Guild Wars 2

Glenndevis, this is the build I’ve used in the past for glamours. Granted my gear was from before Dire and the other new gear came out.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7dlwzCrXVTqGa9IxJFMf5oecdrXdSKKNqB-jEyA4MBZ6TgyhFRjtMWENWNDm6cR1aUAPSR0qlCgJpRA-w

@ Dawdles:

I was thinking about switching our Mesmers over to the confusion-blind-glamour build you are talking about, because I agree of the wide-spread blinds generated – not so much the damage. A single Mesmer running the build seems a bit lackluster, however, with three or four it could cause quite a bit of damage mitigation via blinds.

My mistake, Skcamow, I was honestly planning to use illusionary elasticity. That was a misclick on the dazzling glamours.

@Revelations:

I understand the importance of Mesmer positioning and accuracy for the attack, and running my shatter build I tend hang back and wait to unleash my shatters on the back line elementalist trying to rain on our hammer train. Ironically, I find this much easier to do when going up against an organized zerg, but when we run into the PUG zerg I find it difficult to counter as everyone gets spread and it is much harder to pick off a target without my clones getting annihilated from random AOE spread haphazardly around.

I’ve been thinking about perhaps running a clone factory with “on clone death” traits, but once again. I find conditions to be near worthless in organized matches because of their coordination in condition removal.

What I am looking for is suggestions on builds/play styles. I am not a master of the class, by no means, but I understand the class quite well. Should I stick with my shatter spec and continue the precision assaults, or is there something else to allow for heavier AOE damage? I guess that is really what I’m trying to figure out. I would love to believe that someone out there knows a way to contribute more damage on top of the hammer train, but then again this is a bit out of the realm of what the Mesmer is capable of, as they really are more single target/small group based.

@Loki:

haha, I’ve done that one and its great as a tapper. I just feel a bit useless still in a damage output stand point.

EDIT: I was thinking about trying this build out (http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7alwzipHWzoGb9IipHBHyJcoUcdWXJF22FC-jEyA4MBZaBM9JQ5wioxWGLiGrmBTjSEV7RKiWtUAMJNC-w) when I get home. The condition cleansing may just be more in my head than in practice. I just know from our group conditions do not phase us, as we have so much condition cleanse and all run melandru/lemongrass poultry.

Being in the higher tiers of WvW there is one thing you can always count on – your enemy will have higher numbers, and better coverage. I have played my Mesmer since release, but mostly as a small ops/roamer. Mesmer is great for those roles. Now, however, My guild has moved into more “zerg-busting” fights as our fielded numbers have increased as of late.

The first thing I noticed was my shatter build (20/20/0/0/30) has been rendered near useless when we take on zergs with numbers past the thirties. I switched over to running a phantasm build, hoping that with my higher toughness/vitality would allow for my phantasms to deal some decent damage. Again it seems that an iBerserker melts after one pass through the thick of things. I use warden’s feed back, and the feed back utility for this to get some damage in, but I feel as though my damage is still quite lacking compared to others.

What builds are other Mesmers using for these types of fights? How do you, as a Mesmer, dish out the damage when your clones die almost instantly rendering shatters useless? I thought about going back into the glamour build for these situations, although my concern is the amount of condition clearing in these large battles. (Even our Necromancers are switching to a power build because of this) My other option would be to become almost full support, or a mantra healing build.

Thanks

Really though, ZN does WvW together nearly every night; the best thing is that some days are hardcore “lets do some work” and some are “kick back lets have some fun” (while taking objectives and busting zergs)

Good times…

In other words when trying to build a phantasm build for WvW you’d be better off focusing on toughness rather than vitality to help them survive the mass zerg?

…yet our illusion damage comes from the adept power line and the Minor Grandmaster in the Vitality…

How do you keep your clones/phantasms from getting insta-gibbed in large scale battles?

I have always wanted to move towards a shatter based build but it seems that in a battle with 10+ enemy my clones/phantasms die almost instantly. I have tried a phantasm build of 20/20/0/30/0 and a mix of Valk/Knights gear only to see my iBerserker die before even doing any damage; and when I use a more shatter based clone factory only to become disappointed to watch my clones indicator flash in the first bubble like a strobe light.

What am I missing? Obviously, I am not understanding some mechanic to keeping them alive since I hear so many talk about how successful a shatter build is.

Great video! and Great people!

FinalPatriot.8034:

By now, I think everyone knows the problems with the GS in that #4 phantasm can’t crit for much more than 3-4K. Overall, the GS damage just kind of sucks (from my experience). With that in mind, what “power” based builds are viable these days? I’m not much of a fan of the normal shatter builds that we see but that’s probably due to my lack of understanding on the class.

As for gear, I’m running a full Knight’s set as I was hoping to have a more survival DPS play style. Other than this, I was using S/P and hoping to replace this GS problem. Sad because I love the range/animation of the GS.

So, with the current state of the class, what builds/weapon sets should I consider?

I personally do not have an issue with the Great Sword, but I understand it is not my main source of attack damage. I run a phantasm build, and use the iBerserker as a cripple rather than a massive damage dealer, granted the damage is a perk.

Shatters are part of being a mesmer and when you look at the damage that’ll come from a mind wrack + blurred frenzy just after you immobilize your target from your sword #3 you’ll learn to appreciate shattering a bit more. (tip: you can also throw a hit from Mantra of Pain for more damage) With that said, I do not have my shatters on constant CD but when I need to spike damage on my target it is useful.

I am currently running http://tinyurl.com/bv6shmc. It allows me to utilize the reflect from my focus skills for damage to zergs, while keeping the utility of yanking my foes away from the now devastating arrow carts. I also grab feedback bubbles for the same reasoning – nothing is better than watching a inexperienced range kill him self, plus timed correctly you’ll force a dodge roll out of your target.

A great sword definitely is not the best weapon we have, but it is useful in many ways. Also, my build is not the “best” but it works for me and I enjoy it. Many other can share their builds and play styles, but in the end playing any class is about having fun while being effective.

Too bad they never post the patch notes until after the patch. I’m dying here at work ready to start reworking my Mesmer build, and I’m extremely curious to see the changes to Necro/Engi as well.

Very nice vid, and great choice in the music! I’ll have to give this a shoot again on my charr!

So, I still enjoy playing my Sword/Focus – Greatsword mesmer; but I’m curious as to what combos people use.

Personally I always start with GS#2, GS#4, Swap, Sw#3, Sw#2, and Mind wrack. this tends to get me a decent little burst – although it isn’t a mug/C&D/backstab combo. Just curious if I am missing something to increase the damage.

I do hope that minions are fixed, but I really hope they do not make MM the only viable build. I love my necro, but I really dislike pet classes (the ability to be a condition weaver was my reasoning for playing necro) I hope the allow a more “burst” option and finally make the axe do more damage than my scepters direct damage in a power build.

I’m wondering if something with a Power/Vit/Condition damage would work… A little more on the “condition side” though. I’ve played around with one of my spread sheets and with this (http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBLhZakRrSPTzdjhTBIp45rnK0Nkid1NSBxDD) I was able to use armor from guildheads database to reach:

• Power: 1873
• Precision: 1216
• Toughness: 1116
• Vitality: 1608
• Condition Damage: 1031
• Health Pool: 25292

Personally I use the power/crit combination on wells for anit-portal bomb. Well of Corruption/Well of Suffering ontop of the enemy portal is devastating.

I would like to try a condition build though, my only issue with that is I would have to give up my war horn (speed boost). And the few times I have used condition builds they seems to lack in damage to me, maybe that was because I was low level… or maybe I just do not have the right build.

Osicat.4139:

Kk done some testing, I got a unbuffed 1179k hit vs a thief with fire aoe. So I guess around there alittle more in wvwvw with al buffs is wat you can get. then add x 10-15 players on that…

1179K? So, 1,179,000? 10-15 people would massacre the map

I understand what you meant, and I really like the idea, my guild and I have not really thought about the synergistic side of signets… Interesting.

So, when the game first came out I decided that Mesmer was going to be my main. I played him to Lv45, but then hit a wall and begin class jumping – Lv55 Necro, Lv30 Elementalist, Lv32 Thief. I am not trying to return to my Mesmer, as my guild is really getting hardcore into WvW.

I was initially using a GS – Sword/Forcus with the following build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8dlwzipHWTrGbNJxZGRf5oFQShqTdJF4m3A

It focused mainly on illusion damage, and the utility is set for portal bombing. I seem to have two issues with this in WvW though.

1. Illusions/Phantasms seems to die almost instantly to AOE in WvW cutting out nearly half of my DPS
2. iWarden, despite being incredibly strong when he does stand, tends to be pretty much useless because its a flashing, swirling, glowing land mine that screams move slightly and avoid me.

How do you overcome these issues? I’ve though about running a pistol rather than focus, but I find it really difficult to lose the speed buff/yank from focus #4.

I realize that the “build” threads are a bit overwhelming, but I am curious about something in my build that I have not seen touched on much.

First off I use a basic spreadsheet to enter in the final gear I am aiming for at 80 to calculate my stats along with the build calculator for traits/skills. Currently I am running this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEAQJArYhImkbzx3wjEAEFnYyoQIiCWUegzM2A with the following estimated stats with gear.

Power: 1651
Precision: 1016
Toughness: 1418
Vitality: 1873
Cond. Dam: 464
Healing: 200

My question is – is having the little Condition damage I have squeezed in worth it? or should I use the trinket slots for power/tough/vitality instead?

I didn’t want to see this threat get buried… Love the videos – they really help the work day pass, keep ’em coming!

At the lower levels it is hard to pass up Decoy. The survivability it offers is amazing. Plus, the extra close is nice when you need a quick third clone just before a Mind Wrack

I personally like using the Sword/Focus – Greatsword for leveling. The Pistol off-hand deals more damage, but the focus is the only way to gain swiftness while traveling the map and without swiftness you’ll be spending a lot of time traveling. Also the focus iWarden is the hardest hitting phantasm, when it hits. I typically find that his “stationary” nature tends to miss 50% of the time when soloing unless you feel like tanking the mob next to him.

Now, if you are the type that enjoys the surrounds and taking your time then Sword/Pistol may be your set.

To me the Greatsword has the only power AOE for event tagging, which is why I use it. Plus the added might from the GS#2 attack helps when you switch to your sword for a iLeap swap into blurred frenzy.

Just for reference this is the build I am building towards. I’m sure it can use some work as it is the preliminary build and I do not have much experience, yet.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAqaVlUmaOHfy9E+5Ex2Dg+Td6f4r9MuqVB

Currently I am running a Pistol/Pistol set up as well, or I guess I should say aiming towards as I am only level 25. I would like to see the build you are using, as I am seeing the same issue as Tanwenfu. The damage output is sub-par to other ranged classes unless you can abuse sneak attack (Stealth Pistol #1).

I’m just having trouble figuring a way to really “abuse” sneak attack in between unload rounds. Currently I do have the +3 maximum initiative, and the +2 initiative every 10 seconds trait lined up. The rest is where I can stuck at… Right now I’m thinking of going mainly +critical chance and utilizing more “chance on critical” traits/weapon runes.

EDIT: Geiir beat me to it. I love his videos

I have not, but I will thanks.

Currently I am running on a 17" Asus ROG laptop; it’s the older model though, I believe it is the Asus G73JH-BST7 (I am not home so I do not know for sure). The issue is that even with all my settings turned way down I get 10-12 FPS in World vs World, so I am searching for a new gaming laptop. I really want something smaller, as I tend to travel and play in multiple locations.

Right now, I am looking at the Cyberpowerpc.com Xplorer x1m slightly upgraded with the i7 – 3610QM. The website is showing FurMark Benchmarks to run 31 FPS @ 1920 × 1080 resolution. This seems lower to me, but for under $1000 dollars I would assume it could run GW2 World vs World at medium setting about 20+ FPS, maybe even on high setting.

My question is would this be worth the money, or should I find something else. Mind you I know the screen is small, and most of the places I play have a spare monitor to use so that is not an issue for me.

Thanks for the help