Post by Thermkin Kee on Jan 16, 2013 23:21:57 GMT -5
Hello there,
I saw so many budding mesmers in the chat earlier, that I figured I'd post the build I'm currently using on my purple illusionist. It's still a work in progress, and I am in no way saying that this is the best or most efficient build out there. Use at your own peril. Another thing to note is that English is not my native language, i.e. I'll attribute all and any typos to this.
The build is focused around using shatters for burst damage and phantasms for sustained damage in longer fights.
(sidenote: both phantasms (the damage-dealing variety, illusionary berserker and such) and clones are illusions)
Traits:
20 domination, 20 dueling, 30 illusions
Under domination I grabbed 20% more damage for Mind Wrack and 15% more damage for illusions (this greatly improves phantasms).
Under dueling I took the trait that improves precision and reduces cooldowns when wielding a sword, as well as Deceptive Evasion, which creates a clone whenever you dodge. Deceptive Evasion is fairly important, as it's a prime source of clones to shatter or distract the enemy. With 20 points in dueling you'll also gain the 5 point trait that grants you vigor on critical hits, which is quaint.
In illusions, I took the trait that recharges all shatter skills on 50% health (Which gives you a shot at using the distortion and/or diversion shatters to escape or ramp up your damage dealing), Illusionary Elasticity which makes bouncing attacks bounce one more time and the very important Illusionary Persona, which makes you shatter as well. This last one means that with three clones up, you'll gain four seconds of distortion, dazing or a whole mess of confusion or damage.
Weapons:
I am currently using a staff and sword/sword, although I am prone to switching these up as the situation demands. The focus' ability to pull and plop down a warden to damage and defend from ranged attacks can be very useful in places, as can the pistol's rapid attacks from the illusionary duelist or the disabling magic bullet. I haven't used the torch much, but the combined stealth and blast finisher looks delicious.
Avoid the scepter like the plague.
I put a sigil of air on my staff (30% chance to cause a lightning strike on critical), and with the extra bounce from the abovementioned trait, you'll see lightning strike your targets very often. A nice trick to maintain the awesome chaos armour with the staff is to put down a chaos storm (which is an ethereal field) and use phase retreat to (combo finisher) leap out of it and get another few seconds of chaos-y goodness.
On my swords I'm using a sigil of perception (which grants you stacks of precision as long as you're not downed; 250 precision helps you see those critical numbers just a little more often) and another sigil of air. A good use of the sword/sword combo (particularly in WvW) is to use illusionary leap, which spawns a clone that dashes at your target, and then hit 3 again to swap places with it. This'll immobilise him/her/it as well, giving you ample time to use your main damage dealer; blurred frenzy.
I trust the other skills I have not mentioned are self-explainatory. Use your phantasm as you would a normal attack: Create them, let them attack once or twice, then shatter.
Utility Skills:
So far, I've found the most permanent addition to my skillbar to be Blink, which breaks stun and teleports you away, adding some mobility to the mesmer, a profession that is typically stuck with creating clones to get away.
My second utility, and one that is not necessarily as useful as others, is Mirror Images, which instantly creates two clones. I mostly use this to fuel shatters, as it instantly gives you two seconds of distortion, confusion or a very nice burst of damage. In a heavy AoE environment, illusions do not last very long, which means you seldom have a chance to keep your illusions alive until you have a nice number ready to shatter.
The third skill on my bar is currently Feedback, which creates a dome that reflects projectiles like crazy. This shuts down ranged attackers, and is especially useful in WvW. If you put this purple bubble down around a group of enemies, you can close the gap with your sword's leap ability, slam down a blurred frenzy and a quick shatter, all the while being shielded from ranged damage.
Other skills that ought to be mentioned: Null field, which negates conditions in an area for 7 seconds. It's another ethereal field, and if I did not use mirror images, I would most likely use this. Decoy stealths you and spawns a clone, which would be handy in more precarious PvP situations. There might also be some merit in using the mantra of concentration (which grants stability) to get out of sticky situations, although I can't see the heavy charging time to be worth the effort.
The mesmer's elites are limited to three choices: Time Warp, which grants quickness to up to ten people in a fairly large area; Mass Invisibility, which grants invisibility to up to ten people around you, and Moa Morph, which really annoys whomever you cast it on. The choice here is situational as well, Time Warp being a favourite in PvE, Mass Invisibility useful when skulking about in PvP and Moa Morph a preferred tool for PvP shenanigans in lower numbers.
Equipment:
My weapons are all power/precision/critical damage, and I'm using full knight's armour (power, precision, toughness) with six Superior Rune of the Air, which grant more critical damage, some swiftness duration, grants you five seconds of speed when you use your healing ability, and have a chance to cast lightning strike when struck. My accessories are two berserker's earrings, knight's rings and a berserker's amulet, all with rubies on them. I'm also carrying a book of secrets.
Altogether, this gives me 1999 power, 1740 precision, a sturdy 1429 toughness, 43% base critical chance and 66% critical damage.
It's not the beefiest of builds, and I'm still pondering whether I should make the swap to full berserker-gear, but it gets the job done quite effectively. A lot of the defense of this build lies in distortion shatters, blurred frenzy and the mobility blink and phase retreat provides.
I saw so many budding mesmers in the chat earlier, that I figured I'd post the build I'm currently using on my purple illusionist. It's still a work in progress, and I am in no way saying that this is the best or most efficient build out there. Use at your own peril. Another thing to note is that English is not my native language, i.e. I'll attribute all and any typos to this.
The build is focused around using shatters for burst damage and phantasms for sustained damage in longer fights.
(sidenote: both phantasms (the damage-dealing variety, illusionary berserker and such) and clones are illusions)
Traits:
20 domination, 20 dueling, 30 illusions
Under domination I grabbed 20% more damage for Mind Wrack and 15% more damage for illusions (this greatly improves phantasms).
Under dueling I took the trait that improves precision and reduces cooldowns when wielding a sword, as well as Deceptive Evasion, which creates a clone whenever you dodge. Deceptive Evasion is fairly important, as it's a prime source of clones to shatter or distract the enemy. With 20 points in dueling you'll also gain the 5 point trait that grants you vigor on critical hits, which is quaint.
In illusions, I took the trait that recharges all shatter skills on 50% health (Which gives you a shot at using the distortion and/or diversion shatters to escape or ramp up your damage dealing), Illusionary Elasticity which makes bouncing attacks bounce one more time and the very important Illusionary Persona, which makes you shatter as well. This last one means that with three clones up, you'll gain four seconds of distortion, dazing or a whole mess of confusion or damage.
Weapons:
I am currently using a staff and sword/sword, although I am prone to switching these up as the situation demands. The focus' ability to pull and plop down a warden to damage and defend from ranged attacks can be very useful in places, as can the pistol's rapid attacks from the illusionary duelist or the disabling magic bullet. I haven't used the torch much, but the combined stealth and blast finisher looks delicious.
Avoid the scepter like the plague.
I put a sigil of air on my staff (30% chance to cause a lightning strike on critical), and with the extra bounce from the abovementioned trait, you'll see lightning strike your targets very often. A nice trick to maintain the awesome chaos armour with the staff is to put down a chaos storm (which is an ethereal field) and use phase retreat to (combo finisher) leap out of it and get another few seconds of chaos-y goodness.
On my swords I'm using a sigil of perception (which grants you stacks of precision as long as you're not downed; 250 precision helps you see those critical numbers just a little more often) and another sigil of air. A good use of the sword/sword combo (particularly in WvW) is to use illusionary leap, which spawns a clone that dashes at your target, and then hit 3 again to swap places with it. This'll immobilise him/her/it as well, giving you ample time to use your main damage dealer; blurred frenzy.
I trust the other skills I have not mentioned are self-explainatory. Use your phantasm as you would a normal attack: Create them, let them attack once or twice, then shatter.
Utility Skills:
So far, I've found the most permanent addition to my skillbar to be Blink, which breaks stun and teleports you away, adding some mobility to the mesmer, a profession that is typically stuck with creating clones to get away.
My second utility, and one that is not necessarily as useful as others, is Mirror Images, which instantly creates two clones. I mostly use this to fuel shatters, as it instantly gives you two seconds of distortion, confusion or a very nice burst of damage. In a heavy AoE environment, illusions do not last very long, which means you seldom have a chance to keep your illusions alive until you have a nice number ready to shatter.
The third skill on my bar is currently Feedback, which creates a dome that reflects projectiles like crazy. This shuts down ranged attackers, and is especially useful in WvW. If you put this purple bubble down around a group of enemies, you can close the gap with your sword's leap ability, slam down a blurred frenzy and a quick shatter, all the while being shielded from ranged damage.
Other skills that ought to be mentioned: Null field, which negates conditions in an area for 7 seconds. It's another ethereal field, and if I did not use mirror images, I would most likely use this. Decoy stealths you and spawns a clone, which would be handy in more precarious PvP situations. There might also be some merit in using the mantra of concentration (which grants stability) to get out of sticky situations, although I can't see the heavy charging time to be worth the effort.
The mesmer's elites are limited to three choices: Time Warp, which grants quickness to up to ten people in a fairly large area; Mass Invisibility, which grants invisibility to up to ten people around you, and Moa Morph, which really annoys whomever you cast it on. The choice here is situational as well, Time Warp being a favourite in PvE, Mass Invisibility useful when skulking about in PvP and Moa Morph a preferred tool for PvP shenanigans in lower numbers.
Equipment:
My weapons are all power/precision/critical damage, and I'm using full knight's armour (power, precision, toughness) with six Superior Rune of the Air, which grant more critical damage, some swiftness duration, grants you five seconds of speed when you use your healing ability, and have a chance to cast lightning strike when struck. My accessories are two berserker's earrings, knight's rings and a berserker's amulet, all with rubies on them. I'm also carrying a book of secrets.
Altogether, this gives me 1999 power, 1740 precision, a sturdy 1429 toughness, 43% base critical chance and 66% critical damage.
It's not the beefiest of builds, and I'm still pondering whether I should make the swap to full berserker-gear, but it gets the job done quite effectively. A lot of the defense of this build lies in distortion shatters, blurred frenzy and the mobility blink and phase retreat provides.
