Guild Wars 2

Here’s one of my ladies in condition and shatter gear.

God kitten I want the bunny ears.

Calliope.8675:

Something that will really help you in this game is learning the dodge mechanic. =) It was the hardest for me to understand and utilize effectively when I first started. So, try not to face tank anything if you can help it.

To add, bind dodge to it’s own key if you haven’t done that already.

I’m leveling a third mesmer and I use gs/sword+focus, maybe it’s a difficult combo as a beginner but the focus phantasm and blurred frenzy is very nice.

1. Focus #4 Temporal Curtain x2 to group them
2. Focus #5 Phantasmal Warden
3. Sw#3 Illusionary Leap on a mob
4. Sw#3 Swap into the group
5. Sw#2 Blurred frenzy all over their faces
6. Dodge away!
7. GS#5 Phantasmal Berzerker if they still up
8. GS#3 Mind Stab their faces!

You can craft Ascended weapons (or get them as drops, cant buy on TP), not much better than Exotic, but a little bit. Stay away from the wvw weapons you can buy for badges, you can’t salvage the sigils from them.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_weapon
http://www.guildwars2hub.com/guides/crafting/how-craft-ascended-weapons

I’ve used full zerker (except two knight pieces) gs/staff with traveler’s (gotta practice on my forward phase retreat) and same build as Jurica (44006) except I used mental Torment instead of Halting Strike. It works good, it’s not a walk in the park, but it’s really fun. I mostly roam solo so the staff is essential for handling thief’s for me.
I recently used the Masterful Reflection instead of Illusionary Elasticity bacuase of all the god kitten rangers.

I played with a group yesterday and used gs/s+t instead, in group battles I find they rarely focus on me as a mesmer so it’s easier to go more glassy. Check out Vash for gs/s+t game play https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3fUhFuUP-E

A note, I’m no shatter pro, still learning but thats my input.

I’ve bought a silly amount of rare skins instead of legendary weapon(s).

Unofficially I do want Bolt, Twilight and Quip.. and a warrior with dual moots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPKu0a6AvAw

Bamfjoe use that weapon setup but its not easy to start with.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/WvW-Bamf-Joe-Shatter-Guide

I instakilled an unsuspected ranger with full health the other day, GS/sw+p. Was a bit lucky with the crit though.

Simonoly.4352:

For WvW, I personally enjoy 0/6/0/2/6 for the extra mantra charge and Mender’s Purity, allowing me to free up a utility spot that I would usually reserve for personal cleanse. Alternatively I use 4/4/0/0/6 when I want more upfront boon stripping or 0/4/4/0/6 if I want to be a bit tankier or want more might through CI.

I used 06026 too when I played condition, the fights tend to be longer and I feel that more condition cleanse is needed than with shatter.

fluxit.8247:

jenzie.4083:

fluxit.8247:

I for one am still learning and ive played mesmer for a year now.

I’ve played since launch and still feel I’m learning mesmer. For me shatter is the most difficult, but most rewarding next to interrupt.

fluxit.8247:

I note the video on youtube of that streamer who teaches his grandmother to play warrior in hotjoin in like half an hour.

My google skills failed me, you got a link for this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3oBOOKuvQU

Enjoy the grandma playing warrior. :P

thank you! haha that was hilarious.

Fay.2357:

Condition shatter has essentially the same pros and cons as power shatter, just a slightly different delivery method.

I’d say condition shatter has a lot higher defence since you can use Rabid or Dire which both has high toughness, imo it’s pretty good build for roaming and optimal for oh-kitten-time-to-get-the-kitten-out-situations since torment tend to keep people from chasing you.

Works good on camps too since they don’t do any condition removal and chase you blindly, minus the scouts.

StickerHappy.8052:

jenzie.4083:

StickerHappy.8052:

… A good ranger will cancel his RF channel and PBS you when they get interrupted while channeling.

What? Can they cancel after an interrupt? How long recharge they have then on RF? I thought that if I interrupted they got the full recharge.

I always use mantra ’rupt to shut em down

Sorry my bad. They cancel RF when they see reflect up. Also, Interrupt is good with RF IF You manage to interrupt at the beginning of the cast, interrupting it almost at the end is a waste of Interrupts/MoD, because you still ate a lot of damage first hand. UNLESS you have CI so you could still root em onto place and burst em down.

Ah phew, I totally agree that the RF need to be interrupted fast, the good thing with the mantra is that I don’t need to face the ranger, just have him targeted and it’s instant so with it its quite easy to stop the RF really fast.

reinforever.8902:

Any idea what his shatter build looks like?

Here he goes through his build.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDXWRSKlQec

Check out all his videos, lots of how-to’s and tactics.

StickerHappy.8052:

… A good ranger will cancel his RF channel and PBS you when they get interrupted while channeling.

What? Can they cancel after an interrupt? How long recharge they have then on RF? I thought that if I interrupted they got the full recharge.

I always use mantra ’rupt to shut em down

Regarding the escapeability, I think you need to get used to the playstyle. With shatter you need to be careful with choosing fights and WHERE you fight, open field is a nightmare, I often hang around cliffs and larger obstacles so I can phase retreat and blink to where they cant reach you. With a glass canon build like shatter you need to go in blast and then gtfo of reach and then back in. If it’s a longer fight all your stealths might be on cooldown and many opponents so you need environment to help you out.
Damage wise we’re ok, I mean you don’t see hits like 12k in ONE hit but maybe several 2-5k hits in a serie, AND they’re AOE. The best feeling is to stealth attack a group of clothies and shatter them to oblivion. Check out how Vash do it on youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elvgwG8CCKo#t=68

I roam with the same build as you but sometimes use Null Field instead of Arcane Thievery. I feel that I need at lease one condition cleansing skill. I think that if you’re really good at playing as a shatterer you can skip it but I really need it. I saw someone use that cleaner phantasm with great success but I haven’t really learned to use it properly.

Have you tried the build?

The old saying Attack is the best defence really is true with shatter imo, the defence comes from forcing the opponent to defensive play by being aggressive and high damage output. If you remove some of the damage you enable their offensive play and make yourself vulnerable.

With that said I think you should try it if you haven’t because we all play differently so maybe it suits your playstyle really well.

Fay.2357:

messiah.1908:

for roaming 1vx pu condi isnt much effective if your enemies notice you r pu
they will just disengage as it will borning slow fight

Only boring and slow if that’s how you fight with the build.

messiah.1908:

also few mtea wvw build can kill pu easily as mention above

There is no meta build other than the ‘meta’ of running a 3 thief gank party that can kill a PU build easily.

messiah.1908:

for roaming or small group go power build like 4,4,6 pu power or shatter 4,4,0,0,6

Small group, sure. Roaming, not unless you want to get dumped on.

messiah.1908:

if you wanna test something new go 4,4,0,0,6 or 0,4,4,0,6 condi shatter which can handle nice 1vx and also give great group aoe pressure

Condie shatter handles 1vx better than power shatter…but it still doesn’t handle it very well. I wouldn’t recommend condie shatter as a solo roaming build for the same reasons as the other ones, you just don’t have the defense and sustain for it.

I’ve run most builds while roaming and condition builds are really the best for survival and 1vsX, but god it gets boring after a while, its too easy. Right now I only run Vash shatter build, it’s so much fun since you gotta be on your top all the time and beating thieves is the best feeling in the world with shatter. Oooor when you instakill a ranger or attack a group for a laugh, down one, stomp and then get away! woooaaa!

Fixed iLeap
Illusionariy elasticity for clones is working.
Condition shatter is a thing.
PU is a bit nerfed.

They added Sinister Gear, Condition/power/perception, not really used ny mesmers atm.

Deim Hunir.8503:

I LISTEN TO THEIR SCREAMS AND THE LAMENTATION OF THEIR WOMEN.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=people+screaming+sound+effect

Fay.2357:

NICENIKESHOE.7128:

Just to be sure because my memory is bad, this bug happens when mesmer is down-leveled right?

It definitely happens when getting down leveled. It’s also seemed to pop up as occurring just randomly after a bit of time passes, without movement.

Hey, we got our own mesmerish bug-powered “if you dont move you will be logged out” notification. If you’re lazy, we will kitten up your next fight.

For duels you could use a lock-down build I guess since the block on off-hand Sword also got an interrupt/daze and the phantasms style is a bit sneaky, just standing there and then BAM and hits hardest of all.

I just made this, so not tested even though I run a similar but with pistol in WvW and it’s really fun:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8cl0npMtNoxGNMrNyqhY6WnedqllezoAA-TpBCABAcQAG+IAgxDAQjLAQYlBUa/BA

You can switch the Stun signet for something like Null Field or Arcane Thievery to rip stability of guardians and warriors and if the opponents don’t conditions a lot you can use the standard heal and switch Menders Purity for Empowered Illusions.

Check out the Lockdown thread for other builds, I think there are some with GS+sw/sw.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/The-Lockdown-Mesmer-Thread/first

Lockdown is really fun, especially if you team up with a thief, gotta be one of the more frustrating duos to fight.

Splatter Paw.7238:

Is there any trick to telling where your line will pull people to? i feel like mines a little unpredictable but in mid combat honestly im not paying super close attention.

Try to get a feeling of the distance it pulls and use the curtain at its maximum distance to get good control. It always pull people the same amount, towards the center of the curtain, if it’s placed close to the victim they pass over and continues across the curtain in the same direction.
http://imgur.com/xz7SZXR

Splatter Paw.7238:

4. I saw a video not to long ago (german fellow i think) based on a shatter build but had very very in depth tips on playing the class, i couldnt find anything myself if anyone could point me in the right direction thatd be sweet.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu2wU56QoFKbofxiqHHofdQ

Gz on 80 and welcome to mesmerworld. Solo can be a bit hard at first, mesmer has a looong tough learning curve since we use an active defence. This becomes very clear when soloing in pvp and pve. With active I mean we have to use skills to prevent damage instead of high armor as a warrior for example or high vitality as a necro.

I don’t play much PVE but I just tried the new Torment Shatter a little bit in PVE (I also solo everything) and it works pretty good. People will probably shout “staaap you can only play power mesmer in pve” but since you solo I think condition could be feasible. The mobs will chase you around and 20 stacks of torment melts kitten down.
With a torment shatter you run either Rabid or Dire with high toughness. As I said I’m no PVEer so there are probably better builds.

Edit:
Here is the build thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Maim-The-Disillusioned-Impressions/first#post4548527

fluxit.8247:

I for one am still learning and ive played mesmer for a year now.

I’ve played since launch and still feel I’m learning mesmer. For me shatter is the most difficult, but most rewarding next to interrupt.

fluxit.8247:

I note the video on youtube of that streamer who teaches his grandmother to play warrior in hotjoin in like half an hour.

My google skills failed me, you got a link for this?

Very nice video, you position yourself really well. You make shatter look very easy, which is not.

Sadrien.3470:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQJAWRlsnpMtdqxGNcrNipBZ6bEjcg6xcmlSqAA-TFCEAB2pLQQlgYq+zx7PolyPAOQAHcJAc+JAEAABY36GdezArX9qX9qX9MexLexLexTIAFzBA-w

This is a hybrid lockdown mes. It is using the new torment on shatter trait and i think it could be very strong. It has torment pressure and huge amounts of hard and soft CC. Unfortunately you are limited in your shatter out put by lack of DE, but like shatter lock it seems to still be a powerful build.

Throw in some condition removal and shatter without clone on dodge…hmm well its a hybrid so maybe it works, have you tried the build?

BurrTheKing.8571:

So, I’m new to Mesmer theorycrafting. I’ve been working too much to play but I would like to have a build to just plug in and play when I get the chance. So does this look OK ?

I prefer Far-reaching manipulation over Retaliatory Shield. It’s the best get-away / chase tool we have imo.
Haven’t looked through the whole build but that caught my eye.

keenlam.4753:

My usual combo is: Scepter Block + MI + CoF Shatter.

Yes, I use MI too, it’s awesome for keeping the stacks up. I use it for my second burst in stealth from torch #4, MI, Dodge, F2, switch to staff (hydromancy) , Dodge, phase retreat, Dodge (if possible) , F3.

I played a bit with 0/6/0/2/6, 3x mantra, Menders Purity and Dire gear. Staff/sc+torch with sigil of corruption. I didn’t have problems with anyone, except a necro at start but then i got hang of it, it was a bit empty though but it works really nice. 22 stacks is my record so far. I fought a warrior and an ele easily. Not much to stop with though, except SoD, so they ran.

I hear you, it’s frustrating at start. In the Chaos line, do you use Prismatic Understanding? Do it, it helps when you’re new at the battlefield. Also try using a build with staff, it has good defensive skills but is also a good offensive weapon.

Learn your defensive skills, as a mesmer you need to actively defend yourself, it takes time to learn this, all classes have their kitten (attacks) you need to know. A way to learn this is to ONLY defend, try just to stay alive for as long as you can. Read up on all the defensive skills and bring them all, don’t change your build, just actively try to just defend. Blow them all in a sequence at first and then try to time them with the enemies moves.

Invest in Sigil of Energy, it gives you more dodging juice which is fundamental in survival.

However, dont forget the saying “Attack is the best defence” which is why Glasscannon builds work, when you go into a defensive playstyle you dont lead the game, its harder motivate yourself and decide the outcome.

There are builds that are built around defence however, and you almost have one right now, but with the wrong gear. Look up Blackwater, you need rabid armor/trinkets/weapon. Its’ condition but very forgiving and quite easy to play.

Also assign dodge to its own key, don’t use double tap. This helps A LOT. Dont use wireless keyboard/mouse either, they loose keypresses and lag.

Good luck!

MailMail.6534:

…you’ll appreciate the hatred of other players soon enough…

This. The hatred is my heroin.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I could see this working if you had a way of stacking/maintaining around 15x Might.

I’d offer suggestions but I’m mostly WvW illiterate. Good stuff from Ross though.

I often have around 10 stacks when checking, what if I switched to Rune of Aristochracy or Strength, I think Aristochracy works best, 3xMight on heal (10s cd) and condition dmg. Also added sigil of Impact +10% dmg vs stunned foes.

Do the different dmg sigils stack? For example, can I use Sigil of Midnight together with Impact?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAraRl0npMt1oxBNcrNyqxY6WO5lTtUp3I7AA-TFCCABDfIA2R9nxUCSlyPW0HAwJAQjnAQf7PEAABgZOzZOzZOzSBsoyK-w

Swish.2463:

If you avoid staff then I’d agree with what was said above mostly.

However I think staff offers more control and can be used very offensively and still works in a hybrid build.. so far as hybrid builds can work. It just takes a bit of a different mindset to use staff as an offensive rather than purely defensive..

For example if you use a mainhand sword to iMob on swap, you can swap to staff dodge and phase retreat at the same time to get 3 clones basically stacked on your immobile target for a shatter.

Yeah the staff is a nice weapon, but again it’s not my favourite. I realise this stubborness around the GS is a bit stupid but I wanna give it a try.

Gotta try that staff/sword move though. I used this build with staff before the GS and it worked nicely too but I like the aggressiveness in the GS and also its long reach/cripple when chasing opponents, which is a problem as a mesmer roamer. Sword however is also a very nice weapon for stopping people.

Ross Biddle.2367:

• So now I’m going to suggest harmonious mantras and instead putting those 2 points into Inspiration for Malicious Sorcery. You can run a sword with your focus if you want, you can CI interrupt into iWarden for a cc bleed stack fest and stack imob on top of that with a sword iswap, or you could just run scepter pistol/focus. In which case you’ll continually benefit from the +200 condition damage (not to mention illusionary counter reduced CD) and 100% scepter clone output for more torment application. You’re sacrificing that third MoD cast, and a condi cleanse from heal if you take the mantra heal. But I’d personaly go for ether fest and use positioning, kiting, avoidance, interrupts, and mobility to avoid condi’s. Up to you.

First, thank you for taking your time.
Your suggestions are very interresting and makes alot of sence. I like the idea with the focus and pull enemies into the iWarden. Only problem is I really hate the focus and I tried to build around my favourite weapons, I realise I probably end up with a dmg kitten build but maybe my knowledge with using the the other can compensate for that.

My own pvp theory is that CC is invaluable as a weapon, even if they dont do dmg they add frustration to the enemy and puts of their rotations and planning, forcing them into a defensive play instead of focusing on damaging. It’s makes the killing process slower but also more joyful since I know they struggle alot.

When roaming I usually win most fights as it is now, I only have serious problems with a certain type of cond warriors.

I will absolutly try your suggested build because it really seems interresting. Loosing harmonius mantras is a tough one though, there’s so much conditions out there now but maybe the need of conditions cleanses will decrease when my dmg output is better. However, as a solo roamer I’m often/mostly in a 1vsX situation and frequently steam rolled by zergs when I try to seed out the slow ones in a train, spamming cond cleanse + heal has often saved me numerous times.

Another question, what numbers in power/condition dmg would be ok in a hybrid build?

I’ve played a lot with Osicat’s Napalm cat build, Vash’s shatterbuild and been fooling around with different interrupt builds and now I’ve ended up with my own (I think) Interrupt condition build. It’s a work in progress and right now I’m mixing in zerker gear to make it a bit more hybrid. The reason for this is I’ve tried ALOT of builds, my bank is filled with armors with different runes but to stop the shopping madness I’ve decided to make a build around the weapons I know/like best and those are scepter/pistol and GS. Anyhooo, back to the hybrid point, to make the most of the GS I need some power in there, otherwise its just a CC weapon.

The GS and the pistol stacks an impressive amount of bleeds, I’ve seen upto 20, not sure If I had giver’s weapons then though.

Sometimes I switch SoD for Arcane Thievery (hello ranger/guardian buffs)

I know a staff would be better but I hate the staff, it such a passive and defensive weapon. My playstyle is aggressive and controlling, I love to push, stun and troll the kitten out of people.

I only roam solo, thats why I use travellers.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAraRl0npMt1oxBNcrNyqxY6WO5lTtUp3I7AA-TFCCwADOEA7U/x/+DjVCSV5HL9BAOBAXeCABAQAYmzcmzcmzsUALqsC-w

To my questions:

- Do you think hybrid is a good idea, assuming I stick with the weapons I like.
- Should I mix in more berzerker gear or some other types?
- Should I go with some Giver’s for more duration?

I’ve tried to answer these questions myself by testing but I can’t really come to a conclusion.

All ideas and critisim welcome. Hit me.

Any interrupt works on the rangers, very easy to pull off.

I roamed with another shatter mesmer last night, we both used GS/sw+t, that was really fun, you can take on large groups with two mesmers. The ahaaa-moment for me with shattering was when I realised how important positioning and controlling the fight is. Keys to controll are, CC and aggression, just unleash all you got (almost) and then disapear, then back in. When you’re aggressive and force them to defensive play you’ve won. For the disengage part, traited blink and ileap is fantastic. See youself as a needle, sting people and gtfo, dont slash and whirl around, you’ll break.

Before I start roamin I always warm up with some different shatters on the mobs near the spawn and try different rotations.

I bet this is how your teachers sound between classes.

I’ve played it for a while now in Wv3 and sPvP with rabid trinket. It’s great! I’ll stick to this for a while.

Interesting build! I only run Wv3 solo too and I’ve really fallen in love with the 3 mantra trait. I also got a Rampager set I’ve never used, all signs point to this build. Here we go.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Furious_Interruption

I’ve never used this trait and I’m wondering if anyone is and how?

I have a ranger that has been neglected since the arrival om my mesmers and I remember that Quickness was a big deal then, especially with the shortbow, but that was a long time ago.

What skills and attacks could it work with? Right of I think of the new scepter AA and also Sword AA and GS AA and Staff AA with IE fixed.. speaking of that does the quickness affect the clones too?

What loony says, and also be agressive, look at Vasherys youtube clips.
Scepter can also be a defensive substitute for staff. The block is nice and they hate torment, might be difficult in a shatter spec though.

My way when leveling my third mesmer:
Upgrade all gear every 10th lvl, get the best you can get.
I go power/precision /ferocity
GS / Sword+focus. Bloodlust is a good sigil.
Build wise I spec for the gs and the sword.
Find a group of mobs, group them with focus, focus phantasm, blurred frenzy, switch to gs, gs phantasm, zzzzzap the remains with gs auto attack.

I like it. I want a 1h version too…

wvw: Travellers, Mesmer and Balthazar.

Saturn.6591:

jenzie.4083:

Clones apply a random condition to nearby foes when they are killed.

While that’s true (if traited), you should really read more than just the thread-title before replying to a post. Even in his first post, OP already stated that he’s fully aware of that fact. He even copy-pasted the trait-descriptions in one of his later posts..

yeah ok maybe it came out harsh, but I was on my phone and bla bla. I copied the description from the wiki and the answer is in there. The description says it applies conditions on death, not produce attacks that gives conditions. Therefore there is nothing to evade.

i’M SAVING UP.. oh caps. I’m saving up for Immobulus and meanwhile I use the Peacemaker’s Scepter, Asuran T3 cultural.

http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/gw2-peacemaker-scepter-1.jpg
[&AgFSfAAA]

It also got a small purple particle’ish effect on it that leaves a trail when running.

Clones apply a random condition to nearby foes when they are killed.

Shatter is really bursty but harder to pull of solo in Wvwvw. I think it’s the most rewarding build you can use. Painful to master but really fun. Since you just turned 80 I’d recommend a PU build though. High burst means low defence and as a mesmer the defence is active meaning you have to learn to defend yourself. pu will make that curve a bit smoother, a lot actually. Check our vashery on YouTube if you wanna learn shatter.
Check out Napalm Cat for a quite bursty PU condition build. I play with both.