Guild Wars 2

I mean the general full mantra power build is 30/30/0/0/10 with the two mantra elite traits in dom and dueling and then the +9% damage for 3 illusions in illusion line.

I think it’s worth trying 30/30/0/10/0 and having remove condition on heal (since you use healing mantra that’s really nice) or shatter for vigor if you like to have your endurance up a lot to help dodge attacks. It also gives phantasms retaliation, which can come in useful since you often have them out and not shattering too much.

The thing about mantra’s in pvp is that it’s a really different playstyle, but I almost can’t play without them now. I use traited torch in my offhand which removes conditions also (great for the current condition meta) and allows me to recharge a mantra while invisible, which is nice.

I also recommend trying out the knights amulet or, for more power and toughness but no accuracy, soldiers amulet. That way, you aren’t necessarily super glass cannon but still have pretty great damage potential.

The great thing about mantras is you have stab for stomping, daze for helping revive allies about to get stomped and condition removal. Again it’s a different playstyle that you’ll have to get used to but it’s awesome.

I’m NA and the main build I run is mantra (gs, sw/t) general damage / support, but have a bunker one too I could pull out.

It doesn’t really matter, check out the different animations. Asura look kinda funny/cool with blurred frenzy because they like float while doing it, haha. But, greatswords on them aren’t that cool cuz they’re pretty small in my opinion. There are lots of human and asura mesmers out there already, though, if you want to be different! lol

That’s a cool idea but it would be hard to do since a mantra is supposed to be an instant cast. Unless, it just cast directly where your mouse was or directly around your player (probably a better idea).

It would definitely add a lot of util if you could instant heal / clear condition / grant stab to a bunch of players. The daze and damage one though might be weird with targeting around a player (especially if you deal mostly ranged damage with GS or Staff). Cool idea!

I’d be down!

Sorry, revelations, I didn’t mean to misinterpret which is why I put what I did in the parenthesis. I understand your frustrations, I was just trying to look for some positives in it.

Squallas, well one, obviously a build with PU is not a DPS build and it does, in fact, increase the uptime of protection. I have tested it out before and after, as have the other posters on this forum in other topics such as this one.

And yes, I have played shatter, phantasm, mantra, bunker, and condition builds for Mesmer. I mean I have played tonight with both of the builds that I normally use for PVP and PVE and they work better than they did before, that’s just how it is. It can sound to you however you want it to but the fact is I have played Mesmer since last year and this honestly, for my play style, doesn’t feel much different (better if anything with some of the things I mentioned before). My point was there are viable builds still and not all is lost…

I think it’s a bit dramatic to say that Mesmers are in an unplayable sorry state (which I’m not sure if you were actually saying that or affirming this post was not about that). But, both of the builds I run in PVP and PVE were not affected by anything they changed. One in fact, was made stronger with the change to Prismatic Understanding. The other can now perhaps even make use of the buff to interruptions and benefits from the izerker fix.

I get your point, but I don’t think ANET is trying to force you into anything. Honestly, IC was in a relatively low slot for the power it gave. Isn’t this just another chance to diversify the builds and express more versatility by creating new ones with the other traits they changed? I guess I don’t see how they “jeopardized that vision of versatility” when they simply are allowing us to create new builds with these new changes.

Not trying to rant, just saying there are a lot of things you can still do with a Mesmer, even if you have to change up your play-style slightly!

I run a 4 mantra build in tpvp and I really like it. I specced into chaos to get some toughness, use runes of ogre and switch between zerker and soldier amulet depending on if there are a few thieves on the other team, honestly, haha.

It’s a REALLY different style of play but I really like it and think it plays pretty well. I think people really hate it because mantras are slow, which to be fair, they are. But, if you run the build right, you don’t really need to recharge them during a fight and probably shouldn’t too much. That’s when it gets tough. Recharging the healing one is fine, but any of the others it just isn’t really super doable.

But, for pvp, the daze mantra and stability one are pretty valuable as I can stop a stomp (unless they have stability) or a heal and I can gain stability for stomping opponents. And those two are usually always up which provides 8%+ damage.

Again, it’s a very different style of play and it’s hard to get used to which is another reason why I think a lot of people don’t run it. It can be a bit glass cannon-y but if you learn to play well, using your distortions, blurred frenzies and dodges, it really doesn’t feel too bad. I’d suggest trying it out but keep in mind it’s very different than a full shatter or phantasm build! Good luck.

I like your builds. I am an avid mantra user and I like the build. I have been switching between 30/30/0/10/0 and the normal you have. If I do the first, I use remove a condition on heal, which I really like because you can get one off every heal!

I usually use sw/f and gs because I like the speed boost for pvp. Oh yeah, sorry, I really only play pvp with this so everything is in regard to that. But, I think I might try your sc/sw sw/ps idea, I kind of like it. Also, if you keep both swords in one hand, do you get the precision bonus for both of them or is it only on one of them? That could be a benefit of going one in each.

Also, do you think it’s worth it to not use a 4th mantra?