Guild Wars 2

So ive been playing Thief since for a very long time now, however Ive still always had trouble with condi staff mesmers while playing d/p.

Generally ill flip to Sb to try to get the clones away however they just keep spamming condis and shatters. Is there another weapon setup or way to approach the fight I should be looking at?

Take escapist absolution and dodge into clones and also use the trait improvisation for double stolen skill (it has resistance). You could try shsdow arts instead of da though and opt for shadows embrace

Shatter condi Chronos are a bane for most thieves. They have ridiculous clone spam and we lack AoE to manage it. I run a LOT of condi clear on my build (both in Acro, Trickster and Escapists) and at best all I can do is not die to a well played one. Average ones are manageable but still a weakness. Their condi and heal ability along with good combat mobility is a difficult fight for most thieves.

Run Bound, Shadow Embrace and Trickster.
Problem solved.

Taking Escapist Absolution might mean you wont have enough damage to kill them though if you use this setup.

Meta mesmers are actually one of the most bearable duels if the mesm doesnt kite properly. Just engage/disengage continuosly and evade while in melee to avoid being hit by shatters. If you can bait his deffensive skills, negate clone generation and properly dodge shatters you may finish by defeating him. Its a losing matchup in equal skill lvl tho

PvP or WvW?

Answer that 1st