fighting a champion in a staff and sword/pistol as condition mesmer — you tend to start with retreat, warlock and swap to sword/p and duelist, shatter after the duelist attacks.. will net you in lock/duelist + leap – shatter again.. lets say.. your duelist cd is done and 2 dodges will net you in another shatter.. downtime starts around here.. low condition pressure.. low alacrity.. you end up having low alacrity/quickness compared to a scepter/pistol shatter build.
What down time…? Then you switch back to Staff and cast Phase Retreat and iWarlock again and the fun continues.
I also prefer Shield because 1. it’s a great defensive weapon 2. illusion generation with EoM/DV + PoM + CP is insane.
For reference, in PvP I run Staff and Sword/Shield with PoM, CP and use iDisenchanter as a utility. I don’t use DE or IR. Shatter CD is far more often the limiting factor than illusion generation.
(edited by Embolism.8106)
If this is a Chrono build, I say neither. Go Insp-Illu-Chrono for amazing Block uptime and self-healing.
You can use Chaos instead of Insp but I personally think self-healing (and condition cleansing) is better for sustain than Chaos Armour Protection and one stack of Stability on Shatter.
With a Chrono build you don’t need many Clones at all. Between Persistence of Memory and Chronophantasma you can Shatter Phantasms all day long. Toss in Illusionary Reversion if you still feel you need more, or even Deceptive Evasion if you want overkill.
Sceptre’s Clone generation is nice but not essential. It’s a bonus, not something you rely on: it’s too slow at generating Clones by itself, and Sceptre lacks an on-demand Clone generator like other weapons do (which is actually pretty annoying when trying to set up your first attack).
I am in no way saying Sword is better than Sceptre but a Sword in a Condi Mes build is in no way bad. And with the increased difficulty in HoT there is a real need for defensive options, and Illusionary Counter really isn’t comparable to Blurred Frenzy when it comes to defence.
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Sword can be used in Condition builds the same way Staff can be used in Power builds: as a defensive weapon. In fact it’s probably easier for Condition builds to do this because Condition pressure comes mostly from Shatters, so your weapon choice isn’t as relevant.
I think Phantasmal Haste is relatively useless with Chrono. With Chronophantasma and Persistence of Memory you can easily keep resetting your Phantasm attack CDs with Shatters and reconjurings without giving them the chance to get a second attack in, Haste or no, which means it’s wasted. And even if they do get a second attack in unless you Shatter them before they’d normally get their second attack without Haste it is again wasted.
You may get some use out of it with Swordsman with its really high attack rate, but IMO you’re better off taking Shattered Strength given the amount of Shattering you’d do.
I quite like Staff for Zerker Chrono. It’s a great defensive weapon and has really low illusion CDs with Chaotic Dampening and Alacrity. As Chrono your primary tagging skills are Wells so the lack of AoE tagging capability with Staff isn’t really an issue, and Chaos Storm isn’t bad for tagging either.
For Maguuma I don’t run GS at all, it provides no defensive options which is a pretty big flaw in the jungle. Instead I run Sword/Shield with Staff. Shield is both a great defensive and tagging weapon, iAvenger does reasonable AoE damage and Tides of Time is just great.
Yeah I tend to switch between Chaos and Inspiration depending on the situation. Both are great for sustain while in Zerker gear.
Overall I don’t see any reason not to go Zerker as a Power Mesmer unless you’re extremely allergic to Chaos/Inspiration.
Sinister is interesting but Confusion and Torment simply don’t work very well in PvE, and camping Staff is going to get you nowhere. You’re better off with Ferocity IMO.
I think Zerker is still the way to go. Instead of changing your stats, change your traits instead (much cheaper): I found that going Chaos for Illusionary Defence, Chaotic Dampening and Bountiful Disillusionment works wonders for survivability.
When looking at Shatters in PvE you have to consider a lot more than just Mind Wrack’s damage. With Chronophantasma Shatters also serve to reset Phantasm attack CD to 1.5s (and fully heal damaged Phantasms to boot), and with Persistence of Memory it reduces all Phantasm CDs by 2s per Phantasm Shattered which means you can reconjure Phantasms much more often for essentially another attack CD reset.
With Chronomancer the boundary between Shatter builds and Phantasm builds has blurred considerably. They actually synergise now. (Although they really should synergise WITHOUT Chronomancy, they’re both base Mesmer mechanics for Lyssa’s sake.)
Basically if it’s derived from a skill, it’s affected by the same things that affects said skill.
So Illusionary Inspiration and Desperate Decoy are both affected by Alacrity too.
Yes, it does. It’s affected by Alacrity too.
I’d like to see Gravity Well’s radius increased from 240 to 360 and its CD increased from 90 to 120. As it is it’s a bit too small for its cast time and not having an on-cast Pull.
The damage I really don’t care about, although it’s troubling that they would nerf something that basically has no impact. Makes you wonder what other uncalled for nerfs they’d do.
The problem with making Deception targetable is it then becomes too good compared to the Thief, which has one teleport and one stealth while Mesmer has both in one package on top of conjuring a Clone.
Phantasmal Haste is a terrible trait and should die if Anet is serious about making Shatters a core part of every Mesmer. For Chronomancer there’s very little reason to take it since the best way to get more iAvenger hits is to reset their attack CD with CP and PoM.
Healing Power was Compassion.
It does, but if you start with TW or ToT you get the same effect anyway.
I agree. IMO Shield 4 should be toned down from 2.5s to 1.75s. Then we’ll see.
Although I’m pretty sure balance changes are already in the works, there’s basically none in the day 1 HoT patch despite feedback from BWE3 so presumably the balance patch is coming later.
Sinister is meant to be the counterpart to Berserker, so I think it’s fine as it is (and it’s been the way it is in PvE for a long time).
I’m ambivalent about Viper, but I think the point is to introduce the new Expertise stat and if Vitality is to be added it would replace something other than Expertise. Maybe Precision or split Power and turn it into a 5-stat.
I’d also like to add that with Wanderer… would be nice if Toughness was higher and Precision was lower, but I get that Anet is wary about making a condi amulet that’s too survivable. On the other hand… why is Wanderer’s stat distribution so different from its PvE counterpart?
Because it’s a skill that creates an illusion, Echo of Memory is recharged by Signet of the Ether. Meaning back-to-back-to-back-to-back blocks/Avengers, not counting any shenanigans you might be able to pull off with Continuum Split.
Add in Chronophantasma and Persistence of Memory and you got a recipe for insane Blocking. Signet of the Ether isn’t even required most of the time.
I think if you take PoM (and I don’t see a reason not to if you’re using Illusions) it’s always better to Shatter everything. You’ll likely end up with more Alacrity from iAvengers than if you kept them active.
so now instead of standing on a box and auto attacking, people will auto attack for 20 seconds to get credit then go afk out of range
brilliant
You won’t get event credit any more if you don’t participate for a while.
Barely a nerf and people QQ’ing like this already?
The point is why Dev time is being spent on this (whipping an already dead skill) as opposed to basically anything else.
Sign says “PLEASE BEWARE OF SHARKS IN THE WATER”
Reads sign, goes for a swim
Gets bitten by shark
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about the Sharks?”
Putting the spoilers warning in a short post that on a skim-read leaves little doubt as to what it’s talking about doesn’t consistute as a sign. That’s like writing “beware of sharks” on the actual sharks.
Then don’t skim read, and instead actually read what the OP means before leaving a comment.
… You’re making no sense here.
How hard can it be to miss “SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” in his text?
Okay, the way you worded it made it seem like you were accusing me of commenting without reading the OP.
Problem is the OP’s short and just one look at the post as a whole told me what it’s about (I saw “Spirit of the Wilds” and I knew). The curse of being a proficient reader I guess.
Plus your own post “it was her time” is isolated and really easy to see, which also told me what it’s about.
Like I said this isn’t a surprise. Anet’s writing is as subtle as a bull in a china shop.
(edited by Embolism.8106)
Check OP.
/15 charr
But they… don’t?
Sign says “PLEASE BEWARE OF SHARKS IN THE WATER”
Reads sign, goes for a swim
Gets bitten by shark
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about the Sharks?”
Putting the spoilers warning in a short post that on a skim-read leaves little doubt as to what it’s talking about doesn’t consistute as a sign. That’s like writing “beware of sharks” on the actual sharks.
Then don’t skim read, and instead actually read what the OP means before leaving a comment.
… You’re making no sense here.
Sign says “PLEASE BEWARE OF SHARKS IN THE WATER”
Reads sign, goes for a swim
Gets bitten by shark
“Why didn’t anyone tell me about the Sharks?”
Putting the spoilers warning in a short post that on a glance leaves little doubt as to what it’s talking about doesn’t consistute as a sign. That’s like writing “beware of sharks” on the actual sharks.
What are you talking about?
It’s pretty much beating a dead horse at this point.
Just axe it already and give us a proper leap.
Interesting that there’s no balance changes for Elites. Guess we’ll see those in a few weeks.
Please put the spoiler tags in the title. I knew what you meant (it was pretty heavily death flagged beforehand) but would’ve preferred to discover this myself.
(edited by Embolism.8106)
I wish they did this as a hidden update and the boxes collapse the moment the boss starts AoEing.
Next update: Shatterer will now look to his right.
As a necromancer, I am nearly crying.
BRB rolling a mesmer
Why? I’d go so far as to say well necro benefits much more
I’d say so too if Necro Wells didn’t have such long CDs. But yeah, Quickness doesn’t benefit Mesmers that much as too much of our DPS is dependent on sources other than ourselves, and our burst isn’t really improved by Quickness either.
Might be good for some on-demand Quickness for stomps and resses, but that’s as far as I see it being good for (in PvP).
Not strictly related but Runes of Tormenting are available in PvP now.
Between this and the new Expertise amulets, I predict another wave of “Condi Mesmers are OP” before the week is done.
Pretty good. Lets you execute a full Quickness/Alacrity combo in a Shift without having to open with ToT/TW, which admittedly isn’t a huge benefit… and a Alacrity/Quickness sharing build already has perma-Quickness, so…
Okay, I guess it’s more useful for less support-oriented Chronomancers.
I wonder if these are/will be available in PvP.
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I’m guessing the latter.
And yeah Temporal Curtain being taller is great, although I’m not sure if 22% is enough… it was very, very low to begin with.
The notes for Elite specs doesn’t include any numbers, so it’s too early to say there hasn’t been any balance changes there.
Runes of the Guardian would’ve been neat if this was pre-23/6. Unfortunately like Mesmer’s Burning they didn’t change it for the conditions overhaul, so it’s now quite weak.
Wouldn’t use unless they buff it. You’d be better off with any of the other condition-focused rune sets.
I’m also fairly certain Shield 4’s Block duration will be nerfed at launch. We shall know soon enough.
Regarding Blocking in WvW, maybe it’s just me but I find Unblockable attacks (mainly from Necros) get thrown around like candy in WvW. One moment you’re tanking everyone like a boss, the next you’ve imploded because a Reaper’s Mark blossomed under you.
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Given the long delay between iAvenger attacks, you’re better off manually resetting their attacks with CP and PoM-fueled reconjuring.
Elite Specializations & Hero Point Feedback [Merged]
in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns
Posted by: Embolism.8106
Why are you in such a big rush?
Unless something is time limited you’re not forced to rush through anything. If you do so you really have no one to blame but yourself when your experience is “ruined”.
In a power build why pick staff over Greatsword or sword/focus?
Because Staff gives you two Illusions out of cleave range. This has been covered multiple times if you read the thread.
That said, with the non-targeted damage reduction that may no longer be necessary.
They’re close enough that I’d go with Berserker. It’s more generally useful across professions so if you don’t have enough $$$ to make Ascended sets for all your characters you can just swap it between them.
Why does the forum even need a censor anyway? Especially one as draconian as this?
It’s like an overly sensitive SJW.
The problem I have with this phantasm is:
- it is worse the more enemies around
- it is worse the more allies around
- it has only 7.2 k HP.
Assuming it’s just you vs enemy, but the enemy cleaves, the phantasm will save you 2.4k (if 4.8k damage are given, the phantasm takes 4.8k and saves you 2.4k damage). 2.4k life after 1.5s cast on a 25s CD… Not amazing.
1 ally: 1.8k HP saved. 2 allies : 1.4. 3 allies (which is the max since attacks usually don’t go beyond 5 targets) : 1.2k.And this was actually a fairly ideal case, because you dodge while the phantasm doesn’t.
And illusions count as allies, so you’ll almost always get a very diluted effect for yourself with generally no benefit to your illusions.
I think Glamours are different from Wells in the sense that Glamours are less “conventional”, if you get my meaning. Wells are nicely beefed out with damage, conditions and other “meaty” effects, while Glamours are a lot more utility-esque. Temporal Enchanter further reinforces this, although it’s rather too weak to be meaningful.
With that in mind a healing Glamour doesn’t really fit that idea, and as Silver said overlaps too much with Well of Eternity.
A way to rework Glamours while keeping them distinct from Wells could be to make them last longer in general. Null Field for example could last 10 seconds base and strip 1 condition/boon on cast and every 2 seconds after. Veil could last 12 seconds, allowing you and allies to constantly flit in and out of stealth. Temporal Enchanter would increase Glamour duration by 50% and pulse 5s Super Speed and 1s Resistance every 5s.
While Wells provide strong but fleeting effects, Glamours would be slow and steady.
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Veil – 50s CD
Place a curtain of distorted vision, which lasts for 10 seconds. Anyone on the far side of the curtain cannot see anyone on the near side of the curtain.That way the stealth is lasting, but you need to make sure that the curtain is actively in the LoS between you and the enemy to make your character “stealth”.
I think this would be difficult to implement, and in any case is needlessly complicated.
You also have to consider how it compares to Mass Invisibility. MI is an Elite so if you buff Veil significantly chances are you would have to buff MI too.
Which is a problem. IMO Mesmers don’t need two skills that fill the same role (group stealth), especially when one is an Elite and the other is not. With that in mind I think the best thing for Veil is to axe it for something completely different.
As in it’s a circle instead of a line and can be cast over people to stealth them immediately.
That would make it comparable to Decoy, which is a bit much for a group stealth.
I’d personally like to have the version in the Veil reveal clip, but I guess that would be too similar to Shadow Refuge. It would work far better with Temporal Enchanter though.
PvP is where balance primarily matters, so of course most balance changes will be aimed at that. Feel free to correct me but I think most balance suggestions on these forums don’t really affect PvE much at all, Mesmer PvE was borked from the get-go, not because of things this forum suggested.
E.g. Suggestion that Mirror Blade be nerfed from 4 bounces to 3. GS wasn’t (and still isn’t) used in any PvE content that matters so it really doesn’t change anything for PvE.
There’s plenty of suggestions floating around to buff Mesmer PvE too, including mine here (shameless plug).
Mesmer players generally ask for reasonable nerfs to pre-empt an Anet oblivion-nerf, which is what tends to happen when the Mesmer is in the spotlight.