Guild Wars 2

I think focus is mandatory in WvW. You need the speed boost when running around, and that same skills is incredibly valuable for mass cripples and pulling foes off their feet.

iWarden is useful for taking down gates and other inanimate objects (siege weps). Occasionally he shines in a large fight.

I can’t see being without a focus tbh. I use the scepter with it since Confusion is so powerful, along with the clone spam.

For the other weapon set you really need staff or GS for the range. I run staff for chaos storm, all the chaos armors with the glamour skills, and staff skill 2 (teleports backwards). I’m considering switching to GS for the iBeserker and mirror blade (with elasticity).

Ryuujin.8236:

Try and imagine the storm of kittens if today’s patch notes for Guardian read: “Reduced damage dealt by whirling wrath by 50%”. Because, this is pretty much what just happened to us

If Whirling Wrath was originally bugged to produce +100% damage, then maybe it wouldn’t be a kitten storm.

The Empowered Phantasm trait clearly states it’s a 20% reduction in phantasm skill c/d. That would equate to a 20% damage increase by using the trait (in a battle that lasted long enough for the phantasms to actually attack twice).

It’s hard to argue it’s a nerf when the trait was making iWarden attack 100% faster. Clearly it’s a bug fix to bring it into line with the trait’s description.

Keep in mind the iWarden still does the same damage for that first 5 seconds it’s out. Most event mobs don’t live long enough for a second phantasm attack anyway (and that’s assuming you didn’t shatter them or the phantasms weren’t taken out by AoE).

If anything, it makes it a little easier to not slot Empowered Phantasms and go with Elasticity instead.

Fixing the instant recharge of iWarden was definitely warranted. There’s a boss fight in almost every dungeon I’ve been in where a hasted iWarden trivializes the fight. No skill should be “insta-win”.

I’ll still use focus because skill 4 is great, and iWarden is still useful (although they should fix the new bug of 7s recharge vs. 5s recharge).

I wish they would have fixed some of the other bugs. I agree it’s great to fix bugs, but the mesmer bug list is pretty long and the fixes from the update last night were pretty short.

Throw iWarden on the innanimate object and watch it melt. It does more damage than any other player (with empowerment trait).

I run a 0/0/20/30/20 build with staff and scepter/focus. It’s a condition build which uses Carrion necklace/jewel, Undead runes, and force sigils. It’s pretty stout and wears folks down.

I use the same in WvW except with more emphasis on glamours.

I’m really curious to change to a 20/0/0/30/20 build using greatsword and scepter/focus with the same carrion necklace/jewels. I’m not sure what runes to use in that case, maybe undead still. It’s on my list to try some day.

iWarden is amazing with focus trait and empowered phantasms (-20% c/d on phatasm attacks). So much so it’ll probably be nerfed (mostly because it’s a -50% c/d at the moment instead of 20%).

If a foe stands in the full iWarden AoE it takes an incredible amount of damage — depending on the mob and build, anywhere from 1200 to 2200 points at lvl 80.

Add in the fact iWarden blocks/reflects projectiles and it’s just too powerful to pass up in any dungeon.

iBerserker is also amazing

I did read your whole post — there’s too much noise in this thread to address the irrelevant points.

If you didn’t use your moa heal because 2k health is not worth it, then you deserved to die as a moa. You fall into the “I did nothing as a moa” player group who are the same folks screaming for a nerf.

I understand that the skill floor in GW2 is higher than other MMOs, and learning to play takes time. I’m not the best player in the world, nor will I ever be. But refusing to try is not an excuse to nerf the skill and make the whole game “easymode”.

sorrow.2364:

When you are Moaed at about 3/4-1/2 of your life bar, I think that 10 seconds without healing are enough to getting killed, isn’t it?

If you stand and do nothing you will die in 10s regardless of Moa. That’s my whole point — in that case you died because you suck, not because you’re a moa.

You have a heal as a moa — did you use it?
You have a stun as a moa — did you use it?
You can run — did you try that?
You can dodge — did you have any vigor left and try that?

Refer to my post above — you’re not helpless as a Moa but everyone who’s been owned acted like they were…

sorrow.2364

I did, 3-4 seconds after I was dead.
Please, try it out before suggesting people to do things everyone know don’t work.

So you went from 100% health to dead in 4 seconds because of Moa in a 1v1 with a mesmer? That’s what you are implying with your response.

If the situation was different (i.e. you were at low health before moa, it wasn’t a 1v1, you didn’t use your moa skills, you didn’t run, you didn’t dodge, etc) then your response is counter-productive. Why? Because you would have died with any other elite as well… not just moa.

People are skewing the argument and blaming a loss completely on Moa — that’s the premise of this entire post: “I was moa’d and therefore I died…”

It’s not accurate, and not true.

Embolism.8106:

Confusion, therefore, is literally twice as powerful in WvW as it is in sPvP.

That explains a lot! I’ll have to run a test between the two, but right now using scepter 3 is a guaranteed kill in WvW when a foe is at 25% health. (ok, maybe guaranteed noob kill, but it works quite often in my experience).

I love this thread because again and again I keep reading “I can’t do anything for 10s”… “it’s a 10s daze!”… blah blah blah.

Again and again the reply has been:

1. You can run
2. You can dodge
3. You can use the moa skills

Item 3 above is what’s mostly ignored by the “nerf” faction. One Moa skill is a stun. Another Moa skill is a heal.

Is a Moa as powerful as a player?
Nope, you are as powerful as a lvl 80 Moa you run into in PvE.

Are you completely helpless as if you were dazed for 10s?
Nope, you are as helpless as a lvl 80 Moa in PvE.

Lastly I’m not defending what I consider “bugs”. Into this category I throw the necro’s loss of pets. That is a bug that should be fixed. I also put the cancellation of elite “form” skills into this “bug” list. I think that should be fixed so that it doesn’t occur and the Moa skill goes on a five second c/d (just like an interrupted or failed skill does).

My condition build is:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAW7dlwzipHUTqGa9IhZGBH5nZw8ljSx1zOA;TsAgyCuoay0koJbTumkNtKYUwuAA

I like this build a lot and it’s easily reconfigured for dungeons, WvW, solo PvE, etc. without paying to reset the trait points.

For mob tagging I like to use chaos storm first. This only works if it’s not on c/d which it typically is after the first wave passes.

My backup is a quick clone skill (like Staff 2) followed by F1, F2, or F3 to get a quick AoE clone-splosion tag. This is tricky since the clone needs to run in and explode, however it will still do the shatter as long as the mob was alive when you press the F1 key. So even if the targetted mob dies, other mobs may still get tagged with the shatter.

I like both.

I find the disenchanter useful when solo because it removes a condition on me immediately, sucks up some hits, and is relatively spammable with a 16s c/d.

Null field is a really powerful skill in a group or in PvP (in my limited experience so far). It’s also a combo field and gives yet one more chaos armor when using the staff (null + staff 2). I also like how it shuts down all conditions for the duration of the skill. Fighting something that spams conditions (like poison), just stand in a null-field and get your healz off .

what? you aren’t using moa? but it’s so OP

I need to practice more with GS — my issues with GS have to do with fighting multiple foes. The only option I seem to have there is mirror blade for damage and GS #5 for the push-back. The mirror blade doesn’t hinder the foes at all, just hits hard. So after the initial push back I’m back in touble with a pile of mobs on me.

I’m sure it’s a L2P thing, and I haven’t spent enough time with GS to over the hump.

Staff is really good at higher levels with +condition dmg, Elasticity, and the -20% recharge (Tougness T2 trait). Stuff starts to melt at that point.

Toss in the 50 ways to get chaos armor and it becomes amazing.

Idus Martiae.7804:

Effusion.4831:

The purple bubble often fails to appear when the chaos armor buff is applied. Is it possible they’re getting the buff but it’s not being displayed? iirc blast finishers also have a 5 target limit which pets/illusions count toward.

I wonder is this happening inconsistently for people, as I am getting no effect out of chaos armour (staff #4) about 90% of the time in WvW. No purple bubble, no protection added, no boons while raking damage. Is it only supposed to work while in combat? That may reduce my fail , but even when in combat, I’d say about 75 failure rate.

I believe this is by design. It would sorta suck to use clones for deception when you are the one with the big purple bubble — attack the bubbled mesmer ftw!

This is a big deal with the staff because you can put up chaos armor a LOT (staff 4, staff 5 + 2, Null Field + Staff 2, etc).

You can see the chaos armor icon on yourself so you know it’s working.

If not having the bubble graphic is a bug, then I DON’T want it fixed.

Zia.9251:

Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought scepter was great especially because the clones die fast and spawn at mob? I run with scepter/torch and having my illusions die quickly is central to my build.

1. domination IV: clone aoe cripples foe when killed
2. chaos IV: clone applies aoe random condition when killed
3. duelling at 15 points: illusions cause bleeding on crit, X: clone created on dodge, at 25 points: illusions cause confusion when killed.
4. illusions: faster illusion summoning, confusion last longer, phantasm recharge faster and can shatter illusion for might.

Add to that mirror image and decoy for more clones generation plus more goodies from staff swapping. fun, exciting, effective… or am I missing totally the bus on mesmer?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgQQNArfWlwzKoXUzpGaNJipCBHaGXn3RqQpVmxsdhA;T8AA2ysEQJxSllCLqiMFJKyWkrIZRrCGJMTA

This is exactly what I was saying earlier. The scepter is good for clone spam where the clones “die” and inflict conditions as a result. It’s one of my main uses for the scepter (and I like the scepter a lot as a result). The other two scepter skills are gravy on top of this main use (and good gravy at that).

The frequent clone creation will also support the shatters — which I use when the mob is about to die OR when it has high AoE payoff (mob clusters) OR when I need an interrupt (F3). The scepter is great for this as well since it takes very little time to get your clones back — faster than any other weapon (I’m disregarding utility skills here because those are available regardless of weapon).

Shisx.1658:

Portal is very situational, moa is very situational, time warp is very situational.

Do i need to say more?

Probably because your point is unclear. Blink is situational, feedback is situational, all skills are essentially situational unless you’re a brainless button masher.

I think having the minions for a necro die as soon as he’s moa’d is a bug. That should not happen, it’s overly penalizing to the necro in a way that lasts beyond the 10s moa. That doesn’t happen to the other classes and it should be fixed.

I also think an elite “form” skill should not be overriden by Moa. In that situation Moa should fail and be put on 5s c/d.

I doubt there is much argument against those points — it’s definitely unfair to the necro otherwise. Similarly it would be unfair to any elite form skill (norn elites, ele tornado, etc).

Those points aside, the standard moa arguements still apply. For the 10s you are a moa:

1. you can kite
2. you can run
3. you can dodge
4. you can use moa skills (one of which is a stun)

So even if you don’t avoid the elite in the first place (which is hard, I agree), you are not insta-killed, nor completely inept.

The GM traits look good for only two types of builds: mantras and shatters If you are going conditions or power I don’t see a lot of reason to push a trait line into 30 pts.

That’s probably my main complaint — two build options really.

I’m running a 0/0/25/25/20 build that’s easily reconfigured between conditions, phantasms, staff/scepter/focus, glamours, etc. It’s very durable and feels powerful in that things die quickly.

I could possibly drop the 5% of toughness goes to condition damage and run with a 0/0/20/30/20 with Shattered Conditions or Restorative Illusions. It may be worth trying but survivability is not a weak area so I think it would just be a DPS hit and not much else.

The anti-botter usage may get the prize!

Scepter works well when clones are traited to cripple and condition on death. The auto-attack now becomes serious condition spam.

The clones die because they get one-shotted, or because you make more clones. This synergizes well with phantasms because the clones don’t overwrite the phantasms (as long as you don’t have 3 phantasms). Using two phantasms is optimum in this scenario because every three auto-attacks explodes a clone.

This also works because the clones spawn in melee range. If the clones spawned next to you (900m away from the foe), then nothing would get the conditions.

This is how I use the scepter and it’s quite useful this way. I also like the block/blind as well as the confusion skill. Five stacks of confusion are great imo.

The only complaint I have is that the clones do not have a condition associated with their auto-attack (because they use the first skill in the scepter auto-attack chain). So my recommendation would be add a single, simple condition to that attack in the chain. A lot of people suggested confusion but that would be seriously powerful (I’d wager OP). Three easily crated clones spamming confusion — nobody would live in a 1v1 vs a scepter mesmer.

Mayama.1854:

I feel like im the only mesmer on my server that uses that combination. I think it works good with every build exept maybee a 100% condition one. Its really fun try it out

You may be the on only mesmer on the server

The mantra of pain voice-over gets annoying. Even more so when your spouse wanders into the room and hears it repeat again and again while you play.

Reducing it to a one-word phrase would be nice… and the phrase could rotate through “agony” on the first charge up, to “torment” on the second charge, and “pain” on the third charge up — repeating in a loop.

That would remove some of the repetitiveness of it.

You have a video or something? I’m not on a PvP team since I use the hot-join PvP. I haven’t seen it used yet, but my experience is not that broad.

I’m having a hard time believing that a 10s teleport skill for your team is a game-ender. I can see tactical positioning advantages, but you still have to combat your foes and portal didn’t give anyone a performance buff of any kind. Agreed advantage, but that’s what skillfully played abilities should do.

@Hyde — so you don’t try to move as a Moa? How about using any of the Moa skills? Are you saying you just stop playing for 10 seconds and wait to die?

I didn’t think of the kite application for PvE mobs… I’m going to try that today and see how it plays.

I started a thread on Portal usage because I wanted to see exactly what Players are doing with it (I myself rarely use it and thought maybe I’m missing something). The thread is here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Portal-Examples/first#post247693

I’m not seeing a “dominance” theme coming from the examples so far that would warrant the skill being elite.

My two favorite example so far (that I didn’t realize during my play) is using it for jumping puzzle assistance and for kiting during combat. The duration is 10s so it’s not a perma-kite solution, but I thought that application was pretty interesting.

Suggestion 1: Add option for ground-targeted skills to automatically be placed at target’s location. There’s already an option for “fast” ground targetting, but this is different. In large battles, I have a very difficult time seeing the ground-target (or even finding my mouse). This would make ground targetting much easier if I have a target selected. If I do not have a target, then use the existing targetting options to further refine the decision. That way some ground-targetting can still be manual without a target selected (or to an automatically aquired target based upon options).

Suggestion 2: Add an option that makes it very easy to see my mouse cursor in combat. This could include options for a very bright mouse cursor (possibly animated) with a very dark outline (maybe configurable line width). Maybe I’m just getting old, but I can’t find that cursor in the heat of combat!

Maybe I’m missing something but I think confusion is the most powerful condition at the moment.

I’m level 66 and without much effort I get condition stacks of 4 or 5 on PvE foes. A single tick from that stack does over 1000 pts of damage which is gravy on my DPS train. I usually get one tick before it expires, but 1000 pts is more than any of my other attacks or skills. The only thing in the same arena is iWarden if he lands his full AoE whirly attack (around 1500-1800 pts for me at lvl 66). I’m spec’d with Carrion Armor and Carrion weapons and I think all that +condition dmg helps with confusion.

In WvW it’s amazing. If an opponent is at 30% health (ish), hit them with Scepter 3 and watch them self-destruct. That’s powerful.

I think it’s a clever mechanic that rewards skillful play and situational awareness.

A simple thread for players to post when and how they have used the portal skill to good effect.

Motivation: Teach the community some good uses of Portal.

My experience: I don’t use the skill much. I’ve tried a couple times in dungeons to get my party around some tough spots. I haven’t used it at all when soloing in PvE. In WvW I’ve read about some tactics when defending a keep, however I slot other glamours because they feel more useful to me.

So let’s hear your stories (and maybe I’ll learn a thing or two…) Thanks!

Breaking an elite on 240s cooldown with a simple stun-break skill would make the elite rather useless don’t you agree?

Dodging the elite is probably acceptable because it requires a higher situational awareness (as opposed to OMG I’M A MOA, stun break ftw). I think most would agree with this.

Keep in mind you can interrupt the skill as it’s being cast — again hard and requires situational awareness, but not more than interrupting the long casting elite for any other class.

You are not completely helpless as a Moa for 10 seconds. If you disagree then please re-read many of the posts above. You can move and dodge as a Moa. Also you have Moa skills — yeah there’s no way to research them because they’re not currently on the wiki. Also it’s pretty hard to master them during the 10s that you are actually a moa. However If I remember correctly, Moa 4 or Moa 5 is a screetch attack that stuns (heh, turn around and hit that mesmer with a stun!). Yeah moa skills are not as good as your own, but you are not helpless.

I think this is mostly over-reaction at this point — OMG I’M A MOA. Six months from now I doubt you’ll hear much on this.

Hehe, “ignorance”… lol, I’m sry but you don’t take feedback that is contrary to your points well… but it’s certainly not ignorance.

The definition of deceive does not imply duration — you inserted that yourself.

Why don’t you just try clones in PvP and WvW and see how often your foes are deceived — sometimes it will happen, sometimes it will not. The bottom line is that it will happen.

You can attribute that to player ability, or not — doesn’t matter.

I use staff / scepter+focus and lived through my encounter with Decoy as well as Staff 2 (one of the best mesmer weapon skills in my game), alone with chaos armor and chaos storm.

Tbh he hit me so hard at first I was a bit panic’d. Ultimately he ran because I didn’t drop right away. My build is 0/0/25/25/20 which probably helped my longevity a bit.

Rarely do I see the mob AI go for a clone over myself (the mesmer). However the clones are still useful. I see the uses of clones and phantasms as follows:

Phantasms:
==========
1. DPS boost
2. Draws PvE mob agro which improves your survivability
3. Provide significant benefits like 50% dmg reduction, projectil absorbtion, condition removal etc (depending upon the clone)
4. Makes you think before you shatter them because of their inherent value

Clones:
==========
1. PvP/WvW Player distraction
2. Provides condition spam (both from main attack and from death with trait)
3. Shatter fodder
4. Not a significant direct damage source, nor an agro puller for PvE mobs
5. Can be used as a projectile shield if you position yourself opposite the clone from your foe

Different uses mostly and both valuable if you take advantage of them. If you think they are useless, then try playing without them and see how your experience changes (it will be for the worse, I guarantee it).

/agree with all EasymodeX posts in this thread.

I think the mesmer is very well designed. I even like the trait lines (which some other players have called poorly organized). I feel like I have a lot of options. My favorite 0/0/25/25/20 build can be reconfigured so many ways just by choosing different traits.

I think clones are amazing as well as the Phantasms. Combine that with 50 ways to get chaos armor and it’s almost face-roll easy in PvE (once you get the hang of it).

Scepter 1 auto-attack pauses on the 2nd attack until the projectile from the 1st attack hits the target. Issue documented here:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Scepter-is-faster-in-melee/first#post233561

This reduces the DPS of the scepter as the target gets farther away. I don’t think this is the intended behavior for the scepter #1 attack chain.

I think this should be flagged as a bug. The DPS should not be dependent upon range. The game does support multiple projectiles at the same time (Staff 1 with bounce trait, guardian scepter, etc). Unless there’s a balance issue or some functional limitation, it should be changed.

Turukano.3106:

I use the Scepter. It isn’t that good, but it’s ranged. All the skills are useful too, but do little damage. (Doh, you’re a guardian) Tbh the Scepter of the Mesmer is in a lot worse state.

Totally disagree — I have both a Guardian (57) and Mesmer (65). I give the Mesmer scepter the advantage in 1v1 and the Guardian scepter the advantage in group combat.

The Mesmer scepter is very good for the #3 skill alone (confusion kills in PvP/WvW big time). Mesmer Scepter 2 is good for block/blind (AoE blind if in a line). Mesmer Scepter 1 is a clone spammer which can be evil depending upon traits.

Guardian Scepter 2 is good as a general AoE when defending from the top of a wall — but it’s not going to kill anyone outright. Guardian Scepter 3 is good to root a single running foe.

I give the Mesmer scepter the advantage overall because you can ultimately kill someone with it (while also defending yourself). The Guardian scepter really doesn’t feel that way (no 1v1 victory with it, and just minor damage in a group).

This post is a little misleading. I think the OP is only referring to non-combat movement which feels slow for any class when you don’t have swiftness.

We’re not the only class without passive movement buffs (Guardian is another). We only have one non-combat skill dedicated for swiftness (focus 4). We make up for it in combat though where we are movement machines! I think I’d rather have latter rather than the former.

The warden does hit very hard. One of my favorite uses is casting him on an imobile piece of machinery (i.e. turet, catapult, etc.). You’ll see the health bar drop a lot when he goes into his whirly-dance. Sometimes he’ll absorb the projectile as well (reflect it if traited).

On my lvl 47 mesmer, he’ll do nearly 1000 pts whereas I’m doing a few hundy with my biggest hits.

Gilgamesh.2561:

AAs a multi-kit point-defense engineer I can outlast a mesmer forever, but I’ll probably never kill them until support arrives. As a power build I can kill them if I get lucky, but I usually end up barely alive.

I fought an engi 1v1 in WvW and the battle lasted forever. It went on so long that another WvW team found us and obliterated the battle.

Not really related to the OP’s topic, but was a fun moment for me in WvW lol.

You might want to consider “Blade Training” over “Retaliatory Shield” (Dueling T2), and “Masterful Reflection” over “Compounding Power” (Illusions T1). I think the two synergize well. Maybe skip “Masterful Reflection” because it would replace your +3% dmg per illusion which is pretty nice, but I’d definitely pick up Blade Training with your play style — that’s 20% more distortion and 20% more blocking.

Since Blade Training is an Adept lvl trait, you could drop your phantasm buff in Dueling T1 for Blade Training, drop 5 points from Dueling (wash when using the sword with Blade Training) and put the 5 points into the Toughness line to pick up a T1 adept there (maybe 3% dmg reduction per illusion).

I would love to see your build but that simulator is a PoS — not watching video spam just to see your build.

I think confusion is very power in its current state. It’s payoff is best against other players (WvW, PvP) than it is in PvE. However even in PvE it is still useful. Reasons I ok with confusion:

1. Easy to apply through weapons and shatters.

2. Don’t have to trait deep to improve it (10 pts in Illusions which also gives +condition)

3. Does excellent damage. I’m lvl 47 and I regularly get 300-400 pt confusion ticks. Compare this to my autoattacks which are in low 100 at best. I do have decent +condition damage tho and that damage is for a moderate confusion stack of 4 to 6.

4. It’s amazing in WvW — I think most people just don’t see the purple swirl above their heads or something. If an opponent is at 25% health, hitting them with scepter 3 will usually result in them committing seppuku. Maybe this makes it a noob killer, dont’ know / don’t care, but I do like it.

I love my mesmer so far. I mostly PvE but have spent 10-20 hrs so far in WvW, and did a couple matches in hot-join PvP.

One area that I have problems with is WvW when sieging a tower, fort, etc. Foes on the walls can stand on the edge and shoot down at me, but I cannot hit them back.

Both Staff 1 and GS 1 give “obsticle” messages.

Clones and Phantasms seem to spawn on the ground in front of me instead of on the walls. Although I have seen other mesmers get their phantasms up there — someone toss me a clue on how to get that to work lol.

I’m not sure how other classes are coping. I see Ele/Necro AoEs hit, but not sure about their auto-attacks. Same with bow and rifle users. Lot of guardian tennis-balls fly up there, again not sure if they are making contact or not.

Right now my best wall assult is to run in and throw feedback then run out. I learned after-the-fact that focus can be used for wall pulls, but I haven’t tried that yet — I suspect it’s not 100% reliable (not should it be I think as it sounds a bit too powerful).

Looking for ideas on how to help in sieges. Also would love to see GS and Staff autoattack be capable of hitting wall-top foes (or change the wall-tops a bit to aid with the obsticle mechanic).

My favorite “build” right now is a 0/0/25/25/20 build with staff and scepter/focus. I love it. The survivability is great and I don’t seem to have any issue taking down mobs. I say “build” because the 0/0/25/25/20 combination can be reconfigured to do a lot. I can roll with heavy conditions, or switch to buff glamour, or switch again to buff phantasms, or switch again for reflective focus skill.

Staff is great for about everything as is Focus. I could probably switch out scepter for sword but I love the scepter’s clone spam (combined with Debilitating Dissipation).

I suspect it’s some sort of new “spam” filter to slow down traffic for people playing the market. However it’s a bit broken if that’s the case lol.