Mesmer Discussion Thread

[Lane]

Why in the Hell don't mesmer speed boosts stack duration? The ones I get from Signet of Inspiration don't stack with Temporal Curtain, nor do 2x Temporal Curtains stack duration (been playing with my bf's mesmer). I don't recall ever having that problem with the speed boosts on my warrior or ranger.

[Meledelion]

The goal was to not make TC stack with itself (ppl running back and forth over it) but in doing so they made TC not stack with anything, afaik the guard staff thing has the same problem.

[Lane]

Boo @ TC.

Another n00b question, is Ether Feast the best heal for mesmer? I'm wondering if Mantra of Recovery is useful since it looks like two instant heals on a 10 second c/d. I also have the human racial Prayer to Dwayna, it heals for a little bit more than EF but has a longer c/d and no bonus for illusions obviously.

[Meledelion]

Boo @ TC.

Another n00b question, is Ether Feast the best heal for mesmer? I'm wondering if Mantra of Recovery is useful since it looks like two instant heals on a 10 second c/d. I also have the human racial Prayer to Dwayna, it heals for a little bit more than EF but has a longer c/d and no bonus for illusions obviously.

I don't like mantras 2.5s cast +1s if you pop both charges for 5240 health(10) vs 1s for 5560(20s) vs 6575 (30s)(human).

If you run a phantasm build EF is the clear winner imo, you shouldn't need to heal more than 1/20s. I run a shatter build so I'd go with the human one if I could since if you need to heal more than once you're screwed with the mantra since it'll take you nearly 4s to heal for less than the other options.

[Lane]

Is there a 'cookie cutter' shatter spec (and/or guide)? I'm close to my level 40 manual with trait reset, so thought I'd try something a little different.

[Meledelion]

Basic cookie cutter = http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgEQNAs...UuER127ioVDA-e sig of insp is only for short fights otherwise you should use w/e is more useful (condi/boon stripping normally) or if you're running with fixed groups go with sig of inspiration so you can help keep prot/might/fury/... up.

[Smitzelplix]

I just made a mesmer and I'm interested in having him use sword & focus with a staff as his swap weapon. Can anyone make or point me in the right direction for a good build that uses these weapons?

[Meledelion]

Staff in general isn't used a lot since it's quite a lackluster weapon which focuses on conditions (horrible by design) and can't really stack them well.

If you really want to you can use the build I linked above and just use Staff instead of GS. There are advantages to staff over gs.
1. More boons (not really needed but it's handy)
2. 3+4man shatters (dealing lots of dmg)

[Lane]

Basic cookie cutter = http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgEQNAs...UuER127ioVDA-e

Thanks. What's the usual 'rotation' with this build?

[Meledelion]

Start GS: 4>2>dodge>f2>Swap>5>dodge>3>3>f1+2> dodge> sig of illu>mirror images>f1>5>(2 is up again I think)>swap>4>dodge>f1

The idea is to have 2clones up and one phantasm and to shatter as soon as the phantasm's attack is over.* During the fight you want to use utilities when you're using your GS so you don't lose to much dps (if you wanna be hardcore about dmg )

*If you get up 3clones you'll ofc just shatter those.

[Management]

I just made a mesmer and I'm interested in having him use sword & focus with a staff as his swap weapon. Can anyone make or point me in the right direction for a good build that uses these weapons?

I know a great bunker build for those Sword/Focus and Staff. I'll post a link to the build here: Immortal Mesmer Build

I did not create this build, but I can tell you it's probably the best build I've ever used. I'll post a link to the creators discussion page and youtube channel. You'll be able to find all the necessary tactics for the build on either of these links. Good luck.

[Smitzelplix]

Thanks Management and Meledelion for your input, both look like good builds, I shall try them both.

[Deleted]

Staff in general isn't used a lot since it's quite a lackluster weapon which focuses on conditions (horrible by design) and can't really stack them well.

If you really want to you can use the build I linked above and just use Staff instead of GS. There are advantages to staff over gs.
1. More boons (not really needed but it's handy)
2. 3+4man shatters (dealing lots of dmg)

I run a phantasm build in PvE and in my personal opinion, I don't think it's lackluster at all, specially in group content. Mainly because of:
- In group content mobs (specially bosses) will have a ton of conditions applied due to all the players attacking them. This means iWarlock will hit like a truck specially if you are in berserker gear. There are fights where it's even possible to have x3 iWarlocks up so I think that kind of damage can't simply be discarded
- Also in group content, staff is very nice weapon for playing a more supportive mesmer (that's what I play) due to the boons you give with WoC and laying Chaos Storm for your mates

I actually don't think staff is much of a condition damage weapon... I think it's an awesome support weapon and actually it scales better with condition duration than condition damage.

Just my 2 cents, of course

[Meledelion]

Well it depends on the kind of PvE, I always instantly think DUNGEONS!
In general it doesn't really mater how you build, you can clear all content with any spec in "open world" this is even more true since autoattacking is all you need.

If you actually meant dungeons there's some problems.
- Phantasms don't work in dungeons, they die if a boss sneezes at them.
- Any competent team already has all the boons you want so you're better off running signet of inspiration if you want to contribute more (also note that this would be a great way to keep up protection which you otherwise can't provide.

Regardless of it being condi duration or condi dmg it's still focused around conditions (note that I didn't say condition damage.)

[Deleted]

Well it depends on the kind of PvE, I always instantly think DUNGEONS!
In general it doesn't really mater how you build, you can clear all content with any spec in "open world" this is even more true since autoattacking is all you need.

Yeah, if you look I wrote "group content" when making my points so I was mostly speaking of dungeons

If you actually meant dungeons there's some problems.
- Phantasms don't work in dungeons, they die if a boss sneezes at them.

I disagree with you here to a certain extent. One does not have to necessarily see Phantasms as turrets. iBerserker does great damage to aoe trash (besides crippling them) and like I said iWarlock hits like a truck on single targets. Even if one of those only gets to hit once they were already worth the cast imho. It's only a matter of thinking of Phantasms as a spell in your arsenal that you cast normally as you would a fireball or a frostbolt instead of regarding them as pets. Also, since iWarlock is a ranged phantasm, there's plenty of situations where I can have 3 of them up for a considerable time.

- Any competent team already has all the boons you want so you're better off running signet of inspiration if you want to contribute more (also note that this would be a great way to keep up protection which you otherwise can't provide.

Who said I'm not? I run indeed with signet of inspiration since I also have a full set of Lyssa runes which I really enjoy using with it when timewarping. In the end it's a matter of taste, I prefer to play a more supportive style of mesmer in dungeons (even if more "offensively" supportive) than full-on damage dealer.

Regardless of it being condi duration or condi dmg it's still focused around conditions (note that I didn't say condition damage.)

AND boons but yeah, I get ya

Also mate, these are just my opinions, I totally respect yours!!

[Meledelion]

Oh I know, I'm simply trying to point out why I (and others) dislike staff. I hardly ever take anything personal.

If you have iBerserker, you're not using a staff

When going for "one hits" on your phantasms you're better off running a shatter build since that's the exact playstyle you want. Also you'll always want s/f+x. x=GS since it has better dps and better illusion generation (staff has 0.1555/s and gs has 0.1722/s) ergo GS>Staff

For buffing the staff simply isn't worth it, if you want to provide boons it's better with sig of inspiration. Running staff and SoI has pretty much the same output as just SoI so it doesn't really help on that part.

Don't get me wrong staff has it's uses but in general it's one of the weakest weapons in our arsenal (torch is probably worse).

[Deleted]

If you have iBerserker, you're not using a staff

eheh, when I mentioned iBerserker was only regarding your quote about Phantasms not working in dungeons (with which I respectfully disagree) and also because my setup for dungeons is GS+Staff.

But I understand why you (and others) dislike staff because your focus is a shatter build and with that in mind your points are totally valid ofc! It's a matter of playstyle, I tried shatter builds and I personally don't enjoy them much. In dungeons I rather remain ranged as much as possible and be supportive in the form of boons and glamours (and yeah I use SoI but not directly because of staff, ofc, but having both is even better!) while also doing damage with my phantasms; the more time they stay up (which also has to do with where you place them) the better! I didn't say I only cast them for 1-hit willingly (if this was the case, I totally agree with you!), I said IF they only get 1-hit I consider the cast was already worth it! Remember that I run a phantasm build so my phantasm damage is buffed, where in the case of a shatter build is the shatter damage that is buffed, not the phantasm damage per se.

But once again, it's all a matter of playstyle, staff fits very well in mine and I really like it but I totally understand it doesn't fit in yours! I encourage everyone to try all the options (you have several playstyles to try with a mesmer, thankfully!) and see what fits you!

[zero450571]

eheh, when I mentioned iBerserker was only regarding your quote about Phantasms not working in dungeons (with which I respectfully disagree) and also because my setup for dungeons is GS+Staff.

But I understand why you (and others) dislike staff because your focus is a shatter build and with that in mind your points are totally valid ofc! It's a matter of playstyle, I tried shatter builds and I personally don't enjoy them much. In dungeons I rather remain ranged as much as possible and be supportive in the form of boons and glamours (and yeah I use SoI but not directly because of staff, ofc, but having both is even better!) while also doing damage with my phantasms; the more time they stay up (which also has to do with where you place them) the better! I didn't say I only cast them for 1-hit willingly (if this was the case, I totally agree with you!), I said IF they only get 1-hit I consider the cast was already worth it! Remember that I run a phantasm build so my phantasm damage is buffed, where in the case of a shatter build is the shatter damage that is buffed, not the phantasm damage per se.

But once again, it's all a matter of playstyle, staff fits very well in mine and I really like it but I totally understand it doesn't fit in yours! I encourage everyone to try all the options (you have several playstyles to try with a mesmer, thankfully!) and see what fits you!

I totally agree with this. My mesmer is 100% melee and suits me perfectly. I also don't use a cookie cutter build but instead use one that I came up with my own, and slowly perfected over the course of months to suit my playstyle. There are so many ways to play mesmer, or any class in this game for that matter, that it would be hard to create a build that simply doesn't work at all. Everyone should definitely try out all options to see what fits best.

[Zilong]

Hey guys. Im doing ALOT of sPvP and tPvP recently and I wanna try a mesmer build.

Anyone play one could point a build and it's works? I really didn't play much of Mesmer in PvP but some of them that I fight are pretty good, but I do not know their spec.
Im thinking it's a shatterer that deals lot of conditions? I'm not sure. I usually beat them but that's because my build altho full dps berz has alot of removal conditions and heals.

So if anyone could take the time and point it I would thank ya XD

[Meledelion]

I think it's 20/20/0/0/30 staff+sw/pistol. Basically you want to get 3ranged illusions up (staff) and then cry of frust, weaponswap mind wrack to get a 7man shatter off and instakill. You can use pistol to stun if you so desire.