Guild Wars 2

Was curious to see what skills people favor most, and hoping to catch some inspiration to try something new! From least to most what are your top 3 skills?

• 3) Blink – Blink used to be my favorite skill, I’d blink everywhere if I could. (except.. through walls, sigh.) I really fell in love with this skill when I learned how to use it (and Phase Retreat) to travel up ledges and get to spots I’d normally have to run around. Blink also helped me learn the true value of positioning in combat. (Youtube: Gw2 Blink Spots)

• 2) Chaos Storm – Chaos Storm and Armor are some of the most underrated skills that we have. Chaos Storm combined with Chaos Armor offers one of our best defensive options, but also works to keep the enemy buried under soft CC effects like blind, weakness, chill, ect. What makes it so valuable (in a versus setting) is how well the effect works for groups. A whole team with Chaos Armor essentially means perma-blind for enemies using AoEs and lots of Protection for allies.

• 1) Temporal Curtain – Temporal Curtain takes the cake as my favorite skill in the entire game because of it’s versatility. It’s one of the most creative single abilities in the game, offering a LIGHT combo field (almost exclusive to Guardians), AoE Cripple/ Swiftness, AoE Interrupt/CC AND a reflect when traited. The skill is forgiving, yet rewards creative and tactical play and there are so many different strategies in using it, but one of my favorites is to play mindgames with the enemy. Dropping a curtain on the field essentially forces enemies to waste dodges, and the longer it lingers the more uncertain many opponents become. It’s usually better to wait about 4 seconds after casting before activating the pull so both yourself and your team can reap the benefits and enemies are debilitated by cripple and reflects, or using the curtain pull to combo into iWarden.

1) BLINK -14 votes
2) PORTAL – 12 votes
3) DECOY – 9 Votes

Honorable Mention: Temporal Curtain (6) / Phase Retreat (6) / Prestige (5) / Feedback (5)

Nice thread heres mine:

3) Mimic 4 sec block
see this thread for my reasons https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/MIMIC-short-advice/first#post4072755

2) Mantra of recovery – i just love that this heal has the potential to heal while stunned/cc’d can remove conditions and also is a very good source of producing on heal effects its pretty op tbh

1) probabaly a bit of a hipster skill :P but mirror blade on GS has to be my favourite i cant not use GS because of it, the might stacking with duration up is beautiful and its unblockable yummy, not to mention works well with double CD reduced builds for super might stacking, good use and shatter skill aswell that combines nicely with the other wep skills

1. Decoy
Words cannot describe how awesome this skill is, or how many uses it has.

2. Illusionary Wave
Sexy animation, sexy sound effect. Ultimate “GTFO of my face!” skill, skyhammer/eotm win skill, Edit: And the thief house busting skill! A shame it has a long cooldown.

3. Blink
It may not be 100% reliable, but the options it gives you both in and out of combat are unparalleled.

I’ll go a bit off the beaten track here, and while i often dont use some of them.

3. Portal
Handy to have to get out of holes and bad situations considering you can plan ahead. Also nice to have around from your team.

2. Signet of Midnight
Boon duration help is always good considering the Mesmers limited access to long duration boons. It’s also good for a Blind when you need one, like on a downed player with a CC skill about to pop. The stun breaker part doesn’t hurt either.

1. Illusion of Life
Pretty much worthless when compared to other Res skills on other professions plus the stupidly long Cooldown. Still with an organized group it can grant just enough time to finish off a fight or gtfo so you can recoup and res anyone who needs it. Mostly carry this in large scale PvE or WvW, rarely in sPvP.

Swish.2463:

I’ll go a bit off the beaten track here, and while i often dont use some of them.

3. Portal
Handy to have to get out of holes and bad situations considering you can plan ahead. Also nice to have around from your team.

2. Signet of Midnight
Boon duration help is always good considering the Mesmers limited access to long duration boons. It’s also good for a Blind when you need one, like on a downed player with a CC skill about to pop. The stun breaker part doesn’t hurt either.

1. Illusion of Life
Pretty much worthless when compared to other Res skills on other professions plus the stupidly long Cooldown. Still with an organized group it can grant just enough time to finish off a fight or gtfo so you can recoup and res anyone who needs it. Mostly carry this in large scale PvE or WvW, rarely in sPvP.

if you knew what was good for you, you wouldnt mention signet of midnight on these forums xD prepare for a chaos storm coming your way

Signet of Midnight isn’t terrible, actually.. It just has a really underwhelming passive that needs a buff desperately. Technically all of our signets are like that:

Signet of Illusions: Rarely use the Active
Signet of Inspiration: Rarely consider the passive (well I do, but most people take it for the active)
Signet of Midnight: Passive is kitten near meaningless

The only exception is our Ether Signet.

Btw Cobra, that’s a really interesting top 3 and definitely some good points.

… Oh Illusion of Life. I want to love you, I feel like I should put you in my support builds… But nay. =[ The skill seems to never really work when I want it to… and dat cooldown, omg.

Wyrden.4713:

1.portal
its one of the things that made me want to play mesmer at first, its so unique…

… and so much this!

3. blink
kind of same reasons as chaos arch.

2.illusion of life
it rly has an incredible short casting time, although i couldnt use it often enuf, i still love the design of the skills, its especially funny if used on a war, he gets vengeance x 2:p , explains

1.portal
its one of the things that made me want to play mesmer at first, its so unique , can help an organized group for a suprise atk if places behind enemy zerg,in pvp u can just go back if u see swords on point, in pve jumping puzzzles etc, explains. well since i am roaming much i mostly use it for an escape way when i am blinking into enemy zergs to kill some ppl w fast shatters

i want to love IoL too but its just not good enough for the CD :C tbh i thought this skill had only been seriously used ironically in tpvp

3) Temporal curtain
Great for many things: condi removal, pulling, interrupting, shattering with warden, swiftness and general tool to let enemy waste dodges and stun breakers.

2) Blurred frenzy
Again, skill with many uses: defensively used to prevent burst etc. or offensively when, for instance, shattering. It has been changed to evading so you can hold points with it now aswell for a bit.

1) Decoy
Simply the best utility mesmer has IMO: stealth that can be used when revealed, extra clone and stun break in one skill, ridiculous. It is good even on its own, not to mention all the builds and traits that take the most use out of it.

3. Blurred Frenzy.
I love that I can use it to dish out heavy damage. I love that I can use it in a tight spot to evade damage. It’s just a great skill in general.

2. Signet of the Ether.
I play a phantasm mesmer, so I keep my illusions up and going. Healing 1000+ every few seconds? Yes please.

3. Feedback
Reflect I don’t have to worry about trying to place just right (like Wall of Reflection) that will reflect things that try and go through it from both directions.

I am also a huge fan of Blink and Temporal Curtain, but those three I like better

@smirgel,

blurred frenzy used to be in my top 3 i guess but after being changed to evade it became terrible compared to the previous version, it made the reflection mesmer no longer fully viable for zergs due to being unable to dodge the retaliation you can only use distortion, oh and it gets hit by an ele’s mainH dagger stun aura when using the skill which is kitten imho

3. Portal. This allows me to save my kitten so often and allows me to carry games by portaling my teammates across the map.

2. Blink. This lets me teleport around the place and lets me control the fight, I can also blink onto roofs and through walls in certain scenarios.

1. Null Field. This is one of the best abilities we have, allowing me to cleanse conditions aoe and remove boons which makes killing Warriors and Guards (Eles) ridiculously easy.

Coincidently the three skills I always use.

1. Arcane Thievery. It’s the ol’ “Bait ’n Switch,” just applied to status effects. Use from stealth so the other guy’s got no kitten clue he’s about to get some.
2. Decoy. Who complains about a Stealth/stunbreak/clone-dump, that sidesteps that annoying Revealed stuff?
3. The Prestige. The only Blast Finisher we pack, plus controllable Burning and Stealth.
   I swear, if IMage were only half so stylish … /cry

Decoy is the one skill that doesn’t leave my skill bar even when I switch builds.

Also a big fan of Blink and Mantra of Resolve.

1. Mimic – low CD utility for near invuln plus reflect plus tons of retal when traited plus burning with runes = good time had by all friends, but mostly me.

2. Signet of Inspiration – I buff me, you buff me, I give 5 friends all these buffs…

3. Portal – When I watched the first mesmer video and saw this I knew this was my class. Countless number of my best situations I have got myself into and out of with this lovely skill. Combined with stealth/blink no place is safe from me and my friends.

Runners up – Temporal Curtian(reflect traited), Illusionary Counter/Illusionary Riposte, Feedback, Mantra of Pain(hurt, hurt, traited heal! all in 5 seconds), Phantasmal Defender

Blink – I don’t think I need to say anything..

Portal- Helps a lot in PvP, place portal on a point when you leave it, as soon as you see someone is trying to cap it, you’re instantly there and stop the cap. Can help you do stomps, escape death ect.

Phase Retreat- Staff is by far my favorite weapon, and this is one of the biggest reasons. Helps a lot with mobility, can get you out of trouble in some cases and is a very cheap cooldown to use, whilst both blink and portal are massive cooldowns..

It was hard to pick my top 3 skills.. Other worth noting:
Mirror Blade, Chaos Storm, Time Warp, Moa (against MM necro), Blurred Frenzy, The Prestige..

Have a great rest of the day, happy mesmerizing!

~Monns

1- Blink. Not a single skill brings that much as blink. If traited, it gives you insane mobility both in combat and OOC. Best skill when zerguing, as it allows you to be everywhere you want.

2- The Prestige. Awesome skill that grants huge survivability and also has great spike damage. Also, having the only blast finisher in mesmers makes it even better.

3- Portal. One of the funniest skills of all game. Even it’s very situational, how I love being able to solve puzzles with portal tricks. If it had a range indicator and a timer…

3. blink-1200 traited if i can

2. AT— i know i know i know, buggy yes but after 1k hours with it there are ways to make it work (most of the time)

1. Portal— just amazing

Edit: Hit 3k hours on mez today!!!

3) Phantasmal Warden – This was fun to use when it worked back in the day. I felt like I was putting my enemies into a blender.

2) The Prestige – I love the sound/visual effects, especially the explosion at the end.

1) Feigned Surge – I wish I had this much mobility on land! Plus the damage when you pin an enemy against a surface is very nice.

Blink, decoy and staff2.

Nazer.7301:

3. blink-1200 traited if i can

2. AT— i know i know i know, buggy yes but after 1k hours with it there are ways to make it work (most of the time)

1. Portal— just amazing

Edit: Hit 3k hours on mez today!!!

whats AT?

Wyrden.4713:

Nazer.7301:

3. blink-1200 traited if i can

2. AT— i know i know i know, buggy yes but after 1k hours with it there are ways to make it work (most of the time)

1. Portal— just amazing

Edit: Hit 3k hours on mez today!!!

whats AT?

AT = Arcane Thievery

Nazer.7301:

Wyrden.4713:

Nazer.7301:

3. blink-1200 traited if i can

2. AT— i know i know i know, buggy yes but after 1k hours with it there are ways to make it work (most of the time)

1. Portal— just amazing

Edit: Hit 3k hours on mez today!!!

whats AT?

AT = Arcane Thievery

ahh, ye , i am using it instead portal often when roaming, its funny when someone uses an elite with 20 s stab, and u just steal it and play ping pong w em:p

1) Decoy – so useful, so fitting for the class

2) Mass Invisibility – can have such a big impact for a whole group

3) Illusionary Disenchanter – I could definitely say Blink here. But disenchanter is fun because not many people use it. It has a slow cast time, can die pretty easily, and only pulls off 2 condis from you each time it shoots. But it’s so useful in fights with guardians, necros, engis and ele’s, and I do a lot of 2v2 fights where it can help out my friend.

1. Feedback
Just a great “NO!” to all rangers or warriors who think they can just stay at a range and make us their pincushions. On my confusion build, it does even more damage given they’re both getting condied and reflected.

2. Temporal Curtain
Hilarious on Skyhammer, and very useful defensively and support wise. Also a very visual skill and more strategic with trait.

3. Decoy
Funny way of dodging, like when the enemy finally goes “Found him!” and you undo their target-lock and screw them over once again.

3. Decoy
Life saver, and I love removing peoples targets on me.

2.Phase retreat
Built in dodge, works well with chaos storm for armour. I love to be to constantly be moving and annoying the enemy.

1. Arcane thievery
No doubt about this, all time favourite skill. What is this I see? 20 stacks of might and protection? Should be a shame if someone stole it… Once again a skill that trolls, I always run it.

1) Blink – It has become my crutch and I find myself in withdrawal whenever I play another class.

2) Mirror Images – An instant stun break coupled with the potential for instant 3 clone shatters and the fact that it can be used DURING the channel for Ether Feast to bump it up to the 3 clone heal? Talk about a godsend.

3) The Prestige – It’s a kitten means of applying “Burn,” and I wish we had more access to that condition.

I like that ppl have different sets of skills here,it means mesmer has in depth range of playstyle.
Mantra of distraction-this mantra is so kitteng great,cause it can cancel out a heal which is pretty much endgame.
Chaos strom-what can I say? CC+dmg AOE which NO smart player would try to cross + 8 sec of chaos armor(with phase retreat combo)
Null field-AOE condition cleanser AND boon stripping AND another source of chaos armor!
Next runners up would be the common blink which I keep in every build and decoy.

In no particular order.

Mind Wrack
Portal
Phase Retreat

Chaos Storm, Time Warp, Blurred frenzy and Arcane Thievery deserve a mention as well.

1. Ether Feast..!

20s CD, which is usually enough for any fight. With three illusions out it heals for half the health of a glass spec..! Which is quite substantial every 20 seconds! Traited with Mender’s Purity it delivers its full potential every time and can be used rather freely to cleanse a few conditions as long as you have the seconds to spare! The cast time might be 1 sec, but due to the mesmer’s ability to change focus from oneself, it is a real treat!

It VERY rarely leaves my healing slot. And it deserves credit for being the go to heal..!

2. Chaos Storm..!

I love the animation and sound of this skill..! It offers so much potential and players dread being caught in the middle of it.. The offensive and at the same time defensive capabilities of it is through the roof when placed right! It is the one skill that for me describes the mesmer profession at its core. RNG and fantastic animations included! The fact that you always get a chaos armor out of it, is just icing on its big fat cake..

The main reason why I have regrets on not playing staff more often! Top tier skill..!

3. Phantasmal Berserker..!

The number three spot could have gone to so many wondrous skills in our setup.. But I just love the way this guy cleaves mobs when positioned right! And the fact that it can be used as a sniper skill to a much better extent than Phantasmal Swordsman for example, is just awesome. Stand on a plateau and drop it on mobs/ enemy players and see those health bars drop, quickly! With a traited 12s CD, and Phantasmal Haste it is the champion killer of choice! Would love to see the cripple duration slighty increased.

This skill and Mirror Blade is the top reasons to why I have used GS for so long in PvE..!

Phase Retreat, Mind Wrack, and Portal.

There are so many mesmer skills I love. I can’t pick only 3.

1) Time Warp – so versatile, so useful. It’s great for PvE, and I’ve managed to use it offensively in WvW zergfights, to turn the tide of battle.

2) Signet of the Ether – when this skill was added, I almost never went back to my older heal skills. Constant regen, refresh my phantasms, and a heal? Yes please.

3) Blurred frenzy – an ‘up in your face’ sword attack, that still gives distortion. It combos so well with the sword mainhand.

Die. Favoriting is OP.

Blurred Frenzy vs Phase Retreat — I hate how telegraphed BF is in PvP but very useful in PvE. Maybe I have to hand it down to PR given the versatility of how it can be used.

Blink vs Portal — dat blink vs one the best mobility skills in the game. Given how Portal becomes more and more the defining skill of Mesmer both in pve and pvp I’d have to give it to Portal

Temporal curtain vs null field — for now I probably have to choose TC. Reasons later

1) Moa Morph – just very funny to use and at times a very important skill for transformation override and incapacitation of dangerous targets when outnumbered. Also great for quickly purging a tower/keep of Mesmers and Thieves in WvW.

2) Decoy – a very cool utility that’s so fitting of the class themes. Instant target drop + works through Revealed makes it possibly one of the most important utilities in the Mesmer repertoire.

3) Phase Retreat – such a wonderfully flexible skill and incredibly fun to use when playing defensively/kiting. Also, got to love that reverse Phase Retreat. You get to pretend you’re a shortbow Thief….kind of.

1) Illusionary Leap
2) the new Phantasmal Warden
3) Scepter auto

…wait a minute

I see what you did there…

For me would be Prestige, Mirror Blade and Blink, preferable in that order right into someone’s face.

For me it’s:

1. Illusionary Wave. Lost score how many kills I got with that skill. By sheer numbers, it’s the single deadliest attack we have, IMO.
2. Feedback. Still the most versatile reflect in the game, and we can also get it from just picking someone up.
3. Blink. The versatility is unmatched. I think that’s actually an issue right now, the skill is too must-have. We rely on it, and in turn it ends up reducing us to two utility slots. Still, the combination of stun break and 900/1200 range blink on a relatively short CD is amazing, and very versatile.

3. Blurred Frenzy – While everyone else in my party is dodging one-hit kills, I’m still showing that boss the business end of my blade.

2. Blink – I can get out of this cluster of aoe fields even though I’m crippled and have no endurance. I can get out of this hole that’s too deep to jump out. I can get out of the crystal cage Subject Alpha just put me in. I can negate the Claw of Jormag’s fear. I can get back in the face of the boss that just knocked down my entire party before they even get back on their feet. I can get to the ledge above me that the bork attacking me thinks he’s safe at. Basically, I can literally get to where I need to be in a flash. Funny thing is, when I first started playing, I thought Blink was the most useless skill ever designed because it didn’t do damage.

1. Spatial Surge – This is the reason I’m a mesmer. Say what you want about the damage. I don’t care! The first time I found out I could levitate a greatsword between my hands and shoot out a purple death ray at the max default range, I fell in love with the entire profession! The fact that it can’t be reflected, hits 3 times per channel and has a chance to proc crit sigils with each of those hits is just icing on the cake.

3. Mirror – Since the buff I have fallen in love with this neat heal skill. It can be used as a fourth offensive utility and it is a great gap closer between dodge rolls and the prestige. Theres nothing more satisfying then a rangers face who used rapid fire right before your decoy just to see all those arrows come out of the nothing right back at his face.

2. Decoy – This scene: Edge of the Mists – A Guardian runs towards me dangerously close to an edge. Decoy, Blink right beside him, the clone attacks removing the Aegis, Diversion, Illusionary wave, loot bag. And thanks to the decoy he will never know, what happened.

1. Portal – Since nobody uses the portal devices, this is one of the defining abilities of the mesmer making him an absolute WvW beast and combined with blurred frenzy or distortion grants a 90% save escape at zerg diving. The ability to easy-mode JPs and support your entire guild finally earns this ability the top spot in my list.

3. – Feedback. I’m not the biggest fan of the manner in which this skill casts, but I love dropping it on top of walls in WvW. The combo field is great too.

2. – Blink. Apart from the “glide across the terrain after using while running” bug, it’s perfect for annoying melee players and quickly removing yourself from “oh kitten!” situations.

1. – Temporal Curtain. There’s something very satisfying about dropping it on the sides of cliffs and bridges and watching enemies fly. I let out an evil cackle every time. But it’s just so versatile…it cripples enemies, allows you to pull them away from you or towards you as needed, grants retaliation when using Illusionary Leap and provides a light field field to allies. So much for one little skill

3.portal
2. Feedback
1. Temporal curtain (and it’s 40000000.00000.0000 uses)

Blink and its surfing bug is great too!

1. Portal, for its many creative uses
2. Distortion, because once mastered saves your life endless times
3. Swap (when/if iLeap works), because even in an heavy -condi meta, immobilize kills people.

Rentlle.1370:

3.portal
2. Feedback
1. Temporal curtain (and it’s 40000000.00000.0000 uses)

Blink and its surfing bug is great too!

Surf City!!! Love that bug.

A lot of good stuff here, will add up the votes today!

Favourite:

1. Blink – Love mobility
2. Moa – Feeds my inner troll
3. Riposte – I like using timed blocks

Dislike:

1. Illusionary Leap – So broken
2. Phantasmal Mage – Does nothing
3. Scepter Auto-Attack – Too slow, Too low damage, Too easily reflected. Love it visually and would love to be able to use it if it was better but… yeah…

moreever than why, it can be added where question.. as player can like to know that in which mode that skill is voted..

like
Tpvp:
1)portal: mobility, positioning,
2)phase: mobility, positioning,
3)blink: mobility, positioning,

WvW Organized Zerging,
1)veil: unique skill, is the best efficient/compare to other classes
2)blink: timing for veil/positioning/mobility
3)prestige: getting out of target while periphery hunting/hunted, being out of melee train, survival/positioning/burst

1) Phase Retreat: Free clone. Awesome escape. Low cooldown.

2) Blurred Frenzy: High Dps. Immune to damage. Makes other classes envy you

3) Chaos Storm: Our only real AoE which makes a large difference in a zerg fight.

1. Blurred Frenzy: While my ele is suffering, my mesmer is spoilt with this skill when solo Lupi. Long evade time, decent damage.

2. Blink: Bread and butter for mesmer’s mobility. Own Subject Alpha and his crystal trap.

3. Riposte: Big big big damage and a block on short CD.

Honorable mention: Signet of Midnight traited with Blurred Inscription, Mass Invisibility, Time Warp (to re-cast mantra and to rez down people), Mimic and Mantra of Pain.

In no particular order:

- Decoy – so useful in every build, never off my bar, synergizes with everything

- Blurred Frenzy – just too good; offense and defense all rolled into one

- Chaos Storm – love the large aoe stun, boon/condition field with combo potential

runners up: Phase Retreat, Mirror Blade, Signet of the Ether

3. Arcane thievery. Roaming and small group action in WvW has become very warrior heavy. I love ripping off a huge might stack and long fury, while dumping my condis off on the class that is usually least equipped to handle them. With blink, it also makes manipulation cooldown a worthwhile trait in the last whatever slot with PU builds that don’t use a staff.

2. Blink. Shouldn’t really have to say much here.

1. Illusionary Wave. Gets the top spot not because it’s my favorite skill per se, but because it’s helped me end thousands of thieves.