Guild Wars 2

I was thinking of using stealth and then mirror images. You have to come out of stealth as the clones attack so you’ll confuse others. However, our boons do not copy onto the clones.

Thanks for the comment, Frifox, I will keep that in mind.

Thanks for the comment as well, Swish. But along Swish’s comment, do you think a greater variety of builds would be more welcome if Dungeons and Fractals are a little more challenging? Maybe enemies could have more complex AI? I’ve never been in a Dungeon or Fractal yet, but how is the challenge?

I understand. Thanks for the posts, Skcamow and Photoloss. Skcamow, while you were writing that message, I was thinking of making a full damage and chill-rupt build. (since we have 18 points). It would be 5/3/6/0/4. Unfortunately the points are all over the place. Here, there is no focus on maximizing effects of interrupts—-just damage and chill-ruption. However it may be viable in some cases, I suppose. And Photoloss did mention that the CI would most likely not be useful. I will wait for the expansion and the new break bar.

18 points? That’s awesome! Then I can work on multiple mobs and on bosses. That’s cool.

Does the defiance prevent interrupts of skill actions? Defiance would usually be one per person. But if everyone attempts to stun the opponent just once. And we have 6 occasions where we can interrupt, we’d break past the defiance. Or if we could have just 3-5 people in an instance, we can overpower the defiance, temporarily.

Also, we could try to interrupt just for the procs of conditions and boons. Also, to lower the cool down of the bosses’ mobs’ skills.

I appreciate the comments, Skcamow. Please feel free to add more thoughts. Does procing these conditions enough to make a chill-ruption viable?

Edit: I apologize. I am now reading Photoloss’s post.

Hello. I apologize for an additional post about builds but I will really appreciate the help.

I was thinking of using 6/0/6/2/0 when facing a boss. I would use Power Block to inflict weakness, decreasing the boss’s damage output, and slowing the boss down when it tries to use skills. I would use restorative mantras occasionally when allies need healing.

The build (without equipment):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsaRl0nhG0YRawVNQtGLqGk5JqWMOTCkBYE7E

Also, when we’re facing many melee mobs, I would use 0/0/6/2/6. Master of Fragmentation would allow me to daze and interrupt multiple mobs, thus inflicting conditions, that would help us kite them.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsaRl0nhG0YRawVNQtGL9GkZAe1COHBo3YIzG

The great sword can be taken out and sword/focus can be added (focus can also pull and interrupt) in certain situations. With this build, there are 6 times when I could interrupt someone per cooldown. Using the sword, I could also have an additional immobilize. What do you think?

I know I am sacrificing some damage, but I would use other more damaging builds and would trait the focus for reflection when necessary. Also, I left out the equipment because I don’t know about the types of equipment that would help me just yet.

Thanks for all the input! I really appreciate it.

I do believe aegis would help more than protection. What does everyone think?

It’s too bad scepter is godtier right now.

There is no need to make changes to the scepter. But it is possible to apply these ideas to another weapon. It can be a valuable asset to a team in WvW.

I agree with Ron. Randomizing our purpose or having many purposes, is not reliable. It’s not reliable because then we’d have multiple purposes for one given situation. So let’s focus on one purpose.

And I think the purpose that we need to keep our distance is the most useful purpose when wielding the staff or any long range weapon. For that chaos armor could be helpful. If a melee opponent gets close to you and you get hit, you need to get away to some distance. And I think that’s useful when using long ranged weapons, like the staff.

So maybe we should focus on improving chaos armor in order to serve that purpose better. What do you think?

And thanks Fay. I’m hoping to read from your analysis (if protection applies to the attack that proced it). That would be helpful because it could save us from that spike.

I do think that some protection on the skill version of chaos armor should be there. Maybe not 5 seconds. But maybe 1-3 seconds. Something minor. Not valuable enough to spread maybe, but could save us from that hit. Maybe.

And perhaps we could change when we use Chaos Armor. I was thinking, only use it when long ranged allies are about to get hit with some close-ranged opponents. You could apply chaos armor only to them to help them get away.

So, please provide some thoughts. Should we and how can we improve Chaos Armor? When or where should we apply chaos armor to our allies?

Mendax, your idea is good. You’d be able to keep the pressure by forcing them to consider running away. And you could teleport to them keeping up the pressure. The confusion can make them not attack you and torment would prevent them from running after you. This is excellent because in WvW, I think, you could be in the front lines, pushing opponents back.

I think this is how it could work. Ethereal Burden establishes a connection with your enemy. He or she runs; they fail to run; they’re immobilized. You close in the distance and you keep attacking. If they run far enough, they get away. But if you teleport, you could keep up the pressure. If you destroy the connection, they’re dazed. Torment could keep you safe and confusion may prevent them from attacking you while they’re in your range.

Here are my suggestions to make it a little better.

Ethereal burden’s connection could have shorter range than the teleport (600 and 900 units). This way, you’re chasing them away but if they get out of range, you could close in the distance. Breaking the connection could immobilize instead of daze because if they’re about to get away, you could sacrifice the connection to keep them in range. When they stay in range and the connection expires, they could be dazed for a long duration. This way, they could run around but not attack you. Finally, the auto attack chain should provide something at the end.

These ideas could be implemented on a different weapon, like the Mace, as Ross mentioned.

These are little things that could make things better. What are your thoughts?

Thank you for your thoughts. I really didn’t know if what I suggested was a good thing. What we could consider is changing the purpose to staying and fighting, instead of running away. Teleportation away from an ethereal field helps us run away. Maybe Chaos Armor was supposed to help us with that goal. Remember, running away may not be a bad thing. However, I understand it isn’t the usual goal.

Randomizing a purpose might not be a good idea. It could be fun, but I mean, we’re not being reliable and the specific boon or condition that we want, would be diluted. More thoughts?

I agree with NICENIKESHOE; too many different boons and conditions would make us less predictable. If we rely on protection, what if we don’t get it?

And I agree that weakness and torment would not help our purpose: surviving or running away. I believe ArenaNet was trying to help us run away (swiftness to help us run) (which can be an important goal at certain times). Removing swiftness and replacing it with aegis would help us stay and fight. It’s a new purpose. We gotta ask ourselves if that purpose is what we want, which could be good depending on what we want to do at a given circumstance.

But an alternative could be to add aegis and chill. That would give the option to players to choose what they want: to run or stay, well, depending on what random boons we get. Then the purpose will be defined by the boons we get. (I don’t know if that’s a good thing.) And if we get both swiftness and aegis, well it’ll help us run away. The downside would be that the specific boon that we want will be diluted.

This way, the ICD could be a good thing. If we get fewer boons, we’ll pick what we do depending on the boon.

What do you think?

Maybe we could add Aegis or Stability and Weakness or Torment. Aegis could block the attack that proced it or the next attack.

I don’t think the shield is going to be a gimmick. I think it will be a crucial supportive weapon. It may have a blast finisher that will spread chaos armor from our ethereal fields and many other things from other fields.

Xyonon.3987:

We can’t be full tank? Please? If the shield gives us some sort of supportive aegis, protection or maybe even a distortion, we can go full healing power tank and spam mop with healing mantras being the 1k HP per second (AOE!) buddy every pvp player wants to have :O

Oh yeah, the shield has a lot of potential!

Confusing Images’ long cast time can be a good thing. How about, when someone dodges, the confusing images follows them and lands a few hits after their dodge ends? It won’t be a big deal since most of the hits would be dodged. And the confusion they end up with would be minor, since only a few hits would land.

Illusions are a good idea. But we can make them better. How about, whenever clones are produced by a scepter, the Mesmer disappears and he/she appears again with a clone beside him/her. So it’d be more confusing. I think the block does that already.

I like Ross Biddle’s idea. ArenaNet could implement all of Mendax’s ideas on a mace or another weapon. But I think we do need a passive, defensive weapon like the scepter.

Thank you ODB and NICENIKESHOE.

I have a suggestion. Whenever protection procs, does the protection apply to the attack that proced it?

We can’t be full tank, but we have lots of blocking and distortion-related stuff. I’ve seen videos of impressive players waiting for the right moment to block that gigantic, but obvious, strike.

But I’m not saying shields shouldn’t have damage mitigation.

Espers.7346:

Once that cooldown is done even in PVP any other class can just run along side you and chop ya to bits.

I recommend using Compounding Celerity. It would help against this reason.

Maybe ArenaNet can implement a teleport to ally (that everyone has) (out of combat only), on a large cooldown, that would require some coin.

Ok. Thank you Korusef. Balance was already in their mind (well ofcourse! What the he** Martial?!). Ok.

I was just concerned when players didn’t want Chaos Armor in dungeons. No more laying down ethereal fields, you know? I’d want to build a support Mesmer that would share chaos armor with allies.

ArenaNet didn’t do anything wrong. Protection on every activation is too strong and is almost like an I win button. I like knowing what I’m going to get so I can share it at the right time. But randomness is fun and requires strategy.

I’ll tell you why I’m excited about the expansion. ArenaNet will introduce the shield with a potential long-range explosion that would help us share Chaos Armor. I’m sure they have some plans for Chaos Armor. I can’t wait! But until then I’ll train by sharing Chaos Armor with my allies with torch-explosion.

Thanks Fay. Internal CoolDown. I think I understand. Does that mean that the Chaos Armor will proc every 1 second at least?

Simonoly said multi-impact skills would proc Chaos Armor way too often and imagine the boons you’d get and the conditions we’d proc. Is it possible that the Chaos Armor proc just once for one multi-shot skill and just once for a one shot skill? (with a small internal cooldown) That way if we get attacked by multiple attackers, we’d benefit more. And if someone is chaining us, we’d do more damage. Just suggestions here.

I never realized that the gameplay around Chaos Armor was so complex. What is IDC? (is it Inventory Drop Chance?)

Alright, I am not aware of all the changes that were made to Chaos Armor. I’m sure a lot of thought went into it for the better. Completely destroying rangers that use mult-shot attacks is unfair.

Ok, this is how I’d like to use my PU Support Mesmer. General boon support but ultimately when we’re in trouble, I’d like to put everyone in stealth and heal. There may be others that would heal them or provide important boons in order to help everyone charge back. Providing chaos armor at this time may be crucial in order to help everyone bounce back. Alright, I’m positive that in some circumstances it will be useful (we shouldn’t just use it willy-nilly) and the shield will be a useful tool that I’m waiting for.

But what is the IC counter and ICD?

Shield! I’m psyched about the potential here. And I always loved the shield.

Stormbolt.7293:

Even with “nerfs” it’s an insanely useful skill. Perfect if you need some space. Think of it as a defensive version of Chaos Storm.

Alright. I didn’t and don’t know enough.

Could you please tell me the occasions where our allies could count on the chaos armor?

Oh I see. Well I’ll make a PU support Mesmer anyway. What do you think of the current state of chaos armor?

Hello. I’m not sure if a post like this has already been posted. I apologize this type of discussion already exists. Please link me to the discussion, if it exists and I will try my best to contribute.

A long time ago, I am aware that, Chaos Armor had once granted us 8 seconds of protection (that we could spread to our allies), and boons to us and conditions to our foes whenever we were struck. One of those boons was an additional 5 seconds of protection. There are lots of ways we could initiate Chaos Armor and that massive 8 seconds of protection all the time was too much. Please feel free to correct me, support me or add anything to this idea.

I think the nerf was a little too effective. I read a while ago that a small change can make a big difference. A large change is not usually necessary. So I’d like us to discuss how much of a change is really necessary. How much protection should Chaos Armor grant in order to be effective but not too effective. I’m not an expert so I had to rely on posts. I’ve noticed recent posts about how we shouldn’t lay down chaos fields so that our allies wouldn’t even get chaos armor. In some cases Chaos Armor should be useful and other cases, other fields should have more priority.

I would like to request you to post a little bit of the usual purpose of chaos armor if you’d like. Since I’m kinda new. I’d love to play a support, defence-spreading Mesmer. That’s why I’m concerned and maybe we could make a change (perhaps by the time the expansion comes out!).

So what do you think? 3 seconds of protection instead of 8? Or maybe a change to the boons and conditions per hit? What do you say? Thanks all!

Sincerely,

Martial

Rauderi.8706:

There’s reasonable enough counterplay for stealth, so I don’t consider it a big problem. Annoying for the impatient, perhaps, but not nearly as annoying as blindspam (but those !#$#% dust mites) or the fact you can’t turn while immobilized.

The best stealth counter? Weapons that swing wide arcs. Decent coverage and no cooldown. I’m reminded of a WvW encounter where I couldn’t see what I was hitting, but I hammer-whomped the thief anyway.

That’s a good story. I’ll take your advice. And I’m glad that there is enough counterplay.

Fay.2357:

And consume plasma is on a 30% lower cd than mimic.

That is upsetting. However it means we’ll have to beat them before 35s is up.

Also, I remember a time when players can get all boons when activating an elite (Rune of Lyssa). That has changed. Maybe that Rune was overpowered since we can transfer all our boons to our teammates. But even though, consume plasma is a little too strong. I don’t think it should be all boons; I think it should be key boons that a thief needs to fight against a Mesmer.

Hmm. Or we can keep it this way so we’ll use mimic to grab those boons and use signet of inspiration to give them to everyone in our party (every time a thief uses steal on us). Maybe that’s what we’re supposed to do in order to counter it.

SlimChance.6593:

IMHO, until Consume Plasma gets changed, Mesmer’s will always struggle with theives.

Any decent thief, who is patient and knows his stuff, will counter a mesmer. The only thieves I’ve beaten were bad ones.

Mimic!

But even though, I still think Consume Plasma is a little too strong. And you’ll have to carry mimic around all the time.

Alright, alright, perhaps there already are ways we can counter stealth and we do not need another one.

But keep in mind, I am going to play a PU, stealth Mesmer so I know this idea would interfere with my play. I just wanted to make running around in stealth be a little more realistic (clicking on the ground simulates you looking around and your opponent will have to be unpredictable).

And, this method will have a very small chance of revealing an enemy. Remember you’ll only have 2 or 3 chances (2 or 3 seconds) to click the ground before the enemy runs away or attacks you. That’s not that bad.

However I understand where everyone is coming from. This method would take attention away from using skills to punish stealth. Or it may upset the balance we already have. If ArenaNet implements this idea, they’ll have to keep things balanced.

I apologize for posting here but I couldn’t post in the suggestions area. I also apologize if no one wants to read about something like this. But please consider this idea.

If an opponent goes into stealth, you must wait one second before attempting to bring the opponent out of stealth temporarily by clicking the floor at different places at one-second intervals. If you click the floor close to where your opponent is running or standing on, he/she is brought out of stealth for you only (then you can target him for your party to see).

If you are frantically clicking all over the place at a rate quicker than 1 click/second, the clicks do not count and the timer is reset. If you’re so relaxed that you don’t click fast enough, your clicks count, but then you might miss your opponent as they’re trying to move around. This makes sense because in real-life, if you’re searching frantically and your adrenaline is pumping, or if you are so relaxed, you’re not focused, you might miss your target. And if there are 5 ppl looking for one stealthed opponent, they have a higher chance of finding him/her.

Also, it is the duty of the stealthed opponent to move in an unpredictable direction to avoid getting noticed. This also makes sense since if you move in an unpredictable way, you have a less-likely chance of being spotted.

ArenaNet can implement this idea since left clicking on the ground doesn’t do anything to my knowledge.

What do you think of this idea? Is it reasonable? Will it work?

Edit: Phew; I thought I was banned from the forums or something.

I want to thank everyone that has helped me so far or read my posts. But I have a few more ideas for input if you don’t mind.

For dungeons, please disregard the build on my last post. I will, instead, use the second build I posted but going with suggestions from Maxinion. When building PvP support build I will take suggestions from Chaos.

Also for PvP, I may switch between a PU support build and PU condition build. (Muhaha PU muhaha) When I use PU support, I’m thinking of using traits in Chaos in order to give myself regeneration, protection and aegis (Metaphysical Rejuvenation, Illusionary Membrane and Prismatic Understanding)—-maybe also use Mantra of Concentration to give myself stability. Then use signet of inspiration to share all these boons every 45sec. What do you think about that idea?

I have a few more questions if you would please. Does prismatic understanding provide boons to allies that I put into stealth? May I cast a mantra even if I did not spend any of its casts (or maybe if I only spent one)? I think those are all my questions for now. All help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks Fay. Alright, I’ll use shatter and PU builds when PvPing.

I have made some changes to the build. And I sacrificed damage in order to be able to heal. Is this ok?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW8dnsISraWlGGoB1aIR1QM3pT3cYSSFocdA-e

Thank you for your comments Maxinion and Chaos Archangel. I will make adjustments to the build that I am using.

But I have a few more questions if that is alright. Can a shatter or Prismatic Understanding build work for PvE? Also is there a fantastic way of getting protection and sharing it with my teammates? Should I use Illusionary Membrane?

Bombul, I agree. And I think the crosshair should be over all clones (as Bombul said).

Very nice. Guild Wars 2 is a very complicated game, just the way I like it.

Thanks Chaos, Shadowkiller and Maxinion. I have heeded your advice and decided to go a different route. I’m focusing on support and phantasms for dungeons. Here is the other build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW8dn0HSlaWlGGoB1aIR1QObznosbaSFocdA-e

I don’t know much about sigils yet. But I’ll try the sigils recommended in the following guide:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-PvE-Dungeons-Phantasm-build-s/first

Weapons and armor will be full berserker types.

If you could answer my questions, I will greatly appreciate it: Do you think I should sacrifice Phantasmal Haste for Bountiful Interruption? I’m sure others have also used this build but what do you think of it? Also, will mender’s purity cure conditions on allies?

Thank you very much for your advice.

Thanks Mystic. Hmm…I suppose ArenaNet allows NPCs to turn since players may turn using skills.

Hmm…I suppose they’re supposed to nerf reflect. On bosses that do not move that much, Feedback might be an automatic win button.

Hi everyone. I’ve decided on a support and condition build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArdWlknpUtVpxANcrNCuxY6JCJiTOyJlMgfB

Could you please tell me if I would be very helpful in Dungeons or PvP?

Thank you.

I’m a new player as well. And after reading this discussion I’m getting excited about jumping right in and teaming up with all these other classes.

Hi everyone. Thanks for your help and the discussion. I understand how immobilize can help in pvp and pve.

And how about this idea? It may be hilarious when tried. What if guardians and mesmers immobilize a ranged boss or mob; and mesmers take turns performing a feedback bubble forcing the boss or mob to attack itself for a prolonged period of time? haha (I know I stated this a while back in another post but I thought I’d bring it up again to get some feedback—-both get comments and get more people to use feedback :P.) And kite melee mobs with immobilize and attack from far.

The cons for this method is that melee allies will feel left out. In order to hit, they’ll have to be within the feedback bubble and they’ll get hit. And they can’t kite either right?

I’m a total beginner and I need your help. I’m thinking of building an immobilizing Mesmer and I’m wondering, in what ways, can immobilize help during pvp and pve?

In pvp I understand a melee opponent may be doomed if immobilized for too long but we need to be behind a ranged opponent for immobilized to be effective. Since ranged opponents can still attack if immobilized.

Any enlightenment is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Thanks, Legion. I have more questions but they’re off topic so I will create new thread.

Hi everyone. In Guild Wars 2 Wiki, it says immobilized opponents can’t turn. But when I was completing my story and immobilized an enemy, he was able to turn 45 degrees to face someone else (or keep watching my ally as he moved—-I wasn’t fully aware of what my ally was doing).

Did immobilize change recently?

Thanks for all your help.

We can assign our skills (1 to 9, etc.) to the left part of the keyboard for the left hand to activate. But then it’s harder to move in any direction we want and press a skill button at the same time. While we are pressing the fifth skill, we can’t press d the same time (and move right).

So what I did was that I assigned all my skills, swap weapons, healing to the number pad on the right part of the keyboard. So I can use my left hand to move and at the same time, use my right hand to handle skills. However, the only problem is that I have to let go of my skill buttons when using the mouse (targeting a player/mob or selecting a location for an AOE). Everything has its’ drawbacks I suppose.

If you want to give me any feedback, please post.

Edit: Gaming mouse isn’t a bad idea.

Hi everyone. I am a level 17 Mesmer who likes to use stuns to support others in battle. And the stuns work great. But would a Mesmer that focuses on stuns be able to explore and level on their own? What kind of tips would you give that would help me do well in PvE on my own?

Don’t get me wrong; I like fighting in groups and I shine under those circumstances. But sometimes I find myself playing alone and would like some input.

Thank you!

I was searching for the answer to the question “how long does Avatar of Melandru’s immobilize last” on google when I found this post:

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/46422-how-many-people-does-binding-roots-hit/

People have stated that the binding roots only immobilize targets that are standing still and can only immobilize one target. Also, it takes a few hits to remove the roots.

Is that true still to this day? I’m trying to decide whether I should get this elite.

Thanks for helping me out.

Hello. Is there a way to stop an auto-attack in the middle of a fight?

Thank you!

Hi everyone. I’m a low leveled Mesmer and I find that it’s tough winning fights (pve) and doing missions. Perhaps it’s because the damage is low.

Are there any tips you can give for low-level Mesmers?

Thanks everyone!

Yeah Guardians are a good idea.

I’d like to bump this if that’s ok.

I have one more question if you don’t mind. Can I expect mesmers that are participating in dungeon runs to take turns performing feedback on an immobilized boss? (mesmers traited with Chaotic Interruption can lock down a boss even when a boss has defiant) The idea is that a few mesmers (including myself) can lock down a ranged boss using Chaotic Interruption and all mesmers that know Feedback can take turns using it to protect the entire party from ranged attacks from the boss. And ranged party members can beat the boss down. If the boss is melee based, then mesmers can keep immobilizing him/her/it and kite. What do you think?

I like to support others by disabling and stunning opponents. Others can take advantage of a stunned opponent—beat them like mad and stay safe from damage for a few seconds.

My build (also credit to others in the forum) is 10/0/30/0/30.

I also like support/healing builds so perhaps I will try a different build at some point.