Guild Wars 2

would love to see someone posting a pet guide that covers pets pve and wvw/pvp strengths and which are normally preferred.

Lovely video Joe. It makes me want to transfer servers next time i get in game just to fight u guys. <3 the anti thief tips.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQFAGGRMpg4QOSPMNW70Kpg3uQA-w i would love to see what you normally run with this build.

Another great vid, and the best music so far imo.
@AnswerSS.1845 if you get a chance try this build out http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfRnUEFTbRNi1wWbEx0Diz3AOSKUtXrkCc7CB-j0CBYfBCDEkEJQUBgZmFRjtCqIasabYKXAaXQqXIqYpWKAmEGB-w its the power build i was using for a few days. Way fun in 1vX and no condi problems.

Dark Night.5601:

I’m very confused on some of these builds. On your Celestial Bleed/Dmg build, I don’t get trait V in illusions. The only thing I see that would apply confusion is if you shatter with cry of frustration.

On your personal clone death build, scepter 2 inflicts torment. Then one of the rune bonuses is 2 stacks of torment on heal. But is torment inflicted through any other method? I always wondered about this when using the torment runes.

Just to be clear I’m not picking at your builds I’m just asking so I better learn and understand. Cheers!

It increases the length of scepter 3 by a decent amount causing people to condi clear or adding to great damage. The celestial build was just for fun but turned out nice in 1v1 and 1v2.
For the tormenters runes they increase the damage insanely on the block and you can use your heal in invis for aoe condi stacking. Pretty sure if a thief doesnt clean the torment on that build just the scepter block can wreck its hp pool.

Not sure if i will need this.

These are the builds i enjoyed playing and testing.

Open traits and skills where swapped out often depending on the situation. I do not have all ascended gear im just using optimal gear on the builder.
Im using Hoelbrak runes on the power builds because they are cheap and have good effects.

My Celestial Bleed/Damage Fun
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsd7alwzipXUTqGbNJxZGQf5oPcdSFUdJF4O3A-jECBYjDimCAm8IQUBgJqFRjtMsIasqaER1qkYSBcqwI-w

Utility 3 can be swapped

Personal Clonedeath PU
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW7PFx0LqJWjteEx0jgD5AO0HuuyMstLE-jUCBYhQohwYiA00wUHBKFtIas11FRjVJjIqWpETKAYmGB-w

Traditional Shatter
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8KGRQ9A70uvjkiWj1KpAAuQA-jUCBYfRGbEgsIQUBwZmFRjtCqIasKkYKXAaXLqWKgIGGB-w

Remember to keep an extra stacks weapon for each build(an extra 250 precision/power/condi depending on the build).

And finally my favorite
The Power PU (Pretty much Osicats newest build with the gear i had laying around).
This is not just a phantasm PU you will shatter and it feels very dynamic dont just sit back and expect your ai to do the work.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfRnUEFTbRNi1wWbEx0Diz3AOSKUtXrkCc7CB-j0CBYfBCDEkEJQUBgZmFRjtCqIasabYKXAaXQqXIqYpWKAmEGB-w

I am not done with this post it will be edited later to add some fight descriptions, the strengths and weaknesses, how they handle 1vX, counters, and maybe play styles.

If you have any personal questions about the builds please ask.

So yes a low skill condi PU is great vs nubs but once you start fighting better players it takes extreme amounts of skill (for example try fighting a mesmer who has played the spec). I see so many mesmers using scepter skill 2 randomly hoping im silly enough to trigger it(a skilled player would watch my animations and bust it when im in the middle of an attack).
Power PU is a lot less passive at lower lvls of play, but because its damage is not as easily mitigated by knowing the spec it doesn’t see the challenge spike from smarter players and becomes more of a gradual increase.

Name: Idaeus Rubus
Server: Northern Shiverpeaks
Role: Scholar/Tester/Instructor
Playstyle: WvW Solo/duo roaming, WvW dueling, and WvW zerg troller.
Playtime: Random

I have about 1k hours on my mesmer 700 of them probably being in WvW.

Osicat.4139:

@Kusosama, Idd might stacking then share boons is one of the reasons I say Hidden Cat and Shatter Cat Heavy 4.0 both are good for many aspects of WvWvW.

For survival, in teamfights Both Hidden Cat, Condi Cat and Shatter Cat heavy have amazing survival and no worry what spec you go for. For roaming the reaons I atm favour a direct dmg PU spec is that it dont realy have any counters. Add mobility to it and you can escape from practicly anything, use a pistol and you have a hard counter towards BS thiefs etc, its extremly verisiable and flexible setup.

@All.

The build is new but still It already is time for a update to my atm newest build Hidden Cat,

Hidden Cat 2.0:

http://tinyurl.com/Hidden-Cat-2-0

/Osicat

Osicat im addicted to the extended blink trait would i be losing much if i replaced the phantasmal fury for it in this build.

Gwalchgwn.1659:

Armageddonash, I wish you would just read my post a bit higher instead of replying to ppl who falsely accuse you. I did explain entirely how PW works and how to work with it as opponent. I’m a S/P thief myself and yes we’re rare but it’s not unbeatable.

PS: Thieves never were able to get into enemy spawn using stealth. They used fly hacks to get into the zone where no legendary defender were (the crafting stations).

Completely wrong. There is a jump trick you can do and all you have to do is be invis. Its super easy if you know it and can be done on engi, mesmer, and thief. You dont need to exploit anything i found out how to do it out of boredom. Once you get it down proceed to kill all their npcs.

To fight with you^ i would be down also.

How about a Crossbow skinformyrifle? No, seriously a fancy crossbow skin for rifles would be sick. It would not feel out of place on engi or war.

AUX thanks for dueling my engi this morning those where fun fights. Btw your thief scared the kitten out of me.

Warjin.8942:

ellesee.8297:

i think the perfect response to the op and anyone who agrees with him is this:

L2P

Maybe that is the case but i’m going to move on, this class takes to much effort with very little gain unlike a the other classes, I still hold true when I say this class needs a overhual.

The class is fun don’t get me wrong it’s just lacking and not worth my effort, as for the L2P as you kids like to say means nothing to me when the playing field isn’t balanced, my Ego comes from real life achievements not a video game so maybe perfect response to you is L2RL (real Life)

Lmao because people cant excel at both(sarcasm). So what you are saying here is that you think engi sucks because it has a higher skill level. For a lot of people challenges are fun and when hard work turns to great output you feel successful in real life or game. Some of the greatest things are the most difficult to achieve.

Wow kiting like a champ. There where so many points when i was telling myself he is soooo dead. Ever thought about traiting for the extended blink though, because as you said in the vid comments your crit rate in group is like 100%. Thinking it might be a little more handy in a lot of those fights.
Edit: Forgot to say your are way to stronk.

TheJokester.4672:

Edit: thief removed completely replace with Dervish k thnx bai

Yes, so much yes.

Lmao at the side salad.

Joe.4178:

JHN.8749:

Joe.4178:

JHN.8749:

Joe.4178:

Joe.4178:

imdapro.3256:

Just out of curiosity, how come you don’t play the current cheese meta pu condi mes or pu phant mes? From what I’ve been noticing, those builds is more popular than the shatter build you’re playing, and everyone is posting 1v1s vs your outnumbered series and for some reason they’re more popular. And the other shatter builds I’ve seen so far hasn’t been top notch like yours in outnumbered/team fights.

Never played the pu condi/phant meta builds, no offense, but in my honest opinion the reward for playing such a easy gimmick build doesn’t offer any high end rewards. An example is not ALL but most of those builds I see 1v1 don’t ever dodge/do high level plays/doesn’t do anything in team fights/don’t improve reaction timing. I watch some of those builds take on full ce from eles or hb from wa’s smh its really outrageous. Such an easy build allows so many room for errors w/o getting punished severely for it. Shatter mesmer for group play on the other hand, anything can kill me in 1 shot but like I said, high rewards = high risk which makes the class very fun to me.

Another thing I’d like to add is when I see mesmer videos and they open with their mass invis smh.. The build allows them to blow their cd’s instantly instead of reserving them for tight situations.. Since they just spam invis all the time it allows them to not dodge big attacks/break with shatter spec.

Wow each vid gets better and better, makes sense why you guys win all your 3v3-5v5s.. Learned a lot from this vid keep them up like always thanks. But you are right about those pu builds, they’re easily available and require no effort to use whatsoever. Those builds are too forgiving and allows room for so many errors w/o getting punished for it.

Don’t get me wrong its not that I hate pu builds, its when people use the pu phant/condi build and brag as if they’re gods in 1v1s. Thats what kinda bugs me the most other then that, I don’t bother fighting any of them kittenter..

Yeah I completely understand and have to agree with ya. Also like to add 3:55 & 7:16 those stomps… you dont see much mesmers blink/phase retreat stomp or blink stomp, and 9:26 my favorite part. @ 9:26 was that like 3v+10? no upscales/guild groups? You were the only dps and you had 2 supports but you survived taking on that group with a glass spec.. I’m still amazed by how youre able to dps and take on the aggro at same time..

I can’t take all of the credit, gotta give credit to the 2 support classes that carried me during that 3vs+10 @ 9:26. Thanks to Glaezer [Holy](Support Guardian) & Rackin Stacks [SPCA](Healing Engineer) they kept my hp high as possible w/ support buffs & cc’ing the group, while I was dps’ing down that decent sized group.

Lols now i know why you dps you are sick of never getting any credit as support.

The only times in wvw where i would take mass invis or Tw over portal would be if i was using my old PU build or helping golems 11111 a gate. It would need a slight buff imo for elite status.

i would love that if they reduced its cd to 60-65ish and cut the charges to 15ish.
Portal is one of my favorite skills it just has to much trouble fighting with some of the more on hand utilities.

jportell.2197:

Pwent.2639:

Im not sure if anyone else does this in small team roaming. When you see a large group set up a portal run in with group drop shatter and stuff, guard will drop CC. When your ele is ready you drop the Portal exit. Ele and who ever else needs a break ports out. The tank and everyone else still fight as ele channels Churning earth then ports back in.

It can be used in duo roaming also, its epic and makes people kitten bricks.
Most people seem to expect the churning earth lightning flash combo.

Me and my ele teammate used this alot in pvp he would cap home point while i dropped a portal then i would drop the exit when his churning earth popped… downed so many people that way.

Yeh i rarely see any advanced tactics like that sadly, even though they are so strong.

Joe.4178:

Pwent.2639:

I agree and i played a personal PU build for a long time. It is not a challenging game style and gets nowhere near the fun a highly dynamic shatter build reaches.
Edit: And shatter build vids are amazingly entertaining to watch of contrary to PU builds.

Yeah man, but the sad thing is all these other vids of people 1v1ing with the pu phant/condi build are more popular than my outnumber series. :\

Maybe make a guide. Toss in some how to phase retreat blink stomp(i flipped when i was still new to mesmer and saw wafflez do that). Guides always seem to up the views of the person who released them, but honestly add your anti thief clone kiting and other tricks.

I agree and i played a personal PU build for a long time. It is not a challenging game style and gets nowhere near the fun a highly dynamic shatter build reaches.
Edit: And shatter build vids are amazingly entertaining to watch of contrary to PU builds.

That was fantastic. You are one beast ele.

Im not sure if anyone else does this in small team roaming. When you see a large group set up a portal run in with group drop shatter and stuff, guard will drop CC. When your ele is ready you drop the Portal exit. Ele and who ever else needs a break ports out. The tank and everyone else still fight as ele channels Churning earth then ports back in.

It can be used in duo roaming also, its epic and makes people kitten bricks.
Most people seem to expect the churning earth lightning flash combo.

Kill shot is worse than Churning earth. Both rarely hit even if you Lightning flash your churning earth and kill shot gets reflected back in warriors faces. At least churning earth is AoE. Only thing kill shot has going for it is a short cooldown that 2 sec root is killer though.

Im so happy im not the only using shatter in PvE. Thanks for the guide Waffles

His appearance strikes fear and weakness into all who face him.

Jasher.6580:

You think that the damage in this video is better than the other zerker specs for other classes?
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5e3qcCj6ic

That guy has no idea about mesmer dps. The fastest mesmer kill on that giant i have heard of is 16seconds. Even in the video he sounds clueless.

I really like the swap with clone idea Chaos Archangel proposed. That would be so much fun in WvW juking.
Only problem would be making the change with a clone wielding different weapons.

Vash.1920:

Thanks,

i prefer precise wrack – why?.
I´ve been doing math about this. Based on a ciritcal DMG boost by 160% (stats+the hidden 50% from the game itself) and based on 3-4 shatter effects (2-3 Illus+XI trait).
The average delta is about +500DMG on the compounding power trait. But I still prefer the 10% cirt – because Probability math is a devil – it could happen that 2 of your shatters don´t krit even with 70% cirtchance so your dmg drops massively. It´s more important to make the shatter crits happen than calculate with 9% more dmg on not granted crits – Your whole burst goes horribly wrong if the shatter don´t crit. With the +10% krit u reach the 80% crit chance which is almost a guarantee that at least 2/3 3/4 shatter will crit. Also my weapon sigils trigger on crit which is also a reason for the crit trait. An additional problem is – if your illusions don´t explode at the same time and u might not be in range it could result in a raindrops effect and u don´t deal more dmg at all. your boost will drop from 9% to 0 witout gettin a serious advantage from your compounding power.

Thats my theory – like always feel free to use whatever u want

^That 10% crit rate adds up way more in shatter builds.

SmX.8651:

I tried this build for an hour this evening.
I’ve more damage it’s true. I had GS + Sword/pistols or focus.
I killed some thiefs/war in 1v1 but now my survivability is just .. crappy.
I don’t know if it’s the build, or my gameplay.
I think i’ll need to pratice an easier build.
Can you advice me about a build a bit easier for new players with my gear?

Honestly i would say stick to the 20/20/0/0/30 and the best practice is dying you cant surpass your limits without pushing them. A slight change you could make is switch to staff over GS then maybe try taking 10/20/10/0/30. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Video-GS-Roaming-Basic-Shatter-Tactics/first Here is Vash using the same kind of build as you. Dont back down because its tough just be ready to pay the armor repair bills.

Thanks just switched out the healing gear. The scepter or sword thing has been getting me. With the sword/torch and staff build i can keep up almost perm chaos armor and the torch blast finisher can share some of it, but scepter feels way more fitting for a condition build.

Normally i like roaming solo/duo Shatter mesmer in the bl, but every now and then i end up in Eb wanting to contribute or with a group that has enough damage. So this is a build im thinking about putting together.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsfWl0zSoHVzqGb9IxJFMv5oecdrXdSKc9rB-j0CB4gQohBkmGk8AgABKDqIasVPFRjVPjIqWfEzYOR2zDrWKAIWWB-w
So its main goal would be do keep up outstanding blind, chaos armor, and confusion. Following that it would have large amounts of chaos fields for people to take advantage and Mirror would be a small aoe heal on a stick. Things could be switched out for portal bombing and such.

Mesmer feedback on the build would be greatly appreciated.

Was using them for a while they are working just fine. With the right set up and you Icounter a newbie you can have the torment do 14k plus or minus.

see what they do in the next update, but a zerg mantra healer might be possible.

Kelthien.8593:

Wow! Just popped on to this thread and surprised to see shatter so high on everyone’s list! I’d love to give it a try… Have any of the builds changed or are 20/20/0/0/30 and 0/20/20/0/30 still kind of the go-tos for PvE and WvW, respectively? I’d love a linky-link!

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQFA8Ex0LqxWPig6h2BAfHpCtWJFAwFC-jUBBYfAJPFRjtMsIas6aYKXER1SBMqwI-w i left 10 traits to put wherever you want. Feel free to switch out some pieces of zerker gear. Pick your weapons staff will give you more sustainability Gs will give more damage and wand will let you use another offhand you like (just always bring Sword mainhand). Open skill slots are for you to fill.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Video-GS-Roaming-Basic-Shatter-Tactics and i will leave this here. Vash does an excellent job showing shatter placement. Don’t feel forced to use Gs though, but if you do traiting for an extra bounce can be amazing.

Edit: Here is a vid of a mesmer using staff for more defense http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpaPKXr4sL8 Joe does a great job of surviving and thriving when outnumbered.

Advent.6193:

In my case, I’d toss a vote behind Mirror. Originally, I looked at it as the “red-headed stepchild” of Mesmer heals, since it heals less than EF, and can’t be Traited, as with MoRec. Started using it during my field-testing of the Triforce build, and I must say:
it never left my skillbar afterwards. Short C/D, inbuilt Reflect-mode … hells, yes.

Mirror has saved me so many times by far my fav heal once i started using it(if you are fighting a rifle warrior it is super lols).

Hybrid shatter or just pure shatter. I have played lots of PU(its great for killing newbie groups), but i find it all around lackluster. Phantasm has never worked for me in WvW.

Edit: I like shatter because of its explosive qualities. It has good movement kills quick and has an epic player skill cap. It can solo roam and also thrives with support. (PU and condition builds really don’t scale in effectiveness when supported by friends.) <— exception to that is having a raw damage thief.

That blink stomp was so awesome

Thanks for the post. I wasnt trying to delay you or anything i was just testing a new trait set up.