Guild Wars 2

The Kit Refinement trait also creates the Elixir Gun’s skill 5 when you equip the Elixir gun. Also the Healing Turrets toolbelt skill Healing Mist (iirc) is a Water field for 1 second.

Edit ftw? 10char

Delofasht.4231:

My preference would be to have the skill teleport you to the targets location and immobilize them, then allow you to swap positions with a clone created at your original starting location. Then it could be used defensively or offensively, and the ranged increased by 300 to 900 range, to match the range of the pistol weapons base range untraited. Also the CD on it should be increased to compensate for it’s increased power level, by around 20% probably. Longer range, stronger ability because it’s more versatile.

That sounds more like our Spear 2 skill Feigned Surge/Feign which is 10x easier to use than Illusionary Leap and tbh teleporting away from the target I just ‘surged’ to is way more useful.

The Mesmer has two types of combo fields and 3 different finishers. We have 4 ‘ethereal’ combo fields and two ‘light.’ We have 3 of the 4 potential finishers. Currently we lack the “Whirl” finisher.

Veil (utility skill) and Temporal Curtain (Focus 4) are the Light Combo Fields.
Feedback (utility), Null Field (utility), Chaos Storm (Staff 5) and Time Warp (elite skill) make up our Ethereal Combo Fields.

The Prestige (Torch 4) is our only blast finisher. When used in an Ethereal field it creates Chaos Armor on all friendly targets in the area.

‘Phase Retreat’ (Staff 2), and ‘Illusionary Leap’s’ alternate skill ‘Swap’ (MH Sword 3) are the mesmers Leap Skills. When used through or from an Ethereal field you become buffed with Chaos Armor.

The Phantasmal Duelist and Magic Bullet (pistol) are Projectile finishers and will create ‘chaos bullets’ applying random conditions when shot through or into an Ethereal field.

That covers most of the more common mesmer self created combos. Most classes specialize in a certain combo field type and/or combo finisher. The wiki links will provide more details.

I’ve had -0- issues in any aspect of PvE (edited to say PvE which I intended) with my mesmer. In fact there is very little you can’t solo. You might not rip through mobs as fast as other classes, or be as tough, but it’s definitely all very doable.

Just be sure to use all the tools at your disposal.

That’s about 1/2 of the mesmer ground target skills (mind stab, null field, time warp, and blink) Don’t forget: Veil, Focus 4/Into The Void (name eluding), Chaos Storm, and some racial abilities. I do agree though that Blink is perfect as is regarding it’s range/movement to ground target setup.

The Blink/surf bug is a minor issue and no where near a high priority considering all the other “issues” the Mesmer has.

I think The Prestige needs to have an alternate ability once activated. Using the 2nd ability would cause the blast/fire wave to trigger and end the invisibility. It would make it infinitely better to be able to have that on demand blast finisher to combo with our awesome ethereal fields.

A lot of these posts are considering Conditions from the point of damage. Conditions involve other things such as blind, cripple, stuns, and daze. All 4 of which the Mesmer can excel at. A build using those heavily won’t top DPS charts, but I think you’d find in a party situation the group certainly does better with solid crowd control.

The only issue comes from Bosses which frequently are flat out immune or heavily resistant to many forms (although Moa Morph is surprisingly effective against a number of Bosses). It’s not difficult to pop out a few phantasms and still contribute to the DPS for the boss.

Food for thought.

The 5 stacks of confuse could actually be decent with that build. Since ALL of your shatters will be applying confusion from your traits. Would be a piece of cake to build that into the 15 stack range.

The short duration combined with the rapid fall off of higher stacks really needs to be adjusted. That said, the Torch Phantasm confuse is a very long duration and does a lot to help maintain the stacks.

I run a similar build, and the Torch really does excel for Confusion assuming you take the confuse on blind traits….which can turn the torch into a confusion machine. And since your stacking cond the burn from The Prestige is just gravy. The torch does need fixing though. We need to be able to have it cancel early (from say…a dodge) and still have it do it’s fire aoe and it would serve as a far more useful Blast finisher. For PVE the stealth is just way to long to effectively use both conditions that The Prestige applies.

The pistol isn’t a bad choice and The Duelist can stack bleeds very quickly with Sharper Images. If you’re going for shatters though it becomes a much poorer choice due to it’s (now longer) CD.

That leaves you with the Focus (amazing for WvW) or the Offhand Sword which I find horrible particularly when paired with the scepter.

I consider it a buff as it’s Better Now than Previously. Working as intended is an entirely different issue. Regardless, they’ve altered the weapons (for better or worse) so it’s not like they’re completely unaware.

The fury trait is a good trait to have. I’m more concerned about the Illusionists Celerity trait becoming more and more mandatory.

The mesmer GS did get a buff. Particularly to skills 1 and 3. The scepter as well recently received (albeit minor) improvement to it’s #1 skill. So please don’t claim we haven’t received any love.

To the OP. It’s not our only viable build but it is one of the more common.

I didn’t really see any zergs from either side in this vid. That said the music selection was nice. Track names/Artists please.

The key thing is if you’re going for condition damage: The numbers won’t get really viable at 80 until your Cond is near 1500 it doesn’t matter how you get there. That’s more of a playstyle choice.

I recently converted my mesmer into condition damage particularly working off a confuse build and while I’m not dpsing like crazy it’s highly enjoyable.

Could we have a link to your exact build? Color me curious.

I wouldn’t be so sure. A 20 illusion mind wrack would be incredibly entertaining…to the mesmer.

It works on any dazed/knockdown/stunned mobs/players. If you look closer the Domination line is all about stun/daze with a few handy traits showing up elsewhere.

Sidenote: Inactive does not mean “afk” players.

As long as you’re soloing content easily just enjoy the class. Mesmer is one class where understanding comes through playing. Just know that it’s a busy class and be prepared to push a lot of buttons.

I find binding your heal skill to R and then ZXCV for your 7-9 + elite incredibly handy. If you use Blink you’ll find it becomes 300% more useful if you don’t have to stretch for a 7 key + click a spot.

I cannot look right now, but doesn’t sharper images only apply to phantasms, not clones?

The above posts have it mostly right. Here’s some further clarification. This may be tl;dr

Illusions – This accounts for ALL Clones and ALL Phantasms. If a trait, say Illusionists Celerity 5pt trait from the Illusions trait, says Illusions it will effect both clones and phantasms. Traits will specify clones, phantasms or illusions.

-Clones – Look exactly like you (offhand weapons will not appear on clones) to other people they have your name, and are difficult to tell apart. Clones do -0- damage, but they do apply conditions. Clones are designed as cannon fodder for shattering or distracting enemies. Mainhand weapons (sword + scepter) can only produce clones. All offhand weapons produce phantasms. Clones will autoattack with whatever weapon you were equipped with when they were summoned. Clones have very few hitpoints and possess the defense of a wet paper bag.

-Phantasms – Have a unique look and name. They appear as a shadowed purple figure. Phantasms do significant damage and possess (mostly) unique abilities. Phantasms do not auto attack and there is a time delay between each use of their single ability. Phantasms are considerably tougher than their clone counterparts but still die easily from direct attacks or aoe.

You can only ever possess 3 illusions in any combination of clones/phantasms. Here are a few scenarios:

You have 3 clones produced:
1. You cast a phantasm — the oldest clone is destroyed (this triggers on death effects from traits) and replaced with a phantasm.
2. You cast a clone — the oldest clone is destroyed (this triggers on death effects from traits) and replaced with a new clone.

You have 3 phantasms produced:
1. You cast a phantasm — the oldest phantasm is destroyed and replaced with a new phantasm.
2. You cast a clone — the oldest phantasm is destroyed and replaced with a new clone.

You have 2 phantasms and 1 clone:
1. You cast a phantasm — the clone is destroyed (this triggers on death effects from traits) and replaced with a new phantasm.
2. You cast a clone — the clone is destroyed (this triggers on death effects from traits) and replaced with a new clone.

General Advice:
-If shattering your clones will save your life: DO IT. Better them than you.

-Mesmers are highly reliant on utility skills and almost all of them provide some form of defense or escape.

-Your very first skill point should be invested in Decoy.

-Your starting heal (Ether Feast) is the best one you get. The other ones are highly situational and rarely produce a better effect.

-Mantras are currently underpowered, yet have the unique quality of “appearing” awesome. These should be taken as a last resort. At the very least require advanced game-play techniques to properly use.

-Signets are of limited use for the mesmer. Ultimately there are better choices. The signet providing 50% more hp to illusions does have merits though.

-Feedback – Glamour Utility skill — amazing…use it, love it.

-The Phantasmal Defender utility is highly useful in PvE, but starts to fade in later levels.

-I highly suggest your first 5 trait points should go into the Illusions line to obtain Illusionists Celerity: reduces the cd of illusions by 20%. This is a must have trait imho and I would never consider a build without it. It’s more important now than ever with recent mesmer nerfs increasing the CD of our illusion skills.

I hope this helps and feel free to PM me in game at Vexor.3640 for further advice.
Peace.

A few things to note:

The GS 4 pBerserker is likely the cause of the cripple you’re seeing, not the trait.

The 20-20-0-0-30 build is very powerful, but VERY squishy. I personally run a 30-0-0-20-20 setup. The focus is an amazing tool especially when traited in the vit line. The extra hp might not seem like much but when dealing with dungeons, or particularly aggressive thieves in pvp it pays off.

The focus 4 skill is the definition of massive utility: haste, cripple, pull, and reflect. You haven’t seen awesome until you rip a stack of people off a keep wall into the waiting zerg below.

The 3rd shatter is highly underrated. Clones rarely reach the target and detonate at the same time. And with the daze each hit clone will interrupt a newly started attack. It usually ends up 1 second daze (thus interrrupted), 1 second before the next clone shatters // repeat.

Mesmers are highly reliant on their utility, much more than other classes and that’s why the first 20-30 levels are harder.

Shadow Puppet above is absolutely correct. Shatter’s might not trigger on-death effects but the clone overwrite certainly does. That’s why the Dueling X trait for clones on dodge and Mirror Image are awesome for clone factory builds.

I think people have been greatly underestimated Diversion (F3) and the Imbued Diversion grandmaster trait. Paired with Confounding Suggestions (Domination Grandmaster) you can shut down groups of mobs (or players, in WvW this is insanely fun). And with fully traited Domination and Illusions trees your regular damage is pretty consistent (and high).

I’ve had a lot of success in WvW with this setup: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgUQJAWRlwzaqXUTmGb9IhpCBH1DtfduT6RrBwpB;TsAgyCuo+y8l4L7XuvkftKY4x2DA

Master Trait in domination gets rotated a lot for me depending on how things are going. This build is also more focused on Shatter and clone death to apply it’s conditions.

I currently play an 80 mesmer. If you think the mesmer is weak in pvp or pve you’re likely doing it wrong. Yes, the mesmer grows through a rough patch early on, but once you start opening up trait lines you’ll find the class pretty much never ever dies in pve and can solo almost any content (obviously not dungeons or high powered mobs).

Outside of dungeons, and large/group scale mobs there is not a single (pve) thing the mesmer cannot solo. I pretty sure few other classes can claim that ability and not with the consistency of the mesmer.

Bravo! Well done. Now take a deep breath.

Hey, thanks for the track list! Just FYI the link comes back as bad. Works fine if you copy paste it though.

Don’t bank on the Torch cooldown reset from cancelling it early. That’s probably a bug and will be changed.

Duelist has a 20% chance (as does Magic Bullet) to proc “chaos bullets” through ethereal fields.

I’m sure someone mentioned this, but I’ll repeat it. Staff 5: Chaos Storm will frequently give speed boosts. Place it slightly ahead as you’re running to ensure you cross the entire field of Chaos Storm. This will give you the best odds of gaining speed.

Take the Torch, Decoy and Mass Invis as well for travel. Invis helps keep you out of combat which means you run full speed.

The dodge clone for running around in PVE is awesome! Changes to REALLY awesome when you trait them to cripple nearby foes on death. The conditions you can stack onto a mob with clones is where they shine. Personally, I’m disappointed shatter doesn’t seem to proc the “death” effects (prays it’s a bug).

Phantasms & Clones are 100% disposable, use once or twice and discard. Like a tissue.

Overall good video. It’s nice to see a fellow mesmer using the staff properly (ie: Chaos Storm is for you, not the bad guy). The Aegis proc happens 99% of the time.

Particularly liked the 2nd song you used. Artist/Name please.

Nice vid. Excellent music selection.

Certain classes have traits to make their signet passives work while the active state is on cd.

I pretty much agree with everything you said. However, the Staff Mastery in the Chaos tree is all about the 20% cooldown, not the +50 Toughness. That 20% stacks with the 5pt minor trait in our last tree. You can use Phase Retreat (staff 2) on a 5 second timer. Also the dodge illusion summon from the Duelist tree is amazing when used while stealthed.

One thing I would have added is explaining some of the more vague things. For example what is +Malice on the Scepter Mastery and things of that nature. You did a great job of pointing out some of the fun combos between trees that aren’t readily noticed.

I think the strong dislike of signets/mantras is because our other utility skills are so much better. Also Mantras are way underpowered at this time.

Your sneak peek of that upcoming video brings to mind two things:
1. It looks great! Nice effects. Can’t wait for the “big reveal.”
2. All those numbers (particularly the big ones) is going to make the Mesmer seem more OP which can lead to people crying nerf.

I have but never use this trait as there are far better choices (namely Take Root).

Your clones will never overwrite a phantasm. Phantasms can (do) overwrite clones however. Phantasms are only overwritten by other phantasms. If you experience otherwise, that is a bug and repeat/test then report.

Also if you have 3 illusions up and hit shatter you can immediately start summoning more illusions while the original three are still up and running to their deaths. The new casts will simply fill up the newly vacant slots. Once you hit shatter your 3 slots are marked as “open.”

I agree that even buffed up our phantasms in dungeons (esp explore mode) get wasted far to easily. At these points you’re best off just using your own dps through sword or debuffs (ala chaos storm). Duelist is usually your best bet for any boss and even then it’s just not up to par with other classes as a small sneeze kills the duelist.

For Eofkent – I usually stick my Defender on the toughest mob with usually 1 duelist supporting, but I’ll spread them across 3 separate targets if my goal is survival. The dodge spawning clone is immensely helpful if you’re trying to run through an area. If you can keep mobs relatively clustered it makes your fields vastly more useful.

Dungeons are definitely a Mesmer weak point. I tend to be more pvp oriented so it’s less of an issue personally. We can do them, it’s just not always ideal. My role is usually relegated to supporting and off tanking through clone spam.
Boss fights I usually load up for group support through fields and boon distribution through our signets. Working with a necro spamming blind actually works nicely as illusions don’t die to “missed” attacks.
I actually find the scepter clones (which spawn directly on your target) are great since they’re point blank you can shatter them freely.

Feedback and Chaos Storm are ethereal fields which offer up some of the best combos for your party.

There’s a lot of great advice in this thread. Mesmer is a unique play style that you’re unlikely to encounter anywhere else. For starting Mesmers I give this advice:

1. Try every weapon combination you can think of. The Mesmer has a pretty solid selection with no one choice being above the others. If none of these combinations fit your play style the Mesmer is likely to be a miserable experience for you.

2. Illusions are your lifeblood. Those 3 purple DoTs should always be shaded in when in combat. Replace your clones/phantasms ASAP!

3. It is all about the conditions. Regardless of how you spec the vast majority of your damage is going to come from conditions. The +Condition Damage stat is your #1 goal. There are very few Mesmer abilities that do not have some sort of conditional effect.

4. Mantras are currently underpowered and highly situational. Traits focusing on them are a good way to kitten your Mesmer. Those precious few utility slots have far better options.

Vexor’s short list of favorite skills/abilites:
-Magic Bullet – Found in the pistol offhand. Despite it’s somewhat lengthy recharge this skill is superb for interrupting big hits from Ettins/Trolls and other nasties. It will also stun 3 enemies in close proximity to each other. Be warned this can sometimes cause unintended aggro.

-Feedback – A utility skill that will turn any ranged unit into a sloppy mess of self inflicted damage. Rangers in pvp frequently melt their own faces when this is placed upon them. Add in further condition damage (see: Confusion) and your dps becomes godly. If you are within the bubble and use the #2 staff skill you will gain Chaos Armor. This field also turns ranged attacks into Chaos projectiles (Combo’s well with Illusionary Duelist)

3. Phantasmal Defender – This is a prime choice for pve and pvp. If the mesmer has any “required” skill, it’s this one. The defender will absorb 1/2 of all damage dealt to you. Without a doubt this is the first skill you cast in a fight. The trait and signet’s that boost phantasm health turn this guy into a brick and he will go the distance. Only major bosses can shred through him. If the fight is protracted enough it is possible to get 2 or 3 of these summoned. It’s uncertain if their benefits stack beyond the first.

Mesmers considering phantasm builds should take this list into consideration:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Phantasm

Phantasms can be built to provide amazing group support through condition removal, buff bots, and dps. In instances my phantasms are frequently taking the initial “alpha strike” from all major pulls. After all, they’re expendable, use once and discard like a tissue. Get used to the length of time for phantasms skills to recharge. It can be beneficial to simply recast the phantasm vs waiting for it’s skills to cooldown.

I hope aspiring Mesmers find this post helpful. Feel free to message me in game at any point at Vexor.3640. I’d be happy to share any Mesmer related advice.

Mesmers get a lot better once you progress up your skill and trait trees.

As for the earlier comment about confusion only doing 600-800 damage per attack. That is waay off. I frequently see confusion hitting people for upwards of 3k. You need to use more +condition damage gear. The scepter #3 is a great way to apply 5x stacks in 2 seconds.

One option is Inspiration and Illusion paths and focusing on glamour skills creating blindness + confusion to the masses. Even more so when using a Staff w/ Chaos Storm.

My preferred option is:
The Scepter/Pistol // 1h Sword/Torch( sometimes focus) weapon setup.

The Illusionary Duelist does a massive amount of damage and with traits will bleed foes like crazy. The first 15 points in Dueling are vital. Take Phantasmal Fury as your first major trait (adept) which will give all your illusions an extra 20% crit chance.

Mesmers are not a brute force class. Mesmers are also not an AoE class. Mesmers require patience, and thanks to a multitude of abilities you can live forever (unless zerged by 20+ invaders in WvW), but your enemies won’t.