Guild Wars 2

EverythingEnds.4261:

As this isnt the only thread about this, I’ll just copy my answer from another thread.:

Befor ppl start complaining about how OP this is, my I remind players that a Mesmer has a very poor acces to chill?
Yes, the trait is strong, however, if I would play Lockdown and had to choose between 30/20/20/0/0 and 20/20/30, I probably would still play the second one.

Interrupting a Heal and putting it on 10s CD seems nice,
however, as Lockdown builds have a huge variety of interrupts, I’d prefer Interrupting the Heal once and again after 5s, so I can get twice as much out of Halting Strike and Bountifull Interuption.

Not to mention, it is almost wothless against thieves.

The fact, that they probably only add GM traits means, that Mesmers won’t get a better way to deal with condis, as even if they would make a “anti condi GM trait” it will be placed unreachable for most builds.

Well, I was actually considering a 30/20/20/0/0 or 30/20/0/0/20 (staff clones buffed) hybrid lockdown build. with the sigil pass also hitting in April, Im having Sigils of Hydromancy and Runes of Grenth on deck, which is enough chill to make Elementalists jealous.

@Menaka Haven’t seen any problems so far.

@Xyonon Mixing GS with sw/sw offers the potential for the most damage out of any weaponset. What I like about staff -or more specifically chaotic dampening- is that running something like Null Field allows you to stack pretty hefty amount of protection on your sword set. Even running GS with dampening and without staff offers a good amount of protection from chaos armor.

@bhagwad I’ve been playing around with different options:

• Dueling/Chaos/Illusions or Dom/Dueling/Illusions or Dom/Duel/Chaos or Dom/Dueling/Inspiration (phantasm boosts and shield phantasm) or your suggestion of Dom/Chaos/Illusions all have potential. I’ve yet to decide which I like the most.

• Runes of Grenth/Mesmer/Lyssa/Pack/Hoelbrak/Vampirism have all caught my attention.

• Sigils of Fire/Air/Rage(if furious interrupt)/Hydromancy/Doom/Intelligence/Energy/Speed have all caught my notice too. For swords I tend to run fire&energy but speed sigils are clutch and I’ve enjoyed rage before, though mostly for the auto attack and offhand skills (and makes iLeap less of a pain)

(Since I’m still adding to the Mesmer guide, I figured I’d work on a series of informative articles that could be commented on/improved by all of us before implementing them into the guide. Also, this way readers have quick access to important facts without having to fish through the thread. If anyone has anything to expand upon, please sound off in the comments)

CONTENTS (Make sure to check out What kind of Mesmer are You? for further into on Shatter, Phantasm, Lockdown, and Support builds.)

• Who Am I?
  Making a build means figuring out where you’re going to be mesmerizing

• Damage & Control
  Beat the $#!% out of enemies while making sure they can’t do the same.

• Support & Survivability
  Live longer and help others do the same.

Note about Deceptive Evasion(DE) and Illusionary Persona(IP) : Deceptive Evasion and Illusionary Persona are easily some of the most build-changing traits we have. Any build that makes heavy use of Shatters, conditions, stealth, or clone-deaths should have Deceptive Evasion as it is easily our best and fastest way to produce clones. Illusionary Persona flat-out increases every aspect of Mesmer you could build around. Having the shatter effect radiate off of you means you can use your F-keys without ever needing a clone. This means Mind Wrack/Cry of Frustration hitting much harder, Diversion can interrupt instantly, and Distortion can save your life without clones. The classic 20/20/0/0/30 Shatter Mesmer makes excellent use of these traits.

Yesterday while being a mindless drone at my mindless job (Office Services.. ughh) I had enough free time to let my mind wander and come up with some build concepts. These builds are ENTIRELY untested, and I may never get around to trying them all out, but I figured they may catch someone’s interest.

MELEE MESMER

Take 1

Sword/Sword+Staff 10/20/10/0/30 – Blink (or Mirror Images), Null Field, Mantra of Concentration

Dom: V(or I) / Dueling: IV, X / Chaos: V / Illusions: III, VI, XI (or VII)

In order to stay effective in melee, you need a way to keep the enemy from escaping and a way to keep yourself from getting owned by massive amounts of AoE damage. The idea behind this build is to be able to excel at focusing down single targets while providing team support with Null Field, Chaos Storm, Stability, and AoE enemy control via clone deaths. Clone Deaths are also very important for single-target combat because of the weakness and cripple your dying clones provide, and since you’ll be doing majority of fighting with Swords, sword clones chase down their targets. Alternatively, you could slide the 10 points from Domination into Chaos or Dueling.

• High Damage
• AoE control via Cripple and Weakness/Vuln/Bleeds on clone death
• Domination points can be redistributed
• Weakness: Enemy Stability.

Take 2
Sword/Sword+Staff 10/30/0/0/30 – Blink (or Decoy), Mantra of Distraction, Null Field

Dom II / Dueling IV, X, XII / Illusions: III, VI, XI

Same idea as above, but with a larger focus on proccing Furious Interruption (Referred to as FI from here on). FI, in my experience, is actually a rather strong trait when paired with Sword or Greatsword. When you can predict it, the 3-second quickness is wonderful for a number of things, from charging mantras to dealing additional damage to especially rezzing people (enemy about to stomp, interrupt with daze mantra while healing for Quickness rez). This build sacrifices it’s focus on clone-death’s for additional damage.

Take 3
Sword/Sword – Scepter/Focus (or Greatsword) 30/10/30/0/0 – Mantra of Distraction, Mantra of Concentration, Blink (or Decoy)

Dom II, V, XI / Dueling IV / Chaos: V, VIII, XII

A more interrupt-focused setup that uses Mantra of Distraction and swords to proc interrupts and net huge rewards. Would definitely invest in condition (or boon) duration here or perhaps Melandru runes and sigils of generosity to mitigate condition damage. In my mind this would be a difficult build to master, and the spec definitely still needs some tweaking, but Chaotic Interruption and the improved Mantra of Concentration definitely need some love, which brings me to…

DEBILITATION MAESTRO
Sword/Focus – Staff (or Greatsword) 10/30/30/0/0 – Blink (or Decoy or Signet of Midnight), Null Field, Signet of Inspiration

Dom: II(or V or III) / Dueling: II(or IV), X, XII / Chaos: V, VIII, XI – 2x Sigil of Hydromancy, Runes of Lyssa

This one I’m eager to try out. The goal is simple: Mass interrupts to proc a hell of a lot of boons to share with your team, similar to Sensotix’s Bountiful Interruption. While the build becomes stronger with the more interrupts you’re able to land, nailing two at a time would be enough boons to share with Signet of Inspiration. It offers lower damage than the other builds, but the focus here is more enemy control than direct damage anyways.

MANTRA OF PAIN-TRAIN
Staff/Greatsword 30/5/0/10/25 or 30/20/10/0/10 – Mantra of Pain, Blink (or Decoy), Mantra of Resolve

Domination: III, X, XI / Inspiration: I, / Illusions: III, X or Dueling: II, X / Chaos: V

Mantra of Pain is another under-explored skill that few people find reason to stick into their skillbar. In a zerker build, each charge can do over 1k damage, which could be a significant damage boost to ranged phantasm builds. It also allows you some extra damage while playing defensively with staff. I feel like there’s a bit of untapped potential with MoPain, especially with weapons like Staff & Greatsword, and this build attempts to capitolize on that.

So over the course of the beta, with the unfortunately limited time I had I dug deep into Well Support, blending it with the lockdown I’m already familiar with to create an interesting style that stayed familiar with what I’m already good at (lockdown & support) while adding a new layer (Alacrity/Wells). The result was this build:

Tik Tok
(Totally not the real name. Please don’t call me Chao$)

Dom / Chaos / Chrono
- Confounding Suggestions , Shattered Concentration , Power Block
- Master of Manipulation, Chaotic Dampening, Chaotic Interruption
- Alls Well, Improved Alacrity, Chronophantasma

I’ve got a lot to write about and little time this week, unfortunately, but I wanted to atleast get the thread up and post the videos of duels/gameplay with this build. So far I’m liking it a lot, but there’s a slight damage lack that.. could easily be fixed with Greatsword had I been so inclined.

NOTES

• I LOVE all the AoE I provided. Call me the Mesmerentalist, because I was almost never never without an obnoxious clock beneath my feet.
• Lack of DE takes getting used to, but Chronophantasma is deceptively good strong illusion production when combined with Shield.
• Damage is lacking a bit when Well of Calamity doesn’t land, but it is a support build.
• The lockdown is way strong. Well of Action & Calamity make excellent control wells.

VIDEOS

duels vs Revenant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlad7H3kQpU

duels vs Tempest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v79G5_Ipo58

duels vs Reaper (coming for you Holts!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RA4WRF-XOE

RANKED match vids

FINAL THOUGHTS
(Coming soon)

Much appreciated guys. This was very informative, and I’ll definitely hit you up Neko. (althought I was talking about all forms of play. Eles definitely seem trump Mesmer in PvP when it comes to support.. for now! )

DAMAGE / CONTROL / SUPPORT / SURVIVABILITY
Though a build is made up of many parts, chief among them are a build’s damage output, ability to control enemys, ability to assist allies, and how well it survives. Investing in one category usually means a decline in another, so finding the right balance is crucial. At the same time, having too much balance can be a detriment; a jack-of-all-trades is a king of none. You want your build to stand out, to be excellent at something and fairly good at most others sometimes at the cost of lacking in one section. A full mantra damage build lacks the team support/control Mesmers excel at. A full boon/healing support build will excel with a partner, but be ineffective alone. Make sure you trait accordingly:

>>> DAMAGE - Made up of either Power or Condition Damage (sometimes both)While a majority of our DPS comes from either shattering or maintaining clones and phantasms, Mesmer damage tends to go hand-in-hand with control (Ex: Reflects and clone-death traits). Our only utility skill that does damage is Mantra of Pain

CONDITION
-Debilitating Dissipation – Potential 3xBleeds on clone-death. (Chaos V)
-Sharper Images – Illusions cause Bleed on Crit. (Dueling 15)
- Illusionary Retribution – All Shatters inflict Confusion. (Illusions 5)
- Blinding Befuddlement – 1x Confusion of Blind (Illusions IX)
-Master of Misdirection – Confusion lasts 33% longer (Illusions V)
-Confusing Combatants – Illusions cause 3 seconds of Confusion when killed. (dueling 25)
- Chaotic Transference – 5% of Toughness = Condition Damage (Chaos 25)
POWER
-Halting Strike – Damage on Interrupt (Domination II)
-Wastrel’s Punishment -5% increased damage to stunned/dazed foes. (Domination 25)
-Compounding Power -3% more damage for each of your active illusions. (Illusions III)
-Mental Torment – Mind Wrack does 20% more damage. (Domination I)
- Precise Wrack – Mind Wrack has a 10% higher crit chance. (Illusions I)
- Empowered Illusions – Illusions inflict 15% more damage (Domination III)
- Phantasmal Fury – Phantasms have Fury (Dueling II)
- Phantasmal Strength – Illusions inflict 15% more damage (Inspiration 25)
- Empowering Mantras – 4% more damage for each readied mantra. (Dueling XI)

• Damage Skills: Mind Wrack/Cry of Frustration [F1/F2], auto attacks, Phantasms, Blurred Frenzy, Illusionary Riposte, Illusionary Counter, Confusing Images, Mirror Blade, Mantra of Pain

>>> CONTROL -Control is the Mesmer’s specialty. Hindering movement (Cripple), reflecting projectiles, punishment for attacking (Confusion), and eliminating boons/conditions are some of the many ways we can hinder the enemy, most of which are in the DOMINATION land CHAOS lines. With access to an abundance of reflects, nearly all the boons/conditions in the game, and a control ability on every weapon, Mesmer is a swiss-army-knife of utility.

-Illusion of Vulnerability/Dazzling – 3x Vuln for 5 seconds on interrupt. / 5x Vuln for 8s on Daze (Domination 5 / 15)
- Rending Shatter -Shattering illusions causes vulnerability for 8 seconds to nearby foes. (Domination IV)
- Crippling Dissipation -Clones cripple nearby foes when they are killed. (Domination V)
- Shattered Concentration -Shatter skills also remove a boon on hit. (Domination VII)
- Confounding Suggestions -50% chance to cause a 1-second stun whenever you daze a target. (Domination XII)
- Debilitating Dissipation -Clones apply Weakness/Vulnerability/Bleed to nearby foes when they are killed. (Chaos V)
- Mirror of Anguish -When disabled (by stun, daze, knockback, knockdown, sink, float, fear, or launch), you mirror the disable back to the source. This effect can only trigger once every 90 seconds. (Chaos VII)
- Warden’s Feedback -Focus skills reflect projectiles. Reduces recharge of focus skills by 20%. (Inspiration VIII)
- Chaotic Interruption -Immobilize your target when you interrupt them and randomly apply blind, cripple, or chill. (Chaos XI)
- Vengeful Images – Grants retaliation to Phantasms. (Inspiration 5)
- Dazzling Glamours -Glamour skills blind foes at target location. (Illusions VIII)
- Imbued Diversion -Distraction [F3] hits in a wider range AoE. (Illusions XII)

• Control Skills: Distraction [F3], Illusionary Leap, Illusionary Counter, Illusionary Riposte Illusionary Wave, Chaos Storm/Armor, Magic Bullet, The Prestige, Temporal Curtain, iWarden, Arcane Thievery, Feedback, Null Field, Mantra of Resolve/Concentration/Distraction, iDisenchanter, Signet of Domination, Signet of Midnight, Moa Morph

.. If you really want to improve your game.

I spend a lot of my time ingame helping other Mesmer improve their play, but I often get accused of always going easy on people. This isn’t exactly true, but its not quite false either.

Dueling someone equal skill or greater to yourself often pushes you into another state of focus. Suddenly every movement, every action is a test of your skill and that drive to win will often push players to play at a level that they rarely exhibit. You don’t allow yourself to make the same mistakes over and over, you learn new things both consciously and unconsciously, and you may not even notice the change within you.

As an example, I used to have a problem with other Mesmer. Stealth always screwed me up until one day I dueled a very talented friend of mine over and over.. I started keeping note of his stealth patterns and the time he had, started timing my defenses to compensate. I didn’t notice the change in me until I went back to regular matches and found my reflexes sharpened to deal with other Mesmer.

… And then I started fighting players like Supcutie and Warlord of Chaos. Top tier Mesmer who fought on an entirely new level. I was getting crushed over and over and felt like I wasn’t learning a kitten thing.. Until again when I faced other Mesmer around my level they could not compare. Because my skill level had grown without me realizing it.

So if you haven’t done so yet, take the time to find someone better than you at your profession. Fight them without thinking (I’m gonna lose this). Fight at your best and fight off being demoralized and you’ll come out a better player for it in the end.

(Also works for fighting games. =P )

Jeez sticker.. You too?

What’s the point of this thread… Whatever is gonna happen will happen. Arguing over the “logic” of the trait is silly at this point, what will it accomplish?

Seriously, everything that needs to be said has already been said. So tired of all of this…

I support this thread 100%. Pyroathiest OP, nerf Pyro.

(Will get in on this when off cellphone)

We should link this thread to the OMFG main thread if it exceeds one page. =P

/grumble

Confounding Suggestions.. Ugh. I’d rather the stun. The daze duration synergizes beautifully with Runes of the Mesmer (which also needs a buff)

PvP or WvW?

On Greatsword, with Furious Interruption, yes… Depending on context.

The saddest thing is that they never needed to try to “improve” the warden in the first place! It was fine as it was yet someone randomly felt the need to try to “improve” it, and now its broken for months?

/Two-finger clap

While people tend to have a general opinion of each class, Mesmer tend to incite a wide range of emotions. Are we easy to defeat? An absolute nightmare to fight? It all seems to depend on the class in question. I know how we feel about fighting others, but how do the others feel about fighting us? I took some time out to interview some of the players of other classes, asking the following questions (links are for corresponding interview threads):

• What is the first thing that comes to mind when you’re about to face a Mesmer?
• How do you feel about your odds of winning?
• Strategies and tactics?
• Which type of build do you feel best fights Mesmer?
• What skills (weapon or utility) are most important to have in this fight?
• How do you feel about Mesmer in general?

And the results were… interesting.

ELEMENTALIST

The Elementalists I spoke to seemed to not be worried much about Mesmer, whether shatter or lockdown or even condition Mesmer does not seem to be any sort of problem for them. I find this funny, because in my opinion Elementalists are a pain to fight. You have to be very careful and very specific, paying close attention to their attunement and what skills they’ve already blown in order to properly set up shatters/phantasms. One of the best Ele responses here was:

“I personally don’t play against many good mesmers playing your build, however I will speak from my experience dueling many many shatter mesmers.(Im an S/F Fresh air ele)
As an S/F ele I really struggle against some of the better shatter mesmers that know how to fight me. I bold “know how to fight me” because of the way I play S/F ele, if they give me the chance I will one shot them but the good ones don’t allow me that option most of the time. This is basically how the match-up goes if the mesmer is running Sword properly, I have to dodge all GS damage, and dodge his sword burst. I as well have to wait out his double distort, decoy, sword invulns, mass invis, and possible torch invis before i can effectively do damage. So basically If i manage to live all that with decent HP I will probably win. Of course I can win with a lucky one-shot but a good Mesmer usually wouldn’t give me the opportunity. If the Mesmer is running staff, as long as he isn’t able to out-range/kite me the whole fight I probably have the advantage.
I don’t play D/D but I know match-ups and a shatter Mesmer is actually able to kill D/D eles but they have to play well. They are able to because of their excess amount of boon removal, but yea if the Mesmer gets hit by a few too many ticks from a drake breathe it could easily be GG. The Mesmer on top of that has to play aggressive with its shatters to keep regen off of the ele, you won’t win the sustain game against a D/D ele.” -Bitty.1409

Hey Isha,

The problem is only partially Engineers; your build isn’t really doing you any favors. Right now your build is some sort of strange playstyle-chimera that doesn’t synergize with itself in any kind of way. I’ll break it down and would be more than willing to help you restructure into a style that fits you.

Domination I – Mental Torment (Increased Mind Wrack damage): This shatter trait is meant for shatter-heavy power builds. This means traiting 6 illusions for iPersona (XI) and 4 Dueling for Deceptive Evasion (X) in order to have rapid clone production and frequent/damaging shatters. Builds that take this trait usually go: 4/4/0/0/6

Chaos V – Debilitating Dissipation (RNG Weakness/Vuln/3xBleed when clones are killed.) Clone deaths and Shatters are not the same. Clones “die” when destroyed by the enemy or replaced with a new clone and release the AoE effect in a 240r around themself. Again, this trait heavily relies on Deceptive Evasion (Dueling X) to be effective and is generally suited for Condition or Lockdown builds that tend to trait 4/4/6/0/0.

Inspiration V – Persisting Images (Clones have 20% HP) This is meant for Phantasm builds, but even then there tends to be better options. Phantasm playstyles are entirely different from shatters, leaning towards keeping Phantasms alive to do the majority of your damage rather than shattering and this trait conflicts with your choice of Mental Torment in Domination. Phantasm Builds tend to spec something like 2/2/0/5/4 to grab all the Phantasm traits, especially Phantasmal Haste and Phantasmal Fury.

Your 3 Illusion traits are all geared towards condition damage, but focus on shattering (XIII), Phantasms (X), and confusion (V).

You’ve gotta decide on which playstyle you want to play, and then build from there. Check out my sliiightly out-of-date guide in my sig for further details on each style and building your own Mesmer, but this specific page may help Theorycrafting: Building Your Mesmer

I’ve seen yer build Silver. Chronomancer may actually still be an upgrade over Dueling.

Chaos/Inspire/Chrono with shield offers stronger healing and more unique (as in can’t be replaced by ele/guard) boonsharing.

I can’t say for certain though, the two builds I explored (lockdown and alacrity support) weren’t geared towards boonsharing but a friend of mine explored boonshare and their notes are really promising. They called it the “Boon Fatty” xD

However, a discussion on core Mesmer support vs Chrono support may be in order in a new thread.

When I was leveling, and I had looked up the Mesmer traits I saw DE and said..

“Oh man, I don’t care what kind of build I have, but I HAVE to have this!”

DE is great, but it’s like any addiction. Once you start using it for long periods of time its sooo hard to break away from. It spoiled the crap out of me and my dodging habits became so bad on any spec that didn’t run the trait (sPvP fixed that real fast.. and painfully). The trait is our best form of clone production, but far from mandatory. There are a lot of builds that can’t even take the trait… But things like this:

Nuka Cola.8520:

playing without DE is plain stupid. Illusions are your damage, if you can’t create them you’re just asking to be worst than all other mesmers who runs DE. I never ran a build without DE and will never do. Not even worth trying builds without it. DE to mesmers is like an auto attack (skill 1 duh) to all classes, try to play without ever using it and see how ‘awesome’ you’re.

I could never agree with this. Mind you, this is from the same guy who said …

Nuka Cola.8520:

There’s only shatter. If you run anything else to be ‘different’ you’re doing it wrong. Running anything but shatter heavy builds is like playing with one hand and not playing as much as you would with both hands. If you don’t shatter you 1) deal pathetic aoe damage, 2) don’t apply aoe confusion (which isn’t amazing in pve but still free damage), 3) don’t build any Might stack to deal EVEN more damage with everything… Fail if you focus on phantasm crap or anything else.

DE is a clone production tool, just like Mirror Images and a number of our weapon skills. It’s the best clone production we have, true, but not every build needs to squat clones out that much.

The hydro/doom combo works well in power builds. Poison cuts enemy heal effectiveness, making it harder for them to recover from a shatter burst, chill makes their skills take longer to recharge and cuts their movement speed, good for defensive positioning.

I think you’re looking at the idea of doing damage too straightforward,and with Mes things are rarely simple. IP makes you count as a clone, which makes single-clone shatters hit much harder. Also it allows you to land these shatters more frequently (dodgeroll past opponent, Mind Wrack) and net more overall damage for each shatter. You’ll also find it increases your survivability noticeably by extending the duration of your distortions, and allows you to distort without needing a clone.

Now consider Maimed. You get more damage from shatters, but it is easily-cleansed without other cover condis and doesn’t do much damage with no investment in condition damage. The extra 2k+ damage you get from the extra shatter on IP is upfront and immediate compared to the slow DoT of an unspecced torment. IP is much more reliable and flexible for a power shatter build, which is why all high-level Mesmer run it.

Give it a try, you’ll see for yourself.

<3 do it! You’re my hero for this

Tealots was trying boonshare one day.. I said “omg what an opportunity to see what happens with two boonshare mesmer on a team!”

And then.. bam:

And bam again. Those rezzes tho:

If you haven’t tried boonshare yet, and are looking for an alternative playstyle to mess around with, this build is one of the strongest I’ve played so far since the Specialization update behind Dom/Dueling Shatter. More info here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Vid-BoonShare-Mesmer-Post-Patch-WvW-PvP

I’ll plead for mainhand Focus allday errday.

I could easily see Mesmer, Rangers, Thieves and maybe Necros using a Whip.

Could see Mesmer, Elementalists, Necros, Rangers, and Engineers using Chakrams.

I’m a martial artist, so I’m a bit biased, but I’d love to see a hand-to-hand style (I know it’d prolly be more of a 2h style than mainhand but still…) Could see it for
-Warriors (Heavy hits & grapples)
-Elementalists (well dagger-dagger kind stole all my unarmed ideas, but still…)
-Mesmer (I’m lying, I can’t.. but we got a Greatsword so anything is possible. Maybe something tai-chi ish or an art based on deception and acrobatics like Capoeira)
-Thieves (Something kungkittenrelated.)

Or, you know, a straight up monk class would be nice.. but that’s a request for a different thread.

For those who don’t know, Sigils and Runes are getting tweaked soon.

EVERY RUNE is getting touched on in some way, whether this is good or bad is yet to be seen but I have hopes for an improved Runes of the Mesmer, Runes of Ice, Runes of Dwayna & Runes of the Water (Dat Support/Lockdown!) Any runes you’re hoping get looked at?

SIGILS are being changed in two ways:

• Sigils will no longer share the same internal cooldown. This means you can use “-on Swap” and “on crit” sigils on the same weaponset finally.

• Two-handed weapons will have 2 sigil slots so they’ll work the same as if you had 2 one-handed weapons.

(Also it’s worth noting that sigils will be tweaked as well, so many will be changing. Devs specifically mentioned: "Sigils like ‘30% on-crit’ will be changed to have an effect that works 100% on-crit. )

So with that being said – and pushing our natural pessimism aside just for a second – how will this patch affect your builds? What’ll you be running?

For me? Battle/Hydromancy – Battle/Hydromancy or … Energy/ Hydromancy – Energy /Hydromancy

SOMETHING IS GETTING +HYDROMANCY THAT SIGIL ROCKS. O_o

Kraljevo.2801:

IP

IP

IP

I came.

Word. Not even mad about Moa anymore.

If I’m not mistaken, most creatures that are bio-luminescent are also poisonous. Some of the colors of leaf patterns on Sylvari and the thorned hairstyle lead me to believe that perhaps Sylvari also contain toxins common to plant protection?

Its not a very strong theory, and more creative curiosity, but I was wondering if maybe this could affect possible future racial skills?

Hey keenlam, Id like to remove my 3 bonus points (for having a tester). Some people dont have the time/schedule for a tester and Id rather not have any advantage.

MeGamesMa!! I thought you had vanished! Good to see ya, and yeah I sorta quit for a few and then got dragged back. I don’t play nearly as often as I used to, and spend most of my time teaching newer players, but I’ve made quite a few friends here that I didn’t wan a lose touch with. Whenever I’m not bottled down by work or martial arts I try to hop on.

@Anni Are ya on US or EU? Sounds like yer having trouble managing your defensive cooldowns, we could work on that in the arena if you’d like.

Alright, alright.. I just can’t.

• Firstly, if FASTCAR’s build is working for her, then what right does anyone have to demand changes or write it off? A lot of people in this thread are being far more obnoxious than they need to, and forwhat?

• “THERE IS NO HOLY TRINITY YOU’RE WASTING YOUR TIME!” Yet people make pure tanks and DPS all the time. The game was made so that ANY CLASS can play ANY ROLL. Elementalists can be DPS, supporters, or tanks. So can Guardians, Mesmers, ect. If I’m not mistaken, the “no holy trinity” ideal means that no class is shoehorned into one particular role. It doesn’t mean you can’t make a viable support character.

• @FASTCAR. At the same time.. Surely you couldn’t have expected a different response when you refuse to put up videos of healing from other classes that you’ve tested. I understand and share your love for Support-based classes, but if you reread your original post, it comes off as a bit snobbish and presumptuous with little actual information to back it up. People come to the threads to learn from eachother, and you refuse to post your build, put up videos that explain very little, and claim yourself the best support.

• Some people click, some people use hotkeys. Some people do both at the same time. (instant cast moves ect.). People tend to judge others only to stroke their own ..er.. kittens. [I.E. feel better about themselves.]

• Mesmer can outmatch that heal, regeneration, and apply nearly every buff in the game every 36 seconds. Unfortunately I don’t have a way to put up videos as my computer needs some serious repair works, but if you replicate my GUIDE: The Chaos Maestro with whatever gear you’re currently using, you’d see larger returns.

TL:DR – Warriors aren’t the best healers in the game; there is no best healer. Many classes can match your support/heals in their own ways and offer their own pros/cons without being superior or inferior.

serenke.4806:

Nice read but what makes a build good is not the synergy of traits, runes, sigils, skills…

What makes a build good is how effective it is in trying to achieve its goal…

That’s the thing about condi mesmers. What are they trying to achieve? Kill people, obviously, but if they are strong in 1v1, they should pick their targets accordingly and not try to 1v1 that shoutbow or bunker guard or even d/d ele. People should know the limits of their builds.

Good point, and very true. Could even expand on that, since a build’s “goal” may not be very effective to begin with. If I made a build dedicated to doing nothing but mantra healing, I’d be effectively hitting my goal of putting out profound heals but the build would be soo singularly focused on this one task that it’d still be a bad build due to its lack of versatility or ability to do anything but healbot.
—-

witcher.3197:

Actually this forum does feel like a hipster cult. :P You have an entire guild/forum worhsipping MtD and Lockdown hating on everything that’s mainstream.

Thats the broad generalizations I was speaking about! Most people defend MtD or Lockdown, but hardly (none that I’ve seen) claim that the specs are the absolute best. More often than not you’ll find people defending the build from detractors that call it useless, because it is not useless, but that doesn’t mean you have to go from one extreme to the other.

Also.. Entire guild/forum? Dude it’s like the same 6 people that argue with you. =P

—-

That’s a bit of an understatement. Metabattle.com, at least for mesmer, is just about as close to a complete joke as is possible to achieve. If you want to learn how to play or what build to use, refer to some of the guides made by folks that are actually competent (yes, including shatter. Supcutie has a wonderful guide for that, and he’s quite competent you’ll agree.)

Gonna need some examples/proof here. I don’t see anything on that site that doesn’t have helpful information for Mesmers of all different levels.

Honestly, I’m a bit surprised that people are overlooking the core inspiration of the Reaper: “Slow survival-horror killers like Pyramid-head or Jason”

This right here, IMO, is the biggest indicator that the reaper will have some sort of stability or CC prevention in spades. What makes survival monsters so scary isn’t how strong they are, it’s that they are relentless and unstoppable.

So yeah, as a team the Chronoreaper combo will be deadly. Reaper’s AoEs combined with Chrono’s Quickness, Alacrity, and ability to stun enemies in place will make for hell of a team.

But versus? Sorry Reapers, we’re dancing on you through time and space simply because of all our evades. I’m betting locking a good reaper down will likely be difficult, but we’ll find out tomorrow.

Working on updating the Mesmer guide and it turns out that [at the time of writing] iMage’s bouncing projectile could not bounce back to the same person twice.

Can anyone check real quick to see if this has been changed?

(Please note, I wanted to make this comparison thread sooner, but I was afraid of getting either Mesmer, or any other class nerfed. Its a kitten shame that people are scared to make informative threads for fear of nerfing, Anet.)

Hey guys,

Guardians and Elementalists have been lauded as the best support classes in the game, and I was curious as to what makes them so special? This isn’t really a challenge as much as a comparison of what support these classes bring to a group and what makes them so valuable compared to other classes’ supportive abilities.

In case you don’t know, support Mesmers can bring:

- Up to 25x Might / Fury (AltruismRunes, Signet) / Perma Swiftness / Perma Regen / Perma Vigor / Aegis / Protection (a bit unreliably) / Perma Retaliation / 2.9k AoE burst heals every 3 seconds.

In addition to the usual Portals, Reflects, Rezz, blah blah… (If we kitten damage, we can do all of the above. If not, a lot of the above)

Would anyone knowledgeable on support Engineers be able to enlighten me a bit? Examples of different builds, traits, abilities? Perhaps pros and cons? I’d like to work on making a comparison of all the different classes’ support abilities.

Gonna need a bit more info than that. Sword/pistol Greatsword shatter?

For now, run with Dom/Dueling/ Inspiration OR Chaos

Power Block (or Mental Anguish), Shattered Concentration, Confounding Suggestions
Phant Fury or Duelists discipline, Blinding Dissipation, Deceptive Evasion
… anndd whatever you want.

Marauder Ammy. Energy sigils, some fire/air thrown in. Lug around a greatsword and you’re good to go.

Runes of Lyssa, Strength, Eagle, Hoelbrak, Air, Traveler (bleh) or Pack work fine.

Edit: Alternatively, you’ve got options for Lockdown, Boonshare (yaaa it’s kind of a thing now), and Condition.

(Why’s it called Mind Crush? Yu-Gi-Oh.)

.

MIND CRUSH

- The Build
- Playstyle Breakdown
- Tips and Tricks
- Combos & Rotations
- Making People Hate You

What is a Blackout Build?

Blackout is a reference to a Guild Wars 1 Mesmer playstyle that involved keeping opponents shutdown and unable to fight for long periods of time. Builds such as this one and theCORECOLAK’s StunWayimitate that lockdown-oriented playstyle in various ways.

- Why Mind Crush?

Mind Crush is a control-heavy lockdown build that emphasizes counter play. The build uses a hyper aggressive control-style to keep opponents locked out of a fight while pressuring them with heavy damage.

- High Burst Potential
- Stunlock
- AoE Boon Removal
- Vulnerability Stacking
- Chill/Weakness/Bleed Pressure

Though you’re wearing Berzerker gear, you have good survivability in the staff and your dazes, and utilize all conditions to your advantage.

- But… You can’t create a build centered around interrupts. Isn’t it too inconsistent to be viable?

It is true that it can be hard to rely on interrupts, and it’s a good thing that this is not an interrupt-centered build. Interrupts are the icing, but this is first and foremost a lockdown build that gets rewarded for interrupts. Mind Crush does very good damage via Shatters and Phantasms, has good lockdown/control via chain-dazes, Weakness/Vuln on clone deaths, and Chaos Storm, can rapidly strip enemy boons and stack vulnerability, and has AoE condition removal. These traits alone make it a strong build, but the rewards for nailing interrupts (5x Might / 3x Vuln / Instant 2k+ damage on interrupt) makes it that much better.

- Is it difficult?

No and yes. It’s easy to learn how to chain dazes, and while you have the enemy locked down your iSwordsman should be picking them apart. However, this build greatly benefits from the more knowledge you have both of your opponent and the surrounding battlefield. It takes time and practice to learn how to micromanage your dazes/stuns/condition-control and lockdown key targets in a group fight.

PROS
- AoE Crowd Control
Shatters remove boons, clones debilitate on death, and dazes/stuns for everyone.
- Burst and Pressure
Everything from clones, phantasms, shatters, and conditions contribute to your damage.
- Survivability.
The mobility and defensive skills offered by the staff, Null Field, and Decoy keep us alive even in Zerker armor.
- Versatile trait selection.
Several traits can be swapped while still maintaining effectiveness. Choose the amount of RNG you want in the build.

CONS
- Difficult to fight on point.
The importance of constant mobility makes it difficult to fight on point.
- Requires constant vigilance.
You have to always keep an eye out for key targets to lock down in addition to your own opponent.
- Has trouble with tankier specs.
Classes that have a lot of passive effects (especially heals) are a headache.

Oh. Man! Gonna be testing/tweaking all these builds soon!

@Warlord of Chaos: I’ll be posting results/vids from our tests here, so any notes please throw into this thread.

If you play Mesmer in PvP then you’ve likely come across the following phrases either in-game or on the forums. I figured it may be best to have a thread dedicated to this discussion rather than mudsling across several different posts.

“IF YOU’RE HAVING SUCCESS WITH A NON-SHATTER BUILD, YOUR OPPONENTS ARE BAD”

To start, lets make sure one thing is certain: Shatter is the most viable tournament Mesmer build. This is a fact that cannot be disputed, despite hearing things like:

• “Shatter is boring.”
• “Shatter is predictable.”
• “Shatter needs a team to support it.”

Shatter builds are successful for a good reason: They offer the most damage a Mesmer can output while still offering the most reasonable defensive options. Lockdown builds lack the same burst damage of shatter, Phantasm builds lack defense, Condition builds lack AoE pressure. As a result, Shatter edges out over all of these builds largely due to the combination of Deceptive Evasion(Dueling X – Clone on Dodge) and Illusionary Persona. (Illusions XI – Player counts as an additional shatter).
Deceptive Evasion is our single best form of clone production, and is largely recommended for many builds while Illusionary Persona allows us the versatility of point-blank shatters – including clutch 0-clone distortions and heavy damaging Dodge-into-shatters; very few other builds have the ability to grab this trait combination.

But wait, you run without DE and/or IP and do just fine! That’s great, but what does your build offer that Shatter cannot do better? And if it does do better than shatter, does it do better than (insert meta build here that does the same thing on a different class)?

This does not mean that your build is only “good” because your opponents are not. I have a serious gripe with this perspective, because in my opinion it is really rather narrow-minded. Not only does it discourage exploring and theorycrafting but it cripples the already-limited diversity of the class in PvP. Condition builds tend to get this more than lockdown, but I’ll address the strengths of both to cover all bases.

• Condition builds such as PU and Maimed Shatter excel in 1v1 fights and taking down power builds through attrition. They are stronger the smaller the encounter, but tend to fall off in team fights. Condition-removing classes like Ele, Engineer, and Guardian tend to be able to entirely ignore maimed shatter builds in group battles. Condition builds last longer than shatter builds, but shatter’s instant bursts tend to be more desirable. One thing to keep in mind:

Neither Maim-shatter or PU builds are in themselves “bad” builds.

They both have good trait synergy and are actually one of the stronger Mesmer builds in WvW, however PU builds’ overreliance on stealth and single-target combat makes it less-than-ideal for anything other than keeping multiple opponents engaged and unbalancing fights elsewhere. Maimed shatter builds are devastating vs power builds and have more natural survivability than power shatter. Maimed simply cannot do anything Power couldn’t do faster except -of course- live longer.
When people say the builds are “bad” what they’re saying is that the specs don’t have as much of a place in teamplay by their very playstyle. A good player can make these builds work and find a definitive role (A bunkerish PU. A far-point assaulting Maimed) but the argument against these builds is that “anything a good player can do with this build, they’d do better on shatter.”

• Lockdown Builds are more tournament viable, with 4/4/6 CI falling short only to shatter. These builds again, aren’t bad, but the lack of iPersona and the utility requirement of Mantra of Distraction (rather than say.. Portal or Decoy) makes the build less ideal than Shatter in certain situations. 4/4/6 CI is much better for the solo player, since you have more natural toughness and can have a big impact on fights without needing to coordinate with a team. The problem here comes from the fact that lockdown builds lack the burst of shatter builds and do not have a consistently reliable success rate. Interrupts, similar to condition damage, can be harder to pull off in teamfights where Stability is more easily shared.

When people say lockdown builds are “bad.” They’re saying that the build simply falls short to shatter in terms of reliability due to the unpredictable nature of interrupts (yes you can predict and train yourself to land interrupts, but that still becomes far more difficult in group fights). That, or they’re parroting what they’ve heard from someone else without actually trying the build for themselves.

Juba.8406:

JonPeters.5630:

Was hoping saying it once was enough but I’ll say it again. This is a work in progress. Try to give feedback based on the utility and synergy of the trait instead of the numbers. Slow every 3rd critical hit could also be every 10th critical hit. It could be 8s of slow instead of two. Obviously these numbers are an attempt to be accurate otherwise we wouldn’t even give them but a lot of this stuff will go up and/or down before HoT is released.

Jon

This trait “Time Marches On” is Too OP.

Compared to Warrior he have to spec into 2 trait lines (Defense+Discipline) and pick 2 Major traits to get a similar effect, but Chronomancer spec in 1 line and get it as a Minor trait.

Give us some of that great sword/sword mobility and then we’ll talk about fairness.

… and what build do you run? (weapons included please)

For me, as a lockdown Mesmer (4/4/6 – Sword+Focus/Staff) I find thieves (of course) and these new & improved medi guards giving me trouble more often than any other.

In both cases it isn’t a matter of winning the fight, but how long the fights lasts. Thieves of an equal skill level always give me hell, but Medi guards are just so annoyingly difficult to kill since all they have to do is time their blocks to my shatters. Lockdown Mesmer survives better than shatter, but that burst damage tradeoff makes it very difficult to finish a low-health Medi guard off.

Engineers are also a pain. They simply take forever to kill, and since I run no condition removal… They’re actually more dangerous condition-wise than Necros.

(Also, I’m ashamed to admit that those ridiculous single-target condi guardians with their 16 minute burn procs are my kryptonite)

Simonoly.4352:

Looks like it’s either going to be an AoE cripple or chill (or a new slowing effect) followed by a knock-down + damage at the end of the channel. It also looks like it’s being sort of ‘shattered’ at the end there which makes me think it might actually be a two part skill like Into the Void.

I think that might be the case, but the thing is.. my two guesses are:

• It is a channeled ability, similar to Ele’s Churning Earth. At the beginning of the AoE field it definitely slowed the mobs, and then it looks as if it creates a persistent field, similar to Chaos Storm or Temporal Curtain, which either has a pulling effect or continues to cripple/slow (Ethereal field maybe?) at the end of the channel, it explodes for damage. It’s hard to tell if the creatures were knocked down or killed by the move ( 1:30 )

• It’s a two-part ability like Illusionary Leap and Temporal Curtain, laying down a persistent slowing/damaging field that you can shatter for damage. If I let my imagination roam, I’d say this could be a BLAST finisher. If I reaalllyy let it roam, that shatter effect may actually be linked to our actual shatters? doing power damage on [F1], Confusion [F2] AoE Daze [F3] and AoE Distort [F4]? Duration likely wouldn’t be linked to how many clones we have and would likely be treated as if a 1 clone shatter.

Ah.. dreams.

Uh.. You’re backing yourself into a logical corner dude!

You just said you wont be happy if druid is bad, average, or great… What exactly do you want?

This is.. Literally.. Everything I was hoping for!

In my opinion, IP being baseline is exactly what so many builds needed to touch on viability. This is a great change for all builds lacking that extra bit of damage and survivability that made shatter reign over them.

Shatterlock (6/2/0/0/6) was only held back because of the lack of DE, but even having only IP was enough to nearly “one-shot” most zerker specs with a single BlurredFrenzy-> 2-clone shatterburst combined with an interrupt. With the ability to spec 6/6/0/0/6 I see the ability to make a perfect blend of Shatter/Lockdown, since you can now grab Power Block/Confounding/Halting along with having iPersona, Deceptive Evasion, and that new Shatter grandmaster in illusions that combines all the old shatter traits (Reflect on Distortion, AoE Diversion with large radius, ect.)

Speaking of which, we can now FINALLY trait Imbued Diversion with iPersona! That right there makes for some deadly 0-clone AoE daze shatters, meaning halting strikes, AoE weakness (thank you Anet since you gutted Debilitating Dissipation) on interrupt, AND putting skills on a 15s cooldown regardless of weapon choices.

What makes shatter stand out, isn’t DE; its iPersona. With that being baked into Mesmer’s core the only thing separating 4/4/0/0/6 and 4/4/6/0/0 is Decoy. (Standard tPvP Shatter can take Blink, Decoy, and Portal. Standard tPvP Interrupt usually grabs Blink, Portal, Mantra) When the specialization patch drops, shatter builds will be getting a nice buff from the new Mental Torment (+50% damage if opponent isnt using a skill.. which is still rather lockdown esque) AoE Blind on shatter and the aformentioned Master of Frag.

Shatterlock will likely take Master of Frag and Mental Torment, but Mental Torment still requires you to inflict daze/stuns.

The new uh.. “standard” lockdown will be 6/6/6 with Confounding Suggestions, Power Block, and Chaotic Interruption. This means each interrupt will inflict:

• 8x Vuln (if a daze was used)
• Weakness
• Moderate Damage
• Grant 5x Might + Random Boon
• Immobilize + Blind/Cripple/Chill
• +15s cooldown on skill.

15 frickin’ seconds hurts. Especially when you consider how much potential for AoE interrupts we have without including Master of Frag. Now ontop of that, you have to deal with weakness? Weakness cuts the afflicted players damage down considerably, but what has me even more excited is that it stunts endurance (dodge ability) regeneration; making it easier to land shatters. Weapons like Greatsword, Focus, Shield and now even Pistol (assuming every 2 interrupts refreshes Magic Bullet) are going to be devastating in team fights.

But remember that right now its hard not to look at things from the perspective of this current meta. Everyone is getting buffs and new interesting abilitys/mechanics, so its hard to say exactly how powerful this all will be in the future.

The way they have it set up now with DE being grandmaster and IP as default is perfect.

Opens up traits that DE overshadowed in the major class.

Have you heard of the pet ranger build? How about the steal thief? No? What about the attunement ele? Deathshroud necro?

And yet, here we are with the “shatter” Mesmer.

PHANTASM BUILDS – EXTINCT?
Anet’s recent patch pushed Mesmer to shatter, attempting to blur what it means to have a “shatter” build by having every Mesmer build make use of shatters (the way they were supposed to in the first place). Yet it seems in that shift removed the ability to make a viable phantasm build, which historically often rejected the use of shattering at all. The thing is, Phantasm traits have always been spread through different traitlines and resulted in the ability to make phantasm builds that varied from one another.

But in this meta.. Can Phantasm still survive?

That’s what I wanted to find out with this newest venture. I’m very satisfied with the boonshare Mesmer’s turnout and that is my main build, but I’ve had this itch to tackle phantasms for the longest and see if we can’t come up with something that works. Here’s what I asked myself:

• What weapons would suit a phantasm build best?
• How could a phantasm build distinguish itself from shatter?
• What role would a phantasm Mesmer play on a team and can it be competitive?

And as I attempt to find satisfactory answers to these questions I intend on posting my results here.

PHANTASM GAMEPLAY
Phantasm gameplay in general is interesting post-patch. There is no getting around it. No matter what build you play, you have to learn to shatter. Our class mechanic is more integral than ever for any successful build, and phantasm builds are no different. Learning to shatter in a phantasm build is odd at first, but becomes natural.

PROTOTYPE BUILD #1: LYSSA’S BRIGADE

DUELING/ILLUSIONS/INSPIRATION
- Phantasmal fury, Fencers Finesse, Deceptive Evasion
- Persistence of Memory, Phantasmal Haste, Ineptitude
- Persisting Images, Restorative Illusions, Mental Defense
– Sword / Sword + Greatsword, Marauder Amulet

Man.. Naming these things is half the fun. This build is centered on quantity over quality and features four different phantasms. While I do so loathe the greatsword, I cannot deny that it is the most effective for high AoE damage. So I paired it with the Swordsman for strong single-target damage along with 2 utility phantasms.

PROS

• Persistence of Memory works well with four phantasms.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter wrecks stability elites.. but is hard to use.
• Can micromanage damage/boonstrip on multiple opponents.

CONS

• Damage is high but doesn’t match shatter bursts.
• Phantasmal Defender ended up shattered more often than not. (Though that could be badness on my part)
• Phantasms require excellent positioning.
• Difficult build; hard to balance shattering and phantasms

This was my first test on Phantasm builds and while the build is fun, it takes a lot to learn and manage. Positioning and team awareness are always important, but in a phantasm build they are crucial to being successful and effective. I always enjoy trying new builds because they encourage a form of play I’m not used to. Lockdown builds taught me to pay attention to animations and cast times, boonshare taught me to keep my positioning near allies and watch health/status bars, now phantasm is teaching me proper positioning and paying attention to multiple opponents at once.

While this build is enjoyable, it’s still lacking a certain “oomph” (and lawd I just can not rock out with a greatsword) so I made some tweaks to come up with…

PROTOTYPE BUILD #2: PHANTASMAL CHAOS

(DOM/DUELING/ILLUSIONS)
Phantasmal Strength / Furious Interruption / Power Block
Duelists Discipline / Fencers Finesse / Deceptive Evasion
Persistence of Memory / Phantasmal Haste / Malicious Sorcery
Sword/Sword + Scepter/Pistol

Oh my lawd this build is so fun. I just wanted to get that out there before anything else, before talks of viability or effectiveness or roles… Scepter/Pistol with Furious Interruption & Duelistst’s Discipline is madly fun. Summon iSwordsman, Summon iDuelist, Magic Bullet interrupts! Quickness Confuse Ray! Trololol. It’s great.. Really, and even if you never run such a build, you should try that combination at least once in your Mesmery life.

PROS

• Ranged burst is hella strong
• Phantasms can easily take down an opponent without needing to shatter
• … But you can still shatter anyway!
• Scepter is strong with quickness + Malicious Sorcery

CONS

• Hard to defend yourself outside of Blink/Decoy
• Single target focused beyond shatters
• Very difficult build to use

VID
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzWaaZkFhDc

Short answer: having both forms of boonshare makes the build go from somewhat gimmicky to a legitimately strong build. (Also.. The new bountiful disillusionment helps with that. =P)

If you only had to choose one, I’d say Signet of Inspiration is better than the trait. The ability to directly control when you share the boons makes a major difference.

Sure, you can cancel-cast the phantasm and still proc the trait, but illusionary inspiration tends to be passive 75% of the time and demands a playstyle shift to accommodate it. (Like not summoning phantasms at the start of a fight)

Now an interesting question is if the signet trait is worth it over something like Temporal Enchanter and the ability to share resistance alongside signet of inspiration. I personally haven’t done enough tests to see.

Because Mesmer meta has been the same since launch…

No, seriously. It has.

But also to me the meta is a guide, not the law. I’ll play meta builds to learn a class and better understand its mechanics, to know what I’ll be fighting against, and to use as a reference for creating my own builds. The whole reason lockdown Mesmer became any sort of thing is because of those of us who didn’t listen to “just play shatter” or “hambow can do it better.”

Too many people parrot what they hear from others, not enough people explore. We have all these interesting traits and utilities and you think I shouldn’t even try to make them work because supcutie or helseth says so? No. I disagree. Countless used clone-death builds and has even explored signets. Why does it work for him? Because player skill is still a large factor in how successful a build can be.

Build diversity only really starts to narrow at the higher tiers of play, and many meta builds are geared towards competitive team play. If I’m not training with a specific team to win a specific tourney, then I will be happy with my successes on my favorite builds.

Frenk.5917:

Simple question. Why do YOU not run meta, if you do? Are you aware you are crippling your team? Do you think that you are NOT actually crippling your team?

Not all non-meta builds are bad builds, and not all builds fit every player. I’m great with lockdown, so much so that I’ve become bad with shatter, but I’m still a better player and more useful to my team than 80% of people using shatter builds. Again, skill and wisdom determine whether or not you’re crippling your team.
(Jeez, that sounded far more conceited than I intended.)

That reminds me.. Signet of Illusions will likely be hella valuable when chronomancer drops.

But continuum shift is a two-part skill, so it won’t go on cooldown until after you activate signet of illusions. Unfortunately this means you can’t eternally reset F5.