Guild Wars 2

Well can anyone suggest a better build then since you say it’s bad?

I do enjoy scrapper with hammer but would be willing to switch to a ranged weapon.

For WvW roaming I ran across this build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASlUUh2tYJXwWLQ7FLTGF9bX3794HUBRg4zcABAA-TVSGABG8ABA4CAElyPEOQAos/QeKBfU9H60B4mGiAAHAM8wDP8wDPGAzA-w

I’m working on the celestial armor but since it’s time gated it will take a bit. Is there any armor combination anyone can recommend that would be suitable as an in between while I charge quartz crystals daily?

I appreciate any assistance!!!!

Hlord.5940:

Josh XT.6053:

Hlord.5940:

Josh XT.6053:

Vieux P.1238:

Josh XT.6053 Your missing the point & i’m not surprised coming from a Necro player. I’m voicing up my opinion on this continuances nerfing of the mesmer to the point that we only have one playable build. In the past nerfs, we had at least 3 to 4 viable builds to work with. So……..Why dont you wait till your main gets nerfed to the ground before posting idiocies on this thread.

PS: Chrono is top meta. Your point is irrelevant.

Let me be clear with you here – I play every class, but main Dagger/Warhorn Elementalist. I don’t know where you would be coming from thinking I only play necro and its the only reason I would think mesmer is strong still. Maybe you just aren’t very good at mesmer? I’m pretty decent at mesmer and I’ve won plenty of PvP fights, WvW fights and duels on my mesmer.

Mesmer has been way too strong for way too long, it can almost infinitely be in stealth and apply a lot of conditions or burst VERY hard with shatters. Now with chrono, it has a long block, access to aegis and still invuln from sword 2 lol.

And if what you’re trying to say is that mesmer isn’t strong without Chrono, that is also wrong because the old shatter meta is very strong to this day. It really sounds like a L2P issue that you’re having.

I call this a liar, at least show some hard fact not some thing you feel like it and make it into a fact.

here is one:https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/EU-Pro-League-Meta/first
Was mesmer the worst and no one pick the class? No, but compare to the rest of them you might call it the second worst, not counting that no one pick thief and warrior
And this was before the nerf so there is no excuse for that mesmer was “always strong”.
Our “long” block is 1.5 sec and if we get to block we get another 1.5 sec block which add up to 3 sec block, same as every other shield blocking skill except we require a block to make it to full duration
Finally, Mind Wrack, are you one of those people that said Mind Wrack hit you for 5k per clone? Because that is bullkitten.

No, but I have played my shatter mesmer quite a bit and have seen my mind wrack shatter on people for 5k per clone before. Granted, it is on things like full zerk thieves or rangers when I ran full zerk on my mesmer.

I really wonder what kind of builds you people are playing making you think like this lol.. A lot of L2Play and L2Build issues.

Edit: Let me help you out here: http://asphyxia.tv/wvw-roaming-mesmer-build/

So your claim is that your build can do 5k per clone right? Only in wvwvw with ideal condition right? 25might and the target have 25 vul right? And the target come with light armor right?
Now i’ll admit this true if you post some screen shot because I try, I really do, except i just can’t get the target with 25 vul and me with 25 might at the same time

There is no way he can effectively play power shatter roamer in tier 1 WvW first of all. A rev hammer would 2 shot that glassy build he posted.

Also a solo mesmer roaming has no consistent access to might or fury except 3 stacks of might with GS 2. So it’s impossible for you to get a 5K burst per shatter with crit dmg of 211%. If you do the math on effective power you would see that it’s not possible for anything over 4k. The math doesn’t lie.

A vanilla ranger with LB 5 would insta-kill all clones. And anyone with any experience with shatter will read the obvious tells. So it’s all a kite and run game. And I’m just speaking to WvW. In sPvP shatter mesmer only works if the mesmer is ignored by the opponents which is rare because a glassy mesmer is an easy kill.

I agree post some screen shots or videos proving your claims and superior game play. Otherwise you speaking out of your rear end.

Can you recommend a NA WvW guild?

Renny.6571:

Dark Night.5601:

Honestly after a solid week of playing scrapper I think it’s probably the most boring classes I’ve played to date. Perhaps I’m doing it wrong. But gyro’s are pretty weak and easily countered. So those are useless. You have to run maximum invulns with the extreme amount of chain cc’s and rat wells. This severely limits any build diversity and any dynamic skill play. Really disappointed that a class with a high skill cap has been reduced to a static rotation in WvW.

In addition you pretty much have to run group oriented builds with the server mergers as the blobs in NA is pretty pathetic.

ding ding ding. Base engi is still semi-viable to roam with, and the sense of accomplishment when you kill ezcheesy HoT specs is unmatched.

Do you have a suggested build I should run? I’m very new to engie so I haven’t the first clue what I should run. Metabattle isn’t very helpful either.

LOL Half the population has left YB. You had no part in that. Mal pulled them all to TC. If you are unable to destroy YB now than there is a much bigger problem there.

#BEASTGATEDIEDIN THE 80’S

Honestly after a solid week of playing scrapper I think it’s probably the most boring classes I’ve played to date. Perhaps I’m doing it wrong. But gyro’s are pretty weak and easily countered. So those are useless. You have to run maximum invulns with the extreme amount of chain cc’s and rat wells. This severely limits any build diversity and any dynamic skill play. Really disappointed that a class with a high skill cap has been reduced to a static rotation in WvW.

In addition you pretty much have to run group oriented builds with the server mergers as the blobs in NA is pretty pathetic.

Yes the server lock on every one of the major linked servers was just fould. It’s kittened that you can still transfer and be in WvW with SBI which is now full. I feel they did it on auto-pilot without any thought behind it.

X T D.6458:

Please give me some evidence of anything that was leaked to us. There was an anet tag on YB the other day, in fact there was an Anet Claim on a keep that YB captured, so that means YB got preferential treatment too?

You had 100 person queues and your complaining? JQ was neck and neck with YB going into thursday, I think JQ was leading, but lost it because they let YB flip their bl all day.

As for BG, Beastmode is now active

OnS is a Arenanet sponsored guild. Mal and his alliance receive advance information directly from Anet and they disseminate to whomever servers their advantage. In this case it was to BG in order to focus JQ to force them to drop in order for TC to move up as quickly as possible. So he moved guilds in your favor in return for you focusing JQ down.

So your beastmode is so 1980’s. Your just fighting servers with half the forces they had before. Your skill didn’t increase. You just outblob. Happy K-train days to you. Enjoy them before Mal has TC in tier 1. Then you might actually have to learn to fight again.

Read the trash stalk on the cancer forums if you want the true word on the borderlands.

YB dead server. Mal with his pre-release intel pulled all the stong guilds in YB and JQ and moved them all to TC making it the next big stacked server. Match manipulation at it’s finest. And it still garners no attention from Anet.

RodOfDeath.5247:

I don’t dare roam in EB, too much lag. DBLs haven’t experience any as of late.

I can confirm. Zero lag in the borderlands. EB has lag so severe sometimes the skill lag exceeds 5 seconds. It’s virtually unplayable at times.

FrownyClown.8402:

Lag is a result of your client unable to keep up with the servers updating information. The best you can do is reduce the amount of info your computer has to process or get a computer that can process it faster.

Reduce the amount of people that appear on map, turn off animations and lower the visual quality. That will help you the most. If those are all low/turned off invest in a new computer.

You are absolutely incorrect. Lag is both client and server side. But in WvW it’s more focused on server side and client side CPU utilization. GW2 is heavily CPU dependant and not GPU dependant.

I personally feel in my tier the stability change, while good on paper, is just a tiny band aid on a bigger problem. In larger group settings the chain heavy CC’s, rat wells & corrupt boon chains have basically made your change absolutely worthless. The meta has been chain CC for some time now. Guild groups have changed and evolved to run chain CC, rat wells & corrupt boon teams to make stability not even worth the traits and utilities to take them. The only real defense is invulnerability which is in short supply among all classes. Tonight alone my scrapper with 5 invulns couldn’t stop this evolved meta. Combine the fact that the server merger has created map blobs across all servers and it’s just a big mess.

I feel it was a noble attempt. But I feel a more aggressive look at chain CC skills needs to be researched. That are too overpowered.

Dark Night.5601:

insanemaniac.2456:

gw2skills isnt working for me at the moment, but i can recommend trying out:

invent 232
alch 221
scrap 212

with as much marauder as you can get your hands on (armor, weapon, amulet generally) with zerk to fill the rest.
durability runes, sigil of air/strength/cleansing (pick 2).
hammer, healing turret, bulwark, blast, elixir gun, sneak.

swap eg to toolkit and sneak to mortar when you happen to find yourself by a zerg for a bit better range and utility that isnt needed for roaming.

its pretty easy to get the hang of and based on the (old) pvp meta build, meant for sustaining in fights while putting out tons of damage, which translates well to the kind of gameplay you encounter while roaming.

Thank you!! GW2skills is back up and I put it in a template. Just double checking on the toughness level. Only getting toughness from durability runes……is that enough? Just want to make sure before I start getting gear together. Thanks for your help!!!

BTW armor is at 2239

insanemaniac.2456:

gw2skills isnt working for me at the moment, but i can recommend trying out:

invent 232
alch 221
scrap 212

with as much marauder as you can get your hands on (armor, weapon, amulet generally) with zerk to fill the rest.
durability runes, sigil of air/strength/cleansing (pick 2).
hammer, healing turret, bulwark, blast, elixir gun, sneak.

swap eg to toolkit and sneak to mortar when you happen to find yourself by a zerg for a bit better range and utility that isnt needed for roaming.

its pretty easy to get the hang of and based on the (old) pvp meta build, meant for sustaining in fights while putting out tons of damage, which translates well to the kind of gameplay you encounter while roaming.

Thank you!! GW2skills is back up and I put it in a template. Just double checking on the toughness level. Only getting toughness from durability runes……is that enough? Just want to make sure before I start getting gear together. Thanks for your help!!!

Hello,

I have a solid build for group/zerg play. But I’m looking for help on a solo to 3 man havoc play. I really enjoy hammer a lot. But wasn’t sure if I should use my same build but run more zerk gear or what is most useful.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASncoC1XhVXBubB0ehlJjKc7Smwi+vz79W8ZKgAA-TViFABEqeAAXAA13fwIlbnpD4QVcWSJRCPAgqUCWO4A4t3CA/93e/t3et3evNgb7VGgitA-w

There is the build someone recommended for group/front line. I think gw2skills might still be down so I can list everything out if needed.

I appreciate any and all help!

Greetings!

I’m a veteran WvW player looking for a good guild to run with. I play some EU but primarily NA. Looking specifically at SBI/CD as I’m not wanting to change servers at this time.

The ideal guild will have several scheduled raids per week. I’m open to PvX as well.

I have all classes at 80 and elite specializations unlocked. Mesmer is main with Ele being secondary. I’m also open to adjust class/build based on team needs.

I’m also TS friendly with mic.

If you think your guild is a fit, please don’t hesitate to hit me up here or in game.

Thank you!!!

Pride.1734:

From what i have undestood about cele you get literaly the highest stat total and thats great if you use all the stats, even moreso in wvw because stats really matter. There is a reason cele amulet isnt in pvp anymore either lmao.

True, you could go higher in condi but when your confusion sticks you melt anything anyway. The added power adds a damage component and pressure to your shatter, not to mention that the sword and shield are power weapons and generally agreed on to be the best mesmer weapon set. Even the scepter has got nice power behind the no. 2 and 3 skill. Not even the healing power stat is wasted on this build.

You basicly have good and consistent power as well as ridiculous condi output with great sustain and survivabilty.

Trust me this build was made for cele, just try it and tell me how it went.

That is got to be the worst hybrid build I’ve ever seen. Damage is abysmal, no condi duration at all so confusion and torment lasts half a second not doing any real damage, phantasms don’t survive long enough in WvW to do any damage beyond first attack, you have zero spike and will die if u get hit with a good crit.

Viper and Sinister is the hybrid gear you want. If you need high toughness to survive in WvW then you should play another class.

Pride.1734:

http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Chronomancer_-_Chronophantasma_Shatter

its only the best build in PvP atm, ofc there is no way this would ever work in wvw for roaming

no seriously slap come cele gear( or other hybrid of your choice) and perplexity runes on that and you’re golden.
Also you might want to swap the portal out.

Um this would be utter trash in WvW. It’s a glorified revamp of the old phantasm build from way back in the day. It’s only viability is in sPvP with a comp team.

Never run the well heal in WvW, your phantasms will die pretty quickly except in 1v1 if your not facing a LB druid, celestial is the biggest kitten carry me armor ever that is horrible on a mesmer, the shatters would tickle, without condi duration condi would drop as fast as you applied them. It’s just all around bad.

Ansau.7326:

I tried an hybrid build and it isn’t a good build.
The burst damage from both direct and condis is quite meh. This wouldn’t be a problem if we had decent sustained damage, but mesmer is one of the profession with the worst sustained damage in this game.

With an hybrid build, your sustained damage is mediocre, your burst damage is mediocre, and your passive survivability is mediocre because you have to spread the available stats between power, precision, critical damage, condi damage, toughness and vitality.

I think you were doing something wrong. I run vipers armor w/ berserker runes and sinister trinkets. There hasn’t been a 1v1 I’ve lost since to any class. I’ve also had success 1v3 as long as I’m playing close attention. Scepter & shield is your bread and butter with gs for kiting. I’m used to power shatter so running glassy is nothing new to me. Scepter hits hard now with both condi and power…set up your shatter…..confusion, torment & burst. Usually light armors can’t last 3 secs after 1 full shatter burst. The exception being a full celestial ele. You can down them too just have to use cover condi’s till they blow cool downs. A good placed scepter # 3 followed by 3 illusion shatter and their done.

I do not recommend staff at all. Even with chaos armor your still going to drop as a light armor wearer from 1 good crit from a warrior or guardian.

If your experienced with a shatter build, then you know it’s go all glass or your damage is trash. Same with hybrid.

ArchonWing.9480:

Well, you can’t use a hammer or gyros if you don’t take scrapper which is kind of a problem— you’d have to pick up an extra weapon that you won’t be using for long (probably rifle). There really isn’t a good base engineer frontline build. Would be like my old one:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUlUUh6rYtWwdLQ7FL3FV4EGQZG4CWABg4B1D5AA-TViFABVpEEgLAQCPAgz0BQo6BLpkwIlbqv/whq4UO4Awf/t3f7tX7t3bD42elBoYLA-w
(Don’t use the autoattack for FT because it hits many times with weak attacks which means retaliation kills. As a result, it’s rather cumbersome.)

On the other hand, missing the grandmasters for scrapper is also a rather big disadvantage that causes builds not to work. You want the GM minor that reduces stun duration at the very least. Fortunately a good chunk of the points for specializations is used for the elite and while that is really good; it isn’t mandatory.

Thank you again! It’s not as easy to get the hero point farms any more in HoT zones so this gives me something to run in the meantime…..while not as optimal it does give me something to use until it is fully unlocked.

I appreciate the help greatly!!!!!!

ArchonWing.9480:

You might want to check out

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/Anyone-running-front-line-in-wvw-gvg/6101708

for ideas. It’s not exclusively driving but frontline should be close enough. Naturally, gear as defensively as possible, but I’ve managed to lead with just my standard gear on scrapper. With stability recently fixed, it should be even easier. But basically, my opinion is elixir S + Self Regulating Defenses can lead to a max of ~6 second of invul every 48s which is rather good on top of all the self sustain and condi clear scrapper provides. It lets you laugh off being focused, and yes the focusing can be pretty extreme. Toss Elixir S also is underrated because it lets you break target off yourself and they recently buffed it. I think it’s more selfish than a guardian though.

Thank you! One last question and I promise to leave you alone lol. I have scrapper 50% unlocked. Should I run the scrapper line partially until I get enough proof of heroics or should I run a different trait line?

Tongku.5326:

Dark Night.5601:

I’m returning to the WvW scene and was looking to tag up and lead against outnumbered fights. I’m in tier 2 WvW if that matters.

I’m not as familiar with the current WvW meta but what I ran before was similar to the Front line build on Metabattle. My concern with this build is survivability. It’s tanky but with often facing outnumbered fights, I’m not sure it would work well.

I used to run Valor, Honor & Virtues trait lines. I have DH unlocked but wasn’t sure that would be of any benefit.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

I experimented with multiple frontline builds, including guard / DH and most of the HoT stuff. Went back to runes of Melandru, I changed my default food though from lemongrass to Saffron Bread.

Best sigil combo I found is actually generosity + purity due to so much soft CC being thrown around. Energy does squat when you’re chilled or immobed, which is a LOT, + extra vigor and endurance regen bonus you get from your traits are already more then plenty.

Also, best commander spec now is a bunker / heal /anti-condi / anti-cc scrapper, not guard or DH, though they can still be OK, they are far outperformed by scrappers.

While on my guard I have more stab, on my scrapper I dont need stab cause of the sheer number of invulns etc. and on top of that boons are often converted to condis so having stab is actually kinda bad. You don’t want stab because having it is actually a liability, you wanna be immune to the stuff that makes you think you need stab in the 1st place.

Things of note, if you’re going to be tagging up, good to have:

1. Bunker chrono or boonshare mes, these need to be seperate from your portal/veil mesmers due to utility slot usage and traits / gear.
2. Healing druids – bunker / heal / condi cleanse druids, 1 per party or 2, freagin super sustain.
3. Revs – boons for days
4. Reapers – soft CC and boonstrip
5. Scrappers (use 3 scrapper, 1 druid, 1 rev party much like you did war/guard party back in the days of GWEN, but on steroids)

Hope this gives you some ideas into whats changed, note that this may change again soon with upcoming balance adjustments, but it works at this time.

Do you know what the build is for scrapper you mentioned for commanding?

emkelly.2371:

Burnbow (Longbow Losword sword, torch condition build) is capable of easily soloing a fully upgraded camp and tends to decimate zeros in close in fights. With new adrenal healing it’s even more redonkulous.

If power is more your speed or if you don’t have server yet great sword, axe, shield is very good. But my favorite is a launch build I was working on this morning running mace, shield, hammer with stomp, kick, and rampage. There is something supremely satisfying about throwing everyone all over the place.

I do prefer power. I’m very used to burst damage on mesmer and would like to replicate it to some extent on warrior.

Furajir.3815:

Here you are brother.

These are what I use.

Vanilla all around solid build:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3OjMdQXIWGCWhYoHowaoHyBLA+gIQbjePNA-TVCFABIp87KlgNcBAKZ/h00NUo6PM8AAA4gAgwRAgUAet1C-w

Zerker: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAdhglhAWhAElilrATJHk4qBvj2S7qFJAkAKAA-TVCFABAcQAKZ/hrUCiwRAghHAQhq/kmuBkU+1wFAgUAet1C-w

Full zerk is easy enough to stay alive in, especially with new Adrenal Health change. I still prefer Vanilla with sword/shield GS and the occasional axe/shield.

You rock man! Can’t wait to try these out!

I’m coming from mesmer as main and after the buffs from the patch I wanted to dust off my warrior and see how I fair with the class. I have elite spec unlocked.

I’m really at a loss on where to begin on the build and hoping some of you that main warrior can point me in the right direction. I’ve taken a stab in the dark putting something together:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3enMdAVhgdeAOeAElilyA7dw2YfsKdgIXGIJA0zecA-TVROABjo8Dg9HkRJIR6GqW9HSBExOL-w

With the patch changes there may be better options. Just unsure what would be best. I haven’t played warrior with any regularity in 2 years so please excuse my noobness.

One again this is focused on WvW solo roaming. Not group play.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!!!

In regards to the WvW build……

Why would you take “Maim the Disillusioned” and “Ineptitude” on a power build? There is zero condition duration so they just fall off as fast as they are applied. There are much better traits that would synergize better than those. Anything not reliant on condi duration would be better than those.

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ArchonWing.9480:

The metabattle build will work just fine for general frontline. DH is good but not for frontlining because your defense will take a hit.

If you are pinning, you’ll have to gear more selfishly than standard frontline because you will most certainly be focused. You also want greatsword for the mobility because you need to lead in and staying in any one place these days is suicide.

Anyhow, it is likely that what you have already will probably work fine, especially if you played after the stability changes from last year and adjusted but as for what options have opened since HoT

Example:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJAWRlsAhehYtQwVIwPEHJEVeG+vAEvBPXKcX2A4AA-T1yHABNpEUgLAwPK9CUFC6VfBgnAQbaCCf/hV1BEwhAQIlBkCoIhRA-w

Note that all the fancy stats are not needed, good ol’ soldier/nomad/whathaveyou is fine.

Wall of Reflection can be replaced with anything that suits your fancy. Only get enough crit to proc empowering might— you’re not taking it for damage and it is very likely you will have fury placed on you already, so you do not need much.

Durability runes are a very effective way in staying alive that seems unequaled due to the higher boon duration = more stability and protection as well as it giving you protection when hit. Unfortunately, that’s HoT only so you may try other runes such as Melandru or Hoelbrak for the -condi duration.

Honestly, Guardian just is the same old…

Thank you for responding!

I think you made an error on the Honor trait line. You have Invigorated Bulwark which only works if your running mace. I’m assuming you mean Protective Reviver.

I have HoT and actually have a set of durability runes. Sounds like I can finally put them to good use.

I’m returning to the WvW scene and was looking to tag up and lead against outnumbered fights. I’m in tier 2 WvW if that matters.

I’m not as familiar with the current WvW meta but what I ran before was similar to the Front line build on Metabattle. My concern with this build is survivability. It’s tanky but with often facing outnumbered fights, I’m not sure it would work well.

I used to run Valor, Honor & Virtues trait lines. I have DH unlocked but wasn’t sure that would be of any benefit.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

Fay.2357:

The short answer to your question is that there really aren’t any Mesmer builds that are actually good for WvW group play. There’s a lot of niche utility stuff that some groups will want (veil-kitten anyone?) but it doesn’t actually count as being a build. Since you’ve posted a concept build though, I’ll work from that.

Weapons
Sword/shield+GS is probably the best weaponset. You could potentially use a staff instead of gs, but that would limit you to having useful long range pressure once every 35 seconds. Sword is obviously strong, the shield block is a life saver, and the shield wall is probably the only skill that Mesmer has that can legitimately be called ‘great’ for WvW group play.

Utilities
Your utilities might need some work. Ether feast is fine, but consider the heal well for group healing and condition removal if you can place it right. Veil so that you can fulfill our holy duty as veil-kitten of course. Blink is a good choice as well.

Well of calamity though…it’s not very good. The range is short (900), the aoe is small (240), and the damage is nothing short of abysmal. If your group is able to effectively force melee-range fights and corral the enemy into a fairly packed location, you’ll be able to at least tag with the well. However, if your group isn’t reliably forcing skirmishes you’ll mainly be sitting there with calamity going ‘gosh, it sure would be cool if I had a 1200 range aoe that actually did something’.

Unfortunately, there’s not really any better offensive utility options. You could take mantra of pain, but it’s even less usable than calamity. You could take portal if you wanted to go full raid-kitten, but honestly I can’t in good faith recommend that you do that. You could go supporty with well of action or precognition, or even mantra of concentration for aoe stunbreaks.

Ultimately there’s no obvious choice here. Pick a third utility based on what you want/need. Just don’t go taking calamity and expect it to actually be skill that feels good to use, because it’s not. It feels clunky, it feels weak, and that’s when it works at all. More often people just move out of it or the fight is too spread out for it to hit more than 1 person.

Gravity well is fine as an elite. It suffers from all the same problems as calamity, but it’s got decent cc. The other option is taking moa and not using it, because the passive cc reduction can be handy in WvW.

Traits
Your traits need a bit of work. Chaos/insp/chrono is fine, but I’ll do a quick review of the other options.

Chrono is obviously required, so there’s 2 more to fill. Domination has good power options, but a lot of it is geared towards shatters and phantasms which don’t work in WvW group fights. It does have power block, and this is a potentially strong trait if you’re able to get interrupts reliably. This is unlikely, but keep it in mind if you happen to be seeing a lot of interrupts as you play.

Dueling doesn’t have much for you other than the condie version of power block in mistrust. Same deal here; it can be strong if you somehow find yourself pumping out interrupts. Evasive mirror deserves an honorable mention, but the personal nature of the trait makes it have limited usefulness in a WvW group.

Chaos is obviously strong. You’ve got manipulation cooldowns, PU, and CI. Same deal as before with CI, but PU is a nice boost for veil.

Inspiration has solid choices too, more on that later.

Illusions has some very niche utility stuff that ultimately isn’t very effective in a WvW group fight. Not recommended.

Overall, chaos/insp is the best pair of traitlines unless you’re looking to get something specific out of the other ones. With that in mind, let’s look at your traits.

Chaos
No issues here really, just keep in mind the potential usefulness of CI if you’re getting interrupts.

Inspiration
These are solid except for your grandmaster. You’ve taken the glamour trait, but the only glamour you’re using (ignoring the res bubble) is the one that doesn’t work with the trait. Resistance is only applied at the moment of creation, not on everyone that passes through the veil. I know, it’s a concept deserving of public ridicule for the short bus passenger that designed it, but that’s how it works. With that in mind, take illusionary inspiration instead. Most of the time it’ll be useless, but sometimes it’ll be a nice extra boon share for whatever you’ve got on you, and only sometimes useless is better than always useless.

Chrono
There’s honestly a lot of really poor options in chrono. You’re mainly taking it for shield, 25% minor, and CS. You’re not using enough wells to make the well trait worth it, but the other options suck, so you’re stuck with that one. You’re not generating enough alacrity to make improved alacrity worth it, but the other options are garbage in a WvW fight, so you’re stuck with it. Seize the moment is honestly pretty underwhelming too, but it’ll work I suppose.

Gearing
I’d go with a mix of zerker, knights, and valk gear to get you the defense required to stay alive without totally borking your offense. Runes are mostly up to you. You could use melandru for defense, pack/scholar for offense, whatever you want really.

Fay as always your are a wealth of knowledge and I appreciate you responding to me!

Based on your recommendations I’ve changed out the well of calamity for mantra of distration and changed my traits to include CI. I think on a norm this is the better way to more effectively lock down enemy ele’s and interrupt their casting. Still keeping Chaos, Insp & Chrono as they are just too good unless going full glass on shatter. I’m contemplating 2,2,2 on the Chrono line just for quickness when shattering to increase dps. Gravity well has been very effective when cast on a caster back line as they don’t have any good source of stability. On a front line with stability it is useless. I will play around with Signet of Humility though because there is a huge amount of CC in tier 2 which I play in. So that may be the more survivable option. I also feel while gravity well is strong in some situations, in others it leaves you very vulnerable for a couple of brief seconds. I’ve made all the changes you recommended.

Gearing I’m thinking of starting with knights armor, pack runes, zerk everything else. See how that goes and adjust based on survivability.

I GREATLY appreciate you responding. Hopefully I covered it all. If I missed anything or if u think of anything else, please don’t hesitate to hit me up.

Thanks again!!!!

Greetings!

I’m hoping some of the excellent mesmer/chrono players could help me with a good build for WvW groups of 15-20 man. I’ve mained mesmer for quite some time and have mostly played glass gank builds in WvW. However I feel with as many great utilities the class has that I would be better off in a more team support type build. But I’m unsure if glamour, wells, boon share, etc would be best.

I’ve seen the boon share build posted here before. But wanted to see what you friendly folk find most beneficial on 15-20 man group zerging.

I was looking at taking Chaos, Inspiration & Chrono lines doing a combination of glamour and wells. Here is the build as I have it:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRnknBlphFrBufCEgiFgjyMBSlA4sC+gNouTP1WF-w

Thoughts on traits and utilities? Also I know situations change and will need to slot portal and different things as the situation demands. I’m just trying to get a general setup.

Also I’m unsure of gear. I want to do damage but with outnumbered fights my roaming shatter build gear will not work as I’ll get run over in an instant. For armor I was contemplating either Knights or Commanders for the boon duration increasing the amount of quickness and resistance. I thought perhaps an armor level floating around 2400. But please any suggestions would be helpful.

I was thinking Chrono runes….but please if u know of a better solution please let me know.

I appreciate any and all feedback. Thank you for reading! I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

MadRabbit.3179:

Reikken’s setup is good, but yours is fine, even though it can be better. You want like 2600ish toughness so you can, at least, reduce the incoming power damage down to what is normal for a lvl 80 hit.

Like, for comparison, our base armor with no toughness bonus is 1967 if you have full ascended armor. Another elementalist with a legendary or ascended weapon and 2500 power will hit you for 1259dmg on a max weapon roll.

If you have 2600 armor, that same fireball only lands for 962, which is a 25%ish decrease.

So like, armor around that amount nets you significant damage reduction without losing out a lot to diminishing returns.

Now, as far as your trait selection, get rid of Tempest all together. Seriously. If you are going to play backline, then you will never be close enough to the melee train to use any of your tempest abilities when they matter, because if you are, you are out of position and most likely going to die within the next few seconds.

If you want to play frontline and use Tempest, you have to gear and trait very differently and its debatable whether or not that build really provides much value over a staff backline build.

Take Arcane instead. You want Renewing Stamina, Final Shielding and Evasive Arcana.

I would also drop Aeromancer’s Training for Tempest Defense. This is, because most of your valuable damage abilities are in Fire, not Air and Tempest Defense not only provides some form of defense if you get rushed by a melee, but it provides a 20% damage increase to stunned foes that applies when you are in your Fire attunement. A lot of CC gets thrown around in WvW, so it’s going to get a lot of value.

Also drop Zephyr’s Boon, since you are no longer using Tempest and take Ferocious Winds, since it’s another dmg increase that works in Fire Attunement.

Lightning Flash and Mist Form are absolutely essential for when you get caught out of position, but Armor of Earth not so much. The thing is you aren’t running in with the melee train ever, so you don’t need stability. I prefer to run Arcane Wave, because blasting water fields is where all the zerg sustain comes from and having a blast finisher I can use on demand is something I find valuable.

Since you are no longer using Tempest, take Ether Renewal for your heal. You have some small condi clear from your water abilities and cantrips, but it’s not enough if you get condi bombed. Ether Renewal, because it’s a cantrip, is a large heal on a 18 second CD that completely wipes a full condi bomb.

Also, for your Elite, use Conjure Fiery Greatsword, because it gives you a lot of mobility that you can use to disengage in a losing battle. Tornado has SOME situational usage, but for the most part, you will FGS more than Tornado and Tornado is usually a death sentence unless you are really smart in how you tactically use it.

Your rune and sigil setup is fine. Cleansing is okay, I guess, but with Ether Renewal, 2 Cantrips and Healing Rain, you don’t really need it. Even with all the vigor in the build I am recommending, if you still finding yourself needing that one extra dodge, then take Sigil of Energy. Otherwise, something that does a damage increase like Force or Air is good.

That’s about it. Most of staff backline is learning how to position yourself so you don’t die and being in TS so you can respond to calls out for various fields. Your most valuable fields are water fields, which when coordinated with the zerg’s blast finishers, provides all the zerg’s sustain and static field, which is used to cut the tail off other trains. Fire fields are important, too and commanders will usually call them out before the melee train goes into battle so the zerg can stack might with blast finishers.

You have to play conservatively and avoid death as much as possible. This is why my build recommendations are so geared towards survivable. If all your staff elementalists die, then you lose all your water fields, which means the zerg loses all its sustain and eventually dies as well.

Thank you so much! Everything you have said makes perfect sense. I was playing dagger/warhorn previously and I think that trait mind set lingered. I will make the adjustments you recommend and see how things go. Thank you again for your help!

reikken.4961:

I don’t really WvW, so all I can really tell you is that it’s possible to get objectively better stats by mixing in some marauder’s gear. because its stat totals are higher (and unlike celestial, it has no wasted stats, and a great distribution of stats)
As an example, this has slightly higher in all stats: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XCdOgVOAGOAcYilGAzdy2ZDtCFgAQMk4IUD+BA-T1SGQBA4BAAi9HKnOgpoEMJKhqnqKBStiCqMAJKFg2FAoIKZIDg+YA-w

Thank you! That def looks better stat wise!

Hello,

I’m hoping to get some direction on a build for a staff tempest running in larger groups. This is what I currently run.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQFAWn0XCdOgVOAGOAcYilGAToAEAihEHhawPwdy2ZDtA-TVSGABDpMoIlGQfBAAZ/hAV/xMdASpE0IlYA8AAIDg+CA-w

I like to play a more aggressive role……….advanced statics on enemy groups while they are stacking for an example. I run cantrips for survivability with the 800 different DH traps and rat wells prevalent.

I’ve played ele for quite a while so I’m not a new player. But I’m getting caught by stuns and getting rolled over more often than I should. I’m hoping someone has some ideas to help. I’m not looking for a support build though. I like damage. Just perhaps some pointers, advice for gear, different setup, etc.

I appreciate any and all guidance!

I’m in tier 2 WvW if that matters

Bast Bow.2958:

You’re talking about WvW and zerg, so I guess you’re looking for zerg-builds? There are wvw builds in the ranger subforum section, highlighted red. These builds were updated recently.

Healing power: Yes I believe you can provide a lot for your zerg by bringing along a fair amount of healing power. I wouldn’t go over a 1000 or so though, because I don’t think it’s fun to play. You are providing a lot for your allies though.

On toughness: wvw zergfights are mostly just about power builds, not condition builds, since there are usually enough cleanses going on.

Boon duration: I’m not sure. With all the transform boon into condition skills from enemies etc.

This build really works for me: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmOD7kSFomVsgVwiVgrFsUIYPdhcXAAurOWPrMvr21D4kYd+FA-TVSBABI8AA04iAA9+DAcEAwTzgg6AqU9HHVCGmyPSB43eL-w

It’s pretty hybrid. Providing support for your allies, but also dealing some damage.

Where is the updated builds for WvW? There is ranger builds but no druid builds on the one I saw.

I do like your build but you may want to consider more stun breaks. Most WvW meta is running lock-down currently. DH traps, DH LB 5, rat wells, etc currently plagues most groups. You have one stun break and Strength of the Pack which gives you a small amount of stability. Something to consider. Also axe does well in condi builds due to the amount of bleeds you can stack. On power builds the axe kinda tickles.

I would like an invite if this is still ongoing. Let me know. Thanks!!!

Hello!

I’m a long time WvW player having focused in WvW since launch looking for a guild to join on Blackgate. I main mesmer but have all classes at 80 so I can be flexible to accommodate team comp. I play mostly NA prime but also on some during EU regularly. Mostly focused on NA prime.

I have no specific requirements other than WvW raids often. I’m ts friendly and can follow directions.

Please hit me up here or in game if your a WvW guild on Blackgate recruiting.

Thanks!!!

Greetings!

I’m looking for a good home. I’m friendly, social and enjoy activities with guild friends.
I tend to like more tight knit communities. Where people actually know each other. I don’t like big guilds where you 1 out of 400+.

I’m a little bit of a veteran player so I do know some things. However there are some new events, activities that I’d like to learn about.

I’m on NA-EST time. I play during the day then around 6:30pm EST until midnight.
I’d like to learn more about fractals perhaps and maybe the new raid.

Most of all I’m looking for a good community to join with fun, friendly & social people.
Please leave a little information about your guild and how to best contact you. Thanks for reading!

Sent you an in-game mail

IGN: Dark Infiltrators
Theif Type: Scholar
Server: SoS
Experience with thief: Have always tinkered around with the class testing different builds and the like. REALLY like staff & daredevil since HoT. Would love to learn from more experienced thieves out there.

Jski.6180:

Kind of seems like ppl want to jump to constitution before they get all the info. I guess ppl want to be mad about something. We saw nothing about the foces changes and it seems air line over all getting more dmg so lets just wait and see before we feel justified at shouting with anger at a pc that cant talk back lol.

I think you need to proof read your posts. I think you mean “conclusions” instead of concentration. Also it’s “focus” not “foces”.

First if you have significant history with this game you would know that when they do the “preview” of balances changes….that it’s the biggest changes that will be made. Anything else will be extremely minor. I believe the do this to prepare the community for any hard hitting nerfs or give them hope for any buffs. So I don’t think anyone is jumping to any conclusion. They are just going by Anet’s history of balance patch previews.

Thanks aelfwe for putting the math on paper so everyone can see the numbers.

As I tried to say…..it’s not about the alacrity nerf itself for me. It’s the fact that it destroys the chronomancer elite specialization in terms of PvE. Anet needs to stop focusing on PvP balance affecting all the other game modes. They should be kept separate as they are different animals with different mechanics. All the while they buffed scepter which no one uses….or at least should use except maybe in PvP/WvW.

Just turned into #deadclass

What I think Anet and other people may missing is that this also affects personal DPS. Mesmer/Chrono was already in the middle as far as DPS goes. This just lessened it even more so. And with no real boosts to any damage, this class just got pigeon holed into a utility only class for PvE.

This is really a huge blow to the class from what I can tell.

I’m glad some of you enjoy WvW still today. I enjoyed it for 3+ long years myself. But you simply cannot argue the fact that WvW is a bleeding game mode. All servers are on open status AFTER the majority of people still playing WvW jumped to the upper tiers. I’ve only seen this occurrence twice:

1. At launch
2. After Anet raised server caps

That alone shows not nearly as much people is playing.

These I believe are the only things we can fault Anet for:
1. Removing all rewards from WvW
2. Server coverage and PPT the only measure of score
3. Allowing the abuse of server transfers

The rest of the problems are partially player driven. Things like match manipulation, stacking servers, etc. are well known by the WvW community that has occurred. Not going to get into specifics but every veteran WvW player knows this.

I believe WvW will continue to bleed until Anet addresses their part. It’s up to the community to fix the rest.

Thank you all so much for responding! This really means a lot too me! I’ve played primarily WvW for many years so I’m not the most familiar with the better skills & setups as both are such different beasts in terms of builds.

I really appreciate you taking the time to help with a build AND actually explaining it’s benefits!!! That is so helpful and I really appreciate you all for taking the time to respond to my post.

Cheers to you all!!!!

Thank you for the great information! It’s 12:45 am here (I’m in NA – east coast) so I will watch the video tomorrow when I’m refreshed and can give it my full attention.

Thank you so very much! I really appreciate all your help!

I do have a question. The boon duration food. Does that affect alacrity or something else?

Awesome! Thank you so much for your kindness! I will review and let you know if I have any questions.