Guild Wars 2

Continuum Shift is really, really strong when used correctly, it needs the counterplay. The risk of getting pulled out of time and bursted balances out the rewards you can get out of it.

IMO Shield 4 is up way too often with the correct synergies (Alacrity, Persistence of Memory, Chronophantasma, Illusionist’s Celerity), the only reason it’s not completely broken is because melee iAvenger sometimes/often melts before it can be Shattered. I’d lower the block duration from 2.25s down to 1.5s. This isn’t entirely a negative change as it means iAvenger is also conjured earlier (but it really needs to be a ranged Phantasm).

My worry is that Elite specs generally seem so much better than normal specs. I can hear the accusations of P2W already (of which there already is some, but I can see this becoming a “mainstream” opinion).

It’s more noticable for the Mesmer because our Elite spec fixes a lot of our core problems, fixes that really should’ve been on the vanilla Mesmer.

I hope the next round of elite specs isn’t too far behind HoT, otherwise everyone will be running the same elites. Not that build diversity is amazing pre-HoT, but still.

Currently playing Condi Chrono Shatter Bunker (jeez that’s a mouthful). Really tough, outputs decent condition pressure, with a smattering of team support.

From a Bunker standpoint it’s not as supporty as Guardian, but is much more capable of holding its own when alone and of course is more mobile. You can customise a lot of the build to your taste and still retain its core functionality too: if you want more offensive pressure or mobility you can have it. The format I’m playing is probably one of the tankier variants.

Overall I really like the template of Condi Shatter with Shield. There’s so many variations that are all viable.

Fay.2357:

mistsim.2748:

nah trust me. not supcutie + friend issue. I play at the top mmr, so I face people of similar caliber every day. this build is nuts. I’m sure he’d be happy to tell u that.

anyway, thanks for the bumps. make sure to keep this thread going for the devs.

I’m afraid I can’t trust you on this one. Someone that would make a thread like this is very questionably skilled, which would place you low on mmr.

Truth. This thread reeks of the Dunning–Kruger effect.

Zenith.7301:

Xyonon.3987:

Zenith.7301:

You people are talking as if mimic feedback is all that great when Guardian’s Wall of Reflection traited last as long as two back to back Feedbacks with mimic.

I prefer to trait feedback thank you very much. It’s also much more reliable than a wall will ever be.

Yeah ok lol. PvP guy talking obviously.

Feedback isn’t really used in PvP.

Curunen.8729:

Oh wow, play this if you haven’t played it yet.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAreWlknhy0YhawRNwtGLPH1ZBEAHW9gmoLK6ilPHAA-TJRHwAm3fAZZAAnCABPBAA

The synergy between Chronophantasma, Persistence of Memory, Mental Defence, the new pDisenchanter, Improved Alacrity, Echo of Memory and Deja Vu is amazing.

The phantasm generation rate is insane. :o

Yes, this is my favoured build in sPvP, and it’s only been getting better with each BWE. I’ve taken to calling it “ChronoWard”.

Personally though I take Signet of Midnight instead of Decoy and Time Warp instead of Mass Invis. For amulet I’m using Settler’s (your reccomendation, which I’ve come to prefer over Carrion and Rabid ) paired with Undead runes. Sigils, I use Frailty for Sceptre and Leeching for Staff, because I prefer to stick to Sceptre and use Staff for extra defense/illusions.

Since there doesn’t seem to be a thread yet, I’ll start one.

First thought: I expected Echo of Memory’s block duration to be reduced for continuous blocking, but it isn’t. Really strong with Persistence of Memory and Chronophantasma.

I hope it doesn’t get nerfed into oblivion. I get really suspicious these days when Mesmers get nice things.

High Toughness on Mesmer is far from pointless, especially when you go into Inspiration which has a lot of healing… and with Chrono, I do mean a LOT.

That said I agree that Mesmer DPS isn’t the way to go in PvP, and Inspiration healing doesn’t scale very well with Healing Power. As a burst profession I think to build around Danger Time you should be close to 100% crit while Slow is up, otherwise it’s too unreliable.

The other thing is if it’s to work with our instant-cast skills it really shouldn’t have a cast time.

But in general I think it would be more useful if it was activated after the skill you want double-casted rather than before. Combat situations where double cast would be useful tend to be unpredictable.

Cuchulainn.7421:

TheGuy.3568:

…Plethora of tips how to act vs. cond. mezzzzzzz

Uhm… Not to be spoilsport but these are a lot of points to consider only to kill one so called useless condition mesmer.

The more arguments u adduce how to kill a mesmer, the more illogicalness that this mesmer is useless /harmless or easy to fight against, esp. for scrubs.

/ 2 cents

Or perhaps there’s a lot of points because there’s a lot of ways to counter a Condi Mesmer, hmm?

NapTooN.6283:

It lets you double cast any Utility Skill. 72 seconds with Trait is fine.

Apart from very specific situations such as reflects, stealth and portals, Mimic is rarely a good idea. CD is far too long for use in general combat.

It really only sees use in gimmicks. For actual combat the CD is indeed too long.

Should be 60s at most to see any combat use, although 75s is acceptable with MoM.

Would be nice if Toba is right, although it still wouldn’t make any difference. But baby steps, baby steps…

Also, please stop conflating PU with Condi Mes. They are NOT the same thing. If you have a problem with PU say it. If you have a problem with Condi Mes say it. Don’t say you have a problem with Condi Mes when what you really mean to say is you have a problem with PU.

And really, PU Condi Mes is one of the worst Mesmer builds for sPvP, worse than non-PU Condi Mes.

I’m pretty sure I’ve seen you post this already.

ozzy.8059:

abc.5790:

I counter these w/ power wells necro. Use wh4 to aoe daze then wh5 to build some LF and cripple.

They’re not the best at capping. Maybe a bigger threat in WvW

because a mesmer is going to stand in your wells and isnt going to hit distortion or stun you at all…

A Condi Mesmer typically has no stuns and why the kitten would you blow Distortion while standing in a Well.

Every sentence you type further proves you haven’t actually played a Condi Mesmer (or indeed Mesmer in general) like you claimed.

.

Novuake.2691:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Uh.. Well the thing is that it could.. Be avoided.

Take a second and clear out thoughts of “spam” and “cancer” and analyze what the class is actually doing. Ima explain it assuming you’re actually open-minded about learning to beat the build rather than mindless ranting/complaining.

You may not be able to kill the Condi mes, but with even the slightest thought to how you play and how the build does damage will keep them from killing you.

You are assuming I am just ranting?

He said he’s explaining it assuming you’re open-minded about learning to beat the build, instead of mindless ranting.

Nausicca.6038:

Embolism.8106:

Nausicca.6038:

I wish there was less condi mesmers in wvw solo roaming scene. Actualy, I don’t even remember running into another class this week. It’s killing the fun, really.
If everyone and their cats are playing condi mesmers, maybe there’s a problem. Maybe.

Fortunatly, they are non factor in group play, but still, I don’t always have a group to play with and I wish I could fight something else than this cheese build.

Or maybe the problem is with solo roaming itself, a “game mode” with very strict criteria as to what builds can succeed, naturally resulting in very limited build diversity.

Solo roaming should factor exactly nothing into balance. PvE players complain about PvP infringing on its balance, well balancing around solo roaming is 100x worse.

I know solo roaming is not and will never be balanced. I’m not asking for it. I don’t care tbh. I’m roaming because I like open world pvp. But at least, there was class diversity before. Now it’s only condi mesmer everywhere. It’s just boring. " oh another condi mesmer, woot".

Before what, I wonder. PU? Because PU just got nerfed.

Condi Mesmers have always been popular for WvW roaming. They haven’t received any upgrades to the actual Condi Mesmer part (in fact it’s been nerfed somewhat) for a long time.

ozzy.8059:

but if it is so bad and a detriment to your team wouldn’t you not want people to use it?

That’s like saying “nerf Fresh Air Ele more, it’s subpar so we should nerf it to encourage more people to run d/d”.

I’m sure I don’t need to explain to you how idiotic that statement is.

ozzy.8059:

then you wont mind if it gets nerfed into the ground then?

We need more build diversity, not less.

I smell a hotfix. Dear God Mesmer illusions can now last 0 seconds longer!? Can’t have that now.

denis.9487:

So if solo roaming doesn’t effect balancing. Stealth does not cap nodes in our pvp. In wvw stealth traps and others can sweep same as before. Why was pu nerfed?

If you’re asking me (which begs the question of why…), I said “should”. Either way I care very little if PU is 100% or 50% because for me the only thing it affects is how long I can avoid dogs in the SW labyrinth.

ozzy.8059:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Chokolata.1870:

I feel like this is a proper question to ask. And before you attack me that I need to learn to play, I actually know the build and what it does.

My question is, since Anet is very heavy handed in nerfing builds that are bad for the game, why is Mesmer allowed to constantly stealth and just dodge all the while pumping out insane amounts of conditions that, even if you fully go for condition removal, are simply impossible to cleanse.

This is from a Ranger and Warrior perspective.

To answer your question, its because the build is smothered by myths and falsetalk than facts. Condition Mes has already been heavily nerfed and the majority of its passive play has been stripped with the removal of clone-death traits.

Here’s a tip against any Condi mes, pu or otherwise: Only one attack does burst damage and there’s only one condition you need to worry about cleansing: Torment. The only way they can do meaningful damage to an opponent that pays attention is with the scepter block/counter. Players like Ozzy shouldn’t even be able to touch you. Confusion damage should be minor in most cases.

All the stealth and other stuff is just fluff, a PU Mesmer is at a disadvantage in PvP and is one of the least useful Mesmer builds when played improperly (which is 90%) of the time. Anet doesn’t balance around duels, and when’s the last time you’ve heard of a Condi Mesmer being a threat outside of a 1v1?

and yet people die very fast to me, wonder why…..

Because your MMR has plummeted to the point where you’re fighting F2P players just entering the PvP scene.

Nausicca.6038:

I wish there was less condi mesmers in wvw solo roaming scene. Actualy, I don’t even remember running into another class this week. It’s killing the fun, really.
If everyone and their cats are playing condi mesmers, maybe there’s a problem. Maybe.

Fortunatly, they are non factor in group play, but still, I don’t always have a group to play with and I wish I could fight something else than this cheese build.

Or maybe the problem is with solo roaming itself, a “game mode” with very strict criteria as to what builds can succeed, naturally resulting in very limited build diversity.

Solo roaming should factor exactly nothing into balance. PvE players complain about PvP infringing on its balance, well balancing around solo roaming is 100x worse.

Sizer.3987:

The OP has a good idea (even though his new abilities seem way too OP).

Ouch. I specifically refrained from including damage and stack numbers so people can discuss the idea rather than saying “this is OP/UP”.

.

Gav.1425:

A faster and more direct change would just be to calculate Mesmer weapon damage independent of illusions so we can avoid the “ranger damage is partially via pet” gimpage.

Any Mesmer who can keep 3 phantasms up in PvE deserves the benefit of that damage as a bonus and not as an assumption when Mesmer DPS is calculated. This would be on top of my proposed weapon skill increase.

Agreed, although I don’t think Phantasms should be completely out of the equation: you can generally rely on them getting at least one shot off (except not really in any AoE situation, even with Protected Phantasms…), so they should be balanced with the assumption that they only survive long enough for one shot (even though they frequently don’t…).

The reliability of Phantasm first strike is why I’m suggesting it be moved to the Mesmer, by the way.

Condi Mes isn’t even that great in duels for the purposes of sPvP. As an attrition build it lacks the burst to bring down targets quickly (unless they’re really, really stupid), so while a Condi Mes may eventually win most duels it won’t do so in a timely manner. Worse even a stealthless Mesmer isn’t suited for standing on points, so the most likely result of duels is you lose the point and then +1 arrives for one side or another before you can kill your opponent.

And even the “good in duels” thing is questionable. As pointed out a lot of solo players run Zerker builds with no cleansing, which are handily countered by Condi Mesmers for obvious reasons. Against builds such as Shoutbow War, Cele Signet Necro and DS Staff Ele, Condi Mesmers are almost ineffectual.

@Zendella, I must say, I quite enjoyed reading your post.

.

tobascodagama.2961:

At this point, I’ve given up hope for the core Mesmer’s Phantasms to ever see any significant rework. But I’m somewhat hopeful that there might be a future Elite Spec that radically modifies Phantasms, perhaps something along these lines.

That’s what I’m afraid of. Given that Elite specs are mutually exclusive and this is a core Mesmer problem, the fix should be in the core Mesmer instead of making every Elite spec reinvent the wheel, so to speak.

.

apharma.3741:

I like the special effects on shatter however I feel letting phantasms still do damage is just asking for “rebalancing” to put it where it is now. They should do little to no damage like clones but you get the special stuff.

Well I’m envisioning Phantasm damage be reduced a lot, maybe with current high damage Phantasms down to iAvenger’s level. I still think they should do enough damage to matter, but it should only be a small part of Mesmer DPS.

.

Leodon.1564:

I agree that phantasms were poorly implemented and like the ideas proposed here but will play devil’s advocate.

1) An enemy player has to take some time currently to decide if he is going to take out your phantasms since they pose large enough of a threat DPS wise. If phantasms pose no threat DPS wise then an enemy player is free to focus on you, and you lose out on a little bit of survivability. While the difference in survivability may be negligible and can easily be made up somewhere else, thematically, I like that the enemy player has to make a choice. (i.e., It adds to the confusion theme of mesmers.)

2) I felt Robert attempted to address the problem with phantasm/shattering in a way that didn’t completely redo the mechanics of our class profession from the ground up which is probably never going to happen. He reduced the importance of keeping phantasms alive by reducing the time it took to respawn them and by making it much more attractive to keep shattering your clones/phantasms vs just keeping phantasms up indefinitely. This seemed evident through traits like Illusionary Reversion, Chronophantasma, Persistance of Memory, Mental Defender, Alacrity, etc.

1 would be a valid point except currently your enemies don’t even need to single out your Phantasms, all they have to do is throw cleaves and AoEs your way and your Phantasms melt without them even trying.

2 goes back to my lament about a core Mesmer problem being fixed in an Elite spec, with future Elite specs constantly reinventing the wheel to fix the same problem…

Really, what exactly is Ether Clone achieving currently (or ever)?

.

• It conjures Clones in cleave range.

• It conjures the weakest Clone.

• DE completely outclasses it to the point where it’s effectively meaningless.

• It gives Ether Bolt the bug where its rate of fire plummets with range (speculation but I’m pretty sure this is the cause).

• It replaces Phantasms.

.

Ether Clone is toxic for the Sceptre. Unless the Devs actually have plans for Ether Clone specifically, I say axe it. It does far more harm than good (if any).

Turkadactyl.5308:

I’m not defending him, I’m saying that your point isn’t going to get across by going about it that way. Talking about what I think is driving them is not the same as defending them. I never meant it to come across as defending them.

If Math (a.k.a. facts) isn’t going to drive the point home, what will?

Silverkey.2078:

Well there was this compromise which I liked to making phantasm a one-time attack. They would not be shatterable, they would simply attack once and disappear (while being otherwise unkillable). This would keep the flavor (you would have one pink version of yourself stabbing your enemy) but with something that can actually be balanced (because you can’t base your balance on them attacking more than once).

That’s kind of the idea I’m going for here. Phantasms would be balanced around the skill they are tied to (the first attack if you will) and the Shatter effect, and any attacks in-between would be icing rather than the cake.

With regards to invincible, un-Shatterable Phantasms that attack once, seems like it might be simplier to just make the Mesmer do the attack instead?

AlphatheWhite.9351:

4. It’s not gonna happen any time soon. Chronomancer has been balanced around the current paradigm, and Robert et al are working hard to make sure everything is ready for HoT. Rebalancing phantasms means reevaluating everything about mesmers, and that is a LOT of work. It makes the June 23rd rework pale in comparison.

Fay.2357:

Tbh I really like these.

NB: This type of massive rework has roughly a 0% chance of ever happening.

I do like it though.

I know. I’m just hoping the Devs will see this, think it’s a good idea and take some small steps to making it happen, things like transferring Phant dmg to the Mesmer or making Phantasms Shatter extra stacks of useless Confusion.

Before we even talk about increasing Ether Bolt’s RoF or damage or whatever, first we need to know…

.

Is the fluctuating attack rate of Ether Bolt with range fixable?

.

Because as long as this bug exists the players and the Devs cannot be on the same page when we’re discussing Sceptre DPS.

In general I try to make damaging Shatter effects deal their damage over time (AoEs, conditions) to avoid increasing Mesmer Shatter burst.

For Mage, Avenger and Disenchanter, I’m suggesting that they use ranged AoE attacks to deliver their effects.

As for Mariner and Whaler, eh. I don’t really care about them.

Phantasms are a mess, and they’re dragging the entire profession down with them.

Why? Because they’re designed as DPS pets. Without having 3 Phantasms up Mesmer DPS plummets, yet they’re 1. incredibly fragile, especially to AoE and 2. destroyed by our two other profession mechanics, Clones and Shatter skills. The result is a profession full of contradictions and, frankly, not very well-designed.

So here’s my suggestion. Instead of Phantasms being DPS pets, make them better Clones. By this I mean two things:

.

• Make Phantasm conjuring be a by-product of another skill.
  .

• Make Phantasms produce better Shatter effects than Clones.

.

The Chronomancer has taken a few steps in the right direction with Echo of Memory and Chronophantasma, but the Mesmer should not require an Elite specialisation (not to mention a GM trait) to not tear itself apart. The core functionality of Phantasms must be changed.

The Shatter effects I’m suggesting will only occur the first time a Phantasm is Shattered with Chronophantasma, to prevent obvious shenaningans.

.

[BERSERKER]
.

Crippling Anguish – 0.75s CT, 20s CD, 1200 RNG, Whirl.
Send an illusionary greatsword whirling towards your target, damaging and Crippling foes in a line. Conjure a Phantasmal Berserker against your target which uses a whirling attack to damage and Cripple foes.

On Shatter: 240 AoE.
The Berserker Shatters into a storm of illusionary blades that constantly damages and inflicts Vulnerability to foes in the area.

.

[WARLOCK]
.

Accumulated Pain – 30s CD, 1200 RNG.
Strike your target with a blast of chaotic energy, Tormenting and extending the duration of all conditions on them. Conjure a Phantasmal Warlock that deals extra damage for each unique condition.

On Shatter: 240 AoE, Ethereal.
The Warlock Shatters into a Chaos Storm that grants random boons to allies and inflicts random conditions to enemies.

.

[SWORDSMAN]
.

Wastrel’s Worry – 0.5s CT, 25s CD, 600 RNG, Leap.
Leap at your target and stab them, dealing significant damage. Conjure a Phantasmal Swordsman that leaps at and stabs your foe. If target is not activating a skill, Wastrel’s Demise becomes temporarily available.

On Shatter:
You gain a stackable buff that makes your next attack Unblockable.

Wastrel’s Demise – 0.5s CT, 130 RNG, Leap.
Stab your foe and leap backwards, dealing significant damage. Conjure a Phantasmal Swordsman that leaps at and stabs your foe. If target is not activating a skill, Wastrel’s Worry’s CD is reduced.

.

[WARDEN]
.

Mirror of Disenchantment – 3s CT, 25s CD, 120 AoE, Whirl.
Create a shield around you that converts and reflects incoming projectiles into boon stripping bolts. You cannot move while channelling the shield. When the shield ends, conjure a Phantasmal Warden against your target that whirls and absorbs projectiles. Activate this skill again to end the shield early and conjure the Warden. (Warden’s Feedback allows reflected projectiles to retain their original effect as well as stripping boons.)

On Shatter: 240 AoE, Light.
The Warden Shatters into a dome of energy that absorbs projectiles.

.

[DUELIST]
.

Migraine – 1.5s CT, 20s CD, 1200 RNG, Projectile.
Fire a bullet that deals significant damage and inflicts Bleeding and Slow to the target. Conjure a Phantasmal Duelist that unloads its pistols into your foe.

On Shatter: 600 RNG, 1 BNC, Projectile.
Up to 5 ethereal bullets shoot out of the Shattered Duelist, bouncing between foes and inflicting Confusion. Each foe can initially only be targeted by one bullet.

.

[MAGE]
.

Backfire – 0.75s CT, 20s CD, 1200 RNG, 4 BNC.
Throw an illusionary torch that bounces between foes, Confusing them. Conjure a Phantasmal Mage against your target that casts an ethereal burst to Confuse enemies in an area.

On Shatter: 240 AoE, Blast.
The Mage Shatters into a blasting fireball, Burning nearby enemies.

.

[AVENGER]
.

Echo of Memory – 2.25s CT, 30s CD, 900 RNG.
Block incoming attacks. Conjure a Phantasmal Avenger against your target when this skill ends, which throws an illusionary shield to Slow enemies and grant Alacrity to allies in an area. If an attack is Blocked, Déjà Vu becomes temporarily available.

On Shatter:
The Avenger Shatters into 2 ethereal shield fragments that grant Quickness to Allies.

Déjà Vu – 2.25s CT, 900 RNG.
Block incoming attacks. Conjure a Phantasmal Avenger against your target when this skill ends, which throws an illusionary shield to Slow enemies and grant Alacrity to allies in an area.

.

[DEFENDER]
.

Empathy – 1s CT, 30s CD, 900 RNG, 4 BNC, 240 AoE.
Cast an incapacitating bolt that bounces between enemies, inflicting Weakness. You and nearby allies gain Retaliation. Conjure a Phantasmal Defender that redirects half of incoming damage to nearby allies to itself.

On Shatter:
The Defender Shatters into 5 ethereal shield fragments that grant Protection to allies.

.

[DISENCHANTER]
.

Enchanter’s Conundrum – 1s CT, 30s CD, 900 RNG, 240 AOE.
Cast a hex around your target, inflicting Slow for each unique boon on affected foes. Conjure a Phantasmal Disenchanter against your target that casts a nullifying burst to strip boons and cleanse conditions in an area.

On Shatter: 240 AoE, Ethereal.
The Disenchanter Shatters into a Null Field that strips boons from foes and cleanse conditions from allies.

.

[ROGUE]
.

Blackout – 1s CT, 20s CD, 900 RNG.
Daze your foe. Conjure a Phantasmal Rogue that deals extra damage from behind.

On Shatter: 240 AoE.
Enemies near the Shattered Rogue are Blinded.

Phloww.1048:

Embolism.8106:

Most importantly can the “bug” where Ether Bolt will not progress to the next skill in the chain until the previous Ether Bolt projectile has hit the target/disappeared be fixed? It makes Sceptre’s rate of fire much, much lower than it should be at range.

Waaaaait….I just tested it now in HotM. I was able to do the first 2 AA attacks without a target and then I target a golem for the 3rd. Ether clone hits it and summons a clone. I watch the skill chain animation progress once I swing my scepter. I can see that autoattacking in melee range cause the skill chain to go faster, yes, but I’m confused what this “bug” is. :S

When you cast Ether Bolt, after the cast time is finished it won’t flip into Ether Blast until Ether Bolt’s projectile has disappeared, i.e. until it reaches its maximum range or hits a target.

This means the actual cast time + “aftercast” of Ether Bolt (and Blast and Clone) is longer the further away you are from your target. In melee range when the projectile doesn’t get created at all, the aftercast doesn’t exist so the rate of fire of the entire chain is much faster. But as soon as you have even a tiny bit of range, enough so the projectile is created, the rate of fire plummets.

Fix this, and all problems with Ether Bolt’s rate of fire disappears. It really isn’t slow at all (and it seems Rob might not be aware of this issue, hence why I keep bringing it up in hopes he’ll see it), it’s just plagued with a very weird bug that I believe is to accomodate Ether Clone.

If it can’t be fixed because of Ether Clone, I’d much, much rather Ether Clone be completely axed. For three years it has held the Sceptre back, please no more.

Carighan.6758:

Embolism.8106:

In PvE Mesmer DPS is entirely reliant on 3 Phants, so bringing out Clones is a DPS loss (and the primary reason Sceptre is not used in PvE).

But then we have a much deeper problem at hand already and I’d prefer the devs to work on that.

If DPS via Phantasms is intended, then it should be the same in PvP, too.

Yes but even if it weren’t, Shatter DPS is limited by Shatter CD, not Illusion generation. So the non-issue with Ether Clone and DPS stands.

Robert Gee.9246:

Scepter is difficult to balance because of the clone generation on AA. As a mesmer player I’d like it if the last attack wasn’t so slow too, but increasing the speed of the final attack risks imbalancing mesmer DPS by increasing clone generation speed.

In PvE Mesmer DPS is entirely reliant on 3 Phants, so bringing out Clones is a DPS loss (and the primary reason Sceptre is not used in PvE). Even if it weren’t Mind Wrack is the only Shatter that deals damage (Mesmer Condi is useless in PvE because of the conditions we deal) on a 10s CD, any old build can churn out 3 Illusions in that time. Ether Clone adds nothing.

Chronomancy shouldn’t factor in here because it’s an Elite spec, this is a base Mesmer problem.

In PvP DPS is completely meaningless, it’s all about burst; and Sceptre again is completely irrelevant. There’s zero builds that rely on Ether Clone for illusion generation, even the old Mantra build that doesn’t use DE ignores the Sceptre.

.

Most importantly can the “bug” where Ether Bolt will not progress to the next skill in the chain until the previous Ether Bolt projectile has hit the target/disappeared be fixed? It makes Sceptre’s rate of fire much, much lower than it should be at range.

frifox.5283:

Silverkey.2078:

• Phantasmal Disenchanter: Reduced the attack recharge by 2 seconds. The attack from this phantasm is now referred to as “Disenchanting Bolt” in the combat log.

Disenchanter attacked every 4 sec with PH pre patch. Does that mean he’ll attack every 2 sec now? If so, that’s borderline OP… and I like it

With its cast time and all the Shattering we do I don’t see it as being close to OP. Yeah you can get a lot of boon stripping and condition cleansing… provided you don’t Shatter.

StickerHappy.8052:

DD tweak is justified Imo. 3x bleed stacks per hit is not fun on the duelist.
Full rabid gear on pvp pre patch can let you proc 8-9 stacks bleed with duelist using only sharper images (assuming they hit)

It was 2x on a 33% chance. And Bleed stacks really aren’t that strong in the current meta.

Seems like it’s intended going by the notes.

Problem with nerfing DD is it really isn’t much better than Phant Fury for the purposes of Bleed stacking now, and when you take into account that Fury also boosts direct damage it becomes even more questionable.

Disenchanter attacks really fast, which is interesting.

No changes for Sceptre, and Duelist’s Discipline is dead on arrival. Welp.

They did say there’s more to come so here’s hoping for Sceptre fixes/buffs.

Xyonon.3987:

Embolism.8106:

Sceptre’s AA is actually pretty fast… if you’re in melee.

Rob, is it possible to fix this at all?

hasn’t this been “fixed” ??

Never ever.

Sceptre’s AA is actually pretty fast… if you’re in melee.

Rob, is it possible to fix this at all?

Triflux.8027:

tobascodagama.2961:

It’s been modified for BWE3 with essentially a .25s ICD on gaining stacks, specifically to break the interaction with Spatial Surge.

Even without that, it wasn’t a noticeable factor in BWE1 or BWE2. In theory, permaslow is super powerful, but in practice it doesn’t matter that much compared to the more direct forms of lockdown we have access to, nor is it as much of a game changer as Chronophantasma.

Speaking of which, can dazed phantasms still Shatter?

Yes.

I think PU at +50% is perfectly reasonable and still worthy of a GM slot. +100% is and had always been overkill with or without bugged Pledge.

That said it would be nice if the boons are reconsolidated down to just defensive ones (Aegis, Protection or Regeneration).

As it is the Sceptre is really a hybrid weapon, not a condi weapon. In a Power build Ether Bolt does comparable damage to Mind Slash and Confusing Images does more damage than Blurred Frenzy. Illusionary Counter also does a respectable amount of direct damage, which is much more than could be said about Illusionary Leap.

I really hope balancing for the Sceptre keeps its currently hybrid nature instead of trying to push it further into the condi weapon niche. For one thing it’s a kitten shame, for another the Mesmer only has two mainhands so having one of them be a hybrid jack-of-all is perfect… provided it’s competitive either way.

There’s a 0.25s ICD for the trait.

If Sceptre 1 hits instantly then that would automatically make it much faster at range because of its weird aftercast “bug” that makes it slower the further away you are.

In fact that may well be all the Sceptre really needs to make it completely competitive with Sword (and then have whatever equivalent buffs Sword is having).

Actual druids in real life were a lot more interested in astronomy than plants.

So it fits.

Just so you’re aware, I was giving you an out. You could’ve admitted you were trolling and we’d all have a good laugh about it. Instead you decide to dig yourself deeper by showing you’re completely serious.

Wait, is this trolling too? Oh ho ho, very well played. 11/10.