Guild Wars 2

I believe that in a balanced 1v1 between thief and mesmer (40lvl vs 80lvl its obvious who wins) what matters most is whether the mesmer will manage to react after the thiefs steal. If u manage to “reset” the fight after steal then imo the mesmer has a much greater chance at winning a duel because thief has a much more limited resources in a fight, since his skills depend on initiative while mesmer can hold his own much better at a face to face duel. Thats why thieves try mostly to jump u quick and not need to start a skirmish (at least backstab thieves). So if actually the mesmer manages to stop the thief from insta-killing him then he gets the upper hand. How to stop him? I believe the most reliable ways are:
blink
Phase Retreat
shatter skill #3 (daze) with illusionary persona traited
shatter skill #4 (distortion)
blurred frenzy (distortion but less effective than shatter #4 since it roots u in place)

My personal preference is the daze shatter skill, since not only will daze him at the beginning and stop his attack sequence, but also will give u the time to start attacking him, spawn some clones and shatter or get some phantasms up or whatever

p.s. Any stealth skill is very unreliable to escape from a thief imo, because many tend to combine their steal+backstab with the venom that immobilizes u. In that case u will still take the damage no matter what. I prefer to keep my stealth skills (if any traited) for the duration of the fight to buy time for cds or create some more confusion

hope this helps

I currently do use this exact setup … its a versatile build imo and traiting is really up to you since it can be both aggresive (with using sword – warden for high aoe dps and leap – curtain for chasing) or defensive (with sword distortion, curtain interrupt and warden projectile reflection). If used aggresively a must have is 15 points in dueling in order to have the skill that deals bleed on illusion crit ( with a good crit % u will deal 3-5 bleeds aoe with warden), other than that feel free to distribute any way u want these remaining points. If played defensively 2 really important traits is the one that grants reflection with distortion (illusions trait line 10) and inspiration trait line 20 (Focus skills reflect projectiles. Reduces recharge of focus skills by 20%. ). This will really make u a beast against ranged enemies since u will practically have reflection up almost throughout an entire fight.

The utility skills i like most with this setup are :
blink (huge mobility combined with temporal curtain)
null field or phantasmal disenchanter (depends on using shatter or not)
mirror images
feedback (for extra projectile return if needed)
portal

With the exception of a greatsword build, i believe that mesmer must be played within a short range (less than 600). This is because at this range u get the most out of your defensive and aggresive capabilities. For example, if u drop chaos storm with ur staff on your enemy u will just deal a good aoe debuff-damage skill, but if you are in melee range u will also get a very good amount of buffs (not to mention the combo field). There are tons of other skills that are best used in melee range like null field, shatter skills (illusionary persona traited). Melee range despite sounding a bit weird for a light armor, medium HP class but the mesmer even when on glass cannon build has a ton of defensive abilities that make up for it.. Clones themselves, the skills that grant you distortion (invunerability), illusionary defender, dazes, blocks, stealths, blinks, portals and the story can go on :p.

depends on ur role, for support im usually on toughness, condition damage and vitality or precision (for the bleeds from clones, synergizes greatly with cond. dmg.). In case i come to smash things around then i go for power/precision and cond. dmg or toughness or crit damage.

yeah everything depends on build and ofc ur playstyle, though in general duelist is better on most cases because warlock needs enemies to have tons of conditions in order to be highly effective (hands down stronger in boss fights imo). Also warden deals a respectable amount of damage and bleeds aoe, but since he is stationary many times he wont be able to deal his max damage.

just a tip that many people do not understand, thus believing mantras are weaker than they actually are: Mantras can be casted while not facing the enemy, meas u ran away and u can cast the mantra of pain lets say to the enemy that chases u. The other thing is that mantras can be casted during induction without interrupting… so practically u can cast a mantra while preparing another one (or casting any other skill).

aye its a good built, i use it sometimes too.. Its not the highest dps one but has a good mix of survivabilty and dps. U can always go glass cannon and work with shatter mechanics as well as phantasm and own dps which can do LOTS of damage but is harder to play right since u are likely to die more often.

im a Norn mesmer! but i havent seen more of my kind

Up to now the build that suits me most in pve is staff % sword-pistol. It has a nice balance between burst dps, aoe dps (that we lack many times), defence and condition applying. The bad side with it is that you need to stay a lot in melee range which considering the usually low defences means its a bit dangerous sometimes.

btw as long as phase retreat is bugged avoid using it on frozen lakes… got me underwater beneath the ice locked in combat status xD

really situational but usually im at scepter/pistol and 2 hander sword or sword and torch for pve

in sPvP i usually fight with staff & 2 hander sword for the extra support of staff

“Is it me or are casters- so far elementalist and Mesmer- really weak compared to all other characters? Really so for the Mesmer”

I am playing a mesmer at moment, and i can ensure i have no prob at taking 4+ enemies of the same level, the dps is quite good with the right weapons and ur extremely high mobility ensures that u take minimal damage by kiting, stealthing, blinking etc the whole time.

I have to admit though u will have to work quite harder than a warrior for a kill, if u like more of a relaxed kind of levelling forget about him, needs lots of attention in every fight with more than 2-3 mobs.

Personally i think mesmer is more fun to play (haven’t tried thief much though tbh). Im levelling a mesmer atm and its a really fun thing to do, pve is loads of fun and they can take on easily multiple oppenents because of their tricky playstyle. Negative thing is that they keep u on ur toes when playing (u cant have a relaxed farming kind of play) cause they tend to die quickly if not making full use of their potential..