Guild Wars 2

Preamble (for brevity’s sake, feel free to not read)

Greetings all. Nero here. <3

I’m only new to the forums (as of today) but I’ve been compelled to share what I’ve learned so far about being a shatter/condition Mesmer. Before the latest feature pack update (in September) I was curious about the trait “Maim the Disillusioned” (MtD) and intrigued at the amount of torment application Mesmers had, but after the patch it only got better with buffs to scepter and MtD.

After the patch, no one seemed to care about MtD, but since the most recent news that MtD would receive a further buff I’ve noticed a lot more interest in the viability and application of a shatter/condition Mesmer. So I thought I might share my build to open up further discussion and provide advice about what I’ve found so far now that I’ve been playing it for 3 months.

I came up with this build after months of messing around and testing. In saying that however, there’s probably other people that play similar builds out there and this build is not rocket science. So if you run a similar build please feel free to add any advice or improvements if care to.

The Build

Click here for the build.
Note: I don’t currently have ascended everything, but it’s what i’m working towards.

Basically, this build was built for roaming in WvW. This means, the ability to fight 1-2 people who try to gank you and provide survivability through stealth, toughness and increased movement speed. This build also excels at 1v1 fights and so does well in solo queue pvp (with decreases to condition damage and duration mind you)

Pros
-Provides intense condition damage through torment and confusion.
-1.8K torment damage per shattered clone (if the target is moving) do the math
-10+ stacks of confusion
-Good level of survivability.
-Good level of mobility.
-Great kiting potential.
-Great 1v1ing potential.

Cons
-Weak to CC and control conditions such as blind/immob.
-Conditions applied to target in bursts (meaning you should panic if they dodge/block all your bursts and try to reset fight or kite a little until cooldowns are finished).
-Mediocre condition removal: arcane thievery/cleansing conflagration aside, I kinda wish I had moooooooooore.
-Not as survivable as PU condi specs (but is anything?)

Main Damage Rotation

- [Pistol 5: Magic Bullet] stun, 5x vulnerability (if dazed, and it also says confusion on tooltips but it never procs)
- [Pistol 4: Phantasmal Duelist] 4-5x bleeding
- [Sword 3: Illusionary Leap] cripple, 2x vulnerability
- [Sword 3: Swap] immobolize
- [Dodge Forward]
- [Diversion] daze, 6x vulnerability, 3x torment, 3x confusion, 3x might
- [Dodge back]
- [Mirror Images]
- [Cry of Frustration] 6x confusion, 3x torment, 3x might

*Take a break. If you managed to hit all of that you need it. Usually you won’t end up hitting ALL of the shatters but in an ideal scenario, this is what you could potentially apply, leaving them floundering, looking for condition removal or trying to run away, but its time for part II!

-[Weapon Swap]
-[Torch 4: The Prestige] stealth, blindness, burning (after 3 seconds), condition removal
-[Torch 5: Phantasmal Mage] retaliation, 3x confusion, condition removal
-[Scepter 3: Confusing Images] 5x confusion
-[Scepter 2: Illusionary Counter] 5x torment
-[Mind Wrack] 3x confusion, 3x torment, 3x might, 3x vulnerability

If you’ve managed to land everything by now and they still aren’t dead then GG. Nah jokes, kite and start again, but most people are dead by now what with the 12+ stacks of torment and confusion towards the end. Even if you don’t manage to hit all of the shatters, if they have 50% of what you tried to apply on them and they don’t cleanse some how they’re in real trouble.

At this point you still have two disengage/stealth options left in your utilities and your opponent is left thinking, what the hell.

I dont think youre a scumbag, haha. PU is great for survival in wvw. As far as team play goes though i feel like taking PU benefits yourself more than your team which, depending on your opinions is selfish. But i guess if your team wants someone to take on more of a roaming role, securing stomps and keeping people preoccupied then its okay… maybe.

skcamow.3527:

^^ welcome to the mesmer forums xD.

Yeah I don’t think anyone would argue any MtD build is OP, or even will be after the buff.

I’ve been thinking about a build using sword for MtD though, as you seem to be playing. With GS/Staff standard shatter, there are ample means to get a burst off even though you’re not rooting the opponent. Once you take sword or another melee weapon however, you have to have a means to root to land the burst. Maybe taking sword is the key with a MtD build, maybe using earth sigils or something else to spread additional condition pressure on a weapon that doesn’t naturally dish it.

I don’t know how successful it will be, but nevertheless I’m glad to see a MtD build using sword is working for someone and I’ll probably try something like sw/t-sc/p out soon.

The reason I use sword is mainly for the root and the distortion. Its very good at avoiding damage when you need it and you have no clones. Plus swords look cool on caster classes, haha.

Also I find that sword/pistol scepter/torch synergizes and feels more natural than the other way around but thats probably due to personal preference.

I might actually post my build in the forums and look for feedback. Might be able to help some people and improve it at the same time.

Finally, in wvw with food buffs to condi duration every clone that shatters on my opponent applies 1 stack of torment dealing 1700 damage over 10s if the opponent is moving. This means that under the current spec in an ideal situation where i could land 3 consecutive shatters each with 3 clones the damage over 10secs should theoritically be 15k.

Then you add in the other torment stacks from scepter autoattacks and the 11k damage if moving if your opponent hits your scepter block, in an ideal situation its an instant knock out. Which has happened before where the opponent eats a tonne of torment, tries to run and the confusion plus torment kills them. Its very good for shutting down long bow rangers who spam their skills in a short period of time and try to run when you get close.

This is my first post on the forums but Ive been playing GW2 now for about a year. I felt compelled to add my 2 cents worth to this post because I main a mesmer and i currently run maim the disillusioned.

I run full rabid gear. Spec- 4/4/0/0/6 with scepter torch sword pistol.

As it stands my current dot in a 1v1 scenario for anyone unfortunate enough to not dodge my initial burst is bad for them. Usually around 9 plus stacks of confusion, 25 stacka of vulnerability, 9 plus stacks of torment, and 6-8 stacks of bleeding. If i catch a thief off guard its usually enough to get them to 25 percent health or less if theyre glassy.

I cant give you exact figures because im on my way to work but i wanted to comment on its viability.

This build sings in 1v1 and plays more like a pd thief, burst then kite. In a group scenario it sucks. And its countered very harshly by classes with multiple condi cleanses and blocks like guardians. Its also vulnerable to conditions eventhough it has okay condition removal with torch and arcane thievery.

I think this buff will bring an extra level of obscenity to mymy current torment damage but most people dont understand its potential and it has a higher skill cap like shatter mes. So i think in spite of this buff most people will still run pu boredom fest condi on clone death builds because they dont understand why the devs attached condi damage to the shatter traitline.

As far as being op, i dont think it is. It has natural counters and ive been bested in1v1s many a times by good players.

Anyway give it a try in heart of the mists.

Full rabids, traveller runes, sword pistol scepter torch. Trait for longer confusion duration, elasticity and mtd in shatterline. In precision line, fury for clone bleeds and clone factory skill.

Main rotation goes like this. Pistol 4, 5, sword 3, 2, f3 shatter. Dodge forward, then double clone utility, then f2 shatter. Profit.

Then switch to torch scepter as they panic and condi clear. Torch 5, dodge, torch 4, scepter 3, get close to target for burn damage, then scepter block because at this point theyll try to hit you. Throw an f1 shatter in vthere somewhere to for laughs. Then kite and stealth and watch them die. If they arent dead then most of your cds will be off and you can start again.

Anyway, sorry for the lack of skill names and the spelling mistakes. Im typing this on my phone.

Edit-

I forgot to say that if the oposing player understands shatter mes playstyles or coincidentally gets some lucky dodges its very possible for them to avoid the bursts.

Which comes back to what another person said previously. Shatter condi is burst condi which is contradictory to traditional condi stacking. This means that a burst of condi does a high amount of damage in a short period of time, around 10-15 seconds depending on yhe source of torment and confusion and food. Which means if the player must keep bursting to sustain condi stacks but because of cooldowns cannot susain a fight as long as a traditional condi necro build, for example. This also means if your bursts miss you need to kite and stealth and wait for cool downs.

This is why i think this spec isnt op. Its essentially nerfed by blinds, blocks, and dodges.