Guild Wars 2

Elegie.3620:

Hello Joben,

Haven’t tested it (so it could probably be refined in practice), but I think the following mesmer build could do what you want.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArdWlknpGtNqxTNMrNSphY6cH3dqrkOwjCA-TJxHwAOLDE4JA4a/BAnCAA

Principles:

• As you’re a supporting type, I’ve made the build quite tanky. While its primary focus is the control of opponents, I’ve made it condition-based too, so that you can still contribute to the damage.
• To control your opponent, you may use Diversion (to daze/stun), Temporal Curtain (to pull), Chaos Storm (to daze/stun), Mantra of Distraction (to daze/stun).
• All these skills, if they result in an interruption, will immobilize your opponent, and possibly blind/cripple/chill him. If your opponent decides to kill your clones, he will end up being crippled as well. And we use hydromancy sigils for more chill, in the case he somehow gets angry at you and tries to retaliate.
• In terms of game play, you should build your clones calmly, then activate either Cry of Frustration or Diversion. Note that these skills, aside from their base effect, will also strip the opponent from some of his/her boons. Your scepter and your staff will give you plenty of active defense as well.
• And finally – you want the moa as elite

The mesmer class can be a bit overwhelming at first, but quite dangerous in experienced hands. Hope you’ll have fun with your friend.

Sorry to say but this is not an ideal Mesmer lockdown build for multiple reasons, most importantly the amulet and lack of any form of condition removal and our most reliable interrupt: Mantra of Distraction is not present.

If you wanna lock opponents down and keep them from being able to do anything, theres been some good suggestions. If you wanna do it on Mesmer, look up different lockdown Mesmer builds or check out this thread or this thread.

Keep in mind lockdown Mes is very difficult to learn.

I’ve run both 644(Mind Crush) and 62006(Shatterlock) and of the two 62006 had monstrous bursts. Lack of DE hurts for sure and it takes some getting used to -I wouldn’t be able to just slap on the traits right now and rekk kids without some warming up- but it definitely did insane damage and could even oneshot some specs.

.. I kinda wanna go back to it now.

Ty! Will be adding certain quotes into the OP

(Responses From VeeWee)

top 3 rules to pvp hmmm. there’s not really rules but more like guidelines. i’ll list a few off the top of my head

• learn the maps and the secondary objectives. learn when and when not to use them. learn the spots where you can lose an enemy if you’re getting chased. if you have blink and/or phase retreat, learn the blink spots. supcutie has a really good guide on that.

• rotations. pvp is a numbers game. learn when to be somewhere and when not to be somewhere.

• if an enemy goes down, cleave the body. don’t try to stomp unless you know for sure you can get it. if a teammate goes down, learn when to try to res and when not to. generally you’ll want to try to get your teammate up but sometimes it can’t be helped if he’s fragile and/or the enemy team is hardcore cleaving.

• positioning. don’t overextend. if your bunker is on a point there’s no reason for you to be on it too, especially if you’re less than durable. try not to fight off point especially if you’re behind.

• your rotations depend on a number of factors such as where you are currently, where the team is, where the enemy team is, where the enemy thief is, etc. prioritize the points you have over the ones you don’t. know when a fight is lost and when to retreat. don’t over-commit to a point or secondary objectives. a good example is sending too many people to tranquility while all your points get decapped because you have too few people up top. your target should be someone overextending first. then work on classes that don’t have many escapes like necro or ranger. if you have enough firepower you can focus the bunker first because he provides a lot of team support and survivability. it all depends on your comp. for example focusing a thief might not be the best idea because of all the escapes he has, but if you have enough cc then he’s an easy kill.

the biggest mistakes i see new players make i already outlined. fighting off point, over commitment, multiple people stomping when no one is cleaving and the downed guy gets revived, overextending, etc.

(From Backpack)

1. Match Numbers, Regroup if you team wipe, Dont push fights you cant win

2. Numbers…. Always match numbers (scenarios like bad 1v1s (engi v necro) you can rotate and +1 quickly but in general you want to match numbers)

3. Squishiest target, or highest damage target (lich necro etc) Or whoever has low CDS, sometimes a low bunker guard that eats a lot of cleave is a good target

4. Sitting on Home when no one is there

Sup guys! So, the last attempt I made for help crashed and burned and fell into thread oblivion in a matter of a couple hours. (Meh, happens.) Despite this, I’m still pushing forward with the initiative of getting more info out there for newer players which’ll hopefully help improve the overall quality of PvP matches.

That being said, I have a few questions for any experienced tournament player willing to lend a hand.

1. What’re the top 3 rules to pvp?
2. How do you decide on where to rotate and why?
3. How do you decide on who to target and why?
4. What are the biggest mistakes you see new players make?
5. What are the top 3 bunkers in your opinion?
6. What are the top 3 DPS classes in your opinion?
7. What are the most important roles for each class?

No trolls please, hoping to open an informative discussion.

KEY

Proc: To cause an effect. (Such as sigil of fire procs AoE damage on crit)

Rotate: To move to a point

Stomp: Kill a downed foe via “F” interactions.

Cleave: To cause damage in an arc/AoE. (Most sword autoattacks cleave, hitting up to 3 targets)

THINGS OF NOTE

• “if an enemy goes down, cleave the body. don’t try to stomp unless you know for sure you can get it. if a teammate goes down, learn when to try to res and when not to.” -VeeWee

• “Numbers…. Always match numbers (scenarios like bad 1v1s (engi v necro) you can rotate and +1 quickly but in general you want to match numbers)” -Backpack

• " Necros first because many are power and do a lot of damage, and mostly because you want to finish them before they can generate too much lifeforce. They are much easier to kill at the start of a fight. Thieves and eles next simply because if zerker they are easy to down. If on organized team going for guardian is a good idea too as they have the best rez mechanics." -Cam Ron.4170

Will be updating the guide this weekend…ish.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Xista.7391:

http://i.imgur.com/FKymDjC.jpg

oh god, I have about a dozen or so screenies of map chat QQ in skyhammer, I might have to hijack this pic and add mine on for the jokes sake

EDIT: 45 hours in MS paint.

GO FORTH! AND KNOCKBACK! (now all the urinating businessmen are wondering why a bathroom stall just burst out in laughter.)

I was sitting there saying the same thing.

“OMG ileap now indicates range! … Wait.. it still fails miserably when I’m out of range, it just now tells me I’m a failure in big letters. =/”

The build can work, but as it stands right now you won’t have a very big impact in a fight. You’re really better off with iPersona over Maimed, and as Swish said going for Power damage such as Zerker or Assassins. (Strength/Pack/Ogre/Lyssa Runes)

Rampagers is really not too great for Mesmer, and you really want Energy sigils somewhere in there to get more dodges.

Updated! Been sick recently (and on Destiny), so haven’t been in-game much. To answer some questions:

@Blackdevil: The idea is to use your “main” build. I’m still undecided as to whether we should split into brackets, keeping Condi builds fighting condi and power vs power. What do ya think?

@Daniel: Either a witness or if both of you cosign to your win. The duels are best of 5.

@Swish: Why’ve you been so sour lately? =[ It’s not just for dueling, it’s also an opportunity to see face different builds/styles and learn some new things.

skcamow.3527:

My initial thoughts find the new aura quite underwhelming. The collateral damage retaliation nerf from being able to originally gain retal off both the leap and swap is huge, and the 1s internal CD makes it worse. Sure, the vulnerability is nice if you’re tanking a bunch of damage but in the end I think this is inferior to what we had before.

The one thing I do like about it is the animation!

Like Pyro said, I hadn’t been able to reliably leap/swap off the curtain in forever. And to me, the vulnerability application is pretty considerable. 8 seconds PER HIT with no icd inbetween in ADDITION to effects like Chaos Storm/Armor makes both me and iWarlock pretty happy. =P

I’m not looking at the aura effect by itself. Nor am I planning to use curtain ONLY for it. What I’m saying is that the new aura is a pretty nice buff and gives a reason to remember using the leap from the curtain again.

Actually it works pretty consistently now. I know about what you’re talking about withe the curtain being wonky and unreliable at some point, but with the new patch I was able to grab the aura anytime I wanted.

As for comboing off ileap, the clone doesn’t have to cross the field. The leap finisher comes from when the Mesmer ports so as long as the player is on the field it works. Had no problems with Phase Retreat either.

To be honest VeeWee, you’d be better off sticking Bountiful Interruption (Chaos VIII) in place of Chaotic Dampening (X). This’ll give a significant boost to your overall damage and the extra boons also help with survivability. The tradeoff is more than worth it.

Other changes you may wanna consider: Dueling II (Phantasmal Fury) benefits duelist (pistol phantasm) the most since it relies heavily on rapid crits for damage. While Null Field is good, you may find iDisenchanter to offer better boon/condi removal more rapidly in smaller scale (2 to 3 enemies) engagements.

There hasn’t been much talk of this yet, but I’m actually really excited about the new Light Aura introduced yesterday, particularly for Mesmer.

New Aura: Light Aura

• Gain 2 seconds of retaliation when struck. (Cooldown: 1 second)
• Apply 8 seconds of vulnerability when struck.

Light Field:

Leaping through a light field now grants 5 seconds of light aura.

How does this effect Mesmer? Well we have two Light Fields in the form of:

Temporal Curtain (Focus 4)
Veil (Glamour)

It’s worth noting that temporal curtain lingers a bit after the pull is activated. This means that you can definitely use the curtain and ileap/Phase retreat off of where it last was to gain the new light aura. I’ve even been able to curtain pull, ileap, AND phase retreat to gain 7 second of light aura.. and why is that important?

There’s NO ICD on how much vulnerability you can apply! No 1s cooldown! This means our Light aura works beautifully in combination with vuln-stacking abilities Dazzling (Dom 15) and Chaos Armor. It makes it much easier to stack retaliation AND punish spamming/rapid hit abilities (like rangers >_> ).

To me, this is awesome! Light Aura + Chaos Storm has been excellent in conjunction with the other buffs. Has anyone else been exploring the glorious new shiny aura?

Dude nobody mentioned the Temporal Curtain (LIGHT AURA) buff!

Leaps ontop of curtain supposedly grant the new aura.

My only question… Does iwarden work!? Mantra of distraction!? Is it true!?!?!?

/wet

Oh, Destiny, you were so close to giving my Xbox One more playtime. =[

Done! I have a whole 4 free spots xD

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.

Hey guys, I was really unsure about opening up this thread for fear of getting trolled into oblivion, but for the sake of knowledge and hopefully to help out others I wanted to share this video and open up a discussion on targets and rotations:

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8phx-jSxqxM

Build Link

This is NOT some “check out my pro” video. The biggest problem a lot of people have in tPVP is figuring out where/why to properly rotate and who to target. As there isn’t many guides on the subject, I was hoping we could have an informative discussion on player choices mid-battle.

• How would you have rotated differently from what I did? Why?
• What did you see me doing right/wrong?
• Would you have chosen different targets? Why?

Please Note I’m not asking for Mesmer help here, I’m asking for rotation/targetting perspectives from those of you who PvP far more than I do so I could hopefully use that info for a bigger writeup later on.

As a lockdown Mesmer, I tent to target either squishy or AoE-oriented targets like Necros/Elementalists first. I excel at stripping boons and keeping targets immobilized/incapacitated and provide team support through Pack Runes, Null Field (Strips boons/condis), and AoE damage.

Any help from more experienced players would be massively appreciated!

I haven’t dueled supcutie in a while, so maybe I’ve leveled up to the point where I can give him something of a run for his money. =P

Also, I’m gonna start working on some Confounding Suggestions vids soon too, as I’ve been a bit biased towards CI recently. x_x Can’t help it with that sword/focus -staff CI setup being so awesome! But sword/sword is calling my name.

Daniel Handler.4816:

Yo. Im your EU guy. Kentigem the mesmer.

for Dungeons, PvP, or both?

Sup guys! To celebrate the opening of our EU-branch custom arena, I was hoping to try out a weird-but-fun little game. This may fly, or may not work at all but.. eff it, here’s the pitch!:

The Tower of Ego

Who’s the best Mesmer out there!? The game is simple; by participating, you get a number. The numbers start off in no specific order, but denote skill/rank among your Mesmer peer. Of course at first this list will be wildly inaccurate, but the catch is that you’re free to challenge anyone to a best 3 out of 5 duel to try to obtain a higher ranking.

( Example: 10 people are participating, and of the ten I’m number 7. If I feel I’m really atleast 3, I challenge whoever is #3 to the best of five duel for his rank. If I win get bumped to 2, and everyone else gets bumped down one)

RULES

• State rank with the build you play, you may also state up to two alternative utilities you may switch to inbetween matches.

• For the sake of fairness, only Mass Invisibility will be the allowed elite.

• If you lose a match, you may not challenge that rank again until your current rank had increased.

• Both players must agree to the challenge and post the results in the thread.

• This is just for fun! No salt or overcomplicating things please. =[

US Rankings

1. Rylock Dreadstone (Warlord of Chaos)
2. Aeoldyn (Chaos Archangel)
3. Chaos
4. StickerHappy
5. Skcamow
6. Kael (NA?)
7. Isis (Aluren)
8. masskillerxploit
9. Korusef
10. Jhughes
11. Swish
12. image image (roadx)

EU Rankings

1. Korusef
2. Kentigem (Daniel Handler)
3. Coxy
4. Dondagora
5. magical giant
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

(Names added randomly to list. If you’d rather not participate feel free to let me know)

Hey guys, so with my time with this game drawing to a close I’ve been unable to reliably and consistently hop on, as a result it’s near impossible for me to plan events and such since I don’t know if I’d be able to attend them.

I need help!

Hoping to find people interested in scheduling and carrying out Sparring/Dungeon runs on both sides. People who would be in charge of scheduling and coordinating with other members ideally on a weekly basis.

We need people for both the US and EU sides willing to spend some time scheduling dungeon and PvP runs on the weekends and willing to shoot out mass PMs to alert other members. The more people willing to get on board with this, the merrier, as I’d rather have multiple people tackling events so we can do them more frequently.

Anyone interested?

US
Calliope – Dungeon planner

EU
Daniel Handler – Dungeons/Fractals/PvP Coordinator

Swish.2463:

Need to add one more.

I hate it when the “Big” Egotistic or i guess some people call them famous, Mesmer community Members completely derail a thread over a petty argument in which everyone comes out of it looking like more of an kitten and idiot than they did going in.

Thank you

This one.. went right over my head. o_o I definitely don’t get the reference.

MailMail.6534:

I’m obsessed with sword/focus+Staff.

/cackles

Just as planned..

Hardest fight as a lockdown Mesmer? Probably either Warrior or Engineer.

Most stressful? Engineer easily, since I have to rely on iWarden to mitigate a huge chunk of their damage.

Most difficult opponent? Either supcutie or Caed. sorry Ry, but I’ve NEVER beaten Caed, and supcutie is just a bit more difficult to take on.

And I’m feelin’ good after smacking you up this weekend, excuses notwithstanding. =P

Absconditus just went in. +1

(and Zax unless you were having really bad luck, staff clones should outdamage the Gs clones. Also testing on a static target doesn’t take into account Condi cleanses, which is a bigger problem if you’re banking on bleeds as a main damage source.)

From a strictly condition-removal perspective, I’d advise Null Field. It’s on a lower cooldown, works for the entire team, and provides an Ethereal Combo Field for further defense, it also rips boons from any opponent in the circle. Null is also more reliable because Arcane can be blocked/blinded/invuln’d/Line of Sighted. While Thievery does remove 3 condis at once, Null removes 6 overtime.

I tend to grab Thievery as long as I have some other form of removal, like Mender’s Purity, Lyssa Runes, or certain sigils. And the last time I tested it, it used the opponent’s own condition damage against them as if they had cast the ability on themselves.

dandamanno.4136:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

• The most epic duel versus a very rare build.. Inspiration-Shatter! This was one of the most fun best of 3’s I’ve ever had, and I never expected the build to be so powerful! Check it out here! Props and shoutouts to Illusory Dilettante!

Loved watching this duel

Eidt: One question, at the 12:10 mark you use blink to get atop the rock. I saw no cursor or any aiming reticule at all. How do you aim this? Or is this just an editing trick?

None of the videos are edited, but for some reason MSI Afterburner (the program I use to record, tis free for anyone who wants it. Props to skcamow for putting me on!) doesn’t show my cursor when the videos play back.

I don’t use standard aiming though, I always found it to be an unnecessary extra step. I have fast-casting on so it teleports me to wherever my cursor is when I press the skill.

Sup guys! Got some new videos up in the OP of the 4/4/6 CI Lockdown. From now on I’ll be putting notes in the videos pointing out good and bad moments. I’ve done some for some of the older videos as well.

Things of note:

• Proudly wrecked an Engi while down to 10% HP. (link to fight)

• 1v1 versus a Condi Warrior (link to fight)

• The most epic duel versus a very rare build.. Inspiration-Shatter! This was one of the most fun best of 3’s I’ve ever had, and I never expected the build to be so powerful! Check it out here! Props and shoutouts to Illusory Dilettante!

Sethren.8472:

Hrm…

- I hate when Mesmers approach class changes through a singular, “tunnel-visioned” lens (usually PvP or WvW), and they forget there is a third mode of play (PvE). cough Scepter cough

- I hate when certain Mesmers achieve the rank of arrogance that some display on these forums daily. You may call them “experts.” The real word is “arrogant” or “pompous.”

- I hate when Mesmers act like know-it-alls.

- I hate when Mesmers contradict themselves.

- I hate how much animosity there is between PvP/WvW Mesmers and PvE Mesmers.

- I hate when Mesmers cry for Mesmer nerfs because they want to preempt the other classes crying for Mesmer nerfs.

- I hate when Mesmers are scared of being damage dealers. Any buff that increases damage, they immediately call OP, and say ArenaNet needs to nerf it.

- I hate how PvP/WvW Mesmers look condescendingly on PvE Mesmers. Just because you enjoy one game mode over the other does not make you better than those who enjoy the opposite mode.

- I hate arrogant Mesmers.

Jeez, Pyro. Can you feel all the love?

By the way, Sethren, that’s a presumptuous list filled to the brim with hyperbole.

Also, its possible to be a “pompous, arrogant” expert.

Ithilwen.1529:

Thanks for much material to look at. As to effort.. I’m currently level 36 in pvp and have an 80 in every class.. and 3 80 mesmers. I also get consistently flattened by other Mesmers.

I should also say that I have received some help and that was very good. Still, I play Mesmer for the love of the class despite the regular hammerings and I would really like to be more successful.

I do maintain that ANET creating a face roll Mesmer style is the direct result of new players not getting help and re rolling to other classes.

Are ya on US or EU? I’d be happy to play with ya! And anet didn’t “invent” the PU build, or any build, in response to inexperienced players. I highly doubt they had the foresight to expect the builds we’re currently running so much as they release the traits, see the builds they spawn, and adjust accordingly.

I kind of hate the term “expert” or “master” that puts certain players on a pedestal.

Everyone has a right to state their opinion, so saying “You haven’t played in X amount of time so your thoughts on the subject are expired” is no better than saying “You’re too new to the game to give your opinion.”

If a person has solid facts to back up what they’re saying then they have the right to say it.

TooBz.3065:

Even when we do provide information, many people are jerks about it.

Not true. Only Pyro is a jerk about it. =P … And sometimes colesy.

And as for the search thing, really all you’d have to do is type in “Mesmer Guide” in google and bam! Mine and the Dulfy guide are the first to appear.

TooBz.3065:

I hate seeing a mesmer criticizing another mesmer because they chose to play builds that are too effective.

I hate seeing a mesmer asking for nerfs to the mesmer class.

I hate seeing mesmers calling other mesmers “fair weather” when they don’t continue to play the class after an endless stream of nerfs.

I hate seeing mesmers who say a nerf if fine because it doesn’t affect their build.

I hate seeing mesmers insist that you run a min/max build in dungeons instead of one that’s fun to play.

I hate seeing a mesmer claiming the mesmer is only a “veilbot”

I think I’m guilty of some of this.. but still +1’d.

Ithilwen.1529:

I hate the class divide among Mesmers. I do have a GW1 Mesmer and have been playing long enough to have about 9k achievement. I also play on an old laptop with often crumby net.

Then I go out and do something that is regarded as dumb and get told something like, “You ain’t no Mez,” (sic)

There are no schools. It’s rare to to find someone willing to teach.

If you don’t like the new changes to scepter that are coming out, look in the mirror

A new Mesmer has zero chance of getting on the high and mighty tier and is mostly on their own.

Thus ANET needs to make a faceroll Mesmer build available. That’s partially the fault of all you “experts” out there.

//end rant

See, the problem with this isn’t the class, its just with most players in general. You gotta remember that there are a massive amount of immature people who play, regardless of age and/or class.

Besides Guardians, this is the most informative and helpful subforum (hell Thieves just recently created a thief-version of the Grimoire). And the guide I wrote has been copied throughout the internet and translated into Spanish/German/Chinese. Anyone who wanted to improve could very easily find the info they wanted, whether here or YouTube, or even by PMing any one of the regular posters here.

No one is obligated to go in-game and spoonfeed people, especially when all you have to do is a 5-minute search. Granted, people like myself, Calliope, and Warlord tutor people we run into all the time. I literally can’t spectate a Mesmer with a screwed up build without offering advise.

• Not Shattering I don’t care what build you’re running, learning where and when to pop at LEAST Distortion is crucial. Every build can make effective use of shatters in some way

• Shattering Phantasms I do this sometimes. Hell, we all do. But some people will summon phantasms and shatter them BEFORE shattering their clones. As a general rule always try and shatter clones first and save the Phants for when your shatters are on cooldown… or shatter phants when they’re about 10s from recharging.

• Doing absolutely nothing but kiting with staff The staff is one of our best defensive weapons, sure, but it still hits ridiculously hard. iWarlock can hit for 7k in sPvP! The auto attack does more damage the closer you are to the opponent, and Chaos Armor shouldn’t be popped just because it happens to not be on CD. Look at the staff as a “switch-out” weapon. Chaos Storm, iWarlock, and Chaos Armor are all better suited to be used right before you’re going to swap to your offset. Speaking of which…

• Failing miserably with Chaos Storm So you’re using staff, just Phase Retreated and need some damage.. What do you do? Drop Chaos Storm!? Well don’t expect that to do any sort of anything if your opponent can see you and isn’t preoccupied with something else. Chaos Storm is very easy to avoid and walk around, so you should never just throw it out all willy-nilly. The best times to use Chaos Storm is either defensively on yourself when fighting a melee-opponent, when you can use a combo finisher (preferably a LEAP or BLAST), or when you can swap to sword and immob the opponent. Please don’t just throw it out there and /dance behind it.

• Greatsword: Summon Phantasm and spam your life away I used to think the GS was an uncreative, overly-simplistic weapon. Summon Phant, spam all other skills except iWave, profit. Apparently I’m not the only one.. The GS has quite a few interesting nuances and combos (such as 1200 ranged MirrorBlade+MindSpike+MindWrack bursts) people who don’t take the time to learn these end up over-relying on iZerker for damage.

• Waste Moa As a wiseman once said: “It’s already a 2v1.. why’d you have to turn me into a bird?” Save Moa for even fights and liches/tornados/MM Necros

• Lack Creativity The others are in no particular order but this is my biggest pet peeve versus other Mesmer. While everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I’d argue that Mesmer offers quite a bit of diversity for people willing to explore. Even if said builds won’t work in the highest end gameplay, Mesmer has so many different playstyles that if you’ve only been playing 1 or 2 types of Mesmer over the past couple years, you don’t know what you’re missing out on!

I don’t even really know who karl is, but this thread made me like him more, so there’s a weird inverted bright side of this thread.

I just play, and it just sorta rains balance changes once in a while. But I must admit GW2 is the first game where I’ve seen a dev talk about upcoming changes to the game on camera and then later on see that same dev end up killing me in-game on a random day.

/datGrouch
/eff engineers

Coulter.2315:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

What scares me is how the tweaked clone-deaths will actually work.

Since they can be dodged/blinded/ect, does that mean they count as a hit?

Does that mean they’ll proc Retaliation on us? Or counter-attack effects?

…Will clone deaths break stealth!?

They don’t do damage they just apply condis – you don’t break stealth if you daze the target from stealth (unless you also cause damage with the effect).

True. That’s a very good point.

@Relshdan: Despite anets track record with Mesmer bugs, I don’t like to just assume that they’ll mess up. Its unproductive and further alienates the players from the devs

This is true, and definitely a possibility, but they could end up with the same properties as if you shattered them.

I think reducing recharges wouldn’t help, we need more of the resource not quicker ways to spend it.

I really like the concept of being able to produce a clone without needing to waste a skill to do it… Dodge-shatters are so clutch!

I could see some alternatives though.

Arcane Transference -Manipulation // Instant- Convert up to 3 boons into clones. 15s CD.

Splitting Images – Master Chaos Tree – Create a clone every time you take up 20% or more damage (5s ICD)

Scepter Clones now produce clones at the end of their attack chain

Shatters Reworked into Hexes, still cost clones. Hexes can be cleansed if there are no other conditions present 3s duration per clone.

F1 – Hex of Suffering: Opponent does [Halting Strikeish] damage to themself for each attack.

F2 – Hex of Bedlam: Opponent radiates AoE Confusion for each attack.

F3 – Hex of Betrayal: Opponent is can be targetted by their allies’ attacks.

F4 – Hex of Misdirection: All incoming attacks miss target Mesmer. (1s per clone. Distortion, essentially.)

Don’t you spout “but.. balance!” at me!

Shatter builds aren’t meant for PvE, they’re almost entirely inferior to Phantasm builds.

For PvP, ya may wanna check this out: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Supcutie-s-Comprehensive-PvP-Shatter-Guide/first

What scares me is how the tweaked clone-deaths will actually work.

Since they can be dodged/blinded/ect, does that mean they count as a hit?

Does that mean they’ll proc Retaliation on us? Or counter-attack effects?

…Will clone deaths break stealth!?

Sorry for the delay!

UPDATED 9/3/2014

Now I’m really questioning my elementary math. o_O

I guess Im dumb, but I’m actually pretty excited. A lot of potential cool stuff on the way. Not really afraid of being let down, it happens. Bugs happen. Skritt happens. I’ll complain after the patch when there are actual (not theoretical) things to complain about.

And we always get buffed crazy in December anyways.

This is awesome. Gonna add this to the grimoire if ya don’t mind?

Im certainly no master but I rarely have problems with engis. C-storm the turrets, drop warden after, blurred frenzy! I’ll try and get some duels with a turret engi.

Hey, so I checked the build out and I was gonna ask which game mode is it for (pvp, pve, wvw) but I quickly realized it won’t matter much..

You can’t do any meaningful damage.

The build you posted succeeds at being durable, but little else. If you were aiming to be a tank then you’re a bit off; tanks have to be able to generate threat to pull aggro. This build isn’t any kind of threat so you’ll often be ignored by enemies. Constant Chaos Armor is cool, but why do you feel you need it? In PvE Protection, Vigor, and the ability to dodge are more important, Chaos Armor is meant to soak up a barrage of small attacks.

Right now your build needs a reliable damage output or else you’ll fall short to other classes builds that can do what you do (you don’t need to dedicate traits to glamours for the armor) and provide support but also dish out their share of damage, otherwise you’re dragging your team behind by only being half-useful.

If you’d like to make some changes, I’d be happy to help.

SlimChance.6593:

I have a question for the Lockdown pro’s in this thread. And its not so much about the build itself or the skills.. More the games setting. What I mean is usually when I mess up, I realize my camera was over the place or I just didn’t see my target’s animation or didn’t have the right target. Or I simply lost my mouse off screen somehow? (Could be I’m just too old and these eyes simply can’t keep up.)

So what are your video settings? Does SweetFX allow for better(clearer) visuals? Is a high DPI mouse better at camera control or a lower? Do you use fast cast in game, etc. Is there anything different “settings” wise that you found to help?

Well my settings/mouse are normal with the exception that I have fast casting on (rather than picking a target my aoes drop wherever my mouse pointer is).

I actually sort of have the same problem and have been slowly getting over it. Coming from console games to MMOs was really jarring, and I used to be a clicker before playing GW2, as a result I find myself sometimes accidentally clicking off of my target or not realizing I’m not on target because I my eyes wandered down to my skills rather than he fight itself.

I’ve started to get over this in a couple ways. First, I try to keep my mouse pointer trained onto my target, and only occasionally glance down at my skills. When I lose my target I usually hit tab, but I try to narrow the camera and position so that I can only see my opponent (and their pets.. X.x).

But yeah, it could be that you’re accidentally clicking off your target or brief moments of stealth screwing you over, like Ranger longbow. Hope that helps in some way!

StickerHappy.8052:

Rematch! I think i better smoke weed before dueling to keep me calm! haha.

Doesn’t work. I tried (like.. allday errday). A whole new load of screw ups happen. =P

StickerHappy.8052:

Hi Chaos and Rylock,

I have a question for you guys, you guys use focus pull right? so with CI thats 2.5 secs, is it worth it with warden because only how many hits does it connect with the duration? since it attacks in melee range

This is assuming sword 3 is on CD. I am just curious with the lockdown with CI and warden, not the fact that it is an AoE interrupt.

Well it depends on what other options you have, really.

Check out the video “Those Interrupts Tho (link)”. When I dueled Jhughes, I dropped the Temporal Curtain and let it sit for almost it’s full duration before interrupting him with the pull. Blurred Frenzy was already wasted, so when I summoned the iWarden while he was immobed I had to use a mantra charge to keep him immob’d for it’s full duration.

If I couldn’t do that, then what happened in that Guardian fight (link) (Warden usually got owned after 2 or 3 of its 12 hits) where the warden will die to random AoE.

There’s a third option though, which you can see in this fight versus the thief (link). I couldn’t immob him into the Warden’s spin, but instead I camped inside the Warden’s defensive whirl. Since warden blocks projectiles, he had to melee me, which forced him to get chewed up by my phantasm.

Even if the iWarden doesn’t get it’kitten off, it’s still very useful as long as it’s alive and spinning.

TekknoTroll.9703:

Since we’re discussing lockdown builds I hope it is all right if I post mine here and ask you guys for some feedback and advice?

Linkety link

I use this in WvW where I alternate between roaming and zerg running, depending on what the huild/commander needs at the moment. I went Harmonius Mantras + Mender’s Purity (can’t wait to see how MoD will fit in to this) for I find them indispensable to get through all the condi bombs, especially since more than half of the time I try to run on the commander, cleaving with the sword and switching weapons for the Hydromancy Sigil effect. That’s why I also run Deceptive Evasion and Debilitating Dissipation so I can keep up condi pressure on the enemies as I roll through them.

I run full celestial armour for rounded out stats (mainly for better healing and to have at least some condi damage), but I am unsure whether that is the way to go. Should I just switch to the usual zerk/knight/cavalier combo and ditch the condi (also swapping out Debilitating Dissipation and Deceptive Evasion in the process)?

Another reason why I like running this build is because it allows me to quickly switch to PU in case I need to hide within a keep, sneaky sneaky.

Well that looks pretty solid trait/weapon-wise. As for your stats, unfortunately I can’t say for certain in WvW, but why not try phasing out some celestial for zerker bit by bit until you hit that power/defense threshold you’re comfortable with. Also, have you tried GS/Staff?