Sup guys,
An idea for a little psychological experiment hit me and I’m hoping that some of you arrow slangers could help out!
What I’m looking to find is what its like fighting against a Mesmer (Shatter, Lockdown, and/or Condi) as a Ranger? I have a few questions going forward:
Along with anything else you’d like to add. My plan is to make a thread in the Mes forums detailing and explaining how fighting us feels for other classes, and hopefully learn some things along the way. Thanks in advance for any assistance!
My perspective vs Rangers(as a 4/4/6 CI Lockdown Mes) – Rangers.. Oh ranger. For a long time Rangers did not even exist in any kind of relevant way to me, but once that pewpew buff dropped suddenly Rangers became a real and legitimate threat. Now you guys are one of my main focuses in a fight (besides Necro) as luckily longbow isn’t too difficult to interrupt, and I don’t have to do much to render you obsolete in a teamfight besides stay on yer kitten and throw some convenient interrupts.
Condition damage screws me, and it’s always interesting to see what the Ranger’s got going on once the bow gets stowed. I find Sword/dagger particularly interesting and aesthetically pleasing versus a Mesmer’s sw/sw.
In general I tend to find good Rangers to be a really fun, challenging fight (looking at you StickerHappy) and any average ranger to be a cakewalk. Now that Druid is confirmed, I plan to create one!
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you’re about to face a Mesmer?
Really need to work out what build they are on. Zerker Shatter Mesmer is totally different to Condi Mesmer, so the first thing is picking up on what they are going to try and do (this is true of all classes, but particularly important with Mesmers).
How do you feel about your odds of winning?
Assuming equal skill level.. 50/50 I’d say. Personally I find Mesmers to be one of the harder matchups.
Strategies and tactics?
High pressure I feel is the key. I am generally quite passive in my playstyle ankitten ot in any great hurry to win a fight (infact I quite enjoy dancing around warriors for unnessesarily long) but with Mesmers it’s not the same. You need to get up in their face and stay there.
Which type of Ranger build do you feel best fights Mesmer?
Probably a LB Ranger. Totally wipes out their ability to kite with teleports and seriously hinders the use of stealth. Also Mesmer illusions make a great target for Hunters Shot, and Barrage is great to. Really the LB has everything you need to take down a Mesmer.
What Ranger skills (weapon or utility) are most important to have in this fight?
Really depends on the Mesmers build, your build, and all that stuff… But like I said, I think the LB skills are all ideal for fighting a Mesmer. That and LR is always great to avoid a shatter burst.
How do you feel about Mesmer in general?
Interesting class. It’s the only other class I play reguarly so I find it particularly interesting to fight against them. The reason I find them hard is really just because they kite really well when played right, and if you don’t have the tools to handle it properly on your build it’s a challenge to keep the pressure up.
But with that said I’ll say I find Mesmers one of the more annying classes to fight, simply because
hehe. im going to find all your posts.. I love this
1. Same Deal. Quick Target so he pops stealth to lose it. and Pray
2. I feel decent my ranger is pretty good with condi clear and stun break
3+ 5. Axe Autoattack. I love any skill that can let me kill the clones while still focusing DPS onto the mesmer. GS #2 is also good to 1 shot them. Keep track of the real mesmer and make sure you dont forget the clones
4. Obviously Longbow ranger if they can keep the focus on you and stay ranged for long enough. I havent played trapper ranger but I imagine they are decent vs Mesmers. Especially since when I played My mes the condis owned me as well. I run Cele Axe/dagger and sword/ horn. That being said I also havent duelled a mes in a long time without being ganked at the end by their team.
5. Mesmer is better against New players and or people who havent played mes much. As I have you need to remember how long their stealth is and that only the real deal can use anything other then 1 and that real people run sideways.
P.S Assuming you will collect all your replies together I put down some different Ideas from my guard reply.. Best of luck in figuring out hard counters to the things we say can beat you.
Shatter mesmers are the only class that gives me a real challenge in PvP where I run a short bow/sword+torch conditions/tank ranger. I’m forced to get up close and chase them around while their clones hammer me until they explode. Generally, anyone that can turn invisible wrecks me. However in WvW, Im a longbow/GS assassin and they can’t tank 20,000 DMG in a few seconds, especially since they can’t close the distance in time.
I prefer to run LB GS but if I’m running into a lot of mesmers (that actually know how to play) I switch to my condi build. I find most mesmers can’t keep up with the steady amount of condi’s a ranger can apply and the frequent condi bursts.
On my LB GS build I find that any fight against a mesmer is an uphill battle due to the terrible targeting system in this game. Every time they come out of stealth I end up having to tab target through every clone, npc, ambient creature, etc. before I am able to retarget them and by that time they are usually back in stealth. I find the best way to fight them is use the GS so I don’t have to worry about having them targeted 100% of the time.
Of course the other way to fight them is to be a jerk and reset the fight as needed and then just keep enough distance between us to take them out at range.
So it comes down to 1v1 roaming Food buffs, full stacks) I have no fear of mesmers. Ranger condi should carry the fight, my LB build can reset as needed.
1v1 in PvP I have no fear of mesmers due to normailized stats.
1v1 Dueling (min maxing gear but no stacks/buffs) mesmers are a pain in the kitten when I’m running power and it’s a pretty fair fight on condi, could go either way.
“Is he shatter? He’s probably shatter…”
Against shatter? I’d say about 80% chance of me winning when I’m on power longbow. I generally have come to dislike condi specs in general nowadays, purely because they’ve boring for me to play. Also, the odds can chance depending on several factors, such as where we encounter each other, if one of us catches the other by surprise, 1v1 or team fight, etc.
I generally try and stay out of reach, but won’t shy away when it gets down to fisty cuffs. The longbow provides amazing pressure, even with just the auto attack. Since the longbow can provide so much pressure on a squishie target such as mesmer, they are generally an easy match up, especially in team fights or if they lack cover for LoS.
I’ve not met a lot of lockdown mesmers, so I can’t really say anything on that, but condi mesmers are bumped down my list. If I stay out of their range in team fights they’re no threat. Condi mesmers, in my experience, offer too little damage/burst compared to shatter. Yes, they can be annoying, since most run with PU and generally have a lot of toughness thanks to the rabid amulet, but that also makes them less dangerous.
Like mentioned, Hunter’s Shot can just be used on clones to grand stealth, so when I see a mesmer disappear into stealth, I just do the same and wait for them to pop up again. Even if they can manage to get into melee range for that GS#2 shatter combo, it’s not hard to dodge it. If I’m out of dodge Signet of Stone will save me from the burst. Since I run tripple signet on my build (right now, at least), with the signet cooldown reduction trait, I can have 6 seconds of damage immunity from shatter mesmers every 64 seconds, which is pretty sweat.
One thing I do try to watch out for is the use of my stability signet and elite, since shatter mesmers can easily strip a boon like that.
Power longbow, for me, at least. Condi ranger works well too, of course, since the meta shatter mesmer is very limited on condi removal option, but I feel more comfortable just exploiting that low armor rating and hp pool with power.
Signet of Stone to counter the burst if I get caught without dodges or immobilized (by sword #3 or the likes). Hunter’s Shot is also an amazing tool, for reasons already mentioned. The GS skills in general are quite useful. Long block, a daze/stun, and Maul can easily spike up to 6k when done right.
Generally I don’t feel they are as much a threat to me as thieves, but they are a priority target in team fights (if they are shatter), due to their boon stripping abilities and damage spikes.
Condition Ranger works quite well against mesmers.
Torch 5 covers the whole nodes (aside from LoF node)
It can destroys those clones quite easily for a long 8 seconds, and you can chip mesmer down with all the numerous conditions from your shortbow.
“Is Grasping Roots off cooldown?” The vast majority of mesmers don’t have the ability to easily cleanse conditions, so an immobilize and bleed make it so they can’t readily escape. I find this also works on thieves, and against clone mesmers it’s even better because the roots strangle the life out of the clones, leaving them alone and vulnerable.
Pretty good. not, being fair here, I can’t beat a skilled mesmer, but it;s such a hard class to play that I often find I’m not playing against a skilled mesmer. i give the actually good ones a wide berth, though
AoEs. make sure they can’t escape and then blanket the area in as many sweeping strikes as you can. eliminates clones and phantasms so they can’t shatter, and they take considerable damage since they often rely on misdirection to protect themselves.
Additionally, find out who the mesmer is from among the clones, and then press F1 for your pet to follow it. Whenever the mesmer comes out of stealth, your pet will go right for them, meaning if you’re perceptive and follow the actions of your pet, you’ll never have to deal with being unaware of which clone is the right one again.
Survival hunters with a longbow, so the basic RTW power build.
Grasping Roots, as said above, has won me more mesmer fights than I can count. the longbow blankets an area in rain of arrows, and then I close the distance with the large, sweeping strikes of the greatsword and proceed with that weapon, as it has two evades (one part of the auto-attack), a stun, a cripple, a block, and a burst skill. It’s great for if you’re close up.
I’m almost entirely neutral towards mesmers.
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