Guild Wars 2

Hi all.. just picked this game up about a week ago and have been really enjoying things. I was playing a ranger, but ended up switching to a mesmer and I really enjoy all their skills and whatnot. However, I am not sure what I should really be doing..

I’m level 24 right now and I’m leveling with my partner who is a warrior. So we are ALWAYS playing together. What would the best thing for me to do in this case? I notice he basically destroys things before I can really even get my clone things up, so I feel pretty weak. I really like using the staff, but I feel the auto-attack is so slow, so by the time I hit things they are already dead. Basically, I don’t feel I am contributing much unless its a large pull lol. So I’ve been using the GS + sword / focus, and that does do more damage but I just don’t really like using the GS. Is there something to make staff more viable in this setup, or should I just get used to the GS? Also, pistol or focus.. the warrior usually has a warhorn to give us the speed buff.

The greatsword is nice in the sense of how fast the attacks are, and you could gain some quick dps on the targets as well as in an AoE position. Personally i prefer the focus for the burst capability, the pistol does give nice consistent dps in PvE though.

Things will get a lot better once you hit level 40 as mesmer is extremely trait dependant.

I actually had the same problem as you. I leveled with a warrior friend of mine as well, and he just annihilated stuff.

The first character I made was a necromancer, but after reaching level 29, my friend went on vacation for a week. I decided to park the necromancer until he returned. I made a mesmer instead and after a day of play I realized that I had found my new main.

I leveled her to 31 while he was away.

After having experienced leveling on my own, I realized that I learned my profession much better that way. What we did afterwards was to level together most of the time, but to split up occasionally. We would be in the same zone but without questing together. It might sound odd, but I felt it was important for me in order to get the hang of my profession and see its potential, strengths and weaknesses.

When playing with a warrior there was literally no point in weapon swapping as stuff just fell over. When playing alone it became essential to do so.

I don’t know if that solution in any way will suit you though

Hey, welcome to Guild Wars 2!

Both of you run up to mobs and start beating them down, but the Warrior is doing it a lot faster and more effectively, huh?
It sounds like the problem is that you’re having a hard time finding a role in your team.

• Analyze your friend’s weaknesses. If the warrior isn’t good at range, then cover that with greatsword. If his defenses are lousy, support him with staff. If he doesn’t have good crowd control, then Focus (pull) or Torch (AoE Blind and BLAST finisher… but most people don’t bother with torch early on), Staff (Chaos Storm) to make things smoother.
• If he’s outdamaging you, why not slip into a more supportive role when you two grouped up? Your staff is great for this, as it can grant 6 of the 9 buffs in the game on its own. You could try Staff/Greatsword for a nice mix of damage AND defense.

• Mesmer have some of the lowest damage output in the game, especially early on, but we compensate in other ways; namely through our utilities. Skills such as Feedback, Portal, Null Field, Illusion of Life, Illusionary Defender/Disenchanter, and Signet of Inspiration are all mostly unique to the Mesmer and can be huge help in a team.

• Try out Sword/Focus – Staff when you’re with your Warrior friend. You’ll have powerful crowd control, defenses, and two different combo fields to mess around with. With the Focus, try to pull enemies together to make it easier for the War to shred them, summon your iWarden on ranged enemies to block their projectiles.

• Speaking of combo fields, check out Chaos Storm (Staff 5).

1) Prioritize dropping the storm on allies, especially those in melee. The defensive buffs it gives rocks.
2) If you look at Phase Retreat(Staff 2) it says “Combo Finisher: Leap.” Using combo finishers inside of combo fields will create cool additional effects for you AND your team; in the case of Ethereal fields, you gain Chaos Armor. If your Warrior friend is using Sword or Longbow, he has a Leap/Blast finisher that he can also use while inside your fields. (Temporal Curtain – Focus 4 – is also another combo field, though trickier to use. Its a LIGHT field, so it grants retaliation or removes boons depending on the finisher)

• Mesmers rely more on their traits and utility skills rather than weapon skills to be effective. This means that the higher you level, the more gangsta you’ll become .. er, well, moreso than with many other classes.

Hope some of that helps!

Thank you everyone! I will try going into a more supportive roll, instead of trying to keep up with his damage. He takes a lot of damage, so maybe that’s something I can help with instead. Does anyone have trait or utility skill suggestions for that?

Hi OP,
At low levels, we mesmers cannot win the DPS race against warriors so if I were you, i would fall back to more in-combat support to help the two go through mob even quicker. Might-stacking with Staff #1 and Greatsword #2 is an example of what you can bring to the fight.

This Link Lists & Explains Our Support Skills
(Note: The weapons skills are explained from a support perspective)

This doesn’t mean you can’t still do damage. Running a Phantasm build (10/10/0/30/20) allows you to still do damage, while using your utilities to guide the flow of battle.

Utilities to consider: iDefender, iDisenchanter, Feedback, Null Field, Portal, Mantra of Recovery/Pain*, Signet of Inspiration, Veil, Illusion of Life

I bolded Defender and Feedback because Defender is especially good in small teams and Feedback is one of our best skills period. * on Mantras because they gain AoE healing when you take Inspiration X. Though, at lower levels having a good regeneration (Inspiration 15) tends to output better healing.
I wouldn’t advise taking +Healing Power gear though, as you’re better off relying on your weapon skills and utilities for active defense and taking gear with Power/Precision rather than stunting your potential damage to have good healing. But if the Warrior is going to focus purely on damage, then feel free to go the opposite route and focus on support (but start gathering a second set of more damage-oriented gear for when you play alone)

If you prefer a more faster-paced, Shatter-oriented playstyle, you can still give good support through boons and control. Traits such as Inspiration III, XII, and XI / Chaos VIII, XII (w/Signet of Inspiration) / Domination VII, V, and Dazzling (Major) can add great support to a build that utilizes Deceptive Evasion (Dueling X) and Illusionary Persona (Illusions XI). Check out Osicat’s shatter guides stickied at the top of the forum lists.

(Staff trick: Cat Leap)

And if ya ever have any questions, always feel free to shoot a PM. Nearly everyone on the Mes forums are usually happy to help

Just a note: If you use the pDefender, be sure to also take signet of illusions. The defender’s effectiveness is directly tied to how much hp it has.