Guild Wars 2

IGN: Kaliikk
World: Sea of Sorrows
I play: PvE, WvW, and PvP usually around 4-12 pm PST
I could do all 3 I guess. I can both learn more and instruct others.

I’ve tried confusion/stealth builds in WvW solo roaming lately, and they are really strong; I win 4 fights out of 5. However, I find the play style to be a bit uninspiring. Confusing Images, Block, stealth, pMage, magic bullet, pDuelist, iLeap, Blurred frenzy, more stealth. Somehow, I just find being in stealth all the time uninteresting. I like getting my survivability from crazy mobility. For example, I was running Osicat’s Shattercat Mist in WvW today (probably my favorite build of all time), and I came across a condition engi. I soon realize that I was not going to win this fight, so I booked it. I ran for a good 3 minutes with her chasing me all the way. The mobility from that build kept me alive until I was finally killed by kitten wolves.

I love shattercat mist because the mobility keeps you alive in combat as well. It’s just such an active, interesting way to fight. However, I have been finding the damage a bit underwhelming and the survivability quite a bit lower than condition builds. I am using the exact SC mist spec here, except I am using Mirror Images instead of portal, and all of my trinkets are rare, not ascended.

I have seen videos of shatter builds like this working phenomenally. What is it I could be doing wrong?

Junkpile.7439:

How you get loot if you don’t kill enemy?

You don’t? It’s not about loot; it’s about having fun.

Today, I was in the camp at of south end of a borderlands, and I noticed people fighting at the windmill behind the farm. There were about 7 people from my world, and there was only one from another. However, rather than simply grouping up on this lonely enemy, as seems to be custom, 6 of my allies stood aside, and the other dueled the single enemy. When the fight was over, and my ally had won, he did not finish the battle with a stomp. Instead, he bowed respectfully and allowed the loser to [bandage]. After this, I got to duel this same person. It was a good fight that lasted a good few minutes., and when I won, I was so accustomed to simply stomping people when I killed them that I accidentally did. Luckily, she was a mesmer, and I only stomped a clone. I thanked her for the great fight. Soon, more people from both opposing worlds joined in. There was no “there are 3 of us and 1 of you, so we’re just going to kill you” mentality at all, only 1v1 duels. Everyone was respectful, and it was fun.

On returning after a few hours offline, everyone had gone, and I was disappointed. Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand the “group up on one person” ideals in WvW, as that is kinda the whole point: kill your enemies. I also realize that a WvW map is not the best venue for these kind of duels. After all, I could only fight people from other worlds, none from my own.

My question is, is there anywhere where this kind of things happen all the time? If I could, I would just do 1v1’s or 2v2’s all day. There must be guilds dedicated to this sort of thing right?

He probably called you dumb because you are using only one MH weapon and 2 OH weapons. The only situation where I can think of this being a good idea is if you either want to only have to use one trait for MH weapon, or if you want to be able to switch OH weapons without switching MH weapons. Most people probably wouldn’t do this, but hey, if it works for you, there’s nothing dumb about it.

keenlam.4753:

Shatter builds with IP traited usually chain F1-F2-F3 together to somewhat lock down the target (or at least buy time) to prepare for the next shatter.

They do? Why would you want to stack confusion with (traited) shatter 1 and shatter 2, just to do a shatter 3 so that they can’t proc the confusion for 1 second (or more)?

1. When 1 and 2 are on cooldown.
2. To interrupt attempted interrupts when I’m trying to stomp someone.

Wow, there’s a lot of negativity here. I play Mesmer first and foremost because I think it’s more fun than any other class. One of the things I love is that you don’t have to sacrifice a ton of damage for survivability. When you are constantly teleporting all over the place and turning invisible (and doing it well), only the most skilled players can even touch you. Constant motion makes any battle much more exciting and interesting. Also, imo whenever you find yourself against a bunch of the same person in PvP or WvW, you think something like “well kitten, now I have to figure out which is the real one.”

Four words: Endless Mystery Cat Tonic!

K U T M.4539:

Roaming? Small man? Zerg?

Sorry, should have specified. Solo and small group roaming.

I believe that if you stack iCelerity with a weapon mastery trait, the cooldown shown on the skill’s tooltip is only a 20% reduction. However, if you actually use the skill, you should find that the cooldown reduction is indeed 40%.

For a very long time now, I have been playing shatter builds in WvW because I enjoy the damage and mobility. When I tried out phantasms for a bit, I was impressed by the damage but very underwhelmed by the mobility and frequency of death.

Recently, I have become interested in condition builds, mainly Osicat’s. After reading the discussion about confusion in this thread, I have become more interested in the stacking of confusion and other condi’s on enemies.

I would like to know what types of builds and tactics other mesmers employ in WvW. Should I try conditions? Is shattering the way to go? Do I die when I play phantasms because I’m doing it wrong?

EDIT: sorry forgot to add: for solo and small group roaming

I’ve heard that using the grenade kit can be very powerful, so I tried it out. I just can’t get over the fact of how awkward it is to place a reticle for every skill, even my auto attack. I can’t really kite well and throw grenades at the same time. Does anyone have any tips to make this easier? (Besides disabling the reticle for aoe skills. I’ve already done that.)

I use shatter because of the speed, mobility, big spikes, and up to 12 stacks of confusion. I usually base my build around Osicat’s Shattercat Mist. Only thing I change is I take Mirror Images instead of Portal. The best thing about it is that it is almost totally all-purpose. It has served me well in PvE, WvW, and PvP, all with the exact same build and gear.

Ethics.4519:

kaikalii.4198:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Just for the record, you don’t seem to understand what the shattercat build means. Shattercat = shatter build made by Osicat. All of the shattercat variations are his. If someone else makes a build, it is not a shattercat variation because Osi didn’t make it -_-.

Sorry, this has been bugging me with your continued posting of subpar shatter builds tagged kittentercats.

Woah sorry bro I didn’t mean to offend…but Iv’e never posted a build on the forums before, so I don’t know what you mean. I run a variation of shattercat mist myself. I assure you I know of Osicat’s builds, and I have a lot of respect for him. I just don’t know why one wouldn’t use a weapon slot

I don’t believe he was talking to you.

Also sword is so good with all offhands it wouldn’t be unheard of to go sword/sword & sword/focus or sword/pistol.

If you trait to lower sword cooldowns + precision that means your skills on MH will always be lower, without having to use two traits (in different lines). Also, you can use 4 sigils instead of 3 now.

XD I didn’t even realize. Also, thanks for the perspective. I never considered having to only use one trait. I’ll have to try this tactic out now!

Pyroatheist.9031:

Just for the record, you don’t seem to understand what the shattercat build means. Shattercat = shatter build made by Osicat. All of the shattercat variations are his. If someone else makes a build, it is not a shattercat variation because Osi didn’t make it -_-.

Sorry, this has been bugging me with your continued posting of subpar shatter builds tagged kittentercats.

Woah sorry bro I didn’t mean to offend…but Iv’e never posted a build on the forums before, so I don’t know what you mean. I run a variation of shattercat mist myself. I assure you I know of Osicat’s builds, and I have a lot of respect for him. I just don’t know why one wouldn’t use a weapon slot

Why take 1 MH and 2 OH if the MH has the same cooldown? Why not add a scepter for another 3 skills? Seems liek a waste…

The staff is a very defensive weapon. If they get chaos armor up, and you hit them, then they start getting regen and protection while you get confusion and blind, which is bad. Using sword 2 and iDuelist activates these effects even more.

I usually run Sw/F and Staff. I don’t really like GS because it’s pretty much purely offensive with no defensive utilities.

But if you MUST have a GS (I will admit, they look cool), then either switch out your pistol for a focus so you can pull them around a bit, or simply switch to a staff, so that you can be just as defensive as them.

Generally, as a mesmer you need to stay as mobile as possible, so I would recommend taking Decoy and Blink for stun breaks/getaways. For even more mobility, you can go with Portal. Just put if off to the side before you head into a fight, and put the other one down when you are about to die to escape. I usually do Mirror Images instead though ‘cuz I shatter a lot, but It’s whatever you like.

Nurvus.2891:

• Each Variant becomes available for unlock only after defeating certain monsters scattered throughout the game World

I like this. Brings back having to kill enemies and cap their skills from the original GW.