Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Interesting. Well the good thing is that, if you can manage CD’s w/out those traits, that obviously opens those trait spots for something else. I question confusing enchantments though – would be so incredibly tempting to take cleansing conflagration for quicker access to more stealth/boons (since you’re also running PU) and condition removal, which seems to be somewhat lacking. Seems to me that would go much further than a little extra confusion from a couple glamours on long CD.
With DE and endless vigor though, I can see constant activity in spite of the CD loss. Do you have a typical attack or burst chain?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
New build I’ve been running. A new take on my 20/20/30 I always run. Its been very affective and It has really made confusion something I value again. It also adds some depth to the Image. I also make heavy use of great sword with the sigil of generosity, if you haven’t tried this I recommend it.
Its a hard hitting power build. But with enough condition damage to make the synergy of the build mean something.
I’m very curious how the build feels without any weapon CD traits. Just seems like you’d be waiting a long time to do anything.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@skcamow: Thanks for the input. I knew somehow this would bring the nostalgia of Pyro’s fabled Immortal Build. Too bad, Anet killed it.
Anyway, my build is definitely not designed to be a bunker build (quite glassy and stealth heavy) and its main dmg is definitely not from retaliation. However, this is where the problem lies i think, its not obvious whether big spike dmg will come from shatters or phantasm. So I have adjusted a bit to make it play more like a phantasm build.
Admittedly, my original idea was to make OH sword work in a build that makes full use of the 2 skills and i think this build accomplished that, at least on paper :|
Phantasm variation: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAscWl0zKqHWThGb9IhpH923AnkCTr6SK0NvB-jUCBYLCiEEgkFBKBqIas1tht6KalXBRXDT5iIqWEAzYA-w
The change is to move 10pts from dueling to domination, dropping DE but getting Empowered Illusions. This way, iSwordman can crit for ~4k.
Gearing is flexible, one can easily adjust to get a personal balance between DPS stats and defensive stats so what i posted is merely an example.
Also, I think scepter could work in this build too, you get 1 more block on a relatively low CD. Depends on playstyle, melee or ranged.
Yeah I didn’t mean to steer the direction completely away from what you intended. Just when you say, “retaliation” I don’t think glass for sure. Maybe it can be done? I don’t know – your retaliation source is still very minimal with the build. Maybe I should ask a different question. What do you want the build to do or provide? If not bunker – solo-roamer, DPS, or group utility? Where do you see the damage coming from primarily?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@keenlam, I like the idea – it reminds me a bit of the Immortal Build which used (RIP) retaliation as it’s primary source of damage. The thing about retal builds is that IMO it’s hard not to spec for a bunker and these three things: High power, High armor, and High Vitality (PVT). I would say >= 3000 attack, >=2700 armor, >=20,000 health. Precision and crit dmg I don’t think are as important. Sure, you want to plan around the fact that you aren’t going to get hit by virtue of blocking, and that will proc retal often enough, but you have to plan for the fact that you’re going to get hit and that’s to your advantage.
The armor and vitality are way too low for my personal taste. Also I don’t see many retal sources. Chaos Storm is on a long cool down without Chaotic Dampening. With retaliatory shield, you get 6 seconds (w/your boon duration) on each block which is nice, but IMO you need more. So I would go Sw/F for the leap/light combo while still maintaining your interrupt source, and take 10 out of dueling to go 10 in Illusions and take Confusing Cry. You lose deceptive evasion, but I’m not sure you need it in this build. In fact, if you do go Confusing Cry + leap/light combo w/focus, you can get 40 seconds of retal right there very quickly, accounting for your boon duration. You wouldn’t even need retaliatory shield then. I would then switch that out for Protected Mantras (great synergy with the build), switch signet of midnight for the cleanse mantra and there you have decent condition management. You still have 90% boon duration and a stun breaker in decoy. Honestly though, you may not have much need for that – if they stun you they are usually coming in for burst, which is what you want :-)
Even though you’re down to 30/30% crit chance/dmg, halting strike is still going to hit decent.
Only my 2 cents here – just some things to think about.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
I have made a variation to the Chaos Maestro build to support my World vs. World team but still be able to do some damage to enemy clumps. Here is the build:
Would this variation be able to fulfill the supportive role the Chaos Maestro provides and deal a good amount of damage to support my team offensively as well? Thanks.
Good build – specs are similar to the paladin support mesmer in my signature, also trading bountiful interruption for prismatic understanding which is a popular choice due to the great defensive boons you can get from stealth. That said, you don’t have many stealth options in the build (only veil). So that might hamper your ability to really take advantage of PU.
The thing is, i don’t need to stealth with this build because i run with a group of people. Plus, I need to use Time Warp witch is apart of the support role i play in my guild. But thank you for the reply!
In your build you are using prismatic understanding, which only is useful when you can stealth often. Are you saying you get your stealth (and use of this trait) mainly from your group?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Its great to see another mesmer playing with interrupts! I’m sure you saw that our builds are very similar. On the note of Chaotic Interruption, I love the trait… especially with a sigil of battle, I’m usually between 10 and 20 stacks of might at all times! I just weigh that against staff cooldowns, but usually I’ll trait for phantasms anyway so its not too bad. I’ll usually build slightly more toughness, definitely runes of the undead as opposed to getting some condition duration on there with runes to make up for it. Which do you think is more viable?
I think you might be confusing Bountiful Interruption with Chaotic Interruption, but I could be misreading you. Chaotic Interruption is the 30 point trait that immobilizes your target and applies blind, cripple, or chill on a successful interrupt. I have not been able to give up reduced staff cool downs for Bountiful Interruption, but I may have to give it a shot based on your suggestion.
I think in this case the rune selection is really just a matter of personal preference and play style. I don’t think you could go wrong by selecting undead for a condi build at all. I am actually using Lyssa more so for the additional precision and the 6 rune benefit; the additional condi duration is really just a side benefit. For me, I like being able to use Mass Invisibility as a full reset and I feel that the 6 rune benefit from Lyssa allows this.
The additional toughness from undead would certainly help with surviving an onslaught of burst whereas being able to drop all condis from Lyssa would help against opposing condis, in addition to Arcane Thievery. I find Illusionary Retreat, Illusionary Counter, and Chaos Armor to be sufficient for surviving burst in addition to the interrupt play style and standard Mesmer fare (Distortion, Blink, etc.).
Chaotic Interruption rules – good discussion on that trait used in power and condition builds in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption
I’ve personally been using combinations of condition duration runes and giver’s weapons (even on the power build). Runes of Ice work well, too.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
I have made a variation to the Chaos Maestro build to support my World vs. World team but still be able to do some damage to enemy clumps. Here is the build:
Would this variation be able to fulfill the supportive role the Chaos Maestro provides and deal a good amount of damage to support my team offensively as well? Thanks.
Good build – specs are similar to the paladin support mesmer in my signature, also trading bountiful interruption for prismatic understanding which is a popular choice due to the great defensive boons you can get from stealth. That said, you don’t have many stealth options in the build (only veil). So that might hamper your ability to really take advantage of PU.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
I understand and agree with the RnG portions of the OP, whether group play or otherwise. There is way too much of that in mesmer utilities and traits. Specific to your group play focus, you make some good points about confusion, shatter and phantasm specs, and I do think the mesmer is still highly regarded as the best dueling class.
For group support, mesmer is absolutely not “just a utility bar”, at least not in my WvW experiences. First, mesmer AoE interrupts can be devastating in group play. There are plenty of sources – actually the list you provided is a generous pool to choose from, spread across diverse weapons which allow a decent number of sources. The “randomness” procs well enough for them to be useful. The Diversion comment “and requires a clone” made me chuckle because seriously, one single clone (we have endless access to) can cause so much disruption (Imbued Diversion with Chaotic Interruption or Confounding Suggestions for example). One clone to potentially AoE stun or immobilize, chill/cripple/blind on no cool down?? That’s huge. Yes, you have to trait to get this, but you have to trait into something for interrupts, right? You can still build a nice, damaging dealing and even condition focused build around interrupts (I and others I know have).
On the subject of interrupts, can you clarify what you’d like Chaotic Interruption to change to? Are you saying it should proc on daze and not interrupt? If that’s the case, that would be a nerf as we have much more capabilities to interrupt than daze … daze of course being one of the primary interrupt sources but then you have pushes/pulls, etc. Also, you forgot Sword #4 counter blade as an AoE interrupt source.
You don’t mention the incredible group support functions the mesmer brings. There’s so much we can bring to the table. Utility, boons, healing, stealth as you mentioned (yes veil should be changed back). Really there is a lot there. So many people like to make the argument that “mesmers don’t do support as well as other classes”. While that may be true in some cases, I don’t believe other classes do it THAT much better to totally snub what mesmer can do in these areas. If your party make-up wants to spec into damage/condition or whatever and need a support presence, mesmer can more than step up to the task to great effect in this area.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Does Bountiful Interruption have an internal cooldown?
Nope
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@skcamow: from my experience, the boss still carries on with the skill, but we get all the interrupt effects: HS dmg, Might from BI, conditions from CI. I haven’t tested FI with boss yet, but it should work in the same way.
Edited: boss with Unstoppable (rather than Unshakable) will be immune to CC conditions so I suppose CI won’t proc.
Agreed, for Unstoppable that’s pretty cut and dried. It’s the negative conditions that I wondered would be inflicted on interrupt proc under defiant. I believe Pyro was confirming that to be yes but I wanted to make sure.
EDIT: I honestly didn’t create the chill build with PvE or Dungeons in mind, but it looks like Chaotic Interruption certainly has some potential both in my recent experience and these facts. Thanks everyone for clearing up the boss interrupt questions. Martial – I’d love to hear your experience if you end up taking this build concept into those areas.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
(edited by skcamow.3527)
So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.
I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?
Thanks everyone.
Bosses are immune ONLY to hard cc when they have defiant. The base buff that applies defiant, ‘unshakeable’ makes blinds only 10% effective and causes the duration of weakness and vulnerability to be halfed.
All other types of cc work fine.
Thanks for the clarification. So when a boss has Defiant, it is immune to these hard cc’s:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effectMeaning immobilize, chill and cripple can still get inflicted if proc’d, correct?
EDIT: Understanding that in this case they can’t be proc’d from Chaotic Interruption, due to the interrupt requirement (daze/push/pull of which it’s immune), but it can get these conditions from other classes or our potential sources (like an iLeap/Swap)?If you use an interrupt while a boss is casting an ability, the interrupt actually will occur. You’ll get the little interrupt floater, and your interrupt traits will proc, you just won’t actually interrupt the skill, but instead remove a stack of defiant.
Right, that’s been my experience with Bountiful Interruption for some time. So in the case of Chaotic Interruption for example, you’re saying that even with defiant, the boss will get the resulting conditions if interrupted (even though his action is not)?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.
I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?
Thanks everyone.
Bosses are immune ONLY to hard cc when they have defiant. The base buff that applies defiant, ‘unshakeable’ makes blinds only 10% effective and causes the duration of weakness and vulnerability to be halfed.
All other types of cc work fine.
Thanks for the clarification. So when a boss has Defiant, it is immune to these hard cc’s:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effect
Meaning immobilize, chill and cripple can still get inflicted if proc’d, correct?
EDIT: Understanding that in this case they can’t be proc’d from Chaotic Interruption, due to the interrupt requirement (daze/push/pull of which it’s immune), but it can get these conditions from other classes or our potential sources (like an iLeap/Swap)?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
(edited by skcamow.3527)
Yes, Mesmer can and does interrupt regularly. I don’t use GS in the build – it’s Sw/F and Staff. Staff Chaos Storm can inflict AoE daze, which interrupts if a foe is using a skill. Focus #4 Into the Void pull can AoE interrupt a slew of opponents. There’s Diversion – F3 skill (which causes daze), GS #5, Sword #4 counter blade, Pistol #5. Every interrupt procs 5 stacks of might.
Other might sources – Staff auto-attack can give might, sigils of battle gives 3 stacks might on weapon swap, Runes of Altruism gives 3 stacks might on heal, and signet of inspiration (which you would be running for a support build) can give might. It’s not too difficult to get 20-25 stacks quickly, but more typically, you can maintain around 15 consistently, which you will share often.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Your build is put together well for what you’re after. I also used to run a very similar build with similar gear focused on inflicting confusion via ethereal fields and the duelist. You have your bleeds in there as well of course. One thing I loved to do was pop a Chaos Storm, immediately swap to Pistol and shoot through that field. However …
I dropped the idea for a few reasons. Confusion was nerfed, the damage is very single target focused, and no staff cooldowns, which became a bit cumbersome when trying to go defensive. There’s no AoE at all, so it makes it more difficult for crowd control and anything over a 1v1. Have you had a different experience?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
The big might stacks come from a Chaos master trait called bountiful interruption. There are numerous other sources. Check out the build in my signature for good boon suppport while dealing decent damage. There are other builds which deck out in full support gear (high healing power, boon duration) as well. Support builds are compiled here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/SUPPORT-Mesmer-Spotlight
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
cc means control effects: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cc
When the interrupts proc, they do get immobilized/chilled. There is an effect bosses get called unshakable: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unshakable which in turn gives them an effect called defiant when someone successfully cc’s them. They get multiple stacks depending on how many allies are in the area. When the boss gets defiant, it CAN be interrupted, and interrupting is the only way to remove all the defiant stacks (one interrupt removes one stack). The interrupt effects, like from chaotic interruption, are useless on the boss during this time, but those interrupts will proc traits that give the player boons or other effects on interrupt, for example – bountiful interruption.
Once the defiant stacks are gone, the boss can successfully be cc’d again, etc.
There is another effect called unstoppable: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unstoppable, where you pretty much can’t inflict cc or movement restrictions on it, so if you see that, don’t waste your interrupts.
Being that bosses are just one aspect of any dungeon, the build can still shine against other dungeon encounters where cc’s are easier to inflict.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
…
- Gear-wise, there’s been great advice given. Personally I would establish a goal for where you’d like to be and then gear up accordingly. For your build/play style, I would recommend 3,000 attack, 2,400 armor, 18-20K health, 50% crit chance, 75% crit dmg. The rest of the stats don’t matter as much. These stats are easily attainable with the options we have, and I believe it’ll help balance your damage while getting that survivor achievement.
…I confess that I’m an idiot, but I can’t get those values. Can you tell me how you do it?
This is pretty close. I kept the divinity runes as I wasn’t sure what direction the OP was going to go with those. OP did want to use MF food, so I included omnomberry bars for that and maintenance oil to boost precision.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Thanks Carighan and Skcamow. Carighan, I feel better about using interrupt build in pve.
Skcamow, I’ll probably be roaming with others and be in 3 vs 3 situations. Either in dungeons or in pvp. So I might go with Imbued Diversion (10/0/30/0/30).
I’ll mostly use gear instead of trait lines to get myself some power and condition duration.
Does duration of immobilize increase with increased condition duration?
Also, what does IB stand for?
Sorry, I meant Imbued Diversion (ID). Immobilize is affected by condition duration – so effectively all conditions inflicted by Chaotic Interruption are, which begs one to build in some kind of condi-duration into the build.
On the PvE front, I tried ChillRuption in a couple dungeon runs last night and it worked a lot better than I expected. The cc is noticeably useful in many situations (depends on the dungeon). The only real downside is when a boss is immune to cc. Then, DPS needs to be high enough to do decent damage since mass cc and staff boons are really what you’re bringing to the group in this build.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
A simple gear change might help while keeping the same build. Going to Knight’s would increase survivability, with a little dps decrease. Sometimes you have balance dps with your armor/vitality. The MF accessories aren’t doing you any favors for either dps or surviving – I’d replace those with something else while leveling.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Yes, T3 and T4 are manageable as long as you take daze/stun. I can corroborate Duck’s advice. Go full zerker gear and mantra nuker 30/30/0/0/10, take harmonious mantras for 3x daze and GS-Sw/P. GS for long range and Magic Bullet is very good too for an extra stun, but the bounce sometimes aggros unintentionally so be careful with range. Basically, Magic Bullet, Duelist – if still alive, BF. I played this exact way solo a few days ago and didn’t have too much trouble.
Blink is almost essential, and mantra condi-cleanse helps a ton to get rid of chill/cripple if you do aggro the vets. The 3x mantra heal also helps if you’re full zerker.
One thing I found, if you’re still in the game with 1 minute or less left, usually you’ll also be down to 1,000 or 500. At that point, just follow the plunderers to kill, evading everything else to the best of your ability.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Thanks Skcamow for your advice.
Do you think putting 30 points into Domination in order to increase condition duration is a good idea? I’d only put 10 points into Illusions and I’d sacrifice being able to immobilize 5 opponents in order to get longer lasting stuns, dazes, confusions, chills and immobilize. I’d go after one opponent at a time in pvp and pve. Or would you recommend me to only use equipment to grant an increase in condition duration?
I’d also get Harmonious mantras and attempt to use Mantra of Distraction 3 times in order to sort-of stun-lock an opponent.
This could be the new build: 30/0/30/0/10.
Domination (for power!):-Halting Strike, Greatsword Training, Harmonious Mantras.
Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption.
Illusions: Illusionary Invigoration.Weapons: scepter/pistol; greatsword.
Confounding Suggestions is obviously more useful than IB in a 1v1 scenario. If that’s what you’ll mostly be doing, the 30/0/30/0/10 build makes sense. If you’re all about focused, timed interrupts (versus the more random AoE), the daze mantra definitely comes into the picture and harmonious mantras becomes that much more enticing. I would play with both traits there to see which feels better; unfortunately you can’t take Harmonious Mantras and Confounding Suggestions together.
The moment you start factoring in 1v2 or higher, that’s when I recommend thinking about shifting over to 10/0/30/0/30.
Also as a general rule, never (if possible) use the trait lines to increase any particular stat. Craft the build you want to use, then use the stats you have to then match the gear to get the full picture you’re after (power/condition, etc). Also remember that condition duration does not apply to stun.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
And another 2 cents …
- GS training would be better IMO than Rending Shatter in PvE. The decreased cool downs means you’re killing things faster. If you’re fine with the cool downs as-is, I would play with …
- Halting Strike. With your GS #5 and Pistol #5, you will be able to take advantage of that often. This also affects Diversion and you’ll likely find yourself using that F3 more often when taking this trait. The extra damage spike is very nice post 6/25 patch and remember each interrupt means damage mitigation on you.
- Compounding Power only works for your personal attacks (not phantasms), so keep that in mind. Alternatively, I would personally go for Precise Wrack as others have said, since you have a shatter focused build. Instead of IE, maybe experiment with Illusionary Invigoration. If you find yourself under 50% health a lot, those immediate shatter recharges can come in handy for extra damage, interrupts, or invulnerability via F4.
- Which brings me to another point – being shatter focused, use that F4 often if you’re in a bind. 4 long seconds of invulnerability is priceless, and you will have fresh new clones in no time to start nuking again.
- Gear-wise, there’s been great advice given. Personally I would establish a goal for where you’d like to be and then gear up accordingly. For your build/play style, I would recommend 3,000 attack, 2,400 armor, 18-20K health, 50% crit chance, 75% crit dmg. The rest of the stats don’t matter as much. These stats are easily attainable with the options we have, and I believe it’ll help balance your damage while getting that survivor achievement.
- Utilities, Runes/Sigils – others have had great advice.
Have fun
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
ChillRuption works well, especially in organized groups. I personally didn’t care for confounding suggestions over imbued diversion since you lose the AoE interrupt source and IC for cool downs. With confounding suggestions you have to daze in order to proc the stun which doesn’t take advantage of your push/pull interrupts. To me the trait seems counter-productive when also taking chaotic interruption in comparison to imbued diversion. Not to say it couldn’t be used effectively, just seems IB fits better. There’s nothing like launching a mirror blade into a group and immediate F3 for mass interrupts/immobilize/chill, etc.
There’s more discussion in the build thread about PvP and WvW experiences that may be useful. Some have ran a condition focused variant. I’m still running a power build myself and making gear modifications to get the right balance. I’m finding building in 50% condition duration is a nice balance. I was running close to 100% but lost too much power.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Thanks SlimChance and everyone that posted/read my post.
I think I know what build I want to run. It’s going to be very similar to Skcamow’s: 10/0/30/0/30.
Domination: Halting Strike (woo!)
Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption.
Illusions: Illusionary Invigoration, Phantasmal Haste, Imbued Diversion.Skills that are not related to weapons: Feedback, Arcane Thievery, Signet of Domination (and may be Decoy instead of Arcane Thievery or Signet of Domination sometimes because Decoy is just so cool!).
Weapons: Scepter and Pistol; Great Sword.
This build (that is not completely mine) will be about assisting others by stunning and immobilizing foes. Also, creating feedback around immobilized, ranged opponents so we can beat on them without them beating on us. I’ll try it and see what happens.
I have a few questions. Is Mind Stab (Great Sword) good enough to strip stability off of others? Or do I need arcane thievery (do opponents have more than one boon on usually?)? How long does Immobilize last when interrupting them (chaotic interruption)? Is it 2 seconds?
Glad to hear you’re trying a ChillRuption variant – I love your Mirror of Anguish choice. That trait rocks, but I just can’t use it because I need Chaotic Dampening for GS/Staff. I may eventually try Sw/Sw with GS which would free that up.
Mind Stab should indeed strip stability, but using arcane thievery makes stealing stability much more fun, as often opponents will indeed have more than one boon :-). Typically I reserve it for condition removal, but if an opponent is loaded with boons, it’s too sweet not to use it at that point.
As I noted in the ChillRuption build thread, the build shines in PvP/WvW and especially zergs if you can get in close for some AoE interrupts. PvE I’ve found it’s not quite as good simply because foes aren’t attacking as often and thus proc’ing less interrupts. However, if you build enough power in and get in areas with lots of mobs (like cursed shore pent/shelt events), it’s way fun. Dungeons I’m not sure how it would run, but I’d be curious your experience if you try it there. You proc interrupts on bosses, but they are often immune to the effect of the interrupts. In dungeons with heavy mobs though, it would be golden.
You’re correct, the default immobilize from Chaotic Interruption is 2 seconds, then if chill procs – 2 seconds, blind – 3 seconds and cripple – 3 seconds. I suggest building at least 50% condition or chill duration (depending WvW/sPvP) so you can AoE immobilize for 3 seconds, then the extra duration applies to the resulting proc’d condition.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Yes i was running with same traits as posted but in full rabid gear. I agree with you Bountiful Interruption might be a better option in zerg fight since with 3 stacks? of Might, provide you an easy burst after the successful interrupt.
It’s actually 5 stacks of might per interrupt with BI, good stuff. I’m still running the power build, making a few modifications here and there to get it right. I was going all in with condition duration but I was losing too much power so I’m scaling back to about 50% duration with 20% chill on top of that, with full runes of ice (like the cheapest runes out there, ha). They actually have good synergy with the power build. I’m also looking forward to trying a condition variant soon.
Anyone else been playing this build or variant? I’ve seen some folks talking about it in other threads and I’d be curious to hear experiences with it.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Nice, 10/0/30/0/30 is fun, fun to play. I’ve been running Imbued Diversion with Chaotic Interruption in the following build – jaw dropping moments galore :-)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuptionThose two GM traits could easily have made my list, but there are just too many others.
That ChillRuption build is boss, btw. So much fun.
@Clockwork – Dat backdash! And its interesting to see Imbued Diversion as your number one. If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of build do you run?
I’ve been playing around a lot with it. It’s my current mesmer obsession, though I’ll admit, it’s really hard to work around and I haven’t narrowed in on the build I want. I tend towards a heavy Chaos investment, because I can get Bountiful Interruption, which can proc huge with ID. Add Signet of Inspiration, stir vigorously.
I’m flirting with 10/0/30/0/30 and 0/0/20/20/30 sort of spreads, but I’ve not yet sunk my teeth into exactly what I want yet. I just know that pressing ID’s F3 has lead to some of my most jaw dropping moments, and it’s a feeling I’d like to continue pursing, even if only as a fun time spec.
Nice, 10/0/30/0/30 is fun, fun to play. I’ve been running Imbued Diversion with Chaotic Interruption in the following build – jaw dropping moments galore :-)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuptionThose two GM traits could easily have made my list, but there are just too many others.
Aye, I like ChillRuption a lot. Only on the mesmer board could something that awesome exist. It’d be laughed off at face value anywhere else, before they could know such joy.
Thanks guys – would love to hear your experiences playing with the build if you wanted to share in the build thread!
As for this thread, for some reason coming up with a list of favorite traits is easier than doing the same for skills/utilities.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@Alissah-Nice job!
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@Clockwork – Dat backdash! And its interesting to see Imbued Diversion as your number one. If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of build do you run?
I’ve been playing around a lot with it. It’s my current mesmer obsession, though I’ll admit, it’s really hard to work around and I haven’t narrowed in on the build I want. I tend towards a heavy Chaos investment, because I can get Bountiful Interruption, which can proc huge with ID. Add Signet of Inspiration, stir vigorously.
I’m flirting with 10/0/30/0/30 and 0/0/20/20/30 sort of spreads, but I’ve not yet sunk my teeth into exactly what I want yet. I just know that pressing ID’s F3 has lead to some of my most jaw dropping moments, and it’s a feeling I’d like to continue pursing, even if only as a fun time spec.
Nice, 10/0/30/0/30 is fun, fun to play. I’ve been running Imbued Diversion with Chaotic Interruption in the following build – jaw dropping moments galore :-)
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption
Those two GM traits could easily have made my list, but there are just too many others.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@Pyro – have you thought about making the build more condition focused to do your damage? This is something I threw together real quick and uses your favorite scepter/torch combo :-P but I’m thinking it would have some good survivability.
- A bit less vitality, more toughness (not that this is good, just how it came out).
- Reflections go from warden’s feedback to Feedback/Masterful Reflection.
- Illusions master goes from shatter CD to IE which is good for Staff/iMage in condition dmg builds.
- Of course with PI, you have that much more survivability going stealth and gaining those awesome boons while stealthed.
- No lemongrass soup in favor of extra condi duration w/pizza. Higher healing power/regeneration from phantasms can help to offset bleeds and somewhat offset poison/burning.
- Traited glamour CD versus mender’s purity. Condi management comes from melandru runes and regen. You could swap decoy with the iDisenchanter as well since you have multiple other stealth sources (though on long CD). iDisenchanter becomes another regen source.
- Boon duration and condition duration are average, having to manage both together in the build but not too bad. I’m sure you could tweak it. Illusions adept could go 33% confusion duration.
I don’t know – sure the power based Immortal Build itself as you built it isn’t as viable anymore, but the Immortal concept is too good; I have to believe it can live again with a different spec, maybe even using very similar traits. Have you experimented with anything else along these lines? If you come up with something while we wait for Anet to revert the phantasm retal change (ha), you can call it 2.0, etc :-)
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Shall we assume you want the major traits only in the responses, or can we include minor as well? I assumed the latter …
5) Illusionists Celerity – It’s less of a favorite after the nerf, but post-nerf, I’ve found ways to use it so as to lessen the need to completely rely on this trait plus the weapon cool down traits like we all used to.
4) Blade Training – one of the cheapest traits you get so much from; not only the shorter cool downs (especially when running two swords in separate hands), but the extra 50 precision.
3) Chaotic Dampening – Does so much, similar to blade training. Can turn a glass cannon shatter mesmer into a defensive stalwart.
2) Bountiful Interruption – love it, one of the shining spots in my paladin support build and one of the best traits to take in any interrupt build.
1) Warden’s Feedback – this has to be #1 for me, as it’s arguably the strongest mesmer trait we have (along w/DE and IP).
This is probably heresy, but Illusionary Persona and Deceptive Evasion don’t even make the top 5 for me. I don’t use either in any of the builds I run, though I know they are amazing traits and extremely strong in certain builds. That fact alone (and I’m sure I’m not the only one who doesn’t use these) proves there are plenty of mesmer builds to choose from. Build diversity is every bit as high as the pre IC patch in my opinion.
That’s a cool thing about this thread – you will see answers all over the map and they will likely be based on the builds folks are running, which I believe will further prove build diversity is high. Of course there will be some subjectivity involved in the responses due to your question of “what’s your favorite”, but I believe in the end you’ll get a good idea of which traits are best, assuming you have a decent sample size.
One other thing – you should do a survey on the least favorite traits.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
These builds should be up to date (stickied thread):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/List-Find-your-Mesmer-Build-Guides
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@Pyro, just something to throw out there, if you guys haven’t already broached the subjects of skill balance (outside of patch changes) and counterplay in the mesmer podcast, this would be a great topic. I would be very interested in hearing in depth discussion on it.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
As others have said, the build really defines which is better but GS is likely the better overall choice. I’ve been running a very zerg disrupting build of late – it can be quite gratifying to get in the thick as you say, swing your GS #5 and watch everything in front of you stand still for a few seconds. The build runs Staff also, but sword/focus could potentially work, especially with the focus pull AoE interrupt potential.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
@ArmageddonAsh: You are wrong. Standing still for the duration of the block is absolutely unnecessary, and I have no idea how you managed to ‘test’ that as true.
I have tested in duels in WvW as well as in PvE. If you dodge AFTER you have been “hit” but before the actual duration runs out they don’t get the Torment proc. Seems like an issue to me, it should be INSTANT not wait until the duration of the block has ended…
The way it works is you have a 2 second channel. If you are hit during that channel, that attack is immediately blocked, and in .5 seconds your target will get hit with the counterattack. If you dodge in that .5 second window, the counterattack will not occur.
Thats the problem. It SHOULDN’T be like that, as if the duration isn’t short enough, It should INSTANTLY afflict them.
No it shouldn’t instantly affect them. In games, we like to have something called counterplay. If someone can dodge or interrupt in that .5s window, they are displaying extraordinary counterplay. Removing that possibility simply makes it easier for bad players to do well.
I tend to agree with this, but it brings up a whole other discussion of balance. I mean, there are plenty of skills that have no chance of counterplay from an opponent. e.g., mantras – take mantra of pain. Sure, the opponent can clearly see you charge it, but will have no control or be able to tell when you actually use the instant cast. Is it the fact that all classes have access to certain “instant cast” skills and that’s declared balanced?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
So what you mean to say is, with 80% condition duration its 3 seconds of immobilize, because without the full 100% duration any decimal points equate to nothing.
I believe that is only for damaging conditions, which tick every second on the full second.
Things like cripple, chill, etc. do take advantage of partial seconds.
And for what it’s worth, I’ve done some testing on this recently because I wasn’t sure either, and dandamanno is correct. Specifically, for cc type conditions like cripple/daze/immobilize/chill, durations round to a 1/4 second as it states on the wiki. With 80% condition duration your 2s immobilize becomes 3.5s.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
I ran an interrupt build for a few weeks solo roaming in wvw. The idea is awesome and if well played the build is really strong, but there is a major downside: It is very hard to play, or at least, it requires alot of focus.
There are no cast bars on enemies, so you have to look closely for animations, this is all fine if you are experienced in pvp because you will know most of them, but some skills don’t have a cast time, therefore you can’t interrupt them.
The damage on an interrupt build is poor compared to shatter/phantasm at least if you go full interrupt. However if you aim to interrupt someone’s heal, you can do this 10+ in a row. This does require your opponent to be absolute stupid to trigger his heal over and over again knowing you will interrupt it. This gets me to the next part, you completely rely on the other person to do something, if he doesn’t, like run away, you won’t damage him (It is really easy to run away from a full interrupt build).
On a normal setup I ran 10/20/30/0/10, which is in general strong versus a necromancer,engineer,mesmer,elementalist,ranger but has a big problem when fighting warriors,guardians,thieves. The reason that it is hard when fighting heavy classes is because of the stability uptime, this could also happen on necros and eles, but not as much. When your opponent has stability your build becomes useless and this forces you to switch to 20/20/30/0/0 to rip off the stability. You give away alot of your interrupts to do this tho. Fighting thieves is even worse, because you can’t interrupt anything that is stealthed as all your attacks need a target. This doesn’t make it impossible, you just have to be really fast and interrupt him between the time he comes out of stealth and attacks you.
The build only works as 1v1, if you want to use it as a group build you’d have to go 30 into illusions which you actually can’t afford and when you do so you have to pick the trait over illusionairy persona.
Tl;dr: Damage is poor compared to other builds, if your opponent is stupid you will win easily, some skills make your build completely useless, hybrid is a better solution, but you miss out on alot where the build is based on (might,immobilize), traits are spread out in different trait lines.
For your 30 in Chaos, are you using Chaotic Interruption? A build I posted recently (link below) works fairly well against multiple opponents due to the focus on AoE interrupts. It’s powerful enough to take down opponents no problem, and others have come up with condition variants in the thread that have worked well.
Granted with this build it’s RnG primarily; you’re not waiting for a animation for a focused interrupt using the daze mantra for example, but are proc’ing a lot of interrupts from the AoE sources. Works well defending points in PvP (for a short while anyway, nothing like bunker) and has worked nicely in WvW solo roaming and especially vs zergs.
I will also say, as others have reported, that it doesn’t work as well in PvE, mostly because of the length of time between casts/actions. You’ll bring things down, but not as efficiently as with other builds.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Hey Chaos, tried to PM you but you’re full …
The build has changed from the original you posted; as a result, it doesn’t appear you’re taking advantage of the added stealth boons in the boon storm. Did you want to update that?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Fay, here are a few builds posted in the past few weeks that I request be added to the list:
- Winterfell (Very High Condition): https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-Very-High-Condition-sPvp-WvW-PvE
- Ross Biddle (Poisoned Apples): https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-Poisoned-Apples
- keenlam (The Clone Spammer): https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/condition-build-The-Clone-Spammer
- Varconi (Condition Build for Roaming WvW): https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/BUILD-Condition-build-for-roaming-WvW
- skcamow (ChillRuption): https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption
Most of them are condition builds, except for mine which can go condition or power. Thanks everyone for posting these builds! The variety is great to see and I’ve enjoyed reading through and learning from all of them.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
-=Lockdown (1:1)=-
This is another high macro build, that rotates around stuns, if played correctly you can chain stuns well over 10 seconds, long enough to kill them. This is the 1:1 version of the build, and with the amount of stuns you can dictate the pace of the battle, and interrupt what is needed.
Lots of damage mitigation as well including two invuls, 2 blocks and the stuns, compliment the full berserkers set that delivers a huge punch in damageTraits:
0,30,0,30,10
Duel: VI, X, XI
Ins: III, VIII, X
Ill: II
Utils:
Heal – Human racial, or Etherfeast
Util: Mirror Image, Mantra of Distraction, Signet of Domination
Elite: HoB racial, or TW/MI
Items:
Gear: Berserkers
Weapons: sword, pistol, Scepter and sword (Berserkers)
Runes: 6 Runes of Mesmer
Sigils: Paralization x4
Food: Bowl of curry butternut squash soup, master maintenance oil
Video guide of the build can be found here:
I’ve been playing around with interrupt/disruption builds lately and wanted to compare against some other builds. Not sure if I missed something, but the build described in the video (30/10/0/0/30) is not the same as described in the post. Your group lockdown build is closer to this, but still goes 10 in inspiration. Can you clarify?
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
am i the only one that feels as if we’re being shafted?
I don’t feel shafted at all. Taking into account all the issues we still have, bugs and all, Anet will work those out and we have to keep them honest of course. But we’re still an incredibly strong class, one of the strongest in the game. In fact, I love hearing about the buffs to Ranger and Warrior. It will make them harder to kill for sure. Just means we mesmers get to meet the challenge and show everyone we’re still in the top tier of professions.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
I assume you’re using this in WvW due to the rune/food choices? A couple suggestions:
- Trait wise, I would look at trading out compounding power for precise wrack. That will help land crits with MW if you’re concerned about your crit chance being too low.
- One flaw I see is that you have zero condition removal, which could trip you up in WvW. I would use sigils of generosity or purity to account for that. In PvE, conditions aren’t nearly as much of an issue, so you could go with your current setup there.
- If you’re not using this in WvW, the rune/food choices may be a bit overkill. You would be better off with something else in PvE.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
The SoD buff … 3 second stun, up from 2?? Drooling.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
The iMage is the only true “condition” weapon skill phantasm, even though it does do a small amount of damage. The others are power all the way, as they all potentially can do obscene amounts of damage and inherently possess no condition applying qualities (except zerker but that’s cc). It’s all direct damage. Sure, buff the iMage, but we’ve been singing that song for months. Maybe add another condition type phantasm utility for us to use.
iWhaler is the only true condi phantasm. 4 stacks of confusion and 4 hits which may be 4 additional stacks of bleeding
I would argue the iMage, but you’re right about the iWhaler. Problem is, as you pointed out, it’s an underwater phantasm (who cares/not on my radar).
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
The iMage is the only true “condition” weapon skill phantasm, even though it does do a small amount of damage. The others are power all the way, as they all potentially can do obscene amounts of damage and inherently possess no condition applying qualities (except zerker but that’s cc). It’s all direct damage. Sure, buff the iMage, but we’ve been singing that song for months. Maybe add another condition type phantasm utility for us to use.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
Hi all,
So I got in a massive zerg fight yesterday, and I must say I’m totally in love with chill + interrupts now. I reckoned i finished off around more than 10 enemies in that fight.
I had great success on how to pull an interrupt. Here’s what i did:
I watched for someone who just dodged and started running away with low health. Usually it means they’re using heal. CC fire away and they’re downed instantly with Halting Strike (I got like up to 1,5k dmg on my rabid gear). Also the chill was great to slow them down in case they got away with my CC. Obviously, running with Berserker gear would be more devastating. Will def try it out next time.
Ofc Chaos Storm on an enemy group works well too.
Nice, were you using the condition hybrid build you linked above?
I was able to get the power build out into WvW last night. The chill aspect aside, the initial immobilize can be devastating for enemy zergs if you can get in close enough for an AoE cc. I was able to pull one off with a GS #5. Screen lit up with interrupts and everything froze for a second, though I couldn’t stay around to watch because I was high tailing it. Then they get the resulting random condition after that (chill/cripple/blind). I went 100% condi-duration instead of 60% chill duration which is a lot better. Get a few mesmers running this and I can see it potentially stopping a zerg in it’s tracks so your zerg can rain pain from range.
One thing I noticed too is that when zerg’ing, it’s likely better to go with Bountiful Interruption in master and reserve Chaotic Dampening for smaller scale solo fights. The large amounts of might really help, plus you still have IC so at least your Phase Retreat and iWarlock aren’t on full cool down.
I haven’t got into any 1vx’s yet but intend to try the next few days.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
A very interesting build. I’ve been wondering about the benefits of Chaotic Interruption and off-hand focus. Pulling with Focus #4 while casting Focus #5 to result in pulling the target and immobilizing him on top of the warden.
I may have to try this build out just to see what that will do.
Yes, that has great potential in this type of build. The Into the Void pull to Warden is already strong if practiced, but using it with Chaotic Interruption (assuming you interrupt) makes it even better.
Since we’ve been talking about condi or power/condi hybrids, here is a hybrid idea I had using either Scepter/Focus – Staff or Scepter/Pistol – Staff. It stays fairly close to the power build trait-wise, deviating a little to get sharper images. Condition management is generally via melandru runes, but you could squeeze in other sources if necessary. I’m thinking you’d use pistol if solo and focus while zerg’ing. No need to re-trait, just weapon swap depending on the situation. Thoughts on this one?
Haven’t tried it yet – still need to give the power build a whirl in WvW.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
(edited by skcamow.3527)
Ha! iMage beauty at about 2:00. Actually makes it look a little useful …
:-)
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
This is an interesting variant on a mantra nuker build which usually goes 30 into Dueling for the extra damage. I saw a similar build on the forums some time ago but after two months of patches and class re-balancing, this build is stronger now. Going 30 into inspiration opens up a lot of interesting options. Using Sw/Sw in WvW, you can support yourself and a small group with Restorative Mantras in Master, and then Shattered Conditions (group) or Restorative Illusions (solo) in grandmaster. You can go either mender’s purity for condition mgmt in adept, or go for glamour cooldown if you want, which is handy in WvW.
At a minimum you’d use mantra heals and MoP. If solo, take the condition cleansing mantra and something else when in a group, since you wouldn’t need that for condition management since you’d take shattered conditions. It’s all about utility and versatility and this build provides a decent amount of both. You can switch skills and traits around depending on your situation and without re-traiting.
In PvE Sw/Focus is good, especially for dungeons and using the focus cool down trait.
I’m testing out some other builds but will try to test this one out in the next couple weeks.
EDIT: If you want to go shatter, it may be best to take 10 out of Inspiration and put them into Dueling to take Deceptive Evasion. You lose a little versatility but still workable.
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)
(edited by skcamow.3527)
Along the lines of GW1’s Fragility, which was a very situational skill, here are some ideas:
- Fragility: A new trait which would inflict a small amount of damage whenever an opponent either gains or loses a condition you placed on them. It would have to be one or the other I think.
- Tormenting Malice: A new trait which would inflict one stack of torment each time an opponent gains or loses (cumulatively) 5 of any condition you place on them.
Similar ideas could be applied to gaining/losing boons.
Other idea:
- Bountiful Distortion: A new trait which would grant retaliation, fury, and vigor each time you become invulnerable (similar to PU for stealth).
Kortham Raysplitter (Yak’s Bend)