Guild Wars 2

Bunda.2691:

If you want to try a different, more powerful, but very glassy mantra build, you can go 30/30/0/0/10. With zerker gear, sigil of force, three or even four mantras ready, and three illusions out, you pretty much hit as hard as a mesmer can possibly hit (although the boosts don’t affect phantasms).

You should note, however, that you have less feedback uptime and your warden does not reflect. You should only use this build, in my opinion, if you are in a place where reflects are absolutely not needed; in which case it will be a DPS gain. Though the number of places where this is the case is much smaller than places where reflects are needed.

ReesesPBC.4603:

I’m interested in mantra builds as well. I thought I read somewhere about scholar runes not affecting your phantasms, might need clarification on this. If that is the case, as it is a phantasm build as well, wouldn’t another rune set be better than scholars or is it that much more beneficial for your own dps over your phantasms?

You are correct, the 10% damage bonus of Scholar runes does not affect our phantasms. The reason why it is still better is that it will boost your reflection damage, which will let you see even larger feedback numbers. Your auto will also be stronger. Though you should note that crit-capping to 100% is very important and if you are in groups where you do not regularly crit cap, then the 10% damage will not outweigh the precision from ruby orbs. Though with assassins, fury, banner, and food, crit capping is quite easy.

@OP:

Thank you for this flow chart, it is hilarious. Every time a PuG picks up my lightning hammer I shout at the screen that they are not Chris Hemsworth from Thor!

I’ve actually had to start stating at the beginning of every run now to not pick up my hammer…though it usually does no good.

maxinion.8396:

True fact. Nothing worse than a mesmer dropping unnecessary null fields and feedbacks and ruining the fire fields out there.

Actually, these is nothing worse than when on an Elementalist and you mindlessly do your might rotation before conjuring LH only to realize you just blasted a non–fire field 5-6 times (emphasis at the number of times here) because it was overwritten by some other class. It’s very rage inducing.

And chaos armor might be the worst, because at least blasting blinds is somewhat useful on trash.

<3 Mathematica. So useful.

Wyrden.4713:

so mantra builds r kind of phantasm based builds as well i guess and not a shatter

Yes. Taking mantras is mainly done to buff our personal and reflect damage by having them available and only using them when absolutely needed (Mantra of resolve is the only one I typically “use up” during fights); and while doing so, we still try to keep our phantasms up as much as possible to better our damage.

Note: Mantra of Recovery (the heal) is less friendly in PuGs so I would recommend slotting that out for Ether Feast when things are shaky, and this will still give you 8% damage from the Manta of Resolve and Mantra of Concentration.

Double-tap (unless at a jumping puzzle, then I use one of my mouse keybinds).

Staff build potential:“http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/85568-lh-is-the-new-bearbow-the-real-staff-dps-build-for-manly-men/”

Additionally, setting aside the staff and examining lightning hammer. With 25 might and like 10 stacks of vulnerability, my lightning hammer crits go something like 6-8k, 6-8k, 10-14k. This damage is done in the same amount of time as a warrior’s 100b and is comparable damage, if not greater since I can do this for 25-30 seconds.

In PvE, Ele’s are fine. A full berserker staff ele or LH ele (completely ignoring FGS) are two of the strongest damage sets in the game. Ele’s also have an amazing ability to stack might and fury to a party which is a huge damage buff for the group, which you could argue should count towards the Ele’s overall damage.

I don’t know anything about PvP, but Ele’s are definitely glass WITH cannon in PvE. Your test comparison seems likely biased as you should compare the best damage spec on warrior over, say, a minute over, say, 30 seconds to a minute, to the best damage spec on an elementalist (pre-buffing might/fury).

As has been essentially stated before me in this thread, all out damage specs and gear being the most optimal is the result of the ability to dodge. If you start giving bosses less powerful but faster attacks, you are minimizing the effectiveness of a huge game mechanic. By lessening the effectiveness of dodges, some players might take this as a “soft trinity” and not feel the need to dodge when it should be done because he or she can “tank” the damage.

For a game like this, to not trivialize and destroy dodging, bosses need to be designed differently. Lavra pointing to Aetherblade retreat was a good example.

I, personally, don’t think there is a very effective way to un-meta-ing “stacking zerkers” without impacting dodges. Even if conditions were buffed, they can still be applied in melee range.

A staff/shatter build is unfortunately not going to be useful, in any way, to a dungeon party. The most useful thing you can do as a Mesmer is maximize your reflect damage, trait your focus for reflects, and bring as personal much damage as you can.

Firstly, you should run full zerk trinkets and a mix of zerker/assassins armor. If you PuG a lot, then full assassins armor will likely yield greater damage as it will push your crit chance closer to 100. Additionally, run sw/focus + sw/(pistol or sword). You can cleave with a melee weapon which is what you want for trash and is our highest damage weapon. Learn to use Blurred frenzy for defense, and not offense.

When you need to range, and if you won’t be at max range, then scepter/offhand is going to be better damage than greatsword, but bring both and use them in the situations that arise.

Two common builds are 10/20/0/25/15 and 0/30/0/25/15. Look in my signature for how to trait each one, but essentially, the latter build will better maximize your reflect damage and personal damage (through empowering mantras) while the former will have your phantasms do more damage.

Traiting mantras is harder to get used to and is better for more organized groups while 10/20/0/25/15 is great for pugging as you get utility skill freedom.

mahariel.4981:

You all keep avoiding my question.

Is “is comfortable with the mechanics of an encounter and plays and gears appropriately” an extreme definition of “experienced”? Nobody is answering this, I keep getting told that my expectations are extreme, but the quote is exactly what my standards are when I make an “experienced only” lfg. Is it unfair? And if so, why?

In my opinion, the quoted definition is not extreme and actually very fair. However, I do believe that you should recognize that while there is the melee method to almost all bosses, some other fights like the elemental shaman, lupicus, and the final dredge boss, all have very common and very often used ranged tactics (out of maybe 50 runs of 48s, I have only twice been in groups that melee these and that’s because someone was vocal about it). I think if a mesmer pulled out a ranged weapon on any of these fights, that you should communicate to him/her that your group is doing the melee method. If the player is experienced, he will know the basic strategies for melee-ing the fight and will switch. You should not insta-kick, just mention the use of melee weapons. for the fight. If he says anything to the contrary and acts all “but GS is king blah blah”, then you are totally within your bounds to kick the player.

I was a bit miffed at the example you mentioned, with the mesmer at the volcanic fractal (which can only be a 3rd fractal), because I believe by, at most, the 2nd fractal, you should have been able to tell if the mesmer played how an experienced mesmer should play, and kicked accordingly. Since he was fine until volcanic, it seems very harsh to kick him upon seeing the greatsword. Maybe he thought he would pull the guys and then switch to melee once they aggroed in the stack? I do not know, it just seemed harsh and that you should have been able to tell sooner.

@Revlin, an additional dungeon build that works very well (the other meta phantasm build) is 10/20/0/25/15. It hits all of the phantasm boosting traits that you need. The other meta build, 0/30/0/25/15, maximizes your own damage through empowering mantras, and is better DPS in many situations, but 10/20/0/25/15 is a bit easier to use since you are not camping mantras. But also, Mahariel is correct, you should not use staff, it has no place in in dungeons and fractals. It is amazing in PvP/WvW, but not for dungeons.

@Mahariel, to be fair, while melee-ing the first grawl boss can be learned pretty quickly, melee-ing the elemental shaman is difficult, and very few “experienced only” players melee him. I have run a ton of 48 (now 49) fractals and never been in such a group that went full melee on the grawl boss. If you plan on kicking someone who were to use a ranged option, such as scepter/pistol (what I use) or GS, on the elemental shaman, you really are better off not taking a PuG. I think you should be very clear in the post. You can know some of the boss fights very well and be very experienced, such as the final dredge boss and the final grawl boss, and have always run in groups that use ranged weapons. To say it demonstrates an inability to learn or that you are not experienced is excessive. You should probably say “melee everywhere or kick” in your post to be fair to other players.

No, it does not. Illusions do, however, inherit bloodlust/perception stacks and might stacks. In general, an illusion inherits the mesmer stats such as power and precision, but not the mesmer’s %increase stats such as any percent damage traits or force.

Hearte.6852:

Also, if it wasn’t clear, I’m not arguing for strict ranged combat…just to change the current system that rewards skilless play.

Skill-less? There are many cases where if you don’t have competent players using blinds/aegis/reflects then the group is torn apart. In some cases, stacking does trivialize a fight, but to say the entire play style is skill-less is not true.

Great guide DEKeyz, finally got my Ele to 80 and this (along with Anierna’s guide) has been very helpful.

Question for you: what is your opinion of a 30/25/0/15/0 trait set? I don’t like 30 in air because I only like 2 of the traits. It also does not force me to remain in air (like the 30/30/10/0/0 build), and so I can stay in water for the regen. I lose 10% damage from earth, but have access to vuln/might/fury without losing a health buffer.

I never assumed you sat in GS, and being able to back out in GS can be helpful when things start falling apart.

But nevertheless, maximizing your feedback damage for fractals is very important. Your own power has no effect, and 50 additional power through GS training is almost nothing when in GS. You should note that you also lose the bleeds from the 15 point dueling trait. On the svanir shaman, you can safely place 3 pistol phantasms to have perma 20+ bleed stacks, that amounts to quite a bit of damage.

The additional bleed damage, higher feedback crit chance, as well as the ability to have a very flexible second dueling trait, is much more valuable than 100 power and a 4 second faster ranged phantasm, which you aren’t going to be making much use of in the first place since you are in sword/focus (and truthfully, I can’t think of a single set of trash mobs in the game where I would need to use the GS knockback twice during the encounter, unless of course you consider the dredge clowncar one set of trash mobs, in which case, 6 seconds isn’t doing much).

Really, the only problem I have is when I put some subset of “lvl80”,“experienced”,“know the path” and someone who isn’t 80 or experienced joins. That’s an instant kick because they couldn’t read and is not our problem, but theirs. On a side note, the amount of people who join a fractal where “45+ AR” is in the description and then they ask “What’s AR?” after they die to agony is ridiculous.

Kioso.4819:

Your arrogance is amusing. But your ability to read is not. I never said don’t group mobs (in fact I encouraged it), and I never said don’t warden and don’t cleave. I didn’t say sit at range with GS out and use 1. I said I don’t use sword/sword on group pulls. And since there’s a hell of a lot more group pulls than single target ones I am using GS SWORD/FOCUS over sword/sword sword/focus most of the time. So GS training is the logical choice. Not only do you get the izerks bonus aoe damage, you also get a knockback that can help knock ranged mobs to the melee ones.
I’d also like to point and laugh at you for the comment about warden cleave being reliable. Players aren’t the only ones that cleave, melee mobs can too. And when you’re fighting a group of them warden tends not to hold up so well in those situations. Where as izerker chills outside of cleave range till the next attack spools up.
I hope you actually take the time to READ what I am saying, instead of just completely putting words into my mouth. It’s a real waste of everyone time.

In fractals, most of the major sets of group pulls carry the benefit of feedback being exceptionally powerful. Avoiding 20 in domination and instead having 20 in dueling is going to be stronger as your chance for feedback to crit will inch closer to 100%. This will also be a boon on all bosses where feedback is king, which is at least half of them. You are also able to trait either sword or pistol which is going to be stronger on most other bosses than GS training. GS training will give you a one skill benefit wheres sword training gives you 4.

Additionally, the increased cooldown reduction is not going to do much because the cooldown reduction is worthless. If you open with the GS and then go into melee sword cleave range, you should be staying there until the trash is dead. Use out of GS training? None. The knockback is irrelevant as it is extremely situational….and you have a focus pull you could also use which allows you to stay in melee range. Using sword/sword on the switch makes it so that you have blurred frenzy constantly available. Additionally, see everything Xavi said in the above post on sword/sword.

Lastly, as for the iZerker chilling outside of melee range, I would say that is just as reliable is the iWarden cleave. Feedback is really all the reason you need to go 20 into dueling.

Danneskjold.5143:

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely change compunding celerity to glamour mastery. I guess I kind of ignored the Domination line too lol. 15% more damage from illusions is better than illusions having fury then?

Now I just need to make it to 80!

Actually, having fury on your illusions is better, however, your 10pt trait in dueling should always be phantasmal fury. Then your 20 point dueling trait should be either Blade Training or Duelist’s discipline. The next 10 points you can put into either domination for the phantasm damage trait or 10 more points in dueling and take Empowering Mantra. Have fun leveling!

At the moment (and almost since forever, sadly), Phantasmal Haste is bugged. Of the phantasms on the sword, focus, pistol, and greatsword, the pistol is the only phantasm to see the proper recharge reduction; the others see no benefit from the trait. Until this is fixed, you are better off running phantasmal strength for +15% damage to all phantasms rather than +20% damage to just the pistol phantasm: so run 0/30/0/25/15.

Also, in inspiration, you should run II (Glamour Mastery) instead of compounding celerity to increase feedback uptime.

Also, most people who run 0/30/0/25/15 will take only one of Blade Training and Duelist’s Discipline, and additionally run Empowering mantras. This will increase your auto-attack and feedback damage. If you dislike mantras, then you would be better served with 10/20/0/25/15, which is the pure phantasm build.

Could your really not see, that 2 threads down from the top of a page, was another topic about this? Sigh….

spoj.9672:

48 use to drop multiple skins almost every daily, they were usually skins we didnt want but atleast we were getting a reasonable chance at a skin we wanted. I hope they raise the cap to 60 or 70 soon so we can start getting the weapon chests.

You’re operating under the assumption that the weapon boxes will be available between 51-70. Knowing how the previous update worked, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if those levels did not drop the weapon box. Sad day.

Ryn.6459:

How much dps is lost by using centaur runes instead of ruby orbs?

I do not know the exact DPS numbers, but assuming you hit the crit cap without the precision from ruby orbs, then you are gaining 45 power and some extra time for iDuelist bleeds which isn’t too useful, but losing 12% crit damage. Additionally, both the 4 and 6 bonus on Centaur runes are worthless in fractals and dungeons (except for maybe run phases). I do not have the numbers, but it is highly likely a DPS loss and you are much better off running Scholar runes over Centaur.

mikeew.8607:

crazy nike posted these same builds the other day on twitch. http://www.twitch.tv/nike_dnt/c/3380103
It’s almost like you took em and called them yours. Interesting.

I did not know this twitch existed until just now. Also, I never claim that they are my builds, I clearly state they are standard builds for running dungeons and fractals. These have resulted from discussions I have had or read with others on this forums. I initially wrote these up a few months ago to help lessen the plethora of “need PvE build” threads that pop up very often on this forum. For PvE, no one person in the game owns a certain build (PvP/WvW excluded). They result from community or group discussion on the optimal way to play a certain class.

Also, I have just watched the twitch you linked and he suggests going 20 into illusions for Phantasmal Haste which is not a good choice. 20% more damage for one useful phantasm is not nearly as good as 15% damage for the pHaste-broken phantasms such as iSwordsmen and iWarden (and even iZerker, when the situation calls).

Valarauka.2719:

mikeew.8607:

crazy nike posted these same builds the other day on twitch. http://www.twitch.tv/nike_dnt/c/3380103
It’s almost like you took em and called them yours. Interesting.

Easy on the accusations there, buddy. 10/20/0/25/15 and 0/30/0/25/15 are blatantly obvious builds that every mesmer worth their salt already knew were going to be the new meta way back when the Dec. 10th patch preview was announced.

Exactly.

Updated build and guide for the December 10th patch.

Soul.9280:

A variant build which is probably better for high level fractals (because it gives you a strong range dps option for fights where melee is suicide) is:

20/10/0/25/15 with Greatsword & Sword + Focus

Similar to the 10/20/0/25/15 build mentioned above, but you swap 10 out of Dueling (losing Sword Training) for an extra 10 in Domination (for Greatsword Training).

While I agree you would be fine pulling out GS on certain bosses, the biggest boon in bringing a mesmer is feedback which is arguably one of the most powerful skills in the game, and you need all the crit chance you can get to max its damage. 10/20 is far superior to 20/10 in high-level fractals, hands down. On that note, 0/30 is probably even better, but in my opinion, is better for the player who has a set high-level fractal group and has all fractals down to a science.

You get 15 fractal relics for each pristine relic.

Nretep.2564:

When (if) they fix PhantHaste, the PvE meta build might be
10/20/0/20/20

My build is (due to restorative mantras & focus)
0/20/0/30/20
hoping they fix phanthaste and pWarden soon …

Hah!! You must be joking. pHaste has been broken for a very long time, and if we don’t get a fix on the iWarden in the next patch, then expect it to stay broken for as long as iZerker was (i.e., months).

Aside from that, I am running 10/20/0/25/15, the new standard for phantasms and it might change to 10/20/0/20/20 if pHaste is magically fixed. As colesy made me remember, I’ve actually debated 10/30/0/10/20 or 15/30/0/10/15 until the iWarden is fixed.

We have 3 ranged weapons and only 1 melee option. When/if they offer new weapon choices, I would hope that it would be melee.

Xyonon.3987:

Well at least they know about the wardens staring contest fever – i’m 99% sure it’s fixed at 10th

I wish I had your optimism! Personally, I’m 99% sure the iWarden is “working as intended” for the next few months. I hope you are right in this case.

Pyroatheist.9031:

I think you’re wrong. I don’t think they have the code to do that.

Phantasms are completely seperate from the Mesmer. They simply have their own skills on a certain cooldown, and what you do can’t affect them.

Hrmm, that sounds about right. Resetting the cooldown would be better, anyways, as it gives us immediate access to 3 phantasms.

Ryn.6459:

WTF? Where is the post about the new healing signet?

Lulz!

A wild moderator appeared!

The wild moderator used “Delete thread.”

The wild moderator fled.

I wonder if this implies that these will NOT be making it into the December 10th patch?

Ryn.6459:

Signet of the Ether: Signet Passive: Heal yourself based on the number of active illusions you control. Signet Active: Heal yourself and refresh all phantasm skill recharges

Just a note in this discussion. If the ‘unverified’ notes for the heal skill are accurate, phantasm uptime in pve is going up significantly.

Maybe is my crappy English. But I don’t get it. “Refresh all phantasm skill recharges”? What does that mean?

Since they specifically use the word “recharge” which is present in the phantasmal haste trait, my guess is that if you have, for example, 2 iSwordsmen and 1 iDuelist, then they will attack on heal and behave as if you had just summoned them.

colesy.8490:

They already are, mesmers are complete trash in proper dungeon groups. Never hit thei theoretical dps, guards can reflect an condi cleanse and have more relevant things like aegis, blast finishers and fire fields which a Mesmer can’t really provide. Taking on a Mesmer is more of a formality at this point, you’d be better off with a ranger for a little reflection and the dps boost from spotter and frost spirit which doesn’t have a 210s cd like time warp.

I agree, they already have no place in dungeon groups (except for maybe Arah). I just don’t want the new meta to be a build that is the proverbial nail in the coffin for their place in a dungeon. I was actually thinking the other day what I would want in a dungeon group…and it wasn’t until I was done that I realized I had forgotten about mesmers entirely. ./sigh

To agree with Ryn, though, I still like to run both 1 guard and 1 mesmer in fractals (and I typically think of fractals separately to dungeons) as I think the combo can help you deal with many of the problem areas that exist (e.g., all of dredge and the arm seals at cliffside).

Xyonon.3987:

It’s not like you would kick a mesmer for a guard anywhere. But I really don’t think that a mesmer with 1-2 pahnts will outdamage a warrior, espeically if there are more than one target. There is no cleaving phantasm wich kinda sux :P Don’t start now a GS discussion plz x.X

GK showed a list of the highest theoretical single-target DPS (I do not have the link), and a mesmer with three phantasms up is king (but it was also with a certain build I can’t remember), which is very hard to do, so with two phantasms up, the mesmer drops a couple spots on the list, being equivalent to warriors. But it is good to note that this is theoretical and under tank and spank circumstances.

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

I’d have to agree with a 10/30/0/10/20 being a relatively useless mesmer in the meta. Traited focus is the main reason to bring a mesmer in dungeons. Then again, the warden is still bugged and I have noticed my party getting downed a lot more because of it. So annoying that they won’t just revert the terrible change.

I would think 10/30/0/20/10 or 0/30/0/25/15 would be the same/new builds, especially if p.haste also doesn’t work for the warden anymore o_O. It never worked with the swordsman to begin with. Basically a choice of 20% CD on illusions or 100 more power. If p.haste does work for the warden/they fix it on the 10th then maybe 0/20/0/20/20 base with 10 to spare in Domination, Dueling or Inspiration.

Ahh, I completely forgot about iWarden being completely bugged at the moment. I dream when we can build around correctly working skills…

If it works with the warden, then definitely 0/20/0/20/20 (+10) will be the pug friendly meta (I really like the choice here, even if it is just 10 points), with 10/20/0/25/15 the build if it does not. In more guild/zerk runs, I agree with “10/30/0/20/10 or 0/30/0/25/15 would be the same/new builds”.

colesy.8490:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Pyroatheist.9031:

I’m honestly still unconvinced about Scholar runes, since phantasms do not get that damage bonus.

I got both set i’ll try to test it out tonight if I have time.

Well, I know that phantasms don’t inherit the damage bonus. I’m just doubtful that in most situations that 10% outweighs the bonuses to phantasm damage from ruby orbs.

The bonus of less power and 4%+ crit damage? Crit damage scales with power anyway, so I’m sure the extra power from scholar runes makes up for the crit damage deficit. Maybe the extra 4% crit chance is useful in pugs too, but then I suppose you could use assassins + scholar runes. Or you could stack perception depending on the dungeon. I think I’m more in favour of scholar runes, even for mesmers to be honest. To answer the OP, 10/30/0/20/10 is the meta build, possibly 10/30/0/10/20 post patch, though with the more widespread use of off hand sword it makes phantasmal haste a questionable trait since you’re basically just giving up focus traiting for illusionist celerity.

IMO, if 10/30/0/10/20 becomes the new meta, then those meta speed-run groups are better off replacing the mesmer with a different class.

Ruby orbs: +120 power, +12% crit damage, +84 precision
Scholar runes: +165 power, +8% crit damage, +10% damage if health > 90%

With scholar runes, you gain 45 power, but lose 84 precision and 4% crit damage. If you are in an organized group, then the 84 precision is completely worthless as you will be crit capping with fury/banner/spotter/perception stacks/crit food. Therefore, scholar runes give you 45 power and 10% damage when health > 90%. The 4% crit damage is completely overridden by the 10% damage bonus leaving scholar runes to be the superior option.

However, if you aren’t crit capping in an organized group, then that 84 precision is 4% crit chance which is valuable. Also, if you are not in an organized group, then everyone is not likely to be in full zerker and other classes are not likely to be spamming blinds, so you lose that 10% damage bonus.

So really, organized group = scholar runes, pug group/casual guild runs = ruby orbs.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Xyonon.3987:

At least 10/20/0/20/0 and the other 20 points are free for you.
Run full Zerker equip and for PvE in dungeons ruby orbs as “runes” and for sigils stacking or +5% damage / 2 weapons with +10% damage and of course the sigil of battle for swappers.

If you group can stack might properly, Sigil of battle is not worth it. Also, ruby orbs is the cheap option, if you can afford it, go for Rune of the Scholar.

I’m honestly still unconvinced about Scholar runes, since phantasms do not get that damage bonus.

The reason to go scholar runes in the 10/30/0/20/10 build is that most speed running groups will only take a mesmer for reflects, as other classes will bring more damage. In this case, the damage bonus from the scholar runes will affect the reflect damage from feedback, curtain, and iWarden in a stronger way than ruby orbs.

Come back in a week and there will be two “meta” builds (there are currently 2, but no point in discussing a soon-to-be-dead build):

(1) The current speed-run meta of 10/30/0/20/10, which will likely remain unchanged after December 10th. If you have a guild group that is about maximizing efficiency and speed-run tactics, then this is your best bet as the group will be bringing the mesmer for reflects, and this build maximizes your damage for that purpose. Jeremlloyd has the weapon sigils correct, and additionally, scholar runes are also your best bet.

(2) The new phantasm build as of December 10th will likely be 10/20/0/25/15. With this, it is a lot more pug friendly and less everyone-else-needs-to-also-be-playing-great. Here, a battle sigil on the MH sword, stacking sigil (perception) on one OH weapon and a sigil of accuracy on the other OH weapon are your best options. If you cap out the stacking sigil, then do as jeremlloyd/xyonon noted and replace the stacking sigil with either force/night/slaying. Also, you are going to get more damage out of ruby orbs than scholar runes for numerous reasons, so run those.

I have spent time with both builds and prefer the second (in its nearly-passe 0/20/0/25/25 form). It gives you more freedom with utility skills and allows you to use ether feast in the healing slot. I also do not run with speed-runners, so mantra of recovery becomes unwieldy, and I spend more time out of combat having to charge it in fights to heal myself. Speed runners can use mantras because they do not need to use them as things die very fast and there is usually a class spamming blinds/aegis (thief/guardian/ele). This allows you to auto-attack and throw up feedback when it’s necessary.

haviz.1340:

Stooperdale.3560:

At top of the cliffside fractal it is possible to be stunned by the hammer on the seal at the same time that adds spawn that are not sunned. These adds essentially get a free kill of the squishy classes before the stun wears off.

This bug have been present for few months and you’d know if this if you hadn’t been using faster “tactics”.

I always believed this was intended. You can have everyone hide behind a guardian’s wall of reflection (just have everyone follow the hammer carrier to the seal, lay down the wall of reflection and smack the seal), or you can have a focus-traited mesmer put up some reflection on the chanters (temporal curtain on one, iWarden on another, feedback on another). Engineer’s also have a reflect they can activate, I believe. I am not sure if a thief’s wall will block their attacks.

Yes, the new tiers are 1-10, 11-20, 21-30, 31-40, 41-50.

Xyonon.3987:

The Scepter aa is comparable to the GS’ aa in single target dps. Just that the scepter is strong in short range combat, giving you the adventage of gaining boons from allies if some are still melee. Also the scepter block hits extreamly hard aswell the channeled 3.

The fact that the aa is creating clones isn’t that bad at all. They often tank a hit and disturb the enemy. You rarely will have 3 phantasms out there wihtout loosing them. In theory the scepter sounds a bit bad with the aa but in practice it’s pretty cool.

However if you manage to get 3 phantasms you simply can do 2 aa’s, skill 3, 2 aa’s and fill with skills 2, 4 and 5 until weaponswap (you could even do 2 aa’s again in the end).

Scepter fits very well into a phantasm power build.

This exactly.

@lvl30: Got dredge, was hoping for a change to the entire fractal. Almost nothing is changed. Clown car is still the same, though they fixed the pipe and filled it with sand. There are now bronze dredge with a ton of health. Also, in the switch part, the mesmer port still works, but the door now closes if someone dies on a switch. However, the thief I was with stayed in it while the door closed.

The only nice thing I noticed was that the rampaging ice elemental didn’t lose or gain defiant from temporal curtain, so I could interrupt his heal with temporal curtain whenever I wanted. Not sure what happened there.

The Scepter is not as bad as you think, primarily because you can grab an off hand phantasm. For example, for Captain Ashym in the Urban Battlegrounds fractal, you are best using sword/sword in phase 1 and then scepter/pistol in phase two. With the scepter, you can stay out of range of his AoE and pump out pistol phantasms and spam the 3 skill; this will output more damage than the GS.

This is the case with some other fractal bosses as well such as the imbued shaman (though if your team doesn’t group up the adds that well, then GS for AoE would be preferred) and the archdiviner.

However, as Maxinion said, do your best to be in melee whenever you can. It’s more damage and will help you learn tells better and be a better player overall.

Let’s not digress on the greatsword. All that needs to be said for both new and existing players regarding the greatsword for mesmers can be found here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/How-to-play-a-Mesmer-in-dungeons

To the OP: As others have essentially said, if your phantasms can be safely placed so that it will take no damage the entire fight, your pistol is easily the best bet, and you should really only summon those. In the other cases, sword is the higher DPS option. I, personally, use both nearly always as I am constantly weapon-swapping to proc my battle sigil. As Lord Byron noted, the Svanir Shaman in the blizzard fractal is the perfect example of when to use pistol phantasms. They are unaffected by his agony attack and can be placed out of range of his only distance-based breath attack.

Many players also use 10/30/0/20/10 for fractals as well (though it was initially formed as the arah-slaying build). To me, this is the best pure dps build second to the 10/30/0/0/30 pure DPS build. Some people also go 15/30/0/25/0 for more phantasm damage. This gives you 2 things:

(1) With 20 in inspiration, you get access to both reflect traits which is the Mesmer’s purpose in reflect-heavy instances, fractals being arguably the biggest one. The damage you will put out in a place like the dredge fractal and arah due to reflects is enormous. However, if reflects are not at all needed, then 10/30/0/0/30 with 4 mantras is your absolute best DPS build.

(2) With the 10 in illusions for compounding power and the 30 in dueling for either sword or pistol cooldowns and empowering mantras, you (a) give phantasm reductions on your off-hand phantasm of choice and (b) maximize the reflect damage you put out with empowering mantras. In a place like the dredge fractal or arah, you can slot mantra of recovery and 2 other utility mantas (in addition to feedback) to maximize your damage.

GoldenTruth.2853:

She had an attack which increased in damage the further away from her you were, it was undodgeable (bad design since it had a really big tell), but not unblockable or unreflectable.

Actually, if you dodged as she raised her pistol (not when she actually shoots), you would dodge the attack. Essentially, you avoid her aiming at you and she misses.

TBH, I only did her once and we did the run as a group as that was recommended at the time. The 90 seconds was just a long time when it came to cooldowns and such and at least 2 people died every time. If being on your own is better, I will have to try that strategy when I fight her again (Thanks for the tip!).

I still think 90 seconds is a bit long for one bomb phase in itself (even if it is just avoiding your own set of circles) as the fight already takes quite a bit of time.

Fafnir.5124:

If you cant doge aoe circles by now you really shouldn’t be doing high level fractals. What would hurt more is if cannons give agony

There is a difference between dodging red circles and having to run around an arena just ahead of them for a combined total of 3 minutes per fight.

In my opinion, the only thing that needs to be done with Mai Trin (and hopefully they did this) for Fractals is to cut down the bomb phases. Two 30-second bomb phases at 66/33 percent would be fine. The 90 second bomb phase at 25% was extremely painful.