Guild Wars 2

I’ve been having difficulty with mesmers in particular as of lately. I have no problem killing anything else 1v1 but mesmers seem with beat me much more often then i beat them. Was wondering for some tactics/adivce on how to deal with them, several people told me the best thing to do is just run past them in a 1v1 scenerio. But I don’t ever like running, even when Its 1vX

My build I run with GS/hammer For damage, mobility, and cc

I run Lyssa Runes

general Utilities I run are
Balanced stance/Frenzy, Frenzy/ bulls charge/ signet of stamina, endure pain

0/20/20/10/20 And I really like it, It is solid. great damage and Constantly applying immobilize. I will post my stats bellow.

so any advice would be great

Endure Pain is useless against Mesmers really, most of there damage comes from staying in the fight longer (sustained).

The best weapon’s ive found against mesmer have been Sword. I’m dead serious. Mesmers don’t have much condition removal (just like us.) Sword also has a lot of low-cd leaps and spammable cripples. The weapon with it I find best is Mace, due to AOE pressure, AOE knockdown will knock down all the clones and the Mesmer too.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mmRkMVV9dGGx0cRMkVsq

Use Precision/Condition Damage/Toughness Gear (Turtle’s Def=Dogged March.)

Just thought I should Include GS stats aswell

when i read the title i was going to come in and say, “try using GS/Hammer” but you’ve already found the awesomeness that the weapon combo brings. I use almost the same build you do too. against mesmers, all I can really say is pressure them as much as possible, which is easy with that weapons combo. lots of aoe, and lots of cc with hammer. its tough beating a good mesmer 1v1, but you’ve got the right idea.

Scarn.1703:

when i read the title i was going to come in and say, “try using GS/Hammer” but you’ve already found the awesomeness that the weapon combo brings. I use almost the same build you do too. against mesmers, all I can really say is pressure them as much as possible, which is easy with that weapons combo. lots of aoe, and lots of cc with hammer. its tough beating a good mesmer 1v1, but you’ve got the right idea.

Yeah I’ve developed my build mostly from playing. Didn’t look for a build and found what worked best for me. but what is working best for me isn’t working good against mesmers, I picked up leg specialist almost for thieves and Mesmers exclusivly and mobile strikes so I couldn’t get immobolized as easy considering I can’t afford to waste Condition removal

As an axe/mace + longbow warrior I always just chop away at all their clones/phantasms so they cant use their shatters. Alternating ofcourse with immobilizing the mesmer so I can chop at him too :p

Clip.6845:

As an axe/mace + longbow warrior I always just chop away at all their clones/phantasms so they cant use their shatters. Alternating ofcourse with immobilizing the mesmer so I can chop at him too :p

I try to immobilize them but they just seem to blink away from everything. I’ll throw my two immobolize usually, bulls charge, then switch back to hammer and try to stun lock them and even then they manage to get out of it quite often.

I know! Call for help. ^^;;

Like any other and similar duel, it’s about hitting with your CC and burst down/control from there. Coming from my experience, in order to beat Mesmers, you need to play one for a while. It becomes painfully obvious what to look when 1v1 based on the initial few seconds of combat. There is one specific Mesmer build that you really cannot beat consistently (make phantasms/block/defensive utilities) but in that case, you can usually run away if you are not caught in the Mesmer CC/Confuse chain. Note, dodge/perma-vitality/sword MH/Duo Energy Signet Thief build is also extremely difficult (impossible) to beat 1v1 too, and to me, is far worse.

I’ve never had much success with a similar Warrior build and DD Eles (encounter far more often in 1v1 than Mesmers), and that is mainly because the builds CC is countered by the Ele perma-in-combat Stability/condition removal.

There are always a bigger fish in the sea.

FYI – You need to equip a second underwater weapon and a harvest sickle when you get a chance :P

I learned the following by fighting a decent Mesmer about 10 times.

1. Press Ctrl + T to target your Mesmer. (However they can go invisible to remove it)

2. However start attacking that target, buffed target is the real mesmer.

3. If they go invisible be wary of the clones and looks for any movement that is out of the ordinary, compared to the other clones.

4. Fight alot of mesmers to get better, duel your buddies in SPVP by going to an empty pvp server.

As G.I. Joe taught us, knowing is half the battle.

Mesmer’s have a lot of survivability through utilities. They teleport around, go invisible and can confuse the hell out of us, both literally and in game. It’s knowing how to react when they utilize these utilities that can make the difference in the fight.

As stated when the Mesmer is visible, mark him (you have to be in a party for this unfortunately). That gives you an edge of keeping sight on him and don’t waste any utility skills or high damage abilities on a clone or phanstasm. If you can’t be in a party you need to look for the red arrow which indicates the player.

Next is knowing how the utilities of the mesmer work so you know what to expect and can react real time to counter. I suggest you make a mesmer alt and jump into the Mists and play with their utilities and learn how they work. For example it’s your benefit knowing how long a mesmer can stay stealthed (with the weapon set they choose to use, some weapons provide additional invisibility).

Pay attention to your conditions! Confusion recently received a nerf but it’s still worth keeping a close eye on your conditions. You can take a good bit of your own HP if you aren’t watching these closely. Never tunnel vision!

Most importantly, practice. The more practice you have the better you will get both in killing mesmers and overall gameplay.

Far as the setup you’re running, I suggest you utilize GS #3 to chop down clones/phantasms before the mesmer can pop them. Obviously use your hammer stuns to support this process. If you can get the mesmer to blow his stun breaking abilities and then lock him down again you should be able to eat through good chunks of their health. Survive longer, and win.

Longbow and watch them cry as their clones burn instantly to the ground upon summoning them!

Easy… Just turn around, and walk away like a boss. -_-\/

Landrief.1862:

I learned the following by fighting a decent Mesmer about 10 times.

1. Press Ctrl + T to target your Mesmer. (However they can go invisible to remove it)

2. However start attacking that target, buffed target is the real mesmer.

3. If they go invisible be wary of the clones and looks for any movement that is out of the ordinary, compared to the other clones.

4. Fight alot of mesmers to get better, duel your buddies in SPVP by going to an empty pvp server.

I understand the mechanics of mesmer, i play one. Keeping up with the real target isn’t really an issue, I can usually always tell which one is the real one and which ones are the phantasms, what usually gets me though is that they burn all my condition removal, all my skills the affect mobile strike go onto cool down, then they use sword to teleport to me and switch with clone and go to to town on me. 90% of the time I won’t get burst down in the first wave of the assult, it usually comes after the third-4th rotations of just setting all my skills on the long timers

you need to know the mesmer class
- know all the ways to identify the real mesmer
—attacks faster
— move in any direction (illusions will only move towards you – except iswords…)
—jumps
—uses skills
… basically… if they do anything; its not a fake
- know the builds
— if that mesmer has a staff; your CC isnt going to work well
- knock out phantasms as much as possible (especially against phantasm mesmers)
- be careful when mauling through illusions (could be traited to inflict conditions on death)
- watch for ret and confusion
- expect (and dodge INTO) shatters

and dont blow everything; always have something up your sleeve… gauntlet, and try to identify what kind of build they are using

Linguistically Inept.6583:

you need to know the mesmer class
- know all the ways to identify the real mesmer
—attacks faster
— move in any direction (illusions will only move towards you – except iswords…)
—jumps
—uses skills
… basically… if they do anything; its not a fake
- know the builds
— if that mesmer has a staff; your CC isnt going to work well
- knock out phantasms as much as possible (especially against phantasm mesmers)
- be careful when mauling through illusions (could be traited to inflict conditions on death)
- watch for ret and confusion
- expect (and dodge INTO) shatters

and dont blow everything; always have something up your sleeve… gauntlet

The only issue i am having is outlasting them. And so Everyone knows I play a mesmer, I understand how the mechanics work. I’m almost positive i get killed by people running the Immortal mesmer builds. I personally run a support build on my mesmer for WvW. I know how the mesmer combo fields, traits, and skills work but I still can’t seem to get them down. They eventually get all my utilities on cool downs and go in for a burst.

Bacon Please.8407:

what usually gets me though is that they burn all my condition removal,…

You are have 2 condi removals on pretty long CDs, both of which have activation times. Grab Shake it Off!

If they are bursting you when your CDs are down, GS #3 or #5 away when they use their sword #2

AttackAttack.8917:

Bacon Please.8407:

what usually gets me though is that they burn all my condition removal,…

You are have 2 condi removals on pretty long CDs. Grab Shake it Off!

I have mobile strikes which is what i meant by conditions. It is usually the immobolize that causes the most issues. I find that shake it off has usually done more harm then good. I don’t die from normal conditions like bleeds, and picked up dogged march for reduced condition duration. Shake it off only removes one condition and breaks stun in 25 seconds. Yes the stun breaker is nice but the Condition removal sucks. I’ll often find mesmers put on confusion and then bury it with other conditions so that is why I prefer the full clean from conditions, so there is no chance on missing it and removing the least damaging conditions

What gear stats are you using?

AttackAttack.8917:

What gear stats are you using?

I have it posted at the top with pictures.

Those screenshots don’t really answer my question though. Where are you getting that 20% MF from?

EDIT* Perhaps try swapping to mending, removes 2 CDs and shorter cooldown. I know it doesn’t heal as much. Unless you’re using Healing Surge as a form of getting Adrenaline..I only do that in PVE.

AttackAttack.8917:

Those screenshots don’t really answer my question though. Where are you getting that 20% MF from?

Lol, Outmanned. It is a buff in WvW when the enemy greatly outnumbers you. It does not effect combat stats. Do you wvw much?

I’m not struggling to kill mesmers 1v1, I’ll leave it at that.

EDIT* I overlooked the buff. And I still have no idea what gear you’re running.

AttackAttack.8917:

I’m not struggling to kill mesmers 1v1, I’ll leave it at that.

EDIT* I overlooked the buff. And I still have no idea what gear you’re running.

Everything about my gear is quite visual. I even mentioned the runes. I don’t struggle to kill bad players either, I’ll leave it at that.

Bad is a subjective term and carries very little weight.

Back to the subject matter, you said you struggle when they burst you down with sword #2, counter it better. GS #3 or #5 away.

Yeah, the Mesmer phantasm build is almost impossible to beat against a good one. The swords man evade on attack and take 4-5 hits to take down. A Mesmer friend tested the damage with me and it hits at just around 2k per poke every 3s per swordsman up. With the increased illusion health signet it takes at least 4-5 hits to kill. The Mesmer itself is running a mix of knights + clerics and the regen from the phtantasms is extremely strong. Combined with blurred frenzy it’s hard to do any damage at all.

AttackAttack.8917:

Bad is a subjective term and carries very little weight.

Back to the subject matter, you said you struggle when they burst you down with sword #2, counter it better. GS #3 or #5 away.

I mentioned that the only time i don’t gs 3 or 5 away is when they are on cool down. IF i could use them again I would.

peter.9024:

Yeah, the Mesmer phantasm build is almost impossible to beat against a good one. The swords man evade on attack and take 4-5 hits to take down. A Mesmer friend tested the damage with me and it hits at just around 2k per poke every 3s per swordsman up. With the increased illusion health signet it takes at least 4-5 hits to kill. The Mesmer itself is running a mix of knights + clerics and the regen from the phtantasms is extremely strong. Combined with blurred frenzy it’s hard to do any damage at all.

Yeah i’ve noticed that as well. IT hits pretty hard. When ever I get ready to set up a good combo, they go invulnerable or blink away.

Are you dodging anything in particular or saving it for blurred frenzy?

It’s on a 10 second CD (the leap is on 12 seconds) so you may want to try saving your endurance for this.

EDIT* When traited with Blade Training the CDs are 8 seconds on Blurred Frenzy and 9.5 on the Leap with 0.75 second cast time.

Daecollo.9578:

Endure Pain is useless against Mesmers really, most of there damage comes from staying in the fight longer (sustained).

The best weapon’s ive found against mesmer have been Sword. I’m dead serious. Mesmers don’t have much condition removal (just like us.) Sword also has a lot of low-cd leaps and spammable cripples. The weapon with it I find best is Mace, due to AOE pressure, AOE knockdown will knock down all the clones and the Mesmer too.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mmRkMVV9dGGx0cRMkVsq

Use Precision/Condition Damage/Toughness Gear (Turtle’s Def=Dogged March.)

Not sure how changing up the entire gear set (and perhaps spec, the link isn’t working for me) is an applicable answer. You say endure pain is useless..I say if saved for Blurred Frenzy/Shatter combos it can save you from being burst down like this, 13 seconds in – http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ShWW9y8yCys#!

Also Mesmer’s have quite a bit of conditional removal through their utilities. They have access to phantasms, glamour and mantra’s skills which remove conditions.