Guild Wars 2

Goaticus.2409:

Hey there, awesome video, makes me want to hop back on my Mes But in my technological ineptitude I am unable to find this banner that you mention contains the build… Would you be so kind as to point me in the right direction? Thanks a bunch, keep up the great vids!

It’s in the “About” section on his channel.

The Primary.6371:

Seems like this youtube vid is blocked for “copyright” reasons….. lol….

Dropped the wrong link, was meant to be

I actually went and my setup togeather and ran it over breakfast before running off to work. So here’s a quick vid of a couple fights.

The 1200 range manips is a huge tradeoff, but considering the stealth options under PU, with 900 blink and 6s phase retreat, the tradeoff isnt as impacting as it might otherwise be. CD traited manips means Arcane Thievery isnt a terrible choice for your condi remove, which is also very powerful if you do come to face another condi build. That said, from stealth during a withdrawl you will be able to very easily strip swiftness off targets, leaving them slower, and giving you a burst of speed. It’s not as strong condi clear as the mantra, but with the DIRE + Inspiration vitality you’ve got A LOT more hp’s in play to simply soak up condi damage anyway.

Anyway here’s a vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIfVyOBAK2E&feature=youtu.be

Here is how to improve this build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW7flknpRtlpxNNcrNCwBZ6EEhAcqJg6XMjLC-TFyCABAcQAq4CAAouhl3fwT1fSUJYWK/k4JAQKAYWDA-w

Runes and utils are always debatable. Either way, sustain goes WAY up and we’re dumping all that unnecessary crit without loosing out the only thing its good for, which is prime vigor regen. Now you have the breathing room to set up nastier condi bursts thanks to that huge hp pool, and your condi damage is fully tricked out. Also scepter for torment + confusion is just going to beat out the sword. I know the BF is great to eat up those ranger pew pew’s, but you’ve got other ways to mitigate those.

BlackDevil.9268:

Ross Biddle.2367:

BlackDevil.9268:

Other than that, nice job on spamming your phantasm on people who are not aware of you.

Smart play’s a smart play.

No that’s just facerolling your keyboard on people who just installed the game. If that’s your meaning of smart then the build surely fits you.

Rofl, oh BD, you’re so funny.

BlackDevil.9268:

Other than that, nice job on spamming your phantasm on people who are not aware of you.

Smart play’s a smart play.

I think the thing you have to be willing to give up if you don’t run DE is assured 3 clone shatters. Not that you can’t do them but it’s just so much more consuming of time, effort, and the planets aligning that you just have to let it be. It’s just not practical.

The other thing is it requires a different trait setup, so 3 in Illusions, and appropriate weapon CD’s on top of that.

MailMail.6534:

Omg you even gave BlackDevil a shout out! Maybe this is the start of friendship.

Great gameplay as usual, Ross. Love your build.

I love making friends

StickerHappy.8052:

Ahm ross do you intentionally activate counterspell or just a mannerism from sword 4? Must be from sheer excitement haha

If I know the block channel will go to waste, I’ll throw it out. If the target is a mesmer in particular I’ll hope to catch a phant summon (which will come even if they’re faced away from you). If I’m going to weapon swap I might throw it out quickly anyway to put it into play knowing it’ll be off cd when I come back around anyway. Its also great to land a blind on incoming melee leap skills as it puts the next second of play in my hands, which the counter after the block doesnt allow. Thieves are particularly notorious for this given that after they dive into melee range with you, they’ll start with the stabbastabba.

I’m never concerned with landing the torment, if that helps frame things a little more.

Fay.2357:

I cringe every time you heal for the centaur rune proc. Other than that, decent play.

Lol, it’s air runes and it’s never without consideration.

Like this? (3 mes, 2 eles, random team comp)

Same vid if first doesnt play (clean version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WPgKnd96os

Take whatever. If all else fails so long as you have 1 turret engie, you can have up to 4 scrub mesmers on your team and you’ll do fine. Am I right? Am I right? ;D

Shadelang.3012:

Sorel in all honestly there not that strong in 1v1 in reality. Its seriously a case of poor engagement. People are NOT taking the time to properly understand how the damage is being dealt to them, where its coming from, and how it can be avoided. There CHOOSING not to.

Time and again people have explained the capabilities of individual turrets and how they can be countered. Flame turret is extremely squishy. Rocket turret is also squishy and heavily relies on LOS to do damage. Its most dangerous attack is a high arcing rocket that can be blocked in any number of ways. Or reflected/destroyed. Thumper is the only true obnoxious turret and its probably the key turret of the engineer conquest build. So its meant to be.

YES its strong in 1v1 in its IDEAL circumstances. But then what build ISN’T?

The difference is that this build STARTS in its ideal circumstance and gets weaker over time. Where other builds have to create there ideal circumstance. Thats all.

Ok, you write a great post, the one caveat is you need to learn your ’there’s and ’their’s. “There” is where something is located “The engie placed his turrets over there”, if you’re referring to something that belongs to a person use “their”- “Other builds have to create their ideal circumstances”.

Now, back to explaining why turret engies are… whatever they are.

Milamberr.1705:

Thankyou for The Offspring.

Thankyou for not starting the video with a 25 minute role playing movie of your character.

Lol, you’re welcome.

Wanted to do up some new vids, and despite not being to play AT ALL lately, managed to pull out some good matches thanks to the long weekend

Given Blackdevils been hazing me hard lately I took his helpful, positive, constructive criticism and made sure to sharpen up a bit. So blackdevil gets a free shout out. I even made sure to properly train my thumb to the elite on my razer, just for you BD ;D

First match was vs a 2 thief, 2 mes, 1 necro, full power team. After the first two initial 1v3’s (whoops), things pick up. For those of you who havent seen it, I caught the distortion delay bug at 7:40- always when you need it most -_-u
Also had a crazy iLeap bug out on me at 9:40.
1:20 is the rupt train pulling into station, and a heart thumping minute of action for me.

Other two matches were just some good solid roaming deeps. Solid teams meant I could do my thang~
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RarDscuopqo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzafKAnwJbw

Oh, and some stupid shyte in amongst it all too if you want to nit pick BD, your kitten nal was getting a little dated. Notice how I expertly fail to retarget the war and start casting on an LoS’d ele. That ones on me, I know you love that sort of stuff ;D

Good times.

messiah.1908:

very bad play by me yesterday with wife talking kid crying and above all 2 sec lag for me)

Lo, been in this spot a lot.

messiah.1908:

i put out the vid to show the DMG not my or the enemy skill

See, devils in the details, and context is everything. Haters were so quick to scream “bias!”, all the while inserting their own bias into their knee jerk responses. It’s easy to judge, not so easy to judge soundly.

jportell.2197:

Basically if you are trying to fill a condi slot on a team, you are better off on an engi/necro plain and simple.

This is always the hard argument to get passed.

Of course power shatter mes can’t escape it either at the moment. Thief > Mes. GG.

To take your whole assessment into account, you’ve made a powerful argument for CI mes far over and above IP shatter. Solid damage, maximum interrupt play, great team fighter, boon strip, and of course portal. The last being the only thing anyone cares about anymore.

StickerHappy.8052:

Ross Biddle.2367:

MailMail.6534:

Not going to lie, while I always enjoy your videos, the enemies in them tend to not be… the best. lol I keep saying I’m going to learn how to do videos, and I keep procrastinating. Ross is going to force me one of these days!! But once I do, you guys will see MtD rekt good players.

I believe in you.

Of course if you rek the players they’re obviously bad, probably hot join daily pve scrub farmers or something. If they dodge once or twice MAYBE it’s their second time in a pvp match. I think the only way to prove yourself/your build around here is to post vids of yourself getting rekt. But then, wait a minute… how does this work again?….

Maybe, just maybe the effectiveness of a build and the player using it can be seen regardless of if the opponents faced does well against or not. Goods are obviously good, and bads are obviously bad, but I for one understand my ability at least to see effectiveness (or not) regardless of the particular performance of the opponents shown in any particular video. At least in so far as the claims of the demonstrater go (which lets be honest, have been nothing short of modest at best). If you lack the ability to do this I have to presume ignorance. There’s certainly a frivolous case of Tall Poppy Syndrome roaming this board at the moment. Ohwell, such is life. Best just get on and play.

Cut to the chase, so are the ones on the vid bad? Your post is too deep for me to understand. No sarcasm intended from me.

In that vid? Eh, mixed? I didn’t analyze it to closely. But come on Stickers, you know the answer to this. You’re a good PvP’r. But even on your best day you’ve missed a dodge, or gone out of your way to trial an experimental build. I’d bet money that you’ve even been hazed by teammates or enemies for being “bad” because of your performance under these circumstances. Really though it’s a case of kitten happens. Of course on daily Mesmer or Ranger day you can have pro players on alts they have almost no experience with, or are taking a fun kitten y setup to get the job done with a bit o’fun (kshot war, zerk staff ele, anyone?). Or you could have great players come up against great players that get caught out, outplayed, or hard countered by build/class because, again, kitten happens.

When any of this stuff is caught as footage its easy for people to simply stick up their nose, dust their shoulder, and call what they see caught on vids bad. It’s very easy to judge, it’s not as easy to judge soundly. Note the very general conclusions that were made when they were made.

As a side, it’s helpful to post entire match threads (or at least all successive encounters regardless of outcome) than straight up win montages. Unless you’re doing it for some reason like to demonstrate numbers, combos, or class matchups.

Pretty much until someone can produce a vid this isn’t happening.

Sometimes I might swear a hit or whatever has gone through a distortion or dodge, lag aside on vid I can see the hairline splits of seconds they’ve occurred between hitting f4 and taking a hit, or spawning a decoy clone which dies instantly in a quarter of a split second before I can hit f4, which I was relying on to be there for distortion only to be downed in the same cleave. I might even see the distortion icon go black with the press of f4 but not process on the release of the key cause the physical movement was to slow. It just gets that close of a shave you can’t tell.

Milamberr.1705:

The main difference between MtD and power shatter is the skill cap. If you are the best you can be with your mesmer game, then the power shatter is for you. Like most glassy full zerk builds it is only worth it if you can stay alive the majority of time to do the damage. If you are turning up everyday on your power shatter build and getting ruined and never learning then yes, its time to change your build and find something that you are more comfortable with.

The player once again is much more important than the build itself, that being said, if you prefer MtD, phantasms, mantras, PU or whatever, then that is the build for you.

Exactly. Though there’s much to be said between the crossover between play style, build choice, and what’s achievable with that combination. Usual case in point is the ability to stand on point vs not. With long reaching ramifications.

MailMail.6534:

Not going to lie, while I always enjoy your videos, the enemies in them tend to not be… the best. lol I keep saying I’m going to learn how to do videos, and I keep procrastinating. Ross is going to force me one of these days!! But once I do, you guys will see MtD rekt good players.

I believe in you.

Of course if you rek the players they’re obviously bad, probably hot join daily pve scrub farmers or something. If they dodge once or twice MAYBE it’s their second time in a pvp match. I think the only way to prove yourself/your build around here is to post vids of yourself getting rekt. But then, wait a minute… how does this work again?….

Maybe, just maybe the effectiveness of a build and the player using it can be seen regardless of if the opponents faced does well against or not. Goods are obviously good, and bads are obviously bad, but I for one understand my ability at least to see effectiveness (or not) regardless of the particular performance of the opponents shown in any particular video. At least in so far as the claims of the demonstrater go (which lets be honest, have been nothing short of modest at best). If you lack the ability to do this I have to presume ignorance. There’s certainly a frivolous case of Tall Poppy Syndrome roaming this board at the moment. Ohwell, such is life. Best just get on and play.

skcamow.3527:

Good to see others playing with 0/0/6/4/4.

OP, unfortunately disruptor’s sustainment is an incredibly weak trait that pales in comparison to the other grand master offerings in the chaos line, and even some master offerings. Running CI or BI with chaotic dampening would be more useful. Even so, CI goes under utilized if you have limited interrupt sources.

I’ve also played a 0/0/6/4/4 spread for about 3 months in PvP. The trait spread is really quite versatile; you can do quite a few different things from bunker to bruiser.

Personally I play a reflect heavy bruiser support variant with celestial. It’s good enough to defeat most builds out there 1v1 and 1v2 is possible for 20-30 seconds for help to arrive (I’ve won a few 1v2’s, but bad players). The strengths are reflects, blinds, passive AoE healing and point control with focus pull. Damage is extremely deceptive due to the large potential might stacking, which is very probable in any team fight. The only glaring weakness is bunker builds/turret engis. This build, like Ross’s variant is designed to be on on point and you very much feel like you’re the anchor on point.

I’ve had a good player help me run it through the paces over the course of a couple months. We’ve tried countless rune/sigil combinations, devised numerous combos and really pushed the limits of this trait allocation. We’ve dueled some very good players and it’s performed really well. It doesn’t have a place at the highest levels of competitive play but you will win and sometimes carry many a ranked/unranked match if played correctly.

My tester plays this with CI instead of CD. Personally I can’t do without 6s phase retreats and with 28s Chaos Storms, I use them offensively 75% of the time. He also plays with blink where I play with mirror images which significantly increases DPS output while on staff.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArdWlknpVtlqxTNcrNivRY6jgqT2thy4bA-TpRHwADOCAEeAABOEAAOBAHLDoe/BA

Official build thread if interested: Utility Wizard

Overall, I encourage you to continue experimenting with 0/0/6/4/4. It’s not honestly the strongest from a versatility perspective (I think 0/4/6/4/0 is even more versatile), but there is a lot of potential.

I definitely like this build more because of the utility it brings. It also makes BI or even CI feel more worth the trait pick because of that extra interrupt (aoe no less). Reflects are also da’bomb in pvp when their effect comes into play. Also, glamors are great fun when you can get them into a build, and traited they truly come to life.

Anyway “Anchor” is a great term for what this build can do for a pug team. You feel the effect immediately in a match.

So I actually ran an almost similar setup for the last two nights, only with a few differences that made it much stronger than what you’ve gone with.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW7flknpRtlpxINMrNSvRY6grlTmtiy6cA-TJxFwAo2f4ZZAAXBADPEAA

The idea was to be an on point defender, being able to sit and soak, hold, and counter pressure. Either to hold a point for a little bit in a 1v1 or 1v2, but ultimately playing group fights, while turning down enemies with condi damage and otherwise ruining their day with a lot of lingering chill. It was very effective in many situations. I’d use the low cd clone skills to generate burning and follow through with frequent two clone shatters (not worrying for optimal three clone if it wasn’t available). Then wep swap for the whole scepter/torch torment/confusion side.

Like I said, it was quite effective, better than you’d think without DE. But in all honestly it would only take you so far up the line in terms of competitive play. The caveat is that I ended up feeling there were stronger builds simply for incorporating DE within them, even if this build managed to overcome the “no DE” problem all on its own, making it otherwise playable albeit at a lesser level. Such is much of mesmer life.

witcher.3197:

Condi is noob friendly. If you can’t play power effectively and you play in the low/middle rating zone then yes, you’ll be more useful with condi. The moment you learn how to play mesmer or step out of elohell, power outclasses condi so hard I can’t even describe it.

The very first, 4 word sentence opening the above paragraph reveals the inner scrub at work. True players play to win and will use any and all means available to them to do so.

MailMail.6534:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Here’s the general consensus.

If you’re going to play in tournaments: Condition isnt going to work (but then neither is mesmer in general)

If you’re going to play outisde of tournaments pugging it: No one’s going to carry you as a Power Shatter.

If you’re going to play outisde of tournaments pugging it vs premades: it doesnt matter, you’re going to lose the match anyway.

If you’re going to play outisde of tournaments pugging it, premade, vs pugs, casuals, whatever comes out of that low to high level silly MMR system: use anything you like, just be a boss with it.

This.

But I’ll add to the conversation with these general statements that should be obvious but might not be to some:

• Condi Mesmer has a lot more sustainability. You’ll last longer in fights.
• Condi Mesmer also has a lot more flexibility in the types of utilities you can use.
• You will NOT burst people while on Condi Mesmer. It takes time for you to really turn the tide of a fight. Like, a lot of time for the dmg output to get up there. And because time is of the essence, this is generally why condition Mesmer allegedly doesn’t work in top tier.
• You’ll generally be slower in terms of mobility. Most condi specs don’t take focus and don’t take traveler’s runes. Some do use blink though. This is extremely frustrating, and a big handicap for a Mesmer in pvp. Learn how to forward phase retreat.
• Condi Mesmer is a lower risk, lower reward playstyle. If you’re good on a condi spec, you should be able to duel any power spec. Derogatory terms for conditions (aids, cancer, etc) came from dueling arenas and players who say condition specs are “cheesy”. You can make more mistakes and rebound on condition Mesmer.

So to answer your question: yes, condition Mesmer is viable!! Really, the only thing that makes Mesmer viable in a general sense is the fact that there are so many bad players in pvp, but I’m not complaining!

Adding to this,

Many good mesmer support builds and “bunker” builds use condition as their damage source. This is because of great synergy between defensive stats/traits/builds and defensive amulets. So things like mobility arent a big issue if you’re planning on sitting on a point. You just have to get there to begin with, and not go down.

In these situations it’s potentially irrelevant if you can burst someone down or not. On point defense serves as a battle of attrition, and so long as you can outlast/outdamage over time the opponent, you’re doing your job. In that instance “condi” is as viable as anything.

So for a hybrid build you want to figure out a way to maintain your crit/ferority, then balance out your power/condi stats without dumping your sustain. Then to mitigate the overall reduction of either power and condi damage to their respective skills and applications, find a way to get might in there.

Finally put doom on both weapon swaps.

So a straight forward build would look like this
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRAsc7fnsISba2oGmpB3aGR1YM9L10CJDYhS2x2A-TVSHABtpVwJlg/o8oIlYws/Qhq/AmuABeCAAcSAIFAMzBA-w

But with a few additional tweaks of runes/sigils we can get some might carrying you through combat
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQRAsc7flknpNtNqxMNcrNiqxY6XqpFSGwClMjtB-TVSHABtpVwJlg/o8oIlYF8EAKU9Hw0Fg2+DAcSAIFAMzBA-w

Note: I’d also drop phant fury for double traited manips. The extra range will make your life easier (allowing those AT’s to hit outside of 900) and more survive/control with a long range blink. Phant Fury is a waste on the torch, and less than favorable on the iSwordsman vs the iDuelist.

Coedeax.2567:

Ross Biddle.2367:

As you can see it has been confirmed on a regular basis by the authority of many’a random mesmer fanboy on the mesmer forums ever since the HoT release vid.

-_-U

I never said that is confirms it, I just said it points towards a chronomancer

I’m not singling you out.

As you can see it has been confirmed on a regular basis by the authority of many’a random mesmer fanboy on the mesmer forums ever since the HoT release vid.

-_-U

Here’s the general consensus.

If you’re going to play in tournaments: Condition isnt going to work (but then neither is mesmer in general)

If you’re going to play outisde of tournaments pugging it: No one’s going to carry you as a Power Shatter.

If you’re going to play outisde of tournaments pugging it vs premades: it doesnt matter, you’re going to lose the match anyway.

If you’re going to play outisde of tournaments pugging it, premade, vs pugs, casuals, whatever comes out of that low to high level silly MMR system: use anything you like, just be a boss with it.

Mesmers do have the tools to deal with them, but double ranged shatter has none of them available to it :p

If it’s WvW it is more than likely lag. The bug with distortion without IP is also real.

I’ve even been stunned mid dodge roll, or so the animation on my screen tells me. It’s hard to miss when your toons feet are situated somewhere over their head.

I had some pro footage of how to deal with a turret engie on far from a while back when Chaos-A was asking the same question

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=HeT2ai9MhqI#t=115

StickerHappy.8052:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Sup sigil of swiftness on a weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vR6PDsRSOU
More boon/swiftness duration means higher stacks

Otherwise good rune choice + traited focus. There’s a couple ways you can go about it, but pretty much focus is your swiftness access.

Is this sigil of speed? or am missing a sigil of swiftness on crit or hit?

You’re right, I thought it sounded funny and looked at it twice before posting. Was on my way out to work.

Sup sigil of swiftness on a weapon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vR6PDsRSOU
More boon/swiftness duration means higher stacks

Otherwise good rune choice + traited focus. There’s a couple ways you can go about it, but pretty much focus is your swiftness access.

Ele’s already have this GM trait only it’s on CC effect. 6 in their second line, shoots a lightning bolt

I like the easy questions. Here’s the answer:

Don’t know. Can’t say.

hazahampo.4286:

I don’t normally post on forums but this thread made me.

I have played sw/t gs shatter mes since launch really, every now and then I use staff also. I tried condi shatter and tbh found myself useless. I had a bit more sustain sure but my conditions did hardly anything compared to an engi nade spam and I have kittenty base power damage. All in all I was pretty useless in team fights, thus I quickly went back to power and was able to boon remove, spike and be much more use to my team.

If you want to play condi, go for it. I just feel it is pretty crap compared to power but each to his own…

Sometimes I like to jump on to IP shatter just for kittenz and giggles. I know it’s strengths and its weaknesses. Anyway It’s one of my lesser played builds and not my preferred playstyle. As such my performance on it can be pretty bad after chopping and changing to it, especially given I only like to play ranked.

I mean if I go with your reasoning IP shatter is crap because I dived on to it randomly “gave it a go” and found it not working well. To each their own!

Oh wait! An idea! My instincts, playstyle, and mes concepts actually belong to another build! Therefor when I change on a whim, if I expect what I was playing with to function at the same level as what I’m now playing with, it’s probably me who’s kitten and not the build! D :

Oh man, I need to go lie down to process this.

messiah.1908:

let me remind you that many years ago the earth considered flat and only 1 man said that its rounded . slowly more and more started to believe in it without any proof at all

Actually, long before he came forward with his particular evidence and made his case, it was the general belief of many that the earth was round. Particularly sailors and those that traveled the sea because, as they moved to and away from land they could see the effect of the turning horizon. That can’t happen on a flat sea -_-u

So yeah, it wasn’t just one man, and it certainly wasn’t without evidence that people formed their opinion :/

BlackDevil.9268:

Now here’s something funny: There’s much more evidence for power shatter to be viable and the meta for so long, while there’s little to no evidence for all these wannabe builds from people who claim they’re just as viable as power shatter. There’s no reason for you guys to argue. Come up with evidence, I might just believe you… or just facepalm like almost at every ‘’supposed to be good/meta build’’ video.

I like this talk of evidence because the evidence is that power shatter is not viable. It wants to be the only, or last remaining, or however you’d like to put it. But the evidence has clearly demonstrated Mesmer isnt even in the meta at all as of right now. This is what I keep reading over and over on the forums. So you’ve confused me again (BD clearly a pro Mesmer ;D), whats the difference again between all these builds that have no evidence of “viability”, and IP shatter with its evidence? Only that one has the evidence to back up its non-viability in the meta and the others don’t. Sorry guys I’m with Blackdevil on this one, clearly we have another ‘’supposed to be good/meta build’’ scenario on our hands and all those video’s even Anet took the time to record to back it up : (

Godkitten logic : (

Just put in what claæs ended up making the difference doing the deed. That way people can at least accurately direct their hate and nerf cries.

If you want to prove yourself a true coding whiz, single out what “build” the class was running.

“You were owned by a turret Engie”
“CeleEle just ruined your day”
“You must be an IP Mesmer cause you just got rekt by a (anything)Thief”

That’d be awesome

Zenith.7301:

We used to have our own headshot. It was called Mind Stab from the greatsword in beta (it would daze), but just like necro and ranger, mesmers got heavy nerfs in late beta close to release and what you see right now is the remnants of the beta nerfs. The classes with heavy nerfs by close to the end of closed beta before release are, to no one’s surprise, the same classes that have been kitten ever since the game’s release.

I just ran and grabbed my tiny violin. Did I make it back in time?

Noss.4105:

@Ross
What gear did you use with it? Roaming squads and adds are also the reason why I’m leaning more towards scepter+torch instead of staff. Staff+GS is just so good against thieves that it’s hard to let go T_T

I used to run rabid weapons/armor with Cav trinkets. That was back before the rune changes which I was using max boon duration on. It worked amazingly well.

After the rune changes everything shifted. A big part of that was that the other classes changed too. Anyway it no longer felt strong enough and I moved away from hybrid entirely.

Since then my dabblings have been using assassins armor, zerk weapons, and rabid trinkets. However lately I’ve run zerk weapons/trinkets, assassnins armor, with maybe the amulet as rabid. Then used duration food and crystals just to bump the condi damage up into usefulness while maintaining that high crit chance, and solid power/ferocity. Cav can also sub in in place of some of the zerk trinkets to up that toughness but not suffer in the precision department thanks to the sassins armor.

phokus.8934:

To function like Magic Bullet, yes. It falls in line with the rest of our skills that bounce between targets and are extended with Illusionary Elasticity.

The whole daze 5 targets in a straight line is pretty pathetic and so completely situational that at most, you’ll get 2 targets.

There’s nothing worse than a projectile that can’t reach its target because it can’t hit more than one target. Magic Bullet is amazing but even it suffers from this from time to time.

Wait wait wait, so I’m actually loosing all those games I thought I won while not playing an IP shatter build?

Man, no arguing with Blackdevils definition of viability I guess -_-u

Double wait, that game I lost while playing an IP shatter build, I actually won that one simply because I was on THE meta IP shatter build. Phew that’s a relief

I would love to see iSwordsman with a 3 target AoE cleave. Can be a small radius, but it’d be awesome all the same : D

MailMail.6534:

No shade to the OP’s mtd build, but obviously we disagree on which is superior… Wile, you should playtest my build instead of Messiah’s. http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArfWlknpMtlqxQNcrNCrBh6rslfSyEEgSWhrB-TJRHwAC3fIZZABnCAAPBAA

Shout war: You shouldnt win 1v1 equally skilled with whatever you run. Shout warrior almost 1v1’s anything and power shatter most likely even has a better chance of winning than mtd.

THIS is what mtd kitten sucks against. 1v1 is near impossible, but I can say that I’ve beaten them before. However, this was after wasting a tremendous amount of time, and the point was in their favor (I still have noob moments from time to time give me a break!!). However in a team setting, you want the war to blow through his shouts. Mtd makes the cele meta exhaust their condi clear, which is without a doubt, their hard counter. And because Mtd can dish it out at such a high velocity, it puts the team fight in your corner after a period of time.

Engineer: Power benifits heavily here due that the way to win vs engies is to keep distance. You can’t keep distance with mtd or if you do, your damage will be quite kitten.

Well saying that a power mesmer has to keep distance is quite redundant, because a power mesmer ALWAYS has to keep distance in any team fight or 1v1 for most of the time. Mtd can safely get into melee range for a tiny bit for a shatter or Torment block, then get back out.

Your assertion that MtD ranged has kitten dmg is a bit disingenuous. I simply stand outside of turrets, let Staff Clones AA (very strong), switch to scepter for poison & Confusing Images, then switch back. It’s a very easy fight, especially if I get either two shatters or a torment block and 1 shatter off. In a team fight, Mtd does well here as well, because if you aren’t being focused, you have more opportunities to connect your shatters for AOE dmg. It literally only takes a few to make a cele engi wimper. Again, the fact that Mtd can do better in melee range AND from a distance is strong here.

D/P / S/D thieves: mtd should have a better chance of winning a pure 1v1, though same as medi guard they are very vurnable for unexpected bursts. Something that’s not able to accomplish with mtd. Power will be much better in team fights for this matter.

Again, it comes down to playstyle, but I don’t think power wins here in the team fight based solely on the fact that a power mesmer has to be baby sat. I made a post comparing the builds on the first page. It only takes one Shatter (of 3) to scare a thief out of the fight completely. And again, all of a MtD’s shatters are equally potent unlike with power. Power shatter, if you’re precise, can down him, but MtD does the same thing at a slower pace. The slower pace is a con, but you accept this for other pluses that power doesn’t have (toughness, Null Field, pDisenchanter team utilities).

D/D ele: Personal experience I’d say mtd would have a better chance, however, you can also kill a d/d ele on power. Power, again, better in team fights vs d/d eles.

Why is it better in a team fight again? Because you might get lucky (Dwayna protect you from that ele’s burn) and land a few bursts without going down first? idk how we got back on the topic of 1v1s yet again, but regardless, Mtd does better in team fights against cele ele for sure. See my response about Warrior above. Ele takes longer to down, but it’s inevitable. They definitely can’t really push you around like they would if you were power.

Condi necro: You certainly don’t wanna be close against condi necro’s and mtd will just kill yourself if they transfer it back to you.

Well I run NullField/Arcane & pDisenchanter, so if I know what I’m up against, I change my plastyle. Conditions are usually what beat me, because I tend to use my utilities for teammates or in an offensive way for boone strip.

tl:dr

Power wins on all forms of team fights but lacks on a few 1v1 situations where mtd shines. In a game where team fights are very important I would take power any day over mtd.

MtD can bring just as much team utility if not more than power. More boon removal. More team/self condi removal. More toughness (less baby-sitting). More flexibility in positioning (melee/range). Insane AOE condition pressure = enemy team exhausts clears early in fight. MtD is a slower yet safer route to victory. It is calculated. It’s patient. It is aggressively pernicious.

Oh man, Mailman just rekt you dissenters, not just with his mean post, but his obvious actual experience.

Xaylin.1860:

What about…

• +1s Daze duration
• 50% chance to stun your target for 1s when your Dazes expire

That would be nasty.

And the unborn child? : (

Yeah I like the Maim hybrid setup too, though not with celestial.

Mesmer is one class that does hybrid well. PU still serves better in WvW due to the rate of gank squads and adds, and hybrid can be put to good use there too. Anyway, good vid.

BlackDevil.9268:

The only way to make other (mostly grandmaster) traits viable is to make them as powerful as IP. I honestly doubt if this change will equal IP.

Just look at ele. The only way the little build diversity came to exist is when they added another powerful grandmaster trait.

I.e. all dazes are now stuns, all stuns poison your unborn children. Something like that.

Usualy for defensive purposes, or perhaps on the opening of an engagement, I might do,

OH sword 4 to Block, riposte is 3-4k, spawn clone, f3 for diversion/CS 1s stun on daze. If that rupts the halting strike proc is another 3-4k. So I don’t feel the riposte/clone summon is usless as it gives me a variety of options knowing that clone will spawn (distortion too).

As for the aoe line daze, it’s important to have 5 targets to ensure it hits THE target. Otherwise it’d get eaten. It is best on ressing players as it will hit those surrounding the downed player, assuming your not targeting far off to one side or some such. Making it an instant ground targeted effect ala MoD would be a huge quality of life improvement however. Just clean it up and do it, why not?

As for scepter 2 blind, I’ll use it, but only if the target is out of reach/not focusing me, or I’ve trained myself to fire it in the last moment before the channel ends no matter what. That way I’m always getting SOME effect.

Bonus bit o’info: Players are aware, and watch for scepter 2 block animation. They’re woefully unaware of OH sword block animation. They look so very different, and scepter is more widely used and feared than OH sword (not to say OH sword shouldnt be feared. They would if they encounters it more).