Guild Wars 2

Edited to show build link

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgIQNAW8alwzipXUzpGb9ICqHYH49dkU0asWJF82FC-j0CBYfRGbEg+IQEBwJfCiJPKrVNFRjVXDT5iIq2aeQrW0JWKgRFGB-w

How do you kill these types of mesmers? The difficulty I have when fighting mesmers is trying to find out who the real mesmer is! This is probably just due to lack of experience but his clones always trip me out! Any advice? Thanks!

The clones never move backward, they will not have chaos armor around them, the one with the chaos armor is the mesmer, if you hit the “mesmer” and his health drops way to low for a seemingly weak hit, that’s a clone. Clones don’t evade, and Im pretty sure clones don’t have titles. But generally if you click around, the one with the boons is the real deal.

Apologies if I have the wrong idea; I just didn’t feel like watching a video.

I’ll assume you’re referring to the mesmers that pretty much spam evade and stealth until they can shatter and blurred frenzy, and repeat that sequence over and over.

The trick to finding the real mesmer is very simple. Use target lock, and maintain target lock. This is how I deal with them… Target the mesmer before they spawn any clones or phantasms. Ignore the clones and phantasms they spawn and just focus on the mesmer. They will keep teleporting and evading, so it’s good to have something like shadow shot. Eventually, the mesmer will stealth. When they do, you need to stealth too and wait them out, otherwise you’ll take too much damage from their phantasms. It’s also easier to look around when you’re not being hit, so you can watch for the mesmer to reappear. When they do, target them again and get a backstab in. Keep going until one of you dies or escapes.

If you lose the mesmer and they’re not stealthed, there are a few things you can do to find the right one: target each of them looking for signs such as signets, bloodlust stacks, protection, stability etc; watch for the one that isn’t moving like a bot; find the most robust; kill them all; or stealth and look for the one that starts to run around mindful of getting hit with a backstab.

Good player can easily find the Mesmer in less than a second through experience. Easiest way to win would be a zerker build and then Cloak and Dagger→Steal→Backstab→Heartseeker→Heartseeker→Heartseeker. If that somehow didn’t work use Shadow Refuge and be prepared to dodge Illusionary Wave or Temporal Curtain. Next stalk him at 3-4k range away and repeat in 30-60 seconds till you have the kill.

That’s just standard shatter mesmer build. If you have trouble finding the real one then that’s a problem with lack of experience. Just play against them some more to get use to it.

Thief vs shatter mes is not a bad match-up for thief.

What the others have said so far is true. The clones and phantasms won’t have any boons (unless they’re given those after they’ve been spawned). The thing with the phantasms is that they will attack you the very second you end stealth, so if anyone is close to you – evade them.

What I do as soon as I meet up with a mesmer is to abuse stealth. I never attack from stealth unless I’m 100% sure that I’m hitting the real mesmer – you don’t want to waste your burst and end up with 3 seconds of revealed. To do this I’ll just CnD off the clones since they wont evade its a no-brainer and way too easy to do. Just take your time and evade the mesmer burst (seeing all the clones running towards you? evade because he’s shattering them!) and make sure that you land yours.

Real mesmers dodge, and do not take as much damage as their clones.

Mesmer clones also have a slower auto attack, and only use basic skills.

edit: Huh, the guy in the vid is carrying MI….interesting…

glaphen.5230:

Good player can easily find the Mesmer in less than a second through experience. Easiest way to win would be a zerker build and then Cloak and Dagger->Steal->Backstab->Heartseeker->Heartseeker->Heartseeker. If that somehow didn’t work use Shadow Refuge and be prepared to dodge Illusionary Wave or Temporal Curtain. Next stalk him at 3-4k range away and repeat in 30-60 seconds till you have the kill.

Or you can try beating him with skill….. Your advice is to blow all your initiative then run away until it’s back and you wonder why people hate thieves? Try managing your init and you’ll find you don’t need to tuck tail and run every 10 seconds.

Amusing tactic they have… giant mesmer with loads of clones with the tiny lil asura hiding in there so well I didnt even notice him for the first little while :P

With mesmers I find it best to constantly engage and disengage. That doesnt mean you need to completely run away, just take a step bad once in a while to keep your bearings. If you just charge in head down you can get confused with whos what and where, even if its such for a few seconds.. so keep your head up and like the others said, spotting the real mesmer is just a matter of practice.