Guild Wars 2

Illusionary Me: creates a clone that mirrors the mesmer’s movements and actions exactly, causing it to be a true clone but its attacks deal no damage. Actions include weapon swaps, dodging, jumping, utility skills.

I’m a new Mesmer and know that we are coveted for many of our utilities, one of which is our Portal Entre/Exeunt skill. So, what are some useful tactics, sneaky tricks, and expected uses of our Portal skill? This thread is for just that. Let’s see how inventive we are.

Starter goggles
CoF shoulders
Inquest chest
CoF Gloves
Named leggings
Inquest boots

Dyes: Sincerity, Honeysuckle, Remembrance, Umber

Inquest pistol
Wall of Thorns
Fervid Censor

I’m actually more attached to my main in GW2 than I ever was in GW. I had a 20 of each class in GW, all of them fun & awesome, but my attachment to them was as a whole. In GW2 I have one 80 and I love her. I have numerous alts of various levels, but my main is where my attachment lies.

GW Pros:
dual profession
huge skill library
more strategic group fighting
FoW
amazing storyline
build-saving for variety & experimentation

GW2 Pros:
graphics (amazing)
control/movement
groupless co-op
unique professions (they each have their own soul, not carbon copies of one another)
DEs
world bosses
dynamic combat
No elite mob/elite skill hunting (only thing I really hated about GW)
combo fields/finishers

*the GW Pros do not becessarily mean they should be in GW2, just that they were awesome parts of that game. Some should though

My mesmer is only lvl 32 but I find Engineer to be the most utility-reliant profession. With no weapon swap option, Engis are dependent on kits, which are utilities. It’s sort of a technicality, since the kits are effectively used as weapons but still, they’re utilities.

Yep, totally agree. Despite the countless threads on this it’s still an issue. Though I think Anet is making an attempt, giving us things like the 2 backpieces from the current event via achievements. That’s what I’m talking about. Getting a reward from tackling tasks is better than the close your eyes and pray method. But Anet made no money from the backpieces so…..yea……RNG will stick around

The issue with downscaling is that at level 15 you’ve got single-stat gear while at 80 you’ve got 3-stat gear. Meaning that a downscaled 80 will have a piece of gear with (arbitrary numbers) 10 power, 10 precision, 1%crit dmg. But a true level 15 will have 10 power.

Also, a 15 will have a 20 sec cooldown on their spammy high damage skill but a downleveled 80 will have a trait lowering the CD to an even more spammable 16secs.

Some things you just can’t downscale. Unless, you want a downscaled 80 -> 15 to suddenly lose all traits that cannot be acquired by level 15.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Because this would increase the number of locations that T6 is available, making them more readily prevelant and therefore lowering their value? They’re intended to be hard to get and rare. That’s the same reason there are few Oricalcum and Ancient Wood nodes.

They have been actively reducing our ability to acquire them, why would they suddenly turn around and make it possible to get them anywhere?

No it wouldn’t. It would expand the places you can get them, but not the drop rates. Meaning players wouldn’t feel forced to farm SSC all the time, but can spread out and fill in any other area they want.

For example, a 2% drop rate killing 100 mobs in 1 area will net you the same results as a 2% drop rate killing 25 mobs each in 4 different areas. 2% of 100 kills is the same no matter where you are.

I like the idea of T6 mats dropping in more places. Spreads out the population and increases SSC framerate

I see no point in revamping armor/weapon vendors. As you play the game you get karma and coppers for completing DEs and hearts. You can buy a whole new set of blue armor (which is all you really need for most of open world) for the cost of 2-3 hearts. Not to mention the karma you get can keep you in decent greens all the way to 80. Also, you can really limit your gearing to once every 5-10 levels. If you gear up in brand new greens at 40, you don’t need to buy anything again until 50. By 50 you’ll probably have 1/2 your 40 gear due to equipping drops and some karma heart vendors.

This is how I gear all my alts. Hit the TP every 5 levels and make sure your gear is within 10 levels. As you complete a heart, check the karma vendor.

As for money, gather everything you see. It’s easy money (and XP). Sell the 60 ore you mined just doing the daily and you’ve got enough to buy a piece of armor.

I agree with everything Punkins said.

I kept getting bored with my characters around 40-45 levels in. Then I found Engineer and fell in love with no-CD kit swapping and fast game play and versatility.

We can fill multiple roles: WvW Zerg, 1v1, point bunker, PvP, group support, dps….

TooBz.3065:

Try this (which is a very similar rotation):

Target Enemy
Focus #5 (phantasm)
Sword #3 (clone)
Sword #3 (leap)
Sword #2 (blurred frenzy)
Shatter 1 (don’t shatter before the phantasm is done attacking. You may need to do this after staff #5.)
swap
Staff #5 (chaos storm)
Staff #2 (phase retreat)
Staff #3 (phantasm)

See if that feels better.

That is more or less my rotation too, but I do it the other way around. I start at range with …

Staff auto (for aggro)
Staff #3 (phantasm)
Staff #5 (storm)
Staff #2 (retreat, clone, finisher)
swap
Sword #3 (clone)
Sword #3 (leap in)
Shatter
Sword #4 (light field)
Sword #5 (phantasm, whirl finisher)
Sword #2 (blurred frenzy)

I like starting at range and then when the enemy closes in, I can take advantage of my sword/focus. If you make sure you cross the Sword#4 line you’ll have swiftness to escape close range after you finish blurred frenzy. Or if your recharge is ready, swap back to staff and #2 leap back.
Rinse & repeat.

You need 4/4 settlements controlled. Then the merchants that are there will have new items. They don’t have orignal skins (of course not!!!!). Just new stat allocation. Check out Dulfy’s site.

Thankfully, I was in SSC at the exact moment the update occured. I relogged in and everyone that was there quickly knocked out the 4/4 & the Queen. Got the chiev. Got the chests.

Fast forward to yesterday. Every time the Queen spawned it brought a magical army of karka that just pop into existence. It kept its 50 armor shell and lasted the full 10mins while dancing amidst a pile of corpses (ours).

Don’t know if it’s a bug or a scaling issue or an overpopulation thing or what. But I’m sure glad I was there when it launched the first time.

It took me a while and some forum reading for tips but I finally beat Canach with my Engi. No stability. Just lotsa heals and put my back to a wall for the knockbacks and didn’t wander, just used 2 mines. It was annoying having to constantly check the chat box. A really dumb mechanic. Should have been an audible cue (siren?) or a more obvious visual cue for Canach. In the end I let out a huge sigh of relief, vowing never to return for the Lightfoot chiev. Just don’t care.

I am horrible at JP. I’ve completed a handful of them only. I think the only ones I’ve done 100% myself were the 3 in LA and Morgan’s Leap and Vizier’s Tower. I find that I’m a good player, just don’t have the chops for those timed puzzles like the beginning steam portion of the SSC or the Mad King Clocktower.

TooBz.3065:

I run a GS in WvW if I’m zerging, I run a staff in WvW if I am small group roaming or running around solo.

Greatsword is a great weapon if you are with a group.
The phantasm is can tag multiple targets which helps soften up mobs.
It has the greatest range.
It has a fast clone generator.

However, the Greatsword is not nearly as good if you are alone. Alone, enemies tend to close on you fast, so the GS damage is reduced. GS3 is almost completely useless, GS5 is a nice knockback, but the cooldown is too long.

For level 31, the staff is a better choice, IMO.

This is what I’ve come to figure out. Since I’ve only just hit a dungeon-appropriate level I’m running solo and the staff is much more useful. Once I just into a dungeon I might swap to GS. But then I feel like I could be of more group use by dropping chaos storm. Also, would the staff#3 phantasm deal more damage in a dungeon with all the potential conditions than a GS#5?

There’s a large Wind Rider humping the chandelier in the corner….it’s too distracting

Engineer grenade (throws 20 grenades) + Grenadier trait (throws 10 additional grenades) = 30 grenades each dealing 10x damage
explosion radius: 1200
range: 12,000

eat your heart out 100 ’nades

I believe the daily pop-up chest is once per day per account and the chest that spawns on the ground is once per day per character.

Try Engineer. It’s the least-played class and it’s got no cooldown on kit swapping, so you get that fast feel like a thief but without the annoying initiative. Plus, you get a versatile class with a role in PvP, WvW, & PvE. Like any profession, it has its nuances, weaknesses and strengths. Stick with it and I think you’ll find it very fulfilling.

I leveled with pistol/pistol and the Flamethrower & Elixir Gun kits. Both give you enough damage to eat thru enemies and enough utility to stay alive. Flame thrower is aoe too, so that’s a bonus.

Some useful info on the above mentioned setup:

Pistols give you a bouncing blind/confusion
Pistols give you poison, bleed, burning – 3 degen conditions
FT gives you a pbaoe blind & an aoe knockback
FT gives you a fire combo field
EG gives you a blast finisher/retreat in 1 skill
EG gives you an aoe healing light field
EG stacks conditions like poison, weakness, and cripple very effectively

All of these tools make surviving very easy, as well as dealing damage.

Plus, I find the above setup to be simpler to understand and pull off than more complex net shot, net turret, jumpshot, blunderbuss combos. gl

@OP: I tried to touch on this before (and so have Serial & Gaidax) but you can’t merely look at mesmer weapon skills over the course of your 1-80. The skills themselves never change (obviously) but due to traits (which you didn’t want to discuss but have to be included) the weapon skills change their functionality.

Firstly and most straight forwardly, we have traits that significantly reduce weapon skills cooldowns. That means a weapon you might not find viable at lower levels is suddenly more-so at higher levels.

Also, your traits determine your build. If, for instance, you want a shatter build then a weapon like scepter or staff (which you might find lackluster at lower levels) suddenly becomes great at pumping out clones to shatter. Now you’re not focusing on weapon damage, but clone creation as a baseline for your weapon skills.

Nobody is trying to be “that guy” but we are trying to point out how traits and builds and higher levels can change a weapon in your eyes. Leveling may or may not feel like a chore or be convoluted for you at first, but as your flesh out your play style the weapons will make more sense. I know it took me 2-3 tries before I rolled a mesmer I didn’t delete after <10 levels.

All traits dealing with interrupting are crap. I heard that originally mesmers were going to be interupt masters, but things changed. Apparently, not our traits.

Yes, the weapon skills are the same at 40 (and 80) as they are at 5. However, they become more useful and versatile as you get traits. For instance, staff #2 isn’t just a great defensive evasion tool, it’s also a low cooldown clone generator, making it incredibly useful for frequent shatters. Traits can significantly lower the cooldown of that skill, as well as augment the usefulness of clones.

Mesmers shine brighter the higher level they are. At 5 they are rather weak and squishy. At level 30 they’re elusive and fun. At level 60 they’re strong and versatile. At 80 they can do it all.

If mesmer really does interest you, stick with it a bit longer.

Elite Immortal Phantasm: Summon a phantasm that attacks mesmer’s target with GS autoattack style attack. Does not die upon target death but continues to swap to mesmer’s target. Dies upon exiting combat. Can be shattered. Can be targeted and killed like any other phantasm. Has 2x health of normal phantasms.

A lot of explanation I know but could be cool. Not exactly perma-pet but would fit nicely into a phantasm build, especially WvW.

Rezzet.3614:

it all comes down to Effort+Time invested vs Reward

why would a player waste 5 hours in lets assume arah when you can do CoF or SoE for the same reward in less than an hour

See, that right there is the problem. Nobody is playing the game to have fun. Everyone is playing for a reward item. Now don’t get me wrong, we need rewards. We need gear & weapons & other fun stuff. But it seems nobody wants to play through Arah for the fun of it, because you can do CoF#1 (which you’ve speed ran a thousand times already) for the same reward. Why do you even want to run the same kitten thing over and over and over again? Why even play the game, regardless of the rewards, if it’s not for the fun of it? And don’t tell me speed running CoF#1 10x/day is fun, cuz it’s not.

*ok, not everyone but a lot of people

Guardian
Engineer
Mesmer

Easy

The idea is that you have to make conscious desicions about how you want to spec, what tools to bring, which to leave at home. This constitutes a build in GW2 and allows for variety rather than “every hunter is the same.” You have to pick & choose which skills you bring for maximum effect, and which sacrifices you can make and then tailor you playstyle accordingly. It’s different at first, but soon makes sense as you experiment with various builds and unlock more traits/skills.

Also, traits a more important than you think. Learning how they synergize is fun and eye-opening. The next patch at the month’s end will supposedly be making a lot of improvements to the existing trait trees.

In my opinion, the problem lies with te fact that you can’t please everyone all the time. On the forums and in-game, you hear the following all the time:

- I want more challenging content
- LFG 4War/1Mes speed runs
- There’s no endgame!
- LFG CoF path 1 only
- I want my Legendary now!
- I want reward for everything I do
- Don’t want to do fractals, want to farm CoF for moar gold!
- LFG AC -[response] no way dude, they buffed it, just do CoF
- Game is too easy!!

You get all these conflicting ideas of what a game should/shouldn’t be. People want challenging content but then gripe about how hard SSC is. They want speed runs of CoF for max profit, but aren’t willing to do another dungeon for fun. They say there’s not endgame but haven’t 100% world complete or aren’t running anything but fractal 38 and CoF. They can’t stand slow dungeon runs and want their Legendaries now. They want expansions and new permanent content for more to do, but really just speed thru everything expecting rare loot immediately.

The problem is that players (generally speaking) expect an immediate reward for everything they do. Nobody does what’s fun. They only do what makes em gold or fat loot.

I remember in GW going to FOW and coming away with 1 ecto and a couple crappy vendor-worthy gold items…nothing special. But I had a blast in there. Seems it’s all about the destination and never about the ride there anymore.

SSC was intentionally designed to be a bit more challenging than the rest of the world. I think it’s a good thing, especially since SSC isn’t required for any world completion & there are no hearts. It’s a land to kill stuff. I’m glad it’s a challenge.

Also, you want a SSC mob nerf after your very first encounter on your very first try…how about learn the mechanics? Karka young hit hard with their opener…unless you avoid/blocl/reflect it. Problem solved. You gotta be aware of your area. It’s meant to be a challenge.

Also, with the event going on right now, there are plenty of players in SSC to run with for extra support. So it’s a good way to safely learn the various mob mechanics.

GL

I agree. Back items are a part of your armor, not a weapon.

Actually, I’d like the option of seeing the weapons too on the character menu. After all, we worked hard for them too.

Do you mean ToolKit? Cuz you said MedKit twice. o.0

60/40 Zerker/Rampager gear, 6x Altruism runes, Sigil of Battle, Sigil of Accuracy.

I sprinkle in some Celestial accessories for survivability, but otherwise follow the Zerk/Rampager model.

Pistol/Shield for dungeons. Pistol/Pistol for open world (except SSC).

I bounce between grenades & FT builds, always bringing EG for support. PvE only.

I WILL have those wings for my mesmer.

And despite the shield not exactly matching my Engi’s theme, I think I’ll find a way to make it work.

Then again, maybe this time around we’ll finally have a cool pistol skin…….

Multi-spec template saving

Behellagh.1468:

I ignore my personal story unless it’s a daily. I explore all the zones, working my way up. I ignore the zone’s level or “land”. I have no problem taking my human to the lands of Charr, Assura, Norn or Sylvari. That doesn’t mean I ignore my “home”, just that I don’t feel tied to it.

I like the personal story because it gives good XP and serves to break up endless heart/DE chasing.

Like you, I don’t feel tied to my homeland. In fact, because I’ve never rolled a Charr or Norn, I’ve brought my latest alts to those areas because they didn’t get done the first time around with my older characters. I love variety so I love the fact that I can freely wander Tyria without a loss of XP or loot potential.

In the past I did 100% of each zone I ventured into. Usually following my personal story unless my level was too low. But I’ve found that I like the 1-15 zones a lot and stick around them rather than hit the 20-40 zones. Then around 35-40 I’ll head out to the level appropriate zones. This is mostly due to me having leveled too many alts. My latest alt just hit 30 so I’m going to try to level via dungeons as much as possible.

Anymore I only shoot for 100% if my natural progression takes me close to it. If not, I move along. Only interested in forcing 100% on my main.

Engineer. Always engineer. So much more build variety and a lot more utility than simply condition control. I’d say Engi has a higher skill cap but it’s incredibly fun to play.

You have to decide what’s really important to you. What people think about your profession or what you know about it. I main an Engi and it offers everything I want. If some people say we’re crap to bring along, I don’t let it bother me cuz I know they’re wrong and I know what I bring to the party.

I recommend Engineer & Mesmer. They’re both amazing professions with a lot of utility and damage options. Play what’s fun, not what’s popular. Every month a patch comes out that changes things, so don’t worry about what’s strong or weak today cuz it’ll be different in 2 months anyhow.

Dess.4391:

Nretep.2564:

But btw … has anyone tested this with a mesmer? Would he be limited to 3? Overwriting his clones/ phantasms? Using which weapon?

And even most important… would you be able to make a 200+ clones shatter?? Sure, Mindwrack would hurt, but 30 mins of distortion would be completely broken

This MUST be tested.

We have ToolKit that is excellent in melee. Also have BombKit for PvE melee. Not to mention that since Anet supposedly designed us to be mid-range fighters, we’re generally pretty close to melee as it is unless you’re running grenades.

Is the desire for a melee weapon specifically tied to the desire for an actual weapon rather than a kit option? Because since we can’t weapon swap I’d rather a melee kit over a weapon. I don’t want to get stuck in full melee.

Ahh I see Krispera. Fast attack for crit procs. And the #4 sort of spins thru the enemy right? So it’ll hit anything in its path aoe?

That’s one thing I miss about my Engi. Never had to swap weapons often (if ever) and even if I needed 1 of everything (2 pistols) I didn’t have to carry much.

With Mesmer I feel like I need to keep 1 of everything in the bag because they’re all useful and situations change (as do my temperment & mood).

Actually, I’ve been using sword/focus for the majority of my damage with great success. The iWarden hits hard and so does by #2 on a relatively low CD.

So it’s basically just that it’s the highest damage ranged weapon we have based on its autoattack. That’s it?

I’d say the portal gun could work like a staff necro’s marks, but that’s another ground targeting weapon and there’s already enough QQ about grenades & carpal tunnel.

But portals could be opened on the ground that transport “things” from other places into the field of battle. For instance, a portal that transports a blob of lava from a far-off volcano (fire field). A portal that tansports chunks of rocks from the planet upward (a la dagger earth ele ring thing) but with a knockback.

I feel like Engi have some of the best healing in the game. They can all be boosted heavily with our traits, something a lot of professions can’t do.

Elixir H benefits from plenty of elixir-based traits that lower its CD and lets it cure conditions.

MedKit’s main self-heal is in the F1 skill, which canbe lowered greatly with points in the Tools tree. Also, it’s a heal skill that also grants might, fury, swiftness, and cures conditions. You just have to get used to the mechanics. Also, since swapping to MedKit has no CD, Altruism Runes can proc as often as their ICD allows (10s).

Healing Turret can be dropped, overcharged, blasted, and detonated very quickly for some massive aoe heals. Couple it with BoB, shield#4, EG#4 and you can stack huge heals.

And speaking of EG, we have another healing field from EG#5. Does it get any better?

And don’t forget, all of our skills come with an accompanying toolbelt skill. (MedKit I already mentioned) So when Healing Turret is on CD, you’ve got a 1s water field w/ aoe regen. And when Elixir H is on CD, you can toss it for a defensive boon (and condition removal if traited). And even EG has a 10s aoe regen on its toolbelt.

As to your title [MedKit v. Healing Turret], it was analyzed in another thread that MedKit wins for self-healing, HT wins for group heals.

You have to be quick, but it’s absolutely doable. I think the problem is starting your blast sequence at the start of the water field, which imo is hard to see. It’s not always clear the exact moment the field starts, which means you can burn precious seconds wondering if it’s ticking or not. I’ve also detonated my turret, thinking there was an active water field, and there wasn’t. Effectively wasting my heal.

Having said that, I regularly employ the shield+detonate double blast without any issues. Don’t wait to land your Acid Bomb to detonate. Hit it immediately after while you’re still airborne.