Guild Wars 2

Now that I’ve played a thief in PvP a bit I’m starting to be able to beat them 1v1 with some success – that is to say I don’t lose to kittenty thieves anymore.

But Mesmers, unless they’re backpedaling special people, still crap on me without much trouble. Sure I can sometimes manage to kill one, but it always feels I just got lucky more than actually outplaying them.

Can anyone point me to a video or a guide that would help me learn how to fight mesmers? The build I’m currently using is this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJMQNAR3ejMdU2ZZIehwJaAmgCZnPBHT7AQ9T85LBA-TVSEABIcQAA4IAolSwlU+VwFAIiHAAb6GYU9HY2fgMALLA-w

The two biggest problems I seem to have against them is the stupidly high damage from a shatter burst, taking as much as 12k out of my health within a second or two, and the problem figuring out where the Mesmer is after it ports/stealths.

Now for the first problem, are there any tells when the burst is coming and how often can the mesmer do it? I have plenty of evades, blocks and invulns in the build, so it’s not a problem of having one up, but more like it happening so fast I can’t react.

Second problem, how far do they teleport and are there any restrictions on the direction they can go to? How often can they stealth/teleport?

I think it might also be beneficial to watch some mesmer videos beating warriors to get the other PoV of my problem. Tips?

I know the best solution would be to play a mesmer myself, but the problem is I’m out of character slots and the class doesn’t interest me one bit (apart from killing it over and over again in revenge).

Best thing to do is get a buddy and join an empty pvp arena to practice.You can get all the advice from lots of people in here,but 1on1 practice is where you will start realizing when the bursts will happen and how far they can port away and when you need to spike etc.

I guess that would be a good start. How much does the situation change when you throw in ascended gear and food/utility buffs in WvW?

Tom Gore.4035:

I guess that would be a good start. How much does the situation change when you throw in ascended gear and food/utility buffs in WvW?

Stats are diff in pvp,u do get lower overall stats in Pvp compared to running full asc in WvW.But the thing is more about trying to read their skills,and able to anticipate how theyre gonna play,move,when theyre gonna burst,when you need to dodge,when you dont need to dodge,when you need to spike..not so much about stats.

Your build is full melee and in WvW against a good Mesmer you probably won’t win especially if they have the staff

My advice to you is if the fight is going bad to simply resset – The GS will out run any Mesmer plus you got the block on the shield

When you see the clones running at you they are going to shatter – If he is using a sword usually you will get immobilized before the shatter and blurred frenzy – that is when you know you should shield block or pop endure pain

A standard shatter build will have one or two stealths – decoy a utility every 40 seconds and the torch can also stealth every 24-30 seconds depending if traited. They usually carry blink which is a 1200 range teleport in any direction + stun break – The STAFF is the major reason melee builds can not deal with Mesmers it has an 8 second teleport which is impossible to stop pretty much even if they are stunned they can use it

Perhaps this video can help you a little bit. It’s more of a WvW compilation using a Mace/GS build but a lot of it are against the type of Mesmer you describe. I’ve also played alot of shatter mesmer myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoAjKtD6MLY

Don’t be too discouraged when fighting against Mesmers. A decent mesmer will beat me 7 times out of 10 and are generally a difficult match up for a Warrior. But there are ways you can better your chances.

Mesmers generally have 3 ways of bursting you (I am talking about the GS/Staff variant that is most popular).

Mesmer’s Shatter burst has an 11-12 second cooldown generally. They will often pair it with the GS #2 for the huge shatter bursts that you see.

GS #2 by itself also does decent damage and it is generally up every 6 seconds. Remember that it can bounce off Mesmer clones and hit you again a second time.

iBerserker will also deal decent damage to you, perhaps around 3K damage on average.

Most Shatter Mesmers will have 1-2 sources of stealth. Usually Mass Invisibility and Decoy, both of which have lengthy cooldowns, 90 and 32 seconds respectively. Almost all Mesmers will carry Blink on their utility bar. It is a stun breaker that teleports them upwards to 1,200 range every 30 seconds. Perhaps one of the most problematic is if they have Staff. They can teleport a decent distance away from you every 8 seconds. They can also use Chaos Storm which grants them Aegis while dazing and putting weakness on you. They can also Phase Retreat through Chaos Storm granting them Chaos Armor which gives them protection while also blinding you. In addition to another Chaos Storm they can cast immediately after. Also a well-timed shatter daze, GS #5 can prevent you from dealing damage as well as F4.

Reacting to the Mesmer shatter burst can be difficult, but there are usually tell-tale signs. If a Mesmer Mirror Blades you, he will likely try to shatter you, you always want to dodge this. Always dodge iBerserker as well. Being crippled leaves you susceptible to a Mirror Blade or a shatter or both. If the clones stop attacking you and casually run towards you, that means the Mesmer is about to shatter. Also a very good strategy is to cleave the clones as much as possible with your Axe or Greatsword. Less clones = Less DPS = More dodges/skills used to spit out more clones = win. Make great use of your Endure Pain, GS #3, dodges and blocks.

But of course just dodging everything isn’t going to win you the match-up, you need to deal damage! The most important rule is to stay in the Mesmer’s face as much as possible. You rarely ever want to keep your distance vs them because they can just GS-auto you from range and it deals more damage. Plus Mesmer GS skills are a little clunky short-ranged. Plus you put no pressure on them from range. So constant pressure and making them panic is the key. You want to land as many as your cripples on them as possible, Mesmers don’t have alot of condi removal, in order to land your skills. You want them to blow as many cooldowns within a short period of time. Their main defenses being F3, F4, GS#5, Staff #2, Staff #4/Staff#5, Blink, Decoy and Mass Invis. It is a lot of layers of defense to get through but it is possible and not all of these defenses are guaranteed.

When a Mesmer is on GS, that is where they deal the most damage, but it is also where they are the most vulnerable. You want to stay in attack mode while at the same time watching for the clones and shatters. When a Mesmer is on staff, their DPS output is generally less but they have more defenses. If they burn Chaos Storm and Phase Retreat, you want to be relentless in your attack. However you have a short window till the next Phase Retreat, not including other defensive mechanics that may come off cooldown.

I actually like Mace Shield GS against Shatter Mesmers because of the extra block. Also the 3 second stun, or at least the threat of it is enough to make the Mesmer very weary and panic in crucial situations. Also the daze really helps. Because they know if you land your stun it can potentially be GG. For axe it is generally a bit more difficult I think because it has less CC, but between the threat of Eviscerate and highly damaging autos you should be fine as well.

Keep in mind in that video I have 3,300 armor, and the Mesmer still hits me extremely hard.

Tom Gore.4035:

The two biggest problems I seem to have against them is the stupidly high damage from a shatter burst, taking as much as 12k out of my health within a second or two, and the problem figuring out where the Mesmer is after it ports/stealths.

Right, I think you give the answer to one of your questions yourself. You take a stupid amount of damage from a shatter burst, thus you need to mitigate that. This should always be your main focus when fighting a shatter mesmer.

Some advice from my experience.

The absolute best skill you have to dodge a mesmer burst, is GS#3. This attack will not only give you an evade frame that’s just enough to dodge the burst, it will also destroy all clones while being safe (because of the evade) in case you don’t time it perfectly.

Shield #5 and Endure Pain are your other options.

Also note that if you manage to outrun the clones, they will break after a period of time. GS#5 comes into play here. GS#4 can also be a utility skill to destroy a clone/phantasm without getting hurt.

That being said, I would change the sigil of battle on GS to Sigil of Air. With such high crit chance, you can often get a double proc to destroy any high HP phantasm with 1 attack. Also, Sigil of battle is getting nerfed into non-existence, being even inferior to Sigil of Strength.

Another advice regarding sigils is to swap out Strength on your shield to energy. This gives you an extra dodge should you need it when your other mitigation options have been used.

Always dodge through the clones/phantasms running towards you, as they will break but you evade the damage. Dodging backwards, or simply away from the clones only means you postpone the inevitable.

Like others have said, there are certain moments at which most mesmers will perform their shatter burst. A good one will get up three clones before shattering for maximum damage. Sword#3 is an immobilize, so Shield 5, GS 3 in time to mitigate. Save Endure Pain if you should get stunned (pistol 5 for example).
Their GS#2 skill is also often used for a big burst, in conjunction with Blink. They GS2, blink in, and along with previously spawned clones they perform their burst.

Other skills to watch out for are Phantasms. Destroy them as soon as you can and try to avoid the initial attack. This will greatly reduce any pressure the mesmer can put on you.

As for figuring out where the mesmer is, this can be tricky, even for a veteran.

Try using Tab targetting. When the mesmer is in your vision range and comes out of stealth, Tab targetting will immediately target the real mesmer.
Other stuff like a plethora of buffs, non-clonish behaviour and general prediction of what good positioning would be should help you identify the mesmer quickly.

Mesmer is a notoriously hard fight for a power warrior, but we can manage a win and I feel GS is one of the best weapons to get it. GS#3 is just so good against them both defensively and offensively, and you have it on the lowest possible cooldown. They will normally try to kite you, but if you manage to get close and whirlwind in their direction, it means WW will deal maximum hits and can take out half their HP in one hit.

Don’t forget that you can always kite out to restore health and allow for more mistakes on your part.

As for your build, try this;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJMQNAR3ejMdU2ZZIehwJaAmgCZnPBHT7AQ9T85DBA-TVCEABE8AA2SJITK/M4CA0muhGV/BgjAwDHEgY2fgUALpMC-w

I switched the sigils and gave it bloodlust instead of perception. You get over 400 extra power, while still retaining 94% crit chance on your evis (which is more then enough). Burst Mastery is definitely not needed on this build due to regular swapping, Cleansing Ire, fast hitting auto attacks and a generally inferior burst skill on GS (that doesn’t need max adrenaline for maximum damage anyway).

Hope I helped.

killahmayne and Cygnus, thanks a million! This is exactly what I needed for the theory portion. Now to get a lot of practice… Gotta check with my guild if there are any PvP Mesmers there to give me some lessons in custom arenas.

Good pointers on the build, too. Never thought to consider heightened focus, but I am admittedly sitting on a lot of adrenaline most of the time.

And if everything else fails I’ll just hop onto my thief and backstab them until they uninstall