Guild Wars 2

We all know Mesmers are pretty strong. 9 times out of 10, I’m /laugh-ing at the Warrior trying his kitten off to take me down, but at the same time I’m lifting up my leggings and running my kitten away from Necros.

So I was wondering, based on your build, what class gives you the most trouble and the least trouble and why?

In sPvP I’ve played a Sword/Sword-Staff shatter build and Sword/Torch-Staff condition build and no matter what, decent Necromancers wash me up and I can’t take down a decent D/D Elementalist. Conversely, Warriors/Engineers/most Thieves/many Rangers give me no issue.

Haven’t dipped into WvW much, (and when I do I’m usually supporting Zergs anyways) but I’d love to hear from the experiences of those who have.

Hardest: Eles. I can’t keep up with them.

Easiest: Thieves. They are baaaaaad sheeple

Unkillable:
Skill Lag, Server Random Shutdown, bugged abilities

Troublesome Opponents:
Anyone with either vast maneuverability (D/D Ele, Thief), or someone with massive Condition Removal (Ele/Bunker Guard/Condition Necro). High CC characters (immobilize/stun sucks). Top-end Mesmers.

Normal:
“Balanced” Warr/Guard/Ranger. Well-played Engi. “Reasonable” Mesmers.

In My Favour:
HS Spammer Thief, GC Warrior, newer Mes players.

I’ll win, unless I screw up.
Badly played/new Engi. SB/PP Thief

I have to say that even though I know the class pretty well now, other mesmer’s give me the most problems. Our clones and phantasms really are so frustrating I
sympathize with other classes facing us. And the main problem is I think we have a variety of legitimate builds that are quite effective in the hands of a good mesmer and its really tough to spec for that variety.

On the other end of the spectrum is the Warrior, who I just own.

I’m a bit boreed so I will post an input from an outsider Engineer

When I played with my 100nade build, Mesmer were my worse ennemy. Since We have to be melee range for most of our damage, and pinning down a good mesmer is nearly impossible, it was a really hard fight vs a pro opponnent.

with my main and alts i fear phantasmal mesmers

@Kardiamond: What build do you use now? I heard 100nades got obliterated.

And what type of Mesmers are yall? (Shatter/Mantra/Glamour, ect..)

I seem to be at the opposite end. I haven’t found necros or other mesmers to be that hard, especially mesmers. On the other hand thieves give me the most agonizing of headaches, especially either the ones that keep hugging my face with heartseeker, or the ones that are near perma-stealthing. Exactly what are you guys doing that makes thieves so relatively easy?

Staff. Chaos Storm, Chaos Armor, Phase Retreat (w/Daze shatter)

Or mirror images >> distortion.

Sword’s blurred frenzy and ileap(daze shatter before swap) also do the trick for me.

Clones/Phantasms always give away where the thief went and when they’ve reappeared, GS zerker iDuelist and Swordsman are particularly deadly for them.

Oh.. and Chill from sigil of hydromancy, mixed in with the above, helps pretty well.

interesting that hardest and easiest vary over people

Incarmine.1953:

I seem to be at the opposite end. I haven’t found necros or other mesmers to be that hard, especially mesmers. On the other hand thieves give me the most agonizing of headaches, especially either the ones that keep hugging my face with heartseeker, or the ones that are near perma-stealthing. Exactly what are you guys doing that makes thieves so relatively easy?

I find that if you control their movement, they are incredibly easy. Temporal curtain and #5 push back on GS help a lot when they stealth, you pretty much mess up their plan of whatever they wanted to do. shatter f4 is great for when you know backstab is coming

Incarmine.1953:

I seem to be at the opposite end. I haven’t found necros or other mesmers to be that hard, especially mesmers. On the other hand thieves give me the most agonizing of headaches, especially either the ones that keep hugging my face with heartseeker, or the ones that are near perma-stealthing. Exactly what are you guys doing that makes thieves so relatively easy?

I’m with you I don’t have much trouble with necro or most other mesmer either. I do have trouble with thieves mostly, some good d/d elementals, and a good BM bunker ranger can be a pain.

Incarmine.1953:

I seem to be at the opposite end. I haven’t found necros or other mesmers to be that hard, especially mesmers. On the other hand thieves give me the most agonizing of headaches, especially either the ones that keep hugging my face with heartseeker, or the ones that are near perma-stealthing. Exactly what are you guys doing that makes thieves so relatively easy?

I dunno, I find thieves easy just because of the “hey why are you hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself effect” i.e. retaliation and confusion are your best friend against them.

Hardest: Good stealth mashing thieves, D/d eles, Other Mesmers
Easiest: most warriors, guardians, BAD thieves, Predictable mesmers, Engis, Necros,

While I think I do get killed by Thieves more than any other profession, I wouldn’t call them the hardest as most of their kills against me occur when I’m distracted or otherwise not expecting it. In a “fair” fight where I see them coming, they don’t tend to be a threat.

Being a condition Mesmer, a skilled Necromancer can give me trouble; but in WvW at least I find a Confusion burst at the right time (after they’ve used most of their condition transfers and removals) can still lock them down and secure me a victory.

Other Mesmers are definitely troublesome when they’re played well, but as almost all other Mesmers use Shatter builds they tend to be quite vulnerable to my condition Mesmer.

The above is in WvW. In sPvP it’s a bit different as people are more likely to bring condition removal and Confusion is nowhere near as strong. In this case Shatter Mesmers are a greater threat, as are Necromancers; and Rangers also tend to be difficult to kill… actually all other professions except Warriors and Thieves are more difficult to kill without an OP Confusion burst.

There’s only one class/build I know my standard build can’t beat, and that’s a phantasm mesmer using iDefender and phantasm regens, with condition removal mantra and heals. Using confusion, the mesmer doesn’t even need to use skills, negating confusion damage, and any confusion put on can be removed with cd removals. Bad times.

Everyone else dies.

Jackums.3496:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

And what type of Mesmers are yall? (Shatter/Mantra/Glamour, ect..)

I’m running a condition build (full Rabid stats). Not a glamour build, though. Confusion is my main condition, but I achieve it through shatters and the staff/scepter skills.

I have literally zero condition removal, and this makes Mark Necros my worst enemy. If they can keep their focus on me and see through all of the clones, the condition stacking generally destroys me. I sometimes use Null Field, but I find it too situational because I mostly WvW roam, and rarely do you come across a Necro in doing so. Other professions don’t use many AoE condition skills, and I can avoid the ones that are applied directly.

In your case Arcane thievery is your best friend

Hardest to Kill: Stealth Spamming Thief; Bunker D/D Ele

Most Likely to Kill Me: Necromancer (Without any condition clearing skill on my typical skill bar I can easily find myself loaded down with lethal stacks of conditions if I make a mistake).

Easiest to Kill: Staff Eles, Warriors, Rangers, Other Mesmers, GC Thieves

On a related note, anyone else notice a severe lack of competent mesmer fighters/roamers/duelists out in WvW? Most mesmers I run into are pathetically easy to kill and have no understanding of their class. For perspective, I’ve spent most of my WvW time in Tiers 1-3 so I believe most people are running Portal/Veil bots.

On a 0/20/20/0/30 build made for WvW. I use I-defender, blink and swap out null or decoy for utilities. It’s made for my 3 man blitz group of 2 Mesmers/ necro all tanky builds, so if it sounds odd its the sum of the parts that this is built for. Sigil of Generosity on my main weapon, the staff.
Hardest oponant, in a solo situation, is a full condition Necro wearing solders gear.
Easiest oponant is a thief. Predictable every single time. Warrior isn’t much harder though. I feel bad for warriors. They’re just so cornered in viable builds.

Eliyahu.1467:

Hardest to Kill: Stealth Spamming Thief; Bunker D/D Ele

Most Likely to Kill Me: Necromancer (Without any condition clearing skill on my typical skill bar I can easily find myself loaded down with lethal stacks of conditions if I make a mistake).

Easiest to Kill: Staff Eles, Warriors, Rangers, Other Mesmers, GC Thieves

On a related note, anyone else notice a severe lack of competent mesmer fighters/roamers/duelists out in WvW? Most mesmers I run into are pathetically easy to kill and have no understanding of their class. For perspective, I’ve spent most of my WvW time in Tiers 1-3 so I believe most people are running Portal/Veil bots.

What server are you on. I am in DB and I love dueling… Don’t consider myself good by any means. I win some I lose some but if you are ever in tier 3 (where DB lives) you may find yourself against me or pyro.

Jackums.3496:

“Most Problematic” Tier:
Necromancer
Mesmer

“Sometimes Difficult” Tier:
Ranger
Thief

“I Win Majority of the Time” Tier:
Elementalist
Guardian

“Easy Pickings” Tier:
Engineer

“lol, you’re attacking me? That’s cute” Tier:
Warrior

The last one… Just……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..BAUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…… breathe… breathe again… ahhahahahahahahahahaaha… Okay Im good… Thank you. You have made my day.

Hardest: pistol/dagger thieves (good ones), phantasm mesmers
Easiest: Everything else, I dont know why you people are having trouble with eles

Problematic Match-up:
Ele because they can burst or run away. I usually win in sustained fight thou
Skill Match-up :
Other Mesmers of course.
Good Condition/Bunker Engi.
Favorable Match-up:
Guardian: Mesmer can rip boons easily, thus, making guardian very vulnerable.
Ranger, GC Engi: a lot of projectile reflects makes these match up easy for mesmer
Easy Match-up:
Warrior: We have too many stun-break which makes it hard for Warrior to deal with
Thief: They die too quickly against a good Mesmer if they don’t run

Mesmer Type =
MSS Build (Shooter)

Hardest=
- Boon Duration Build Ele
- Bunker Guardian
- Thief with high Tough/ HP
- Burning Guardian

Other than those… So so or easy.

Hardest = Phantasm Mesmer, tanky regen ranger.

Easiest = everything else.

aaron.7850:

Hardest: pistol/dagger thieves (good ones), phantasm mesmers
Easiest: Everything else, I dont know why you people are having trouble with eles

Same here.

Eles don’t usually kill me, but I can’t take them down either. I simply can’t seem to do enough damage to them as they’ll have either Armor of Earth or some other method of defense while Water Attunement is on cooldown.

Lately the most annoying i see around is engi spamming a grab+barrage of grenades that one hit kill you with 1900 toughness/15k HP if you don’t use Distortion instantly. I don’t have an engi so i dunno if that’s even possible or people macro all grenades to 1 button (again, dunno if that’s even possible).

The one and only class that gives me trouble are the thieves….either I ‘tank’ and bash away, or I blast them from afar. But thieves won’t let me do either…

From WvW experience only (Playing with a condition build only), it’s not about the profession but the build in question, I find power/crit burst builds being the easiest to defeat since they have to commit in attacking you in the shortest time possible to dish out maximum damage and that’s where you outplay them with confusion stacking, which 90% of the time is lethal unless they notice quickly enough and retreat.

On the other hand, condition builds can be much more troublesome, because they always guaranteed to have ways of sustainability along with heavy condition damage and likely pack some good CC, so it will be more difficult to deal with these builds being a condition mesmer (and likely impossible with a power/crit build) since it will breakdown to who can outlast the other first and it hardly plays in our favor.

Three tiers dividing both professions and builds which in my opinion are the best/worst match-ups I had against my condition mesmer, also small anotation in right side:

Difficult:
1. Necromancer (Condition build) – Boon corruption, heavy CC, lots of conditions and great survival-ability.

— 1. or 2. — Elementalist (Dagger build) – It will depend heavily on the user and how knowledgeable they are of your build, so it make them the hardest match-up or not so much, also can be easy if they turn out to be reckless against you)

2. Ranger (Condition build) – Sword/Torch/Axe setups make them very mobile and lethal in melee range, diverse conditions, great sustain and the pets used can make the fights less or more difficult.

3. Thief (Condition build) – Mobility, stealth chaining, sustain, skill from user will make this match-up easier or more difficult.

4. Mesmer (Condition build) – Your nemesis is your own build, the one who makes more mistakes under confusion will lose.

Average:

1. Thief (Burst build) – Cookie cutter D/D Backstab build, basilisk venom as elite and good users can make this a difficult match-up.

2. Engineer (Condition build) – Surprisingly good considering it’s not so popular, good conditions and also confusion can be dangerous, good survival-ability and sustain depending on kits and elixirs usage.

3. Necromancer (Burst build) – Good CC and vulnerability stacking can take you down quickly if not careful.

4. Mesmer (Burst build) – GS attacks are easy to avoid, sword combo can be dangerous if not avoided)

Easy (In no particular order):

Warrior (Any build) – Hammer builds can give you an hard time if you spend to much time in melee range, GS+quickness can be lethal but is easily avoidable if you’re paying attention)

[Special] Guardian (Depending on build/weapon set can be average or even difficult)- There’s all kind of extremes with Guardians but in general it’s an easy match-up if they commit in killing you.)

Engineer (Burst build) – Just be careful with supply crate stun and net rifle, otherwise it’s a no brainer, they want to kill you quick, show how it’s done with little effort from your side.)

Ranger (Burst build) – Sword/Dagger can give you some trouble if they manage to stick in your face, with bows it’s the same story as the engineer.)

Elementalist (Staff build) – Just stay out of their aoe which is extremely predictable and you’ll be fine.

—

Hope it was helpful insight for some

Recently it’s been Rangers I fear the most, in sPvP that is. It depends on the player I’m matched against, but I’ve ran into some heavy duty rangers who can stomp the living crap out of me. I’m still trying to learn their mechanics though, so we’ll see in a month from now where I stand.

Also, kitten their pets! I’ve been in a couple of situations where me and a ranger are downed, even with illusions up, I can’t seem to drop them when they have their pets healing them.

Also, bunkers in general are such a pain. So many times am I stuck at a cap, it’s 1v1 and I’m dropping burst after burst… but nooooo, they can always seem to hold for backup to arrive and drop me. >_> There was a couple of times where it’s been me and another berserker on a bunker guardian, same kitten. They just won’t die!

Bunkers are unreal in this cap map bullkitten. Please give us new game modes!

I like fighting mesmers on my ranger now,half the time they’ll just pop a Feedback and then act surprised when I rush them with a sword or a GS :P
That said,it saddens me to see how many people just stay within that dome when I use it against other people.

Hardest, D/D elementalist, or toughness thief (they die sometime)

Middle, Engineer, guardian, mesmer, ranger, necro
mid/easy, warrior
Easiest, Burst thief, elementalist.

I usually don’t have any problems, just some different builds that are extra annoying, like toughness thief, take down their HP to less than 25%, they vanish and then come back and annoy you, cause they can’t really take you down

Daishi.6027:

Hardest = Phantasm Mesmer, tanky regen ranger.

Easiest = everything else.

lol, its fun to read this!

I least 4 of you in this thread say the same thing, no other profession can claim their hardest match up is the same profession as theirs and everyone else is easy.

Every time you post stuff like this its another nail in the coffin.

I just wish Engineers could lay such claims, don’t get me wrong they are not weak by any stretch of the imagination but I can only beat a Mesmer as an Engi if I play absolutely flawlessly, one mistake or a mistimed stun breaker…dead!

Nuka Cola.8520:

Lately the most annoying i see around is engi spamming a grab+barrage of grenades that one hit kill you with 1900 toughness/15k HP if you don’t use Distortion instantly. I don’t have an engi so i dunno if that’s even possible or people macro all grenades to 1 button (again, dunno if that’s even possible).

Probably has this in the set up
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Magnet → http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Kit_Refinement and http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Grenade_Barrage

Easiest would be most classes (depending on their spec), but my build can outlast and even kill D/D Ele, Tank Guardian… etc.

The HARDEST would be a Necromancer. Yes, lol one of the most “broken” classes beats me.

My weakness is probably condition, since I don’t really have any condition removal. (I only really have Mender’s Purity lol)

Most smart necro’s “hide” their bleed/poison behind other conditions (like vulnerability, weakness…others) and I basically wilt to death unless I kill them first. But then again, they have death shroud to last a little longer.