Mesmer Discussion Thread

[Durzlla]

If my theory is correct and condition duration stacks and is not multiplicative (it would be god damn useless if its multiplicative) you can drop nightmare rune for something else. I would recommend either undead rune if you wan't more damage which I think you don't need or Svanir rune for +frozen duration to play off your frozen sigils -50% frozen duration to yourself (I hope its yourself, it doesn't say D: ) and more toughness because running 17k hp is almost suicide.

However I strongly suggest running double frozen sigil no matter what you pick.

I'd say take undead because it gives you some toughness and then turns that toughness into condition damage, it also plays off the shaman necklace and jewel which can REALLY be the difference between life and death... and you're right condition (and boon) duration uses addition not multiplication

---------- Post added 2012-07-31 at 11:34 PM ----------

I don't remember ever looking at your builds except from BWE1. I just saw the glamour trait that inflicts confusion and the blind trait that inflicts confusion and went with it.

Mesmer surv was pretty low BWE3 outside sword invul.

Oh god it was awful if you weren't hiding behind an army of clones like i was lol, you'd be surprised how many people just don't know what to do when you shatter all your clones a few seconds after hitting 3 of them...

[zito]

I'd say take undead because it gives you some toughness and then turns that toughness into condition damage, it also plays off the shaman necklace and jewel which can REALLY be the difference between life and death... and you're right condition (and boon) duration uses addition not multiplication

The difference is 220 condition damage. I have no idea how much that actually is in terms of damage and the condition damage will be wasted anyway if kel goes sword/pistol over staff.

So its a testing thing. Svanir gives more defense, if your surv is low with svanir drop it for undead, if you feel like you need it over damage take it over undead. If you are going staff I would take undead for damage svanir for surv.

[Durzlla]

The difference is 220 condition damage. I have no idea how much that actually is in terms of damage and the condition damage will be wasted anyway if kel goes sword/pistol over staff.

So its a testing thing. Svanir gives more defense, if your surv is low with svanir drop it for undead, if you feel like you need it over damage take it over undead. If you are going staff I would take undead for damage svanir for surv.

you get 5% of your condition damage as added confusion damage (per stack per attack), and i forgot svanir was very survivable... it's really up in the air, i'd say probably go for svanir especially for that 6 piece one..

[Kelesti]

I'll have to play around with it. Because I really really liked going melee, and I'm not sure I'll like the downtime I'll have to force myself to go with, just to keep my Confusion Phantasm not being over-written by stupid auto-attack clones.

But the potential!

[zito]

you get 5% of your condition damage as added confusion damage (per stack per attack), and i forgot svanir was very survivable... it's really up in the air, i'd say probably go for svanir especially for that 6 piece one..

Yea the difference in defense between the 2 runes is 115, which again I have no idea if that's worth anything.

However the freeze bonuses really do play well off each other with double freeze sigils, in fact I don't think there is anything else to replace freeze sigils besides a poison sigil or the 3 stack of might sigil. Everything else is crit based.

---------- Post added 2012-08-01 at 04:47 AM ----------

I'll have to play around with it. Because I really really liked going melee, and I'm not sure I'll like the downtime I'll have to force myself to go with, just to keep my Confusion Phantasm not being over-written by stupid auto-attack clones.

But the potential!

Phantasmal mage cast a 9 sec confusion every 6 seconds with a 27 sec summoning cd. That's pretty sexy for initial confusion burst stacking but afterwords not so much. Try and shatter it for cry of frustration (cry should apply another stack of confusion thanks to retribution [i think]).

[Durzlla]

Yea the difference in defense between the 2 runes is 115, which again I have no idea if that's worth anything.

However the freeze bonuses really do play well off each other with double freeze sigils, in fact I don't think there is anything else to replace freeze sigils besides a poison sigil or the 3 stack of might sigil. Everything else is crit based.

Well, there's also the snowball sigils and the condition buffing ones but none of those really favor this build well since you'll be swapping your weapons a bit... yeah i'd say just go with Svanir, and 115 toughness is quite a bit... the only problem with toughness is it provides 0 difference to conditions and isn't as good against really large attacks... but most people just go for a lot of critical fancy attacks and that sort of thing which it's really good for so i'd say it'd be worth it (especially since your health is gonna be utter shit lol)

[zito]

Well, there's also the snowball sigils and the condition buffing ones but none of those really favor this build well since you'll be swapping your weapons a bit... yeah i'd say just go with Svanir, and 115 toughness is quite a bit... the only problem with toughness is it provides 0 difference to conditions and isn't as good against really large attacks... but most people just go for a lot of critical fancy attacks and that sort of thing which it's really good for so i'd say it'd be worth it (especially since your health is gonna be utter shit lol)

Null field is there to counter conditions since toughness does nothing to condition damage.

I am going to try making a blind confusion build ignoring glamours this time. However I will do it tommrow as I am going to bed.

[niblic3rd]

After alot of debate from all 3 BWE's and the stress tests I have decided Mesmer will be my first character. (Main)

I really enjoyed the Greatsword just the way it felt when playing the prof topped the Ranger and Guardian which were close by. But I have some questions, I have seen how well a heavy condition spec can be. The video's look good but at the same time I kind of prefer the Greatsword feel. What im wondering is there a spec that could be good output of the Greatsword while the 2nd weapon set being staff or scepter/focus or torch to give good condition and good hard dps at the same time? Or would I be spreading myself a bit thin?

Possibly open up with scepter to get some condition on then change to Greatsword - Im still useless with the spec thing so i played about with this still leaving 20pts to play with http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/mes...411|2312|6|17|

ANy thoughts or am I better just going full in 1 or the other?

[zito]

After alot of debate from all 3 BWE's and the stress tests I have decided Mesmer will be my first character. (Main)

I really enjoyed the Greatsword just the way it felt when playing the prof topped the Ranger and Guardian which were close by. But I have some questions, I have seen how well a heavy condition spec can be. The video's look good but at the same time I kind of prefer the Greatsword feel. What im wondering is there a spec that could be good output of the Greatsword while the 2nd weapon set being staff or scepter/focus or torch to give good condition and good hard dps at the same time? Or would I be spreading myself a bit thin?

Possibly open up with scepter to get some condition on then change to Greatsword - Im still useless with the spec thing so i played about with this still leaving 20pts to play with http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/mes...411|2312|6|17|

ANy thoughts or am I better just going full in 1 or the other?

Short answer no, condition damage and power damage is spread too thin. Power won't effect condition damage but its a great stat for GS, condition damage only increases condition damage. Stacking half and half would be suicide.

Going scepter would mean confusion would practically be useless and you are getting scepter for the blcok and clones, which is nice for shatter builds which you can do with GS. Staff even though its condition, works as a burst defense, meaning placing chaos storm on yourself and a teleport backwards.

If you want to main a GS you need to ask: what route do I want to go? Support? Damage? PvP?

Also kel, that glamour build is the best blind build, I can't make a better build using just other blinds without glamours.

However glamours infliction confusion and blind with inflicts confusion again. So 2 stacks per glamour.

You can also replace stun signet with blind signet however you lose out on a stun and condition damage but you gain boon duration and a blind which is an extra confusion. The confusion will probably compensate for the loss of condition damage however only in bulk. However blind signet also breaks stuns.

[Geist19]

I did not get a chance to get into the beta due to RL but I have not seen much discussion about DW Mesmer. Is it that bad? If so that makes me sad I was really looking forward to it.

[niblic3rd]

Ah well will need to hunt a Greatsword build as I prefer that weapon set. Will give the other sets a bash tomorrow just to be sure.

[zito]

Ah well will need to hunt a Greatsword build as I prefer that weapon set. Will give the other sets a bash tomorrow just to be sure.

I'll make one for you if you tell me what you want to do. Just because you want to main GS doesn't really help what kind of build you want.

I did not get a chance to get into the beta due to RL but I have not seen much discussion about DW Mesmer. Is it that bad? If so that makes me sad I was really looking forward to it.

There is no reason to use offhand sword over anything else, it offers no utility over others and even though its phantasm does the best damage its easily avoidable and has the longest attack time because he has to run to the target. Block in its current state is crap, if it blocked damage for 2 seconds it would on par. I would only use block to use its secondary daze instead....

[Geist19]

^^ The thought would be that DW would cause you to be in melee mostly and prevent illusions from having to run in to attack thus emphasizing shatters and their many uses.

EDIT: Also the trait skill that causes the shatter effect on both the illusion and yourself was another key piece to what I was thinking. Double mind wrack damage seems like it would be pretty cool.

[DrakeWurrum]

Shatters were crap in this last beta.

[zito]

^^ The thought would be that DW would cause you to be in melee mostly and prevent illusions from having to run in to attack thus emphasizing shatters and their many uses.

EDIT: Also the trait skill that causes the shatter effect on both the illusion and yourself was another key piece to what I was thinking. Double mind wrack damage seems like it would be pretty cool.

You don't need to be sword mesmer to do either of the things you said.

Shatters were crap in this last beta.

Daze and distortion are good life saver/CC buttons. Mind wrack is ok, cry has minimal uses outside some extensive confusion build like the one I made.

Pretty much this.

What I thought Mesmers would be: "Woo, illusions and trickery! Where am I, little warrior? Having trouble finding me? Nope, that's not me, hahah, too bad. Try again!"

What Mesmers ended up being: "Oh, I made some clones. They all either died in 2 seconds to cleave damage or people are ignoring them because no one is fooled by them or I wasted all the cooldowns spent getting them out on a shatter that didn't do crap. Also I have to melee because my ranged abilities are either mostly crap or actively work against me (lolScepter)."

Mesmer has pretty much stayed true to its orginal design. There are plenty of ways to lockdown another player, confusion replaces empathy/backfire. They are all just presented differently.

What Memser now hasn't stayed true is the deception and that is 3 main reasons:

1)Clones don't drop target
2)Clones spawn in weird spots (GS clone) and take too long to spawn. 1 second spawn is too long it has to be instant
3)Clones don't act like the player.

[NeonX]

On release my guild needs me to go a mesmer but I'm so confused with how to play it effectively.

Biggest question though, what do I do with my clones/phantasm?

Do I shatter them once I have 3 out or keep them and let them do damage?

[zito]

On release my guild needs me to go a mesmer but I'm so confused with how to play it effectively.

Biggest question though, what do I do with my clones/phantasm?

Do I shatter them once I have 3 out or keep them and let them do damage?

Clones don't do damage or very little so you use them for deceiving the foe or shatters when you need them.

Phantasms are more powerful and after their first initial attack they are useless for 6 seconds so don't be afraid to shatter them. However some phantasms have added effects. The torch one grants retaliation and the focus reflects projectiles so you probably want him out a lot.

Traits further change your strategy. Really its just trial and error. Play and get a feel for it.

[DrakeWurrum]

On release my guild needs me to go a mesmer but I'm so confused with how to play it effectively.

O_o

NEED you to? Why would they need you to roll any specific class?

[NeonX]

Clones don't do damage or very little so you use them for deceiving the foe or shatters when you need them.

Phantasms are more powerful and after their first initial attack they are useless for 6 seconds so don't be afraid to shatter them. However some phantasms have added effects. The torch one grants retaliation and the focus reflects projectiles so you probably want him out a lot.

Traits further change your strategy. Really its just trial and error. Play and get a feel for it.

Thank you very much

---------- Post added 2012-08-02 at 02:23 AM ----------

O_o

NEED you to? Why would they need you to roll any specific class?

No one is going a mesmer but I think everyone just wants to be a unique profession so I got bullied into going a mesmer but I don't mind haha.

[zito]

O_o

NEED you to? Why would they need you to roll any specific class?

I think mesmer is the only proffesion with a skill that revives teammates from downed for 15 seconds.