Guild Wars 2

Vanthian.9267:

I don’t play a necromancer so try not to assume things. I play the lack luster Warrior in PvP and Thief when I want to be OP.

Truth is the Mesmer is Over Powered still even though the only two true nerfs you have had (no phantasmal/clone on dodge and the confusion nerf) were needed. The Mesmer is still out of line compared to the other classes.

In other words you are just jumping on the bandwagon and don’t actually understand the context of the OP’s complaint.

I run Veil with Prismatic Understanding and I can usually get both stealths quite reliably. Although I must say Veil is not a great skill to use solo.

Osicat.4139:

" yeah i wredawgfcfdab1 221bkjhdjabda

This part cracked me up, but sadly has happened to me quite a few times… though I’ve never been assassinated by someone I was chatting to, heh.

I cannot be certain due to the rarity of underwater PvP, but the new Trident actually feels stronger to me than the old one. It’s not difficult to maintain 25 stacks of Bleeding on the target.

There is however still a bug with Trident Clones: the friendly bounce of their Siren’s Call is still the old version, the one that healed allies instead of provide boons. Before you get too excited the healing is negligible due to the Clone damage nerf waaaay back, so it’s useless.

EDIT: And yeah, Confusion made more sense thematically. Unfortunately Anet decided halfway through Beta that Confusion should only be applicable in bursts, which resulted in the Sceptre and the Trident being mutilated practically and thematically.

You could justify it by saying the song is making your opponent’s ears bleed, but… meh.

Esplen.3940:

@Elidath, try catching the lazers in Asuran Fractal then going to WvW. If you hold it and manage to shoot it against a zerg…

I’m pretty sure Echo resets when you change zones just as Mantras do.

JaNordy.6149:

Confusion is OP as kitten in WvW. There is a reason its nerfed in sPvP. There is only 1 class I don’t even fight against at fight clubs because I know outcome before it begins; Mesmers. Why? Confusion. If you get just 4-5 people that know what they are doing they can apply it nonstop to a entire team/zerg.

Once again, Confusion was never nerfed in sPvP. Confusion was buffed in PvE and WvW.

The problem is, without stronger NPCs to hold up enemy zergs, WvW actually has less PvP than it otherwise would have. If NPCs are strong enough so that enemies need more than a few seconds/minutes to stomp them, it might actually give defenders a chance to realise that’s happening and come to defend it.

What people don’t seem to understand is that defence in WvW is almost purely reactive, there’s no way you can ask a group of people to “guard” a point on the off-chance it will be attacked. Guard duty in real life is boring work, and really; in a game that’s what the NPCs are for: so players don’t have to do the boring job of guarding and can instead play the far more interesting role of assault and reinforcement.

At the moment however playing reinforcement is almost impossible as holdings fall far too quickly for reinforcements to arrive in time.

As for Sentries and Dolyaks, this is not about having NPCs snipe them for you: this is about making Sentry points actually worth something. At the moment Sentry points have very little strategic value, the only reason people take them is for their own gain. If control of a Sentry point means control of a supply route then suddenly they become far more important.

Vanthian.9267:

How was he infracted for that post?

Presumably because Anet assumed he must be trolling, as you’d have to be pretty bad to lose to a condition Mesmer as a Necromancer.

Veil’s tooltip is bugged, it’s an Ethereal Field.

Well, it’s not totally reliable, because you still need to send out a bouncing projectile first (and it might not always bounce back to you), so it isn’t an instant “oh crap” button. It does make it far more reliable than was initially believed however.

And if you have three asynchronised Staff Clones then chances are it will proc almost immediately in a 1 vs 1.

I admit I did not read through the whole thread, but a couple of points.

1. Confusion was never nerfed in sPvP. sPvP Confusion is the original. Confusion was buffed in PvE and WvW.

2. Confusion can only be applied in bursts. A Mesmer cannot reapply a full Confusion burst right after you cleanse one. The main Mesmer Confusion skill is the Shatter Cry of Frustration, which is on a 20 – 30s CD.

3. Because of point 2, Confusion is one of the most vulnerable conditions to condition removal. If you suspect you are up against a condition Mesmer, save your condition removal for that inevitable Confusion burst.

It is already easy to solo a camp with just one person. NPCs definitely need to be much tougher. An undefended camp should not be soloable, and an undefended tower should not fall to a dozen invaders within minutes. The ease of capturing holdings, coupled with small maps, is why we’re seeing extensive “flipping” with actual battles (that are not one-sided stomps) few and far between.

I agree that holdings need to be far more difficult to assault when there are no players defending them. The current trend in WvW is simply zergs assaulting empty towers and camps within minutes and moving on to the next one once it’s captured. With the small size of WvW maps and the relatively small number of players, it simply isn’t feasible to defend any holding until it is already under assault, and by then it is often too late to defend it.

Allowing NPCs to utilise defensive siege is definitely a good idea. Not sure about making all NPCs Champions as that may be a bit too much, but NPCs certainly do need to be much stronger than they are and their numbers should probably be increased too.

I also think Dolyaks should have guards by default (seriously, how do those lone dolyaks know where to go and why don’t they run away?), with an option to increase the strength/number of guards. And Sentries need to have more guards by default too: indeed, a Sentry should be able to stop an un-upgraded Dolyak.

Staff builds are basically condition builds. There’s not really a dedicated “Confusion” build, as Staff condition builds already include that: your main Confusion skill will be Cry of Frustration, iMage sucks and Confusing Images is very easy to counter.

For your second weapon set you can go with Pistol or Torch as your off-hand. The former gives you a CC and a powerful Phantasm and the latter gives you a low CD stealth that also does a respectable amount of Burning damage. Focus is also worth considering in PvE as mobs don’t run out of iWarden’s AoE.

Regarding GS Clones vs Staff Clones in a condition build: first, Staff Clones can inflict Burning, which does more damage than Sharper Images Bleeding and is practically instant. Second, Staff Clones also stack Might and Fury on you: because Clone stats are based on your stats, this transfers over to Clones, giving Staff Clones higher condition damage and 20% higher crit chance than GS Clones.

Also, taking the Illusionary Elasticity trait allows your own Winds of Chaos to doubletap, i.e. doubling its output against a single target. Overall, you definitely want to go with the Staff in a condition build.

The implication of this is that the 4s Block + Reflect, which I previously thought gimmicky because it doesn’t activate until you’ve been hit by a enemy projectile (which could mean you getting hacked away in melee while stupidly channelling a useless skill), is actually highly reliable as you can easily proc it yourself. With the Staff you don’t even need to do anything, your Clones will likely proc your Mimic for you.

It can also mean another 3x Might from Mirror Blade, a stored 2x condition removal from iDisenchanter, and so on.

EDIT: On further testing you don’t get any Might from echoing Mirror Blade, but you do get a boon from WoC/Siren’s Call, Retaliation from iMage and a 2x condition removal from iDisenchanter.

While fooling around with Mimic in the Mists, I noticed that I was getting Echo: and the subsequent Blocking effect: without my opponent using any ranged attacks.

After some testing, I realised that Mimic was actually absorbing my own Winds of Chaos that were bouncing back at me. Further testing revealed that all friendly projectiles: Winds of Chaos, Siren’s Call, Mirror Blade, iDisenchanter, iMage… all of them are capable of proccing Mimic.

Casting Echo after absorbing a friendly projectile will apply the projectile’s effect on yourself. As with absorbing enemy projectiles, the initial projectile still applies its effect on you; essentially giving you a second helping of its effect.

Perhaps this has been discovered already (in which case I feel stupid for not realising and making such a big deal about it), but… well, I know I’ll be seriously considering adding Mimic to my builds.

Pyroatheist.9031:

If up close and personal dps is your goal, as you said with “Jumping into the middle of 10 people and going to town” then the sword is infinitely better than the scepter. You have more mobility, more damage, more combo finishers, and more defense. With that sort of playing, there is literally nothing the scepter does better than the sword.

Indeed. The Sword is better equipped to deal with multiple opponents: Illusionary Counter blocks a single attack, while Blurred Frenzy evades everything (on a shorter CD). Confusing Images is not something you want to start channeling in the middle of a group, while Illusionary Leap’s teleport and leap finisher can serve you quite well.

Of course, there’s the fact that the Sceptre is ranged, but if you want to play a ranged game… well, that goes back to all the talk about GS vs Sceptre.

It sounds to me your opponent was a condition Mesmer, given how you speak of boons and three Clones casting.

As a Necromancer, you should be well-equipped to deal with condition Mesmers: you have the ability to not only cleanse, but turn enemy conditions and boons against them; plus you yourself are able to dish out conditions far better than the Mesmer could.

As a condition Mesmer, a competent Necromancer is one of the toughest professions for me to face: they are highly resistant to my conditions and are able to inflict lots of conditions themselves, which ironically are very difficult for me to deal with due to my low HP (Toughness does nothing against conditions) and scant condition removal.

In other words, if you are unable to deal with a condition Mesmer as a Necromancer, you may want to evaluate your own play rather than accuse others of being overpowered.

dank.3680:

My point is you can’t compare a 2h to a 1h main because the offhand can drastically change the role you play and the flow of your combat.

But aside from that, you show me Mirror Blade completely negating a Backstab or CND or any thing else like that while also dealing good damage, then I will agree that the GS is a better weapon then the Scepter in all ways.

GS has it’s role and is an awesome weapon, I can’t and won’t argue with that. But for my particular playstyle which is to jump right in the middle of 10 people and go to town, the GS actually has a lot of drawbacks that the Scepter doesn’t share in that situation.

Not everyone is going to like the Scepter, it has a drastically different playstyle then the commonly used weapons. But my point in this thread is that it is not trash. I would agree that it could use a projectile speed increase on the auto, and a channeling speed increase on Confusing Images, but I could live without any changes too.

I understand the versatility of an off-hand can bring, hence why I acknowledged that the Sceptre, despite my misgivings about it, has a place when you want a particular off-hand as well as the Staff.

My comparison of Mirror Blade and Illusionary Counter was in response to Seven, as he was talking about using Illusionary Counter offensively. The two skills are apples and oranges and cannot be compared as a whole. In terms of just damage however, Mirror Blade will give you more.

But that goes back to what I said originally about GS + Sword doing what Sceptre does. Blurred Frenzy vs Illusionary Counter: the comparison is still very much apples and oranges, but I feel Blurred Frenzy is just generally more useful.

By itself the Sceptre is not “trash”, the problem is whether it actually fulfills a unique role or not. You mentioned that the Sceptre has a drastically different playstyle… I assume by this you mean it is a more up-close-and-personal form of ranged DPS than the GS is, but I don’t feel it actually does this better.

dank.3680:

Embolism.8106:

I don’t think there is any doubt that the Sceptre can be used and can be used well. The question is whether another weapon can do the job better.

You can certainly achieve a significant amount of DPS with just Ether Bolt, but is it better than Spatial Surge DPS? The answer is actually yes, at close range. At longer ranges however Spatial Surge takes over, plus it also has 33% more range, is hitscan and is unreflectable.

What about Illusionary Counter? Obviously this is comparing apples to oranges, but let’s compare it to Mirror Blade. In terms of damage they are not dissimilar, but Mirror Blade has a shorter CD and stacks Might and Vulnerability. Illusionary Counter has a longer (effective) range and blocks an attack: it also roots you for short time when it triggers. Overall, if damage is what you want, Mirror Blade will likely give you more of it.

As for Confusing Images, it is actually quite damaging in Power or condition builds. The problem is, as mentioned multiple times, it is depressingly easy to avoid by any competent opponent.

Another thing to consider is Clones. Even in a Shatter build this is significant, as Clones will generally get a few attacks off before they get Shattered. In this department, with Sharper Images, the Greatsword is vastly superior over the Sceptre.

Generally, the GS is just a superior ranged DPS weapon than the Sceptre is. I suppose if you want the defensive strength of the Staff and want to use a particular off-hand you can justify using the Sceptre over the GS, but that’s about it.

I hope you realize that you are comparing a two handed weapon to a 1 handed mainhand. There is no weapon you can compare the Scepter with in the Mesmer set because it is the ONLY 1 handed range main we have. You can’t compare it with the sword either because one is melee one is not..

I am with Seven here, I use the Scepter and I like it.. I also dueled him with my thief when he was using it and he used it quite effectively.

You of course read my last paragraph? I didn’t state it outright but it should be obvious I acknowledged the Sceptre as the only ranged MH.

In any case, I don’t think my comparison is invalid: your MH determines your Clone and your autoattack, so those two are most certainly comparable. Other skills are far more subjective, but that’s how it is.

I don’t think there is any doubt that the Sceptre can be used and can be used well. The question is whether another weapon can do the job better.

You can certainly achieve a significant amount of DPS with just Ether Bolt, but is it better than Spatial Surge DPS? The answer is actually yes, at close range. At longer ranges however Spatial Surge takes over, plus it also has 33% more range, is hitscan and is unreflectable.

What about Illusionary Counter? Obviously this is comparing apples to oranges, but let’s compare it to Mirror Blade. In terms of damage they are not dissimilar, but Mirror Blade has a shorter CD and stacks Might and Vulnerability. Illusionary Counter has a longer (effective) range and blocks an attack: it also roots you for short time when it triggers. Overall, if damage is what you want, Mirror Blade will likely give you more of it.

As for Confusing Images, it is actually quite damaging in Power or condition builds. The problem is, as mentioned multiple times, it is depressingly easy to avoid by any competent opponent.

Another thing to consider is Clones. Even in a Shatter build this is significant, as Clones will generally get a few attacks off before they get Shattered. In this department, with Sharper Images, the Greatsword is vastly superior over the Sceptre.

Generally, the GS is just a superior ranged DPS weapon than the Sceptre is. I suppose if you want the defensive strength of the Staff and want to use a particular off-hand you can justify using the Sceptre over the GS, but that’s about it.

Pistol is the default choice if you’re not going for a stealth-heavy build. Sceptre, not so much: Confusing Images is very easy to counter, you’re far better off using the Sword with its well-rounded skills.

The GS is a far superior ranged DPS weapon than the Sceptre is. Blurred Frenzy is a far superior defensive (and offensive) skill to Illusionary Counter. Whether Confusing Images hits or not is far more dependent on your target than yourself, it simply gives your opponent way too much time to negate it.

The only thing the Sceptre really has going for it is that it’s the only MH ranged option. However, if you want ranged DPS and a particular OH you’re far better off using GS + Sword.

Note that this is all about PvP. In PvE I use the Sceptre as a complement to my Staff as mobs do not make any effort to counter Confusing Images, and many mobs stomp squishy melees hard.

Indeed, the combo version of Chaos Armour only gives out random boons and conditions, it doesn’t give you the inherent Protection of the original Chaos Armour. IMO this is working as intended, as otherwise 5s+ Protection plus the random boons and conditions is a bit too much for an easily available combo (at least if you run with Glamour Mesmers).

Pyroatheist.9031:

Now about the torch. People say that the prestige is great for escaping or w/e. They are right. The problem is that if you are escaping, you are escaping FROM something, and you were fighting that something with a torch. As an in-combat stealth, the prestige is bad. You have to channel it. If you dodge, you lose both your stealth and the burn. Why they didn’t keep it how it was in beta is beyond me.

I don’t know why people think stealth is good for “escaping”. For me the most valuable benefit of stealth is target-dropping: has the enemy found you? Can you feel an incoming Backstab? Disappear and possibly Blind that pesky Thief, then follow him around as he comes out of stealth and burn him as you reappear.

Effectively doubling the rate you can target-drop is huge. It is nothing to be sneezed at. Yes, The Prestige has the disadvantage of being channelled (thus being vulnerable to AoE CC and you cannot do stuff like charge Mantras or heal), but it is, after all, a more offensive stealth than Decoy is.

(Not that I disagree that making it channelled was totally uncalled for.)

As I mentioned before, the Torch is perfect as part of a secondary set. As a condition Mesmer for example, I rely almost completely on Staff for damage, switching only to Sword-Torch for defense (or boon-stripping). Using the Torch then is logical as it has a great support skill, and since I’m more interested in Staff Clones than Phantasms anyway I don’t much care that the iMage is weak (the iWarlock, for a condition build, is about the same).

The main problem with the Sceptre, as many have pointed out, is that the autoattack is too weak. Secondary concerns include having the weakest Clones and Confusing Images being too easy for the enemy to nullify.

I’d also like to see Illusionary Counter be changed to be condition rather than direct damage (e.g. 3xConfusion), but whatever.

I’d argue that the Torch has a purpose in that it has the lowest CD stealth. If you stick to a main weapon and use your other set for support rather than DPS, the Torch is a good secondary to use. Particularly in condition builds, as The Prestige does a respectable amount of damage and iMage becomes just very bad instead of extremely bad.

Confusing Images might’ve been the saving grace for Sceptre (as a secondary weapon in a condition build) if it weren’t for the fact that it’s extremely obvious you’re about to use it and is extremely easy for your opponent to dodge/block/obstruct/outrange.

There was in time in Beta when Clones did a significant amount of direct damage. The wording of Empowered Illusions, which is a relic of that time, probably doesn’t help either.

More importantly, the fact that Staff and Trident Clones deal a significant amount of damage by themselves while other Clones do not further pushes the impression that Clones should be dealing direct damage.

If you ever feel like using the Sceptre, slap yourself and use the Sword instead.

Sceptre Clones do benefit from Sharper Images, although given their slow rate of attack they’re the worst Clones to apply Bleeding with.

If you’re using the Staff then your Clones actually do a reasonable amount of damage, as most damage from WoC is condition which Clones apply in full (except Staff Clone WoC Bleeding lasts only 5s instead of 7s, probably a bug).

Mind Wrack damage per Clone reduces with the number of Clones Shattered. Originally Mind Wrack always does the same damage per Clone, but this meant a one Clone Shatter deals only 33% of the maximum damage. To encourage people to Shatter even when they don’t have three Clones out, Anet changed Mind Wrack so that a one Clone Shatter deals about 50% of the maximum damage.

There’s no doubt Mimic is an excellent skill: provided you always get hit by a projectile quickly. This is definitely far more likely to happen in WvW, but in PvE and PvP it’s highly, highly situational.

Regardless of its uses in WvW, the way the skill works just reeks of sloppy design. When the secondary effect is far, far better than the primary effect, it’s just… urgh.

Really, if Illusionary Elasticity worked with Clones it might make condition Mesmers somewhat overpowered, at least compared to other condition builds. It is true that condition Mesmers are subpar when it comes to damaging conditions, but it’s also one of the stronger builds defense-wise thanks to the focus on maintaining Clones and the excellent defensive skills on the Staff.

I do agree however that the Sceptre really needs something more. One of my ideas was to give Ether Clone a very short Blind, which would improve the Sceptre defensively as well as making it a Confusion-based weapon when you take the trait Blinding Befuddlement.

And yes, the Mage needs to be significantly better. Even in a condition build you’re far better off with the Warden or the Duelist, possibly even the Berserker.

Mantra builds are pretty much a subset of Shatter builds. Mantras themselves are support skills, you’d likely still be using Mind Wrack as your signature move.

To put it another way, Shatter Mesmers are all about burst combos. Condition Mesmers also have it to a lesser extent in Confusion, but are more reliant on a steady stream of damaging conditions.

Phantasm Mesmers used to be about, well, constant Phantasm damage. Nowadays they’re pretty much absorbed into Shatter Mesmers, where Phantasms are conjured to contribute damage while Mind Wrack is coming off CD.

rizzo.1079:

Embolism.8106:

Trailing at a distant second is the condition Mesmer. These Mesmers utilise Burning, Bleeding and Confusion to deal damage. They tend to be slightly more flexible than Shatter Mesmers, although almost all condition MesPhantasm Mesmers are an endangered, if not extinct, breed. The idea is to utilise Phantasms as your primary damage dealers and focusing more on preserving Illusions instead of Shattering them. A series of nerfs however have made Phantasms pretty much secondary to Shattering, and the majority of Phantasm Mesmers have transitioned to Shatter Mesmers.

I’m basically using this build in PvE and it’s working just fine. Then again, I’m coming from 200+ hours on an engineer….

There’s nothing wrong with condition builds, I run condition all the time myself. There is no disputing however that Shatter builds can deal more damage and can end fights considerably faster. The tradeoff is that condition builds are more resilient, which generally makes it safer to play.

If you are instead talking about Phantasm builds, there’s not much wrong with them in PvE (although you’ll be much more effective if you use a Shatter build), but in PvP they fall short of both Shatter and condition builds.

While I do feel Anet seems to be ignoring Mesmer condition builds (and possibly condition builds as a whole), I wouldn’t say we are particularly incomplete in that regard. True, Mesmer condition builds cannot dish out the DPS nor the burst of Shatter builds, but they compensate for that with superior resilience. I would actually say that Mesmer condition builds are probably easier to pick up than Shatter builds, due to superior defenses and having a significant portion of your DPS pretty much automated.

I would not be against an increase in WoC projectile speed, although I feel that its current form somewhat emphasises the fact that, despite having 1,200 range, WoC is very much a close-to-medium range attack. It is quite aggravating however when someone runs from you and you have no chance of hitting them despite wielding a ranged weapon.

Currently, Mesmer builds come in two major flavours, with a third one that used to enjoy some popularity but seems to have almost disappeared at this point.

By far the most popular Mesmer build is the Shatter Mesmer. These Mesmers rely on Mind Wrack as their primary damage source, and their builds tend to reflect this by focusing on improving Illusion generation (Mirror Images, Deceptive Evasion) and direct damage (Mental Torment, Compounding Power, Illusionary Persona).

Trailing at a distant second is the condition Mesmer. These Mesmers utilise Burning, Bleeding and Confusion to deal damage. They tend to be slightly more flexible than Shatter Mesmers, although almost all condition Mesmers invest in Illusion generation (Deceptive Evasion) and improving the Staff (Chaotic Dampening, Illusionary Elasticity).

Phantasm Mesmers are an endangered, if not extinct, breed. The idea is to utilise Phantasms as your primary damage dealers and focusing more on preserving Illusions instead of Shattering them. A series of nerfs however have made Phantasms pretty much secondary to Shattering, and the majority of Phantasm Mesmers have transitioned to Shatter Mesmers.

IMO the Sword is almost always superior to the Sceptre no matter what build you go for. While Confusing Images in a condition build sounds great in theory, in practice you will rarely get the full channel off a competent opponent: it takes too long to channel and is too obvious (which is also bad if you’re trying any kind of Clone play).

The Sword on the other hand provides considerably higher base DPS, excellent boon stripping and a short, spammable invulnerability that is much better than the Sceptre’s one-shot Block. You also get a gap-closer and root, which is something condition Mesmers desperately need.

One thing to note about comparing Staff Clones to GS/Sword Clones. Bleeding from Staff Clone WoC and Sharper Images deals less damage than Burning from Staff Clone WoC. If you only look at the number of Bleeding stacks each Clone type can achieve, the condition DPS dealt by Staff Clones is more than double what its Bleeding stacks would suggest.

Oh and Vulnerability doesn’t affect condition damage.

While condition builds don’t work very well in Tournament Mode, they are quite respectable in Hot Join. My preferred build is:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VNZ-FkFKWPk01y6RW-71c5wUVz0M7-X;5JT-J;149-49B;146-K-F4XJG4jwmAjwmA2Vg

This however is likely not optimal, I use it because I really, really like messing with my opponents with stealth. A more reasonable build would probably look like this:

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VNZ-FkFKWPV11y6RW-71c5wUVz0M7-X;5JJ-T;149-49;246AK-F4XJG4jwmAjwmA2Vt

And if you’re not that excited about stealth, replacing the Torch with a Pistol would be acceptable.

Hmmm, I always thought the Warlock’s bolt was tracking, like WoC and Ether Bolt. Is that not the case?

I don’t really pay attention to the Warlock very much, but I think it is reasonably comparable to other Phantasms in terms of direct damage; especially when the target gets a few conditions on them. Most of the damage loss is more likely because you’re a Power build using a Staff rather than the Warlock being weak/inaccurate. WoC’s damage is mostly condition, with laughable direct damage even with a Power build.

RapidSausage.4620:

damage comes from the bleeds and burning applied by you and your clones via winds of chaos.

i’d recommend using sigil of corruption instead of sigil of earth, since clones won’t inherit the effect of the latter, they however inherit your condition damage.

you also don’t really need mirror images, i’d replace it with arcane thievery.

and the prestige won’t give you a boon on cloak so i don’t really recommend a torch, better use a focus.

I don’t see why you couldn’t use both Corruption and Earth. Earth on your Staff and MH, Corruption on your OH. The stacks persist even if you switch weapons.

The Prestige does bestow boons with Prismatic Understanding, it’s only the +1s stealth part that doesn’t apply.

Ramiel.4931:

Seeing this stickied just confirms my suspicions on the direction ANet wants to take mesmers. And I don’t like it.

I wouldn’t read too much into it. It’s an excellent guide, that’s why it’s stickied. If you create a similarly excellent guide for another build it will likely be stickied as well.

Not sure if this was mentioned, but Compounding Power doesn’t affect condition damage; in fact AFAIK no +% damage works with condition damage.

Retaliation’s damage scales on Power: the base damage is decent so you don’t necessarily need Power to get use out of it, but it still works considerably better with a Power build. And yes, Retaliatory Shield does proc off Aegis. In general though I find Retaliation not very useful for Mesmers as Mesmer defence is more about avoiding damage rather than tanking it.

If you’re planning to Shatter frequently with a condition build, Master of Misdirection can help you get more out of your Shatters.

It’s about time this got stickied, really.

Just a thought. Give Ether Clone a very short Blind, enough to “interrupt” an attack if it goes out shortly after Ether Clone hits. By itself it would give the Sceptre a minor defensive boost: combine with the trait Blinding Befuddlement to get Confusion on Ether Clone.

Mimic’s secondary effect is good, the problem is its primary effect is much, much weaker and situational than the secondary effect. To make matters worse, the situational primary effect must be triggered to get the secondary effect: i.e. even though the secondary effect is excellent against melee, it won’t trigger unless you are hit by a projectile first; so a melee-centric enemy might not ever trigger the effect.

Arcane Thievery and Disenchanter are both quite good: in theory. In practice you want condition removal to be snappy and reliable, which neither AT or Disenchanter are. To ensure you don’t get screwed over by conditions then you must bring another, reliable condition removal, which makes you too specialised against conditions and weakens you against enemies that do not use dangerous conditions.

For this reason I actually much prefer Resolve ovely useful for condition removal while Null Field also affects allies, strips boons and pror Null Field for condition removal, as it is instant, reliable and has a short cooldown. Of course, Resolve is onvides a combo field, so it’s down to preference really.

Illusion of Life can be useful. The problem is… my allies never seem to understand the “you’ll be downed in 15 seconds, so run somewhere safe where you can be revived” part, even when I announce it beforehand. With competent allies this can be a lifesaver in both PvE and PvP. It isn’t the best revival skill, but it’s not too shabby either when it works.

Veil is not too bad for WvW, and it also works reasonably well as a long-duration defensive stealth (you can run across the Veil again after coming out of stealth). In general though I don’t feel it is good enough to warrant using over other, more potent, utilities.

As for Signets and Mantras, Pain and Concentration are pretty crappy; although I do use Concentration sometimes when even a short Stability can be really helpful (e.g. EB JP). Distraction is theoretically powerful in PvP (instantly interrupting a heal can win duels), but I’ve never seen it used effectively. Signet of Illusions would be better if the HP boost kicked in immediately, and Signet of Midnight needs a rework. Domination and Inspiration are probably fine as-is.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Embolism.8106:

If you take Shattered Conditions you don’t need any other condition removal really. IIRC it’s one condition removed per Clone Shattered, you’re basically immune to conditions then if you Shatter often. The problem of course is it’s too deep in Inspiration for Shatter builds to take without sacrificing a more important trait.

I don’t really see how Mender’s Purity can give a “large amount” of condition removal considering it’s one condition per heal and MoRec is rarely worth using. Almost any of the Mesmer’s other condition removal options are better IMO, without making you either waste your heal on condition removal or lose your condition removal when you need to heal.

Generally, if you need to remove conditions, you also need to heal, and vice versa. The trait simply allows you to double-load a single skill into these two actions.

That assumes you need to cleanse Burning or Bleeding. Condition removal is also important for conditions like Immobilise, Cripple, huge stacks of Vulnerability, even Confusion, etc., which frequently might not result in any significant HP loss but if not cleansed promptly will be followed by a world of hurt.

Also, when it comes to Poison, does Mender’s Purity remove the Poison before you heal or after? If it’s the latter then it’s definitely not worth using.