Guild Wars 2

Have the same exact problem since yesterday. Tried tons of stuff, no use. Help appreciated.

MSFone.3026:

This is the first thread I’ve seen about a build where the OP gets into non stop arguments with everyone who posts comments he doesn’t like.

Here’s a protip: Post some videos of you schooling people and beating the builds they are saying you can’t beat. Everyone will shut up /thread you win. Otherwise it’s all talk and nobody will believe anything you say. You are the one who posted the build, so it’s up to you to prove your claims about it. Or just keep arguing on the forum, but nobody is going to be convinced without footage.

I have already stated that videos are upcoming. If some people are impatient though, I think they should at least give it a shot before criticising from the surface or from a distant angle. I see on some occasions people haven’t actually read it thoroughly and give wrong feedback. Thanks for your comment though.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

oh btw I mean 3 condi removals in total for torch, because iMage bolt that hits you also cleanse one condition. So one on cast and one on hit.

Description reads as 1 condition removed. I am not sure if it applies to the bounce-back. But if it does, that is even better. I will try it to see if it removes.

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

As you can see P/D thieves can easily reapply cleansed bleed within 4 seconds, only limited by revealed time (particularly against mesmers since CnD on illusion is easy). Other conditions are also only limited by initiation, which P/D doesn’t have high demands of. So having condition removal on torch (two 24s) may not be sufficient, even though you can remove 3 conditions in total. Mender’s purity on ether feast is quite risky due to poison and covering conditions, 33% drop in healing may seal the coffin for you unless you have multiple healings like mantra of healing.

I actually have 4 removal in 3 times. And 3 stealths, not to mention, 2 stuns, blurred frenzy evade, scepter block etc.

Yes, such a counter-build is a compromise and many thieves can choose to go that way but most of them will do so without any success. Most of the thieves I run into fail miserably regardless of the build. Therefore, I would not craft a specific counter build against a minority when majority can be countered otherwise conveniently. In a specific 1v1 however, against a skilled condi burst thief I would get arcane thievery or mantra heal or MoC. Even a well timed arcane thievery and burst gets decent thieves down in a matter of 1-2 minutes.

Ansau.7326:

You didn’t understand me. I didn’t say what you get is bad, but you spend a lot of sources in an inefficient way.
-just get rid of Decoy and take anything better. You already have good access to stealth, and that utility is just making you dependent to stealth, and occupying an utility slot.

Decoy is also a stun-breaker. I think decoy is overall a very significant skill to take.

- About Chaos, I didn’t say choosing just DD is bad, but you waste trait points into other lines that could go there and give you way more.

I don’t think you think of the build as a whole. When you simply compare DD with some other trait it may seem awkward to take it but it completes the picture.

Ansau.7326:

- Condi cleansing, again, you need 4 trait points and 2 traits to have an average condi cleansing. I nearly get the same as you by using only an utility, MoC.

I think MoC is not really good unless it is the only way to cleanse. I can add that when fighting an extreme condi burster and will probably be tons safer than you are.

Ansau.7326:

Again, if it works is cause it’s based on easy/powerful mechanics, as clone death traits, scepter spam, stealth… But you have no way to deal with condi bursts, your defensive stats are not spectacular (a backstab can easily hit you for 7k), your burst is really low,

If you continue on counting such mechanics we will end up counting everything other than auto-attack. That is simply nonsense. Mesmer is in its entirety a class based on these mechanics. Otherwise we could all spam AA like rangers etc.

I deal with condi bursts very well, have yet to have a single issue with a condi class.

My burst can get as high as 13-14k when the right combo is initiated at the right time including the condis. When I say blurred frenzy, duelist and scepter #3 crits for 5k+ and you think burst is really low, I am starting to doubt your analytical approach.

Ansau.7326:

and i don’t know why people bring slowest builds for roaming, where speed is the most important thing to roam properly (roaming is not about fighting).

As I have already stated -but you probbly haven’t read it-, I grab focus while roaming until I get to a fight situation. I don’t need any more swiftness since mesmer is all about being slippery and tricky. I think that is also what devs are thinking since they are not giving us any inherent swiftness capabilities.

Ansau.7326:

Any PU build and builds from other professions are reasonably better than this.

They are not, I played many variations of PU builds. Not as much fun, not as much versatile, same burst for only power pu builds but they lack condi and it comes in handy.

For a better understanding I advise you to give a shot and actually play the build. I have tried so far:
various lockdown builds – 1 month -
shatten’s build with gs and without after I duelled him – 2 weeks -
shatter power builds – 6 months -
shatter condi builds -2 weeks -
pu shatter build – 1 week-
pu power build – 3 weeks -
pu condi build – 6 months -
condi-focused similar versions of this build – 1 month -
phant builds – 3 months -

Although I could choose a specific different build in a 1v1 duel before which I know what my opponent is playing, this so far served me as the most convenient overall build covering many situations.

Fay.2357:

Yeah, you can absolutely add 5 with the scepter block. That is a good source of conditions, but the issue is that you have no cover. One condition removal and it’s all gone.

It is not over, you have burn, blindness, bleed, weakness etc. as well. I have seen 8 stacks easily.

Fay.2357:

You don’t see many Pvt builds roaming, you mainly see rabid/carrion/other tanky mix condition roamers.

Makes it even better for me as rabid and carrion are easier.

Fay.2357:

Yeah…I don’t believe this. Their damage is none to you? You can remove 2 conditions every 20 seconds. That means a single torment block from a PUC mesmer will almost kill you in one go. Your condition removal is nowhere near adequate to deal with condition roamers.

I can remove 1×2 conditions every 24 seconds with torch
I can remove 2 conditions every 20 seconds with heal

It is none to me. Take Hoelbrak, even better. Almost zero’ed. If someone fails to evade and endure condis with this setup, there is no hope for that person anymore imo.

So what does that make, it is a lot of condi removal. Not to count 2 stun breakers and 3 stealth skills.

Simonoly.4352:

I would personally find this build much more threatening if you had increased movement speed runes, a sigil of doom on one weapon set, swapped Duellist’s Discipline for Harmonious Mantras and swapped Ether Feast for Mantra of Recovery.

I think sigil of doom can easily be placed on one weapon since there is a slot.

No need for recovery of mantra or harmonious mantras because there is already condi removal on torch and heal both. It is sufficient.

Swiftness would be welcome and help in chasing some runners but I don’t think I can add it in without breaking something vital.

Simonoly.4352:

If you want to make this build more versatile, you need some boon stripping in there somewhere. By taking Harmonious Mantras and Mantra of Recovery you will have a decent source of instant on-demand cleanse, which means you can get rid of Cleansing Conflagration and take Shattered Concentration instead. Alternatively, just swap Signet of Domination for Arcane Thievery

In that case I would take bountiful interruption instead of shattered concentration. I can, like you say, also take arcane thievery for some minimal condi cleanse and boon stripping, give up cleansing conflagaration and again go for bountiful interruption or something else. As I say, I think it is a versatile build that can be changed on the go. However, I think arcane thievery would not really suffice as much as torch cleansing does due to the fact that it can be evaded.

It can be changed into something else entirely.

Loving that echo suggestion^^

Fay.2357:

Scepter clones will stack maybe 2 or 3 torment under the best of circumstances, so that’s not anything to rely on. The duelist could stack bleeds, except that it’s easy to dodge the unload and then kill it in a couple hits. That’s the main issue with it. Confusing images can put a bit of confusion on I guess, but that tickles more than anything.

You can count on minimum 3 stacks and you can easily up it to 8 with scepter block.

Duelist not only can but does stack bleeds. You can dodge it when there is one duelist, you don’t really get to dodge it when there are 2 duelists shooting you almost always and a sword mesmer leaping and blurred frenzying you combined with stuns.

Fay.2357:

The fight is almost over…unless they dodge the stun, or stunbreak the stun, or pop an invuln, or take really any defensive action whatsoever. While it would be nice if everyone just stood still waiting for the burst, that’s simply not the case.

Fight is almost over. You have to time it well. When does a burst occur at all if you don’t time it well. Never. This goes for all combos that lead to a burst. Also against a lb ranger you can go invul, evade, blind etc. That does not render it a useless burst overall, it makes you a good evader.

Fay.2357:

That’s not really how it works in this game. In theory, yes I suppose. In practice though, you’re facing tanky builds or you’re facing damaging builds. The tanky builds will have both toughness and condition damage, and the damaging builds will have neither. Against this build, it’ll have the defenses to shrug off the power damage that can only be really applied by the iDuelist, and the condition removal to get rid of the incidental conditions you apply.

You see a lot of pvt builds, it helps when you do damage on both vitality and toughness sides instead of one. If you are speaking about 1v1 against such a build, you can still take the kill rather conveniently with stun and bursting. I see no point in going to the extremes of either direct damage or condition damage just because you might run into someone with a too resilient build. That renders your overall gameplay less convenient and that just because you may run into builds like that.

Fay.2357:

I’ve tried quite a few hybrid builds. They’re quite effective against glassy builds actually, because glassy builds have neither type of defense to really handle the various types of offense. However, you rarely see glassy builds while roaming, and tanky condition roamers (or something like an s/d thief) simply won’t die to this.

Tanky condition roamers die to this build. Because with all the condition removal their damage is none to you. But even if they have high toughness they lose to your conditions over time. I think you should really give it a try before saying “hybrid is hybrid”.

Ansau.7326:

Kind of an hybrid PU version, but without PU trait. It success cause it’s based on easy/powerful mechanics, as clone death traits, scepter torment and phantasm damage. But I think a 2/6/4/2, a 2/6/6 or even Schattenlied’s build would do a better job.
- The lack of PU paired with 3 stealth skills makes it a bit awkward. You already have torch, so why decoy instead of something more useful?
- Investing just 2 in Chaos is pointless, the good things from this line start at master.
- Then, Mender’s Purity paired with Ether Feast is also wasting a really good condi cleansing, why not take MoR+Harmonious Mantras? With this change you’re free to spend 2 points from domination in somewhere else.
- And the lack of Bountiful Interruption… I run that trait with GS/Staff and it’s not a problem for me to reach 15 stacks of might. You could spent more stats to defensive and get more profit from interrupts.

-BTW, that stats comparison is unfair. He will have more might stacks than you thanks to interrupts.

-You don’t have to think within the boundaries. Getting stealth does not really require traiting PU.
-Chaos is needed for debilitating dissipation which makes killing my clones punishing
-I already have another 2 condi cleanse from torch so it is not needed to trait healing otherwise
-I said it can be changed to bountiful interruption if your timing is good. However, I usually play against skilled players against which you have hard time landing good interrupts.
-Stats are stats I think they should be taken into account this way or another. He may have more stacks but that is a big may, depends on timing and leverage he got and skill of other party.

Schattenlied.4873:

This would be a hybrid version of the Focus-build which would be close to your stats. To be honest, I have tried something similar to your build (it was a hint by Nubu from [BNF], he played 30-30-10-0-0), but I haven´t tested it in detail yet (time consuming RL ;P). I hope I can have a deeper look at both builds later.

Ok, I really recommend that you try this build as well. The build you linked seems similar stat-wise but I think sword torch and scepter pistol is not really as convenient as other way around. And I am being modest here with might stacks, with strength runes and battle sigils alone you keep 10 stacks all the time without even thinking about it. But I have to state a minimum that provides certainty.

This looks like a pretty standard hybrid build.

As with all hybrid builds, the issue is that you can’t actually do everything at once. In this case, both sides of your damage application are very weak.

Your condition damage is very low, so the conditions you apply are going to be almost ignorable. You have no good access to sustained burning, and no access to poison. You have limited access to bleeding, and decent torment of course.

Your power/crit is actually pretty high. However, you have no good way to actually turn those stats into damage.

Your damage is spread too thin, and no one aspect will really hurt, resulting in a build that doesn’t really hurt.

- I think both sides are pretty strong. 1k condi damage and 60% duration is nothing to ignore when your duelist simply spams bleed and your scepter clones spam torment or when the duelist, confusing images or blurred frenzy lands 5k crits on a relatively short cooldown.

- I don’t think damage spread is thin it is in fact burst. I usually open with a stun followed by leap and frenzy and duelist or combine it with prestige. Most of the time this means the fight is almost over.

- I have yet to have a problem with any of the classes-builds you mentioned. Of course this is not a large scale combat build. It is for roaming either solo or group, it serves well both ways and also in 1v2s. Also good for running away from groups chasing thanks to stealth.

Furthermore:
This is I think more effective in most cases than a full condi or full power build because it provides you with both angles of damage. You can run into a high toughness build and you would be thankful for the extra condi dmg you got or vice versa.

I say you should give it a try before dismissing it. It is the build that I have enjoyed most so far. Power phant/shatter, pu condi builds all got boring for me.

Schattenlied.4873:

I´m a bit sceptical about your mobility as well – no swiftness, no Traveler runes, no traits for Blink. Have you tried Runes of the Pack? They would add some speed and precision (+fury), so you could lower your base precision for more useful stats, your phantasms should care since they got fury themselves. Of course you lose might duration, not sure what´s actually better. My latest project uses Pack and I was quite impressed by the damage those +20% crit chance add, the swiftness uptime in fight without wasting Temporal Curtain was nice as well.

Thanks for the constructive feedback.

You are right. The only aspect not covered by this build is probably the moving speed.

However, mobility depends on how you play to a great extent. Personally, I swap to focus while running through the map and then reswap to torch quickly when needed. While running from big groups I have never had a trouble as I combine stealth from torch, decoy, mass invis with blink and I am pretty much far away when I end up visible again. I think mesmer needs not as much mobility as other classes because we are already very slippery and tricky even without any extra speed.

Might duration and stacking is however very vital for overall survival as it simply lessens the duration of fight with increased output of direct and condi dmg. Therefore I don’t think it is a good idea to give it up for swiftness.

Btw, last time we duelled you were playing with greatsword in the beginning as far as I remember. I see you have switched it to scepter and focus in two sets. Interesting choice. That lockdown gs build was very effective in open field.

Also:

http://s27.postimg.org/jpooq0wc3/stats.jpg

In this picture is a rough comparison of both our builds with:

5 stacks of might and 25 stack bloodlust on yours
10 stacks of might and 25 stack bloodlust on mine

difference I think was necessary due to Strength-Hoelbrak runes.

You see that

-You have 220 more atk and 30% more crit dmg, 20% more boon duration, 100 more armor, swiftness and focus as CC (not traited so no reflect and longer duration)

-I have 800 more vitality and 800 more condition damage, 20% more condi duration, 9% more crit chance, 2 additional condi removal per 24 sec, extra stealth

And there is either 5% more damage coming from Strength runes OR 20% less applied condition duration from Hoelbrak.

I think you should give it a try with this build too to see if it fits you well.

Dirven.3021:

Looks kind of average and VERY easy to escape from.

I would like to try it against the build that makes it easy to escape from according to you. Also, it is a build that allows you to escape very conveniently as well.

Warning: This build is kind of OP as it gives you 2.2k+ ATK 1k+ Condi Dmg, 60% Condi Duration, 19-20k HP (with WvW stacks), 2.5k+ Armor, 59% Crit chance (phantasms have 79%), 2 stuns, rapid might stacking, rapid condition cleansing, a lot of stealth. Many of the builds on other classes you can counter with this one as it is very well covered.

Inspired from a friend and named it after her. I have been running this build for 4-5 months now and it is still intact after recent patch.

This is kind of a hybrid build with many aspects covered thanks to WvW format. It does not translate like this to PvP.

Will add videos, screenshots and a tutorial.

Note that you always have at least 6 stacks (most of the time 10+) of might and once you get the Bloodlust at full stacks and WvW stacks it becomes even more of a beastly build.

THE BUILD:

Traits

4-6-2-2
Domination: Illusionary Power and Cleansing Conflagration
Dueling: Phantasmal Fury, Duelist’s Discipline, Deceptive Evasion
Chaos: Debilitating Dissipation
Inspiration: Mender’s Purity, you can swap this to bountiful interruption in Chaos line and combine with Daze mantra if you have good timing with interrupt and overall.

Weapons

Scepter – Torch
Sword – Pistol

Full berserker weapons or you can tailor it as well according to your other gear to reach a balance.

Sigils: 2x Sigil of Battle, 1x Sigil of Bloodlust, 1xSigil of Energy, Strength or Accuracy.

Armor

A mix of celestial, berserker and toughness armor, you can tailor it according to your desire. Stats focused on here mainly are berserker and toughness stats.

Rune: Strength Runes or Hoelbrak Runes

Trinkets

Rabid trinkets mainly.

Skills

Decoy, Domination Signet and Blink (domination signet can be swapped for different situations but I recommend keeping it in many cases)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRAsa7flknpRtNoxMNcrRiqxYqXOVTkMgFKdHfsNA-TFDEABJcQASZ/BMVpIR1QmUFhpU6JxTAoN9PAciCaUVAoUG4lSwAAIAG6QH6QH6QboDdoDdoDtUAwsAA-w

Note: As long as you explain your reasoning or provide a constructive feedback you are welcome and encouraged to respond.

Wyrden.4713:

Serhend.6382:

Hey this is a condi build without PU or any trait in toughness line. It has scepter-torch and staff. It has AOE torment, lots of it. Also has poison, bleed and confusion.

Confusion has 33% increase trait.
Bleed duration is maxed out.
Overall condi duration is 70%

Runes can be swapped for Runes of Torment, Traveler Runes, Afflicted Runes or even Undead Runes. BTW Krait runes are gold with PU builds too, you not only get tons of boons, it also bursts some condi while using mass invis.

Food can be swapped with orrian truffle to get faster endurance regen and hence more dodge and clones.

All shatter skills inflict torment per shattered illusion, which means you can just stack 6 torment in like 2 seconds just by shatter, some comes from torment sigil and block. If you get runes of torment it is even worse, also on heal. This gives poison bleed and torment on elite skill use. I tried it in WvW, downing multiple opponents very very easily and quickly. Totally fun!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArfWlknpTtNoxMNcrNSpBh6ycnmSyAUhS2hyB-TFSHABmo+zF6DMS52RKJCZ/BAeCARpEM4TBApAgZXF-w

not sure why u post ur build cause u didnt say smth like : rate it pls ’ or could u give me hints about what to improve about it’ or this build seems to do the same as urs but seems to be better’

anyway its not decent to post ur own build in someone elses thread, try opening a new thread and post the build there with a small explanation and if possible video, most builds r always getting criticised unless u post a video, even if its rly awesome

How about you stay out of it when it is none of your business.

I don’t have to say anything while posting it. I posted it here for reasons of my own, probably obvious to the relevant person. Since you are not the relevant person you should just let it pass.

And I really don’t need criticism from walking decency sticks who cannot even output a proper text.

Hey this is a condi build without PU or any trait in toughness line. It has scepter-torch and staff. It has AOE torment, lots of it. Also has poison, bleed and confusion.

Confusion has 33% increase trait.
Bleed duration is maxed out.
Overall condi duration is 70%

Runes can be swapped for Runes of Torment, Traveler Runes, Afflicted Runes or even Undead Runes. BTW Krait runes are gold with PU builds too, you not only get tons of boons, it also bursts some condi while using mass invis.

Food can be swapped with orrian truffle to get faster endurance regen and hence more dodge and clones.

All shatter skills inflict torment per shattered illusion, which means you can just stack 6 torment in like 2 seconds just by shatter, some comes from torment sigil and block. If you get runes of torment it is even worse, also on heal. This gives poison bleed and torment on elite skill use. I tried it in WvW, downing multiple opponents very very easily and quickly. Totally fun!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArfWlknpTtNoxMNcrNSpBh6ycnmSyAUhS2hyB-TFSHABmo+zF6DMS52RKJCZ/BAeCARpEM4TBApAgZXF-w

You can attribute it to the specific thief in your story who has always had for example a great interest in chaos magic and the shadow cast by the chaos magic that allows a wise thief to linger with it. Don’t know, whatever floats your boat mate.

Rinzler.8072:

Heres my leveling guide.

1. Use level 20 scroll
2. Craft 14 levels for bout 10 gold.
3. Run dungeons with guild on main, relog onto your mesmer at last boss fight 50% health, gain 75% of a level per path. Use money to insta-gear your mesmer @ 80
4. Zerg when any of hte above options arent available.
5. Get 80 in less than 30 hours played.

3-4 months ago you could easily craft 20 levels with net 10-11 gold did something change? Cooking jeweler and artificer especially?

Although it does not exist (I think it should) you could make up and use Shadow Port ability of a thief which allows thieves to step into enemy mesmers’ portals. For example he shadowsteps into portal shadowports and then if mesmer ports back he shadowsteps back again as well etc. To add some spice I mean.

There was a thread sometime ago btw: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/War-Stories-Your-Favorite-Mesmer-Moments/first#post2392425

lmaonade.9207:

sometimes I like to do things besides running away

Nowadays most warriors prefer hitting and running. They must be a new breed that came along with all the buffs.

Well that will require some getting used to the mechanisms of the mesmer and forming a flow of skills that best suits you and the situation.

Osi came to my mind as he usually uploads a lot of videos and has switched to condi mesmer.

I think this might be helpful. Check other videos from him too if you like.

Condi build, staff and scepter torch. Equipped with blink and decoy and signet of domination or arcane thievery and mass invisibility. You can use Superior Rune of Traveller on full rabid set.

Why, because they will be moving fast so should you. Why condi build with torch because you want some invisibility as well otherwise you will get all the attention. Staff is self explanatory I guess. Also they will probably be direct damage so a condi build would go along great.

Amazing use of words and very nice style. Really enjoyed the fight. It could have a better ending then Moa though, sank my heart when I read that. No Moa please

Using a condi build with scepter torch and staff both in pvp and wvw I can say I haven’t met a thief that can best me in a 1v1 yet and I have fought some significantly skilled thieves if not the best. They can run away or disengage (not in a duel) or it can take a bit long but eventually they all go down. They cannot even land enough burst to get me worried. I think condi build is a thief-slayer. A perplexity rune equipped thief though could give you some trouble. Only in WvW though.

With a power build you cannot go full berserk, you need a fair amount of toughness against thieves. Basically if you go full berserk you must do absolutely no mistake, but at equal or close skill level duelling both parties will extract mistakes now and then from each other. So you will have to have enough armor or mitigation mechanism to get through that and you also need precise timing which will only come with lots and lots of practice even if you lose for hours and hours until you don’t lose anymore.

Clockwork Bard.3105:

That leaves Phantasmal Mage as the only, theoretically speaking, condition phantasm. We don’t like to talk about him in polite conversation.

I lolled.

Yeah iMage could be considered a condi phantasm if any of them is at all. And within the boundaries of mesmer profession, scepter, torch and even staff can be called condi weapons. Staff goes hybrid but you get the most juice out of it -damage-wise- with a condi build.

Carighan.6758:

I like the staff as a very random weapon. I think that’s its identity, it should keep that.

What I’d do:

1. Remove Vulnerability from #1, add Poison instead.
2. Remove the debuffs from the clones, but this is a class-wide change I’d do in return for rebalancing Shatter to be much more lethal than it is right now and removing the shatterable clones from DE together with a host of other changes to make Clones proper defensive tools which we need, able to be shattered for the brunt of our offence (but this would require a separate post :P ).
3. Warlock stays as-is.
4. Chaos Armour is ok, I’d rename it Chaos Aura since it’s effectively that. I’d slightly increase the duration by 1~2 seconds.
5. Chaos Storm I’d double in duration, but also double the tick-interval. Then reduce CD by 5s. This would give us an extremely strong combo field with a solid debuff/buff support.

Chaos Storm would be way OP that way considering adding poison and removing vulnerability from staff 1 as well. I agree with all other things and Staff 1 would suffice for damage with poison added and vuln out.

For staff, Superior Sigil of Strength may be better since you have high crit chance + you get lot of fury from staff 1 and also lot of crits from illusions. It has 1 sec CD and gives 1 might for 10 sec, fairly easy to keep 5 or even more stacks up most of time.

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zudI1kZpO4c

A guardian with 50% crit chance, he says he stacks might as high as 20 stacks. Video is old tho.

Capitan Mancino.7915:

1. Winds of Chaos: Remove Bleeding, Burning and Vulnerability, slightly adjust damage to compensate. Might and Fury are ok.

2. Phase Retreat: this is a terrific skill, just change it according to Winds of Chaos change.

3. Phantasmal Warlock: make this phantasm deal 10% more damage for every different boon you have. Substitute the bouncing attack feature, it is far to easy to avoid the bolt, and this is the damage dealing skill of the weapon.

4. Chaos Armor: Ele Frost Aura says hello – make this skill apply an ARMOR (duh) which reduces incoming damage by 10%. If you’re struck by melée or ranged projectiles (not spells) you get 5s of protection and enemy is inflicted with 2 stacks of vulnerability for each hit (1s internal cooldown).

5. Chaos Storm: remove poison and chilled (poison and chilled on a mesmer? For real?) and swiftness. I suggest keeping the way this skill work, only conditions applied are now daze and blindness, whereas boons are aegis and 1s quickness (yes I said it, and yes I know this is not a boon).

1) Absolutely no. You might want a staff that fits power builds better but removing those from staff 1 would be a genocide of staff condi builds and what condi build can there be without a staff. I get 1500 burning damage from staff 1 skill (2 sec of burning 1500 damage) and 12-14 sec of bleeding with 1700ish damage, this also stacks so easily with my clones (bleed trait). Staff 1 means huge damage in my build.

2) Phase retreat is the best skill ever, with this skill it is really hard to die, this skill alone carries the burden of survival. So, no.

3) No, I land more conditions on my opponents than the boons I got most of the time. In a condi build this is only logical. Again this argument of yours is related to your biased modification suggestion of staff 1, so no.

4) Vulnerability, so awesome, no. Chaos armor needs some reworking but not like this. They can even leave it as it currently is, no problem for me. It still discourages the attackers.

5) No, what a way to slam the staff in the ground all these things you say. You absolutely have no idea.

I am thinking, your only purpose with this suggestion is to suggest nerfing of staff.

There are already more power weapons than condi weapons available to the mesmer. I don’t think anyone would want to lose another, a most effective, condi weapon as well. I would rather have them be as they are now, without a single change instead of a change that is actually a nerf.

It is easily done almost on any build, just take care in not being so squishy. Get your timings right, now how and when to put some distance between you and the mobs. Timing and the way you rotate from skill to skill is the biggest part of the skill I think.

I did not get tensed actually, I just got bored of having to repeat the same warning over and again, can’t blame me for that. Well I am looking forward to obtaining the required things, will nevertheless take quite some time. I think with a skilled gameplay combined with survivability of this set one can achieve quite success in 1vX battles.

@ozii
and when I was theorycrafting this build I was, as I said already, fully aware that they wheigh differently.

I did not ask for feedback, I asked for constructive criticism to “improve and construct upon” the build. This armor, as you also know, is something new and I wanted to try to get some juice out of it. I know I did not pick the wrong traits. There was already threads with discussions on whether the celestial armor is good or not, this was like “With celestial armor do you think this phantasm build is good by also considering the advantage of having one gear only that can go towards the direction of other builds and can perform well as hybrid instead of having different gear for different builds?” If not then I would like to see how it can be better with this set because I really don’t want to have 3-4 sets for 3-4 different builds in my inventory/bank. That is why I was not asking for such a thing, since I already have those sets. I wanted to start and go from this gear’s point of reference to be exact.

Didn’t know healing was so important for everyone. Healing comes as it is. What should be taken into account is the balance of the build. Sure I could grab some toughness, even like 1850 toughness, 55% crit chance, 88% crit damage, 3-3.1k attack all together but that would be a whole different setup. Take into account that this build was supposed to be based on the new armor combined with the all-around stat provider trinkets and not that alternative other ones out there that I assume we all know of already.

How on earth you feel like contributing something constructive when you say “Nuh, this stat is not enough, this gear does better so screw it” kind of stuff? I am not asking for people to make me a build here, I am asking for possible improvements that can work better in the intended direction. You can tell me to get 1 or 2 stuff out and replace it with something, or change the sigils or change the armor rune, or change traits and trait points alright, but unfortunately everyone is so narrow-mindedly thinking over the new armor’s offerings and short-comings. Tell me what makes the use of this armor BETTER in any build at all (say shatter, phantasm, condi, hybrids, etc). I was already fully aware of the fact that it distributed stats among all and this in fact reduced points in areas of focus -as said in first post- but also increased points in other areas, hence allowing for a more balanced build (so saying these things over and over again is really not useful). We get it, you hated the celestial trinkets and now you hate the armor with celestial stats because ……………… Now if you can get over it and provide some potential improvement to the build I would appreciate it.

And that is probably why they did not call it rampager.v2 or berserker.v2 and hence why I called this a low powered yet a balanced build. Obviously if I wanted higher offensive stats I would have gone for a different build. That was not exactly constructive criticism as I have asked for but rather a suggestion of total change of gear-build, which is kind of out of topic in this case. I got your point when you said you thought it did not give enough offensive stats for you but that was already stated.

I meant the armor crit damage only btw, not the gear. Combine it with berserker trinkets and you go beyond the traditional berserker set in terms of crit damage.

It gives 3% more crit damage than berserker armor in total actually, really interestingly. I think it provides a very good balance.

Rampager will not provide with crit damage, it will provide me with condi damage, which is actually not something so required to increase since I want to be able to just change my trait and have a shatter build right on spot, focused on mind wrack. And since this is all theory I really don’t like the idea of just throwing it aside without actually trying it.

Yeah that is a good idea, but I don’t know if it is good to give up on sword cd reduction or deceptive evasion. Bleeds are procced on illusions so clones also give bleeds, and deceptive= clones so I don’t know. Counter is also a source of clone, while magic bullet is nice as well. Tough one. I think it is matter of preference. I guess I would give up on sword cd to keep the clone source from deceptive evasion if I were to switch to pistol.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8clwzKqXTTmGbdJiJFBHydqA0hqA2RqgqVSBvdhA-jkCBYLCyUgQEHwkIAJfFRjtqpIasqaER1abYmcZ14bIyyAwsAA-w

Pros:
- Almost 21k hp
- Almost 2.6k armor
- Good amount of crit damage
- Decent crit chance
- Mediocre condi damage (for bleeds)
- Good healing
- Decent condi removal
- Easy switch between builds such as condi-phantasm-shatter without changing your gear (yes it will not be as specialized as a build focusing on the required traits but it will do nevertheless)

Cons:
- Low ooc mobility -no swiftness runes-
- Low power compared to regular phantasm builds, this may result in lower damage output but I don’t know the exact result since the condi damage is good and this will reflect on bleeds.
- Lower stats in areas of focus with regards to the build in use.

ps. I have not tried this build yet it is only on paper and this is only a theoretical approach. Looking at the numbers I am appealed to at least trying this build I should say.

Open for constructive criticisms and improvements.

phantasm build/shatter, with all invis skills in utility+elite so you can grab some skill points or get past mobs without aggro, doesn’t matter much really, pve is pve and it is only map completion. I have 7% to explore and soloed most of it, listen to Kanto and get Centaur runes, put one on aqua breather too, don’t forget your spear #2 and #4 and you will be running all around the place in no time.

In PvP, I am fighting 2 guys in water right next to ship and they down me, I hit down skill #2 and I find myself on the ship, away from their reach and res, this was a big lol.

DrixTrix.7168:

Chaos Fire:
This phantasm surrounds you, while surrounded you gain protection (cannot stack) and regeneration, enduring this phantasms 10 second (10 too long?) time frame you inflict burning on all of your attacks and shatters will now have reduced damage by -10% but acts as a blast finisher – this does not require a combo field while you have the phantasm suit on, as this is the fire field.

- people who shoot through you and/or clones also gain burning.

maybe that way OP but i’d still love to see it in some shape or form.

Nuh, that is not good enough.

People who shoot at you and/or your clones die instantly without even being downed first. This lasts for 5 seconds and you can do it only once a day in WvW, after that skill works as only protection + burning. In PvE and PvP this skill has 3 second duration and does not insta-kill, but rather inflicts 25 stacks of bleeding.

That will do it.

It would be so much fun to troll zergs with that one although only once a day.

Get a condi build, use scepter #2, apply 8k torment on block, use diversion, cast moa, let it run and die. Win.

1) increase confusion’s damage, no need to destroy or restrict confu builds.
OR
1.a) make chaos armor apply protection, because it is called armor, duh.
and
2) remove vulnerability from staff 1 and put something else or maybe nothing at all.

Fully leveled condi mesmers are very viable I think. For example when I do my rotation right with good timing -still getting used to my new build- I am able to take down greatsword phantasm high dps mesmers down in WvW duels in technically open field -to their advantage. If it goes like this in a 1v1 duel against a very high dps build (said build’s user hit 5-6k with iBerserker) then it should be viable in pve as well in terms of damage and survivability, I got 1800 toughness for example so I can survive many hits, PU even makes it easier. I just sit and watch my staff clones burn and bleed the hell out of the mobs.

Condition duration is more important. See here the build I am currently using, it has a lot of damage.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7flwzKqXQzpGb9IhpH9G5AHVhrT6RpftrB-jUDBINJDrRQmWAgCEiEAmqIZ5QFRjtEMaVRBp8KsqbY6YER1mbFRrWKAIWDA-w

I get around 4800 damage with torch and also put 10s blindness on enemies.

Scepter is for me the #2 #3 skills, with #2 providing on block 7k torment damage, 7k torment damage to moving targets and #3 hitting for like 1200 damage and landing 5 stacks of confusion for almost 12 seconds with 928 damage on skill use.

These are really good. Not good for power like you say but they are now more like condition build weapons. Whereas sword, focus, gs, pistol are power weapons. Staff is somewhere in the middle, perhaps faring better for condi builds. But as you see there are 4 weapons that provide good dps while only 3 weapons providing good condition damage (including staff).

blutstein.2468:

which facts? you never played this build… so you have no facts or reason to argue against besides your great theorycrafting.

but you are the best, i’m bad, and you feel good. its ok for me.

You setup builds by looking at descriptions and calculations, you do not just make them up from your behind. I do not have to play the exact same build to have a word to say about it. I played its both sides and I can easily say that is not a proper hybrid. Although it has the same traits blackwater build is condition heavy, so it has a stance in one of those sides, phantasm builds also have a stance in dps area. Will not talk about it any further, you should try the phantasm build or cond build yourself first instead of telling me to use a hybrid build that orphans its potential damage with torch and scepter for less damage and some little condition damage existing only in name.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

Misleading perhaps, but I like the idea that newer players could look at a build that may not necessarily synergise well, take bits and pieces out of that and perhaps make their own build that would suit them better.

and yes, people are free to criticize each others opinions, its a very viable way for people to lean and improve, but at a certain point it just becomes a screaming competition to see who can yell the loudest, perhaps it is better to agree to disagree and same some face before it goes that far?

Well mate, I did not think it would turn into a contest or that he would get offended by some suggestions and start a kitten contest. You do not get offended by every criticism and actually start offending if you want to improve. You are right, they may take pieces and bits but still there are also those that actually take and implement it as it is, so it is best to bring things to facts and reason.

Natsu Dragneel.1625:

Its a shame that everybody just cant get a long with each other, you know, everyone has their own builds and variations, just because someone uses something different to you does not mean its wrong.

He is free to use whatever he wants and everyone is free to criticize each other’s opinions as well, don’t forget that part too. I was trying to help him out of it and he was claiming that our builds were similar, which was absolutely not the case. Furthermore it can be misleading for naive players who are looking up to forums to get ideas for their builds.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Its not really NEEDED though. I have just over 1,400 Condition damage (+another 175 through Corruption sigil) and while extra condition damage is nice, i dont see ONE trait + 200condition damage being worth 20 points into the tree line. The Only decent trait is the one you have mentioned with 3% extra damage but i dont think that counts towards condition damage so overall its not really required in a condition build
Seeing as how the 2 minor traits and most of the big traits are targeted at shattering it kind of makes alot less useful if you rarely shatter
How much Condition damage do you have? I am guessing the extra points in Domination making it a longer condition helps it, currently mine is 8 3/4seconds and 3,377 damage and another 3,377 damage if they are moving. I dont quite see how you are having about 14,000Torment damage (if they are moving) I am currently sitting at 1,401 unbuffed Condition Damage

If you already have a high condi damage like that it may be less useful. You probably have full rabid ascended and exotic for that cond damage? Well I am assuming it is around 14k since the guy had like 17k hp and had only 1/3 or less hp left after applying torment only and nothing else. Although that is more like 11.6k damage, I do not have the condition damage I am estimating to have for that 7k (it is a build I calculated with full ascended in mind). So taking that into account I think it is at least 12k+ damage from torment alone to moving targets unless removed. You can get 33% more confusion or additional bounce from second trait in illusions although the minors are shatter related, it is a good combination with first minor trait and rest of the confusion sources you got.
Calculated over 1600 condition damage 100% cond duration

I think you chose cond damage runes instead of duration ones?? You can increase cond duration by 100%, torment can reach up to 16 seconds.

blutstein.2468:

blackwater is the condi example, you’ve found it, congrats. Next step: move on to the direct damage variant!

and for you again:
read carefully. read it again carefully. try it. test it. then come here again and tell me your experience instead of bothering other people with your never tested enlightment about a build you have never used.

its funny how you can’t accept that this works without testing it. do you know now what i mean if i say: you are close minded? guess not

Your build, according to the page you linked, is not even a proper hybrid people. You must think you are the one who invented hybrid builds and rest of the world has no idea about it. It works as in landing damage and everything works in that direction, or when zerging you can actually hit as little as 100 damage and get loot, does that mean it works.

Your wvw build was no different at all with only torch cd and cavalier trinkets (cavalier makes it more survivable but even more so unreasonable to insist on condition). Read above for reference instead of creating new posts.

Guess not because it has nothing to do with being close minded when everything you said actually contradicted each other and you ended up getting yourself pwned by me with your own words and logic along the road, see above posts for reference. Then you try to save face with cavalier equipment, which make it even funnier since they have no cond damage and with more toughness and keeping current crit chance and damage you make it only more nonsense to use torch and scepter. Will not waste anymore time with you funny guy. Thanks for the laughs.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Thanks for the build, unfortunately from my play style point of view it has 20points wasted in Illusions as the only time i will shatter is mostly due to needing Distoration, CoF is pretty weak.

I am liking the 16second Torment duration though. My is currently sitting at just under 9seconds, i have the Coi Cakes so that would buff it to about 12-14seconds roughly. The Giver weapon is quite a nice idea as well.

You do not put 20 points in Illusions to shatter, you put it primarily for +200 cond damage that applies to all your build (if condi build) and you also get +3% damage increase for each illusion you have.
20 Domination (clone cripple, torch cd reduce, also provides 20% cond duration increase passively)
0
30 chaos (prismatic understanding, staff cd reduce, 3 less damage per illusion) -300 toughness ofc
0
20 illusions (200 cond damage passively, 3 per illusion damage increase, many things you can choose as 2nd trait)
I got ~7000 torment damage, another 7k when moving, lasts 16 seconds, cd is 12 seconds, constant torment uptime.

Tested torment on a gs/staff phantasm mesmer in WvW. He had full hp, I put torment on him, he moves until it wears off, he has 1/3 or less hp left.