Guild Wars 2

I don’t think it restores illusions. That’d be crazy.

Foefaller.1082:

StormHawk.9862:

Fay.2357:

StormHawk.9862:

So you have to go for a shatter build/shatter clones if you take Chronomancer?

Uh. How on earth did you manage to disfigure any of the information released today into this? Nothing even remotely close to that was stated, hinted, or otherwise implied.

Well it mentioned there’s a trait that, when you shatter a skill it gives you alacrity, so I assumed naturally that there would be more traits like that, that require shattering.

They also mentioned in the PoI they did today a Grandmaster trait (Chronophantasm) which will resummon phantasms once after using a shatter skill. they are still balancing it (afraid of what might happen if someone shattered a trio of duelists to unload on a single target at the same time) but even in a lesser form, it would let your Phantasm-based Chronomancer still take advantage of shatter traits, like the alacrity minor.

Yeah, I did see that today in fact, yeah I think that trait is useful, indeed. Do you think it’s a must-take for non-shatter builds?

Uh, well it’s hard to say for sure now until people have actually tried it out, but I’d say that if you’re going with a Shatter build to go with the shatter line, because of the minor trait and the other build possibilities with it; it’s made for shattering.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

StormHawk.9862:

What about for like tanky/selfish builds like for commanding?

Who in their right mind goes commanding in WvW on their mesmer?

The Mesmer preparing to be a boss Chronomancer.

Lol, you bet!

Herr der Friedhoefe.2490:

StormHawk.9862:

What about for like tanky/selfish builds like for commanding?

Who in their right mind goes commanding in WvW on their mesmer?

Me. I, in the right mind command in WvW and it works out just fine. But if you’re not gonna answer the question, please don’t insult me and go somewhere else. Thanks.

Milamberr.1705:

Shattering is not just about damage and I think with having IP base line now a lot more people will start to realize that.

Yeah I know, it’s also about evading and interrupting as well, but that doesn’t really change the fact that if you’re not a shatter build and you shatter, it won’t be as effective, right?

keenlam.4753:

Apparently this is the direction they want us to go forward. All mesmers (regardless of builds that focus on shattering or not) must use their shatters, or in Robert Gee’s original words “maintain a good shattering cadence”.
This means lazy shatterers like myself will have to adapt.

Yeah, but I’m one of those people who never shatter until the very end of the fight, due to the clones being able to obscure people from hitting me. Besides wouldn’t shattering when you’re not a shatter build lose you more damage than if you didn’t shatter at all, and have clones and eventually up to 3 full phantasms up at once?

In HoT, do we shatter illusions even if we’re not a shatter build?

Like, would it be effective to shatter illusions even if we’re not a shatter build rather than just keep them up(which gives them a chance to die) for the extra passive damage they do? Cause apparently in the Twitch stream a week ago, they said that it’s not a healthy way to play and they WANT us to shatter illusions. Does this apply to non shatter builds as well?

Oh ok then. Thanks for all the answers.

Me Games Ma.8426:

Didn’t they say that that’s not the case? Didn’t they say that phantasm specs would work with chrono as well because of alacrity sharing?

Yeah, but a survivibility/utility/selfish build isn’t exactly a phantasm damage build now is it? :L

Yep, yep, above says it all. ^

Fay.2357:

StormHawk.9862:

So you have to go for a shatter build/shatter clones if you take Chronomancer?

Uh. How on earth did you manage to disfigure any of the information released today into this? Nothing even remotely close to that was stated, hinted, or otherwise implied.

Well it mentioned there’s a trait that, when you shatter a skill it gives you alacrity, so I assumed naturally that there would be more traits like that, that require shattering.

So you have to go for a shatter build/shatter clones if you take Chronomancer?

What about for like tanky/selfish builds like for commanding? Like currently I take some defensive abilities like boons in stealth and condi clears, etc. But if majority of chronomancer’s skills are effective with shattering, would there be a way for shattering for utility or defensively not just for raw damage? I’m confused.

Or would the shatter builds/shatter clones in general, be able to provide survivability/utility and not just damage unlike the current shatter builds?

SIDE QUESTION; [Optional to answer] In a shatter build, as soon as you have 3 clones/phantasms up do you shatter immediately? Or do you like wait till the phantasm does his full cycle of damage and then shatter it?

Try to answer all my questions!
Thanks!

Ok so, does the utility primer work with the Birthday Gift utility? Like I pop birthday gift, and when I like have 1 more hour or so on my birthday gift buff I pop the utility primer and I get 12 hours more?

K so simple, straightforward question;

As a mesmer commander, is it viable to use a shatter build? Why or why not?

Aless.7896:

Here is a build i made up that focuses on tankyness but does have some power.
Overall i feel mesmer is not really great for commanding but seems like it would be something fun to do every once in awhile. Personally i would never try doing this but to each their own. If i absolutely had to command and had the money for the armor i would probably do something like so. . .

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdWl0npKt1qxYNUrNSsBZyQ8iT+jdU6GEgXC-TFCDABJqEsl9HqS5Hlq/AwJAggDBwEPBAA1HQKABFGB-w

Im not really good at theory crafting so please don’t rip it apart too badly. Im mostly backline harass or glamour support as a mesmer so im not used to a) creating builds and b) playing tanky.

Now an attempt to explain this build.
Weapons are Sw/Focus + Staff. Sword main hand for obvious reasons. Focus because it allows you to control the enemy alittle via cripple and pulls. Pistol and Sword are more for 1v1 or roaming IMHO which leaves us with torch or focus. Torch i think is a viable alternative since you can use it to blind the front line as you guys clash and the phantasm might live long enough to get some confusion/retal out. Either or i feel would work, just a matter of preference.
I chose staff for the second b/c of chaos storm and chaos armor. And b/c i have a personal preference for the staff. But some perks are being able to lay down chaos storm and have your hammer train/blasts go through it and give everyone chaos armor which is pretty nice.

Utilities:
mantra of recovery for heals and proccing mender’s purity for the condi cleanse.
Mantra of concentration for stun break/stability when going through hammer trains/stuns/cc.

The next two utilities really is up to you. I personally would go veil and portal cause veil is amazing for setting up and portal because i’ve always enjoyed portal plays and their funny fails when it completely goes wrong.

For the elite you can do w/e. I’ve heard timewarp makes you take extra damage now but i haven’t heard any confirmation on it so i left it there.

Traits are 0/6/4/4/0
in Dueling pick up the lower cd mantra trait and DE. Then triumphant distortion cause it works well in zergs.
In chaos i picked up devilitating dissipation cause illusions will be dying as you dodge through the zergs. This will give the 5 enemies condis, hopefully weakness. for the last trait you can pick up chaotic dampening if you want to play more defensive with staff and have more chaos armor uptime or you can pick up bountiful interruption and hope that you can get interrupts on the front line that will be loaded with stability.
Inspirationi picked up mender’s purity and restorative mantras for condi clears and extra healing since you will be on the front line. i would personally keep mender’s purity but the second trait can be changed to more glamour based or less cd for your focus. or moved around entirely. your choice.

Armor
mostly sentinel. You said you wanted tanky with some attack so i went with sentinels instead of say nomads. I did not go PTV because i feel that staying alive is more important than damage and as a mesmer that will be difficult as a front line. But if you feel that you are experience enough go for PTV for the extra attack. Knight’s trinkets for some toughness but also precision. This is for the vigor uptime which with this build you will have at least 60% vigor uptime from that trait alone.

Sigil:
Obviously energy on both weapons. I then chose something not so commonly seen but something that i seem to have growth a liking to which is superior sigil of stamina. This is actually really nice in zerg fights similar to how triumphant distortion works but without an ICD. Every time an enemy dies, you get 2 full dodges again. If having energy + this sigil seems overkill switch it out for something. On the staff i would go with bloodlust for some more damage. Apart from the two energy sigil they can be changed around pretty easily.

At the very least i hope i gave you something to work off of. Again i dont consider myself an amazing theory crafter but wanted to see if i could help a bit. If this build is not anything close to what you were looking for feel free to disregard it. It won’t hurt my feeling… i promise. looks at stormhawk with puppy eyes

Oh, I actually kinda like the build, thanks for all the information you provided as well, I’m gonna try and mess around with it. Thanks everyone for your ideas.

Fay.2357:

StormHawk.9862:

Fay.2357:

StormHawk.9862:

Alright, thanks for everyone’s input about commanding, however I still need some builds, so please post.

You’ve been given a lot of information, tips, and advice in this thread. Instead of just demanding that people make builds for you, why don’t you try and come up with something all by yourself, and then we can give you further feedback on what you make.

I am thankful for what information everyone has given and have never demanded a build, so please don’t say that.

I mean…

StormHawk.9862:

however I still need some builds, so please post.

StormHawk.9862:

tl;dr: gimme an optimal trait build

So there is that…

StormHawk.9862:

The reason I’m asking for a build is because I’ve pondered so many ideas,

So then take one of those ideas and make it into a build. It’s not like the first build you come up with must be the one that you will use for the next year. Take those ideas, consider what you want to do, how you want to do it, and make a build that you think fits. Post it here, and see if people feel that it does what you want it to do.

Alright, but just so you know the only reason I said “gimme a build” is because it was the tldr, so i had to make it short, if they didn’t want it to sound mean, they should read the full, even though it wasn’t intended mean.

Fay.2357:

StormHawk.9862:

Alright, thanks for everyone’s input about commanding, however I still need some builds, so please post.

You’ve been given a lot of information, tips, and advice in this thread. Instead of just demanding that people make builds for you, why don’t you try and come up with something all by yourself, and then we can give you further feedback on what you make.

I am thankful for what information everyone has given and have never demanded a build, so please don’t say that. The reason I’m asking for a build is because I’ve pondered so many ideas, and if you read the initial post, I believe I am overthinking it, but if you don’t want to suggest one, it’s fine.

Alright, thanks for everyone’s input about commanding, however I still need some builds, so please post.

Menaka.5092:

Tanky sw/sw+staff

a few notes:

• notice the food buff (the stone is probably expensive, I didn’t check)
• your sword phantasm is useless, use it before the regroup to put it on cooldown, it has the same cooldown of Guardian’s Empower, so you’ll know when your empowers are back from cooldown
• after using the sword phantasm, switch to staff, go on the regroup and recharge your mantras
• your untraited Chaos Storm has a similar CD to necro wells, so you know when your well spike is back off CD
• drop Chaos Storm on the spike, apply Chaos Armor and switch back to Sword
• 1111111 (autoattack) and BF if you get caught in aoe

Oh alright thanks. But how is the sword phantasm useless??

And uh anyone else have a trait build? Need as many commander builds I can get so I can choose which I like. I’d prefer it if I stayed wit my main weapons.

Fay.2357:

You’re commanding, you’re not going to do damage.

See, here’s the thing, and this is why you don’t command on a mesmer. If you want to do any damage in WvW (and you still won’t even do 10% of what an ele does effortlessly) you have to bend your build over backwards to be specifically designed to do any damage, whereas a guardian can just spam 1 on a staff and do just fine.

Doing this means you don’t have a build that survives.

If you want to command, you need to focus on surviving. Surviving and being able to lead a group are your first priorities, with everything else coming far behind. You say that you have the skill to stay alive and survive because you’re experienced? Sorry, but that’s simply not true. A commander wades into the fights first. They break through the hammer train. They get hit with everything. The only way you’re going to survive that on a mesmer (that doesn’t have good access to prot or aegis) is by going absolute full and total tank.

tl;dr: You must go full tank or you will fail miserably.

Ok fine and then what traits do you recommend

Fay.2357:

You’re commanding, you’re not going to do damage.

See, here’s the thing, and this is why you don’t command on a mesmer. If you want to do any damage in WvW (and you still won’t even do 10% of what an ele does effortlessly) you have to bend your build over backwards to be specifically designed to do any damage, whereas a guardian can just spam 1 on a staff and do just fine.

Doing this means you don’t have a build that survives.

If you want to command, you need to focus on surviving. Surviving and being able to lead a group are your first priorities, with everything else coming far behind. You say that you have the skill to stay alive and survive because you’re experienced? Sorry, but that’s simply not true. A commander wades into the fights first. They break through the hammer train. They get hit with everything. The only way you’re going to survive that on a mesmer (that doesn’t have good access to prot or aegis) is by going absolute full and total tank.
;dr: You must go full tank or you will fail miserably.

My friend goes half damage and half tank though with knight and the other one that gives power ferocity and vit.. And he survives

Ok so some of you may remember me from my previously posted recent forums about weapons and whatnot.

I am looking for an optimal build to command in wvw, no matter what you do you cannot discouage me from the idea of commanding with a Mesmer so don’t try. I want to command as a Mesmer and am currently using S/S and GS. I want to know what TRAITS I should get. I believe I am overthinking it but I cannot make a decision on what build to have, I know I have to build sorta tanky so that I may stay alive and so far I have pondered up 0/20/30/20/0 but I feel like this isn’t the most optimal and thy I could fit some DAMAGE traits in somewhere.

I am also confused as to which skills to choose for those certain traits so please help me out, I would prefer it you posted your optimal commander build on a website with the skills for the traits but you can say it on here as well. Remember I want to command ZERGS without being TOO TANKY, as I have the skill to stay alive and survive for I am experienced, and go some part damage, as well.
Thanks

tl;dr: gimme an optimal trait build for commanding wvw without going too TANKY and giving me some damage, my current build is 0/20/30/20/0 but I want to change it so that I can have some more damage, I also need help with what skills to choose for those traits

ASP.8093:

Sword autos do more damage, yes.

Which is fair because one is a melee attack. And the other one is a 1200-range (slightly longer on the #1 attack, actually — practice activating it manually) unreflectable instant-tracking laser beam.

Also, it’s not a lot more unless you’re hitting with the third attack in the auto chain.

Oh but I don’t mean just the Auto Attack I mean all the moves with any off hand for the sword, would results still be the same?

Mak.2657:

Xyonon.3987:

Sword melee 3 times dmg of gs max range. And then the cleave makes it 9 times unless they line up.

Not correct.
GS max range damage 0.945 coef, cast time 1.4s, dps = 0.675
Sw hit cycle 0.6 + 0.6 + 1.1 (0.9 if enemy has boon) = 2.3 coef, cast time (full cycle) ~ 2.5s, dps = 0.92 (or 0.84 vs enemy with boon)
So 0.92 / 0.675 = 1.3629 times better. Or sword AA better then max GS AA only by 36% (not counting boons, conditions, sigil procs, etc). Even less sw AA dps If you not managed to go through full AA cycle because most damage attack is 3rd in a row. Only ~15% better for 1st and 2nd attack in sw AA chain if I’m not wrong.
Personally think sword autos need some type of buff.

So um just to confirm, sorry can’t follow up with the math. Haha. The sword does more damage than gs still or is it the other way around, with math involved? Anyone can answer this, so feel free.

ASP.8093:

I’m saying “commanding” isn’t one unified thing.

An uplevel thief can command in EotM just fine, because you don’t actually do anything ’cept look at the map and lay siege.

Someone with talent can lead a decent havoc team with nearly any personal build.

Getting what you want out of 30-60 zerglings, nearly all of whom expect you to lead a certain way (which is basically “bomb on me”), though? You really want to be a warrior or guardian, because the job you’re doing (standing in front facetanking obscene pressure) is the job those classes were designed to do best.

I wasn’t originally planning to jump right into the battle, though. are you saying that the sword might not be a good choice because we have to be at melee range, and I should go something ranged like a GS?

ASP.8093:

For a commander? Err. It really depends on how you intend to command.

Note that commanding hammertrain-style (leading from the front, with melee guys and ranged support all focusing on your tag) is gonna be pretty disastrous for a mesmer. Folks have tried to come up with builds for it but they’re been really reliant on gimmicks (like old weird Mimic functionality) and much, much more fragile than just rolling a guardian and learning how to call waters and use your cooldowns.

If you’re doing anything else… well, what else do you intend to do? How many people do you intend to command, doing what, against what sorts of enemies? Do you have people you trust to follow your directions rather than just the tag itself in fights? Nearly any spec, even a very glassy one, can be an effective havoc commander if you’ve got the skills and the team.

…

But, okay, Pistol’s strength is primarily in small engagements. It and offhand Sword are both dueling weapons, more or less: both have a skill that can counter opposing bursts, and phantasms that threaten significant damage on a single target if opponents just leave them up to attack repeatedly.

In contrast, Greatsword’s our most consistent way to throw damage at long range, and Staff is probably the best defensive weapon overall. As I said above, I like both Focus and Torch because they bring unique abilities to the table.

So what your saying is mesmers aren’t able to command? If so, what weapons do you recommend for commanding?

Oh, ok, so then for WvW from a commanders point of view, pistol is better?

ASP.8093:

WvW? Torch. Focus.

Torch phantasm is garbage, but who cares? The Prestige is excellent against real live human players. Stealth+blind (+small burst damage, +blast finisher) is very powerful, both offensively and defensively.

Focus gives you something no other mesmer set has: pulls. Being able to mess with people up on walls, cliffs, &c. is invaluable. Two mesmers working together can even hit folks who are carefully avoiding the edge. It’s pretty good for trying to mess up the enemy backline in open-field combat as well. Note that the phantasm is pretty bad in WvW, though.

Hmm, okay, what about the Sword? How is that?

I’m using sword and I want to know which is the best offhand, right now I’m kinda leaning towards the sword or focus, being the sword does IMMENSE phantasm damage, and the focus does a good amount too. Which offhand is strong at the moment in the meta?

Keep in mind, I WvW.

Um so… in other words sword does outright more damage than gs at max range?

Zenith.7301:

Melee weapons always outdamage ranged weapons with the rare exception of the elementalist’s staff.

Oh really? oh, cause like i’m noticing the GS has more burst spikes of damage then the sword/offhand? :l

Fay.2357:

StormHawk.9862:

Ah ok, but I mean in like general terms, not just auto attacks, like the weapon overall, which has the greater DPS? I know one is ranged and one is not, but which does more damage overall

You’re comparing apples and oranges. Are you at 1200 range? The gs does more damage…since the sword is a melee weapon. Are you at melee range? The sword does far more damage.

Yeah, I mean which is at a higher DPS when a GS is at max range and a sword is at sword range…pretty common sense, though…

Ah ok, but I mean in like general terms, not just auto attacks, like the weapon overall, which has the greater DPS? I know one is ranged and one is not, but which does more damage overall

Ok so, I was wondering which does more damage? Now for the sword offhand, it doesn’t matter, just whatever does more damage. I know that they both have good damage, but I’m wondering which one has more. I understand that the GS isn’t good so close up either, but I just want to know.

I’m going to be commanding in WvW and although, I do know it’s not optimal to go DPS, I just want to know which does more damage for my build ; GS or sword + whatever offhand.

Thanks

I really hate to bump this but can anyone answer to the two questions above?

And for those who said GS, isn’t it difficult to stay far range from enemies for maximum damage? How do you manage?

For some reason, though, when I use a GS, as of compared to a staff, with a power build, and verse the same pve enemy, I always seem to kill faster with the staff than the GS, even though the GS is supposed to do more damage…. I’m pretty sure I’m using GS correctly, then why is this happening? :/

@shtos, ok, I gotcha! though you said that we should use our off set for damage. I don’t really want to do this. I want to try to damage with the staff with a condition build and just use that. Would that be viable? Are staves able to/ capable of doing a good amount of condition damage if you have the proper condition build? Cause I wanna use my staff as my main damaging wep if, It’s capable of doing a good amount of condition damage. I’m pretty sure it would be, though I need someone’s opinion on how effective it’d be in DAMAGE in wvw. Would it pull nearly as much damage as a GS would?

Please anyone can answer. Would it be capable and if so by how much?

I see what you’re saying, though I’m still unsure about which could do the MOST damage? Which is better for questing as well?

Which is better? What are the positives and negatives of each? I’m looking for mainly offensive play, and a lot of damage, though Im not sure which could do more damage. Staff with a Condition Build? or GS with a Power build? I heard that staff is defensive, though that doesnt mean it cant be offensive, though which would do more damage and overall be better in wvw?

I’m doing a Condition Staff/Scepter build with my Mesmer. I was wondering if there is any staff that’s level 80 that gives the following: Condition Damage, Condition Duration, Vitality?

If there’s none that give that, what about: Condition Damage, Condition Duration, and Power?

Are there any armor that give any of those stats, ALL in ONE. Please reply.

My computer which is Gateway reaches very low FPS as well, I’ve done a lot of things to try to combat this situtation, yet like this says, no matter what you do it wont help

Anyone, please?(sorry for bumping again)

I’m having this same issue, yesterday I was doing just fine, but now I’m getting extremely high CPU Usage, more than normal, thus making GW2 lag. Does anyone have an answer for this?

Hmm, but I’m also noticing my CPU Usage is a lot higher than usual. Sometimes it’s getting up to 100, and staying around 60-80 average. Does anyone have an explanation of this, please?

Hate to bump this….but…

It was going just fine, usually, but then today all of a sudden when I logged on, I experienced a lot of lag, as in, when I use a teleport spell, it takes forever, when I click a spell, it doesnt activate after like 5 seconds, why is this? This didn’t happen before. It says my FPS is around 30-40, though it sometimes goes to 10-20, but raises back up, just like before, Im guessing this a good average speed. I tried restarting and shutting off 3 times, and it still didn’t work, I also tried restarting internet, nothing. Recently, I got a Driver update though, but after the driver update I was running just fine, but then when I log on a few hours later after the update, im lagging. I dont believe it was the drive update, though.

Though, it does seem like I’m using a bit more CPU Usage…Like I said, I was running JUST fine a few hours ago, and now poof. So much lag. Why is this happening? Here’s my specifications:

Specifications:
Laptop
Windows 7 Home Premium
Manufacturer: Gateway
Model: NV77H
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 6.00GB (5.85 GB Usable)
Graphics Card: Intel® HD Graphics 3000
System Type: 64-Bit Operating System

Oh, wow. Thanks a lot, that seems to have fixed it, all I did was upgrade to the latest version of the driver for my laptop and it seems to have fixed it.

This has been happening ever since I downloaded the game. Random Blue lines and blue squares/squiggles show up, when I move my camera to a different angle, they move somewhere else, also some random stuff/objects pop up, like a brick wall, or debris. Also, sometimes a staircase is there but I don’t see it, (Though the staircase problem I think is the graphics didn’t load it yet). This only happens in-game, though, not on Character Select. Mainly the blue, I can’t play with it. Please help, here’s my specifications:

Specifications:
Laptop
Windows 7 Home Premium
Manufacturer: Gateway
Model: NV77H
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-2450M CPU @ 2.50GHz
RAM: 6.00GB (5.85 GB Usable)
Graphics Card: Intel® HD Graphics 3000
System Type: 64-Bit Operating System

Any help would be appreciated!