Guild Wars 2

Any tips on how to kill them as a ranger? I just had a 10 min fight with one and he kept going stealth and coming out with full health like every 10 seconds?? I ended up having to point blank shot him off a cliff edge to kill him..

We need a lot more information than that … Mesmers have several different viable builds.

What were his weapon sets?
Were his illusions applying conditions when they died?
What were his utilities?

What was your build?

Basically what Sebrent said. Certain Mesmer builds are very weak to main hand axe, of all weapons. Just keep popping the clones like zits and stay away from them (if they confuse, bleed, hurt you when they die). This will make it easier to find and call target on the real one.

If you have difficulty locating the real one, watch the HP of the clones as your axe bounces around. The real one will loose health slower than clones, and they don’t evade while he might do something silly to expose himself.

That being said, certain Mesmer builds will chew you up and spit you out if you run around with MH axe… If you are having difficulty with enemy stealth, bring sick em’ along. Don’t leave home without a blood thirsty pet, ya know? Seriously, it will reveal them long enough for you to pound them into oblivion, often.

If I’m running 25+ Dueling / 10+ Chaos on my Mesmer, I will be generating clones so that you have to go out of your way to not be near them … which buys me more time and helps me influence your positioning.

WHen I’m on my Mesmer … I hate having the pet chase me. Mesmers rely largely on active defenses, so having a pet continuously chewing on them forces them to either (1) Just take it or (2) Consume cooldowns. Either way is a bonus for the Ranger as it’s either more damage on the Mesmer or less cooldowns they can use to avoid your attacks.

I LB+Axe/dagger.

This guy wasn’t using clones.. Everytime he got aronud 25%-40% health he would disappear, then reappear nearly full health if not full health. It got to the point where Another ranger was with me, and we both couldn’t kill him.. He kept doing that disappearing act/full health, he ended up killing the other ranger, so I just ran away.. I ended up near a cliff side and the mesmer came out of no where and began his onslaught again.. Again I could not kill him so lured him to the cliff edge and point blank shot him off the edge..

I have no clue what weapon he was using.. my graphics are turned down so much all I see is red blobs.. or green for my own teammates..

I was using LB and Axe main hand/horn off hand..

I admit I suck at my ranger only because I haven’t played him very much.
I am wearing full exotics, vit,tough,power gear. 2 ascended trinkets rest exotics tough/vit/power.

I have been playing with great sword once and while but I just don’t care for it that much.. My main weapon was always LB — Axe/horn
build is
6
6
1
1
0

You sure it was a mesmer and not a thief? cause what are you describing pretty much reminds me of shadow arts thieves.

Sandrox.9524:

You sure it was a mesmer and not a thief? cause what are you describing pretty much reminds me of shadow arts thieves.

Lol me too,but full health every 10 sec??? Maybe with valkyrie+HK+d/p because no clones at all is impossible on a mesmer….

It might be a Thief. I haven’t seen a Mesmer that good without clones. We need more sample regarding this fight since this is an interesting one to note with.

playing mesmer without clones is impossible

its surely a tiff

anyway, he went to stealth after leaping thro his smoke field ? a black area , rly small radius

if so, u r facing a d/p tiff

if he went to stealth after hitting u, he as x/d

if u just ignore weapons, he may have used shadow refuge, its a skill with a large radius, has a house icon above it, and it gives stealth and health, has a 60 s cd i think, stealth of it is sligthly above 10 s

Ya I did see that house icon..
might be a thief.. I have a hard time telling who is what unless it is obvious like someone shooting a bow etc.. like I mentioned my graphics are turned down to keep fps steady..

there is an icon (idk where exactly atm) when u target ur enemy and his icon + health + name/server+rank is, slightly above middle of screen when u target

swords = war
shield= guard
elixir = engi
smth like dagger or scissor, idk = tiff
a bear paw= ranger (the embodiment of bearbows)
skull = necro
butterfly= mesmer
tear = ele

anyway, each thief weapon has a completly different playsytle and we cant rly help u out unless u can find out wich weapset he was using, best would be and recommend it to everyone, if u r facing difficultys against smth, then just switch to that proffession for some hotjoin fights using the meta builds, and u probably figure it out sooner then u think

Sebrent.3625:

If I’m running 25+ Dueling / 10+ Chaos on my Mesmer, I will be generating clones so that you have to go out of your way to not be near them … which buys me more time and helps me influence your positioning.

WHen I’m on my Mesmer … I hate having the pet chase me. Mesmers rely largely on active defenses, so having a pet continuously chewing on them forces them to either (1) Just take it or (2) Consume cooldowns. Either way is a bonus for the Ranger as it’s either more damage on the Mesmer or less cooldowns they can use to avoid your attacks.

I’m actually reffering to your signature and not on what you wrote here.
While it’s true you lose clones when you miss/ooc, you can generate them a lot easier than a warrior can generate adrenaline.
If warriors would get a bar of adrenaline on a dodge roll then I wouldn’t mind the nerf.

DanSH.6143:

Sebrent.3625:

If I’m running 25+ Dueling / 10+ Chaos on my Mesmer, I will be generating clones so that you have to go out of your way to not be near them … which buys me more time and helps me influence your positioning.

WHen I’m on my Mesmer … I hate having the pet chase me. Mesmers rely largely on active defenses, so having a pet continuously chewing on them forces them to either (1) Just take it or (2) Consume cooldowns. Either way is a bonus for the Ranger as it’s either more damage on the Mesmer or less cooldowns they can use to avoid your attacks.

I’m actually reffering to your signature and not on what you wrote here.
While it’s true you lose clones when you miss/ooc, you can generate them a lot easier than a warrior can generate adrenaline.
If warriors would get a bar of adrenaline on a dodge roll then I wouldn’t mind the nerf.

if mesmer would get clone every 4 sec in combat i do wouldnt mind either.

You both are wildly off-topic.

@OP: That was a Thief, plain and simple.
Since he was leaping through a smoke cloud, one of his weapon sets was quite likely MH Dagger + OH Pistol.

Welcome to fighting nightcrawler … also known as the Thief :-p

If you are ready with burst and/or CC when they come out of stealth, you can take them. Otherwise, sorry, you’re in for some hurt or a draw.

Sebrent.3625:

You both are wildly off-topic.

What exactly is the topic? The op was fighting a thief/mesmer (might have been a stealth engi or trapper ranger) with unknown weapons/utilities. Do we even know if it was a condi or power player?

I guess with all the unknown variables, to answer the op’s question, the best way to beat this mystery profession is to knock him off a cliff. Good job figuring that out.

i watched this ages ago , this may help vs those shatter mesmers , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3fUhFuUP-E .
using Postional Manipulation and this method he explains he gets some pretty great Results , it might show you a few pointers in what to avoid.

When you see someone looking to kill you “disappear” you don’t stay in the same area waiting for a forgiveness gift or signs of threats before your death.

The set is still melee he has to catch up and his stealth is 3-4 secs if more using the smoke field you have more than enough time to lose him.

Wyrden.4713:

there is an icon (idk where exactly atm) when u target ur enemy and his icon + health + name/server+rank is, slightly above middle of screen when u target

swords = war
shield= guard
elixir = engi
smth like dagger or scissor, idk = tiff
a bear paw= ranger (the embodiment of bearbows)
skull = necro
butterfly= mesmer
tear = ele

warrior = helmet
guardian = shield
engineer = pretty sure this is supposed to be a bomb
thief = key and dagger, crossed
ranger = canine footprint
necromancer = skull
elementalist = flame
mesmser = butterfly mask

how to kill a thief:
When they come out of stealth, attack them hard, count to TWO, then cast sic ’em.
Continue attacking. Count to FIVE, then cast Rapid Fire on your longbow. Dead thief.

If you don’t have sic’em on when you are away from the zerg, you probably should. Generally I keep 1 util as a swappable, and rotate between sic em, SoS, and SoR depending upon what enemy I come across, but sic em is the default because thieves you dont often get to see ahead of time.

Axe mainhand is a condition weapon. Longbow is a power weapon. That in itself suggests your doing something wrong, unless you are some weird celestial ranger.

If you dont have sic em, constantly create distance everytime the thief stealths. Count to three and dodge. Once he pops out, count to two and rapid fire.

If he was at full health after every restealth, his main weaponset was probably pistol/dagger, these guys arent very fast after they burn shadowstep and steal, so just run away. they often take apothecary gear which basically makes them impossible to kill.

OP was fighting a thief, but with mesmers, it’s (usually) very important to not kill their clones with melee or kill their clones immediately if you’re ranged. That will reduce the amount of chaos in the fight by about 80%.

Raven.9603:

Wyrden.4713:

there is an icon (idk where exactly atm) when u target ur enemy and his icon + health + name/server+rank is, slightly above middle of screen when u target

swords = war
shield= guard
elixir = engi
smth like dagger or scissor, idk = tiff
a bear paw= ranger (the embodiment of bearbows)
skull = necro
butterfly= mesmer
tear = ele

warrior = helmet
guardian = shield
engineer = pretty sure this is supposed to be a bomb
thief = key and dagger, crossed
ranger = canine footprint
necromancer = skull
elementalist = flame
mesmser = butterfly mask

how to kill a thief:
When they come out of stealth, attack them hard, count to TWO, then cast sic ’em.
Continue attacking. Count to FIVE, then cast Rapid Fire on your longbow. Dead thief.

If you don’t have sic’em on when you are away from the zerg, you probably should. Generally I keep 1 util as a swappable, and rotate between sic em, SoS, and SoR depending upon what enemy I come across, but sic em is the default because thieves you dont often get to see ahead of time.

Axe mainhand is a condition weapon. Longbow is a power weapon. That in itself suggests your doing something wrong, unless you are some weird celestial ranger.

If you dont have sic em, constantly create distance everytime the thief stealths. Count to three and dodge. Once he pops out, count to two and rapid fire.

If he was at full health after every restealth, his main weaponset was probably pistol/dagger, these guys arent very fast after they burn shadowstep and steal, so just run away. they often take apothecary gear which basically makes them impossible to kill.

o well ty, ik the icons but only when i see them

I was fighting a thief with perplexity in wvw. Somehow got big stacks of confusion on me, and didnt realise it until too late, downed myself pretty quickly Was wondering if maybe they were a mesmer until I met them again, build seemed a kitteneesey with no survibility if they got hit.