Guild Wars 2

Ok, here is a screeny of my stats. Quick overview:

• 30% crit chance
• 2836 armor
• 1676 Condition Damage with 0 stacks on the sigil and no Signet of Domination
• 30% boon duration
• 60% condition duration
• 18.8k hp

Take a look at the build list stickied in this forum. Videos and builds from that list should be effective, whether or not they are 6 months old.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

So how much extra damage are you doing with that extra 430 Condition damage? for me 101 Condition damage adds a mere 36 damage to a 7.75 second duration bleed. So tthat 400 Condition damage adds a mere 144 bleed damage, Now i know conditions stack and everything but do you really see that much difference when fighting with 2,100 condition damage then you would 1670?

what are your Traits and other stats like? Personally i think i would rather have the Condition damage reduced and add something elsewhere. How long is your condition duration?

Additional damage is going to be determined per second, per stack.

430 ConD
Bleed: 21.5 additional damage per stack per second
Burn: 107.5 additional damage per second
Poison: 43 additional damage per second
Torment: 16.125 additional damage per stack per second on a stationary target, 32.25 additional damage per stack per second on a moving target

These numbers get real big real fast considering how they are all calculated per second, and per stack with torment and bleed. With the scepter torment, it adds 161.25 damage per second on a moving target. Over the 10 seconds or so of duration, that’s an additional 1.6k damage.

skcamow.3527:

@Pyro, just curious, is this in reference to the glamour support build or another you’re running?

This is a variant on a PU build, for smaller skirmishes. The glamour support build comes in around 1.1k condition damage iirc. The condition damage for that build is more of an accessory to everything else, hence the very low value.

Remember, 2100 is with 25 stacked sigil and signet of domination. With no stacks and no signet, I’ll be around 1670, this is without a traited scepter. I do have full ascended.

As far as my other stats go, I have 60% duration with food, around 17k hp iirc, and I believe over 3k armor, or at least very close, with a crit chance around 30 I think. These are not exact though, purely from memory.
Full undead runes and the 25 point minor in chaos help significantly.

Condition duration is not hugely helpful at a certain point, especially with the scepter torment. The duration is so long as a base value that the likelihood of it being cleansed is massive, so your points are much better spent getting more pain per second.

Sweet spot for condition damage is as high as possible. 1.1k is really low. When I run my condition build in wvw (no points in illusions) I hit 2100 condition damage when my sigil is fully stacked and with signet of domination, but no might.

Solstice.1097:

i must admit i am newb to mesmer and i dont know hte difference between phantasms/clones/illusions I am not after a lot of dPS but I would like to have a good AoE damage burst available. I will check out the links you guys posted thank you so much so for the input so far!

If you’re that new to Mesmer, then you need to play a bit before starting to worry about builds and strategies. Play the class, level up a bit, figure out the basic mechanics, and then you can start figuring out your build.

Clones dissipating from their targets dying will proc on-deaths, but are no longer available to be shattered. In some odd circumstances with a target stealthing then running out of range, illusions will lose their target and stand around waiting for a new target to latch on to. While they are standing around, you can use all shatters, though only distortion will really have an effect.

@djtool: My irritation with this particular poster stems from his various posts over the past month. Take a look at his post history for a more complete idea.

@OP: I don’t run shatter builds, just a heads-up. That’s Osi’s specialty.

takatsu.9416:

/laugh ? XD haha whats better than laughing at them (with them for the emote but does the job)

Generally to avoid that problem I’ll do the following:

/point @ (you point at target)
/laugh (you laugh)

themenaceofseventhdimension.2075:

So guyz I really need for you to come and fight me tomorrow. I need to show you the power of this build. Please come to Heart of the Mists at around noon tomorrow. I shall be glad to challenge you.

I’m camping for this week, but when I get home I’ll gladly show you the same dirt I’ve shown every other arrogant person who thought to make this challenge to me.

Edit: Except theCOREYCOLAK, though he wasn’t arrogant like you and is actually an extremely skilled player.

Xovian.8572:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Phantasmal Haste

• This trait does not affect the iSwordsman or the iMariner

Should also include iDuelist.

Pretty much the rule of thumb with single handed weapons: You can not reduce cooldowns by more then one cooldown trait. No matter what type of combinations you use. Tends to make quite a number of the limited amount of traits per skill set useless.

I will test the iDuelist when I get back home. As far as the second part of your post goes, you are 100% incorrect.

The scepter auto attack chain is complete garbage. It is absurdly slow, gets slower with range, and produces completely useless clones that do nothing.

Confusing images is also bad, as it is excruciatingly slow and obvious.

The iMage is an incredibly bad skill, one of the worst in the game.

These three things need to be changed and improved.

In general though, Mesmer condition builds suffer from a lack of direct condition pressure. The vast majority of our condition pressure relies on indirect means of application: clone deaths and the scepter block. While sharper images and staff clones do help, by themselves the condition pressure is very low. I do enjoy clone death play, and it works exceedingly well in small areas, but in more mobile fights such as almost anything in wvw, the potential condition pressure you can apply drops precipitously.

As a rule of thumb, the orrian truffle meat stew is not a good choice. You should be keeping vigor up permanently with the 5 point minor in dueling, and that caused the truffle meat stew to have no effect.

I think the issue of speed has been covered.

Regarding condition cleansing, if properly specced, a Mesmer can outcleanse pretty much anything. Phantasmal disenchanter is our single strongest condition remover, removing 2 conditions every 4 seconds with the side benefit of ripping as many boons. Mantra of resolve is another extremely strong condition cleanse, removing 2 conditions per charge for a total of 4 every 20 seconds. You can also trait mender’s purity to remove conditions on heal, and combine that with the heal mantra for double tap on removal.

Mesmer has fantastic condition removal, but it doesn’t happen by accident, you have to go and get it.

For tagging, take greatsword + sword/focus. Between skillfull application of the iZerker, iWarden, greatsword auto attacks (which are aoe) and then getting close for cleaving sword autos and blurred frenzy, you should be able to easily tag everything. Use the fact that you can spawn a phantasm in one spot and attack in another spot to cover multiple areas at once.

What sort of rework could make this into a useful skill? Post your ideas in this thread. The only sort of common theme I’d like to see is keeping the iMage as a condition phantasm. Whether this means utility conditions such as cripple and chill, or damaging conditions such as burning and torment, keep it condition based.

Goose.5196:

Oh yeah, and she has a move that will make all of your skills go into recharge continuously, just wait for the AoE and dodge. Dodging gets rid of it. Make sure you get the Buff from the Hoelbrak chick.

Decent guide. Using blurred inscriptions is an interesting idea, albeit less effective (in my opinion) than taking the condition removal mantra to keep clean of conditions in the second phase.

The effect you are noticing in the quoted section of your guide is actually an odd interaction between liadri’s attacks and reflection. You mentioned that you are using mirror, and that reflects. What happens is that when she jumps on you and spins, something about that allows you to reflect it, and reflecting it somehow forces you to use the attack yourself. Dodging, as always, breaks a channeled attack, and I think that is what you are noticing.

Retaliation is available in massive amounts to Mesmer, more so than any other class including guardians.

The adept major trait in illusions ‘confusing cry’ provides 5 seconds of retaliation per illusion shattered when using cry of frustration. With a bit of boon duration, this alone can provide 100% uptime.

Using illusionary leap and illusionary swap on top of temporal curtain can provide about 14 seconds of retaliation. With a bit of boon duration, this alone can provide nearly 100% uptime.

Chaos storm provides usually about 10 seconds of retaliation.

Using phase retreat after leap/swap provides another 7 or so seconds.

Between all of these ways, if you aren’t able to keep 100% uptime, you’re doing it wrong.

As an aside, the warden whirl combo on the temporal curtain light field is ‘cleansing bolts.’ These remove conditions, they don’t apply retaliation. Only blast and leap finishers apply retaliation.

colesy.8490:

He wants to know what the best build is, I tell him the best build.

/thread?

No, he didn’t ask that at all. He asked what the best build for survivability was, not the meta build or the build to do the best damage.

I imagine he is looking for a safe build that will allow him to contribute to his team with damage and utility while still allowing for enough leeway to make mistakes without getting squashed like a bug.

The Baws.5164:

Yeahhh

I love Mesmer lol and I was worried it would be bad with my Thief friend. Time to go level mine xD

Oh and one more quick thing, are they wanted for Arah/FotM much? I would play Guardian but they are soooo face-roll boring that I find Mesmer is way more fun.

Mesmer is more or less required for a fast and smooth Arah run. Fractals are pretty much the same.

Run 10/30/0/30/0. Take sword/sword and sword/torch. Go full phantasm damage. Spawn swordsmen, run in circles.

Yata.8932:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Ok, new question. You don’t appear to be wearing TA armor. Did you get your armor set fully from TA and then transmute it to something else +put in new runes?

I’m wearing Whispers armor with TA stats and runes of the mesmer, but I transmuted it like a year ago lol and it’s not from me being hit. Also, it’s not a problem with the rune of perplexity, cause i don’t have those yet.

Ahah, so here’s the deal. When you use an armor set that originally had runes come with it, like any of the dungeon sets, those runes seem to be somehow hardcoded into the armor. Your clones will get some of the bonuses of the original armor set, but not yourself. In this case, your clones are displaying the on-being-hit fear proc.

Ok, new question. You don’t appear to be wearing TA armor. Did you get your armor set fully from TA and then transmute it to something else +put in new runes?

Do you have full nightmare runes?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Pyroatheist.9031:

……

And, that being said, I fully believe that using shatter builds in anything other than open world PvE is a huge mistake.

Osicat and several PvP Mesmer are waiting for you on in an alley a dark night.

--. I meant in any PvE content other than open world PvE --

@colesy: The greatsword is useful for moving mobs around with illusionary wave if you’re good with it. You can start with mirror blade and phantasmal berserker for a good spike + aoe + might stacking + vulnerability stacking + cripple at the beginning of a fight.

MysticHLE.7160:

Not sure if this has been observed before…but staff clones’ Winds of Chaos does not apply burning – only vulnerability and bleed.

This is not correct, try testing a bit more.

Lord Jim.3971:

Pyroatheist.9031:

As a general statement, 10/30 is sub-optimal compared to 20/20 due to the fact that you’re going to have a useless trait floating around in dueling. 20/20 allows you to make use of all your major traits.

I was under the impression that Brazil disapproved of GS (ranging seems to be a rather large no no in speed clearing) and as he is not shattering the 20 in domination doesn’t provide a useful trait, there is of course still a useless trait in 10/30 but the question is does 20/20 provide more damage output than 10/30 or any other combination that has the 10/20/0/25/0 base.

Edit also if you are running sword/focus and sword/pistol then 30 in dueling isn’t useless which Brazil seems to suggest its something he would rather do than use GS. Exact quote being “I don’t have need for ranged weapons apart from Dredge and Volcanic end bosses [last bit paraphrased]”

Greatsword is important for the iZerker mostly. It provides a large amount of aoe potential when used properly. Combined with the iWarden, a mesmer can output very strong aoe pressure.

As a general statement, 10/30 is sub-optimal compared to 20/20 due to the fact that you’re going to have a useless trait floating around in dueling. 20/20 allows you to make use of all your major traits.

That being said, I still often run 10/10/0/30/20 in fractals to pick up phantasmal haste for my wardens. Having the high output reflects is incredibly important in several fractals, and so I take phantasmal haste out of necessity.

And, that being said, I fully believe that using shatter builds in anything other than open world PvE is a huge mistake. You can use them, but by doing so you abandon sustained damage and utility, which makes for an objectively worse experience.

There’s no 1 best build. There are definitely bad builds.

Lithril Ashwalker.6230:

I do believe in general Nemesis was looking for more of criticism for the build he made…DPS and damage, not necessarily for “utility/support”. Regardless of what people seek in dungeon runs/fractal runs or anything, the build he made has its own role, and I can personally see this being useful in many situations without the “utility”; a Backline Laser if you will… If you guys want a support build, I’m quite sure he can make a build for it as well that still does pretty well and then contribute criticism there instead based on what’s needed. However if this is “damage build” post on that instead…

Everyone should have the ability to share/post even play the way they want without the say so of “whats meta”. If theres a role in it, its worth it.

I guarantee you, nemesis was not looking for criticism of his build. He received an awful lot of criticism, but he definitely didn’t want it.

Supertramp.5430:

but will confusion be any good at all in dungeons? I feel like when I’m out in the open fighting random mobs I do kitten damage with my condition/confusion build. Compared to if I’d run a phantasm or shatter build that is.

Confusion is completely useless in 99% of all PvE combat.

Depends on how you define viable. You can run pretty much anything in PvE and do fine, just because PvE is so easy. Unfortunately, there are no mesmer condition builds that can provide the same support, utility, and damage as a normal phantasm power build. I’ve tried very hard to get a few to work, but they just end up subpar always.

DuckDuckBOOM.4097:

The space shows up because a youtube video is supposed to be there. However, it doesn’t show up for all browsers/settings.

Amazing video. You need to release a guide of all the blink spots you found with far reaching manipulations. Or maybe don’t, they will all get nerfed.

I believe he has. That video should be linked in our next podcast.

Hexxen.7216:

Don’t count on it. I have tried the final darkness lady 30times and 25 times have been glitched with either an extra freakn enemy like the first guy. or with left over attacks like tornados or fire from the asura. Hell i even had the bombs from the rifle guy once. I am done with it for a week until maybe the FPS gets better once people get sick of zerging under you or they patch the freakn glitches. Anet loves to put out temp content with massive glitches though so I am not holding my breath.

That’s incredible. I’ve only had that problem happen once to me. You must have gotten crazy unlucky. Try finding arenas with less people maybe?

I’ve explained entirely clearly. Your continued refusal to understand the concept is either willfull ignorance or incredible ….yeah. As an aside, your build is rather unfocused, the traits and weapons don’t really support the shatter play style. The point of using double MH sword is to provide for the use of two offhands, but to make up for the lack of 2 full skill sets, you need both offhands traited, which you don’t. It’s not a good build, and certainly not worth being considered with the normal shattercat builds.

I don’t think you understand. Osi*cat*. That is why he calls his builds ’shatter*cat*’ builds. Additionally, you are worrying far too much about build ownership and far too little about making a good build.

Ballantine.9645:

The tooltip for Null Field lists its duration as 7 seconds but the field clearly only lasts 3.5-4 seconds. The cooldown is 40 seconds and the field disappears when the counter is at 36.

That’s listed already.

Just for the record, you don’t seem to understand what the shattercat build means. Shattercat = shatter build made by Osicat. All of the shattercat variations are his. If someone else makes a build, it is not a shattercat variation because Osi didn’t make it -_-.

Sorry, this has been bugging me with your continued posting of subpar shatter builds tagged kittentercats.

@Shinigami Curse: The projectile combo finisher through a light field removes conditions from any allies that are in the path of the projectile. It does not remove conditions from the generator of the projectiles.

@Osi: I have used veil before. I just can’t bring myself to keep it. The issue is the massive cooldown. While the target drop is nice, and now the potential condition removal, you only get it once every 90 seconds, or 72 seconds if I trait the glamours. I’ll get significantly more usage out of the condition removal mantra, iDisenchanter, blink, feedback, pretty much anything else just because of the cooldown disparity.

@avanopstall: Not sure if you completely read the op, but I put this build up really just as a silly dueling build. I don’t generally run this in competitive pvp, although it can be a decent far point attacker. However, the current build I run is 10/30/0/30/0, taking signet of illusions, decoy, and mass invisibility. I’ll switch out my inspiration traits and my heal/last utility depending on what I’m about to fight. I’ll take iDisenchanter or the mantra of resolve and the mantra heal with menders purity (I always take mender’s purity) against a condition class. If I have 2 mantras, I’ll probably take restorative mantras, otherwise I’ll take compounding celerity since swiftness is in short supply with this build.

kodesh.2851:

Krispera.5087:

Phantasm build is good for point holding. iDesenchanter, iDefender, Signet of Illusion with Dwayna or Water runes.

^
We’re not the most effective back bunker, but Dwanya runes with a good Phant build helps a lot.

I haven’t tried this, but thinking something with 30 in inspiration and at least 25 in illusions for the cooldowns, then the rest in chaos probably, taking defender, illusion sig, and disenchanter, with the focus traited and water runes (not Dwayna, you’ve already got permanent regen). You could potentially just bunker with the 3 phantasms warden, defender, and disenchanter for defense, condition removal, and condition removal, projectile defense. You might even take restorative mantras and the healing mantra.

I’ll try this out, if it works I might put up a guide.

Mek.2947:

Think I should keep my spec the same then and not worry about the extra bounce with illusionary elasticity?

That’s correct. Double of an ignorable amount of damage is still ignorable.

avanopstall.3726:

I gave this build a try not realizing it was 4 months old >< . I’m looking to transition to a phantasm build from my previous shatter build.

I saw the video wookie posted and it got me going. Playing around with this build, I ended up with the following:

20 – skill 3, 10
25 – skill 2, 9
0
25 – skill 4, 5
0

I use GS and SW/Pistol with mainly berzerker gear. I generally open with GS2, 3, izerker – switch to sw/p and use magic bullet, summon iduelist, feedback, sword2, switch places and use blade flurry, rinse ’n repeat.

Seems pretty effective so far (PVE and PVP). I like the idea of having phantasms up at all times chewing away at any opponent as I juke in and out when needed for extra burst.

Any suggestions based on this information? I love this play style and strive to get really good at it!

Thanks!

That’s a reasonable phantasm build, but very different from mine. The greatsword is a highly offensive weapon, but it suffers from a lack of defense.

Using feedback for the duelist hits is a waste of feedback. This isn’t a condition damage build, don’t waste your time stacking confusion.

The build you have there will work fine in pve. My build here is not designed for pve of any type, it lacks aoe and utility for it. Your build will also work ok in pvp, but you will have significantly lower defense along with potentially lower damage, as swordsmen will outdamage zerkers.

Full zerk staff is all about the phantasm. The warlock can do incredible damage under the right conditions, literally. It scales 10% damage per unique condition on the target. This also means that in a situation with less conditions, the warlocks will do rather low damage. You’ll want to have a staff with you to swap on when you know the condition load will be high, but not necessarily use it always.

Insofar as a back point holder goes, there are quite a few various dueling builds that will work quite fine to eliminate anyone that comes to take it. The main issue comes with multiple people. A glassy build won’t cut it in a 1v2 where you need to restrict your mobility by staying on the point. There really aren’t any builds that will allow you to effectively bunker a point in a 1v2.

Hexxen.7216:

Is that a bug or intended? I have a feeling is a bug but such an amazingly useful bug that no one would report it. HAHAHAH

Not a bug. Feedback is not a shell, it simply creates a region where all enemy projectiles are reflected.

Here is the exact build I used to defeat liadri. I didn’t use mantra heals and swapped out the mantra of restoration for the signet of illusions for all of the other bosses, along with sometimes using a phantasmal disenchanter and other minor trait changes, and that build mowed through every boss with minor difficulty.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAsdRl4zqqHSzoGb9IxpHQf5OnkCVn6SK49tB-jgyAo8AitgIIAEFICEYyrIas1sioxqsxUuDRV9CLDAzCA-e

Baa is correct about the functionality of feedback, however the OP’s point about glamour skills is absurdly foolish.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Pyroatheist.9031:

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Has anyone tested the torment runeset? There is no stated ICD on the 6slot bonus, so I’d love to know what it really is.

Dont think it would really matter, having it tied to a Heal kind of makes it worthless in my opinion. 2 Stacks isnt that great and even worse when its tied to a Healing skill. I think it would have made more sense to make it so that the Confusion one is based on healing yourself and the Torment is when you damage someone.

One word: Mantra

Meh, the Mantra heal is pretty rubbish though. The Heal is tiny unless you take healing stats its like 2,500 per a cast, unless you take the extra cast on mantra trait i dont think it would be worthwhile for 2stacks of torment.

You’re completely wrong about that. I don’t really feel like digging up the analysis now, but the numbers have been crunched before.

ArmageddonAsh.6430:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Has anyone tested the torment runeset? There is no stated ICD on the 6slot bonus, so I’d love to know what it really is.

Dont think it would really matter, having it tied to a Heal kind of makes it worthless in my opinion. 2 Stacks isnt that great and even worse when its tied to a Healing skill. I think it would have made more sense to make it so that the Confusion one is based on healing yourself and the Torment is when you damage someone.

One word: Mantra

Has anyone tested the torment runeset? There is no stated ICD on the 6slot bonus, so I’d love to know what it really is.

It’s not fixed.