Mesmer Discussion Thread

[Deleted]

Really enjoying Greatsword with Sword/Pistol levelling this Mesmer up, seems to be rather effective, a tad bit faster than GS/Staff anyway

[Ralamus]

Really enjoying Greatsword with Sword/Pistol levelling this Mesmer up, seems to be rather effective, a tad bit faster than GS/Staff anyway

i've been using pretty much just greatsword, and staff occasionally just for chaos storm since i started leveling. i think i might try out sword/pistol again, it seemed really weak the last time i tried it but that was at like level 8 or something so it might be better now.

also i feel like mesmers rely really heavily on traits; a lot more than other classes.

[Fenlnir]

i've been using pretty much just greatsword, and staff occasionally just for chaos storm since i started leveling. i think i might try out sword/pistol again, it seemed really weak the last time i tried it but that was at like level 8 or something so it might be better now.

also i feel like mesmers rely really heavily on traits; a lot more than other classes.

They are pretty trait heavy. I finally hit 80 last night and hadn't spent around 10 points or so, finally did and wow, they make a huge difference.

@Drake, I don't think a shatter applies to illusions being killed. I tried to shatter for the condition, and it didn't work beyond the daze/confuse from the 2nd and 3rd shatters. Might be a little buggy, but that's what I saw.

[Deleted]

Traits certainly help as most will pimp out your Illusions. I mostly use Sword+Pistol for levelling atm, sometimes swap to Staff, Greatsword is sat in my Inventory.

[Ralamus]

3rd time in 3 days i've gotten the crash message and had to run the repair. getting annoying. guess i'll mess around with a build calculator in the meantime

[Luko]

Damn you people. I need to stop subscribing to every profession thread. Now I want to go make a mesmer. =( I'm not getting back to Orr any time soon at this rate.

Planning on trying Greatsword / Sword+Pistol to start with. Any better suggestions for a mainly solo Mesmer?

[Kelesti]

· Fixed a bug with Signet of Illusions. It now give phantasms 50% more health instead of 300% more.

So that's why they started dying all of a sudden, when they seemed like tanks a couple of nights ago.

[Deleted]

I'm trying to enjoy my mesmer but it feels so weak compared to my guardian. Mesmer = kite for half an hour until the mob finally dies. Guardian = press random abilities, everything's dead. I'm currently using a greatsword which has absolutely horrible autoattack damage, and a scepter/pistol. The scepter also has horrible damage. What's the trick to doing decent damage as a mesmer?

[Fenlnir]

I'm trying to enjoy my mesmer but it feels so weak compared to my guardian. Mesmer = kite for half an hour until the mob finally dies. Guardian = press random abilities, everything's dead. I'm currently using a greatsword which has absolutely horrible autoattack damage, and a scepter/pistol. The scepter also has horrible damage. What's the trick to doing decent damage as a mesmer?

I've been rocking dual swords and it does some pretty decent output. I've found that GS doesn't do much at all, I only use it for the quick beserker then knockback.

@Kelesti, I noticed that and was sad. I enjoyed watching veterans not being able to kill my phantasms for a while.

[Ralamus]

Damn you people. I need to stop subscribing to every profession thread. Now I want to go make a mesmer. =( I'm not getting back to Orr any time soon at this rate.

Planning on trying Greatsword / Sword+Pistol to start with. Any better suggestions for a mainly solo Mesmer?

i solo champion mobs with greatsword/staff. my favorite weapon combo.

utilities: portal, feedback, signet of illusions

[tyranade]

I too use mind wrack everytime it's off cooldown (although I do not use signet of illusions as there are several other traits I find more useful). I run a mind wrack build with the +dmg and +crit traits. Maybe I have a weird playstyle, but I use my illusions as damage and confusion "bombs" rather than pets and go through at least 6 per mob.

I just had to comment on this, because that is exactly what I do too, Use then as designated bombs! What a good description! ;-)
As soon as the desired F button is of cool down, boom they go lol.

[Deleted]

Staff for easy times

[Deleted]

I found staff to be lacking, especially for events. It's only useful if Chaos Storm is ready. When enemies spawn and the Storm isn't ready, you're better off switching to.. anything else, really. The ridiculously slow projectile with its ridiculously low damage will net you no experience or contribution, simply because the enemies die too quickly.

But it's nice for AoE-damage while leveling. Pulling three enemies, Chaos Storm, Mirror Images, switch to dual Swords, Blurred Frenzy, Mind Wrack and they're down.

[Deleted]

Ehhh... Staff is great if you're solo. For events you'll want Greatsword/Sword+Pistol. Staff outside of Events I found to be awesome. BRB your auto attack applies vulnerability+Bleed, you get the Warlock, chaos armor, chaos storm and a blink back. What's not to love? I found Great swords damage to be terrible for soloing.

[Deleted]

I switch to staff for events since Winds of Chaos bounces...

[Deleted]

Amazing class!

[Deleted]

Damn you people. I need to stop subscribing to every profession thread. Now I want to go make a mesmer. =( I'm not getting back to Orr any time soon at this rate.

Planning on trying Greatsword / Sword+Pistol to start with. Any better suggestions for a mainly solo Mesmer?

IMO staff is a must for one weapon choice for a Mesmer. Chaos storm is very powerful, an the auto attack is great for boons and onditions. The illusion also hits pretty hard whe you've stacked conditions.

Starting with staff and stacking a few conditions and boons will make any other weapon you swap to massively more effective.

[Nikijih]

IMO staff is a must for one weapon choice for a Mesmer. Chaos storm is very powerful, an the auto attack is great for boons and onditions. The illusion also hits pretty hard whe you've stacked conditions.

Starting with staff and stacking a few conditions and boons will make any other weapon you swap to massively more effective.

More or less. Staff is really weak unless you got some condition damage gear.

[Deleted]

More or less. Staff is really weak unless you got some condition damage gear.

Or some people to blast into your chaos field for massive Confusion. But the slow projectile sometimes gets frustrating. Like when you're attacking a new wave of enemies but they just die under the concentrated fire from Rangers and Warriors before your projectile even hits.. yeah, no contribution for you, buddy.

I still like it and use Sword/Sword+Staff right now.

[Kelesti]

Staff is also an excellent defense weapon, swap to it, pop chaos storm, jump out of it with your Phase Retreat (2) . Hey look, Chaos Armor. By the time the "fake" Chaos Armor falls off, you hit 4 and reapply it yourself.

Staff is a combo field generator, a condition stacker, an AoE, and a solid defensive weapon for when things get a little tough and you need time/armor or you're likely to die. Pretty much makes it a "must have". As for it being "weak without condition gear", the Phantasmal Warlock (3) doesn't scale with Condition Damage, but actual Power, which is what you'd be stacking from your Sword build to begin with. It does more damage for each condition already on the target, but that burning/bleeding don't necessarily have to be from you. Remember Clones aren't the real sources of a Mesmer's damage, but the Phantasms themselves.


As for "killing lots of little things that would die before you can even touch them" kind of AoE, I usually pull out my sword for these when Chaos Storm's on cooldown. Illusionary Leap (3), Mind Wrack (F1), Swap (3) with my now deceased clone, and follow up with either the 1-chain mindlessly cleaving or Blurred Frenzy.


As for using clones only as bombs, this is kinda poor thinking usually. If something's about to die, or will die before you get your Phantasms rolling at full steam, sure, but if you can get 2 or 3 full running Phantasms, they're worth more damage than Mind Wrack's cooldown, by far. Plus generating them will guarantee to overwrite your 0 damage clones, meaning you can get those Phantasms going. Generally, you should be burning them if A) Your target's going to omgdierightnow (including soft target aoe like above), b) they're all 0 damage clones because your phantasms are on cooldown or not worth using on these targets, or c) You need a Defensive, in which case you'd be using Diversion (F3) or Distortion (F4) to save your group's/your life, rather than a little extra deeps.


If you're burning off clones on cooldown, you won't have them ready when a defensive could save your life, and you're definitely not getting the utility out of your Phantasms that you so deserve.

---------- Post added 2012-09-09 at 10:59 PM ----------

What's the trick to doing decent damage as a mesmer?

Using a one handed sword, instead of a greatsword.