Guild Wars 2

I’ve recently started playing thief and absolutely love it, but I’m having some difficulty 1v1 ing mesmers. Any hints/tips? I’m generally roaming in spvp as 25/30/0/5/10 and D/D. Any help appreciated

Most mesmers you find in spvp will be running a shatter build.

Engage at range with your SB and keep up pressure with clusterbombs. This is effective against their clones. Poison them when they get around 50-60% health. If they are s/p, watch for the pistol stun and try to dodge it. Watch for the pistol arm to raise. If they catch you in it you need to stun break or you will eat their shatter burst, which if you are gc will take you down. If they are GS, try to dodge the initial berserker whirl.

Assuming you are running standard burst, keep up with SB pressure until you need to heal. At that point while in stealth, pop your basilisk (and assassin signet if you have), then CnD→steal→bs burst them as soon as stealth drops. Finish with HS if needed. This will handle most bad to average mesmers.

As a mesmer I run GS and sword/pistol, and the answerer (if that is his real name) knows what he (she?) is talking about. However, I run a mantra build so fighting me would be quite different than the standard burst mesmer.

1) I can heal through any burst. I have 6 heals that proc every 1.33 seconds on average and remove all condition each time one is activated, as well as heal me of course.

2) I you have no interrupts you may be out of luck as I can continue to chain mantras together as I cast more mantras to heal through whatever damage you do. I don’t even have to pretend to be a clone.

3) When fighting a mantra mesmer they give no warning when they heal, remove conditions, damage you, or stun you. Mantras cast instantly and there is no warning, so it’s a bit of a guessing game as to when you want to dodge. Keep them targeted and count how many mantras they have on their boon bar. They should have 3 of each, and after playing a mantra mesmer, I can tell you that the (extremely few) others I’ve fought have predictable patterns that you must learn along the way. In my personal experience most of my damage comes from my 3 charges of Mantra of Pain, which I can recharge in 3.25 seconds and heal myself while I use Mantra of Distraction to stun you, which has a 5-second cool down. Watch for Power Surge’s count to drop to zero and dodge, as this is a common rotation by mantra mesmers. I only use my actual heal when I recieve conditions that affect my movement, attack ability (confusion), or have a high damage per tick such as burning or large stacks of bleeding, all of which are removed completely when I heal. Use your short bow 3 to keep the cripple up. Once the mantra mesmer has no heal charges left it’s 13.25 seconds before they’re able to effectively heal through your bursts and conditions again.

4) Note that power surge can still damage you while in stealth significantly. Your stealth isn’t a safe haven when fighting a mantra mesmer, and I usually only have to switch to sword/pistol when a thief is running a tanky annoyance build where they continually go in and out of stealth using CnD.

5) Moa morph will ruin your day. Don’t let a mesmer stand still when an ominous noise begins to play.

I would do a condition build, probably P/D. Full carrion. I would also use the mesmer clones to CnD off of, but be careful as they may shatter if he knows what he is doing.

Do not run shadow refuge, it’s a death trap versus a smart mesmer.

Run condition cure in stealth

Do not run caltrops on dodge. Otherwise you will be hit by confusion when you dodge.

Use a condition build. It helps you spot the player(giant numbers coming from his head) and does damage to him even if you stop attacking due to confusion stacks.

Use a stunbreaker. I prefer rolling for initiative, or shadowstep for condition cure.

Don’t stand in his confusion fields.

Run blind on stealth (it blinds the clones as well)

Use thieves guild. As a condition build they will still do tons of damage and distract his clones.

Run caltrops utility. It damages everything in the area. The clones and the mesmers and is area denial.

Sweet thanks, so far all these tips have helped a lot.

thief dueling different professions including mesmer and d/d ele