Guild Wars 2

Never PVPed before, never played Mesmer before and while I realize I shouldn’t just waltz into PVP and stomp people I’m honestly at a complete loss.

Even on Guardian or Thief, I’m utterly clueless about PVP. And I don’t mean doing the objectives, I mean actually fighting someone else. I don’t do anywhere near the amount of damage I’m receiving, nor am I recovering anywhere near the amount of health I see other people recovering.

General advice is absolutely welcome, but in line with the topic title I’m wondering how in the heck to play a Mesmer here. I cannot seem to get more than one illusion up at once. My illusions die or vanish the second they appear (I don’t know what the deal is; even if I’m fighting someone 1v1 and they completely ignore my illusions, my illusions just up and die).

Needless to say, I don’t understand what the heck I’m supposed to be doing, then. Shatters are pretty much the entirety of the damage I’ve been dealing in PvE thus far, but I can’t manage to use them whatsoever, my illusions simply aren’t there when I need them, or at all, ever.

Just to get a bit of a baseline as to what I’m going after here, do you mind posting the build you’re using, or at least the most recent one you’ve tried?

I think in general, a good advice before jumping into the mess of a PvP fight, try on a smaller scale. If you know someone in-game, try dueling. If you don’t, try to join a guild and find help from them.
Spectating some PvP maps can be useful also, though I think it usually goes too fast to be able to get what is going on when you’re not used to it (actually sometimes even after :p ). But really dueling is a very good way to learn your class and how to handle the enemy class.

Silverkey.2078:

I think in general, a good advice before jumping into the mess of a PvP fight, try on a smaller scale. If you know someone in-game, try dueling. If you don’t, try to join a guild and find help from them.
Spectating some PvP maps can be useful also, though I think it usually goes too fast to be able to get what is going on when you’re not used to it (actually sometimes even after :p ). But really dueling is a very good way to learn your class and how to handle the enemy class.

I don’t really know anyone, no. I haven’t played in nearly a year. I have tried spectating though, but yeah, it’s a little hard to follow.

I’ve just been messing around in practice mode or whatever it’s called? Despite winning some matches, and going a few without dying much and with a huge number for my contribution to my team’s victory, I don’t feel as though I’m contributing at all (capping nodes, etc. isn’t the part I’m having trouble with!)

As for the build, I was trying this: http://intothemists.com/guides/5518-shatter_mesmer

More or less just picked out a build that used weapons I like, Shatters, and seemed alright. I realize it’s tagged WvW, but I think there’s very strongly a l2p issue here more than anything.

Like I said above, I’ve by no means been terribly successful PvPing on other classes in GW2 either, but the Mesmer definitely seems less straightforward than my other two characters. And that’s fine, I don’t mind a learning curve. I’m mostly concerned at the moment with the simple fact that I can’t ever seem to actually make use of my illusions.

Alrighty, so that’s a very WvW specific build, and is part of the reason you’re having some trouble. That being said, you’re right when you feel that l2p issues are also a thing here.

So you’re mentioning that your illusions never survive. This is fairly normal. Clones have extremely low hp and will blow over in a stiff breeze. Phantasms are a bit more resilient, but still die quite quickly. Unless you’re building specifically for phantasms, don’t expect them to live through stray aoes.

If you’re intending to shatter your illusions, you need to get them up on target and shattered rapidly, without sticking around much. Since this doesn’t give you a lot of time to make sure the shatter will land properly, you want to try and prep it either with iSwap for immob, chaotic interruption for immob, or confounding suggestions for stun.

This is a much more reasonable build for PvP: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsfRlsnhy0YNawRNwtGLnGk5O22MIDwCWe5Iae4A-TZhFwAAOEAz2f4wJAIxTAYaZAA

Note the change in utilities. Veil and feedback drop out. Veil is purely a WvW zerging skill, and feedback isn’t usually worth taking, as you have enough reflection without it. In their place, we take mantra of distraction for on-demand dazes (stuns with CS) and decoy, for stealth.

In domination, you’re taking shattered concentration instead of FI. The boon strip on shatter is far too strong to pass up in any situation outside of a WvW zerg (where you can’t shatter anyway).

In dueling, I like to take phantasmal fury instead of desperate decoy, but that’s just because I’ve gotten killed by desperate decoy before, feel free to take it if you wish.

Instead of illusions, we take chaos. Chaos gives boosts to defense, offense, and general utility. Master of manipulation adds reflection to blink, doubles the reflection duration on mirror, and lowers the cd of mirror, blink, and mass invis. The master trait is sorta wasted, but then you have your pick of 3 very strong grandmasters. PU gives you much better defense in multiple ways, and is great for repositioning and bursting out of stealth. CI gives you more lockdown and utility in team fights, and BD provides on-demand stability, and some support from aoe boons.

While I completely agree with the comments made above about the build, I want to add that “practice mode” is surprisingly enough not such a great way to practice in my opinion. The teams are very disorganized, uneven, people leave and come at will etc… I had horrible time when I started there (as a mesmer ). Unranked arena is a better choice. The teaming should put you with people who are also beginners, but during a proper game, which is somewhat more organized and definitely more enjoyable. I don’t know if anyone has a different opinion on that, but that was my experience.

i will glad help you out (play as mesmer/ guard/thief/necro)

got both eu and na account

so pm in game

The build suggested by Fay is pretty much on spot, but i would have dropped the mantra for mirror images, thereby using 2 clones to keep up pressure and being able to shatter faster. If that is your goal oc.

people often get ‘confused’ ,to use the right word, if there are multiple clones running around charging at them to be shattered. While a mantra to daze the opponent seems nice, 2 clones ready to shatter (which deals more dmg anyways) seems a more strategic option.

And, like they say, practice makes perfect. You can’t expect results overnight, you only learn by watching video’s and applying what you see in practice. Learn to combo and anticipate.

The mantra, with the benefit of confounding suggestions, is a 1200 range instant cast stun that has no tell. It is the single most powerful tool that mesmers have to facilitate burst.

Thanks for the replies! I’ve yet to give all of this a read – just woke up – but I’ll definitely do so.

I’m sure I might learn better in a more structured environment than practice, but I thought I might be able to just get a very basic understanding of playing against other players. My only experiences in the past have been roaming as a Thief in WvW, which A) it takes way too long to find someone most of the time I’m extremely poor in GW2 so my gear isn’t really up to par.

So far definitely having a better time today trying out that build. Compared to some MMOs, and some classes even in GW2, this is very much so less straightforward (fun, when it works! but far and away more difficult to pick up) between the class mechanics and all the little tricks added via traits.

I’m noticing I seem to get wrecked pretty hard by Conditions. Is that a weak point to this build, or am I missing something?

Looking at that build link they gave you, that’s pretty much the nature of the build. Full zerk with little to no condi clear will get you rekt by condis if you caught by them lol. Keep at it, the more practice the more you will get better at dodging and interrupting that incoming pressure.

Yeah. The game I’m in right now has a condi mesmer on the other team, and when I look at my death recap it’s like “LOL 26k confusion” haha.

Yep, that’s the weak point. That build has zero sources of condition removal, so you have to deal with them by simply not getting them applied.

Now, there are variations of course. There are quite a few ways to work condition removal in, but each way causes a sacrifice of course. Here are the general options:

Take a generosity sigil on your weapons. This transfer conditions, but is unreliable and won’t save you if you really get loaded up.

Replace one of your utilities with the mantra cleanse. This provides a very significant resilience to conditions, but you have to sacrifice one of your utilities for it.

Trait into inspiration instead of chaos. This gives you condition removal on heal, condition removal on shatter, healing on shatter, and some interesting options in the grandmaster slot. You sacrifice extra reflections on blink and mirror, CDs on blink and mirror, and the extra stealth duration from PU.

I usually run the build as-is and understand the accepted risk of being condition loaded if I’m not careful. Working some condition removal into the build is absolutely a viable choice, just be aware of what you sacrifice for each option and pick what seems to work best for you.

Orangekun.5140:

…
My only experiences in the past have been roaming as a Thief in WvW, which A) it takes way too long to find someone most of the time I’m extremely poor in GW2 so my gear isn’t really up to par.

In my experience, you get better fights roaming than in sPvP, but YMMV.

lujate.5432:

Orangekun.5140:

…
My only experiences in the past have been roaming as a Thief in WvW, which A) it takes way too long to find someone most of the time I’m extremely poor in GW2 so my gear isn’t really up to par.

In my experience, you get better fights roaming than in sPvP, but YMMV.

I guess roaming experience is very server dependent. I have never been able to get good fights in WvW roaming.

And as a beginner, you just run for 10 min, meet someone, get wrecked and repeat. WvW roaming is fun when you can sustain 1v1 better (or maybe on more crowded servers when you meet more than 1 enemy every 10 min).

In sPvP the goal is to score points, and good fights aren’t there best way to do that. You’re better off capping uncontested points or overwhelming the enemy in Xv1 scenarios. When you do get a good fight, your team mates will probably rage at you because it’s not the best way to help the team.

Like I said, YMMV. Good luck!

Quite true. The exception would be deathmatch, but deathmatch can be VERY punishing if you are not an organized team. I actually wonder why they don’t put a separate queue for it, like for stronghold… But that’s a digression.

Hey buddy, firstly and this is as general as it gets, you need to ensure your settings are optimal.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Guide:Tips_for_settings

Go through that and tell us what your settings are.

Personally, in the combat and movement section i only have fast range with indicator checked and everything else unchecked. Make sure you have double tap to evade unchecked. All your actions and skills you should be activating with 1 key press and depress.

The other settings they recommend are pretty spot on.

Next are your keybinds. Heres a good youtube vid on the basics and how it should be setup for efficient play.

https://youtu.be/9ANX_fIj9PY

You may make things a lot harder for yourself if these basics are not corrected first.

Next i would choose and stick to only a few builds and definitely only 1 or 2 classes to begin with. In PVP there are two areas in which you can fight bot controlled NPCs.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Heart_of_the_Mists

The fallen halls of Glory contains npcs you can fight of every class. Practice fighting them as they are not walkovers to a newer player.

Forest of Aarden point also has two champs you can fight for an even tougher challenge.

Next is to join a guild that can teach you in game how to control and play your characters. Its not essential but in game critique of your play is extremely beneficial.

Most importantly be patient. It takes time to learn and there is no class or build that can carry a new player in pvp successfully.

my best suggestion like some said it above find a friend and fight each other till you learn rotations, skills animation, key moment
than go for a group play which has more tactics like dont look for 1v1 rather cap points and decap, support, harass, burst and go etc…

i can assure you after a week you will be better and can handle and learn from your mistakes