CoE is my favourite dungeon to be honest, path 2 specifically. Subject Alpha is so fun to fight on Melee Mesmer
Wow, people still don’t know about the turkey room?
I thought it was well known by everyone by now it’s been there a long time.
It’s in Ascalonian Catacombs Explorable Path 1 (Hodgin’s one) at the top of the scaffolding above the waypoint after the room where you need to kill the graveling borrows while protecting hodgins as he studies.
There’s a little jumping puzzle with an annoying low ceiling you need to get across.
Here’s a video made by someone showing where it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxMnqfmS13g
The lore behind the turkeys: Lupicus didn’t get any turkeys for thanksgiving (Which is why he’s so hungry to eat us) because Hodgin’s was keeping them all to himself.
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I guess it’s more of an immersion sort of problem. I actually think it would be nicer if it were written in New Krytan it just feels so odd having it written in English now that I have a higher level guardian. Then again, floating books aren’t exactly realistic either I guess it could be considered a strange foreign language to the people of Tyria but still it’s odd.
@Fay, good list, wery needed and helpfull for new and old mesmers. Small detail and sorry for be picky but the " Shatter Cat" guide is not only 10-30-0-0-30 its 4 different builds for wvwvw and pve so a more accuarte description would be : “4 builds for WvWvW and PvE”, or something simmilar.
/Osicat
Hey Osicat, I decided to just list the original Shatter Cat for the sake of keeping the list simple but I edited the description to explain there are variations.
I’ve also decided to remove the description of whether its a guide or simple post in favour of adding the builds gametypes and if needed an additional note of interest as I feel people would probably prefer that.
I will be going through each build to check what gametype they are used for and will update the list accordingly.
Edit: Also if anyone wants me to list additional gametypes for a build let me know
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Looking forward to to seeing it Comet
One thing I intend on adding to the list once the patch hits is that I will put a * In front of all builds that were prior the patch until they are updated (unless there are no mesmer changes but lets face it there will no doubt be a 5 page nerf list).
So people can easily see which builds are up-to-date and which builds might not be accurate anymore and should be approached with that in mind. It should safe people time figuring out which builds are still viable or that might not work as intended and hopefully get you theorycrafters to update all your builds and topics to at least say it’s up-to-date
You should become a DEV and start fixing all those broken traits…
Haha! Trust me, I would love to be allowed to test Mesmer related things before they go live and point out the areas that need most attention if I could (Or any other part of the game for that matter) but Anet doesn’t have that kind of out of the company kind of testing set up yet (I don’t think!) or I’d be first in line to sign up The mesmer profession needs some love after all those nerfs!
now the guide link works, ty for your work
Just trying to help everyone find information easier Being a new mesmer especially is daunting and the Mesmer forum is very confusing unless you’ve been a mesmer for a while.
By the way Fay, the link in your signature to your guide is broken, you might want to fix that. ^^
It’s because it includes your guide and the compilation link.
Thanks No idea why that broke it worked before ^^ should be fixed now. Doing a lot of fixing today!
he use 10(VI)/ 0 /25(V,X) / 15(II) / 20(II,VII)
and @ Fay,
Thanks, something with IE-explorer that was causing problems with the site, works fine on others!
Thanks Fay for the guides!
Aaah of course, Why didn’t I think of that! Yea, I use google chrome Didn’t consider it could be a browser issue. And you’re welcome
Thank you for fixing the typo. Now I just have to hope that I won’t have to completely rewrite the guide after tomorrows patch…
Haha, Same here! I’m expecting another giant nerf hammer on mesmer. I think I’ll actually drop dead in shock if they actually gave us some decent buffs. -cough- Buff mantras please! -cough-
Hey Fay
‘the boomer’ by bligh redirects me to a post which when I open the link, I don’t get to see any traits…?
greets
There’s a link at the bottom of his post with the traits
I know but when I click it I don’t get to see the traits he used. Only the weaps, armor and jewelry, not the traits it all says 0. Or is it just me then?
Ah I got that when I tried to copy & paste the link into a new tab but if you click the link it should send you directly to the build, at least it does for me.
Hey Fay
‘the boomer’ by bligh redirects me to a post which when I open the link, I don’t get to see any traits…?
greets
There’s a link at the bottom of his post with the traits
Nice list, was about time, someone wrote up all the guides. Thank you.
I’d rather place my build to the list of Shatter Builds though, as it is not too much about conditions besides bleeding from Sharper Images and more about shattering all your illusions.
I agree that’s why I figured I’d do it since I visit these forums so much anyway so I can update frequently I added you to shatter builds.
Edit: Sorry about the typo Fixed that as well.
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Sorry for not releasing the video yet. Very ill at the moment so can’t concentrate on editing videos at the moment. I will get right at it when I feel better though!
Rhogall, Interesting build! I’m glad my build inspired you to at least play around with mantras which is my main intend for sharing the build Mantras have a lot more potential now with the decreased cast time. It’s just a matter of getting used to the playstyle.
Panzen, Give it a try for a few days see how it goes! I tend to swap mantra of distraction with resolve for dungeons as a lot of bosses don’t respond to dazes but do apply conditions.
Sometimes I also swap around either blink or mantra of pain for certain fights as well with nullfield or feedback that kind of thing. I like using mantra of concentration for fights like searing effigy in CoF. Basically you have to be more versatile with utility in dungeons overall
Mantra of pain is a great way to support your party in dungeons though with restorative mantras you help top people up nicely. I’ve saved many people and stopped wipes by spamming mantra of pain. It’s not an amazing heal as it doesnt heal people all the way up but it does top up health nicely to give people another second to respond, buy people time to heal up/pop some defense or safe their cooldowns.
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My guild has a couple of alliances, one with a PvX guild like ours and one WvW guild. We basically share social events with the PvX guild twice a week. That way we have more active events and can talk with some different people for a while.
Then if people want to do WvW they can tag along with the WvW guild on their teamspeak etc. while still keeping our tag up. It works very well
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In WvW, a competently geared / prepared Thief using the backstab build will not allow you time to react. The burst will be executed within a total of 2.0 seconds, with 0.8 seconds of actual contact time (where you take damage), and will be executed from 900/1200 range. This is basically a guaranteed death unless you dodge their opener at range, or have prot/aegis up from a prior event.
That aside, Dazes troll Thieves hard if the above situation does not occur.
That’s why you want a lot of vitality in your gear for WvW (It’s why I’m really unhappy having to sacrifice precious Vitality from runes for some swiftness) but without the burst you wont have the edge either so you do need some power and precision as well. It’s a fine balance and that’s why the build is more for others to use to figure out what they feel most comfortable with, integrate it into their builds. like with all professions you have some builds that are harder to counter than others.
Unlike in dungeons where if you know what you are doing you can go with a lot less Vitality, it’s important to have some to give you a second to react in WvW to thieves especially. The only times a glass cannon type backstab out of nowhere thief has gotten the better out of me is when I was either distracted and slow to react or I made a different kind of human error.
Otherwise you should be able to deal with those type of thieves fairly easily overall at least from my experience I’ve had no major issues. I actually secretly find it quite satisfying knowing they probably expected an easy kill and in stead got dazed to death probably left completely confused by the experience (Which is perfect and apt for a mesmer).
I checked the vs thief videos because I was curious how the fights look like but there’s no most basic scenario you encounter in WvW which is:
1. 11k Backstab
2. 2k Sigil of Air
3. 6.5k Steal’
4.(optional) Cloak & Dagger (6k)
Any order of those skills basically but it usually starts with Backstab
You’re dead in <1sec.
Combat Log shows you were killed by Unknown because the thief hasnt even rendered on your screen before you were downed.So how do you counter it? Assuming you have no idea of thief going for you there’s no way you will even react with poping Blurred Frenzy for immunity.
To be fair the videos aren’t the best ever. I don’t normally do any sPvP at all I mostly do WvW and dungeons. The mantra build was also fairly new for me as I had switched to it a week before and played around with it till I felt I had something solid to practice and I wasn’t used to all the keybinds etc. The video is to demonstrate how roughly it works. I don’t profess to be an expert with the build yet Although I feel I’ve improved a lot since the videos.
That said, I’ve had plenty of occasions where a thief tries to jump out at me in WvW out of nowhere. Sometimes if I’m busy chatting or particularly slow that day they will get me but 6/10 I just blink away, then keep them from going into stealth by chain dazing them and burning them down quick. Because daze stops thieves from using stealth timing it right leaves them completely exposed.
That’s why if I react fast enough all manner of thieves are generally really easy for me if I time my dazes well and burst and don’t mess up. It’s thieves with a lot of vitality/toughness that I struggle with which I see far less of when skirmishing than the glass cannon type as the tougher ones tend to be with the zerg more.
Not to mention that they don’t expect me to daze them so much so they are taking off guard and start to mess up. It’s a very successful tactic and I guess you’d have to practice yourself to know what I mean
I’ve got some footage of a couple of dungeon runs I did with another Mantra Mesmer So expect double awesome Mantra action for one!
I’ll have to edit it to demonstrate the various examples of mantra usage in dungeons. So it might still be a couple of days till it’s ready and uploaded
Great build Fay! Mantras have always looked pretty interesting to me, so I may have to give this a shot, when I can collect the gear!
I do have a slightly off-topic question though: Earlier you were discussing Mantra of Recovery, and I was wondering if it was worth using even with no traits into mantras, in comparison to our other heals?
I looked into the question in regards to healing on a mesmer in an earlier post:
Mantra of Recovery = 10.8k every 15 seconds (With RM trait) – 8k (Without RM trait)
Ether fest = 7.7k every 20 seconds (depended on whether you have 3 clones up or not)
Mirror = 4k every 15 seconds
I personally feel that Mantra of Recovery is the best Mesmer heal because even without the 3x mantra trait and Restorative Mantra trait you can still use the heals regardless of situation and you aren’t depended on having clones up and the cooldown is faster but the downside of course is the charge.
That said I feel that if you don’t us either the 3x mantra trait or Restorative mantra trait both Ether or Mantra are fine depending on what you prefer. Whether you prefer to charge or get clones up they’re both effective and good in different ways.
Good luck with trying out a mantra build I had some positive feedback so far from various mesmers that whispered me so it’s certainly worth a try if it intrigues you.
You should make some PvE videos, Fay
I will make one today if I can of several different encounters in dungeons to demonstrate how mantras are a great addition in dungeons also
I’ve been testing Restorative Mantras (trait X in Inspiration) in PvP, and they don’t seem to be healing, for balancing reasons does that trait only work in PvE?
They definitely work in PvP It only works once you finish casting the mantra not upon using the readied mantras.
Also forgot to say I’d like to make clear I don’t generally harass people when they don’t represent. I usually ask the reasons for it and am quite reasonable about it. I’ve let people transfer to other servers and guilds for a couple of weeks to play with friends etc. while remaining in the guild till they make up their mind. It’s not like I kick people the second they don’t represent.
One thing that would improve the multi-guild system is being able to see the chats of all guilds you’re in.
I don’t like missing out.
I think this would be good as well as give influence to all the guilds you are in. Then it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
Bad deploy caused some issues for the french version of the site, should be fixed now but if you’re still seeing issues post the bad URLs please.
Thank you, It’s fixed bit strange though since I’m not french nor use the french website but I’m glad I can read the website again!
First of all, I don’t guild hop for completely selfish gain… -Snip- …instead of letting the game do it for you.
People guild hop because they want to play with their friends in their various guilds and/or they guild hop because they want to enjoy the various perks of those various guild.
You don’t guild hop to contribute your time to those guilds because it means the little amount you do represent will be of little help to those guilds social functioning and influence gain especially since you dictate when you feel like contributing rather than staying loyal and involved. You are essentially taking advantage of them at your own volition and not for what’s best for a specific guilds community.
I’m not saying that is a bad thing, If that is what you want from the game that is your own prerogative and if such guilds allow this that is also their choice and that is fine. My issue with it is the attitude of a lot of posters in the topic that flat out insult those who try to establish a more solid community.
Also I wouldn’t want people in the guild who didn’t want to be there so the full representation thing goes without saying really. If you don’t want to represent then why bother? We all want to be there with each other so what’s the point of having someone who just pops in when he feels like it rather than want to be there all the time with us like we do.
This is only applicable if the guild actually gives half a murrelow about its members… – Snip – … abandon their pagan casual ways.
I want to clarify that I do not run a large guild that has 100% uptime of guild boons but some specific large guilds do have that focus of providing people all boons at all time and I tried to explain that this is the reason why they require the full time representation.
I don’t personally support the notion of having a guild just for the reason of boons and agree that some of them might do it for selfish reasons also (I heard some stories of that effect). That’s not to say all of the larger guilds do it for this and to generalise them would be as bad as to generalise guilds that expect full representation.
My own guild uses a trial period where newcomers will use the trial rank where they can determine if they like us and we them etc. There’s no specific timeframe to the trial just restriction of some guild functions in case the person has ulterior motives, though you can never be sure of that. I also always warn people that we expect full representation because we need it to keep a solid social community
(Also if this was aimed towards me “Mr. Guild Leader Person” I’m female.).
Oh, I don’t know. …-snip-… Gotta be worth something, eh?
I have no issue with the multi-guild system itself. I’m not generalising guild hoppers and I’m sure there are many varying reasons for. I have no issue with them or such guilds so I apologies if you got that impression.
I only responded to this thread because I’m tired of people randomly insulting guilds like mine that expect full representation.
The real issue behind the issue of guild hopping is the lack of guild bonding activities and guild functions within the core game itself that would encourage community loyalty which will hopefully be improved with the upcoming guild missions.
Because being social is the worst thing in the entire world, right?… -Snip- … drop a guild over it in a heartbeat.
Thanks for picking out a tiny bit of my post without reading all of it and missing the point entirely as well as judging someone and their situation without knowing anything about them at all
I have no issue with you wanting to hop guilds or that the guilds you are in allow it. I have an issue with being insulted and generalised which you perfectly demonstrate my point in.
I don’t see how full representation requirement stops you from talking to anyone. You have a friends list and areas where you can congregate to chat to your friends. Like I enjoy going to the bank in LA and chat to random people and guildies there. I don’t need to be in someone elses guild to be friends with people.
I also think it’s quite the opposite if a guild leader wants full time representation it’s because they want their community to be solid and do well as a community. Sure there are those who are as you describe but generalising leaders who mean well isn’t a good thing.
I tried to be loose with representation at the start of the game but it caused a lot of issues and fracturing in the guild. Since making it full time representation this has not been an issue because if people don’t like being with us they can always leave and there’s no resentment there if they do as we’d rather people want to be there.
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I think it’s quite a good idea to be able to make fine transmutation stones using the mystic forge. I have a lot laying around that I wouldn’t mind being able to transform to fine
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The centaur runes dont proc off each cast of mantra of heal. Its very inconsistent and i don’t know why. I was going to submit as a bug, but it seemed so minor i doubt they would care. It really bugs me though.
Yes it does but there is a 15 second cooldown (This includes the 10 second swiftness) So you only have 5 second downtime in between where it’s still on cooldown. I have a video on my mantra build thread demonstrating how this works and how Centaur runes proc with Mantra of Recovery
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Video-Guide-Mantra-Burst-Heal-Build-PvX
You will find that my mantra build has a lot of vitality on it (Especially when not using centaur runes for speed boost in wvw), So far from glass cannon :
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Video-Guide-Mantra-Burst-Heal-Build-PvX
How does this build do with endgame PVE and Dungeons? Do you think you could post a quick video if it is viable?
Sure I will try to make one when I can in the next couple of days and post it.
For whatever reason all of the sudden when I try to go to the main website I get this error.
HTTP Error 500.0 – Internal Server Error
The FastCGI process has failed frequently recently. Try the request again in a while?
I tried to wait a while, restart browser etc. but I still get it (I use Google Chrome). The website was working fine mere hours ago and it does still work on Mozilla Firefox.
I don’t know whether this is a problem with my browser or at my end or what it is but it’s only happening on the main website, Maybe someone can enlighten me ?
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I stopped playing fractals a month ago, it’s repetitive, RNG though some of that has been fixed now but kinda lost interest by now and the dc issue just makes it not worth the time. Much prefer the other dungeons
yes please do elaborate I have avoided mantra builds for the reason that I feel they lack the complete Umph that I like with ether feast. But ever and I mean EVERY class has quirky builds that will help it in a big way. Its just discovering the possibilities ourselves.
Just wanted to quote what I wrote on my thread about the mantra build I use. Mantra of Recovery is overall the superior heal. The only downside people have with it is that they aren’t used to the cast time.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Video-Guide-Mantra-Burst-Heal-Build-PvX
IMO mantra healing is the worst healing we have. even full traited mean you can cast it 3x with a 8s CD, problem is: after you use the healing 3x you are done, no more healing in combat because on tpvp a insane 3s to activated mantra healing is insane……
3x mantra healing isnt much better than ether feast + 3 illusion, for me taht heal skill look terrible
You are forgetting restorative mantras and you could also use Rune of Dwayna. With my setup I have 220 healing power which gives about 2.8k per charge of a mantra (+ allies around you), then there’s the 2.7 per readied mantra x3.
So if you were to charge + spam the 3 readied mantras that would be roughly 10.8k health regained in about 5 seconds. If you would add Rune of dwayna you’d heal for more + get 5sec of regeneration per charge + readied mantra used (if you’d wait 5 seconds between use.
Mantra of recovery also only has 10 second cooldown till you can recharge instead of Ether Feasts 20 second cooldown which is only 5.7k for me + if I had 3 illusions up it would be about 7.7k every 20 seconds. So roughly if using Restorative Mantras:
Mantra of Recovery = 10.8k every 15 seconds (With RM trait) – 8k (Without RM trait)
Ether fest = 7.7k every 20 seconds (depended on whether you have 3 clones up or not)
Mirror = 4k every 15 secondsMantra of Recovery is therefore the far superior heal. Especially when used with a mantra build with restorative mantras and healing runes because you will also proc 2.8k on other mantras cast that doesn’t just heal you but people around you also.
Also you can use the heals when you need them regardless of being stunned/knocked down and because they are divided up you can use them in a smarter way.
So got lucky when testing this build out in the mists and ended up in a 1v1 match with a ranger. Score! Lol.
Anyways, I gotta agree with the others who have said that this build feels clunky but I will differ in that I believe it does have some potential and that it only feels clunky because you need A LOT of practice with it.
My 1st bout with the ranger was horrible, I got out right spanked, but during that 1st fight I slowly began to get a feel for the way I was supposed to string combos together. This lead to a very close 2nd fight with me winning a downed state battle(those are always so funny and yet so hectic) and then the 3rd and 4th I completely owned him. So much so that he seemed to rage quit the match after his 3rd loss in a row
Unfortunately I haven’t had the time/opportunity to test it against other classes or builds besides the ranger(he mainly was using sword/dagger and traps) but for now I’m very intrigued by this build. I will have to say from my current experience with this build I don’t see much potential for it in anything other than 1v1 scenarios but that may just be a issue of lack of experience with the build.
Fay is right though, its great fun to be able to beat someone with this build since it is rather unconventional in the eyes of most players(even other mesmers) and players are definitely not expecting it. Keep up the good work Fay and I’ll keep practicing xD Hopefully some time later tonight I’ll get to test it out in a 2v1 scenario and let you know how it felt.
Sounds like you had fun I tend to love the reaction of surprise from people I 1v1 with. They definitely do not expect to be chain dazed and sudden big chunks of health being taken off. It’s quite satisfying.
But yes it does take practice to get the CC timing right, The gameplay is very different from the usual and takes time getting used to. It also requires knowledge of other professions as well, to know when to use it and when to wait.
I do feel mantras could do with some buffs/rethinking like:
Just as a reference, 4mantra build with the dueling trait(more damage per charged mantra) is pretty much the equivalent to your well known 5sig Warrior. Probably only worse.
Does that mean Empowering Mantras works with Harmonious Mantras? Allowing you to do more damage because you have 3x mantras readied per mantra rather than 2x?
Both empowering mantras and harmonious mantras being Grandmastery level choices on two separate trait lines is awkward. It means you would have to go too much into glass cannon to be effective with power spike.
I think a solution would be to swap some traits around (That or buff base Power spike a bit and compensate empowering mantras). For example Protected Mantras with Compounding Celerity. I mean why is it even in Duelling :/ Sounds more like a vitality or toughness trait.
Then Empowering mantras with Mantra Mastery and Deceptive Evasion with Blade training. Always felt the latter two should’ve been swapped (These are just random ideas it might cause balancing issues that I haven’t thought of and it might make mantra builds overpowered).
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The only problem I have with mantra builds is Mantra of pain is underpowered
It’s not
“Your Power Spike hits upleveled scrub invader for 4,277 damage.”
Still takes juicy chunks out of 80s in exotics.
The key for MoPain to work, however, is to make sure you’re using it during the animation of other attacks, else it’s a waste.
I tested it just now. Base damage of my power spike is 700/800ish, crits for 1.2/1.7k on it’s own. I also tend to use it in combination with blurred frenzy and other attacks. Not sure where you got 4.2k from :/ Maybe if you run glass cannon build?
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