Guild Wars 2

Now that GW2Skills.net has updated to include the elite specs, post your Mirage PvX theorycrafts here!

This is mine (only tested in PvE, but intended for PvP/WvW):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAnf8ansICVohdoBGMDMMjFYDzf/NAPglTgdzvhMAcBeJA-jZhAQBA4EAsxDCwGeCA5rMwP2fAA

I took Domination for signets, weakness, and a ton of vulnerability spam, allowing me to get creative with my sigil choices (compared to relying on Sigil of Fallibility). Confounding Suggestions might end up being better though instead of Rending, but we’ll see.

Dueling helps upkeep blind very often, while being able to dish out a lot of confusion stacks. It’s evident that we won’t be able to generate a ton of clones like Chrono, so Illusionary Retribution and Maim the Disillusioned won’t be as potent with Mirage.

For Mirage, I went semi-defensive and offensive. You will be able to hit more w/ Axe, meaning more mind games (8 sec CD on retargetting skill), and have 40% condi reduction for nasty conditions (bleed, burn, confusion, torment) though it would be nice if that was condi dmg reduction instead. Finally we have an on-demand stun break via Mirage Cloak as well as supplemental condition clear.

Weapons:

• sword for mobility via ambush, defense; pistol for offense and CC
• axe for offense, retargetting; torch for defense and offense

Utilities:

• SotE for phantasm regen, signet synergy
• Signet of Midnight for blind/conf, stealth, stunbreak, signet synergy
• Signet of Illusions for more blind/conf, extra Distortion, Domination synergy, extra vigor proc for more condi dmg uptime, signet synergy
• Illusionary Ambush for mind games, universal illusions gap closer, mirage cloak synergy (regen+superspeed), can be replaced by Blink for more mobility but at the cost of less offense, or Portal for teamplay
• Jaunt for a bit more mobility, kiting, condition clearing, condition spiking, juking

Your job is to +1 and teamfight. Slower than a Thief but has more group damage. Vuln spam makes targets easier to kill, condi spam is an added bonus. It’s like a mix of Warrior, Rev, and Thief (and I guess Mes). If you want less damage then take Carrion, at the cost of hybrid power pressure.

Because you’re missing blocks (which Chrono has a ton of), you must rely on retargets, damage evasion by kiting, and mind games. You really need to get used to the sword ambush as well, since you should use it to kite, not as a gap closer. Rely on Illusionary Ambush for gap closing, as well as Axe 3. You can play defensively or offensively, or of course depending on what is going on.

SneakyTouchy.6043:

Hmm. Melee knockback and melee circle cc thing, vs LB 3, 5, and chain pull.

Chasing with melee vs constant ranged pressure and the ability to block points with traps.

Reliance on vitality instead of blocks and offensive pressure

Waiting on retaliation cooldowns to do damage instead of always having access to full potential, or access to continuous burn pressure.

I used to run this build a lot in the past, but the added crit chance under retaliation still doesn’t bring it up to its competitors. It’s not a support build, its not a tank, and its not a high pressure build either. It would also likely lose any 1v1s against any non-support meta class.

In higher tier play, any time you charge up your ham2 or 5 before judge, they will always see it and dodge, block, or stunbreak. From there, this build literally has nothing going for it. It’s like the mesmer’s one shot mantra build. If you miss your shot, you’re done for, but it’s shot isn’t nearly as good as the mesmer’s.

So it’s basically mantra mes but every 4 seconds?

It hits very hard. GS does too but GS lacks a ranged option, and can’t decap.

Shoutout to ArenaNet for making a lot of core builds viable. Warr’s Axe build, Guard’s Hammer build, Thief’s power S/D build are some of the notable builds made possible through recent balance patches. Ranger looks like it’s getting a hybrid core build too. Stuff like the Radiance changes for Guardian give me hope that Anet has it in them. I have some suggestions:

• Give Elementalist a few trait overhauls for Fire attunement, give something crazy for core players.

• Necro could benefit with something really drastic and nasty too. I don’t play Necro but, ATM, core Necros feel underwhelming.

• Despite the recent changes, core Engi remains a bit subpar compared to other builds. Firearms could use a few potent trait overhauls.

• Core Revenant can use some help as well (though I don’t see why one wouldn’t run an elite spec). Give Retribution something crazy to work with, perhaps.

Because ANet wants to throw in some creativity, and get balance patches out for the gen 2 elites earlier.

1: Warrior — Warhorn
2: Guardian — Staff
3: Ranger — Shortbow
4: Mesmer — Focus
5: Revenant — Hammer

Because they have over 9000 knockbacks.

I’m mainly talking about the condi cleanse.

The PvE build will take a bit longer to post so I’ll just post the PvP/WvW build for now.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs6fnsICVohdoB2qBEgiFYjqcC2tfjMAugXqOYP2mF-TpgWAAw+DbZAA

Gravity Well = Jaunt, empty weapon slot = axe, replace Chrono with Mirage with the exact same trait placement.

Amulets etc = unsure, Carrion or Viper can work. Sigils are still undecided.

Rune of the Tempest can also work really well. With Sage’s it would heal for 2k per stunbreak.

Elusive Mind can replace Inspiration.

I wanna look like this

I’ve already made a raid build and a viable PvP build with Mirage all within an hour…

What I really like is the playstyle between PvE Mirage and PvP/WvW Mirage is vastly different. For PvE you summon phantasms, spam axe attacks and ambush attacks, never shatter. For PvP/WvW you do a mix of ambushes, phantasm spawns, interrupts, shatters, making you be pretty much insane. I can share both builds if you guys are interested.

A few tweaks to some stuff and Mirage will be chockful of build diversity.

By the time I pressed space I was out of the instance and I received the warning.

I was doing Migraine and I flew out of the instance when Mordremoth hit 80% HP, by taking the updraft. Why is this part so hard? IMO I think the high of the flying should be nerfed. What do you think?

I second this guy, he hits my chrono bunker (Hwaito) really hard.

It’s not OP, just too passive. Damage needs to be changed for Test of Faith:

• Test of Faith damage is cut in half
• If knocked back, pulled, or launched into Test of Faith, deal the same damage as it is currently.

Vertical progression has always turned me off… and I’m not even a casual player. When you take a break (school, college, work, events… life) and come back, you’ll find yourself behind a lot of players, and you won’t be able to join others in completing something because you’re not strong enough and need to catch up.

It works in WoW because that was the game that really started it all—the grandfather of modern MMOs, which has a large following of players that are able to catch up because of the huge playerbase.

But in GW2 bringing vert progression would feel like another clone, would make it stale and of course would offput many including me.

I’ve read stories of players joining GW2 and two months later they’ve completed raids, heck I even heard someone say it took them about 3 months to complete every raid since they joined GW2.

And also, as a wise man once said, games are for fun. Enjoy them when you can.

Last season’s rating affects this season’s. His was probably higher than yours last season so it’s easier for him to climb.

Bloodstone Rubies, Petrified Wood, and Jade Shards are exotic, meaning if you salvage all 250 of them you need to click 750 times to salvage them. I would like to suggest changing the rarity to Rare so we can salvage all of them with one click. Thanks!

PSA: Mesmers can port the orb to a point.

With this build you don’t run far and sit there all game. You need to rotate a lot to support allies and bunker, that is your role. You’re basically a bunker bruiser with some support, offense, and bunkering.

Portal is extremely important because let’s say you go far, win the 1v1 and cap the point.

Then you go mid to help the teamfight. Far becomes contested, so you port back to it and bunker the point so the enemy team doesn’t decap it.

Let me say this: Portal is the only reason I was able to climb so high up last season, coupled with the tankiness from this build.

The main reason WoP wasn’t used was because Well of Recall was better before Alacrity was nerfed and the Blur from WoP made you lose a point. It worked in Stronghold especially when you’re defending lord or attacking their lord but in conquest WoP works because Alacrity isn’t as good as it used to be, and you no longer need to worry about losing the point because of blur.

GS stunlock mes is really easy to avoid. If they go stealth they’ll go straight for somebody. Or, if they aren’t stealthed, dodge as soon as they lift their GS up.

Their window of opporunity is evident.

What if a Necro or Mesmer (or someone w/ Sigil of Annulment) kills your stability? Use a stunbreak.
What if a point you own is constantly being decapped by a Thief? Use Portal.
The build does kill, although not all the time especially against tanky specs.

Also I use precog as a safe haven on its own because of its blocks. 3 blocks is a lot, especially since it can facetank bursts. Not as much as 3 seconds of Blur but at least it doesn’t prevent cap-point contribution.

Okay, changing the heal.

I did indeed run Well of Eternity last season, not Signet, but thought it would be a nice choice because of the disenchanter spam.

Signet of Illusions would make a good choice I suppose, more boons and condition cleansing as well as unsuspected burst (plus more heals), but well of precog is a much-needed stun break/group block/endurance recover on a relatively short CD (shorter than Signet of Illu at least) which gives 2 seconds of Alacrity (3 to yourself)

Phantasmal Disenchanter is also a valuable utility because of the boon strip and condi cleanse. It basically replaces the condi cleanse for Signet of Illusions as well as providing boonstrip on a really short CD (20 seconds).

I published this build recently and am asking for some thoughts on it. Kind of a downer of a build, but it has a more active playstyle than its previous counterpart since you need to kite more, although it does do more damage than the one from S1. A fair tradeoff, I think.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Chronomancer_-_Chaos_Bunker

Overall I like these changes. I think it’s clear that the community wants something fresh and good to use, not something relying on timely gimmicks and niche traits that’ll see no good use (such as Lost Time from Chrono).

Two weeks ago (or last week) we got stuck in-game and now this… I just need 20 more QPs

While I think Elusive Mind should clear conditions and break stun on Mirage Cloak activation, the trait specifically states dodging, NOT Mirage Cloak activation, for anybody who’s confused on the matter.

Mirage:

• Buff Ambush attacks, give Phantasms unique Ambush attacks, introduce Ambush Shatters which still synergize with Shatter traits but are similar but different counterparts to their original shatters.

• Utilities involving Mirage Mirrors aren’t worth taking. Blink is probably better than Mirage Advance and Illusionary Ambush. False Oasis would be better if Mirage Mirrors were buffed.

• Some of the traits feel very niche/weak such as Self Deception, Riddle of Sand, Nomad’s Endurance, and Shards of Glass. Perhaps add swiftness to Speed of Sand. Needs synergy w/ Power.

• Axe: Axe 2 could use a short evade, Axe 3 has pathing issues. Phantasmal Axes could use another condition type and extra raw damage.

• Ambush: Shatters could become Ambush Shatters briefly during cloak; Ambush attacks were not as strong as they needed to be for their cost.

Fun to play Mirage though especially with Deception skills, but the effectiveness is questionable.

I’m currently in the process of proposing a suggestion to buff Mirage and make a lot more fun including overhauling the elite. There is absolutely no need to make the elite function like a nerfed Blink. No reason whatsoever.

It’s essentially blink on a 60 cd, broken in three different charges. I have no idea why it’s so uninspired but I have a different idea for it.

I think nearly everyone will like what I’m gonna propose

Jace al Thor.6745:

Abelisk.4527:

I have to agree with Frostball. I have fallen in love with Mirage and it’s disheartening to see a lot of people not enjoying the playstyle. I’m still tweaking my build constantly.

It’s not the play style that people don’t like I think per say. It’s the fact that half the stuff doesn’t work, have synergy with existing traits, etc.

Axe was a horrible choice for a main hand when the community had been asking for pistol, focus, and dagger. All potentially would have made for a better mainhand. Heck Pistol would be great because it’s a condi spec. But axe sucks. The clunky, pathing doesn’t work well, and damage is to low range to short. Dodges are having to be used offensively for burst, that’s completely against the inherent mechanics. Then you have the issue it’s slow. Chrono fixed that but now you’re back to travelers rune or what not for speed. This leads to the fact Mirage mirrors tend to spawn where you aren’t at and then you have to walk to them or burn blink/jaunt to use them.

Like I said, I like the idea and the potential play style. Anet Judy didn’t do it justice.

I never knew people saw axe’s skills beforehand >>

Axes of Symmetry is currently not working as intended—the correct version is Illusionary Ambush which is working.

It is 100% the playstyle and the build because I have not once found this build slow. In fact I’m moving around my enemy so quickly that they have no clue what’s going on.

The movement speed is gone—oh well. Highly unlikely ANet would want to add a 25% speed add to every elite spec. That would be tasteless. Instead we have regen, 20% incoming expertise reduction, condi cleanse, and stun break on dodge which is pretty significant.

Now I’m not saying Mirage isn’t lacking features because it is. Chrono got shield, alacrity, wells, clone generation, 25% movement, superspeed illusions on shatter, and continuum split (7 features) while Mirage gets axe, ambush, more condi, mirage cloak, dodge stunbreak, and superspeed on mirage cloak (6).

IMO what Mirage needs is a special mechanic such as Continuum Split. IDK what it should be, but there should be something at the F5 slot. It just feels like it’s missing something.

Other than that Mirage still works and it works well.

I have to agree with Frostball. I have fallen in love with Mirage and it’s disheartening to see a lot of people not enjoying the playstyle. I’m still tweaking my build constantly.

Phantasms DO ambush attacks! Just equip Illusionary Ambush are watch ALL your phantasms attack your target.

EDIT: I mean the illusions all shadowstep around your target. Apparently that’s not what people are complaining about.

Unlike Illusionary Ambush which states you are out of range, Axes of Symmetry instead depletes itself at your current position if you are out of range. I find this problematic since it wastes an entire evade and, as a result, my performance drops.

Yea but if you’re dancing around a point dueling someone the mirror is really close to you.

With dune cloak you can at least feel rewarded for gaining the mirrors.

I don’t know who started this rumor but False Oasis does not require to be stood on

It is currently the most healing skill in the game for Mesmers (with Sage’s you get around 10k) and with Dune Cloak is works nicely in duels.

For movement speed take Rune of the Traveler.

Mikkel.8427:

Abelisk.4527:

Amazing spec. It is a bursty, high-risk kit with lower sustain than Chrono but more sustained damage.

Also, pistol is now viable.

Insp bottom-mid-top
Illu top-bottom-bottom
Mirage bottom-bottom-mid

Sigils: Doom/Fallibility on both
Rune: Rune of the Krait
Amulet: Sage

Heal: Ether Feast
Utilities: Portal Entre/Exeunt, Phantasmal Disenchanter, Illusionary Ambush

Elite: Jaunt

Weapons: Scepter/Torch, Axe/Pistol

Without the Dueling line you have almost zero bleeds. You have your axe autos and the procs from your krait runes.

Indeed, that was a draft ofc. My current build is better.

Amazing spec. It is a bursty, high-risk kit with lower sustain than Chrono but more sustained damage.

Also, pistol is now viable.

Insp bottom-mid-top
Illu top-bottom-bottom
Mirage bottom-bottom-mid

Sigils: Doom/Fallibility on both
Rune: Rune of the Krait
Amulet: Sage

Heal: Ether Feast
Utilities: Portal Entre/Exeunt, Phantasmal Disenchanter, Illusionary Ambush

Elite: Jaunt

Weapons: Scepter/Torch, Axe/Pistol

Lol didnt see the other one!

Discuss! Gonna be so hype.

Just run bunker mesmer and ull never die against them

Anything can be competitive lol.

Wow! I don’t even play bunker mez in PvE I play 100% glass Tempest.

Who are these associations and why is Putin rigging them?

I am so hyped for this. Playing a hidden long-range burst role (a.k.a. sniper) is something I love love love.

WHERE TF IS THERMITE

S/D condi thief is hard to play.

So many things to manage and store in case you get focused

Guards basically counter you 100% especially if they take CoP

You’re really fragile and don’t have the highest mobility

Bursts every 20 or so seconds

It’s clunky to even try stealthing and requires a target; unstackable stealth

Again hard to play

Don’t get me wrong tho its a good build

RIP jetpack prices

+
• Beautiful map design and architecture, stunning skybox textures and effects, fantastic setting
• Raptor felt good to use; felt realistic
• Hero Points are soloable
• Events were refreshing and interesting (bounties, races, casino)
• Great enemy design
• Minigame as sous chef was fun and interactive, lacked ranking from HoT activities which I think is a plus since players won’t require doing the activity until they place the highest ranking anymore (which implies ANet won’t be making them too difficult)

-
• Unidentified gear is a good idea in concept, but was executed poorly in the demo. Rarity inclusion would be nice and would clear up some info within the community
• Layout in Amnoon is a little bit confusing to navigate especially when climbing atop the pyramids to south but workable

Agreed! The changes have made Rifle quite powerful.

Here is what I’ve been using:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUhaqY5Vw+Kw6FLDG14Q8gR4XAsetn47UChAA-TJRaABCfBA6Y/hbfAAAUGAA

All the music in PoF is amazing.