Guild Wars 2

I will probably hit 80 on my mesmer within the week and im debating what build i should use for WvW, Im looking to do damage mainly but also provide the expected utility of portal bombs and some stealth with some degree of escapeability.

The way is see it you can either build your gear towards a condition build or go mostly or full on zerkers glass cannon. the issue im having is that i really dont like the idea of going full Glass cannon because although it might be usefull if you arnt getting hit or want to burst people down rogue style when you are doing seiges or defending you will most likely die before you can do anything but if you mix in too much toughness/vit in the place of crit then you arnt that good at burst and you really arnt that durable anyway. the issue i have with condition builds is that it doesnt have any burst (duh) and fights against 1v1 or 2v1 take alot longer and make YOU suseptable to being burst down, but ofcourse i may be totally wrong about this and need your input.

So my question is what spec is viable in WvW? What do you run? and how do you like it? and do you wish you went with a different spec?

thanks in advance

cheers

Glass “cannon” is probably the way to go in wvw, in spvp i would go a bit more surviveability.
However lately the “cannon” part is far from the real thing for mesmers.

I’d say go here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/guide-WvWvW-Shatter-cat/first

It is a glass cannon shatter build that even has videos. This build is amazing and what I use in WvWvW all the time. The videos also give a good idea on how to play.

I agree with the shatter, but if you want something a bit different, here’s another post:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Arn-t-mesmers-awesome-at-tanking-PVP/first#post825074

Here’s my spec:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl0ziqHTzqGb9IiJFDHyh6x1BefXJF82FC;TkAqZMzImxOjbG5MLRGWstA

It’s a shatter build with some burst defense. The combo of Regen and Protection at 75% is great for mitigating thief and warrior burst which can be a problem if they get the drop. I run with several guildies who throw out lots of regen, so protection has a high uptime. I like Mirror because as my server has moved up in the tiers I noticed more players recognize heal animations and like to try and interrupt. Thinking about trying 25 Dueling and 15 in Chaos as a little bump to burst and confusion on clone death might be worth the loss of staff cooldown reduction.

One thing I do a lot is switch out skills and traits based on what I’m doing. A few instances:

- Roaming with small group – Focus and/or Centaur runes for getting around. Decoy for Feedback.
- Roaming solo (usually just getting from one point to another) – Mass Invis usually as most 1v1s get interrupted by zergs and I need to get out fast.
- Holding a point – Change Focus for Pistol. Drop the fall damage reduction for Manipulation cooldown or condition on clone death. Time Warp.
- Taking a point – If defended – Mass Invis to get the drop. If not defended, Time Warp for quick takedown of NPCs. Swap Null Field for Portal.
- Defending a Tower/Keep – I use the build I linked.
- Taking a Keep – Time Warp. Switch out fall damage reduction trait.

This is subject to change, of course, but these are some basics. Most of what I run with I do because it works well with the specs my guildies run with. I’m always testing and revising.

i’ve been running a GS/ Scepter+Pistol with full CD, Precision, and Power runes and jewelry (all max exotic), Hybrid shatter/condition build, for WvW (mainly) and Pve.

and let me tell you something, you will not survive well if you don’t know when to fall back, i also had really bad survivability problems until i started using feedback and Distortion properly.

i cannot recommend using Distortion (F4), Mirror (heal), Feedback, and Masterful Reflection (trait) enough, these are your bread and butter survivability tools in WvW, without them, you will be completely decimated by ranged enemies.

i also like to take mirror images to quickly get out 2 clones for distortion, along with Illusionary Persona (grandmaster illusions trait) and an extra clone/phantasm, you get 4 seconds of invincibility and projectile reflection, and it’s quite fast on the recharge.

as for trait distribution, i have 30 illusions, 20 dueling (fury for phantasms and deceptive evasion), and 20 inspiration (medic’s feedback, and Vigorous Revelation because it works without clones when you have illusionary persona).

I am in all beserkers gear, and yes it is good, along with my pure power, direct damage build. But like Rapid said, you have to know when to fall back. You can get right in there and start blowing people up but if you get focused – dead. I use blink, decoy, and mirror images for my utility. Blink breaks cc and gets you far away, decoy does as well (I think), and mirror images gives you 2 quick clones for damage or distortion. I personally like to save my mirror images for defense, unless I’m clearly winning the fight.

glass cannon mantra/iberserker spam is (was) amazing but since they ****ed it up its not worth even playing mes in wvw.

Mesmer utilities and mechanics are usually good enough to keep you from getting hit. I’ve found the mesmer can get away with glassy cannon equips ’cause you make it up with all the defensive skills. Sorta like thieves, I guess.

Full berserker gear running GS/sword+torch shatter build. Hard to die with that much stealth if you play it right.

a confusion / condition spec works wondrously people suicide en masse between reflects + confusion. toughness+precision+condition gear primarily. it has turned out to be very robust in terms of survival, killing people, and receiving enough credit for it to rain loot bags during a tower/keep defense

styx.7294:

Mesmer utilities and mechanics are usually good enough to keep you from getting hit. I’ve found the mesmer can get away with glassy cannon equips ’cause you make it up with all the defensive skills. Sorta like thieves, I guess.

totally, i think mesmer is one of the most defensive profession even when he have dmg gear…

something like this works well in WVW imo, you can change Feedback for portal if needed, add full berserker gear and you can just go into zerg, deal some dmg with aoe abilities, decoy+port away without and risk of dying

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8dlwzipXVzoGb9IypHQ3y9ckUoapWJF82FC

PS: sometimes i ask myself why shatter mesmer have so much dmg when mesmer isnt supposed to be nuker with his 15k base hp and lots of defensive abilities

PPS: Feedback + Wardens Feedback rocks in WVW

Full Glass Cannon is entirely usable in Wv3, I’ve always run with full zerkers and Ruby Equips and tbh I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t.
The amount of times I’ve been the last man standing in a group and managed to drive back multiple invaders on my own is ridiculous, I feel like a god sometimes lol.
It’s slightly harder now with all this LOS crap, I find that I can be doing really well against a group and then all of a sudden my Phants will just start giving me crap about “no line of sight” or “obstructed” when nothings in the way.
Its mostly about how well you play, if you know when to use dodging and how to avoid attacks in general then you’ll survive as well as any other build!
I have just switched to a more Shatter friendly glass cannon build though as I found myself to be using shatters a lot to hold off big groups anyway so it made sense to switch to something that helped my shatter better, although I’ve not changed my gear at all. I usually go GS for pure damage and then Staff for more defensive measures when I need to. Sword/torch is great too!

I’d recommend a stat distribution of:

> 2000 power
> 1800 precision (>45% crit rate)
> 1300 toughness
> 1200 vitality

Glassy is great until you get hit then you’re dead. I love running into glassy mesmers on my GS mesmer because I know I’ll win.

Also glassy is only effective in a zerg where you can “hide” in the crowd. Get into a real fight (which you will at some point I guarantee it) and you’ll die quick. Then you’ll be like “<insert profession here> needs to be nerfed!!!”. In reality you just built your toon to die easy.

I find your statement that glass is only good in a zerg to be contrary to my experience. I run shattercat with full rampager gear and I mostly attack and defend supply camps in WvW.

juno.1840:

I’d recommend a stat distribution of:

> 2000 power
> 1800 precision (>45% crit rate)
> 1300 toughness
> 1200 vitality

Glassy is great until you get hit then you’re dead. I love running into glassy mesmers on my GS mesmer because I know I’ll win.

Also glassy is only effective in a zerg where you can “hide” in the crowd. Get into a real fight (which you will at some point I guarantee it) and you’ll die quick. Then you’ll be like “<insert profession here> needs to be nerfed!!!”. In reality you just built your toon to die easy.

Vendris.4201:

I find your statement that glass is only good in a zerg to be contrary to my experience. I run shattercat with full rampager gear and I mostly attack and defend supply camps in WvW.

juno.1840:

I’d recommend a stat distribution of:

> 2000 power
> 1800 precision (>45% crit rate)
> 1300 toughness
> 1200 vitality

Glassy is great until you get hit then you’re dead. I love running into glassy mesmers on my GS mesmer because I know I’ll win.

Also glassy is only effective in a zerg where you can “hide” in the crowd. Get into a real fight (which you will at some point I guarantee it) and you’ll die quick. Then you’ll be like “<insert profession here> needs to be nerfed!!!”. In reality you just built your toon to die easy.

Agreed, even against groups when on my own I rarely find it to be too troublesome to survive and I’m full Glass Cannon in Berserkers gear. I usually only die if I get lazy and stop moving and don’t focus properly. Usually if I’m focused I can face off against 3-4 people easy enough and just keep moving and picking them off 1 at a time.
Again, as long as you play well and use your dodges well and your distortion skills you’ll be fine.

When it comes down to it though, WvW is supposed to be large group fights so you’ll be fine anyway, I never feel the need to hide in a crowd, I always plant myself on the front line or if the group is being chases by a large zerg I’ll hang behind to slow them down while the group escapes!

A good Mesmer is a smart Mesmer!