Guild Wars 2

Freedan.1769:

To answer some of these comments (note I do not dislike any comments here but wanted to address them):

Mesmers have struggled to use something that is not a clone factory like the scepter or a melee weapon like the sword. They have tons of cool options with off-hand weapons, but they are horribly matched against the clone-factory of the scepter or the forced melee use of the sword. This is not a balancing issue so match as a compatibility issue, neither weapon is compatible really with most build choices mesmer’s use in combat. That is why people get strung up on the mainhand pistol. Since its a power weapon, pistol would be awesome mainhand for burst and DPS build choices which have sorely been lacking in the one-handed weapons category. About the economy. Adding weapons is a given from what has been announced, we ARE getting them so the economy thrown into chaos sounds like political crybaby talk. Too afraid to accept new stuff? I embrace it so stop crying wolf because some balancing will have to be done, that’s being lame.

I am not sure why you focus on mace, because this is very much a martial weapon and matches the mesmer style worse than any weapon except the hammer. I am not against new weapons by any means, but a mace is a melee weapon even more than a sword is for a mesmer; I have no desire to see ANOTHER melee weapon. I will live with it if it happens and use it too, but I could think of far worthier weapons (lets face it, by sheer numbers of requester’s we know this is mainhand pistol, followed by maybe focus or dagger). For myself I want pistol as it would feel full circle and match the archetype as much as it does thief at least for me. Something that offers another stealth weapon skill even with a longish cooldown I feel is ideal for mesmer but either way I am looking forward to seeing a new trait line which is going to be hugely interesting to see the new combinations available.

While all these are valid…I think I may have been misunderstood. I am indeed aware that we are indeed getting all of this, and my crybaby reason is that I am already poor enough as it is. Hahaha. Besides, the market will eventually chill out. These are just points I was making a point of mentioning in this discussion.

On another note…we have very different views on the Mesmer. You make all valid points in regards to how it functions, and you are correct, from the stance of Illusory mage, that mesmer combat is heavily focused on Clones. I find my combat more or less focused on moving about and keeping the conditions flowing with or without them, with a solid close range option should I not be able to escape. That is the fun thing about mesmer. It has a lot of versatility for distancing. Every profession does really. Mesmer just has more. This is why I say Swashbuckling duelist with illusory magic, not just illusionist. But that is schematics and not on topic.

The reason why I went with mace over pistol was for two reasons. The Mace would be a surprise for anyone to face off against from a scholar class, and it would be able to have nothing limiting it in determine what it could do. The pistol would have expectations attached to it, particularly in getting it to function similar to the thief’s pistol with an unload skill that it already has in the off hand. And it would likely have another bouncing bullet attack. In all honesty, we really don’t need another single target DPS type weapon on a mesmer. The focus looked interesting as well as a likely main hand, and unexpected. It would have a good amount of freedom as well. Though how would either of those flow well with the off hand weapons we have now, as you have mentioned? It would give us new skill, yes, but it would also further prove that the current mesmer skill set is rather focused on dealing with a single target. Even its class ability, the illusions, really focus on one target.

I would also like to mention, Mesmer has got to be one of the most mobile classes, and a new weapon should focus on that. Controlling the distance between the target and self, and how they can move, is one of my favorite aspects of Mesmer combat right now. Whatever the new main hand weapon is, or in general, I would love to keep seeing a focus on more mobility and distance control. That has got to be the most fun between stealthing and teleporting. A mesmer could go anywhere.

You seem to not really getting enough bang for your buck having only 2 mantras (assuming your heal is the mantra), and should rethink that last trait and pick up a different heal and utility. I am certain you could find a different grandmaster perk in Inspiration that will increase your survivability. Though at the end of the day, if you are comfortable with it, keep to it, though tweak it and keep and eye on how it feels.

What kinda of sigils are you using on the weapons? And how are you taking care of conditions? These are two things to keep in mind when building. At least if you do a lot of soloing.

HA! You all thought it was just another phantasm build, BUT NOOOOO!!! Sorry for the obnoxiousness there, but I just had too. Ehem. This is a build I have been tweeking and working with for a couple weeks now, testing out different traits and weapons to see what works best. And I have found a good balancing of techniques!

A Phantom in the Night, or whenever really. I am leaving this one here. The updated Phantom is down below.

Updated Phantom

The main focus of my Phantom build is to utilize clones to keep pressure on foes when using the staff or trident, and get as much Vulnerability on them, shatter, switch to GS or spear, and start wailing on them. Mirror image is there to give extra shatter feed before a burst or get the conditions flowing. While the main chunk of combat will be on land in PvE or WvW, where this build will shine brightest, having the capacity to control your foe underwater and still have the same exact strategy work, is actually advantageous, as a lot of people do not expect water combat to go smoothly.

There are some variations for personal preference that can indeed be made. This can easily have a lot of stealth included through utilities by switching in MI and Decoy for sure, and Veil can replace Null field, which is actually a place holder for any utility that fits a persons play style.

Now, to make full use of this build, one must always keep in mind. The more clones you have out, the more power you have. While you can shatter BEFORE you switch to GS, if you wait and burst skills with GS and the finish with Mind Wrack, Cry of Frustration, or Diversion, you will be set to go and start up another round.

Traits can be modified to include Grandmaster skills as desired by taking out the greatsword training, or one of the minor traits in Chaos or Illusion. A recommended Grandmaster would be Prismatic Understanding or Imbued Diversion. Getting Domination to 30 is also a possibility to focus on interrupts with daze to inflict damage or even stun. All in all, this is a very flexible build than can be tailored to a particular play style within the parameters of focusing on using clones as actual decoys and lay the smack down with a balance between condition damage and straight up bursting.

If you wanted more damage potential instead of condition damage, gear choice would switch from Carrion to Rampager, to still have condition damage and higher precision. This would then in turn alter what food items you would go for. So really, this is a slightly skeletal build designed to be tailored to an individual. All in all, no two Phantoms are alike, as different as the people they were in life. It is also recommended to have some soldiers trinkets to improve damage and durability, and benefit from improved toughness and vitality for Condition damage.

More builds are likely to arise from me, as I love to tweak things here and there, and take all weapons into account and find builds that can be used in a variety of situations for both support and damage. After all, versatility is the key to survival, and being well loved in dungeons and other such groups.

Edit: In my excitement, I forgot to mention runes and sigils! :o I will get to that right now!

For runes, I have found that while Nightmare works best, an individual could use Perplexity for punishing foes fairly often, or Undead to get more condition damage for your toughness. This way, we get more resilience AND condition damage.

Sigils, it is really up to the individual. Having Corruption or Bloodlust on the staff or Greatsword will greatly increase likely damage from from the mesmer based on what they prefer to use more often. Bloodlust is likely to work in conjunction with Adept trait in Illusion Compounding Power to further boost power. Trident should have Agony, as its bouncing attack inflicts bleed, and boosting its duration is rather effective. Again, tailor sigils and runes to your own personal flavor, however; my testing indicates as these sets being some of the best choices to maximize the effectiveness of this build.