Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

I’m relative new to power-mesmer (chronomancer) but decided to stick to her for roaming in wvw. Mostly I’m roaming alone or with 1-2 other guys. Conditions are not my thing, played condi-hybrid for roaming 3 years ago, was enough. ;-)

My problem is, I can’t decide what build to run. Sure, I could test some, so did I, but am not really sure… My current build and equipment (still building head, gloves and shoes asc) is the following:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAR8elknhG1YZawTNwtGLPHV9geoL6ZBEAHG6E0YPGA-TlSDQBH4BAMhDCAL2fAAmgSgSQJcEAWwFAIe6GCo6PPR5XAAEgbezsZbG4m38m38mJFQmbtA-w
Still have some problems with bursting the right way, but this should be normal in the learning-phase I’m currently in.
An other build that looks pretty nice to me and maybe not “that” common is this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAR8el0nhG1YZawENwtGLrGV9y+sT75RkEPXZEUcBAA-TlSDABAYC6JlfxrbYhLAw87PIxRA4f1fm4gAkgSwDeAABAQAu5NzmtZgbezbezbmUAZu1C-w
Here I would have to change the armor-stats (for me a bit pricey, but if it’d be overall better, why not ^^).

What would fit my needs better for roaming as mentioned above? What are pros and cons of each build? I know that playstyle as power-mesmer is more of kiting and bursting, but sometimes I have great problems chasing people when they decide to run away and my burst wasn’t high enough (obviously I can do nothing here).

Are there any combos a “new” mesmer should know? Normally I try to start with gs#4,2,3, blink or sw#3,2 F1,3. With proper use of F5 I’m still learning. ;-)

Many questions and many thanks in advcance!

Best regards, Lucky aká “Cute Mesquerade”.

I run something very similar to the first spec for roaming and find it an enjoyable build.

Power mesmers whilst being fun in the scheme of things arnt high on the uber roaming builds list. But you can definitely have some fun/success with them. You will get some matchups you are just outclassed. But it makes the win, if you pull it off, all the better.

The best way to get a feel how you should approach rotations is to watch clips of someone with a similar spec. This will give you a good starting point on how to approach certain classes and builds. Then you can build on this approach with what you think works best, switch around some skills and traits to suit your play style.

I know a lot of people dont like phantasmal disenchanter. But after the buff i find it a very handy piece of kit on a short 16 sec cooldown(modified by persistence of memory). And it’s shatter fodder as well, so if you see your targets prot get stripped. And ur set for a burst, by all means sack the chanter for the dmg. He will be back up in around 12 seconds with persistence of memory and flow of time.

*edit fixed broken link

This is what I use.

Swap dueling for inspiration [Take 3, 2, 3] and mantra of distraction for feedback to nearly counter condi builds. Only thing that you have to watch out for is medi/trap guards.

SteepledHat.1345:

Only thing that you have to watch out for is medi/trap guards.

and rangers cause they will pew pew you in 3 seconds, and thieves, and scrappers, basically any unexpected fart and you are dead

Many thanks so far for your replies. Different to my original posted build, I’m currently testing a hybrid build with insp/illu/chrono, viper weapons and armor with antitoxin-runes + back, amu etc. celestial. For weaponsets I try sword/torch + scepter/pistol, perhaps I’ll try an other combo and change sword with scepter. So far, at least in my oppinion, it works well for me. :-)
Pure condi and pure power both didn’t fit my playstyle well enough to feel completely comfortable. The hybrid way on the other hand, same to my old hybrid druid, is something I like more. Only issue is, mobility lacks greatly in regards of chasing an opponent or disengaging (while stealth helps really much here).

flman.6057:

SteepledHat.1345:

Only thing that you have to watch out for is medi/trap guards.

and rangers cause they will pew pew you in 3 seconds, and thieves, and scrappers, basically any unexpected fart and you are dead

You’re very glassy yes, but prior to this I roamed in full berserker. But anytime you’re caught off guard you’re at a disadvantage. It’s a lot more survivable than it seems, but you have to be apt at using your active defenses. Rangers haven’t been much of an issue for me; especially if I run the Insp variant I mentioned. Thieves are a mild annoyance, but I’ve played since beta so managing them now is nothing compared to how it has been. That being said, equally well played thief and mesmer in a duel… thief should win by design. And scrappers…. it depends on the variant, maybe I haven’t encountered the type you’re referring to. At worst they tend to be a draw.

Hey all, wanted to show you what I ended with at least. Instead of a pure power-build like mentioned in my first post, I ended with the following build.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQRAra8el0nhG1YZawTNwtGLOH1ZAMAJWdhmoNKaFsPPAA-TVSFABkZCCgTAQ56HqS5nCPBAEOIAdqE049HqX9HSB03aA-w
Still not sure about the heal, mostly use it while stealthed to recast. While using pistol I have to be very careful with reflects … as I recognized vs. scrappers for example, but for chasing pistol#4 is not that bad in my mind. If I’d change the mantra heal to SotE I could cast two of ‘em and I think the dmg isn’t that bad. Tried at first skilled torch instead of shield, but shield gives too much defence while roaming for me. Perhaps there are any suggestions what I could improve (switching pistol?, but a full melee and a full ranged weaponset is nice..)? With torch I have to get in melee range (with ranged set) to get the burning of torch#4 …..
As you can see, I’m really unsure about these two parts of my build ~~ (healskill, pistol as offhand).

Regarding that build, I have since changed sigils of Doom to sigils of Cleansing which so far are proving to be very useful. I’m preparing myself for a possible RI nerf next balance patch. Sure you lose the poison, but for example when running/kiting it is nice to have on demand condi removal on weapon swap.

For reference (swap Sc/F for Greatsword or Staff or Sc/Sh or Sc/P):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRArd8fl0nhy0YnawRNwtGLvG15PEEHHaAkTPX9wesLLA-T1xHAB8u/w8q/skyv5UCOu+HAeSBKfSFCAgAMfyn8JfyX+yX+G6QH6QH6Q77CdoDdoDtUA9tGA-w

The reason I don’t use pistol is when a fight becomes more than 1v2 it scales really badly and provides no defence.

I’m surprised you don’t like the mantra – it provides the most healing/time and condition removal with Restorative Mantras, even with the channel. But I think because I use Torch it is easier to cover the channel in stealth sometimes. You could go with another heal and change RM to Persisting Images for retal.

Hey Curunen, didn’t say I don’t like it. Indeed the condi-removal is pretty nice. Perhaps I have to get more into not “spamming” the charges when I feel under pessure and in need of some heal. So, will try Sc/F + Sw/Sh. Don’t know, if Torch over Shield would fit to me. I somehow like the double-block and wave, especially when I have to retreat and am under focus from ranged attacks. You think stealth and condiclear overweights the blocks and stun(s)?

I have been experimenting with Sc/F, Sw/T and had some mixed results.

1v1 against a thief, Focus had big downsides where Shield is vastly superior. I was also using Feedback instead of Mirror Images and this was pathetic, whereas with MI I could have unloaded bigger burst. They ran away fwiw, but almost killed me too.

1v3 vs two Scrappers and a Chrono I lasted a surprisingly long time with careful use of focus pull and stealth. The cleansing sigils did prove their worth here. However again I feel had I had Shield I might have managed to win (nearly killed the Chrono but focus pull was pathetic against Scrappers and no reflect when untraited…). On that note the reveal from Stealth Gyro did cause me to waste Decoy which ultimately led to death.

Regarding Torch, it’s not just the stealth – prestige hits reasonably hard and applies good burn which is nice for condi burst.

Also the idea with the runes/food is that you should be able to wait a short moment before healing/removing conditions and let the fast ones drop off by themselves.

But yeah I am now using Sc/Sh, Sw/T and it is so much easier in outnumbered.

Will give Sc/Sh, Sw/T a shot. :-) Can you tell me why you prefer “Master of Fragmentation” over “Ineptitude”? I mean, SC#2 with 6.5 cd would be a nice source of blindess >> confusion.

Blind can be unpredictable and cause enemies to miss your shield block for example. Also not enough sources of blind to make the confusion worthwile. But it is still a good survival trait against multiple enemies.

However MoF provides 10% crit chance to MW which brings it up to 44% (add fury from torch and you’re at 64%) which is nice for direct damage burst in addition to condi. But more importantly aoe F3 is too much of a quality of life benefit for me to let go of. Amazing for stomping/ressing with multiple enemies around.

Tbh you could take any of the three grandmaster Illusion traits – even Malicious Sorcery. They are all equally good in their own ways, although I feel Ineptitude benefits most when using Duelling and Blinding Dissipation.