Guild Wars 2

Too lazy to format…

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Raids-and-Chrono-stats/first

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3uv1vz/good_build_for_chronomancer_in_raids/

http://www.dtguilds.com/forum/m/6563292/viewthread/25108491-dnt-dps-mesmer-build-for-raids

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3vbygn/ptgna_redshifts_high_alacrity_and_permanent/

You might want to look at this reddit post about how to efficiently unlock the hero points.

Hero Points for your Elite Specilization

Blue.

I like the way the flames look under the blue dye.

Altair.8402:

o_o

Do people actually spend hundreds of dollars on a shiny video game skin?

Here’s how I see it. In the end I am going to end up with my shiny new skin. Now, how do I want to get there?

I can earn my gold by playing the game for roughly 150 hours and grinding, flipping the TP, running the same dungeons, farming, etc. Or, I can do my current job for a few days, convert cash to gold, and enjoy my skin. I skip the grind and get back to playing fashion wars 2.

A younger (single) me would grind because spending a few hundred dollars on a game sounds ludicrous. My older (married w/ children) self understands what I can do with those hundred hours not spent grinding.

I’ve been using this one from metabattle

Do you like the look? Do you want to use a katana? Is the skin worth 600 gems to you? Do you want to shoot butterflies out of your katana?

In PvP PU has a hard time taking and holding points due to stealth.

No matter what game type I am in I primarily use Sword / Focus. The focus is great when traited and still useful when it isn’t. In PvP I love the PBAoE from the warden, blurred frenzy, and shatter combo. The focus lets me gather the enemies and sword immobilizes them.

For PvE I’ll take a GS. For PvP I have been favoring Staff.

PvP and WvW confusion damage is halved. PvE uses the full damage from confusion.

If you’re looking for Phantasm DPS, I’d recommend going 2(III)/4(II, IV)/0/5(I,VIII)/3(III).

Drop the mantras and free up some utility slots for other skills.

Pick up Phantasmal Fury, Compounding Power, and Illusionist’s Celerity to pump out more DPS.

PU isn’t strong in PvP. You can do some decent damage but it’s difficult to hold / take a point.

Lockdown is fun and strong 1v1 and with support. However, you’re in for a world of hurt against multiple opponents or if you waste your interrupts.

I find shatter to be the best, all-around spec. Nice group support and decent 1v1 capabilities. Currently I’ve been using GS / Sw + Torch with the standard 20/20/0/0/30.

Have you read Supcutie’s shatter guide? It’s invaluable.

I ran into this guy (Qt Spy on Blackgate main) last night and wasn’t too thrilled with the interaction.

Long story short, I went to let my dog out during the event and needed to AFK for a few minutes. So I moved my character out of harms way and set my heal to auto-cast just in case something did attack me.

When I get back I have Qt Spy mocking my hiding abilities and claiming I am using a macro to cast two abilities (heal and dodge rolling). His language was riddle with “bro” and “:)” and rude in general. I refuted his claims about a macro but there isn’t anyway to prove this and it’ll come down to his word against mine.

I understand people are upset with AFK leechers during this event and love to see bans given to those that deserve them.

However, not everyone can set aside 45 minutes to play interrupt free. Had my son or wife needed a quick hand with something I would be “AFK” for a few minutes. I don’t believe three minutes of AFK is worth a ban when I am rescuing civs the remaining 42 minutes.

As a side note, your character can be idle like the rest of the leechers but they don’t care as long as you respond to them. I guess you could idle away watching Netflix and just respond whenever an Anet player walks by.

Have you read Supcutie’s PvP Shatter Guide?

I used ESDF for movement because 1) there are more keys to hotkey and 2) it keeps my fingers on the home row.

With ESDF for movement, I use “A” for dodge. Works great.

How do you deal with Necros? I came across 4 or 5 today in WvW and had a rough time dealing with them when they pile on 5 conditions instantly.

Hey Chaos,

I typically roam WvW kittenter with a traited focus (0/20/0/20/30).

When I saw your post I wanted to give this build a shot. I played around with the 30/20/20/0/0 build for a few hours in sPvP and roaming WvW. In both situations I had a hard time against multiple opponents.

In your experience, how well does a Lockdown Mesmer hold up against multiple foes? Do you feel like you can handle a 2v1 or 3v1 as well as a Shatter or PU Mesmer?

Thanks,
Knacky

Does the Runes of the Centaur +15% bleed duration work on bleeds applied by Sharper Images?

I was under the impression it does not. Since we don’t apply many bleeds without SI, I’d recommend using Traveler Runes.

This is my best guess of Joe’s build.

The link doesn’t include the 25 stacks of Perception.

Hey Vash, I’ve been enjoying your videos and I’m looking forward to what you put together next.

I know you like to focus on the class and not on the gear. But, you still must have some preferences in terms of burst, survival, and runes / sigils. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.

#MesmerYNORapier

That’s quite the collection! How often do you find yourself swapping specs and using a different set of gear?

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ now supports celestial gear. Try out different gear combinations and see what you like.

Excalibur.9748:

Does it also apply when they’re in downed state?

In the downed state the real Mesmer has a big, red arrow over their head.

Often times you’re better off just bursting the Mesmer down rather than trying to stomp.

drongas.4189:

clones dont have offhand weapon, only real mesmer have food, only real mesmer can dodge

• Recently I’ve noticed opposing clones don’t have a guild tag
• Movement gives away a Mesmer quickly
• Look for dodges, strafing, moving side-to-side, etc
• Ranged clones are stationary unless you move too far away
• Look at the buffs
• If you’re in a group, mark the real Mesmer
• If the Mesmer stealths, look for them a few seconds later
• Only the real Mesmer can cast spells. Clones only auto-attack

Here’s a tip to maximize your Warden’s damage:

1. Cast Temporal Curtain
2. Begin casting Phantasmal Warden
3. Trigger Into the Void (instant cast won’t interrupt Warden)
4. Warden spawns on top of knocked down enemy
5. Illusionary Leap / Swap to immobilize enemy
6. Blurred Frenzy
7. Optional: Mind Wreck

What kind of build are you running?

Here are two posts that show tournament builds.

Master’s of the Mists
Top GW2 Tournament Builds

Mesmer here.

For PvE it’s easier to avoid damage since you know what to expect. The healing, tough, and vit aren’t as valuable here. Gearing for offense works great so some Celestial stats are wasted. In groups you have others to res if you get downed.

For WvW I run Knights with full Celestial trinkets. The stat spread helps with all aspects during a fight. If I get beat in Celestial gear I’d probably lose in full Berserker as well.

It seems like most Mesmers get Rampager armor first. Who doesn’t like the idea of Power/Prec/Cond? Higher critical chance for more bleeds from Sharper Images. Higher bleed damage from increased condition damage. Condition damage also helps all the random conditions we apply from Winds of Chaos, clone deaths, and confusion. Add power to boost damage from our illusions and ourselves? This armor is perfect!

Then again, our conditions aren’t that great. In any group situation bleed stacks get maxed out and true condition builds have higher bleed numbers. You’ll be lucky to see one or two procs of confusion in PvE. Currently condition damage doesn’t damage objects.

This realization brings most to Berserker armor with its higher damage.

Neither Rampager or Berserker help with survival though. If that’s not a problem, stick with Berserker. If you need to survive add some Knight, Soldier, or Valkyrie pieces. Be sure to take into account that Critical Damage isn’t as cost effective on armor as it is on trinkets. For this reason I stick with all Knight’s armor and add critical damage via trinkets, weapons, and food. Food alone gives you an easy +10% critical damage boost.

For PvE you’re fine going all Berserker since you can avoid 90% of attacks via active defense.

For PvP there will be times you need to survive a burst attack through health alone. Start with 1500 Toughness and 20k HP and adjust from there.

Select your traits first to build the core of your Mesmer. Then find the right armor and trinkets to fill in the gaps in your stats.

That’s odd. I tested the cool down with Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Strength in the Mists.

I attacked a dummy until Strength procced for one stack of Might. I immediately swapped weapons and did not receive the additional three stacks from Battle.

The wiki Sigil entry has this quote:

All sigils that have a cooldown share the same cooldown timer; while the timer is active, no other sigil with a cooldown can trigger. For example, if you are using a Sigil of Fire (flame burst on critical) and a Sigil of Battle (might stacks on swap), you will have to wait after swapping weapons (Sigil of Battle activated) before the flame burst can trigger on critical.

This is just my case (Strength and Battle) in reverse.

Since I want three stacks of Might on every weapon swap I’m avoiding on-crit Sigils.

I play a Shatter Mesmer in WvW and I’m looking at ways to improve my build. Since Mesmers make use of Power and Condition Damage (Winds of Chaos, Bleeds, Confusion) I’m taking another look at the Might Boon. This isn’t a revolutionary approach but I’d like to hear others’ thoughts on it.

• Build is 0/20/0/20/30 for Might on Shatter
  • This may not be optimal (no +Boon Duration from Chaos) but it’s a build I enjoy.

• Runes of Hoelbrak for 20% Might Duration, 150 Power, and -20% Condition Duration
  • -20% Condition Duration helps with low Condition Removal
  • May switch to Runes of Strength when they fix the +5% Damage under Might

• Sigil of Battle on each weapon set
  • Not using Sigil of Strength (or any On Crit Sigil) since a proc before a weapon swap would prevent Battle from procing due to shared cool down

As a conservative estimate I would have about 6 stacks of Might up after my weapon swaps granting +210 Power and Condition Damage. After a round of Shatters I’d temporarily have around 12 stacks of Might.

• Is it worth stacking Might as a Shatter Mesmer in WvW?
• Are there any arguments strongly in favor or against this approach?

p.s.: Sorry if this has been discussed before. Searching for posts containing “might” brings up a lot of threads that aren’t about the boon.

Esorono.1039:

Embolism.8106:

Phira.3970:

Kanto.1659:

Doing that will simply make one Mesmer able to upkeep 20 bleeds on a target. FINALLY decent Condition damage on par with direct damage. But useless if they do so without upping the bleed cap.

Actually, mesmers can maintain 20+ bleed currently with enough precision. But more would be better.

If you’re very lucky with WoC, maintain loads of Duelists, and/or sacrifice CondDmg for Precision perhaps. Exceptional/sub-optimal builds aside you won’t be able to maintain that many Bleeding stacks.

3 greatsword clones with high precision and franken rune-ing bleed duration can maintain between 18-21 bleeds until they break, adding duelist can make it burst up to 25 if you time it right.

I was under the impression bleed-duration runes do not apply to bleeds applied from our clones. The duration only applies to bleeds you apply (e.g.: from Sigil of Earth).

Thanks for the responses. I’ll try to control the fight more with line-of-sight and pet pathing. Earlier I was treating it as a typical encounter where I could burst the enemy down before they killed me.

Hopefully I can find one of these Rangers out there and duel them for a bit.

How do Shatter Mesmers hold up against Rangers? Specifically Beast Master hybrids. It’s been a long time since I was thoroughly beaten in a 1v1.

I made about post about this on the Mesmer board but since I enjoy a Shatter build I thought I’d ask you guys.

These Rangers were slippery, could stay ranged, and their pet was surprisingly painful. These were my main problems:

1. It’s hard to get close to them. Lightning Reflexes, Quick Short, and Rampage as One allow them to keep range and RaO prevents pulls.
2. Obviously their ranged damage is superior to my staff.
3. Reflects did surprisingly little damage. I laid down a few Wardens, used Curtain for reflect, and Mirror heals but they didn’t do too much damage to themselves.
4. Pet burst damage. I typically ignore pets and just burst down the player but that wasn’t working. I think the player kept swapping pets making it difficult to kill them.

What are your tactics against good Rangers?

Over the past week I’ve run into a few Rangers that have taken me to school.

My Build and Gear
I play a shatter Mesmer with a traited Focus. My typical burst is Curtain -> Warden -> Into the Void -> Cry of Frustration (3 clones) -> Mind Wrack (3 clones). Between the burst damage and the follow up confusion most players are hurting.

Most of the time I’m able to get in close and engage the enemy for a burst. Either they come to me or I can Focus pull or Illusionary Leap to them. Once in range I can burst with Blurred Frenzy and Shatters.

Not with these Rangers. They were slippery, could stay ranged, and their pet was surprisingly painful. These were my main problems:

1. It’s hard to get close to them. Lightning Reflexes, Quick Short, and Rampage as One allow them to keep range and RaO prevents pulls.
2. Obviously their ranged damage is superior to my staff.
3. Reflects did surprisingly little damage. I laid down a few Wardens, used Curtain for reflect, and Mirror heals but they didn’t do too much damage to themselves.
4. Pet burst damage was surprising. I typically ignore pets and just burst down the player but that wasn’t working. I think the player kept swapping pets making it difficult to kill them.

What are your tactics against Rangers?

• Are Phantasm builds stronger than Shatter builds against them? I’d like to find a good strategy as a Shatter Mesmer.
• Kill the pets first? Their bird and cat pets were doing some good burst damage.

World vs. World

• Updated confusion and retaliation effects to do the same damage as they do in sPvP.

As a shatter Mesmer, any player that is good at avoiding my shatter bursts makes for a hard fight. Guardians and Engineers that block and Mesmers with distortion tend to be rough.

My Warden combo is this:

1. Cast Temporal Curtain
2. Begin Casting Warden
3. Trigger Into the Void (instant cast does not interrupt Warden summon)
4. Target(s) are gathered and knocked down
5. Warden spawns next to knocked down target(s)
6. Illusionary Leap + Dodge for 3rd illusion + Swap to immobilize target(s)
7. Blurred Frenzy
8. Shatter after Warden’s attack

I’ve found this to have the highest damage potential. Good players will occasionally Dodge after the pull and evade my Swap.

Phandel.4603:

Amiron.1067:

There are some pretty awesome looking outfits in this thread! Might as well add to the list

Behold, the Canthan Imperial Soldier; http://imgur.com/a/2BMcn

Great look.

What chest piece is that?

It’s the Profane Armor chest.

@Daemonne, you can get Soldier’s armor from dungeons as well – AC, SE, HotW.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats#Dungeons

kittenos Vant.4182:

I’d love to see Osicat, completely outfitted with PVT Exotic equipment, but his choice of Traits/Weapons/Skills, try to play his style of game. I’d bet he notices very little difference in end outcome (Him alive, opponent(s) dead). I’d also conject he could handle more opponents it that scenario, albeit taking longer to finish them off.

Osicat’s builds are shatter focused and therefore rely heavily on Crit Chance and Crit Damage. His fighting style is getting in close for shatter burst and then juking out and avoiding damage. PVT doesn’t fit his style at all since it would kill his bust potential and the vit & tough is wasted since he actively avoids damage. Sure he would live forever; chances are his opponents would too.

1 & 2. Who cares if Legendaries and Invader’s are PVT? Just because you have to work hard for them doesn’t mean PVT is Anet’s intended setup. Remember how easy it was to get a full PVT set from AC? PVT is a great starter set for players who can’t actively avoid damage and get downed all the time. PVT also has a place in certain builds but it definitely not the “Golden” standard.

3. PVT has a mix of offensive and defensive stats. Why is this important?

4. PVT is a safe choice for armor. That doesn’t mean it’s the best choice.

Yep, the 6th bonus for Superior Runes of Strength is still broken.

I did the test I outlined above and only saw damage increases due to the stacks of Might. I did not see any damage increase when under the effects of Might.

Mind Slash Damage

                     Might Stacks
Runes           0         3         6
  5/6            34       38       41
  6/6            34       38       41

Whether or not I had 5/6 or 6/6 Runes of Strength equipped my damage was consistently 34, 38, and 41 depending the number of active stacks of Might.

What method did you use to test this?

I plan on testing it on my Mesmer tonight in the Mists.

1. Use two sets of steady sword/sword with Superior Sigils of Battle (Might on weapon swap)
2. Swap weapon sets when the Might from the Sigils of Battle expires
3. Auto-attack medium armor dummy

• Perform test with 5/6 Runes of Strength equipped to get baseline damage
• Retest with 6/6 Runes of Strength equipped and look for increase in damage

Runes of Strength Bugged?
While looking for other information I came across a wiki article saying the 5% Damage Increase is bugged.

I play equal amounts of PvE and WvW and went with Runes of Strength since they’re beneficial in both situations (assuming they’re not bugged).

If I was only playing WvW I would go with Runes of Air. Mobility in WvW is important and the Lightning Strikes are always a pleasant surprise.

Your clones will wield Volcanus and look just like you.

You cannot have two Sigils activate on weapon swap. Only one of the two will proc in this case.

Check http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sigil for more information.

You’re holding it wrong!

Have you tried holding your staff a little higher up? If you move your hand closer to the top of the staff the animation would look better.

Moxic.5892:

It’s nice they fixed Mirror, but I had thought Mind Stab hit 5 mobs…it really needed a buff, not a nerf…

They are referring to the Sword version of Mind Stab that only hit one target.

The Great Sword version of Mind Stab continues to hit five.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

knackyknave.7469:

The portal change isn’t a big deal.

They mean the entrance/exit you are trying to use cannot be obstructed. They don’t mean you must have line-of-sight between the entrance and the exit.

But doesn’t no line-of-sight mean obstructed?

I think they’re referring to being able to Use [F] the Portal through a wall or something.

For instance, if I’m in a keep and drop a Portal Exit in the courtyard and drop Portal Entrance on the inside of the keep’s gate, players cannot use the Portal Entrance since it’s obstructed by the gate.