condition damage or crit damage ?
If you want power and precision then Crit Damage is better. Condition damage is primarily for confusion or staff based builds, which rely on vitality and toughness for survivability while the conditions tick – not raw damage output.
well i play an hybrid mesmer, i have knight gear and rampager trinkets and weapons, iDuellist rocks putting bleeds on AoE heavy bosses, but if the boss isnt like that you can use focus instead for extra giggles crazy damage + tons of bleeds, just make sure to take the bleed on crit trait xD
If you use staff, scepter and torch, then condition is best.
If you use greatsword, sword, focus, pistol then crit dmg is better. Staff is appropriate here too if you use warlocks a lot.
A lot of Mesmer weapons are useful for either power or condition focused builds, as well as more balanced builds.
If you build it right (precision/condition, Sharper Image), then the Greatsword, Focus and Pistol are amazing condition weapons. The mainhand Sword is such a good weapon for utility/defence alone that you can use that with a condition build.
That’s the nice thing about many Mesmer weapons, they can be very versatile. A friend’s Mesmer has the exact same weapon loadout (GS, Sword/Pistol) that I have, yet he is largely focused on crit and crit damage, while I am much, much more focused on crit and condition damage although I've recently been using Staff a lot more recently since the Greatsword/phantasm nerf.
And don’t pick a torch based on what kind of damage you do, only pick it for the utility. Who cares about a small burn.
All that said, it is basically up to you to decide what kind of build you want. Personally I have Rabid armour, Rampager jewellery, and weapons could be Carrion/Rampager/Rabid (depends what I want for that weapon). When using Greatsword, bleeds from clone crits account for much of my damage, although I still have a decent power score to add a bit of front loaded punch to my attacks.
crit bar will outdamage any kind of condition builds but since you’re mostly squishy running a condition mes is much better for dungeons.
Fact: every Thief tells you to “l2p” when the subject is to nerf stealth.
i’m using rampager gear for my build, then again i’m a hybrid.
if you chose power and crit chance already, then you’ll be using GS, you can go 2 ways from here, either take condition damage and the second dueling minor trait to apply bleeds with clones, or take crit damage if you plan on using multiple phantasms.
the second weapon set choice will also differ depending on what you chose, if you chose condition damage then it’s better to take scepter + torch or pistol, why pistol you ask?, well illusionary duelist attacks at range and hits 8 times, with a high crit chance it’ll most likely apply at least 4 stacks of bleed, if you chose crit damage, then go with sword + sword or focus.
Sword+Pistol/sword+focus
0
20(pistol and sword mastery)
15(3% dmg redux per illusion)
15(20% phantasm health)
20(3% dmg per illusion, phantasmal haste)
Going for pure power, precision and condition damage.
Once I have three phantasm out, odds are Im going to cap the 25 bleeding stacks.
It’s hard to pull off, but it’s satisfying once you master the craft.
+ if you have a source of regen in the party, you will have a -40% damage taken at all time and etherfeast is a really good heal for your health at 3 illusions out.
I went with a mix of berserker and rampager gear using sword + focus/pistol – staff
I’ve gone 10/30/0/0/30 – I spend alot of time using sword and whip the staff out for the number 2 dodge and defensive capabilities of chaos armour and storm.
Having the condition damage from rampagers gives a modest 670 odd condition damage which is enough for some reasonable damage while I’m playing defensive and allowing for CDs on shatters and nukey skills.
Reflect on distortion and mirror heal add some decent ranged defense whilst blink and mirror image give some handy melee escape options. Despite being really squishy there’s a surprising amount of survival options open and I haven’t felt the need to put pts into chaos for toughness and cooldown reduction on staff.
My opinion is that you can have alot of fun with a shatter build with power/precision/crit damage/ condition damage. – you have the burst when you need it with shatters and you can stay alive whilst stacking conditions and keeping up pressure with staff.
I’d also recommend playing with sigil of stamina and sigil of energy- couple these with clone on dodge “X trait” in duelling – and you can pump out more clones for shatters and survival. Stamina sigil is great for large groups in PVE whilst energy works well for PvP though it’s a personal preference with these sigils i just thought to mention it.