Guild Wars 2

I’m running a 0/20/0/20/30 build with greatsword + scepter/focus (occasionally swapping to any of the other weapons) and I’m enjoying it. May not be the most damaging, but I can swap to a reflector, glamour specialist, mantra-healer, etc. on the go.

I went to the Mists to try out a build and then when I was heading to the gate to LA, I saw Tixx. Thinking it was the same as in LA, I went to him and accepted his offer. Upon receiving the gifts, I realize that it was for PvP and that made me upset. I went to LA and tried talking to him. I cannot claim the PvE gifts and that made me even more sad. I play mostly PvE and didn’t know there was a difference between the two locations Tixx was in.

I accidentally accepted the reward from Tixx in Hearts of the Mist and I didn’t want it. Now I’m stuck with PVP stuff that I won’t use at all. I would assume Tixx gives me a warning that there’s a difference between PvP and PvE stuff he gives. Is there a way I can get a refund?

lupercaleb.6041:

it’s sad. it was only nerfed because duelists gave more regen than other phantasms. they fixed the wrong thing, again

At least all phantasms (haven’t tried underwater ones though) are granting 3 secs of regen and renews every 3 secs, just like the iDuelist.

While testing various traits, skills, and weapons in Hearts of the Mists, I found that Phantasmal Healing works on ALL phantasms (including iDisenchanter and iDefender) and not just iDuelist, as in constant regeneration given (shown every 3 secs, but renews every 3 secs) once you are nearby the phantasm (~300 range). This is a good fix, which would explain the Illusionary Membrane nerf.

The Prestige….while it no longer is affected by Prismatic Understanding, there are still some tricks to using it (some have already been mentioned before, but I’ll state them here). I asked a guildie to watch me use The Prestige and then various other skills and to see if he can visually see me while using those skills. I’ve also tested using Null Field and then The Prestige before using other utility skills to try to create combo blast finishers. Here is what I’ve found:

You STAY hidden and stealth AND can create the 2 combo blast finishers if using the following skills:
- Power Return (after casting Mantra of Recovery)
- Power Cleanse (after casting Mantra of Resolve)
- Power Lock (after casting Mantra of Daze)
- Power Break (after casting Mantra of Concentration)
- Signet of Midnight
- Feedback
- Mirror Images (even though you are targeting a target, YOU are not dealing the damage)
- Diversion (shatter skill)
- Distortion (shatter skill)

You LOSE hidden BUT still have “stealth” effect AND can create the 2 combo blast finishers if using the following skill:
- Blink

Note: Decoy use its own icon effect (invisible) instead of the stealth icon that The Prestige uses and the latter skill acts different depending on order. Here’s what I found while standing inside Null Field:

Combo field —> Decoy --> The Prestige = create both combo blast finisher.

However,

Combo field —> The Prestige --> Decoy = create INITIAL combo blast finisher, but NO 2nd one.

You LOSE hidden AND stealth AND the 2nd combo blast finisher if using any skills that has casting or channeling time, deal damage (including Mantra of Pain), hit escape, or dodge.

There are also some interesting tricks utilizing The Prestige:

With at least 1 illusion active or Illusionary Persona:
- Rending Shatter + Illusionary Retribution + Vigorous Revelation + Shattered Strength (+ optional Confusing Cry and/or Master of Reflection) use with either Diversion or Distortion while using The Prestige near the target = deal vulnerability, confusion, blind (initial Prestige), and burn (ending Prestige) while granting vigor, might, (+ optional retaliation or “reflection”) and both combo blast finishers (assuming you’re standing on a combo field)

Using with Blink
- While people will see you if you Blink, however, you can still make both or one of the combo finishers (i.e. – combo field —> Blink inside it --> create ending combo blast finisher)

Using certain runes that trigger upon using healing skills
- Use The Prestige —> Power Recovery, you get the bonus from trigger while still remaining stealth until Prestige ends. You can use this to run away, surprise opponents, provide AoE blast finishers quicker to allies.

Boons
- You can still receive retaliation boon from iMage even if you’re under The Prestige (but that does kinda give away your position) AND can receive regeneration from Phantasmal Healing.

While Cleansing Conflagration (Domination major trait IX) does reduce cooldowns on torch skills by 20%, the wiki doesn’t confirm if removing conditions is 1 or more; the tooltip doesn’t specify if it can remove multiple or just torch skills remove conditions (in general since there’s 2 skills). Here’s what I found:

- The Prestige does remove 1 condition only at ending, not initial use.
- Illusionary Mage removes 1 condition upon summoning, even when not facing the target (was crippled and running away from target npc)

I like to know if anyone else has come up with the same results.

Mere Image.8376:

Here’s a guide that breaks down the build to the basics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XfMN57yGDM

Yay, someone else who also uses staff + sword/sword! :-D It’s good to know that it can be used in fractal 12+. I run a similar build using 0/20/25/0/25, but I’ll give yours a try (that is, if none of the traits/skills got nerfed).

Offhand sword provides both defense and offense. Sword #4 has a block that can create a clone OR shoot a daze bolt in a line. Sword #5 is a phantasm that leaps in and out while spiking a target (good amount of damage); plus, its leaps count as leap finishers and it can survive decently due to it leaping.

Zenith.7301:

JonPeters.5630:

Got some movement improvements coming for Mesmer also. Mostly more reliable swiftness.

Isn’t Signet of Midnight’s passive a good candidate for a change to speed boost? The 10% boon duration is wasted since mesmers have very little access to boons by themselves. 25% speed increase is more useful.

Signet of Midnight (at it’s current state) is useful if combined with Signet of Inspiration and have at least 10 or more Chaos points.

But I agree that Signet of Midnight seems a good potential of being a speed booster or possible stealth combo (since in GW1 it used to deal blindness on target and yourself).

Either way, I’m looking forward to Dec. 14th update!!!!! :-D

Also, thank you Jon Peters and everyone else in Anet!!!!!

I’m currently working on what I call an “Enchanter” build, having some dps, support, and interrupts/controls. It’s a 10/0/30/0/30 build which is unusual since majority of builds use Dueling traits. However, this build is to have boons and give them to your party. It’s more like a “buffer” role, but can still do damage/support/control. This build also utilize condition damage, especially from staff.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mzmc0z0MzMwMhmMwMhma0x0xoVaqMkb8khs707khs7070M7kGW70V

I use carrion armor set with rune of undead so that my illusions can take an extra hit or two; for weapons, I use soldier’s greatsword (one from AC dungeon works) and carrion staff, both with sigil of battle to have as much might as possible. Signet of Inspiration is key here and the other two utilities can be swapped out for other skills depending on situation.

So far, this build allows me to stay alive well and keeps me buff with boons; not only that, teammates and allies appreciate the boons I give.

Note: The original build idea was shared to me by a user named Cereal in GW2Guru forums.

I am currently using a 0/20/20/20/10 build with staff + sword/focus (or pistol) and surprisingly, it gives a decent amount of dps, survivability, and control. I was able to impress someone in an AC dungeon path 2 run during the spike traps where I was kiting the gravelings instead of a warrior or guardian.

But backing to WvW, I am curious of trying it as well, but like what Quercus said, nothing wrong with trying out different things. Like this one, it’s a discovery!

To answer your first question: it’s the traits that grants phantasms boons (i.e. – Phantasmal Fury, Vengeful Images, Phantasmal Healing). I’ve tested and saw that now my phantasms can have all 3 boons with fury and retaliation instantly on them when they spawn. I

To answer your second question: Various non-stat effects (any that doesn’t boost the attributes like power and precision) from runes and sigils don’t pass onto illusions, but most attributes from gear and accessories do, which leads to the 3rd question.

To answer your third question: Power, precision, toughness, condition damage, critical damage, armor, and healing get passed onto your illusions. Illusions don’t benefit from player’s condition duration, vitality, and boon duration.

At least I can now have Phantasmal Fury and Vengeful Images together and they are given to my phantasms as soon as they spawn. Also, I’m glad they fix Phantasmal Disenchanter’s summon range issue. Phantasmal Healing works with each phantasm giving regeneration to each other.

I’m just happy that my phantasms can have more than 1 boon from my traits and gives me incentive to go into Inspiration without worry of buggy minor traits when having Phantasmal Fury. I may have Phantasmal Haste or Persisting Images in my build. ^^

I use a sword/sword + staff build with currently a 10/20/10/0/30 (may change since I’m still testing it on various areas). Occasionally, I’ll swap staff with scepter/pistol (or focus). iSwordsman is pretty good at spike damage, surviving (since it leaps), and creates a combo finisher on itself. I also like the block skill since it can damage and summon a clone if blocked (or do a daze line). I personally think both MH and OH swords are pretty good (with exception of Illusionary Leap distance issue).

While the current state of scepter is okay, I do agree that it needs to be buffed or reworked. There are several ideas that I like for the scepter 1 attack chain to be different:

- Making the ether bolts do a small AoE upon hitting target (or a splashing effect works)

- Make the ether bolts hit the target nearly instant (similar to the necromancer’s scepter attacks)

- Give the first 2 attacks a condition (chill/confusion/bleed/poison) while keeping the 3rd the same

- Give the 1st attack a condition (confusion), the 2nd attack removes a boon, and 3rd stays the same. The first 2 have a small AoE splash damage.

Mesmers got several skills that can remove boons so the last idea is most appealing to me and would help boost the scepter’s favor.

Edit: I would type more or make it more clarifying but I have to get to work. ><;

I, too, have return to dust off my scepter (and during the Lost Shores event, my friend got me a exotic scepter skin – Tsunami – that I really like!). I use similar build that Kelthien did, except swap last 5 points from Chaos to Illusions for extra might on shatter, so 0/25/20/0/25. Using scepter/pistol + sword/focus, I had fun in WvW and in dungeons (so far, AC, CoE, CM, and partial in FotM).

In Sea of Sorrows, I like how the enemies are attacking faster (reminds me of hard mode in GW1) and I believe that is why Anet modified our torch to prevent overpowering. I had fun overall during those events with this and am glad that I don’t have to respec to go into WvW and PvE. ^^

I can confirm that in the first path (submarine), Bjarl the Rampager, is not hitting the pillars, making it impossible to defeat him and to finish the dungeon path.

Also, the first champion, Mark T-B34RC3, does not drop wondrous bag of goods in all 3 paths.

I had similar experiences that Foosnark had and looking back at GW1 mesmers, the mesmers in GW2 may not be far off. Why I say that? In GW1, mesmers were great at interrupting, controlling, pretty much help turn the tides of the battle. Think of it as the ice frosting on the cake (or cookie) that makes the food more delicious. I look at the mesmers as the “one that adds more flavor” to the party. We help make the battles easier and not as frustrating (i.e. – Feedback, removing boons, having illusions take the hits, etc.). We help make others stronger (i.e. – Timewarp, Chaos Storm boons, Signet of Inspiration, etc.). In a way, we are like bards in other MMO/RPG games – that support class that is great to have (why else would Anet joke with “introducing the Minstrel” when the Mesmer was finally release?).

Sure, mesmers may not be the most damaging profession, but we can do fine in PvE solo or group plays. And there are various builds and playstyles to do it.

Raksha.8049:

Phloww.1048:

I’ve posted an idea for phantasms over at the Suggestion thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Different-Mesmer-Phantasm-Function/first#post775605

Should delete that post and copy/paste it here.

The suggestion forums attracts the wrong attention sometimes.

Copied over here. Thanks!

With the latest patch, summoning phantasms must now be line-of-sight of target and are now considered normal attacks. This hinders the mesmer’s performance in both providing extra damage and our core mechanic: shattering; it also requires the mesmer players to be more conservative of when to use a phantasm. If this is intended, then here’s a idea of making phantasms useful but not overpowered: Allow only 1 phantasm out at a time but with several criteria:

1a) It DOES NOT count towards our illusion counter (basically having 3 clones + 1 phantasm max) and stays spawned until one of the following conditions is met:

*target is defeated
*mesmer is defeated
*replaced by a newer phantasm (whether same or different one)
*killed by conditional damage (see next bullet).

1b) Since it won’t count with our illusion counter, traits that give extra #% to damage, defense, speed, etc. SHOULD NOT be applied with the phantasm (to prevent overpowering). If the opponent kills the phantasm via condition damage, there is only one trait (Confusing Combatants) that applies to phantasm and punishes the opponent. You can even make that trait only affecting clones (much like Crippling Dissipation and Debilitating Dissipation).

2) Due to its very low health, phantasm should be immune to direct damage, BUT is susceptible to conditions/condition damages and controls. Mesmer’s vitality is not derived to illusions (but toughness is), so if mesmers want the phantasm to stay alive longer (especially during fights that have lots of AoE conditions), they will need to spec into Inspiration or Chaos trait to help give the phantasm more health or more toughness. Since there are plenty of conditions, especially bleed, poison, and burning, that other professions can deal (and mesmers can deal bleed/confusion/burn), it won’t make that one phantasm invincible.

3) SHOULD NOT be counted toward Shattering skills. With only one phantasm as our extra dps/damage-over-time assistance, it would be overpowered if it’s included.
This idea with the three criteria can make that one phantasm a powerhouse, yet can easily be defeated with conditional damages or killing the mesmer. It will be gone when the target is defeated so it still needs to be recast when fighting another target.
Now, this is just one idea and I hope I have covered most of the issues regarding about phantasms in general. Another suggestion is having the same (or similar) idea above, BUT make that 1 phantasm as our pet. I wouldn’t mind having one running/walking around with me. ^^

I’m sure others have similar or even better suggestions. I don’t often post, but with this latest patch, it really hinders mesmer’s performance for our phantasms.
P.S. – Please also fix the other mesmer traits related to phantasm (i.e. – Phantasmal Fury, Vengeful Images, Phantasmal Healing, etc.).

I know I’ve posted on another thread about ideas of different phantasm function, but I agree with ddoi.9264 and Ryuujin.8236. However, I think the devs are trying to force us to use clones more than phantasms since they hardly touch anything with clones in this patch. While we do generate clones more often than phantasms, phantasms help us in damage, control, and support. Nerfing the phantasms like this is practically making us partially handicapped. I love the mesmer in GW1 and love playing as my mesmer in GW2. If this nerf is intended, at least decrease the recharge of phantasms to like 10 secs or something. Maybe make phantasm our pet and have only 1 active at a time or perhaps make all phantasms as utilities instead. I’m sure there are many of us who are not happy with this patch change and wanted it revert prior to the patch or something better.

I know right now, the main thing seems to be the Lost Shores events, so I can understand not responding right away, but I hope for responses and fixes to our phantasms real soon.

P.S. – Thank you, Karl, for taking the time to provide us info among this mayhem. Hopefully, you or others may shed some more light on this shortly. ^^

I made the topic thread open for others to bring ideas to the table of having phantasms do something different. I figured that I’ll start an idea that I thought of and then hopefully others may like to add their own ideas.

Very interesting. Lately, I’ve been using sword/focus + scepter/pistol, but I’ve also enjoyed sword/pistol. I had a bit of trouble in WvW killing invaders (for monthly achievement), even when the GS wasn’t “nerfed” (devs say it’ll be fixed later). I’ll have to give this build a try.

Side topic: I enjoy PvE and do dungeons/DEs. What I am curious about is if this build can also be apply to those? If not, what would be different and would you recommend?

With the latest patch, summoning phantasms must now be line-of-sight of target and are now considered normal attacks. This hinders the mesmer’s performance in both providing extra damage and our core mechanic: shattering; it also requires the mesmer players to be more conservative of when to use a phantasm. If this is intended, then here’s a idea of making phantasms useful but not overpowered: Allow only 1 phantasm out at a time but with several criteria:

1a) It DOES NOT count towards our illusion counter (basically having 3 clones + 1 phantasm max) and stays spawned until one of the following conditions is met:

*target is defeated
*mesmer is defeated
*replaced by a newer phantasm (whether same or different one)
*killed by conditional damage (see next bullet).

1b) Since it won’t count with our illusion counter, traits that give extra #% to damage, defense, speed, etc. SHOULD NOT be applied with the phantasm (to prevent overpowering). If the opponent kills the phantasm via condition damage, there is only one trait (Confusing Combatants) that applies to phantasm and punishes the opponent. You can even make that trait only affecting clones (much like Crippling Dissipation and Debilitating Dissipation).

2) Due to its very low health, phantasm should be immune to direct damage, BUT is susceptible to conditions/condition damages and controls. Mesmer’s vitality is not derived to illusions (but toughness is), so if mesmers want the phantasm to stay alive longer (especially during fights that have lots of AoE conditions), they will need to spec into Inspiration or Chaos trait to help give the phantasm more health or more toughness. Since there are plenty of conditions, especially bleed, poison, and burning, that other professions can deal (and mesmers can deal bleed/confusion/burn), it won’t make that one phantasm invincible.

3) SHOULD NOT be counted toward Shattering skills. With only one phantasm as our extra dps/damage-over-time assistance, it would be overpowered if it’s included.

This idea with the three criteria can make that one phantasm a powerhouse, yet can easily be defeated with conditional damages or killing the mesmer. It will be gone when the target is defeated so it still needs to be recast when fighting another target.

Now, this is just one idea and I hope I have covered most of the issues regarding about phantasms in general. Another suggestion is having the same (or similar) idea above, BUT make that 1 phantasm as our pet. I wouldn’t mind having one running/walking around with me. ^^

I’m sure others have similar or even better suggestions. I don’t often post, but with this latest patch, it really hinders mesmer’s performance for our phantasms.

P.S. – Please also fix the other mesmer traits related to phantasm (i.e. – Phantasmal Fury, Vengeful Images, Phantasmal Healing, etc.).