Guild Wars 2

Domination: Confounding Suggestions, Furious Interruption, Power Block

Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption

Chrono with illusion traits

Ether feast, blink, arcane thievery, Well of Action

Sword/Shield + GS. 15 sec cooldowns, damage, stuns, and immobilization on interrupts.
Cripple and Slow from phantasms, almost constant alacrity on me. Attempting to use CC on me will also cause interrupts. You can’t play against this.

Arah Greatshield will look great with my nightmare themed Mesmer, more so than the TA shield:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shield_of_the_Dragon%27s_Deep

I feel like a lot of people are looking at this wrong. We may have awful DPS in PvE, but we should be looking at the two reflects, mass condition removal, stability, and other utilities that Mesmers provide.

Another thing that comes to mind: if CS is going to be on nearly every interrupt built, is CI as necessary? Stuns already immobilize, and Dueling gives you more useful traits overall. CI is still nice, but I’m having a hard time justifying taking a whole tree for one trait when another viable tree is better overall.

People are drooling over condition interrupt and rightfully so, but it just doesn’t feel lockdown-y enough for me. I’m more hyped about the possibility of a Chronomancer build using the insanely buffed Domination tree. Let’s not forget that Confounding Suggestions, Furious Interruption, and Power Block are all buffed, in the same tree, and not mutually exclusive. This is insane. Run those with either Dueling or Chaos and the Chronomancer tree, and people will be helpless for ages.

My main dilemma is whether to run Dueling or Chaos with a power interrupt Chronomancer lockdown spec. I’m leaning slightly towards Dueling. CI is great, but the other traits just don’t feel like they give that much.

I would agree with the game as it is now, but shatter doesn’t look like the default anymore. Condition, phantasm, support, and especially interrupt are much more viable than they used to be

Bear in mind that trait trees are a complete packages now. The distinction between adept, master, and grandmaster traits only mean something if you’re leveling.

Arshay Duskbrow.1306:

I am so tired of hearing that word. I dearly hope the Mesmer’s spec is named something, anything else just to screw over the people who are oh-so-confidently throwing it – and the completely unfounded notions of how it’s going to operate – around.

The new abilities we saw in the trailer had a very clear time theme. Chronomancer was going to be a profession in a cancelled Guild Wars 1 campaign. Slow is now a condition. Anet said on the stream that the new tree for Mesmer would be crowd control and support.

They’re hardly “unfounded notions”.

Dondagora.9645:

Without the Chrono traits, there’s very little to theory craft on. In fact, it’s impossible unless you’re saying “What two trait lines would you use for a interrupt/support build with the third uncertain?” So this won’t really amount to anything.

I feel like you’ve ridden a stop too far on the hype train, my friend, and have gotten ahead of yourself~

I agree that it’s too early to pin things down for good, but it’s still possible to get a vague idea of what a build would look like. Slow is a godsend for interrupt, so there’s that. However, slow and confusion don’t mix well. Chronomancer will be power interrupt. Domination shuts down opponents for ages, and Dueling or Chaos can compliment those nicely. Dueling gives more raw damage, Chaos gives you CC with CI. Phantasms will be the primary source of damage since we don’t have Deceptive Evasion. I see Chronomancer as more of an accent than a focal point, and we know it has cc and slow, so we can get a general idea of what we can do with it. Weapons and utilities are a bit harder to pin down, since we don’t know what we’ll be getting and what we can give up for them.

Now that we have the new Mesmer traits, we can begin speculating on what a Chronometer may look like. If you haven’t see the new traits, you can see them here: http://dulfy.net/2015/04/24/gw2-specializations-ama-livestream-notes/

It was said that the Chronomancer line is going to be cc/support oriented. Slow is very conducive to interrupts and lockdown builds in general. Condition interrupt is now a thing, but slow and confusion don’t mix very well since you want people using skills. My hypothetical Chronomancer build would look something like this:

Domination: Dazzling, Confounding Suggestions, Furious Interruptions, Powerblock
Either Dueling: Critical Infusion, Phantasmal Fury, Blade Training, Harmonious Mantras
OR
Chaos: Metaphysical Rejuvenation, Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption
Chronomancer: Traits that focus on slow

Berserker Gear, Sword/shield, pistol, or sword and GS with fire and air signets
Ether feast, Mantra of Distraction, Arcane Thievery, Chronomancer slow utility, not sure which elite

Chronomancer looks like a very interesting class, and I can imagine many different possibilities.

The things we saw in the trailer are definitely Mursaat or somehow related to them. My guess is that the Exalted are a splinter faction that decided to avoid the Flameseeker prophecies by simply phasing out like they did during the previous Elder Dragon war. Their time in that state changed their appearance.

How do I go about actually playing though? What combos should I be using? Do I rely a lot on Phantasms? Auto chain?

Any general usage tips for this build? I’ve never really been able to get the hang of GS/Staff. What do I need to know?

WvW roamer here

Name: Mallas Elerviel

Played Mesmer Since
I got the game, Christmas 2013

Favorite Alt? Why?
Still playing around with different classes. I could see myself running a zerg Necro.

Least Favorite Class to Play?
Warrior. Feels too simple and straightforward.

What is your favorite class to fight? Why?
Guardians always put up a good fight. Warriors and necros are free food.

What is your least favorite class to fight?
Thieves. You are cancer

What is your favorite Mesmer spec? What is your role with this spec?
I’ve played around with a ton of builds and I’m still going back and forth. CS and MtD shatter are probably my favorites. Zergs have never been my thing, but sometimes I like to tag along and pick off people on the sides of clashes.

What other class is your favorite duo partner?
I don’t really roam with other people, but AoE buffs from Warriors prove to be the most useful

If you could give Mesmer a buff, what would it be?
A reliable source of Fear. I know people say that’s the Necromancer’s condition, but I think it fits the Mesmer thematically.

How I feel about…

Warriors
Good or bad, you guys are very predictable. When I lose to a warrior, it’s because I didn’t react quickly enough. Highly telegraphed attacks, very easy to interrupt. Generally a pretty easy matchup.

Guardians
Guardians are always an interesting fight. They’re the opposite of Mesmers in terms of survivability. Guardians survive by soaking up hits and healing rapidly. Mesmers survive by jumping around all over the place. As a result, these fights tend to be the longest by far.

Thieves
Kill yourselves

Engineer
They’re either amazing or garbage. Builds are all over the place, so it’s hard to generalize. The best ones are usually defending objectives with turret spam. It’s cheap, but it works.

Ranger
Anyone who says Rangers are weak because they use AI-controlled pets is a bad Ranger. They’re quite mediocre in a one on one fight. Blink in next to them, immobilize or stun, and they’re dead. Our reliable sources of boon stripping can eat them up quickly too. Where they shine is in groups. End up against a ranger and somebody who can fight up close, and you’re gonna have a bad time.

Elementalist
Not all that difficult to fight. They’re quite zippy, but once you get them pinned down, they die very quickly.

Mesmer
So many bad Mesmers in WvW. It’s always phantasm spam. Seriously guys, we have to step it up. A lot of us are very predictable. Mesmers are supposed to be chaotic and unpredictable.

Necromancer
Free food. We can heal conditions well, we can strip their boons, blink breaks fear, and they have no way to get away from us. Death Shroud only delays the inevitable.

Anything with decent boon stripping will annihilate the Malyx build. Take away resistance, and it’s done.

Torsailr.8456:

Here is the previous thread and a relevant screenshot. The dev was on a warrior at the time.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Second-bar-below-healthbar-PoI-15/first#post4772791
http://www.twitch.tv/guildwars2/c/6055234?t=15m10s

“Mordrem Court” sounds a bit unusual. Interesting.

Jon said that they had a lot more finished than they were showing, the 3 trait lines are just what they decided to show at the demo. Also, “finish” could mean tweaking a bunch of numbers on abilities to see what’s op and what isn’t. I would imagine that they get the technical framework out of the way first (hammers moving in and out, “attached” walls, etc), then develop and tweak them. The hard part is already out of the way for them. I don’t expect beta testing to take particularly long either, with it being an expansion rather than the base game.

Just wait until we get concrete details on specializations. The forums will explode when HoT comes out.

Initiative isn’t going anywhere, just like Mesmer clones and Ranger pets. Too deeply ingrained in the profession. F1 is definitely getting replaced though. My bet would be that F skills get replaced.

Excellent guide, but a few things seem to be outdated. Particularly regarding the scepter and condition Mesmers in general, both which have gotten some major buffs in the past few months. I’d be happy to help you update it.

It’ll definitely be instanced, and it’ll definitely be a group event of some sort. Other than that, anything goes. From what we saw in the trailer, it looked like some of the story bits had a collaborative element to them (tons of characters we never saw, very possibly other players). Perhaps we’ll be able to go through the personal story with a party.

From the looks of the trailer, I would guess that Engineers get drones that follow them. That, or it could be an elite.

Thieves will get something that replaces steal. Initiative is too deeply ingrained in their weapon skills to be removed.

In the case of Mesmers, I bet that either we’ll either get different shatters, or be able to do something else with our clones. Literally every weapon can summon illusions, so those aren’t going anywhere.

Elementalists are tricky. It’s entirely possible that they won’t do anything to attunements. Messing with those would basically break the class.

There are a lot of interesting things they could do with the fight. If the tendrils really are a part of Mordremoth, then it’s likely that he’s actually anchored to the ground. The whole Mordremoth being a dungeon is an interesting idea. I’d be surprised if gliders or other masteries didn’t come into play somehow.

Torsailr.8456:

Personally I hope we never kill another dragon. I want them to remain an omnipresent threat we have to fight against, and hold our own against, but also something so big and powerful that we can’t really kill them. So we can either surrender or fight it to a stalemate.

I also think killing Zhaitan should have had a lot more repercussions than we’ve seen. It almost feels like they’re just another enemy to kill with no effects whatsoever. I get there is a limit to the writers resources, but I really think the after effects of killing Zhaitan should be woven more into the story instead of just being forgotten. And I fear if we were to kill Mordy, we’d just move on to the next one without dealing with the fallout from killing him either. It just makes for a more empty feeling to the adventure and takes away from the whole living world concept.

I forget where I heard it, but I recall hearing somewhere in the lore that another dragon could take his place. My guess would be that Tequatl or somebody else will eventually replace Zhaitan. Perhaps the purpose of Glint’s offspring is to replace an elder dragon with one that’s sentient and more benevolent.

I’m using a torment/confusion build right now, it melts thieves:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAW7flknpNtNqxTNcrNiuBdyWEDUvjfMySGgdB-TlBEABJoEMH1fMe/BAM/piuBhU+BA-w

When they stealth, wait for them to stealth. Block it, then immediately spawn 3 illusions with mirror image and decoy. Shatter them with F2. That alone will ravage them. Double roll and get another clone up, F1 shatter to finish. My favorite part about this build is the sheer level of condition spike you can get. 12 torment stacks and 6 confusion stacks in the span of ~4 seconds.

Mesmers are strange in that we actually have some of the best in-combat mobility with skills like illusionary leap, phase retreat, blink (which can be even further bolstered with traits), and I’ve found that some other forms of pseudo-mobility. Magic bullet, signet of domination, etc. Decoy is also great because it masks your true distance. With all these skills and our many sources of invisibility, we can dance circles around people. Our issue is out of combat mobility. The problem is, I worry that giving Mesmer a bunch of sources of swiftness or passive movement buffs in addition to all these abilities could end very badly.

After reading the new interview and thinking about it, I agree with the theory that we’ll be getting a new trait line that replaces the last one. Clones and phantasms won’t be going anywhere since it would be impossible to phase them out, since literally every item a Mesmer can use spawns them. We’ll probably sacrifice shattering for some other mechanic instead that may or may not use illusions. My guess is that the new mechanic will replace shattering. Shatter and hybrid Mesmers will want to stick with the default build, the specialization will work well with lockdown and support Mesmers. Condition Mesmers could go either way. Not sure which utilities will be replaced.

Martial.4916:

Oh I see. Well I’ll make a PU support Mesmer anyway. What do you think of the current state of chaos armor?

Even with “nerfs” it’s an insanely useful skill. Perfect if you need some space. Think of it as a defensive version of Chaos Storm.

Calm down. Even with the new specializations, the classes are still keeping with their recurring theme. The Ranger’s Druid spec still keeps the nature theme, the hammer Engineer has plenty of gadgets, etc.

Carighan.6758:

Wishlist:

• Chronomancer. Excels at manipulating time. Wields a shield in addition to current weapons. Phantasms does no damage, but apply effects which dilate time instead. Time Warp instead slows enemy movement and attacks. Veils becomes a wall which speeds friendly projectiles while slowing enemy projectiles to a crawl. And so on.

This is particularly interesting. What if the Chronomancer had abilities that could actually affect cast animations and their lengths? That would synergize very nicely with the lockdown traits we already have.

I’d love to see something really bizarre, like a mainhand torch. Realistically speaking, I think we can expect something like a mainhand pistol. Shield will probably emphasize lockdown, pistol could be power shatter.

shadowpass.4236:

Stormbolt.7293:

I think two specializations per class to start would make sense. I saw the “no polearm” link you posted where he said they’re only starting with one specialization, I’m calling BS on that guy. Highly doubt he “spoke with Colin”, or that they would divulge that information to a random attendee.

That being said, here’s what I can see each class using, assuming two specializations:

Heavy:

Guardian – Offhand Mace, Offhand Sword
Warrior – Mainhand Sword, Offhand Torch

Medium:

Thief – Rifle, Offhand Torch
Ranger to Druid – Staff, Rifle
Engineer – Hammer, Offhand Mace
Light:

Necromancer – Greatsword, Offhand Torch
Elementalist – Mainhand Sword, Offhand Torch
Mesmer – Shield, Mainhand Pistol

Warriors already have MH sword. I think you meant offhand sword.

kitten . I was thinking of a staff. They don’t have to be magical weapons.

I think two specializations per class to start would make sense. I saw the “no polearm” link you posted where he said they’re only starting with one specialization, I’m calling BS on that guy. Highly doubt he “spoke with Colin”, or that they would divulge that information to a random attendee.

That being said, here’s what I can see each class using, assuming two specializations:

Heavy:

Guardian – Offhand Mace, Offhand Sword
Warrior – Staff, Offhand Torch

Medium:

Thief – Rifle, Offhand Torch
Ranger to Druid – Staff, Rifle
Engineer – Hammer, Offhand Mace
Light:

Necromancer – Greatsword, Offhand Torch
Elementalist – Mainhand Sword, Offhand Torch
Mesmer – Shield, Mainhand Pistol

Making it the same price as the base game would be absurd. I can see it being $20-$30

evilunderling.9265:

Stormbolt.7293:

I think it’s safe to say that we’re getting two or more mutually exclusive specializations per class. Otherwise, the system wouldn’t be much more than a weapon addition.

Per the livestream, specialising grants “a new set of utility skills”. Or, in other words, you lose every single one of your twenty utility skills and get twenty different skills in exchange, plus modified traits, heals, elites, profession mechanic skills, and existing weapon skills.

I figured that would be like 10-12 new skills in addition to what you already have. There are some basic skills that a lot of builds need to function, i.e. shadow refuge on thief, blink or decoy on mesmer, etc. It’s a specialization, not a total new class.

On a related note, it would be nice if everyone who bought the expansion got a character slot or two for free.

Heart of Thorns will be bringing a number of changes to core mechanics, including profession specializations. While the Revenant profession is pretty much guaranteed to require the expansion and won’t cause any issues, locking specializations behind the expansion could cause a lot of issues. How would PvP and WvW balance work? Are vanilla players just out of luck? Will some features of the expansion be available to all players?

I think it’s safe to say that we’re getting two or more mutually exclusive specializations per class. Otherwise, the system wouldn’t be much more than a weapon addition.

I want something really out there, like a main hand torch on Mesmer.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Stormbolt.7293:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Stormbolt.7293:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Nobody’s been talking about condition builds? Post Maim patch there were a slew of Maim shatter builds with all the variation. There’s a long thread full of them, as well as a number of build threads. Even I did one complete with video.

The one you linked still has its issues. Namely landspeed/swiftness access. But I digress. Maim shatter is a viable build in all its forms.

Well, as of late at least. I came back from a break in December and I’ve hardly seen any discussion.

Travelers could work in it. Perplexity isn’t required but they’re very nice.

Travelers could “work”. Sure, that’s one way to tell the story. Travellers isnt so much a rune set for Mesmers as it is a 25% movement speed trait. Yeah ok, cool. What’s really required of a build is dominance over your encounter. To be able to make a condition build truly deadly you’re best off focusing on conditions and condition damage, so I’d argue that perplexity is the far superior option over travelers. That said you’re still slow. So its either bite the bullet, dont expect to get away, and take down everything that comes at you, or make a nasty sacrifice. The third option is to take a different build. Of course speed isnt going to help you if you have other weaknesses. Condition removal is a major concern in WvW due to the number of roaming condition builds. The hp on this build is low so condi’s are going to burn it fast. With that in mind I’d be more inclined to go for a “Strong offense is the best defense” over sacrificing that offence for defence. Eliminate the opponent quickly, remove the long term threat.

Anyway lots of theory to be played with. Mobility is still king in wvw, and 33% swiftness > 25% travelers runes imo.

Here’s the thread I mentioned. And look, I was the first reply :p
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Maim-The-Disillusioned-Impressions/first

Conditions was one of the first problems I saw with the build. However, you can always take Mantra of Resolve over Arcane Thievery if you have concerns. Mobility is huge in WvW, and I think that’s what would make torment particularly deadly: it turns that advantage into a liability. The plan is to torment and confuse them, then kite all day long while flinging a few more conditions their way with staff skills. It boils down to personal preference too in my case. My greatest strength as a player is that I can kite like mad. I lose sometimes, but I don’t die. Even without travelers or focus I find myself successfully running away almost always.

Also, is rabid gear the best choice for this build? Low HP is still a concern. Maybe dire gear?

Depends how high you want your crit chance. Crits = vigor, vigor = clones, clones = shatters, and also bleeds from clones. You can mix rabid with dire for more hp too.

I’ll probably end up going with dire gear and rampager or rabid trinkets. Should give me a reasonably high crit chance.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Stormbolt.7293:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Nobody’s been talking about condition builds? Post Maim patch there were a slew of Maim shatter builds with all the variation. There’s a long thread full of them, as well as a number of build threads. Even I did one complete with video.

The one you linked still has its issues. Namely landspeed/swiftness access. But I digress. Maim shatter is a viable build in all its forms.

Well, as of late at least. I came back from a break in December and I’ve hardly seen any discussion.

Travelers could work in it. Perplexity isn’t required but they’re very nice.

Travelers could “work”. Sure, that’s one way to tell the story. Travellers isnt so much a rune set for Mesmers as it is a 25% movement speed trait. Yeah ok, cool. What’s really required of a build is dominance over your encounter. To be able to make a condition build truly deadly you’re best off focusing on conditions and condition damage, so I’d argue that perplexity is the far superior option over travelers. That said you’re still slow. So its either bite the bullet, dont expect to get away, and take down everything that comes at you, or make a nasty sacrifice. The third option is to take a different build. Of course speed isnt going to help you if you have other weaknesses. Condition removal is a major concern in WvW due to the number of roaming condition builds. The hp on this build is low so condi’s are going to burn it fast. With that in mind I’d be more inclined to go for a “Strong offense is the best defense” over sacrificing that offence for defence. Eliminate the opponent quickly, remove the long term threat.

Anyway lots of theory to be played with. Mobility is still king in wvw, and 33% swiftness > 25% travelers runes imo.

Here’s the thread I mentioned. And look, I was the first reply :p
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Maim-The-Disillusioned-Impressions/first

Conditions was one of the first problems I saw with the build. However, you can always take Mantra of Resolve over Arcane Thievery if you have concerns. Mobility is huge in WvW, and I think that’s what would make torment particularly deadly: it turns that advantage into a liability. The plan is to torment and confuse them, then kite all day long while flinging a few more conditions their way with staff skills. It boils down to personal preference too in my case. My greatest strength as a player is that I can kite like mad. I lose sometimes, but I don’t die. Even without travelers or focus I find myself successfully running away almost always.

Also, is rabid gear the best choice for this build? Low HP is still a concern. Maybe dire gear?

Ross Biddle.2367:

Nobody’s been talking about condition builds? Post Maim patch there were a slew of Maim shatter builds with all the variation. There’s a long thread full of them, as well as a number of build threads. Even I did one complete with video.

The one you linked still has its issues. Namely landspeed/swiftness access. But I digress. Maim shatter is a viable build in all its forms.

Well, as of late at least. I came back from a break in December and I’ve hardly seen any discussion.

Travelers could work in it. Perplexity isn’t required but they’re very nice.

The main difference between condition mesmer and necros in my mind is that mesmers are vastly more mobile, while necros are more tanky with more conditions.

I’ve seen a lot of shatter and PU roaming builds, but nobody’s been talking about condition builds. I tried Osicat’s Napalm Cat build, but it had the same problem that other condition builds have: people can just run away. Then I ran across this build on MetaBattle:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNArfWlknpRtlpxNNcrNitBdyakDUPkjsySGghB-TFyCABAcCAwS53lq/s8+D6pPgiDBwYKBn+JAAA-w

I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. We’re one of the only classes in the game that can reliably and rapidly inflict torment, and running away is the worst thing you can do while under torment. Throw in some confusion, and the only way they can not hurt themselves is to just stand there. I’ve yet to test this since I’m painfully low on gold, but it looks very promising.

Are there any other condition builds you guys have had luck with in WvW?

Phantasm or Shatter is pretty much a must for PvE. If you use interrupt or condition, you’re gonna have a bad time.

Tealots.6095:

@Stormbolt I use Focus with travelers, despite not getting into WvW all that often. Being able to pull an enemy into the warden and trap them there with CI is so good. But I also tend to run 04640 in WvW and trait the focus. Reflects definitely have a place in the lockdown world. Also, wardens spinning on the temporal curtain = condi cleanse. You should be standing near the warden anyway for some area denial/protection.

Good point. Still though, the reliable stuns from the sword or pistol are hard to pass up…

Lately, I’ve been trying to translate the CI build into WvW. Here’s what I have so far:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsaRlknpNtlpxGNcrNipxY6eiJHSGQDlMkxB-T1BFABIp8Tu9HSTfwCHBAAeFAFq+zVKBBA-w

Travelers or some other reliable form of mobility is simply mandatory in WvW. For this reason, I decided to ditch Lyssa runes for them. Having constant speed diminishes the value of focus a bit, so I decided to pick up a pistol instead. May try the sword too and see which I like better. Without Lyssa, I need some form of reliable condition removal. Arcane Thievery synergies nicely in my opinion, since it means I’ll have two manipulations. Debilitating Dissipation and Phantasmal Fury are nice but by no means mandatory, so I went ahead and got the range and cooldown manipulation traits.

Still have to test this. Any thoughts?

Curunen.8729:

Good luck with not using traveler runes… :p

I suppose if you run staff + sword/focus (which tbh isn’t the best anymore) and take 1200 blink you could make do with swiftness and Pack runes.

I wouldn’t want to run Pack runes without using focus though.

Yeah, I wish we had another reliable source of swiftness. I just feel like I’m wasting so much potential with traveler runes. Pack has some pretty sweet bonuses that Mesmers in general can use.

I’m currently trying out different roaming shatter builds, and I’m wondering what works best. Right now, I’ve had the best luck with a traditional 4/4/0/0/6 Sword/Pistol Staff build with traveler runes. However, I feel like I can make it more effective with different runes. Pack runes look particularly appealing. Mesmer runes could also be an option.

What are you guys running for roaming shatter, and how’s it working? Is there a generally agreed upon optimal build?

Mesmer is without a doubt the most painful class to level. I got the game last year for Christmas and rolled a Mesmer too. It truly takes dedication to level. Good call using sword/pistol. Just keep at it, you’ll start to snowball after a while.

I’ve been told that my Mesmer looks like a serial killer.

IGN: Mallas Elerviel
Server: Stormbluff Isle
Playstyle: WvW
Role: Scholar
Timezone: Pacific Time, playtime varies