precision sigil.
Domination: V, X
Dueling: II, X
Chaos: IV, V, XII
If you want more burst with a condition mesmer, you could try something like what ArmageddonAsh has stated above. Around 50-60% crit the GS surpasses the staff in terms of condition application, and has the iZerker for burst when needed. You’d probably throw some Rampager’s gear into the mix to get some power as well (could probably do Carrion too if you have enough crit from your accessories).
That being said, I think you could try sticking with staff. In my signature is a link to the build I use. I use sword instead of scepter and I find that it works well. I find that using a combo of The Prestige → iLeap → Blurred Frenzy provides very nice burst damage. Plus, having an immobilize means that you can actually stop people from running, which is an ability that the scepter lacks. I have plenty of fights that last 20s or less because I’m able to do the above combo successfully as an opener and then continue to put offensive pressure on. You’re not going to be killing things as fast as a glass cannon thief because condition builds, almost by definition, rely on outlasting the opponent. However, for a condition build, I’m very happy with the kill speed I have.
The scepter certainly lacks the reliable snaring and burst that the sword can offer, but how do you feel loosing out on the torment/confusion stacks? Though the block can be difficult to land, torment hits like a truck when specced for conditions.
Perhaps I’m just used to the insane burst from shatter gameplay, but I find myself wanting more burst because in 1vx I feel like I cannot pressure an opponent who is trying to rez a downed teammate enough to prevent the rez. I’m fond of the damage over time play style, in fact I prefer it, I just don’t feel like I have adequate stopping power right now. It could certainly also be an issue of skill.
Put this togeather two weeks ago.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-Poisoned-Apples/first#post2381371
If you scroll down I put in a staff variant.
The scepter certainly lacks the reliable snaring and burst that the sword can offer, but how do you feel loosing out on the torment/confusion stacks? Though the block can be difficult to land, torment hits like a truck when specced for conditions.
Perhaps I’m just used to the insane burst from shatter gameplay, but I find myself wanting more burst because in 1vx I feel like I cannot pressure an opponent who is trying to rez a downed teammate enough to prevent the rez. I’m fond of the damage over time play style, in fact I prefer it, I just don’t feel like I have adequate stopping power right now. It could certainly also be an issue of skill.
I agree that the torment hits like a truck. However, it’s far too unreliable in my opinion to be considered “burst.” For me, burst damage is something you can get on demand when you need it. With scepter, you can only apply the torment when someone’s attacking you. That means you can’t use torment to burst down someone who’s running away. Also, torment will be applied to the target whose attack you block first. That means that if you are fighting multiple enemies, or even just one enemy with pets/minions/illusions, you have a high chance of not applying the torment burst to the target you want.
With sword, you don’t have those issues. Even with only 200 additional power in my build, Blurred Frenzy still hits for several thousand damage, and can hit multiple targets. Add that together with The Prestige and you have another several thousand damage due to the blast and the burning. Is it as large as torment? No, but it’s far more reliable and still does a lot of damage. Also, it’s AoE burst which is very helpful if you’re fighting multiple foes at once (assuming they’re standing close enough together).
Also, the immobilize shouldn’t be overlooked. I can blink and then iLeap onto a foe. That means that from 1800 m away, I can close in and immobilize a target in a couple seconds. With the 80% condition duration I have in my build, that’s almost 4s of immobilize. That’s very helpful when I’m roaming by myself for stopping runners, and it becomes downright lethal in group play.
I realize that I’m in the minority by advocating so strongly for sword. Most other condition mesmers use scepter and use it very well. However, I insist that sword is a viable option if you want more stopping power.
To demonstrate my point, I made a video of sword in action. In it, I spot an enemy, close in, and stomp her all in the span of 30 seconds. The actual combat lasts only 20s or so. As you can see, the longer immobilize gives me the opportunity to get off my entire Blurred Frenzy/Prestige combo as well as replace some of my clones to cause significant amounts of Cripple. The target didn’t even get a chance to run. Obviously, a 1v1 isn’t impressive, but I think this is a good representation of average kill speed and stopping power against an average opponent.
Here’s the video: http://youtu.be/ryBTP8WjQ9c
So what you mean to say is, with 80% condition duration its 3 seconds of immobilize, because without the full 100% duration any decimal points equate to nothing.
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(edited by Ross Biddle.2367)
So what you mean to say is, with 80% condition duration its 3 seconds of immobilize, because without the full 100% duration any decimal points equate to nothing.
I believe that is only for damaging conditions, which tick every second on the full second.
Things like cripple, chill, etc. do take advantage of partial seconds.
Hey there,
I’m back with an update, and of course more questions. A big thank you to all who have contributed so far.
I tweaked my build and this is what I’ve got so far.
Giver’s Sword of Earth/ Giver’s Torch of corruption
(will likely switch earth to doom due to low crit chance)
Giver’s Scepter of doom / Giver’s pistol of corruption
Rabid armor / trinkets (currently all exotic while I regear)
20 (V, IX)
20 (II, IX)
30 (IV, V, XII)
0
0
I’m running with Ether Feast, Blink, Decoy, and Null Field.
Edit: I should add that I run with null field instead of arcane thievery in order to stack confusion with iduelest or for a combo field for prestige blast
Dropping the staff for the pistol has definitely given me more burst / steady application of bleeds due to sharper images, but at a loss of a huge amount of survivability provided from the staff. I feel like in 1v1 I have a much higher ability to get the stomp, but in group fights / 1vx I’m still having trouble keeping the pressure on.
So I suppose here are my questions: Thoughts on the build? Is it truly worth losing sharper images to put 20 points into inspiration for +200 condi damage? I also find myself torn between three weapon sets: staff, scepter/pistol, and sword/torch. They all seem to function in a condition build just fine, but I’m having a hard time striking a balance between condition pressure and killing power.
Please let me know what you think?
Hex
(edited by HexMeHarder.3867)
Define low crit chance, you have rabid gear and 20 points in dueling.
Staff and scepter/torch works just fine with 20/20/30, staff clones provide huge damage and condition variety. I would not use gs clones since they only apply bleeding.
About iRiposte, its common knowledge that you can be damaged when you are cloaked. People usually cleave or spam skills and this is a good way to land torment and also confusion. Also some players use skills while running away (engies comes to mind) and while its true that you cant use it to take down someone that is running it kills people that try to do it if you apply it before.
I also like sword/torch but more for a power shatter build.
iMage is mostly a condition cleanse, then it applies confusion and retaliatation (you should try it retaliatory shield). I also use DE because it works well with on death traits and adds more staff clones.
Arcane thievery is buggy but its the best bet since you can run master of manipulation and have both arcane thievery and blink on shorter cd.
iMage, the prestige, arcane thievery and melandru runes are enough to counter conditions while you have enough damage to kill everything.
20 points in inspiration are good only if you run varconi’s build, that is really good.
Hi Hex,
I’m my opinion, the 200 condition damage from Inspiration wouldn’t be worth dropping points from elsewhere. Given that you use the iDuelist for a good portion of your damage, you absolutely need Sharper Images to make it work in a condition build, and having Duelist’s Discipline to get guaranteed confusion on its projectile finishers is huge. The 20 points in duration as well as 200 power from Domination is also very important since iDuelist, Sword, and Scepter all do a fair amount of direct damage. Also, the duration is important because at 80% duration, your bleeds will be getting nine ticks and any confusion you apply will also be boosted up to nine seconds. Also, I wouldn’t take 20 out of Chaos because you’d lose out on quite a bit of survivability, which you already said you felt you were lacking.
As for your question about weapon sets, I’d agree that all the ones you listed can work very well in a condition build. I personally go for staff and sword/torch as stated above because the staff and the sword are my favorite weapons and are the most fun for me to play with. Looking at your build, I’d assume that scepter/pistol serves more of an offensive role while sword/torch is more defensive, but with the potential to have more stopping power and burst than staff.
If you feel that you’re having more trouble in 1vX fights, you should consider a few things. First of all, 1vX is obviously going to be more difficult since you are at a numerical disadvantage. Oftentimes, those sorts of fights are just as much about outlasting the opponents as they are about quickly bursting them down. With Blurred Frenzy, Illusionary Counter, and all the stealth you have, you already have quite a bit of defense to help you outlast the opponent. Since I’ve never played without staff though, I can’t really compare how your survivability will be without it. Ultimately, if you are feeling like you can’t survive as long as you like, you should ask yourself if you feel that it’s a problem with your build or just that you need more practice on this current setup.
What do you think about something like this? Still testing and playing around with it. With some quick trait swaps it’s still effective with a staff. I usually run staff sword/focus in zergs. Im still on the fence about losing deceptive evasion. Thanks for all your input thus far!
Hex
So what you mean to say is, with 80% condition duration its 3 seconds of immobilize, because without the full 100% duration any decimal points equate to nothing.
I believe that is only for damaging conditions, which tick every second on the full second.
Things like cripple, chill, etc. do take advantage of partial seconds.
And for what it’s worth, I’ve done some testing on this recently because I wasn’t sure either, and dandamanno is correct. Specifically, for cc type conditions like cripple/daze/immobilize/chill, durations round to a 1/4 second as it states on the wiki. With 80% condition duration your 2s immobilize becomes 3.5s.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Hex, I run almost the exact same build except mine is power based instead of condition, I run DE, and I have an off-hand sword instead of pistol. In sPvP I run Soldier Amulet with the Berseker upgrade and Divinity Runes and do not feel I’ve trouble with damage.
I’d be interested to see if this works well with conditions, even though I’ve mostly written off condition damage due to the low output on confusion. The Sw/T prestige > blurred frenzy combo is an exceptional burst. If I’ve the CDs lined up I’ll time it with feedback to get the aoe chaos armor burst. After that I’ll swap, drop iSwordsman and issue two blocks with the scepter and sword.
mesmer of Blackgate
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