Guild Wars 2

I also had similar problem a while back. I solo CoE story mode and near the end I posted LFG so I can actually finish it. One by one people trickle in and once the 5th joins, I get booted out of my instance. At that time I simply ragequit since LFG tool has just trashed hours of hard work in a blink of an eye -.-

Same with warrior’s Mace #5. Tremor will not trigger yet the skill will go on full cooldown if mob moves to your side or your back during the charge-up animation (0.5s).

Xyonon.3987:

15 it’s more rewarding than the pistol because of its line daze.

Sword #4 is 900, Pistol #5 is 1200. Pistol bullet will bounce around while Sword won’t since it’s only a straight line projectile. Pistol is much better for pulling mobs for a LoS tactic. All it requires is one block/evade for iSwordsman to fail where iDuelist has 8 attempts/projectiles. If mob is running around iSwordsman will run around chasing the guy while iDuelist will keep unloading as long as he’s within 1200. Also, because of this I can summon iDuelist in safe spots without worrying about them coming too close and getting killed. On paper sword offhand might sound better while in reality pistol is much more practical and reliable. This is why I much prefer pistol offhand than the sword.

Don’t get me wrong, I still do use sword offhand and it’s good weapon but only in specific situations such as lupi in Arah where that extra block can be a difference between living or dying.

Also, I missed to mention that IC also applies to Disenchanter, Decoy, and similar utility skills. It really is one of the best and most important traits to get.

60s worth of single iDuelist damage:

no PH, 7000*60/7.5 = 56.0k (933/sec)
w/ PH, 7000*60/6.5 = 64.6k (1077/sec)

That’s 15% more DPS. Do not underestimate PH.

Summon iDuelist – swap – summon iSwordsman/iWarden – swap – Summon iDuelist. 3 phantasms in 12 sec. With dual CD reduction traits you are at your peak DPS faster and have much easier time keeping them up (can summon replacements sooner in case one goes down). IC is too good to pass up.

While I’ll probably run 0/20/0/30/20 (phantasm oriented w/ both glamour traits for best reflect uptime), here’s a build I will run when I don’t need glamour traits.

10/15/0/25/20
- Empowered Illusions (15% phantasm damage)
- Phantasmal Fury (more crits, more dps)
- Persisting Images & Signet of Illusions (phantasms survive till skill goes off CD)
- Wardens Feedback (reflects always good to have)
- Phantasmal Strength (15% phantasmal damage)
- Compounding Power (9% self damage)
- Phantasmal Haste (Duelist hits every 6.5s vs 7.5s, Warden 1.5s faster too)

For times where I have trouble keeping 3 Duelists up, I’ll trade Phantasmal Haste for Duelists Discipline, aka 10/20/0/25/15.

hybrid.5027:

Don’t forget that phantasmal haste doesn’t work with swordsman!

Yeah, sad but true. If you want sword offhand and ok with iWarden hitting 1.5s slower then 10/20/0/25/15 really is a better fit.

Some quick math, iDuelist damage over 1min. PH vs no PH but with +15% dmg.

60/7.5*7000*1.15 = 64,400
60/6.5*7000 = 64,616

Weaker phantasm hitting faster is better than strong phantasm hitting slower. In reality, 216 damage over 60 seconds is negligible. What you want is strong phantasm hitting fast:

60/6.5*7000*1.15 = 74,307

Aka, 10/15/0/25/20.

If I’m able to keep 3 phantasms alive before they come off CD, then IC is a waste and I’d definitely pick +15% phantasm damage and extra 100 power. Atm I’m finding that to be hard to achieve and need to summon replacements faster than they go off CD.

hybrid.5027:

Personally I think IC is kind of overrated >.>

IC + weapon specific CD reduction:
- iDuelist every 12s
- iSwordsman every 12s
- iWarden every 15s

This allows you to setup and maintain 3 phantasms with little effort. Combine that with PH and other phantasm buffing traits and you get yourself a mesmer that’s actually doing decent DPS compares to other classes.

Oom.3205:

I really like sword/sword as my primary set, focus or pistol on swap. As the sword phantasm isn’t affected by Phantasmal Haste, any thoughts on only going 15 Illusions after the Dec 10 patch? Lower uptime on warden reflects, but nabbing an extra 15% illusion damage from Domination III looks pretty good.

I would rather pick extra glamour duration than 15% illusion damage for dungeons requiring reflects. After Dec 10 with 0/20/0/30/20 you should be able to pull off perma-reflect which is perfect for CM/SE. Other dungeons I run p/f offhand and since Phantasmal Haste does apply to those phantasm so I’d still go 20 into illusions. With that build you get IC + PH + Duelist Discipline which brings our best phantasm to 12s CD that unloads every 6.5s (zerker gear that’s usually 6k to 8k per unload). Slot in Signet of Illusions + Persisting Images traits and you should be able to keep up 3 phantasms much more often. Set up 3 properly staggered iWardens vs ranged mob and your party will throw gold at you for making those fights a breeze (aka majority of CM)

draconx.3102:

This is most obvious to me (as a mesmer) when equipping feedback after using portal. IIRC, portal has 72 second cooldown and feedback has 32 second cooldown when traited.

Example:

- Start with utilities blink, portal and mirror images.
– Use the portal (goes on 72 second cooldown)
– Swap out mirror images for feedback
– Now both portal and feedback are on the same 72 second cooldown.

I think this happens every time for this particular set of utilities but I haven’t extensively tested it. Maybe related to the fact that portal and feedback are both glamour skills.

I have reported this bug months ago and ANet is ignoring it. Here’s the video I attached to the report showing the bug on my mesmer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00eErlZAlAk

I had tab target a champ that’s out of my skill range (900) AND not even on my screen while I literally had 6 other enemy mobs (including 3 veterans) within 180 range of me, all perfectly visible on my screen.

This new targeting system is just broken.

Also, getting hit during dodge animation. It’s the worst seeing your character start rolling with that perfectly timed dodge and then finding yourself downed just because server was too slow with registering the dodge.

Finally I can get my ideal build with those extra 5pts. 0/20/0/30/20. Dual CD reduction for iDuelist and iWarden and all glamour reflect traits, along with the usual phantasm buffing traits. Can’t complain

Get everyone to break line of sight by going behind the pillars and he will unbug.

The most annoying bug in the game. Lost count how many times I died because my evade/block/heal got canceled because of that dodge trait.

What’s the downside with using the Indestructible target golems in Heart of the Mists for controlled tests?

A simple test with guardian GS#2 (Whirling Wrath) with combat log open:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ru-aKLzHy0

Number above target is showing 290 yet if you add up the combat log it’s actually 364. The same is happening on many other fast-hitting skills, especially warrior GS#2 and GS#3. The damage numbers shown on screen most of the time are wrong.

That was me – vid 1, vid 2. Now I use 3x disenchanters and then use feedback/curtain to protect them from golem’s projectiles if he decides to go for one of them. If I fail to protect them, by that time I probably bought myself enough time for to summon a replacement.

Also, I usually don’t rely on others to keep the party alive. I’m probably the only one that gives enough kittens to bother with that. Which is why I end up swapping traits/skills/weapons and playstyles to adapt so often.

No focus? But but… mesmers so slow

No shake it off, just [Signet of Fury][For Great Justice][Banner/On My Mark]. Ele can cleanse but with my dps build that usually means dropping the LH or FGS. No disenchanter, I prefer to keep up 3 dps phantasms unless it’s absolutely necessary. I did try finishing iDuelists/iWardens with the curtain and the condi cleanses were not as predictable as I’d hoped. That was 6+ months ago. Maybe now it’s easier/more reliable to clear condi’s that way.

I actually keep 100% health throughout all Alpha fights with no problem. I do dodge fire bursts and use Blurred Frenzy for the spike AoE’s / directional cone attacks. Heck, most of the time I time my frenzy to evade both the earth spike and the following fire/cone burst which makes the Alpha encounter a breeze. Now, even though I can pull that off with eyes closed it doesn’t mean others can. Which is the main reason I occasionally resort to the mantra party heals, it’s for their benefit not mine.

colesy.8490:

It’s even better if you have a guardian to give blocks..

My somewhat casual runs with friends utilize only war/ele’s, even for Arah.

For alpha I do use nullfield, but his fire burns stack much more often that the nullfield CD. Also, he does damage in addition to the burn so even if I cleanse burn the initial damage can still hurt if not healed. Also, I hate people going down. I’d much rather slow down my dps (not my phantasms dps) and help out the party than let one go down and then interrupt whole party dps for the rez.

11k health thieves/eles who are getting slowly eaten by Alpha’s burns. Also, zerks who are running scholar runs and are unable to keep 90%+ health at all times. Also, I don’t continuously spam mantra heals. I heal only when I see it fit. If it’s not needed, I slot in Focus cd/reflect trait instead of mantra heal.

colesy.8490:

Your crit damage is irrelevant because your power is abysmal from using celestial gear.

Now imagine if you went full berserker and had your phantasms deal 2.5x more damage, you wouldn’t need to spam useless heals

On my 0/20/0/25/25 full zerker build I heal for about 1k/sec. Good enough if I end up with not-so-pro runners.

Mantra healing is good combined with phantasm centric builds since your phantasms will still be applying dps pressure while you are charging/healing.

it’s so… beautiful <3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TQkaxaAtnQ

dragon.8071:

we the people of sor do no play for ppt.

Score Not From Tick (as of this post):

• JQ – 84,965 out of 249,533 (34.05%)
• SoR – 92,039 out of 240,757 (38.23%)
• BG – 96,388 of 229,442 (42.01%)

If you claim something then it’s BG that actually doesn’t play for PPT and focuses on fights/stomping. BG has the most points not from tick even though it has the least total out of the 3 servers.

Ruby Orbs.

A warrior gets 100% the benefit of Sigil of Force while a mesmer who’s damage dealing is split 50/50 between him and phantasms Sigil of Force is wasted since the other half of damage dealing doesn’t benefit from the bonus.

In my opinion, this behavior is unfair toward classes that rely on companions/phantasms and is definitely a bug.

A rune or a sigil with damage modifiers such as Scholar/Ranger runes and Force/Night/Accuracy sigils do not affect Phantasms. A mesmer who focuses on phantasms for dealing damage I’m very limited to what I can and can’t use. I’ve tested thoroughly the runes/sigils mentioned above and the Phantasms ignore the damage/accuracy increase bonuses those upgrades provide.

It would be very helpful to hear from ANet Dev to clarify whether this behavior is intentional or a bug.

Earlier today solo’d CoE p2 killing everything including the champ wolf, with zero condition clearing skills and without going down once while being full zerk, on the first try. Unfortunately, still had to invite guildies to disable lasers for me :/

No, there is no bias. I went through 250+ rifles (playing around in CoE/Arah) using stability during the jumps and never once has it malfunctioned and sent me flying backwards. You even see the “Invulnerable” message pop up if it tries to knock you back. When it does fail (ex. target area is obstructed) it will make you glide on the ground to the targeted spot instead of flying to it. Either way, stability prevents the unnecessary knockbacks, which can be a kitten if you’re on top of a tree and have a long ways to fall down.

That being said, I’m finding it quite fun exploring with my engi’s rifle atm. 800 range jump with no fails

Now that the rifles aren’t usable in dungeons, here’s a tip. Grant yourself stability before jumping with the experimental rifle and it will never backfire on you.

So you blow your burst (gs#4) BEFORE stacking might and vulnerability (gs#2)?

spoj.9672:

They should just remove jump so its just like gw1. Problem solved.

Make all encounters inaccessible (mobs green, interactions disabled) unless previous one is completed. Problem solved at its core.

Breaking Bad.6241:

You were averaging 30+ CoE path runs per day?

3in1 = 30 min, 3in1 = 200 tokens, 10 alts/runs = 2k tokens, 2k tokens = 5hrs (30min x10).

Later when p1 got patched, it was p2/3 only.

2in1 = 20 min, 2in1 = 130 tokens, 10 alts/chars = 1.3k tokens, 1.3k tokens = 3.5hrs (20min x 10).

Then, p2/3 was patched.

p2 = 15min, p2 = 70 tokens, 10 alts/chars = 700 tokens, 700 tokens = 2.5hrs (15min x 10).

Finally, alt swapping got patched and farming dungeons for tokens wasn’t worth it anymore. The only reason to now run multiple paths per day is if you want to quickly lvl a lowbie, in which case you’d just run some other easier dungeon.

Because with alts it was ridiculously easy to get tokens. Back when you could use alts I was averaging 1.5k – 2k CoE tokens a day. Pretty sure that’s not what ANet intended.

Nope, it doesn’t.

Last night, SoR had our garri. What do BG commanders do? Take those following them and go on TC bl to cap towers, and later take their garrison. All while BG map was left without any organised force. If you want someone to blame then blame BG and their commanders for allowing enemy to WP our keeps and garri. By now it’s pretty clear the server as a whole has given up on winning the matchup.

Top 5 matchups, green servers are winning. Something smells fishy here…

My favorite from CoE, Icebrood Elementals: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvtsmUM5DIo

Another favorite, Omega Golems in WvW. Chain reflects and the Omega is doing 0 damage.

Oh wow, I’m actually liking the new sound a lot. The old one was too annoying.

I was doing some tests against a 100% crit rifle war. Many reflected projectiles with Feedback did not crit (I was 50% crit). With 2k toughness I got hit for 12k with a killshot, Mimic->Echo it back on that full glass warrior and hit him for only 7k. This brings up an important question. We have multiple way of reflecting:
- Feedback
- Mirror (heal)
- Traited Curtain/iWarden
- Traited F4
- Mimic

Do all of the above reflects work by “stealing” the skill enemy attempted using and then shoot it back while using mesmers power/prec/crit/etc stats in the damage calculations instead of simply reflecting the 100% of the damage back to the source?

If that is true, then would a reflected/Mimic’ed killshot, or any projectile for that matter, from a pvt war hit for much harder if I was a full glass mesmer?

2 mesmers summon defenders. Will the damage still split? Will splitting stack?

Had same happen with iDuelist a few times. Summon him and he just stands there not doing anything. The enemy was 900 units or less from us on a level field as me and my phantasm. Definitely a bug.

If it’s red it’s dead. TC, JQ, BG, tonic or not, doesn’t matter. When I go out to WvW I come looking for blood.

For AC2 you use focus not because of its AoE capabilities but for its reflective utility. You can literally have ghost eater kill himself with all the reflects we can can put on him. If you want AoE, get yourself a shatter build.

Hmm… what was OP topic again? :/

I wish I had the power to lock my own threads. This is quickly turning into a pointless arguing that’s based on opinions. Either way, I believe the thread has served the purpose and the research is complete. Time to move on.