Guild Wars 2

so i plan to use this spec

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcmz0c9dGGa0GVaMaVca

but i cannot figure out if it’s better to “spam” phantasms and let them replace the others (so phantasmal haste loses appeal, i’d go with 30 domination and add “empowered illusions”) or if it’s better to let phantasm be and replace them upon destruction.

let me say that i have a level 10 mesmer and i don’t have any experience in late-game environment.

Don’t think too hard about it. Just keep on playing now, the leveling is a different beast from the end game builds. Five points in illusion is your first priority, and then I would risk saying ten points in Domination for the clones-cripple-when-killed.

Respecs are extremely cheap so just explore and see how you like the different traits. But don’t get too attached to a given build. Leveling with low HP mobs pushes for short lived battles where dungeons have mobs with a lot more HP and you can easily find yourself twiddling your thumbs and auto attacking because you pressed all buttons.

i’m just worried about getting the right equip (since i guess i’ll have to chose among several “unique” pieces). Also it is pretty frustrating leveling at low levels, damage seems to be ssoo low and cd way too long related to their effects.

The choice of gear as you level should be a problem if you just head to the Trading Post and buy Masterwork gear. I did so every ten levels but you are free to do it much sooner. It starts at level 14 and it makes a huge difference to buy everything, jewelry included, than to wear what drops. Also, big tip, buy several Minor Sigil Of Bloodlust and apply one when you get a new weapon. It is a big boost as well.

The gear you receive from your quests can be chosen just for the looks and not the stats since you will depend on the gear from the TP (it is pretty cheap gear, something like 2 silver a piece, so don’t get fooled by flippers who want to make a profit). The gear at 80 does matter since your build will depend on it. Know that you can both buy most of it from the TP or grind it from the dungeons. Since the dungeons also let you make gold you can do the grinding for some gear and use the earnings to buy the rest.

As for the damage while you level I suggest the staff and simply getting gear with Power. The staff uses Condition damage but at low levels Power just scales better. Tbh I’d skip Condition until exotic gear.

The trick with leveling is not to blow all your cooldowns at once, and what makes the staff good is that its damage comes from the auto attack.

So, for example. Start the fight, Staff 2, then Staff 3, auto attack until dead. Second fight, Staff 2, then Mirror Images, auto attack. Third fight, Staff 2 and Decoy, auto attack. Fourth fight, Staff 2, Staff 5, auto attack. By now you can start again.

It is better to stagger your skills instead of blowing them all up at once and then have nothing to use the next fight. As you get used to the class you start seeing when you you can use more skills to hurry things up without falling into that thing of having nothing to use the next one.

The 10 points in Domination make a big difference for the cripple-on-clone-death, but so do the first five in Duelist once you can buy gear with power + precision.

As of now, Phantasmal Haste is not worth to take considering that the illusion trait line does nothing significant for you phantasms aside from illusionist’s celerity.

so it would be better to gor for a 1-hit-phantasm and shatter build or just give that +15% damage and see how long the illusione endures?

bibbiri.6028:

so it would be better to gor for a 1-hit-phantasm and shatter build or just give that +15% damage and see how long the illusione endures?

Right now what you should be doing is finding out what works for you. Every single mesmer build is garbage if you don’t enjoy using it.

bibbiri.6028:

so it would be better to gor for a 1-hit-phantasm and shatter build or just give that +15% damage and see how long the illusione endures?

Imho yea shatter build is the way to go. let ur phantasm cast its attack the first time then shatter immediately