Guild Wars 2

Erebus.9276:

You guys don’t understand.. starting out at square one with nothing… I have to get to level 30 this week or I’ll be behind my friends and we won’t be able to play together? I thought I could play how I want?

It was clear from this statement that this is a troll post. Lulz that it took until post 49 for someone to point it out.

Successfully done OP, amusing thread!

This is how they will work (I believe):

There will be 2 types of slotted infusions:

(1) An offensive/defensive/utility infusion slot which is found on all ascended items. This is the aspect remaining unchanged and is equivalent to how the current infusion slot works. This will hold the 5 AR, +5AR/5stat infusions (the ones you create in the mystic forge with claws and such (the expensive ones), or the ones you buy from the fractal vendor for 35 relics (the simple infusions)) and cap there.

(2) An agony resist infusion slot to be found on the backpiece and two rings which cannot be purchased using relics, and also not created in the mystic forge. This will take the place of the inherent +5 AR found on the infused backpiece and rings. For those people who already have an infused item, you will see a +5 agony resist infusion in this slot. This slot is upgradeable in what appears to be an unlimited manner. While I do not know if there is a cap, this second agony resist infusion slot can become, say, +10, for example. From my understanding though, it can go as high as you want it to, though seeing as how the costs start to become much greater the higher you go, that appears to be the “soft cap” so to speak.

The latest dev post in the below thread likely answers this:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/fractured/Agony-changes/first#post3228433

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

We fixed a number of bugs and made lots of balance changes to existing fractals. Also the difficulty scaling has been tweaked overall to create a slightly less difficult curve up to 50.

The weapons are skins now.

Ascended armor is not in the game right now, but if it was, it would drop in the Fractals.

Thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/livingworld/fractured/Fractured-Pro-Con-Suggestion-Thread/first#post3228388

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Here’s how it works:

• Agony resist infusions are always +1 or above agony resist.
• Agony resist infusions only slot into the Agony Resist slot, which is currently only found Infused Asccended Rings and Back Items.
• Every time you finish a fractal, you’ll get at least a +1 out of the chest.
• An artificer can combine any two identical agony resist infusions with a Thermocatyltic Reagent o make one of a higher resistance.
• Existing Infused Ascended Rings and Back Items lose their natural +5 Agony Resist, and receive a +5 Agony Resist Infusion by default.
• New Infused Ascended Rings and Back Items will have an empty slot.

Dev response. For those of us who spent the money to infuse our accessories, we have the benefit of not needing to grind the new drop-able, agony resist infusions. Well, we start with a +5 and can start upgrading from there to like, +7 and +8, instead of having to start with nothing. That is where the ectos are going. See below other response:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Those slots have a lot more potential than just +5 now.

TriggerSad.2597:

Considering that people weren’t meant to get to level 80 in the first place, and more often than not took advantage of loopholes to get there, I personally don’t see a problem.

This is an ignorant statement. If a person was not meant to get to level 80 in the first place, any possible fractal level above 50 would have been removed and impossible to enter. The only thing that could be considered an exploit would be getting a daily chest from an even level of 50+. These players who have a right to be angry did not receive these daily chests after the January patch. Additionally, to those players that attained level 80 before the January patch used either a legitimate, purchasable, in-game item or the skill of a ranger pet. That is not exploiting.

What if the following was stated: “In the first January 2014 patch, we are removing all legendaries in the game so that everyone can race to try and farm new ones that will take their place!” People who grinded out those legendaries would be just as unhappy. Maybe you used magic find boosters to help find items to use in the process or sell for money to get the precursor? Didn’t you know that using those is totally an exploit?

People who got to 80 worked hard to do so, and it is being taken away. They should be compensated to some degree.

RedCobra.7693:

I honestly beleive the perfect fix is to make the clone leap just like savage leap on the warrior, phantasm and clones are made to mimic other classes yet this one doesnt mimic anything at all

Doesn’t the skill mimic the warrior GS#5 in the way it rushes to the target? That skill can bug out just the same, I believe.

Bloodgruve.6038:

If you hit LFG you can’t expect an optimized group. I’d rather have a Zerker GSword mesmer then a PVT anything if they stay on their feet. Again, this is just what I’ve seen in my test scenario. Other builds can push the numbers up above ‘average’. I’ve come to the conclusion that if you build for DPS and understand what your build does it will make for good runs, regardless of class and in a lot of cases weapon choice.

Agreed. And as long as people play smartly, I personally do not really care what someone runs, despite my reservations against what weapons they may be using. I.e., someone who uses the GS push cleverly and doesn’t just scatters mobs randomly is a +1 in my book.

Xyonon.3987:

Makes sense for the battle sigil, but to be honest I personally prefer to get a stack for bloodlust in both sets (A+B / A+C) -> A has the bloodlust. After it’s filled I can switch A Bloodlust with something else.

That’s understandable. Those bloodlust/perception stacks are nice, and the sooner you have them, the better.

Bloodgruve.6038:

In the right builds* GS is only 5% to 10% lower then Sw/Sw or Sw/P.
Blood~

Do you have the math for this? I ask because I have seen the math for full melee, and when you include boons that you will not have in range, this increase in damage is far greater than 5-10%.

Bloodgruve.6038:

If you don’t camp the weapon it isn’t as terrible as you make it out to be.
Blood~

If you do not camp the weapon, then I assume you start out with it for the phantasm and immediately switch to melee. By swapping to it while in melee, you lose a lot of DPS having to back out to max range. I don’t see either situation as a making sword only slightly more damage.

Bloodgruve.6038:

If you build for Zerker DPS you’ll still do more with GS then non-Zerker builds do. At least from my testing, and thats good enough for me.

Comparing GS damage in berserker-gear based builds to non-berserker builds, in this situation, is the equivalent to comparing apples to oranges. You should be comparing it to other weapons within a berserker gear based pve damage build.

TheKillerAngel had it correct when he explained the uses and benefits of the GS.

Full zerker, as Xyonon said, the toughness on the weapon will not help.

Since you are likely only sticking to your trident the entire time (or spear if your group is melee’ing) on the Jellyfish fight, you are getting no use out of a battle sigil. Force or accuracy would be fine. If you are confident you will not die on the trash, then perception/bloodlust would be great too…though I find bloodlust to be too expensive for an underwater weapon.

Also, a superior sigil of air could be fun on an underwater weapon.

I had two points:

(1) If you are using full melee, your MH should hold the Sigil of Battle and one of your off-hands should be bloodlust/perception and the other off-hand should be force/accuracy/slaying. You are losing out on a sigil if both of your OH’s hold sigils of battle since swapping weapon sets with just 1 MH sword holding a battle sigil will give you the 3 might stacks every 10 seconds.

(2) Battle on the 2H is largely based on how you use the 2H. When using a 2H weapon in the off-set, are you switching every 10 seconds? If you are, then you would be better served using a scepter with a battle sigil because you don’t need to back out quickly to maximize damage. If you are staying in greatsword when you use it (such as a boss that needs to be ranged), then you would likely be better off with a force or slaying sigil as you won’t be able to take full effect of the might stacks.

And while there aren’t that many great sigils because of how the phantasms work, it’s still worth knowing that using Battle for “A” in the A/B + A/C setup is more efficient, because you get an extra sigil for your setup and if you are big on maximizing the reflect damage, then you can use both perception and accuracy in your off-hands to help with feedback crits.

Xyonon.3987:

btt: As for sigils you should go for stack/battle + battle. Nothing is compareable to 6 stacks might, it’s about a 8% damage increase for you and your phantasms. Two stacking sigils make you weak until they are full and you (probably!?) gonna switch them with battle weapons. I feel ok with stack/battle + battle. While killing 25 foes i already have my 6 stacks perma might but its pretty interesting to doublestack, never tought about it.

Note: If you are using a fell melee set, then you are losing a sigil with stack/battle + battle. If you are running sword/x + sword/x, then you only need to put a MH sword in one of the weapon slots to obtain the +3 stacks every weapon swap. This leaves room for the stacking sigil and an extra sigil to boost your MH auto’s (such as accuracy for extra crit if you are not capping, force, or a dungeon slaying sigil). If swapping to Scepter, then the double battle sigil is usable (but you likely aren’t taking full advantage of the swap-sigil in this case so a different sigil is likely better). Lastly, if I am swapping to GS, then I am in trouble or simply needing to back out fast (such as the p2 switch in ascalon fractal) and would recommend the sigil of energy.

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

What’s funny is…

1. We have a bunch of “what if we had to kill all the mobs / we should be forced to kill all the mobs” threads.

2. We have a bunch of threads complaining about how excruciating the Dredge fractal is.

None of the people who are responsible for #1 understand that the consequence is #2.

Hah! This was perfect.

+1

Clockwork Bard.3105:

TooBz.3065:

Clockwork Bard.3105:

With Duelist Discipline fighting a 5 point war with Phantasmal Haste, I’d probably side with that. They fixed that 100% finisher bug, right?

Yes, but of course duelist discipline can always be replaced by blade training, which may be more useful overall (more blurred frenzy is always good). Maybe with Sw/Sw, Sw/F instead of Sw/P. Sw/F.

Of course if you go with Phanstasmal Haste is bleed on crit still worth it? or can those 5 points go to better use?

I feel like if your two phantasms of choice are iWarden and iDuelist then Sharper Images is always going to have a modest appeal. I personally try to avoid it when I’m not putting any emphasis into conditions until we know more about condition purging past the stack cap. I don’t want to be responsible for killing some condition build’s damage. But in general, I always got the gist from these forums that even with the bleed cap and zerker gear, it supposedly contributes a meaningful amount of damage.

I think this is best answered by the following question: do any other class zerker meta builds have bleeds built into their trait distributions? If not (and all I know is that warriors, guards, and eles do not, I am oblivious about the other classes), then the bleeds are not going to override anything else and are a damage boost without hindering other players’ damage. Someone has done the numbers before, and they do contribute meaningful damage. Additionally, the 50 points in precision is a damage boost (for both you and the phantasms) if you aren’t hitting the crit cap without them. Heck, even just the iDuelist makes the bleeds valuable, I think.

If you didn’t take it, then you have 10/10/0/25/20 base, which leaves 5 points to place anywhere, where your choices, really, are power, dueling, and inspiration. 50 precision and 5% crit damage and bleeds is > 50 power. I, personally, would also value them more than any of the other inspiration traits.

Yes they did, but it’s still one of the more “safe to place” phantasms, which is why I like it, especially in fractals.

I’m thinking about those 5 points and what would be optimal, and their placement could be easily debated. It seems the base phantasm build will be; 10/15/0/25/15, with 5 points to place in dueling, inspiration, or illusions based on preference. I, personally, am leaning to 10/20/0/25/15, though, since P.Haste doesn’t work on OH sword.

Just a note, the max reflect mantra build will likely remain unchanged at 10/30/0/20/10.

Dolan.3071:

Or if you’re lucky (like me) 200 AC tokens will make you an easy 3.5g from Colossus Fang recipe.

Definitely this. Try running the dungeons with easy p3’s, such as AC/SE/TA(f/f). This will give you a chance at the dungeon recipe. The TA nightmare coil is about 7g for every 200 tokens. If you have a good group, you could spam Arah p4 for the chance at the Bloodstone fragment recipe for 11g per 200 arah tokens.

However, these are quite rare…but something to try and look forward to to make the dungeon token rewards very appealing.

spoj.9672:

There is no space at all in the svanir boss room so camping gs would be terrible (bad damage even at max range and you cant even go max range). Sword mainhand is fine, you can get your phantasms up and then just dps with a superior auto attack while also having blurred frenzy for an extra evade. I also dont understand why you would use a gs there if you are keeping 3 duelists up, the whole arguement as to why people use gs is for the beserker….

I am going to have to agree here. Since you are putting up the three duelists, you can also bring OH sword for the extra block. Using the MH Sword auto attack on the svanir shaman is also rather safe. The only real thing you need to watch out for is the breath, and if it is on you, then just double dodge back out (and not running in a circle and having it hit your other party members!!!!!!) and resume your attacks after. Also, when he ports you to him, it’s a great DPS loss to have to run out with GS.

LordByron.8369:

Example
Can you solo ashim with no range options?

Scepter/pistol is better for phase 2 because the iZerker typically hits only twice, when you could have some iDuelists and confusing images (which is between an 8k-10k burst).

The Mexican Cookie.3690:

You should also probably take mimic when you do the grawl shaman.

How does mimic work here (in the sense that Pyro would call it an exploit)? I was under the impression that when you use mimic on an agony attack, it was only ridiculously powerful on those without an agony attack (i.e., one hitting Dulfy when you have an agony move stored in Mimic for Echo). Wouldn’t it just hit the shaman for, say, normal 10k damage with minor agony damage?

Or are you recommending it for both Echo on the agony attack and the reflecting capabilities it has for the trash as well?

Mckeone.9804:

Why Scepter/Pistol on volcanic? It’s one of the few fights where I actually find GS to be really useful – the knockback and cripples are helpful for controlling the vets in the first fight and the zerker aoe dmg/cripple/knockback seems to help out a lot during the elemental burn phase. I’ll oppen with focus pull, feedback, warden, BF, switch to gs, zerker, dodge out to avoid getting pummelled, blast through a bunch with aa until cd.

It’s also nice to have the knockback/range on GS if something does go wrong – if someone gets downed and you need to finish off a distant ele for a rally, or need to buy someone a few seconds to rally with a knockback.

I agree that meleeing dredge can be very hard, especially if you have to do it while trying to kite. It’s one of those fights where killing fast just doesn’t mitigate damage like it does elsewhere. But why not Scepter/Pistol? At least then you can get the ranged daze from MB.

First off, my bad, I thought you only meant last boss fights in each one, so my recommendations are only for those final bosses. For shaman fractal, you definitely want Greatsword for the vets when you fight him in grawl form, it is, as you say, very very helpful with the knockback and cripple. For the elemental, I normally run GS, but I have recently tried using scepter because I often run with a guardian who pulls them all behind a wall, and we melee cleave them down. If I am on weapon cooldown when it starts, the scepter 3 pierces and I have the pistol 5 to control some of them. It’s been pretty successful so far, but the AoE with GS is also amazing on those elementals. It largely depends on your group.

Oh, and I do not use Scepter on dredge final boss because the clones can mess up his aggro in between lava buckets. While you have 4 shatters to burn them, I feel I have more control with the GS. Also, my GS is ascended, so if we get the dredge machine guy, the GS gives me 10 more AR.

Pyroatheist.9031:

In Cliffside, you also want sword/focus. The acolytes use a VERY strong bouncing projectile attack, and temporal curtain also provides good control during the arm seals and chest seal.

Ahh, that was a typo on my part for the final boss, I run sword/focus on the switch. When the archdiviner becomes stunned and hammer appears, you can do 3 things that really help the group: (1) focus pull 1 or two acolytes to you and burn them down. Throw a warden on one of the acolytes that wasn’t pulled and a feedback on the other. This way the hammer carrier is not damaged while smashing the seal.

Lastly, as for everything else Pyro mentioned for sub-bosses and trash, it’s what you should do.

Try removing 5pts from illusions and putting it in inspiration for 0/20/0/25/25. You gain 15% damage to your phantasms and lose 1 second on invuln when you use it, not too bad if you ask me.

As for the weapon sets, I use the following in the last bosses of each one:

Snowblind: Sword/Pistol and Sword/Sword
Cliffside: Sword/pistol and GS
Swampland: Sword/pistol and scepter/focus (mossman), sword/pistol and sword/focus (bloomhunger)
Urban Battlegrounds: Sword/Sword and scepter/pistol
Volcanic: Sword/focus and scepter/pistol
Uncategorized: Sword/focus and sword/pistol
Dredge: Sword/pistol and GS (I know, I know, many people will say melee is faster, but I have never been in a PuG with the necessary DPS and skill).

If you are in an efficient, skilled group, then you can use full melee sets on dredge and mossman (though I am still not personally comfortable with full melee on mossman and haven’t had time to practice him solo).

Tenor Madness.6784:

Bumbler.7581:

15/25/0/20/10 is the best option for damage with a hammer, I think. However, if you do not mind sacrificing your damage, you can also run 15/15/0/20/20 and pick up Absolute Resolution for condintion removal. With the change to purging flames, I think 15/25/0/20/10 is the better option.

With the 15/25/0/20/10 build what do you choose for the Master trait in Radiance? Blind Exposure is a must, but I don’t see anything else that would benefit the hammer.

Aside from Blind Exposure, you would take Signet Mastery. This puts Signet of Resolve on a 32s cooldown. But as Oxxy said, the point for the 25 points into Radiance is the damage boost as you will always have burning up.

Pistol is an extremely powerful phantasm and it would be remiss to not use it in dungeons/fractals. Also, the pistol 5 skill is also very powerful when either fighting trash or running from trash.

PraetorMortis.8610:

btw, running 15/25/0/20/10 with that hammer. Can I squeeze more Whammo! out of my build by dropping the 10 into zeal for 10% symbol damage or am I giving up too much utility?

You would not want to drop 10 in zeal for the symbol damage. You are effectively losing 10% damage 100% of the time for 10% damage only from symbols (and thus no +10% damage to the autoattack).

15/25/0/20/10 is the best option for damage with a hammer, I think. However, if you do not mind sacrificing your damage, you can also run 15/15/0/20/20 and pick up Absolute Resolution for condintion removal. With the change to purging flames, I think 15/25/0/20/10 is the better option.

Go zerker or go home IMO. Also, the weapon you should choose really depends on your build and how much you play of each class. For example, I run a hammer and sword/focus build and only swap out the latter to GS when I need the group pull. On my warrior, however, I run Axe/Mace and GS. Therefore, for me, I would go hammer on guardian, and GS on warrior.

So if you personally play both equally, then I say hammer for guard, and GS for warrior. Otherwise, both for guard would be fine if you run a hammer/GS build.

@Broadicea, while hammer is suboptimal to a sword/focus and GS setup, I think it has its place for those who PuG often.

Aside from uber lightning hammer elementalists; for dungeons, the guardian hammer is far superior. Warriors have the edge with the GS though.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

Scepter is actually the ideal ranged weapon of choice but people are afraid of it for some reason, probably because it has shorter range than the GS. That said, you definitely don’t want to have a scepter in your other weapon set all the time if you’re trying to melee, especially when summoning phantasms quickly is the name of the game for mesmers and scepter auto always eats up one phantasm.

With the new Scepter cooldown reductions, this might further draw people to use it in PvE as the range weapon of choice in the fights where you need to switch to a range weapon.

Alissah.9281:

I’ve never been in a full mesmer group yet :’(. Well, except from that one time… they thought a full mesmer group was a good idea because “1337 5 timewarps”. It went horrible xD

I was in a 5 mesmer CoE path 2 run once, it was really one of the smoothest runs I have done in the place. We set up a TW rotation, everyone knew how to dodge; it was magical. So you definitely will have to try again.

I was also just about to say I would run with you colesy, but then I remembered that you are EU, I think? Oh wellz.

Galtrix.7369:

When you have pretty much no choice in what build you use, it is not an mmorpg.

So does vanilla WoW fail to be an MMO (don’t know about post burning crusade as I stopped playing before then)? In raid progression, each class essentially had one or two builds that were required to help the guild progress in the difficult content. Shows what I know…I guess.

guanlongwucaii.3162:

hallowed ground doesn’t remove conditions.

the 15/25 is definitely better than the 15/15 spread if you don’t need condition removal, and 25/25 is probably the best for DPS if you don’t want any points in virtues (though at that point why bring a guardian?)

also agreed about 2h mastery, symbol duration >>>> 2h mastery unless you really need the other hammer skills for whatever reason (e.g. ring of warding/zealot’s embrace for immobilising grawl/LOSing in fotm)

Ahh, I meant “Save yourselves!”

What about a 15/25/0/20/10 build? This is what I run (though, with full zerk).

http://bit.ly/1fZHnqq

This will give you more precision, but you do lose out on the condi-removal of absolute resolution (Which you can get from “Save Yourselves!” and purging flames if needed?). You also get the 10% damage boost from radiant power.

Also, why the use of two-handed mastery over symbol duration if you off-hand sword-focus? The latter seems like a better choice as spamming hammer auto-attack is what makes the prot-spamming guardian.

I don’t know much about the Mace (as I am not a fan, but love hammer and sword/focus) so your choices might reflect that, and I am simply clueless.

Hah, I can see a feedback rotation with 5 mesmers making trash in there a cakewalk.

Omg, not to mention all the focus pulls to bring the blue aetherblade guys to the generators!

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Linked to the guide. Is the list complete as far as we know currently? Any specific reflect spots for the new TA path? (I was sooo inebriated that night I ran it that don’t remember any of it. x_X .. Didn’t help I kept getting disconnected either. )

A bunch of the trash has reflectable moves (save for the blue exploding guys). Additionally, Slick has a reflectable attack where damage is done once the oil spill lands. I am not 100% about sparki, but I think he does as well.

Himax.3954:

I have some skill in the game’s combat, but I lack the ability to dodge and weave through several rooms full of enemies without dying.

You need to learn how to dodge; the game is essentially designed around this feature. Also, learning to skip isn’t instant, there is a bit of a learning curve. Look at your utilities and see which ones are most beneficial for when you need to run through things.

Also, I believe at some point, someone linked to a thread/video of a game designer who said “not every mob is supposed to be killed,” indicating that some pre-boss paths were designed to be skipped. In my opinion, the first two runs in Arah path 1 are clear cases for this design choice. You simply don’t design hard-hitting, condition spamming, veteran oozes that split into two once you get them to 25% that appear en masse unless they are there to be skipped.

Selenya.6410:

• You ask a certain amount of Achivement Points or Agony resistance or whatever else pre-requisite (like for example: must have done this at least one time) to be sure you are not going to spend 3 hours for something that takes 1 hour or less, and who join have no clue of what you’re talking about. With the consequence you spend 20 minutes kicking people and posting again.

You should realize that “fotm 48, exp, 45 AR required” means that you only need to be level 48, that you are doing an explorable path of fotm, and only need to have a 45 achievement rating (in other words, only 45 achievement points!)

^_-

The existence of “supply and demand” is just too OP and should be nerfed!

Ayrilana.1396:

You get the achievement before that fight.

Show’s how much attention I pay to achievements and reading in general. Sorry, my bad!

Ahlen.7591:

HOWEVER, my main complaint for the entire path is that it HARDCORE punishes melee, especially the final boss (toss) and the charr boss (spin/axe toss).

For the final boss, if you stay in melee then he does not throw the blades of death, making the fight easier and quicker.

Sanderinoa.8065:

After infinite light, yes definitely, but if only I got the sword instead of every other weapon after a billion fractal runs.

I completely understand. Still waiting on the fractal sword for my mes. >_<

Pyroatheist.9031:

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

frifox.5283:

My favorite from CoE, Icebrood Elementals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvtsmUM5DIo

Another favorite, Omega Golems in WvW. Chain reflects and the Omega is doing 0 damage.

I think that works on the Rampaging Ice Elemental in Fractals too. He uses the same move, the V-shaped line of ice spikes. That’s what you’re reflecting for the giant damage there.

Woah. That’s reflectable! Ok, going to have to muck around with that a bit.

So I noticed those moves being the same a while back, but have not yet gotten feedback to work on the rampaging ice elemental during the attack (while it works fine on the CoE elementals). It’s likely that I am simply too early or too late, but if someone could confirm, that would be great! If I run into him today during my run, I’ll post back.

Yeah, I turned melee assist off once I found out that you can stand in subject alpha for phase 1 CoE way back when >_<

And lupicus is the range boss in Arah. And while I will agree that melee makes the fight cake, whenever I convince PuGs and tell them what to do to melee…it never ends well.

colesy.8490:

It’s time PUGs learnt to melee bosses like the ice elemental and bloomhunger. There’s almost no excuse for them not to if they can do it in COF and COE, it just requires them spending a minute or two learning the tells.

Even in a PUG, you should have no problem meleeing the ice elemental, and I think bloomhunger has been solo’d at 80, so he’s pretty safe too.

While this wouldn’t be a problem, and it would be nice if people stopped bringing cleric’s gear and doing their best to melee when it’s most efficient, I can see where PuGs like to go with the flow (as far as fotm48 goes) to be safe. For example, on a 48, I went in to melee bloomhunger. One person said “what??” as I was the only one to run in. Everything was fine, but I downed at like 20% because I made a mistake in my dodges. I was immediately asked if I had 45 AR and was kicked. (Ever since, I only run if I have a friend who starts the instance).

Learning to melee fractal bosses takes time, and if someone at fotm 48 has never done so, they might not want to take the time to learn, and doing so in a 48 could get you kicked if in a PuG. Therefore they never take the time to do so, which is why I prefer guild runs now as it’s just more chill and are open to learning things like melee-ing the ice elemental. Plus, you need a skill called awareness when melee-ing some of the harder content (which may be easy and faceroll to you, but nonetheless, it is still harder content) such as Bloomhunger48 and IceElemental48 which is very OP!

PS – It would also be nice if people in the new LFG tool would stop joining fotm 48 groups and proceed to ask what is meant by “45AR required”. This has happened to me with more than 5 people…but I digress…

Great job!

/15char

Pyroatheist.9031:

As an aside, you can’t ‘draw aggro’ on mossman. He will target 1 person and stay with them until they die, then target another.

This is good to know, and why I can never shake him. Thanks!

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

@ Bumbler, how often do you have 3 phantasms up vs mossman or archdiviner? If you have aggro, how often is your gs auto actually in the 900 range?

With respect to mossman, when I have aggro, I kite him back and forth, in front of the house, on opposite ends until I hit the edge. It’s probably 20% of the fight in which I am greater than 900 range. Typically, I kite him to one end using GS1 and summoning iZerker on CD. Once he reaches me, the friend I usually run with roots him and I blink away and run to the opposite side. If he disappears on his way to me, I swap to sword and then blurred frenzy when he pops on me, and then I blink away. I normally have 2 iZerkers and 1 pistol phantasm up the entire fight (dogs often kill the iZerkers) and feedback when necessary. I’ll try scepter next time (if I am failing in my melee attempt) and see if the lack of cripple from iZerker is a hindrance.

As for the archdiviner, I range both fights at max range. I open up with pistol and swap to GS and the iZerker. The phantasms do not stay up long due to the condition wells, so I have maybe 1 up at a time (which is terrible DPS, i know, but what can I do ::insertgomeleehere::). Here, also, I will try scepter with an offhand next time I do him…which won’t be too far off, as I get cliffside at least 80% of my runs….the number of times I have gone swamp/cliffside/dredge is depressing.

Pyroatheist.9031:

A note about the archdiviner. Sometimes when reflecting ( or not, I haven’t been able to figure out what on earth is really happening) you can get hit with a LOT of damage from an attack called ‘ring of warding’. Just something to watch out for.

Ring of Warding is the projectile attack that you “should” be able to reflect. It appears that even if you reflect it with feedback, and see him take 6 8k crits, the ability pierces through and can still hit the player. Since the damage is the same as if a bolt hits the player, I assume this is the case. Usually, this happens when I feedback at the moment he is doing it, whereas I am never hit if there is a good 2-second window where he is in the bubble.

spoj.9672:

Actually you can techniquely solo melee mossman and ice elemental even if your group ranges. Archdiviner does require coordination and isnt pug friendly to melee. But thats not the point, the point is GS isnt even good in those situations. Scepter is better.

Well, I will have to try mossman again…my previous attempts when being the only person in melee range have not been good. And some groups I have played with aren’t putting cripple, making the GS phantasm better (for me) in those cases to help me kite (I will never understand it, but most of the time, I have mossman aggroed to me nearly the entire fight). It may be a trashsword, but it has been wonderful in helping me get PuG groups through Mossman unscathed.

When you say scepter is better. Are you assuming a cancellation of the auto before the 3rd hit?

colesy.8490:

You don’t need to kite them at all.

He’s practically the Subject Alpha of fractals, extremely lethal though heavily choreographed attacks which promote you bursting as fast as possible in melee, you can kill him at 48 with one heating.

Yes, you can. In an organized group where you know that everyone is aware of the tells and everyone is doing their part to maintain 25 might/vuln stacks. This is rarely the case with a PuG.

On this not, this is also the case with some of the other bosses in fractals such as the archdiviner and mossman. Yes, of course you can melee them, but the group needs to know each other and know when to properly use their skills. So in a PuG, when I am fighting mossman and I have aggro nearly the entire fight, GS is a requirement as I would die if I were the only person melee-ing him, and I can kite him using the GS4 to cripple. If I need a BF, I switch over and use it, summon a pistol phantasm, and wait to switch over.

In standard dungeons, both organized and in a PuG, full melee on a mesmer is best in most cases. Fractals 48 are simply a different story when not in an organized group, and having the GS on swap for when you need to back out is essential.

To add to Fractals:

Cliffside: For the arm seals, many of the trash mobs have a reflectable attack within feedback.
Ascalon: The archers and mages have reflectable attacks.

Arah:

Legendary Jotun Stargazer of path 1, feedback can be used to reflect his main attack instead of needing reflecting crystals.

Great job!

My favorite part is when you open the level 80 boss chest and see all blues and greens.

Both sigils of force and accuracy do not apply to phantasms.

Veprovina.4876:

So the dungeon build uses a sword mostly? Are there any builds that use the greatsword or something so i can stay in the back? :P

As for standard dungeons: standing back and using the greatsword is typically not the way to go in dungeons. As some people have said, you are out of range of any boons and you will do much less damage. While it may be difficult at first, stick with it, I personally find it more fun.

If you plan on doing fractals, and progressing up to 48, you will need a Greatsword for when you get to the 40s. Most pugs range the following bosses: mossman, archdiviner, ascalon boss phase 2, fire shaman elemental, and ice elemental/dredge powersuit. Skilled groups can melee these guys no problem, and if you are in such a guild/group, then whip out those melee weapons and more power to you. Otherwise, you will find that having the set; sword/(focus or pistol) and GS, to be invaluable. Sword/x on trash and the melee-able bosses (bloomhunger {though I see many pugs just prefer a range rotation, you should be able to melee him just yourself if you are confident}, uncategorized final boss, svanir shaman) and GS on the other bosses and if you need to escape.