Guild Wars 2

Malpractice.7850:

becaus ei play on JQ

ah… you mean SoR 2.0 … i’ll let it slide cuz ur considering mesmer.

As for WvW you can’t go wrong with Greatsword + PU + stealth + clone-kill traits. I also prefer Sword with stealth so you can cleave through the middle of an opposing zerg without much issue. Scepter should work alright as well. Also, I consider Staff to mainly be a roaming tool.

cya on the battlefield

http://intothemists.com/guides/?req=search&class=mesmer&sort=glory&dir=0

is another resource for mesmer builds using a fairly modern browsing interface for your viewing pleasure

lujate.5432:

Helios,
Unless i missed something, that looks like a typical PU stealth build.

I didn’t realize it was typical. I find that builds like it can be quite phenomenal.

This build may suite your needs:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-The-Blackwater-Mesmer-Condition-WvW/first

In pvp I use it for two primary things. First, I fairly often use it to interrupt a spike. Second, I time it to interrupt someone’s heal. You slowly burn someone down to about 40% health. They will go for the heal. Diversion them and burst them down the rest of the way.

lujate.5432:

I’ve tried but never really liked stealth.

use the stealth luke…

Stealth = Lock break = win

Crossplay.2067:

I agree that the swiftness issue needs to be fixed. Many people have stated an easy fix too. Just have the swiftness refresh to its highest possible application. Mine gives 14.4 seconds so, if I run over it while I have 5 seconds left, it should go back to 14.4 seconds.

However, as many times as this has been suggested, Anet continues to ignore us.

Hmmm....

The code for this might look like:

RunOverTemporalCurtain()
{
	if (SwiftnessBoon == 0)
	{
		ApplyFocusSwiftness()
	}
	else
	{
		LaughAtMesmer()
	}
}

ApplyFocusSwiftness()
{
	SwiftnessBoon += FocusSwiftness;
}

Whereas your suggestion would look like:

RunOverTemporalCurtain()
{
	if (FocusSwiftness > SwiftnessBoon)
	{
		ApplyFocusSwiftness()
	}
	else
	{
		GiveMesmerAwesomeBuffsNextPatch()
	}
}

ApplyFocusSwiftness()
{
	SwiftnessBoon = FocusSwiftness;
}

Pyro frames the mesmer’s strengths well. How amazing the mesmer can be sometimes still impresses me. Just yesterday I was in a spvp fight on Skyhammer holding point B. I’d warded off a warrior and still had my illusions out. I had two duelists and a clone spread out and standing ready, waiting for something to shoot at. With myself included that’s a fairly intimidating prospect. I love leaving duelists out. I didn’t note that phantasms did this until just recently, but:

• if their initial target does not die
• and he goes out of range
• and you stay in range of the initial spawn area
• and a new target comes into range,
• they will switch targets.

I’ll be sitting on the graveyard point on foefire with some old duelists out and they will just open up on whatever moves if their original target doesn’t die… It’s very helpful if a bit startling. For instance, I may be looking one way and my duelist will suddenly start shooting at something behind me. Did phantasms always have this behavior or am I just imagining it?

Hmmm… signets are pretty good for leveling: Signets of Inspiration, Midnight, and then Domination. Additionally, go with GS + Sword/Focus and pickup the traits Blade Training and Signet Mastery.

interesting……

OP! Nerf all the mesmers!

Bosses aside, 95% of the mobs in dungeons get burned down in a few seconds. Regarding bosses, what’s the point? In the end, damage is damage regardless of how it got there. That being the case, why not just take the “front end” build that performs better verse normal mobs? I feel with conditions, especially mesmer conditions, that they are geared more towards pvp than pve. Those conditions are very context specific in managing a pvp fight. For instance, confusion penalizes skills, torment penalizes movement, and poison inhibits healing. That in mind, an npc is going to do whatever it’s programmed to do, usually without concern for conditions and an npc boss has so much HP it doesn’t really care.

On top of all that, rolling conditions as a mesmer is something of a chore. If you really want to do that in pve I’d just go with a necro where it’s second nature.

JETWING.2759:

I hope this is true.
Mesmers are very hard to kill, near perma invul + stealth + teleport + cc + moa + etc… Like a God :/

Ilusionist duelist hits harder than thief unload. Swordman and berserker do not stay far. Spatial surge taking same damage as evicerate, and without cooldown.

Actually a mesmer can easily change the tide of battle :/

May be i am the supreme noob here because i never win an mesme.
NEVER!

That’s rich coming from a warrior. All I see in pvp anymore is warriors and rangers. Mesmers don’t need a nerf when pretty much everyone here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/sPvP-Class-Tier-List-Updated-6-30/page/17
agrees that mesmer is the weakest class currently.

Here, I’ll even tell you how to best a mesmer. Dodge phantasms, kill phantasms, stop foolishly killing all the clones at short range, and CC the mesmer like mad. Mesmer is extremely mobile when in combat so you’re probably gunna have to adjust your max-min, big numbers build to include some way to close the distance on a mesmer. Unfortunately for some, spamming 1 and running in circles isn’t enough when confronting a mesmer in pvp. Still can’t figure it out? Go to a dueling arena and observe.

It comes down to what you want to play. Why not try out some of those “sub par” builds rather than assume the worst?

no… is dolan….

Sword/Torch + Scepter/Pistol was my original setup and I used it for quite a while. It worked quite well and I feel either combination can be effective. I do feel the Scepter/Torch + Sword/Pistol has a an edge though. I think it’s because I feel the Sword supports the Duelist better than Scepter and that Torch supports Scepter better.

I open with Duelist, sometimes after using Decoy. I then want to distract my opponent away from my Duelist and I typically need survivability to avoid my opponent’s opening rotation/burst. The Sword does these things well. With Scepter, the trick is getting both Confusing Images and Illusionary Counter off. I feel The Prestige helps a lot with that. I usually have enough time to cast Mage and most of Confusing Images before reappearing and pulling aggro. By the time I do pull aggro I can usually get my counter up.

@Dastion: You can hardly blame the mesmer community given the extreme amount of nerfs we’ve been subject to. Painting us as a ungrateful is unfair given that we are typically just happy to have no nerfs and that the buff you speak of was fairly stealth and abstract…

low level mesmer eh… I suggest you avoid Scepter, Torch, and Pistol. Also, grab some cheap toughness food on auction house like
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Loaf_of_Zucchini_Bread
or if you’re not level 30 yet then something cheap with vitality or toughness.

Clockwork Bard.3105:

Nah, play what you enjoy.

This.

If something grows stale then HotM is a good place to try out new ideas.

equip this
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sword

Also, confusion is weak for leveling.

Carighan.6758:

viperziv.6034:

opened a mesmer bcuz r guild rly
…
bcuz we r a wvw guild
…
tyvm for ur aid

I feel so old. :’(

Regardless of age, speaking full, complete thoughts is always appreciated, so I wouldn’t worry about it.

Orikx.9671:

Thanks for the answers everyone. It’s good to hear not to much has changed in respects to Mesmers. I ran a variation of a shatter build for a long time in WvW early on and liked it because of the adaptability from small scale to large scale engagements. I think I will go back to that until I get a feel for things are now.

Ah… I didn’t see you were from SoR. Hmmm… forget my previous comments. Instead, I suggest the “cliff diving maneuver”. This elite WvW move of diving off a cliff in front of your enemies is used to strike fear in them and to show your fearlessness in the face of sheer hopelessness.

Levetty.1279:

Can we have our Moa elite changed into something useful too? In its original state is was only really useful as a troll move in its current state it isn’t even really worth it for that.

Also as always +1 for more out of combat speed and mobility.

Moa is very peculiar and is only effective with a very coordinated team. When you drop Moa your team needs to tackle and burn down the target quickly. Otherwise, if the Moa gets away the 3 minute CD spell is wasted. It is primarily useful right at the beginning of a mid-point fight to quickly burn down the opposing tank. It’s relatively useless in a 1v1 because that Moa can really hurt and is very mobile. I think the spell should be an instant cast, have 150s CD or less, and the duration should be 15s.

Mantras need some help big time. In pvp when you charge a mantra it’s the same as putting a huge sign above your head saying “kill me, I’m defenseless!”.

The old glamour condition builds are no longer viable imo. Granted, you might try them with Runes of Perplexity combined with a hybrid interrupt build. Hmmm…. Perhaps roll GS + Scepter/Focus, 30(II,VIII,X)/0/0/30(II,VIII,IX)/10(V) build. Your aoe intterupts would be quite brutal. Combine that with your glamour confusion and you could potentially manage 6+ stacks on a portion of a zerg which should hit for nearly 1300 per trigger.

@Mei Mato: I’ll give the video a look this evening. I wasn’t really going for confusion-focused damage as much as I was just attempting to overwhelm the opposition. I find dumping cripple with Crippling Dissispation helps a fair amount. It allows me to easily kite or disengage. It also acts as a “cover condition” to protect my other conditions from being cleansed. That said, I’m more than willing to try something new. I may take your Rampager idea up since this build is pretty survivable as is. If I went rampager, then I’d probably adjust my Runes to Lyssa or Divinity. The downside of this is the reduced survivability verse thieves.

@Armageddon: I feel I get most of my condition damage from bleeds. Yet, I’m hesitant to go with a specific condition duration increase since there are three of them that do damage. I find Torment really pulls through for me when faced against more than one. That said, I may give Perplexity a try just to see how well it works.

@Rinzler: I run http://intothemists.com/guides/381-gs_prismatic (20/20/30) in wvw/pve and love the torch cleanse. That said, I had to sacrafice it to achieve this build’s potential for pvp. You’ve a lot of boons and stealth to take care of most conditions. When a necro or engi decides to condition burst you though, then you at least have null field. Also, with this build you almost always have 3 illusions running around to absorb some poorly fired conditions.

Prismatic Clone Factory 2.0 build

This is my current clone-kill build that includes prismatic understanding. My apologies if this build already exists somewhere. This build uses the same technique other clone spamming builds do and then includes pistol, stealth, boons, and ethereal fields to add to this recipe of destruction. I find this build to be highly effective in tpvp and dueling. Further build details are on my intothemists.com guide.

5 in Illusions for a phantasm build means it’s outdated. We now must pay with our first born to gain Illusionists Celerity for our builds.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

For a condition build Staff is a MUST.

Ugh… I always feel like I have to dump 20 into Illusions for Illusionary Elasticity when I go condition with a Staff. That and Staff attacks are sooooo slooow. Makes me feel like I’m playing a version of Pong.

Holy healing power batman! I do approve of your use of Mirror though. It never gets old when you down someone with a heal.

Other things to note are that your sigils will compete for CD dominance, Sharper Images will need more precision, and Blinding Beffudlement is a dead trait.

Honestly, with all the nerfs the mesmer has suffered through I would not accept anything less than that when iMage is spawned every opponent in visible range dies, the iMage bows, and then bursts into pink butterflies.

I’d start at 0/20(II,IV)/20(IV,X)/30(II,VIII,IX)/0 and go from there. For better bleeds you’ll want some precision in your gear.

You are playing a different class and wonder if you’d have more fun with your mesmer.

Nuka Cola.8520:

Blast Finisher is what anet forgot to add to Mind Stab.

Omg so true… I still try to do this knowing full well it won’t work. At least it’s good for testing to see if a visible surface area is physical or not… “Oh boy, this Zephyr Sanctum ship is cool. I’m pretty high up, but I’m sure I can walk on that rope there…”

I suggest using Greatsword and Sword, because … pink lasers!

Day Trooper.3605:

@Helios – I tried to look at your build but the linked page gives me an ‘access forbidden’ error. Do you mind posting it here?

Also, how do you ‘constantly heal to maintain swiftness and for reflection?’

Intothemists.com server is clearly kaput. Hopefully they get things up and running again since it’s the best gw2 build crafter imo. As for my wvw build it is 20(V,IX)/20(IV,X)/30(III,V,XII)/0/0 with GS + Sword/Torch with utility skills of Mirror, Feedback, Decoy, Blink, and Mass Invis. My gear type was Knight, Runes were Centaur, and Sigils were Energy and whatever else you want.

That original build actually uses Bountiful Interruption and Null Field usually, but I adjusted that for this fight to increase my mobility.

True Seeker.3682:

20/20/0/30/0 is my build, using Greatsword + Sword/Focus. Spec for Focus Reflection and Greatsword cooldown % so you can throw more Phantasms and Clones out with 4 and 2 respectively. upon casting, immediately shatter. The reason you spec for reflection and bring Feedback as a utility is that ranged mobs will shoot blindly into it and usually they damage themselves enough to count as a tag.

Warriors/Guardians/etc WILL be better at tagging and AoE farming than Mesmer, but we aren’t miserable/useless at it.

This should get the job done. Howver, like others have said, for more consistent tags use a different class. I suggest necro cuz you have range and good surivability. That said, I still take my mesmer cuz … pink butterflies.

Knight or Rabid are what I run depending on my build. They work for just about everything. Initially I got them for WvW, but it’s nice to have the extra defense in dungeons. My trinkets are a mix of Zerker rings, Knight back pieces, and the rest is Celestial. I’ve an old Carrion set, but I consider it to be almost useless for our class.

I run with similar gear in PvP as well. The high toughness pays for itself when a thief is unable to one or two shot you.

colesy.8490:

Again, with the organised groups thing, mesmers have basically been phased out so if the OP is interested in that kind of thing they would be better off with the elementalist.

lols

… I feel for my ele cousins after all the past nerfs, but I must say this comment is very inaccurate.

Basic outline: Daze + Mantra + Chaotic Interruption

Guardian and especially Engineer are so successful at holding point because of their sustained CC matched with a tanky build. We might be able to mimic this success to some point with GS push and Focus pull combined with a Daze build combined with Chaotic Interruption. This build would possibly include mantras with mantra heal and mantra 400 toughness on charge. Perhaps through sigils of hydromancy in there to further slow your opponent down and Runes of the Mesmer to increase your Daze duration. The objective would be to continually daze and lockdown your opponent. Your push and pull should be able to control who is in the circle as well. Another weapon combo that could work would be Sword/Sword + Scepter/Pistol. If you go with those wapons and have room left you might toss in the retaliation block trait and mimic.

Only a very hardcore or very wealthy wvw player would use Sigil of Generosity due to its pricetag. Also, Sigil of Generosity and Purity are not dependable due to the nature of sigils with cooldowns. This is because the CD triggers on crit rather than on cleanse.

As for Confusing Enchantments, it used to be very effective. However, after the super confusion nerf and fixes confusion is no longer very viable. Put another way, our confusion does 50% of its original damage in wvw and hits less often which means it’s closer to around 35% as effective as it used to be. Also, to get the most out of Confusing Enchantments you need to dump 20 into Inspiration to pickup the CD reduction and increased duration for glamour. As weak as confusion is now this simply makes you a support character with little damage.

I finally beat her using my standard wvw build
http://intothemists.com/guides/381-gs_prismatic
With Blink instead of Signet of Midnight.

The stealth with torch and decoy works great for Phase 1. In Phase 2 I was finally able to circle around successfully and kite with my GS. While kiting, I constantly healed to maintiain swiftness and for reflection. They key was maintaining swiftness and while continually dumping damage on her with GS 1, 2 and 4. I kept her away from me due to Crippling Dissipation (I think this effected her slightly), Illusionary Wave, and Blink. I also rolled Decoy and MI which would stop her and her shadows completely which allowed me to more easily attack her.

One other tip was that GS 3 verse the orbs worked fairly well since you didn’t have to target it.

http://intothemists.com/guides/
is one reference for builds.

Yes. Give Scepter/Pistol + Sword/Focus a try, perhaps with Pistol traited, Focus traited, and Glamour CD reduction traited and take Feedback and Null Field for utility. You’ll be a bit starved for aoe and tagging though. Traited Focus can be a major asset if you are a constant dungeon runner. Unfortunately, I find Focus a bit awkward in wvw zerg fights and fairly weak in pvp so I rarely use it anymore. You have to dump 20 into Inspiration to trait Focus and that’s arguably our weakest tree.

ANet also made the Chaos tree more powerful with Bountiful Interruption. With 30 in Chaos, Signet of Midnight, and some buff duration food you convert that 5stack, 5sec might per interrupt roughly 8sec duration might. With Counter Blade and traited sword alone you can almost keep up might fairly continuously. You can prep to burst by hitting multiple targets or by rolling your other interrupts to quickly get 25 stacks. 25 stacks translates to a 40 to 50% buff to your Power and Condition Damage which transfers to your illusions. The Chaos tree also has Debilitating Dissipation which I find is very powerful to further tip the scales and maintain pressure. DD also works nicely for Phantasm-oriented builds imo.

All range weapons have some limitations. Unfortunately, the scepter’s are adverse to the mesmer’s mobile nature. I swear, confusing images takes so long your opponent has time to make a sandwich and be back in time to dodge.
… but at least they’ll bite into that sandwich and find out they forgot the bacon. Everyone knows you can’t have a sandwich without bacon.

1. Movement speed: Can’t help ya here… I use Centaur Runes in pve/wvw and nothing in pvp.
2. Condition cleanses: Torch and/or Mender’s Purity + avoiding being hit in the first place
3. Tagging In PvE: As Pyro said, GS and Sword are effective taggers.

pixfan.2407:

Make a male norn mesmer and name him “Faaaabulooooous”

This.

I also suggest “Pink Jedi”

TooBz.3065:

Well, the gear can stay the same, because it’s basically as little defense as I feel like I can get away with.

Look at this
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-N;4VPV11P73V-71;9;4J;0OO29;537-29-LJFA;2k06Rk06Ri-FvcF35;2V1-60B1G2LZR_9308-2iV8-N1;3c;09;9;9;9;9;9;06K

and

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-N;4VPV11P73V-71;9;4J;0OO29;537-29-LJFA;2k06Rk06Ri-FvcF35;2V1-60B1G2LZR_9308-2iV8-N1;3c;09;9;9;9;9;9;06K

for traits (or wait for other advice.)

25 points in Illusions just to get IC is expensive. If you wanted to retain damage and put those points to more effective use then dump them into Dueling. Perhaps take Phantasmal Fury and Blade Training.

I got her down to 25% once due to stacked confusion I think. That’s why I think traited pistol + feedback is the way to go. I had been using GS a lot for the sustained range damage, but I survive a lot more with Staff. Additionally, I was using torch for stealth, which is excellent for phase 1, but it’s phase 2 that I really need help with. Scepter clunky to use as well, even if it is good for confusion.

Therefore, I was thinking I’d try a Staff + Sword/Pistol build with something like a 0/30/20/20/0 setup with all weapons traited, 20% CD reduction for manip skills, mender’s purity, Compounding Celerity, DE, and debilitating dissapation. For util go mirror, feedback, decoy, blink, and mass invis.

Strategy would be Staff for phase 1 unless you get in trouble and have to blurred frenzy. Then in Phase 2 dump Duelist and swap back Staff to kite until you can swap back to pistol. Drop duelist and repeat. When I used staff in phase 2 it worked out nicely because you can keep your eye on the enemy and just phase retreated based on where the safe area is in front of you.