Thanks Pyro! I’ve been looking for a zerg build for a while. I’ve been using the tri-force for a while, which I guess is kinda outdated because of the confusion nerfs. Definitely going to try this out next zerg night. BTW they need to update the tooltip on Mimic. I didn’t realize it had a block after the first projectile, but then again I’ve never really used this skill.
Yeah, the tooltip on mimic is somewhat underwhelming. The problem is that the actual functionality would be really really hard to condense into a succinct, easy to understand tooltip, which is probably why they’ve held off on making it better.
The triforce is definitely a strong build. However, it’s designed to be used in a group with others running the same build. It synergies really well with itself, but is very underwhelming if you’re the only Mesmer there.
Block <—> There are unblockable attacks in game
Dodge <—> Weakness is suppose to be the counter, but I don’t feel it works well
Evade <—> Nothing exists in game that counters evade frames found on skills
Protection <—> Boon stripEvade is powerful because there is no counter. I don’t expect this to ever change, spamming and passive gameplay is encouraged in gw2. When you compare Evade to the protection boon, evade comes out on top. It has a much lower downtime, much more consistency and has absolutely not counter available.
There are multiple things that can’t be evaded. Off the top of my head:
- Xxx of warding
- Static field
- Shocking aura
- All auras for that matter
- Retaliation
- Mesmer clone death conditions
- Nightmare rune fear
There’s probably some others too, but evade is by no means uncounterable.
Iirc, the devs are “working” (heh) on adding a new report option, but until then, we have been directed to use the ‘scamming’ report option.
So what are the most optimal utility skills for the current phantasm build meta?
You’ll change utils based on the encounter. I usually try to keep signet of illusions on my bar, but other than that one, everything changes. Feedback, mantra of condition removal, stability mantra, disenchanter, signet of inspiration, they all go on at some point in some encounters.
So, sticking to the original question by the OP…
First, PvE and WvW are entirely different beasts. Something that works in one will likely not work in the other.
PvE
Greatsword is actually rarely used in most instances for reasons that I won’t get into right now. The staff, however is a really specific use power weapon. The one useful power skill it has is the iWarlock, and it has some special mechanics. On its own, the iWarlock hits reasonably hard, but its damage scales up by 10% per unique condition on the target. In situations where your boss has more than ~6 conditions at all times, the iWarlock easily eclipses the damage of any other phantasm.
Now, that being said, the staff only becomes useful when that condition can be met, otherwise you’re better off using a standard sword/sword + pistol setup.
WvW
In WvW, the staff can be used as a power weapon in either shatter builds or tanky phantasm builds, and it works quite well in both cases. However, it only works very well in small to medium size fights as a power weapon. The larger the fight, the less effective it gets. As a condition weapon, the staff scales quite well even to large fights though.
Ok, lets see here.
Unless otherwise noted, a summoned illusion will be a clone. Only specific skills that actually say ‘phantasmal xxx’ will summon a phantasm.
With 2 phantasms + 1 clone, the clone will be overwritten
With 3 phantasms, the oldest phantasm will be overwritten to make way for the incoming clone.
@Menace: If chaos was arguing towards the purpose of ensuring that all the BOTM builds get a fair try, you’d have a point, but he’s not. You give him far too much credit. He is simply arguing on a concept unrelated to the BOTM.
Who are you to judge how this game was meant to be played? You seem awfully unqualified to me. The only people qualified to make judgements on how this game is meant to be played are the devs themselves, and since they control what goes into the game, one must assume that every underhanded trick is intended until patched out.
How am I damaging the fun of others by playing to win? Because I’m beating them? Why am I beating them? Lets explore that a bit more.
I’m beating another person for what reason? Perhaps it is because I’m more skilled than they are. I beat them out of sheer force of reaction time excellence and tactical superiority. In that case, how can you argue that my way of playing is not valid simply because I am better?
Perhaps it is because my build is more effective than theirs. In this case, why should I take pity on someone using a less effective build? If they truly wanted to win, if that was actually their goal in playing the game, then they would also be using an optimized build. Since they aren’t using an optimized build, the conclusion can be drawn that winning is not their goal, and so me beating them is not ruining their fun.
Perhaps it is a combination of both. However, in either case you still have no room to argue that it is ruining other’s enjoyment of the game or not playing the game it was meant to be played.
Ultimately, you can complain however much you want. You can shake your fists on the forums and scream ‘OP noob using a no skill build’ all you want, but in the end when you get demolished by someone playing to win, I will have no sympathy for you, or anyone else, just another ant crushed under my boot.
I’d use that build.
That’s because I play to win, I don’t abide by some arbitrary set of playing rules that weaker opponents try to make up. When I play, I play with the intention of demolishing my opponents using every underhanded and over handed and otherwise possible trick I know, and I absolutely assume that my opponents will do precisely the same.
I really do suggest you read that passage that Ross Biddle posted, it should be quite informative for you.
See, here’s the problem. You see ‘skill’ as some odd measurement that’s used to describe how handicapped a player can make themselves. This makes you a bad player. Skill is ultimately who wins in the end. If you can’t beat someone else, they are more skilled than you. If their build happens to hard-counter yours, then they’re simply more skilled at picking effective builds.
Complaining about ‘no skill builds’ is a worthless waste of time, because there’s no such thing. Builds aren’t skilled, players are, and if you lose, you are less skilled than your opponent. That’s simply it.
(edited by Pyroatheist.9031)
Well, I’ll also throw around my “theories”.
- Sometimes when you managed to summon an illusion and the target was unavailable during that time (like stealth), the illusions sometimes charge to your new target.
- When a mob dies and another mob with the same ID spawn again the illusion’s death will be prevented. It’ll go attacking another/ the newly spawned mob again.
I don’t think it’s the hitbox. That’d be very reproducible. I haven’t managed to get the technical reason, but I keep observing a “change of target”. I got the feeling that it sometimes happens “on target death” and sometimes “on target stealths”.
Go spawn wardens on the nightmare tree in TA. Reproducible 100% of the time, and it never stealths or even moves. This never happened pre-patch.
I was messing around with Veteran Giant (speedkill favorite) and noticed something odd. I summoned two iWardens and after attacking the targeted mob once both of them decide to walk away and chase some other target. Since when did our phantasms gained the ability to change targets?
ps: I recorded it on video, probably can upload it to youtube if someone wants it
Yeah, so here’s what I believe is happening.
Certain mobs, such as the giant, or the nightmare tree in TA, have a very high center of their hitbox. The warden attempts to get in range, fails, and wanders off like a dope.
Update on Holy Hell Builds.
The advance scout build has been chosen to be entered, and it is original.
I took a look at:
The Smurf
Poof Gone Retaliate
Mesmerizing Army
They all look original and should be set.
The Holy Hell builds are original, but pending approval since there’s sorta 3 of them.
Thieves are generally pretty easy for an experienced Mesmer. Could you perhaps give more specifics of what you find difficult with them?
I believe retaliation is nerfed to 66% of its normal power in WvW, so it’s not quite as strong. You’ll be hitting about 328.
I believe chaos storm is random, but I’m not certain.
With regards to chaos armor, there are 2 internal cooldowns. There is an ICD of 1 second for boons applied. There is a separate ICD of 1 second for each individual enemy striking you for conditions applied, so if 5 people all hit you at the same time, they will all receive 1 condition.
The only time you’ll see chaos storm tick for greater than 5000 is if they screw up descent into madness again…
@Chaos: Idk, just smells to me like you’ve been losing to PU specs and you don’t know how to adapt in order to beat them.
The true skill of a player is not shown in what build they play, but how they adapt to overcome a difficult challenge in any way possible. You appear to be failing miserably in that regard.
Sometimes I play PU builds. Sometimes I don’t. Regardless of the circumstance, I don’t complain about them because I understand how they work, and I beat them regardless. You should try doing something similar.
1) interesting. Do I have trouble with PU builds? No. Though they do pose more of a threat then most Mesmers in a 1v1 situation. And not because of the skill of the Mesmer. In actuality running a PU build is far easier then running a regular tank mesmer build. I speak from experience using the trait before and after the buff. stealth is already very powerful on a Mesmer. I know how to counter it and I have. However other less skilled players get the short end of the stick when fighting a PU condition build
So basically you see yourself as the righteous defender of the sacred skill base of this game? Cute.
Check out some of Fay’s build videos, she’s a tiny pink asura with sunrise.
@Chaos: Idk, just smells to me like you’ve been losing to PU specs and you don’t know how to adapt in order to beat them.
The true skill of a player is not shown in what build they play, but how they adapt to overcome a difficult challenge in any way possible. You appear to be failing miserably in that regard.
Sometimes I play PU builds. Sometimes I don’t. Regardless of the circumstance, I don’t complain about them because I understand how they work, and I beat them regardless. You should try doing something similar.
I tried, and failed. So I’ll assume that no, golems can’t be Moa’d.
Good ol active testing.
At any rate, golems are gadgets, even if they have a player in them (I think). You’d get the same result from trying to moa morph an arrow cart.
Pyro,
Another question. Any disadvantage in going sword/sword and scepter/pistol?
Hey,
None at all. For whatever reason I sorta like having the 2 blocks on the one weaponset, and then swapping over to have blurred frenzy, but that’s absolutely just personal preference.
Yeah but wouldnt it be better to go more hybrid specced? I mean, damage output of 1 shatter+ BF is much higher than those few ticks of conditions that mostly get cleared much sooner (or the enemy gets killed sooner) than the actual duration is.
And then I’m not even talking about the difference of auto attack ;>Also, sword got an aoe immobilize and a good evade that gives you good survivability. 2 things that are really important in raids.
Hybrid is certainly an option, but now we’re talking some substantial changes. You’ll be giving up some significant amounts of defense to go more hybrid.
Additionally, shatters would be pretty meh. No IP means that the most you’ll really ever get is a 1 clone shatter…maybe a 2 clone with some luck. No mirror images since there’s no room for it on your bar. The aoe immobilize certainly is nice, but blurred frenzy not quite as much. If you happen upon a Zerg stacking retaliation, blurred frenzy is a death sentence. Additionally, standing still for 2.5 seconds while crashing through a Zerg is (in my experience) a great way to get killed.
@Ansau: Generalities of PvE don’t really transfer to WvW so well. In this case, I designed the build specifically to be in the middle of everything and still survive. The key is that being in the middle of everything is incredibly dangerous in a Zerg. Standing still is just bad. General confrontation modes involve the 2 groups moving through each other, then regrouping for heals/etc. Staying in the middle of the meat grinder is simply a way to get killed.
@Advent: I most certainly use chaos storm for additional blocks. PU isn’t really viable though. You can’t rely on staying stealthed when you’re dropping things like feedback and chaos storm. I’d additionally have to remove one of the normal traits in chaos for it. It’s definitely a thought though, I’ll have to look and see how often I can maintain stealth in a group fight.
As far as survivability goes, it’s definitely more survivable than the immortal build. That build was never really optimized to stay alive in a Zerg fight, and relied a lot on the defender/other illusions for damage output and mitigation.
I never really found out how scepter > sword in zergs for people. You would have to find a really good target to use 3 on and hope the enemy doesn’t got good condition removal.
What’s so good about the burning is that it has a short duration that can be reapplied rather quickly. This makes condition removal in those 4.5sec pretty much useless if they continue to hit you.I feel like this trick is more something you should use as damage boost, rather than your main damage. Might test it out soon when I got the gears together.
In this case, scepter provides a few things.
Firstly, sword just doesn’t do much for this build. Full dire really doesn’t make any use of the sword at all.
Confusing images does require a good target, but if you get a good target you can easily strafe much of a group with that one attack.
The scepter also provides a block/counter. In a big fight, you can’t generally aim where that block is going, but you do have the satisfaction of knowing that you just made someone’s day worse with a 5 stack of torment. In this particular build, the block also guarantees another proc of burning regardless of LoS or range, which can be amusing when people are shooting at you from or on a wall/gate.
Hello, I was wondering if anyone could clarifiy some mechanics for me with the Feedback utility skill. I understand that it creates a dome that reflects projectiles, but does the reflection only apply to people “inside” the bubble? Or does it also apply to people “outside” the bubble as well?
So for instance, if I were to cast feedback on someone in melee range and put myself inside the bubble while a ranged class outside the bubble was shooting at me, would those ranged attacks get reflected back to the attacker? Or does the reflection only apply if the ranged attacker was inside the bubble trying to shoot someone outside it?
Thanks!
Feedback creates a spherical zone of projectile reflecting space. Any enemy projectiles that contact any part of that spherical zone will be reflected.
I honestly cannot understand how people can think it’s better than Ether Feast. Even in ideal conditions (being able to keep 3 illusions up at all times) it heals for less than EF.
Again, I am losing interest in this new heal but I don’t get the statement above. If we’re talking ideal conditions that means you never actually click the signet, in which case you’re actually getting something like 250% more healing per second from it compared to Ether Feast.
I’m going to try it on a pure PU. I am not a big fan of that purely defensive playstyle, but I’m curious to see how it works.
Not actually accurate. Go ahead and run the numbers yourself, total healing over 60 seconds, permanent 3 illusions. Ether feast wins, and wins harder the more healing power you have.
PvE: Almost without a doubt, the best heal now, for multiple reasons.
PvP: Not so much. It has a lot of drawbacks. With ether feast you only need 3 illusions up at 1 specific point in time to have maximum effectiveness. With the signet, you need 3 illusions up over a long period of time, every three seconds. Remembering that the tick decreases extremely significantly, you’ll be unable to prevent a large loss in potential healing simply from random illusion deaths.
Additionally, the signet really suffers from low healing when you don’t have targets around. I’ve had the situation multiple times where my opponents had run away, but I was stuck sitting at half hp because I couldn’t get any new illusions out.
For a PU condition build, the active is almost entirely useless. This makes the signet lose a significant amount of its functionality. Would not recommend.
For a phantasm build, things are a bit different. Starting with 3 phantasms by popping the signet is a very risky choice, since if those phantasms get killed, you’re out of luck. I see it more as something that you use when you would normally need a larger heal, and being able to add on a burst at the same time. Still unconvinced that it’s worth losin the superior healing of ether feast or the superior condition removal/healing of the mantra.
I’ve never traited too deep into illusions because I felt like the traits were useless – and until yesterday (15) I was kinda right. I was happy to finally get a bit down there, I wanted to go 0/20/0/30/20, but .. Well ya know.
That’s my build now. I don’t like Illusions 5 & 10, since it doesn’t offer me anything useful (phant build).
If I get my staff kills full, I can finally switch back to GS (or scepter kills ?) and then PhantHaste will be uber …This bug exists since release it finally needs a fix!
No, the bug exists since they “nerfed” the trait. Originally it worked with all phants decreasing their whole atkCycle by 20%. was pretty devasting for the pWarden. Almost continuous rotating.
Deserved balance including undeserved bugs.
Nah, you’re entirely wrong.
They never ‘nerfed’ the trait. They fixed the trait. When the wardens were continously spinning, that was closer to a 90% reduction, not 20%. If you think that was actually working as intended, you’re simply delusional.
The warden has worked with pHaste properly for a long time. It was only broken this patch when they changed how it attacks/chases.
I tested warden today, it still doesn’t work.
One thing I found is that, having the torch, I can drop deceptive decoy. It allows for that much needed target dropping once I’ve run my mimic/glamors. Because of that I can run Mimic, Blink, Feedback. Blink is great for that much needed stun breaker, and also to eject you from a sticky situation. Since the build is light on condition removal, anytime I’ve eaten a huge stack of condi’s I can’t clear, I can simply 1200 range blink directly to my commander who’s standing on his next water field. Insta cleanse, insta heal.
In this way I’m finding myself staying in scepter/focus most of the time, aa’ing + 2/3, placing iwardens, and pulling for interrupts (mimc/feedback of course). Then when the kitten hits the fan, weapon swap, torch 4, heal up and reposition.
The other advantage to torch is image has a bounce, and the projectile is retal. Which is just bonus damage.
Post-patch, I plan to run feedback, mantra of concentration, and mimic. With the mantra, I’ll spend my adept dueling trait on mantra mastery.
The issue with retaliatory shield is that it takes up the slot of much better traits. Since you’re using a phantasm build, you should have phantasmal fury traited, and then either sword or pistol traited. All 3 choices are much better than retaliatory shield.
As far as DE goes, I never take it in a phantasm build, for similar reasons. You don’t need it, and it takes the slot of vital traits for a phantasm build.
The issue I see with the signet in a healing build is that the more healing power you have, the bigger the gap becomes between ether feast and the signet…especially since they fixed the ether feast bug.
Another issue is that the signet ties your healing to how many illusions you have over a long period of time. With ether feast, it’s very straightforward to push out 3 illusions then heal, but with the signet it’s a passive check every three seconds. Since the 1 and 2 illusion ticks both have a significantly lower base heal and a significantly lower healing power scaling, uncontrollable events where you happen to tick with 2 instead of 3 will ultimately very negatively impact your total healing.
I might try it in a healing bunker build, since pushing out defenders and disenchanters would be very nice, but overall I don’t think it’s good enough to sacrifice so muh healing.
Looks good! CI is amazing trait with some +condi duration.
Have you thought of dropping Duelist’s Discipline for Phantasmal Fury? It’s quite a damage boost.
I heard somewhere Alissah mentioned that it only affected 1 phantasm?
Phantasml fury affects all phantasms.
@pyro
Do Consecutive hits really increase the burn duration? I tested it in pvp and somehow all it does is reset the burn timer. Maybe its just me.
It’s very easy to see this with a multi-hit attack such as blurred frenzy or pistolwhip.
I remain mystified at how people manage to find these threads to necro. The forum search doesn’t even work kitten .
@Ansau: I’ve been considering the use of torch for many of the same reasons.
@Blackdevil: A variation of this could definitely work well as a commander build, since it doesn’t rely so much on the high Mesmer mobility to make it work, easier to follow in that way.
@Keenlam: Ansau is correct in that. With regards to signet of might, warriors really don’t have room to run that in builds. Perhaps with the new heal skill you might see some, but I honestly doubt it.
@Pichichi: The point of the burning is not just for frontline, but also backline. Eles with ground target skills, rangers with barrage, necros with (untraited) marks, all of these will get hit with the burning, since there is no maximum range or LoS requirement. Hitting the frontline with burns is just an added bonus.
Contrary to your statement, glamours used properly can still have quite significant effects. 400ish damage per skill use on an entire Zerg at the moment of engagement is a significant effect, especially when you consider the additional reflection that feedback provides.
I have been taking Mantra of Concentration, and it’s been working rather nicely. I definitely was feeling the lack of stunbreaks, so that mantra very nicely fills the gap, and the aoe stab is a bonus.
Another benefit is from debilitating dissipation. When the frontline engages on your dodge clones, they get hit with cripple and weakness, along with bleeding and vuln, but those are secondary. Although both conditions may get cleared quickly, they still significantly hamper the effectiveness of the frontline at the moment of engagement.
@StickerHappy: Keenlam is correct. For example, if a mesmer comes up and blurred frenzies you, he will have 8s of burning.
@Bunda: Confusing enchantments really lets me spread massive amounts of confusion if used correctly. Dropping feedback/nullfield into a choke or other areas that the enemy is moving in a tightly packed blob allows you to really gum up the works, as it were. That opportunity doesn’t exist without that trait.
The choice of iDischanter and Phantasmal Haste in a shatter buid is most intriguing. I’d love to see how it plays out.
Well, with IC, the iDisenchanter is on a 16 second cooldown, so it can get summoned very rapidly.
Additionally, with pHaste, the iDisenchanter attacks once every 3.8 seconds, which is rather rapid.
Reserved for future edits.
This build is designed for large group combat situations. It is extremely durable, and when used properly will guarantee massive amounts of bags.
Also, credit goes to Ross Biddle for the central idea of this build.
Traiting
The traits are 20/x/10/x/x. Those are pretty vague, and I’ll explain why in a minute.
The build that I personally use is found here
The only essential traits in this build are Confusing Enchantments, causing glamours to confuse, and Master of Manipulation, reducing the cooldown on your manipulations by 20%.
I additionally take crippling dissipation due to a lack of other good choices in domination. I take staff cooldowns for shorter phase retreats and chaos storms, and bountiful interruption for good boosts of might when I use chaos storm and temporal curtain. In dueling I take mantra cooldowns for much higher uptime on stability, and in inspiration I take glamour cooldowns to allow me to reach lower cooldown on veil/feedback/portal.
Weapons
Like the traits, the weapon selection for this build is very flexible. I personally tend to take Staff + Sword/Focus. The staff allows me to be highly mobile in larger fights, and chaos storm combined with the temporal curtain pull is great for aoe disruption. The sword also contributes to mobility with leap/swap, as well as adding a nice lockdown for hammer stuns with the swap immob. Blurred frenzy and sword autos are fantastic for adding pressure in a specific spot, and blurred frenzy is of course great defense.
Gearing Stats and Runes
I use full dire gear for maximum survivability. Rabid gear could also work.
The runes used are 6 runes of the guardian. These runes provide additional defense in the form of toughness, but most importantly the 6 rune bonus applies 1 second of burning on block, no internal cooldown, no maximum range (that I can tell) and no LoS requirement.
Utilities
The utilities are what makes this build work. The 2 utilities I never remove are Mantra of Concentration and Mimic. The third utility I take is usually Veil for group utility, but I’ll swap that out for feedback or portal as the situation demands.
Using the Build
The role of this build is aoe condition spreading combined with front line tanky assault. The real key to this build is Mimic.
Mimic has a 4.5 second long channel. If you get hit by a projectile during that channel, the skill activates. Once active, for the duration of the channel you will reflect all projectiles and block all other attacks (unblockable attacks will get through obviously, but unblockable projectiles like mirror blade will still activate the skill).
Due to the Guardian Runes, every block translates into 1 second of burning (+duration) on the source of whatever attack you blocked. Additionally, this 4.5 second blocking shield makes you more or less an unkillable tank, allowing you to easily wade through an enemy group without taking significant damage. Using feedback and/or nullfield as any other glamour build would allows you to increase your condition spread as well as deny projectiles through a choke or other area. Mantra of concentration allows you to ignore unblockable line denial skills such as line of warding or static field.
Once mimic is done, you can go into a general damage rotation of chaos storm, swap to sword for aoe bleeds from geomancy, and then sword attacks.
Traited for cooldowns, both the mantra and mimic are on 20 second cooldowns, which is incredibly short. Many fights will last long enough for multiple uses of mimic.
Vulnerabilities of the Build
If you don’t happen to absorb a projectile with mimic before wading into a zergball, you will die rapidly. A good way to ensure you die is dropping feedback, then walking through it with mimic up. Don’t do that. I guarantee that you will try it, and then die.
Ways to enhance your chances of getting hit with a projectile include:
- Leading the charge
- If you are up front, you are first targeted, and likely to be hit
- Proccing it yourself
- Walking close to a target and using the staff autoattack produces a friendly bouncing projectile that will be absorbed by mimic. This eliminates the guesswork and guarantees a good run
- Mirror blade will also have this effect
I’m currently working to get some good footage of this build in action. It’s been working tremendously well now that I’ve been running with a more organized group.
Potential Modifications
I’m considering swapping out some of my dire gear for Pvt. Since the only real use for my condition damage is aoe tagging with the burning, I don’t necessarily need the full 1900+ condition damage that I reach with a stacked sigil and guard leech. I’ll experiment more with this in the future.
(edited by Pyroatheist.9031)
@MrSilver: The weapon sigil adds 5% critical chance. Not precision. Now, the stacking perception sigil actually increases your precision, so that boost will transfer.
@Xavi: Make sure you keep your terminology accurate.
Phantasms inherit Critical Damage. The Scholar rune 6 piece bonus is not critical damage, but flat damage, simply a straight % increase to damage. Phantasms will not inherit that bonus. As for the Rage runes bonus, phantasms don’t have your runes. They inherit only the stats the runes provide, so they of course won’t get the extra 5% critical damage while under the effects of fury.
Thanks again.
So I assume that phantasms do benefit from the crit damage % increases from divinity, and traveler runes, as well as from orbs applied to armor.
That’s correct.
Seems impossible to get good at PVP in this game until you know all the classes…
Sounds about right. How can you counter something if you don’t know what it is?
Having an in-depth understanding of every class you face is absolutely necessary to be effective at PvP.
@MrSilver: The weapon sigil adds 5% critical chance. Not precision. Now, the stacking perception sigil actually increases your precision, so that boost will transfer.
@Xavi: Make sure you keep your terminology accurate.
Phantasms inherit Critical Damage. The Scholar rune 6 piece bonus is not critical damage, but flat damage, simply a straight % increase to damage. Phantasms will not inherit that bonus. As for the Rage runes bonus, phantasms don’t have your runes. They inherit only the stats the runes provide, so they of course won’t get the extra 5% critical damage while under the effects of fury.
Mainly the disenchanter is all you need to deal with condition necros. Get one up and you’ll be untouchable.
For a power necro/minionmancer you need to be careful. If you don’t realize what they’re running quick enough, you’ll be dead before you can react. Minionmancers rely on spike damage following an immobilize, so hold some strong defense for when you get hit with that. Power necros spec for death shroud damage, so be wary of getting bursted down when they enter it. You can use projectile reflects to reflect the life blasts, or just dodge/block them.
@MrSilver: Phantasms inherit your basic stats with the exception of vitality.
This means they inherit your precision, but not your crit chance. Fury on the Mesmer will have no effect on the phantasm, but something boosting precision will transfer.
Likewise, phantasms have their own secondary stats, but not primary. Might on the Mesmer will increase phantasm damage, but might on the phantasm does nothing, and fury on the phantasm will increase its critical chance.
Just plz give mimic Stability for it’s Duration. I will be very happy!
That would be hella op. You can always combo the mantra with it.
For the life of me I can’t think of many situations where in it’s current form it’s all that great to pick over Temporal Curtain or Feedback or a build that’d really maximize it’s effectiveness beyond the retaliation from Immortal builds. The concept of a 4s invuln sounds great on paper but you’re stuck channeling it in a way that makes it seem like a more cumbersome warrior’s shield
Mimic gets its strength from an incredibly low cooldown and a dual functionality. Using the skill basically turns you into a mobile shield for 4.5 seconds every 20 (if traited). You reflect all projectiles, you block everything else. It’s the single most incredible defensive skill that mesmers have, and it can produce some impressive results when used properly.
Edit: Look at it this way. Warrior shield stance lasts 3 seconds on a 30 second untraited cooldown. Mimic lasts 4.5 seconds on a 25 second cooldown, and additionally reflects projectiles as an inherent part of the skill. The trait to bring it to a 20 second cooldown occupies only an adept slot as well. I haven’t heard any warriors complaining about how shield stance isn’t very good…
(edited by Pyroatheist.9031)
Nope. Just gonna go ahead and say that. Mimic is one of our most underused, yet incredibly powerful utilities given the right mindset and creativeness. Changing it would be unfortunate.
I approve fixing it with regards to the boss exploit in FoTM, but as far as I’m concerned, Jon has no clue when it comes to balance, and that certainly extends to this skill.
Holy necro. No I didn’t read your wall of text in an ancient thread about a different topic.
How did you even find this thread?! Periods and spaces and paragraph breaks are your friend! Bullets and numbered lists don’t bite either >_<.
Really? Another shortbow person? Or are you the same guy from months ago that kept going on about a shortbow?