ok does mesmer suck at PVE...

ok does mesmer suck at PVE...

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Posted by: Azure.8670

Azure.8670

or am I just a horrible mesmer. I can take it its ok just tell me the truth. I dont know what im doing wrong. Mesmer is the only class I have trouble doing maps with. ive been 80 forever now but I usually only use my mes for wvw and dungeons, however lately ive decided to get maps with him and use him for champs and such since Mes is my fav class. Well, I tried to solo the reef drake broodmother in southsun and got whooped like a child 5 times. How do people solo champs as a mes? im using ascended berserk accessories, mostly zerk gear with a few soldier pieces in there. I usually use s/s/ with GS for map. maybe I should switch to focus? ugh. I feel pathetic. I switched to my engi and beat the broodmother down like it owed me mats. smh sorry im venting here

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Posted by: Photoloss.4817

Photoloss.4817

Mesmer is very inconsistent regarding how well you can handle specific encounters, and generally requires awareness (and a good internet connection…) to stay alive with. Just compare asura pirates/young karka to reef drakes: the former you can kill with 1 volley of their own dagger storm/spike barrage, the latter use aoe confusion which is guaranteed to kill illusions (their AI is worse than that of the average rock, sadly enough)

Your build also is very important: stealth and staff builds can avoid a lot of damage, phantasm builds can focus entirely on surviving while the purple ghosts bring home the pain. Attempting to stand at range with greatsword/scepter+pistol will get you killed against anything with Defiant.

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Posted by: TooBz.3065

TooBz.3065

I would not switch to focus. Focus is good for dungeons, traited in southsun, and otherwise is mostly quality of life, especially against champs who can’t be pulled. And the warden will be killed very quickly.

I have no trouble with my mesmer in PvE. Although it’s certainly not a face roll. What is your playstyle?

If I’m going to solo a champ, I tend to bring sword / pistol and a staff. I like the pistol because of the range. I like the staff for defense. I try to always keep distance between myself and the champ. When i close it’s for a very quick pistol 4, sword 3, sword 3. sword 2, staff 2 cycle.

You can also probably do pretty well with sword / sword and scepter / pistol.

Anything I post is just the opinion of a very vocal minority of 1.

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Posted by: aspirine.6852

aspirine.6852

GS is not that great in pve, it’s nice in wvw but against champs it’s like tickling them to death. Sword/pistol and sword/focus, sword/sword is more damage. You do have some cooldown problems there.

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Posted by: Azure.8670

Azure.8670

I would not switch to focus. Focus is good for dungeons, traited in southsun, and otherwise is mostly quality of life, especially against champs who can’t be pulled. And the warden will be killed very quickly.

I have no trouble with my mesmer in PvE. Although it’s certainly not a face roll. What is your playstyle?

If I’m going to solo a champ, I tend to bring sword / pistol and a staff. I like the pistol because of the range. I like the staff for defense. I try to always keep distance between myself and the champ. When i close it’s for a very quick pistol 4, sword 3, sword 3. sword 2, staff 2 cycle.

You can also probably do pretty well with sword / sword and scepter / pistol.

I actually use sword/sword sword/pistol in dungeons. my build is 0/20/0/25/25 (I believe) currently. im thinking of taking 10 out of dueling because clones on dodge is worthless for pve/phantasm builds. I used to play shatter exclusively. The only consistent thing I have in all my builds is the trait for healing when readying a mantra, and I always have mantra of pain equipped. Dont ask why, its been this way sine I made my mesmer forever ago. Really dunno why I have so much trouble with my mes. I decided its the class to get 100% map completion with and its the only one I have trouble with smh. im sitting at 60-80% with 6 of my toons

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Posted by: Photoloss.4817

Photoloss.4817

I actually use sword/sword sword/pistol in dungeons. my build is 0/20/0/25/25 (I believe) currently. im thinking of taking 10 out of dueling because clones on dodge is worthless for pve/phantasm builds. I used to play shatter exclusively. The only consistent thing I have in all my builds is the trait for healing when readying a mantra, and I always have mantra of pain equipped. Dont ask why, its been this way sine I made my mesmer forever ago. Really dunno why I have so much trouble with my mes. I decided its the class to get 100% map completion with and its the only one I have trouble with smh. im sitting at 60-80% with 6 of my toons

Keep in mind you also lose the option of traiting sword/pistol cooldowns, as well as Sharper Images. The ability to slot DE for aoe event tagging is a nice bonus.

You can’t get Empowered Illusions and a third Inspiration major trait anyway, at most 10/10/0/25/25 (or some other variation) will be better for running dungeons with organised groups.

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Posted by: Azure.8670

Azure.8670

running dungeons I have no issue at all. Its literally just open world maps. Ah well maybe ill just 100% with my engi :\

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Posted by: Helios.3598

Helios.3598

I think your expectations are off. Engi is arguably the strongest class in the game currently whereas mesmer is one of the weakest. Also, why bother with soldier gear? Vitality is next to useless for mesmers.

For a quick, temporary fix, switch to Staff and trait it. If you can’t beat that champ with Staff then I’d say your damage reduction and evasion is too low for it.

mesmer of Blackgate
http://intothemists.com/

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Posted by: TooBz.3065

TooBz.3065

This gets us into a debate that I don’t want to have, but if you’re not shatter, you may want to rethink the 25 points in illusion. I think you may be better able to spend your points elsewhere. (Neither condition damage, nor shatter recharge rate get you a lot of benefit)

For example, 10 (III),20 (IV,IX),0,30 (IV,X,V),0 (10 points I don’t know what to do with.)

Do you feel like your attack is too weak, or your defense is too weak. I know they go hand in hand, but sometimes, I feel like I need another evade and sometimes I feel like I need to do a little more damage.

Anything I post is just the opinion of a very vocal minority of 1.

(edited by TooBz.3065)

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Posted by: Valarauka.2719

Valarauka.2719

Most people go 25 Illusions for Compounding Power, phantasm recharge, and Illusionist’s Celerity – all told, faster summoned+faster attacking phantasms (although the Swordsman doesn’t really benefit), and 9% more personal damage as well. DPS-wise it’s supposed to be about equal to other options (haven’t tested myself, though) .

I personally run 10/30/0/30/0 usually, so I can have all the phantasm damage traits while also traiting both sword and pistol, and so I can swap to Deceptive Evasion when I hop into WvW without having to re-trait. Thinking of switching to 0/20/0/25/25 though because having more wardens on a shorter cycle is really useful for fractals, and I’m doing a lot more of that than WvW these days.

My 30-point trait in Inspiration goes to Shattered Conditions – I know it’s gotten bad press but I personally find it pretty useful, and consistent enough if you know how it works.

Gate of Madness :: [LIVE] :: [OMFG]
Fiona Oberyn :: Mesmer ~ Valthaniel :: Guardian

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Posted by: Guanglai Kangyi.4318

Guanglai Kangyi.4318

GS is probably the worst weapon you can use for open-world PvE. Mobs will aggro onto you and go to you immediately, meaning 99% of the time you will be attacking from melee range and dealing virtually no damage. If you want a ranged weapon with an AOE phantasm, use scepter/focus. Alternately, run a shatter build with staff and sw/sw for clearing trash mobs fast.

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Posted by: Krispera.5087

Krispera.5087

The GS mesmer haters are strong in this thread. He’s asking for PvE open world, not for dungeons. Scepter for PvE open world ? LOL. Oh please, you’re not even trying to be objective.

Time your Blurred Frenzy for big attacks. Get Deceptive Evasion, they are your meat shield.

Get on a Phantasm Build, it’s easy.

Use GS + Sword/Focus in PvE and faceroll. If you still have hard time, change your utilies, get better at learning the monsters mechanic and dodging.

If you’re still not comfortable with direct GS approach, just use the Staff.

(edited by Krispera.5087)

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Posted by: Valarauka.2719

Valarauka.2719

GS is probably the worst weapon you can use for open-world PvE. Mobs will aggro onto you and go to you immediately, meaning 99% of the time you will be attacking from melee range and dealing virtually no damage. If you want a ranged weapon with an AOE phantasm, use scepter/focus. Alternately, run a shatter build with staff and sw/sw for clearing trash mobs fast.

GS is far from the worst mesmer weapon, I really don’t see how you can seriously propose the scepter as an alternative.

  1. If you already have Sword/Focus as your main set, Zerker is your only other AoE phantasm — and your own numbers from the other thread show its unbuffed DPS to be on par with the Duelist (even if it usually misses one of its ticks).
  2. Duelist and Swordsman are both overkill for trash, one single mob is hardly ever worth stopping sword auto for the summon delay.
  3. Greatsword “pseudo-cleaves” in a line, and hits far more frequently than scepter for crit effects like Sigil of Fire (more AoE tagging for events).
  4. You only need to initiate with it — summon zerker, cast mirror blade for a nice 6 might while gap closing, and then switch to S/F for warden and melee cleave.
  5. The point of having a ranged swap is to be able to safely stay far away if necessary while still doing reasonable damage. Scepter dps is utter kitten from max range.

If you’re fighting a champ or something, for sure switch to SP/SS and go to town. Most other cases, GS/SF wins.

Gate of Madness :: [LIVE] :: [OMFG]
Fiona Oberyn :: Mesmer ~ Valthaniel :: Guardian

(edited by Valarauka.2719)

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Posted by: Azure.8670

Azure.8670

this is easily the most diverse group ive ever encountered lol. thanks for all the help

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Posted by: coydeleon.7504

coydeleon.7504

Sword/x and Sword/Y and run phantasms. I honestly haven’t tried a GS build in a long time but the Sword is surefire way to learn your evasions. Mostly because GS is best at long range which is hard to keep when it’s only you and the mob. Maybe some others can provide better advice on that. But at the very least, have a S/X set.

Also, Blurred Frenzy (Sword 2), isn’t a DPS burst skill as you may think, it’s a situational 3rd dodge, keep this in mind and it CAN save your life.

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Posted by: Kaiyanwan.8521

Kaiyanwan.8521

GS is probably the worst weapon you can use for open-world PvE. Mobs will aggro onto you and go to you immediately, meaning 99% of the time you will be attacking from melee range and dealing virtually no damage. If you want a ranged weapon with an AOE phantasm, use scepter/focus. Alternately, run a shatter build with staff and sw/sw for clearing trash mobs fast.

I really shouldn’t read the forum while drinking my morning coffee. What the kitten did I just read?
I know that you and cosley have an abyssmal hate for the GS, but your advice for open world PvE is questionable at best.

For world completion, go GS + S/F, go shatter. Most things will not even get into melee range, GS2 will be on a 4.8s coodown and is a clone generator, which will instagib most things in melee range, or, alternatively, shatter the kitten out of the mobs. You still have the melee option in your second weapon set, focus will give you the speed buff.
With traited GS you have a iZerker on 12 sec cooldown which will just maw down everything, even in melee range that could ever bother you.

S/x +Scepter/x for world completion? Seriously?