Guild Wars 2

I’ve been around for about 8 months now on this game and have enjoyed the pvp aspect of it. I started out on thief and have since practiced each of the other professions. I have basically started practicing a new profession every time one of them destroys me. I want to understand each profession and really learn the mechanics to get better at pvp.

For the past while I have just been avoiding mesmers because I honestly don’t know how they work and every time I go up against one they kill me. Well almost every time. I’m sure there are some truly atrocious mesmers that I have killed. So, I decided that it is time to learn mesmer. I went to meta battle and tried out the chronophantasma and chrono power shatter builds, but can’t seem to do nearly the same burst as I have seen used on me multiple times. I seem to survive okay, but I am having trouble killing enemies. There is clearly something I am not understanding.

I also tried searching on YouTube. There are a bunch of videos, but some are old and others are just compilations of mesmers destroying people. That is fun to watch and all, but I can’t really see what is happening or the build.

I am going to try to describe what I am seeing as mesmers attack me. I am sure I am seeing multiple different builds, but I can’t really tell them apart. I’m going to put it in a bullet list:

- in almost every situation I see mesmers port around a lot and clones appear. Is this staff 2? I know they have blink, but they seem to do it pretty often.

- some of the time they seem to stealth pretty often. I know torch has a stealth and there is a utility skill that has stealth (decoy?)

- some put a ton of conditions on me that seem to burst pretty hard (is this the chronophantasma?)

- some just straight up seem to burst me from 100-0 in like 2 seconds even when I am using an amulet with vitality. I figure this is one of the burst shatter builds.

- they also seem to interrupt and stun me repeatedly in quick succession. This seems to come from the ones that use power over conditions.

These have been my observations. As I said before, I am guessing that is multiple different builds. I am interested in learning the super burst build, but can’t quite figure it out.

I’m sure this has been asked several times so feel free to point me to a different thread or better yet a YouTube video that explains it. Or respond to this post.

I would greatly appreciate it if the Mesmer community could teach me the Mesmer burst buld and maybe also the condition build and how it actually works.

Thanks!

If the mesmer is wielding a great sword, they are most likely playing a burst build, similar to what is popular in WvW. I have experienced the 100-0 in 2 seconds burst you speak of. This build is primarily a glass cannon and has little sustain. You just have to survive the burst. There is a recent thread I posted asking about this very same GS burst (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/GS-Burst-sPvP/first#post6620649) . It’s typically Power Lock (which inflicts daze) followed by Mirror Blade at point blank range, followed by Mind Wrack (which hits twice) and then Mind Stab. You have to time it perfectly.

If they are using a staff, it’s condi chrono. This is the “meta” build in ranked. This build has much more sustain, but is not really capable of the 100-0 burst. Conditions are primarily applied by the staff weapon skills and shatters. Shatters in this build also provide healing and condition clearing. Damage is primarily done through Confusion and Torment. Most other conditions in this build are cover condis. The trick is not attacking through Confusion!

Both of the above builds typically run Sword/Shield as a secondary weapon set, and it’s primarily used defensively or to CC a target for a burst or Moa with Swap or Tides of Time.

A mesmers main sources of stealth are Decoy and/or Torch. This is uncommon in higher ranked play, and is generally used when they are running a core mesmer build and not the elite specialization, Chronomancer.

Phase Retreat and Blink are the primary teleports. Most mesmers also run Portal, but this is used primarily to move between nodes and “safe stomp”.

Like the thief, the mesmer is not really suited well for team fights. You should always be looking for the unguarded node. Never stop moving.

For condi chrono, In my experience, DH is a hard counter. It’s best to avoid them 1v1. A good elementalist (Auramancer build specifically) or engineer will stalemate with you as you just can’t do enough damage over time against their condi clears and sustain. It may not be worth your time. Revenants and Necros are your best matchups.