Mesmer Discussion Thread

[Nikijih]

Staff is also an excellent defense weapon, swap to it, pop chaos storm, jump out of it with your Phase Retreat (2) .

Fair enough. Personally im using a GS as a secondary (sword/pistol primary). I like the Berserker better then the warlock personally, and it actually deals more AoE damage then Chaos Storm. The knockback is also great on a melee character (sword part) because it allows you to punt their front lines towards your own group, separating them from theirs and signing their deaths with one move.

As for using clones only as bombs, this is kinda poor thinking usually.

That actually depends. A good Jihad buid can pack one hell of a punch without relying on phantasms (thats when you build around a high clone generation and shatter damage.)

[Kelesti]

Fair enough. Personally im using a GS as a secondary (sword/pistol primary). I like the Berserker better then the warlock personally, and it actually deals more AoE damage then Chaos Storm. The knockback is also great on a melee character (sword part) because it allows you to punt their front lines towards your own group, separating them from theirs and signing their deaths with one move.

The thing I don't like about Berserker is (Does it count as a Whirl Finisher? I can never tell) that the second its target dies, its AoE is effectively useless. Yeah, it hurts like a truck, but then what?

I guess Greatsword would be useful in WvW with that sort of mentality of splitting front lines, but a lot of the stuff I would want to use it on, I just can't because it's immune with one form of Stability or another.

That actually depends. A good Jihad buid can pack one hell of a punch without relying on phantasms (thats when you build around a high clone generation and shatter damage.)

You're telling me three duelists pouring into a target every few seconds will do less damage than Mind Wrack? I doubt that. Short term, of course Mind Wrack wins. But if you can get the motion going, I daresay that it's only a matter of time keeping the Phantasms alive before they start to pull ahead (without sacrificing a defensive minded cooldown's accessibility).

Treating them as nothing more than bombs is giving up so much of the class' tookit for a cheap source of mediocre damage.

[Maarius]

Staff + Sword

hey, I love your replies, really got me thinking

Can you link me your Staff-Sword/? build please? How does this work out, which stats are you priotizing? Staff would go with conditions I guess, + the Chaotic Dampening (Chaos 25) and Illusionary Elasticy (Illusions 20) which only leaves 25 points. Those in Power for the Sword-punch + stronger Phantasms? Condition Damage + Power + Toughness?

[Deleted]

The tooltips don't update the cooldowns for shatter skills when you trait the 5th tree, does anyone else get this?

[Syce]

currently Mesmer is the FOTM in Spvp. though with the couple latest patches there has been a few Mesmer bug fixes which helps people fighting against them a bit, but they are still really powerful(not damage wise) but with their illusions and stuff.

[Deleted]

Really enjoying it still, though I just play Staff, Finally no more Asura (couldn't stand it!) SPvP is great but I really really REALLY dislike Mesmer vs Mesmer fights I've gathered Mesmers are heavily reliant on Traits so I suppose it can only get better and better here

[Deleted]

currently Mesmer is the FOTM in Spvp. though with the couple latest patches there has been a few Mesmer bug fixes which helps people fighting against them a bit, but they are still really powerful(not damage wise) but with their illusions and stuff.

Here's a hint: Call Target stays on the Mesmer so you can always identify him.

[Cempa]

Has any considered a build revolving around stacking Might as high as possible with staff+gs?

[ayimera]

You're telling me three duelists pouring into a target every few seconds will do less damage than Mind Wrack? I doubt that. Short term, of course Mind Wrack wins. But if you can get the motion going, I daresay that it's only a matter of time keeping the Phantasms alive before they start to pull ahead (without sacrificing a defensive minded cooldown's accessibility).

Treating them as nothing more than bombs is giving up so much of the class' tookit for a cheap source of mediocre damage.

I usually do the bomb method with your typical average single mob. I've been relying heavily on staff/gs combo, but I will take your advice and try out this tactic. Thanks!

[Andyclan]

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?

First off. youre doing something wrong. greatsword has SO much damage potential. i run greatsword/staff and i wreck shit. u have to have a good combo, remember to use ur shatters. Honestly the mesmer is one of those classes that has a lot to offer, and most arent willing to work to unlock its amazing potential. just as u said, get on ur guardian, hit random buttons, profit.

I myself enjoy having to put a little thought in to how i play my class. thats why i picked the mesmer.

And as for scep/pistol. the damage is there too. i dont think its as good as other combos but its nice to get those free illusions and the confuse stack. i dont know what ur spec is, or what ur doing but there is somethin goin on there =/. Maybe u should just play ur guardian! dont force urself to like a class. I swore i would play a guardian on release. tried it, and was underwhelmed. theyre very aesthetically pleasing, but they just didnt do it for me and i tried so hard to like it, but i just couldnt. and thats when i feel in love with the mesmer class =P

[The Cat]

And as for scep/pistol. the damage is there too. i dont think its as good as other combos but its nice to get those free illusions and the confuse stack.

Scepter/Pistol is more for condition builds. Watching those big warriors/guardians kill themselves in 2-3 skill uses is funny. Takes a little setup, but it's relatively easy to get confusion stack to 15+

[Cempa]

First off. youre doing something wrong. greatsword has SO much damage potential. i run greatsword/staff and i wreck shit. u have to have a good combo, remember to use ur shatters. Honestly the mesmer is one of those classes that has a lot to offer, and most arent willing to work to unlock its amazing potential. just as u said, get on ur guardian, hit random buttons, profit.

I myself enjoy having to put a little thought in to how i play my class. thats why i picked the mesmer.

And as for scep/pistol. the damage is there too. i dont think its as good as other combos but its nice to get those free illusions and the confuse stack. i dont know what ur spec is, or what ur doing but there is somethin goin on there =/. Maybe u should just play ur guardian! dont force urself to like a class. I swore i would play a guardian on release. tried it, and was underwhelmed. theyre very aesthetically pleasing, but they just didnt do it for me and i tried so hard to like it, but i just couldnt. and thats when i feel in love with the mesmer class =P

Good combo?

I run Staff+GS Might build and agree its a great build for all parts of the game and against any build.

Staff 1 x2
Staff 3 -Phanta-
Staff 2 -Illusion
Staff 4 when I will take some hits
Staff 5 down on CD
Switch to GS
GS 2 -Might stacking
GS 4 -Phanta
...and so on

Might stacks go up super fast and when they are up stuff just melts so fast.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgQQ...rOuuk6sEZIyWEA

[Deleted]

I don't mean to sound like a dipshit but wtf is a combo? I just mash the buttons I think are good in the situation I.E i'll drop a warlock ->insta mirror image/decoy/phase retreat for the 2nd/3rd images. Staff->swap to Sword and 332.

[DrakeWurrum]

I don't mean to sound like a dipshit but wtf is a combo? I just mash the buttons I think are good in the situation I.E i'll drop a warlock ->insta mirror image/decoy/phase retreat for the 2nd/3rd images. Staff->swap to Sword and 332.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

[Kelesti]

hey, I love your replies, really got me thinking

Can you link me your Staff-Sword/? build please? How does this work out, which stats are you priotizing? Staff would go with conditions I guess, + the Chaotic Dampening (Chaos 25) and Illusionary Elasticy (Illusions 20) which only leaves 25 points. Those in Power for the Sword-punch + stronger Phantasms? Condition Damage + Power + Toughness?

I can't link my build (which is a variation of Zito's "full melee!" build a few pages ago), because I'm at work. I'll get back to you on this one in a couple hours

As for Gearing priorities, it's pretty much Power/Precision > Toughness > Vitality for me. With Sword as my primary, I need to be able to take a few hits. Generally I like Precision a little more than Power because I already hit harder with my sword than a ranged person by default, and crits keep up Vigor (as well as Illusion crits propping up a bleed). Because I use the Staff as a defensive weapon, the Toughness helps quite a bit.

I don't waste stats on Condition Damage for Staff though. The purple blob of Winds of Chaos(1) doesn't scale with it, only the RNG debuffs that may or may not actually do damage (condition damage does nothing for Vulnerability for example). And stacking it in the hopes of my Phase Retreat(2) being able to put up Burning more often felt really lameduck. My Warlock(3) on the other hand doesn't scale at all with Condition Damage. It wants Power, and more unique seperate debuffs. It doesn't matter if these debuffs do damage, or who they originated from. If I have a full set of debuffs from a well rounded group (or any EDE chain with more than 4 people), that Warlock is pumping out some serious damage, with no +Condition, only Power.

And of course, my sword is desperate to get into bed with any and all power (hot like redheads), so it's nice to have one stat priority that flows well from one weapon to another. It's not quite a intuitive as say Greatsword being a Power weapon, because people see DoTs and think "omg condition weapon" but there's actual basis in wanting to go Power Staff, and it works

Again, I'll get you my build in a couple hours when I'm home for lunch

[Valeron]

I'm getting really bored of my staff except for Chaos Storm. I'm not really fond of the scepter either but I think I'll try it out for a bit.

[Nikijih]

You're telling me three duelists pouring into a target every few seconds will do less damage than Mind Wrack? I doubt that. Short term, of course Mind Wrack wins. But if you can get the motion going, I daresay that it's only a matter of time keeping the Phantasms alive before they start to pull ahead (without sacrificing a defensive minded cooldown's accessibility).

Treating them as nothing more than bombs is giving up so much of the class' tookit for a cheap source of mediocre damage.

Now let me ask you this: How long does it take to put up 3 duelists without any of them getting killed? Its a 15 sec CD, so altogether you would need a minimum of 45 seconds and a couple prayers to get 3 ups. Meanwhile you could have launched at least 4 Mind Wracks. Now this is with base CDs, but we have an entire trait line dedicated to reducing Shatter CDs by up to 300%, so you could probably launch quite a lot, while the "Clone on dodge" trait allows you to launch them as soon as the CD is up.

So your calculation is wrong. Its not 3 duelists vs 1 mind wrack. Its 3 duelists (maybe) against at least 6+ mind wracks. Also keep in mind that Jihad builds have quite a lot of flexibility by giving you the power to launch daze/distortion/confusion bombs whenever they are needed without worrying about your phantasm CDs.

The class has quite a big toolkit, and phantasms are not the only part of it. Phantasm builds are great, but they arnt the only thing we can do :P

EDIT: also keep in mind that phantasms builds cannot use many skills with clone generation, as they would over-right, effectively cutting into their utility as well.

[Hayna]

ill try putting subtitles later, but for now in this vid we can see the use of the Portal ability, wich is extrem OP for torneys.

[Nikijih]

ill try putting subtitles later, but for now in this vid we can see the use of the Portal ability, wich is extrem OP for torneys.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikoEDYFEq2E

holy lag, batman!

[Deleted]

So, about Phantasmal Healing.. does anybody else think that the radius is much too short? Especially when you're "lucky" and the Phantasms spawn quite some distance away from you, not getting the initial pulse and thus not getting regeneration. You'll have to not shatter for 10 seconds (or hope that they're not destroyed in the meantime) to get anything out of it. :/

Edit: Scrap that, there is no initial tick. Again another case of bad tooltips. Why not just say "Phantasms grant regeneration to nearby allies after 10 seconds." And why don't they say how long the regeneration lasts, and.. urgh. *frustrated*