Guild Wars 2

Jeremlloyd.6837:

Cotser.7015:

Weaken:
Mesmer empowering mantras moved to useless line (Domination)

Yeah and that just suck!

noooooo

rip mesmers

Lord Kuru.3685:

Where did the invulnerables at 3:59 and 4:05 come from? (At 4:05, the player used sword #2, but why were the wardens/clones invulnerable?)

This is the old “clone is not directly reachable because of terrain, appears immune” bug, isn’kitten I wonder if there’s something about the specific spot (with the funky ground there) which makes can get the invulnerable bug to come up more reliably.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

I don’t think it’ll change that much tbh, maybe we’ll go 0/30/0/20/20, if phanstamal haste is fixed, but again it’ll depend how long the fight last. At least, we’ll be able to switch traits as much as we want \o/ (I just hope we’ll be able to do some templates, to change builds quickly) I’ll probably switch between 10/30/0/20/10 – 0/30/0/25/15 – 0/30/0/20/20 – 30/30/0/0/10 – 25/30/0/0/15 (20/30/0/0/20?) and 15/30/0/25/0

Thanks for the insight Jerem~

I agree that those are the likely results— we’ll have to see how PH shakes out in practice. Being able to quickly switch between all of these is going to be wonderful though, even without build templates.

Generally thieves are “acceptable” to pick up an LH because they do more damage with it than you would (if they have the trait which provides 10% damage with bundles). Of course, they should only do so if the fight is expected to be short enough that you don’t need it for the second set of rotations.

Happy to help Sirrealist!

@frifox: looking forward to figuring out the right new builds on patch day too

Lilith Ajit.6173:

deSade.9437:

Dietere.3476:

Ode to Fractals

Fractals may not be
The most rewarding to do,
But they are worth it.

No. No. No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
No. No. No. No. No.

No. No. No. No. No.
Should go to the armory.
No. No. No. No. No.

hahahahaha <3

and Dietere, I loved your poem too

oh my god these two were so good, <3 Dietere and deSade

guanlongwucaii.3162:

on NA I see up to 8g, probably about 5-6g on average. then again I play oceanic hours so it may be different in the more active time periods

This is fairly typical in NA prime time as well (5-6 g for p2).

I’m also going to link this great guide from Chaos: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Where-and-When-to-Reflect/first#post2954490

It lists just about all the places where you can effectively use reflects in dungeons.
Knowing where to reflect makes everyone’s life much better, and is definitely something to be aware of as you play.

sirrealist.1360:

maxinion.8396:

sirrealist.1360:

Zepidel.5349:

You lose a good deal of dps going 0-30-0-25-15 instead of 10-15-0-25-20. % increase dmg only applies to illusions if the source specifically states its does, the grandmaster trait you are grabbing isn’t worth it all. You are losing 15% phantasm damage and 20% recharge for a negligible dps increase for your attacks not tied to phantasms. We already lag way behind other classes dps wise, and we lost a tons of group support with the TW nerf, no need to kitten our damage even further.

I had read somewhere that the differences between the two are:
0/30/0/25/15 – 25% faster cooldowns on phantasms
10/30/0/20/10 – slightly more damage (3-4%)

Is this not true? One could argue that with phantasms on a faster CD, you could make up that 3-4% DPS loss. Can you provide a build link for what you are suggesting? I need a link b/c the major traits to choose aren’t always obvious to me.

He’s talking about a different build entirely (this 10/15 thing which I haven’t seen before). Your assessment of the difference between the two meta builds is correct, though. For absolute speed-clear groups, the 10/30 is better because bosses die before you can summon the third phantasm even if you have the cooldown traited. For most pugs or even most organized groups, 0/30 is better because it will help you get the third phantasm out quicker, which will indeed increase your DPS in the long term of the fight.

Thanks! I’m just learning dungeon clearing and getting better with mesmer (hit level 60 last night). I’m not sure if tomorrow I will still have my GM traits unlocked (a bit o debate about whether toons created before patch will be subject to new level reqs for GM traits). Anyway, is there a general strategy or rotation for these phantasm builds? I’m new to this idea (I’ve just been running staff/GS and using skills as I see then needed), but I’m trying to get better at the whole min/max thing.

Congrats on 60 in mesmer!

The basic idea is to keep mantras on utility as much as you can (generally Recovery, Resolve, Concentration) and Feedback. Each mantra gives you +4% damage with Empowering Mantras, which really brings up your DPS. When you’re below < 80, play around with what you want, but usually you’ll want Feedback incase of reflect opportunities. Even when you’re at 80, it’s helpful to sometimes swap out a mantra for something else if the situation calls for it.

Generally speaking, your play order is: summon iSwordsman (sword 5), swap to focus, drop iWarden (focus 5), engage target in melee with sword. You can close the gap with sword 3, but I find the gap closer there unreliable at best in PvE (it’s still worth using to get a clone out, which will apply vulnerability on hits). Drop focus 4 if you need reflections (if you have the VIII in Inspiration, this will provide reflections). Hide in the iWarden if you need reflections as well, if you’re using VIII in Inspiration. Use feedback if you need reflections which cover the party. Used sword 2, Blurred Frenzy, if you need an evade. Otherwise focus on auto-attacking till you can swap to sword. At that point, sword 5 should be off cooldown or close to off cooldown, so you can summon another Sworsdman. Continue to melee, using sword 4 and sword 2 as block/evade, and then dodging if you have to (you have vigor on crit, so you should have lots of dodges). Watch your phantasm count— you want it at 3 at all times. Prefer swordsman to wardens in most situations (so generally stay on sword offhand unless everything is on cooldown and you’re afraid you’ll need another phantasm).

Another popular start to fights is to use focus 4 near a wall, and then using it again. This will bunch up the mobs on the wall, allowing you to DPS them quickly. In that case, start with Warden, switch to sword, get out Swordsman, and get another Swordsman when it goes off cooldown

That’s the general playstyle. Depending on the situation, things can change. Say you’re fighting something that needs a ton of reflection. Then the right move is start with focus, cast iWarden, use Signet of Ether to bring your phantasm cooldowns back, and summon another iWarden. You can maintain 100% reflect uptime with this. Similarly, if you are just clearing trash, focus more on Wardens instead of Swordsmen because Wardens have AoE attacks.

One thing to keep in mind is that as a mesmer, you have insane defense. Sword 2, sword 4, and vigor on crit, means that you have a ton of active mitigation for damage. You can’t take a lot of hits because you have light armor, but you can definitely avoid those hits.

(It goes without saying that all of this assumes berserker gear, btw)

Pyroathiest.4168:

Zepidel.5349:

maxinion.8396:

Also, please do not use Greatsword. The offhand sword is much, much better for DPS because of how good Phantasmal Swordsman is. Suggesting using Greatsword when optimizing for DPS is just… wrong.

new players m8, and ya I forgot about how many bugs this class has lol.

I wonder has anyone did any hard testing on whether the extra 8%+ crit/multiplier is really more dps from reflections etc.. than the power +15% phant damage. I guess a lot of it would be subjective though depending the encounter.

It’s easily far more, especially when you remember that phantasms inherit both precision and damage. By only going 15 into dueling, you’re losing 15% crit damage and 150 precision, which makes your phantasms hit far weaker.

Yes, I agree the 150 precision and 15% crit damage / Ferocity is almost enough to justify the 30 in Dueling. I’d have to run the numbers, but I feel like this is getting close to the bonus which 15% phant damage provides, even without taking Empowering Mantras into account (or extra reflect damage).

sirrealist.1360:

Zepidel.5349:

You lose a good deal of dps going 0-30-0-25-15 instead of 10-15-0-25-20. % increase dmg only applies to illusions if the source specifically states its does, the grandmaster trait you are grabbing isn’t worth it all. You are losing 15% phantasm damage and 20% recharge for a negligible dps increase for your attacks not tied to phantasms. We already lag way behind other classes dps wise, and we lost a tons of group support with the TW nerf, no need to kitten our damage even further.

I had read somewhere that the differences between the two are:
0/30/0/25/15 – 25% faster cooldowns on phantasms
10/30/0/20/10 – slightly more damage (3-4%)

Is this not true? One could argue that with phantasms on a faster CD, you could make up that 3-4% DPS loss. Can you provide a build link for what you are suggesting? I need a link b/c the major traits to choose aren’t always obvious to me.

He’s talking about a different build entirely (this 10/15 thing which I haven’t seen before). Your assessment of the difference between the two meta builds is correct, though. For absolute speed-clear groups, the 10/30 is better because bosses die before you can summon the third phantasm even if you have the cooldown traited. For most pugs or even most organized groups, 0/30 is better because it will help you get the third phantasm out quicker, which will indeed increase your DPS in the long term of the fight.

Also, please do not use Greatsword. The offhand sword is much, much better for DPS because of how good Phantasmal Swordsman is. Suggesting using Greatsword when optimizing for DPS is just… wrong.

Zepidel.5349:

You lose a good deal of dps going 0-30-0-25-15 instead of 10-15-0-25-20. % increase dmg only applies to illusions if the source specifically states its does, the grandmaster trait you are grabbing isn’t worth it all. You are losing 15% phantasm damage and 20% recharge for a negligible dps increase for your attacks not tied to phantasms. We already lag way behind other classes dps wise, and we lost a tons of group support with the TW nerf, no need to kitten our damage even further.

There’s a reason every speedclear guild runs 0/30/0/25/15 or 10/30/0/20/10, and it’s because it is the highest DPS build at the moment (aside from 30/30/0/0/10, which has much fewer reflects and is useful only in some situations).

20 in Illusions will be worth it once we hit the April 15 patch, which fixes Phantasmal Haste. It currently does not affect iWarden and iSworsdsman, the two best phantasms, so it’s a complete waste in taking it. On April 15, I’m betting that 0/30/0/20/20 will be the best new build.

30 in dueling is strictly better than 10 in Domination anyway. Our main damage is reflect based + crit based, so more crit chance and crit damage is critical. Moreover, the +12% damage from Empowering Mantras applies to your Feedback damage, which is very important for the situations where Mesmers excel.

Anyway, depending on how the numbers shake out with sigils and runes on April 15, this suggestion ~might~ be worth it after the patch— I’ll certainly be testing it out, so thanks for the idea.

D/F isn’t a bad build for dungeons either, so if you like that, run with it.

My other tip is to specifically tell people at the start of the run, “Please pick up ice bows and fgs, but don’t pick up LH!” And be sure to drop the LH in a good spot— if you drop it on top of your melee stack, people will pick it up by accident since the “loot” key is the same as the “pick up” key.

The Mexican Cookie.3690:

He didn’t need to dodge, but he didn’t know that he wasn’t going to need to. Auto attack is left on regardless.

Unless you are telling me that obal can see into the future? I just pinged it so you can see he has auto attack turned on, nothing more.

Ok, I see~ I thought it was going to demonstrate how to dodge with the AA turned on. My bad~

The Mexican Cookie.3690:

Lindbur.2537:

You need to disable autoattack for a start.

No.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UikyW7ITpmQ

Here you can observe one of the two people in the game who know how to play ranger. He, along with the other four members, have auto attack turned on. Turning auto attack off is just asking to lose DPS. This is actually a big reason why sword ranger is overhyped, because next to no one can (consistently) pull off the paper DPS in practice.

I don’t think he dodged once in that video, so I’m not sure that’s a good example….

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Fafnir.5124:

Everything is changing this Tuesday so no point talking about it right now. There is going to be a complete redesign of all builds. GW 3 is coming out…

Assuming that this thread is reliable, thing’s won’t change that much.
http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/91039-updated-dps-rankings-april-2014/

There’s not a great amount of reason to believe someone who puts Mesmer as top tier— the assumptions are clearly over generous.

What Nilgoow said. Camping fire with staff and spamming 2 and 1 and 5 sometimes = win in PvE. You might need to switch attunement a sometimes (for swiftness or blast or healing) but that’s of secondary importance.

Also, nice run Goku, of course!

Fafnir.5124:

apparently you can get lupie to kill himself if you let him stack and reflect back at him when he does his uber attack he one hits himself. I think that puts it at under 4min if that really happens.

http://youtu.be%2FVnxPbtWkeYc is an example of that at work (though honestly it’s a bit slow because it’s all mesmers). It’s not an effective strategy in solo’s because the “uber attack” needs lots of targets to do the most reflect damage.

Neomir.7493:

Hi.

I rarely PvE and I notice Diminishing Returns is very annoying if your farming a specific dungeon path (cof p1). I need to build up a load of tokens for alts and it couldn’t hurt to salvage for ectos, so how do I farm dungeons and avoid hitting DR? How do you guys farm effectively and avoid this? Can it be done or do I have to limit my farming and be forced to do ‘other things’?

Do each path of each dungeon that gives the gear you want per day. For berserker’s, that’s CoF, CoE, and Arah.

I don’t think most people do paths more than once per day, because you don’t get the reward chest at the end. You can always use this gold to buy gear as well.

Sanderinoa.8065:

maxinion.8396:

But somehow most speed running guilds aren’t running Mesmers anymore

Ill have you know that two of Europe’s leading speedrunning guilds have mesmers in charge!

But that’s because you guys are portal masters! :P But seriously, in situations where you need reflects, mesmers are still good at dealing damage. I still bring mine in many runs too.

Clumsy.6257:

maxinion.8396:

Clumsy.6257:

From highest to lowest its probably something along the lines of:
1. Ele
2. thief (single target)
3. everything else
4. mesmer

Poor mesmer

But but… if the phantasms don’t die… and if you let me summon them all before the fight starts… and if the sun is at exactly the right angle, and a quaggan jumps at the start of the fight, then the DPS is good!

(also to be fair, mesmer against Lupicus is still good DPS)

Unfortunately alphard, lupicus, and fractal bosses are the only situations where mesmer is useful. And even on those bosses its for reflects and TW, not personal DPS.

dat CoF p1 portal tho

Clumsy.6257:

From highest to lowest its probably something along the lines of:
1. Ele
2. thief (single target)
3. everything else
4. mesmer

Poor mesmer

But but… if the phantasms don’t die… and if you let me summon them all before the fight starts… and if the sun is at exactly the right angle, and a quaggan jumps at the start of the fight, then the DPS is good!

(also to be fair, mesmer against Lupicus is still good DPS)

Most of those builds are pretty out of date.

Anyway it’s hard to rank, because so much of DPS is situational. Mesmers for example are very hard to rank— if you assume three iSwordsmen are out for the entire fight and never get destroyed Mesmer DPS is great. But somehow most speed running guilds aren’t running Mesmers anymore, because bosses usually die before you can get your phantasms up, and Mesmer DPS is bottom tier without their phants.

You’ll also get different answers for single target vs. AoE (thieves and necros move up against single target, for example).

Empowering mantras is the other important aspect of a reflect build, since the bonus applies to your feedback damage. I detailed the builds which are phantasm + reflect in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Help-with-Dungeon-Build-s/first#post3884977

Enjoy~

xallever.1874:

The only thing I’d like to add to that is considering how things can often go wrong whilst pugging, you might want to switch to Ether feast if you’re not confident about the encounter and only switch to the MoR only when you’re confident about it.

Also, when no reflect is needed, just run any other mantra and switch to pistol instead of focus.

And worse comes to worst, slot a Phantasmal Defender there. I sometimes do that when doing fractals and most of the pug-team decides to range Old Tom.

This is also very nice advice.

iDuelist with pistol does more damage than iWarden, but only to single target. It’s often worth it to keep the focus for iWarden to get better splash damage on mobs. iDuelist is great for bosses that don’t need reflects, though.

sirrealist.1360:

maxinion.8396:

sirrealist.1360:

I’m sure others are going to chime in, but I thought I’d offer my 2cents:
If you haven’t already, check out this list of builds

I’d suggest roaming through the PvE builds and see what matches the play style you’re looking for.

I would be very wary recommending this list for PvE. None of the PvE guides seem to list the correct current builds. (Even colesy’s is out of date, since I know he runs the 10/30 I listed above)

Thanks, and my apologies for misleading.

No problem, it’s a great list for just about everything else

sirrealist.1360:

I’m sure others are going to chime in, but I thought I’d offer my 2cents:
If you haven’t already, check out this list of builds

I’d suggest roaming through the PvE builds and see what matches the play style you’re looking for.

I would be very wary recommending this list for PvE. None of the PvE guides seem to list the correct current builds. (Even colesy’s is out of date, since I know he runs the 10/30 I listed above)

The standard dungeon builds are 10/30/0/20/10 or 0/30/0/25/15. Trait for damage or cooldown reduction in every place. Take III in Domination, II, IV, XI in Dueling, II and VIII in Inspiration, and III in Illusions. As an example, see: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsd8cl4zqqnSTkGaNJxJFMf5oKgdSFUdpH8G3yG-jACBYfDim8DkIAmKIQZmFRjt4qIas6aYKXER1BBMK-e The 10/30 build does slightly more damage (3-4%), but the 0/30 build gets 25% faster cooldowns on phantasms. I prefer the 0/30, but this is up to taste— 0/30 is probably better in pugs where you won’t be insta-killing bosses.

Your gear is full zerker with scholar runes or ruby orbs (go with ruby orbs for now or wait till April 15— the best runes will change then).

Your weapons are sword/sword and sword/focus. Sword autoattack is your best source of damage, so you’ll always be using it in your mainhand. iWarden reflects when traited, so it is absolutely critical to bring along a focus. Focus 4 reflects as well and can pull enemies to interrupt or bunch them up. iSwordsman is the best damage you can get from a phantasm, with the lowest cooldowns, so the offhand sword is also super worth it. The sword-4 block is also your single highest source of damage, and should not be neglected (and can be used for a daze in a line if necessary).

Your skills should change depending on the situation, but most of the time you should run what the link above has (Mantra of Recovery, Mantra of Concentration, Mantra of Resolve, Feedback). The idea with the Mantras is to stack as many as possible— each of them gives you 4% extra damage because of Empowering Mantras. Feedback is the real killer application of Mesmers— if you use it right, you can completely reflect back all the projectiles a boss throws out and really nuke them. This is even better than Wall of Reflection from Guardians, and the main reason Mesmers are useful in dungeons— Feedback is just that good. You can do so much more damage with a good Feedback than with your other skills. In situations where you don’t need reflections, though, slot out Feedback for other skills— Null Field for boon strip or more condition cleanse, for example. Don’t be afraid to get rid of mantras if the situation calls for it (sometimes you need blink for mobility, or you need Signet of Ether to get two iWardens out immediately).

These are more or less the best builds at the moment. With the April 15 patch, things may change a little since Phantasmal Haste (Illusions X) will finally be fixed. But the weapon choice/armor choice/ utility choice will stay the same.

Poor necromancers

Congrats on the impressive collection!

Jerus.4350:

I think the saving grace in this issue is that most people at that point are so clueless on what to spend their traits on that it won’t be a big deal.

And those that are doing alts at that level range should know what they’re doing well enough to handle it find, so if anything it may make it slightly tougher, but probably more fun for the more experienced players.

Basically this. It’s already a nightmare for complete noobies with no one experienced guiding them, and I expect it will remain as such.

No real dungeon experts will use AP to screen (they’ll ask for zerker ping if anything).

People who believe high AP is worth something (5k++ only!!!) are, in my experience, often worse than your average pug. Be happy that they mark their parties like this, so you can avoid them.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

maxinion.8396:

Jeremlloyd.6837:

15 – Depending on the path and the seller, you may get to kill the last boss. For Arah P3, people usually wait for the buyers to come kill the last boss. I don’t think you can kill the last boss for Arah P1, P2 and P4 (depends on the seller I suppose)

16 – After the next patch, the meta will probably be full Zerk for most of the classes.

With a mesmer seller, it’s fairly easy to kill the boss in P2 at least, no? You can port if you hop onto the little platform to the left of the boss.

(and even required for people to help, since mesmers have such a rough time with Belka..)

Well yeah you can portal with a mesmer to the last boss for P2, but I don’t know if sellers are doing that since I don’t sell Arah anymore

It’s what I’ve done in the past, but I haven’t sold a path in a month or two so I don’t know if it’s in style still

Pokecenter.3548:

Whata..i was told that it was attack power, and i believed it despite finding it odd because of the popular ‘dps’ designation which is usually what people say to talk about damage. Achievement points doesn’t make any sense -.- I’ve seen people with half my ap that know more about Dungeons than i do, but i also met guys with – back in the time – more than twice my ap that didn’t know what to do. Sigh, some PuG players are always so weird, but i get it. I feel so noob right now lol.

Alright guys, once again thanks for all your help with my questions : )

The AP has been debated for a long time. Some people are convinced that having a minimum “experience with the game” threshold is helpful. Most aren’t.

The actual “Attack” stat isn’t actually used in the game for anything…. damage and everything is figured out directly with Power.

Jeremlloyd.6837:

15 – Depending on the path and the seller, you may get to kill the last boss. For Arah P3, people usually wait for the buyers to come kill the last boss. I don’t think you can kill the last boss for Arah P1, P2 and P4 (depends on the seller I suppose)

16 – After the next patch, the meta will probably be full Zerk for most of the classes.

With a mesmer seller, it’s fairly easy to kill the boss in P2 at least, no? You can port if you hop onto the little platform to the left of the boss.

(and even required for people to help, since mesmers have such a rough time with Belka..)

LordByron.8369:

It takes the same time to cast 4 skills…

Phantasm on weapon 1
Phantasm on weapon 2
Signet
Phantasm on weapon 2

no cd involved

Still slower than a good boss run, and you’re doing no dps yourself while it happens. This is less of an issue in pugs, but good groups can clear faster the the chain of the cast times above.

Again, in Arah and Fractals, this is less of an issue.

The other caveat, Byron, is that you have time to summon your phants. The windup time on Mesmer to get to full dps is longer than many boss fights (except in fractals, where this matters less and mesmers are better because of it).

The 4k or 5k refers to the Achievement Points— not any real stat. AP is a bit funny as an I indicator of skill (it just indicates people play the game, not how good they are), but seem people insist on screening their party members with it.

For buying paths: depends on the person. Some will expect you to help. And you’ll get boss loot too. Some won’t bother and will just kill. Ask them when you join.

For berserker versus assassin: depending on the class and on the situation, it used to be worth it to mix pieces or use assassin. With the upcoming changes on April 15 nerfing crit damage a little, it will almost certainly never be worth it to wear assassins anymore. We will have to see the details once the patch is out, but that’s the common guess at the moment.

Evalia.7103:

As far as I am aware, you can only get banned for selling exploited runs, such as using terrain glitch in AC P1 to skip most of the dungeon, or kicking people and inviting other people in who pay money, am I correct?
So if for any reason I decide to challenge myself solo-ing a dungeon path(without kicking anyone or using terrain bugs), it’s legal to sell it?
I also think it would be a real cool thing if dungeons had a “challenge” mode which was basically the same dungeon for one, but with much higher rewards.

More or less only people who have exploited have been banned for selling runs, yes.

Selling runs is completely legal. See: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Dungeon-Forum-FAQ/first#post3472006 for the dungeon community’s FAQ on the topic.

Selling the dungeon basically ~is~ the challenge mode, particularly in Arah. You can get 20 gp or more extra for your solo by selling the other four slots.

Zaxares.5419:

The thing is though… Aren’t we basically falling into the classic trinity roles again? We have a Guardian or some other class that can provide Aegis, Stability, condi removal etc., being the tank/healer role merged into one, and then everybody else just packs DPS? ANet wanted to break the trinity standard for dungeons, but it looks like we’ve basically ended up back there again.

No one expects a guardian to heal or tank. They expect a few active support things (stability, aegis, blinds, reflections), most of which can be provided reliably by other classes (all except aegis, basically).

Many paths actually do require/encourage support in this game— it’s not just a mindless DPS race like some would have you believe. Many different classes can provide that support in many different ways— guardian is one of the most straightforward, so people often like it for that reason. But it is not a tank/healer. You can provide everything you listed while being spec’ed for more or less full DPS.

franco.2645:

My mesmer idols are colesy and Sanderinoa

Special thanks to colesy. My enjoyment of this game has grown exponentially ever since I changed my build after reading his advice. I still suck at the game, but I am having way more fun and feeling more encouraged to improve myself. I admire the fact that up till this day, despite all the forum discouragement, he’s still trying to help people improve themselves in PVE. Thank you colesy! Your voice is indispensable to the community.

Cheers to both, absolutely. I forgot to mention Sandy in my post above— I have learned an incredible amount from him as well.

Professor Sensei.2941:

maxinion.8396:

inb4 lore reasons

holy crap dude good call LOL

But who gives a hoodle about lore. GvG and guild halls made Guild Wars amazing.

Told you that was the response you were going to get

inb4 lore reasons

Pinkey Flowery.7018:

With regard to #5, I think you need a little over 2k power (not attack) to one shot the burrows.

Need more for the second chamber in ACp3 of course (I think ~9 stacks of might with a normal zerker build is sufficient, but I could be wrong).

I like mesmer for AC p2, since feedback can ruin the final boss fairly easily without any pulls to the wall for FGS rush. Mesmer is pretty bad in most other AC paths though, since bosses die before phantasms go up, and reflections aren’t really necessary.

Two ele + guard + warr + XXX is the best composition in most places (all doing full DPS builds obviously). XXX can be thief, another ele, a ranger, or a mesmer depending on the situation.

hendo.1940:

Guanglai Kangyi is my mesmer idol.

Funny how overly PvP centric this subforum is.

I was going to say that I learned how to PvE mesmer from hendo/colsey. I was camping staff + greatsword before I read his posts

Some sellers will just kill the last boss for you. Some, particularly mesmers, will portal you to the boss so you get the champ loot on the kill as well.

Payment is usually expected before the boss kill, once it’s clear where the seller is. I’ve had people refuse to pay me till afterwards, which is fine too.

You usually wait for a full party.

If there’s no completion/some kind of fail because of hate/etc., you’ll get refunded more often than not.

One thing to check on is the status of the path— does the path tell you to kill the final boss, or do something else? If it’s something else, it’s likely that the path was exploited, and you should think twice about purchasing the path from them.

Narsil.6579:

hendo.1940:

Narsil.6579:

From speed runs (if what you plan on doing) usually run focus/sw with GS. Mainly because if you are doing speed runs, most of the time you are stacking and the Warden is stationary , deals more damage AoE wise, the curtain light field + leap= retal. The curtain + whirl = Cleanse bolts (condition clear). Usually I run this (ran tbh). That being said, if you are semi casual, not really into speed clearing, staff can be more group support. Still deeps is always good if you have a coordinated team, also more risky.

< is member of elite NA dungeon guild
< has a mesmer with berserker, assassin and centaur sets
< does not own a greatsword
< has never felt the need to use a greatsword
< does not intend on purchasing a greatsword
< has never been asked to use a greatsword by guildies

I’m not sure what speed run meta you’re following, but ranged weapons aren’t a part of it unless you mean staff eles – which you don’t.

Ahh ok I am so sorry, I did not know we had alot of elite NA dungeon guilds, please tell me you’re not the type who runs through glitches, map terrain *shortcuts and or abuses certain bugs and exploits to speed clear. On a side note I did not say staff wasn’t better, I just like my greatsword, and if unless you are from DnT, I can give less craps about your guild. To top it off, I am not throwing around gear sets and runes. I seen 5 necros speed clear and I have seen several other classes. For my comp its usually 4 warriors 1 mesmer. Op is asking about weapons with high damage, usually the GS focus sword is my combo for kiting and stacking, now please explain how you use staff.

lol, hendo is DnT

And he doesn’t use staff, he uses sword/focus + sword/sword, like I said in my posts.

Anyway, Kuru is a dungeon forum person, so he knows the benefits of running full melee, so I’m not going to explain why that’s better.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Check out Guanglai Kangyi’s stuff, he is a very reliable source for DPS & dungeon-oriented info. The Mesmer-specific thread is here: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/84947-mesmerizing-the-enemy-guide-to-mesmer-swordx-dps-builds/

It’s a nice guide to get started, but some of it is wrong/out of date (especially the “Full DPS” option is broken… no one runs 30 in illusions for DPS, since you shouldn’t be shattering and Phantasmal Haste is broken).