I introduce my GW2 “Legion” build for the Mesmer class, based on testing in sPvP and tournaments post-launch.
As I discuss in the video, this spec synergizes heavily on phantasms and illusions:
- Phantasms deal solid sustained direct damage, have a 72% chance to crit, and apply a bleed when they crit. Clones have a 52% chance to crit and also apply a bleed when they crit
- For each illusion, I gain 3% direct damage bonus, 3% direct damage mitigation, and a movement speed buff
- When summoned, phantasms provide allies with regeneration, which in turn grants me the protection boon for 33% direct damage mitigation
- Phantasms have +70% HP and clones have +50% HP, so the uptime for the illusions is quite high
- I get a healing bonus for each illusion when using my healing ability
After you watch the video, I recommend playing it again and keeping an eye on two specific things: a. the number of and frequency of boons that I gain in combat, and b. the solid job that the Phantasmal Disenchanter does for cleansing my conditions.
Tip from Team Paradigm:
If you’re playing a Mesmer in tourneys, in the Battle of Khylo map, you should slot Portal Entre (for “Legion” build, this replaces Signet of Illusions) and man the trebuchet, as you have the fastest travel time from the repair kit back to the trebuchet with Portal Entre and Blink.
Let me know your questions and feedback.
For more information about the latest and greatest version of the “Legion” build, see the full Guide.
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Great Video, and nice guide. I only wish we coulda seen more of that last fight…it was definately an epic one that we had.
What’s interesting is that the 4th player (who joined near the end) kept us from capping the node. Had we capped mine, we probably would have won.
Oh so your the reason I’ve been seeing staff mesmers and darn near insta repair on trebs! Good vid/guide though.
Oh, I didn’t come up with the idea. It’s a good one though, that makes mechanical sense.
When your trebuchet is down, drop the Portal exit next to the trebuchet, pick up the repair kit, create the Portal entrance, and voila you’re right back at the trebuchet.
Yeah it is, I really like the utility mesmers can bring to a sPvP game, and being able to port around using that is pretty amazing. It caught me off guard tonight and all I kept thinking was “how in the hell!?”
Glad to see you’re enjoying the Mesmer, arguably my favorite class. My only criticism (of the class, not you!) is their healing options feel a bit lackluster. Seems you’ve found an interesting workaround with Phantasmal Healing, though I’m still envious of the group/self heals available to my Warrior, Necro and Elementalist. The Warrior’s Healing Signet in particular feels like it got a very nice buff since beta, whereas the Mesmer’s healing Mantra feels like it got a substantial nerf (I think they added a cooldown).
Anyhow, great vid! Thanks for sharing!
Yes, the healing skill I took synergizes with number of illusions.
If Mesmer had more sustained healing, it would be wildly OP.
I take less damage as a Mesmer compared to other classes, and we have oh-crap buttons such as blink and/or stealth.
Very good point! Hehe, I’m still tempted to try a 6-piece Rune of the Dolyak troll build for the giggles. :)
AFAIK 6-pc Dolyak only heals for 60 per second. It’s not worth it.
Yes, but Dwayna is totally worth it. Try this build out:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgQQNAsdWlwzCoXUTqGZNJhJF9G5neE9l/c0CIVQ1A;TsAgzCtouxcj4G7Nubk3sKYEysAA
Basically you’re going to do everything you can to proc regen, which heals for quite a bit, and gives protection.
If you use the trait “Harmonious Mantras (XI)” in the Domination Tree, it allows you to use the healing mantra up to 3 times before you need to re-channel it.
You have to switch to heavy/full Mantra build if you are going to slot that trait.
Otherwise there’s no point.
From my limited experience, a heavy mantra build is really best suited for a glass canon build. I haven’t had much success with it as a sustainable build.
I just cant get along with the swords because it feels so wrong being in melee. I always have 2hand staff and the scepter / focus. I have developed a mental timer as to when the clones are about to expire and shatter right before that. Have you tried this combo of weapons ?
Being a “melee mage” is a bit odd, but I find that Sword is a far better weapon for a direct damage build than Sceptre. Both Pistol abilities are superb, which is why I use it instead of Focus. For preventing a downed state action by your opponents, Pistol 5 is one of the few CCs available in the spec.
Gave this build a go through a few randoms and I’m amazed at how much more consistent damage and how good my survivability is. I was using a 2h/staff build for the last few days, mainly because I enjoyed kiting everyone to death and being able to bail when I wanted to, but I enjoy this playstyle a lot more and the results speak for themselves. Can’t wait to tinker around with it some more tomorrow. Thanks!
Being able to kite is pretty important in WvW, but for sPvP every player must be able to contribute meaningfully to point fighting, and I feel that the combo of weapons I selected meet that need.
Glad the build worked out well for you :)
Mentioned this on YouTube, but it will probably get lost in the comments. Have you looked at using Rune of the Ogre, instead of Divinity.
It would give you more power, about the same overall DPS (4% extra damage, 3% crot damage, so at ~50% crit chance, there’s only 1% difference in overall DPS) but would also add another pet, in the form of the rock dog. The dog’s added damage, combined with extra “noise” he’ll add seems like it’s a good fit for the general concept of the build.
Thanks for posting this suggestion here, I saw your comment right before I crashed for the night and my first thought was that it would eventually get buried in the YouTube comments.
For the 6-pc set bonus, do you know whether an illusion counts as a companion? Or does the rock dog count as the companion?
I’m not entirely sure how the 6 piece bonus is affected by the dog/illusions being companions, as far as I’m aware it’s just a flat 4% damage boost across the board. I think that applies to your illusions and phantasms too. The dog certainly doesn’t take up an illusion slot or anything like that though, and the uptime on it is pretty good.
The dog does solid damage, but you lose the defensive stats from Divinity.
hello Taugrim, same question as on twitter :)
with the same weapons combination, what build would you use/recommend wvwvw
i personally was leaning towards this build below, its for both grouped wvw and small scale skirmish groups.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgQQNAsaWlwzCqHVzqGbNJxZGMv5oFQqgqL9A35m3A;T8AA2ynEOJdS9kyJqaM1IqxWjrGZNLQGgM9A
cheers,
Bloodb ( gunnars hold )
I hate mesmers; they are the only class i think to be unbalanced in PvP.
here is why imho ofc:
Targeting them is pretty difficult; that forced “detarget” thing of theirs shouldnt be in PvP; pets do loads of damage already, with the confusion they create they add what i call “extra false hp”, since you are not hitting them.
The insane mobility they have + their pets + mitigation + damage buff + boons + pets aply conditions : its like having a ranger with petS that are actually way more usefull; a ranger who is extremly difficult to target, to get to , to damage (bubbles, mitigation, etc), a ranger with more mobility,
So at the end , fighting a mesmer is like fighting a ranger who does more damage, kites better, has more protection, more damage, more crit chance from his many pets, and extremly difficult to target , and when you do he just force a detarget.
I hope anet tweeks em; atm there are so many mesmers running the same op spec. it is worse than warriors with unnerfed frenzy in beta or guardians with unnerfed HP in beta too.
All of this ofc is just my opinion; they have waay too many advantages to trade for their low armor.
good video as always taug.
cheers
By “detarget” do you mean the target icon is removed?
I had posted back in BWE3 that I thought clones caused a forced target drop, but that was incorrect.
Rangers deal excellent damage, and Rampage as One is arguably the best burst setup ability in the game.
Another solid video. Close match, those are always the best even if you lose. What an amazing change of play style from the warrior and being able to be effective from the point of creation. Would love to watch full matches of any of your tournaments, unedited even.
Win or lose, I love close matches like that one.
We ran a tourney on Monday night which we won, but the finals match was in Khylo, so I had trebuchet duty (first time for me ever), and it would have been boring to watch. I did wreck people with the treb though, which was funny.
I’m either going to record some tourney finals footage with Mesmer or try out Guardian again or Necro. TBD.
Great build an gameplay. I fear there isn’t a more versatile and overall PvP viable build than that for mesmers. I’m trying to be more focused on condition damage and confusion condition wwith no crit chance but it doesn’t work quite well at the moment.
Maybe I’m wrong, maybe there are other pretty viable weapon combinations and traits synergies but I’ve yet to find them.
I haven’t tried a condition build yet for Mesmer, but I really love the synergistic mechanics that “Legion” provides.
Did you try a high-crit condition / bleed damage build? Crit and bleeds tend to synergize well thanks to the Earth sigil.
I’ve played a bit with a condition build (link below) and found it to be ok but a bit lacklustre compared to phantasms. Perhaps mostly because I am not used to it.
But there is excellent synergy between a lot of different features for conditions. Spec for illusions crits + bleed, and geomancy and earth sigil bleeds. Also I used torch for burning, plus blindness (which is traited to also cause confusion) and the iMage also causes conditions. The scepter is intended to a) pump illusions for shatter effects b) add survivability and c) apply confusion itself.
On paper I feel that this should work well…
Condition link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNArfWlwziqXUzgGa9IyJFJn0h6x1VdfXJF62FC;T0AAzCpo+y8l4L7Xuvkft8YUxpgXBTPA
Try giving the sword offhand a shot. The sword phantasm does more damage, and I believe has more hp than the pistol phantasm. The riposte can also be used as an interrupt. You can test the damage pretty easy using time to kill on a target dummy.
I love the Pistol offhand, it synergizes perfectly with what I’m trying to do with this spec.
I have a broad question: How do you learn the numbers? How do you know it’s 72% to crit? How do you verify they are correct?
i assume he’s just checking his character screen: http://i.imgur.com/mFvxJ.jpg
My character has 52% chance to crit.
Illusions have that as their base, plus Phantasms get another 20% because of the Fury trait.
52 + 20 = 72
I have a question regarding your statement about toughness vs vitality starting at ~5:20 in the video. I have had some success with stacking vitality at the expense of toughness because of the large number of condition damage builds running around and the fact that toughness only mitigates direct damage (please correct me if this is wrong!). It is easier to do with some profession, like a Necro with a high base health pool, rather than others. And, as you state in the video, the Mesmer has a lot of innate defensive capability that compensates for lack of toughness.
Have you found condition damage specs difficult to manage with lower hp classes when built for toughness?
I generally try to have a reasonable approach to dealing with direct damage + solid sustained condition removal.
Direct damage builds wreck most classes/builds with low Toughness.
What stats do I need to focus on for the mesmer?
You can click the link to the spec calculator that I provided in the article.
What stats you stack depends entirely on your build.
I played this build and it rocks, the only thing, Ed, is that I have bad time managing my illusions. I mean, when you pop your Phantasms, you certainly don’t want to scrap them with a bad dodge or anyways you can replace a Phantasm with a simple Clone… Any tips to help me manage them better?
You know, you can easily get close to your target with a sword 3, but if you already have summoned Phantasms, do YOU use it anyway or you work anyway else to not lose your phantasms?
Thanks, man.
The Clone-on-dodge-roll trait never replaces a Phantasm with a Clone.
I’ve tested that.
Awesome! Been looking for a solid spec… I was using great sword/staff.. definitely gonna try this tonight. Thanks for the insights
Hey Taugrim, have you considered dropping 5 points in Dueling and Chaos to pick up Empowered Illusions under Domination? The trade-off in survivability for 15% more damage on phantasms seems really good.
No, and I was wondering how long it would take for someone to suggest moving 10 points into the Domination line.
The Clone-on-dodge trait rocks for having high illusion uptime, without requiring a GCD – when you’re dodging it’s often because you’re under duress, and having clones pop up to fill any open illusion slots is therefore helpful.
The protection buff from the 15-pt passive trait is also really good.
The clone-on-dodge trait will have a clone overwrite a phantasm if you have three phantasms up at the same time, so it can be a bit of a waste, imo.
Also, the range that phantasms give regeneration is about 200-300, so the 2 second protection on regen isn’t really that good unless you have a reliable source of regen, or you’re standing near melee range of your phantasms for long periods of time.
Also, the different phantasms seem to give different regen at different rates – the iDuelist seems to be able to keep up regen and protection near 100% of the time you’re standing near it, while the iWarlock and iDisenchanter give out regen and protection every 13ish seconds.
I tested all of this out in the Mists today, so it should be current.
Hey Taugrim! What do you think of this?
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/taugrims-legion-mesmer-phantasm-1283.html
Super Confusion build.
The “create a clone on dodge” seems wasteful, you already have too many clones and phantasms which can cause you to overwrite the more powerful phantasms. I switched it out for the pistol one and I find getting 2-3 pistol phantasms up is insane.
Duelist’s Discipline – Increases pistol attack range for you and your illusions. Reduces recharge of pistol skills by 20%.
“Clone on dodge” trait doesn’t cause a Phantasm to be overwritten by a Clone. This was changed AFAIK sometime late in Beta.
So if you have 3 phantasms it will overwrite one, obviously. If you have 2 and a clone it will overwrite the clone no matter the order.
scratch this. The cooldown reductions don’t stack so it’s pointless. the range of the phantasm isn’t increased either.
Go test in the Mists. That is not how it works on live.
I did. It overwrites it in the mists. :( put the phantasms up and dodge and one will shatter.
I got a different result…
Thanks for the great guides and videos Taugrim.
Quick question: How are you doing all this at level 10? Like how do you have the sigils and gearing? I’m pretty new to GW2 so this might be a stupid question.
In GW2 when you enter the structured pvp (called sPvP, what you might think of as Warzones) lobby area, a large map called the mists, you are level 80, you can assign all traits, and you have all skills available. You also use set PvP gear (or more accurately you have blank pvp gear that you choose specific stats to apply to, like geming an item in Diablo) so that everyone can choose from the exact same gear and be at the exact same gear and power level.
Now in WvWvW you are leveled to 80, but limited to your actual skills, gear, and traits.
Pistol 4 -> Switch to Staff -> Staff 5 + Staff 2.
Illusionary Duelist puts confusion on the enemy and Staff 2 gives you chaos armor and then using the Staff 2 after Chaos Storm is done with Null Field(Personally I found it really useful when Arcane Thievery is on cooldown), so in total you have 15 seconds of Chaos Armor. As an extra I have the 20p Chaos X trait which reduces cooldowns on staff skills by 20% and gives 50 toughness which reduces the Chaos Storm cooldown to 24s.
So you can see that the Chaos Armor uptime is very high in fights. The survability is insanely good. 0, 10, 20, 30, 10 is the spec I’m currently running with Scepter+Pistol and Staff:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgAQNAW7alwzqpHVToGaNJhJF9G5neEdq/cUFwepC4G;T0AA1CtoQygkAJLSOkkItKYUwpgdBvCA
Thanks for posting the great tip here about leveraging the field for a Combo.
Thanks for the video. Running my Warrior in sPvP the most difficult profession for me to go 1v1 against is a well played Mesmer. Going to have to give this class a go so I can figure out why I keep getting owned up.
well, its a pretty op class. speced like this is like fighting against 4 DPS full crit glass cannons; that are not glass.
The illusions are about as glass as you can get. A build with projectile reflect can really neuter this build, as the phantasms blow themselves up.
I switched from Staff to Greatsword, and the Illusionary Swordsman is melee so projectile reflect doesn’t hurt him.
The Phantasms have ~5-6k HP with this build so they’re not completely squishy.
Ed, on the link to your build i am unable to see which traits you have chosen. Could you list them pls.
Thnx
It appears that http://www.gw2build.com has a bug where the trait lines don’t display properly in Internet Explorer. Try viewing it with Google Chrome or another browser (I’ve only tested it with Chrome and it works.)
can i know what sigil u use for ur weapons?
It’s on the build page he linked to. Scroll over right below the 3 weapons.
I was wondering if moving the 10 points from Illusion and moving them to Domination would be a viable tweak to the base build. The major trait gives you +3%dmg per illusion, let’s call it an average of 6% due to illusions going down due to getting attacked. Is that necessarily better than getting +100 straight out power? Off the top, since shattering is a low priority, the only thing you’re really getting from the Illusions line is the major trait, with some extra benefit from some condition dmg. However, your choice of +3% dmg tells me you’re trying to go for more dmg than cond dmg. On the other hand, Domination gives you +100 power and 10% cond duration, plus the major trait can give illusions +15% dmg which to my mind has better synergy with the core concept. In short, and please correct me if I am mistaken, 10 Dom > 10 Illusion for this build due to less emphasis on shattering as a tool. Great build, btw. Should have led with that. Cheers!
That’s not the only tradeoff. You would also lose the superb 5-pt passive that reduces illusion summoning cooldowns by 20%.
Let me be the first to say that I will be severely disappointed if your Norn character does not resemble your blog mascot. :)
The first three races I rolled were Sylvari, Asura, and Charr.
No Norn yet LOL.
“…or try out Guardian again or Necro…”
Either please.
Guardian would be ideal, Taugrim. :D
The link to the spec dosnt seem to work… is it just me or?
Some calculators don’t work with Internet Explorer.
Taugrim nice spec . I play alot wvw. Would you make any adjustments to your spec for wvw?
I switched recently from Staff to Greatsword, for the conal knockback. Great for knocking people off walls and cliffs.
https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/info/news/Update-Notes-September-8th-2012/first
Important point for this point is that Signet of Illusions was bugged and giving 300% health instead of 50%.
Funny thing is I didn’t notice.
SoI is still worth slotting. Even testing on Svanir and Chieftain in the Mists, it lets them take 1-2 more hits.
Taugrim wrote:
“4. Phantasms have +70% HP and clones have +50% HP, so the uptime for the illusions is quite high”
Yes.. Quite high. :)
Do you think it’s still worth taking the Signet of Illusions, now that Phantasms really have +70% health instead of +320%?
I had fun playing this build last weekend. I still haven’t come to terms with the main-hand sword but I feel like I was losing quite a bit of damage when I tried scepter/pistol. What to do?
SoI is still worth slotting. I tested after the bug fix. On Svanir and Chieftain in the Mists, it lets them take 1-2 more hits.
Sceptre is more of a condition weapon, and this is a DD spec.
I never really liked Signet of Illusions. I’d personally prefer to pick up Feedback for help against ranged dps builds or Arcane Thievery to help against tanky guardian builds or heavy condition necro builds.
For tournament play, I’d consider swapping SoI for Portal Entre in Khlyo and Null Field for the other maps.
going to agree here, you lose a phantasm when you dodge if you are at 3.
That said, I dont care, in pvp you are not often at 3 phantasms for long, and when you have to dodge, that takes priority.
can you explain why Greatsword instead of staff now? and also, what 2nd weapon set do you use combined with the great sword? still sword/pistol? trying to perfect my mesmer, but i’ve been using staff/sword+pistol. u should make a new vid with Greatsword -.-
GS instead of Staff because of the conal knockback. Having that extra CC is really helpful.
Can you please do a new vid with Greatsword? I have some difficulties using It but It seems awesome
the dmg seems better, but don’t you feel more squishy against say thieves or melees? outside of the conal knockback, distortion, and maybe a blink.. is that enough for you? any other tips?
It’s good survivability with all the tools, relative to other classes.
also are you using pistol + sword as your 2nd set?
See the link to the build calculator.
Can you please do a new video with the Greatsword? I have some dificulties using It and also miss the Chaos Storm/Armor & the Phase Retreat for easy dodging
I would like to know what u think about take 10 points away from Inspiration and put it in Domination for 100+power. do u think the 1k less HP is worth 100+ power??
You can do that.
You end up with +15% to Phantasm damage either way. I like the 20% extra HP for Phantasms in Inspiration, which helps them survive AOE and take more damage before being destroyed.
YMMV.
You would be trading 100+ power for ~1k hp AND +15% Phantasm damage, though I’m not sure on the exact power=/= phantasm damage formulas
You wont miss the 15% phantasm damage cause u can get it from the 10 domination trait
10 domination is for illusions not phantasms…phantasms do more damage than illusions from what I’ve heard. I’ve been using this build though and it’s been a lot of fun I must say. :)
Phantasm and clones are illusions.
No man. Illusions = Clones(no damage) and Phantasm(pink ones), so the domination 10 works on bothi am sure of that
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Illusion
“There are two kinds of illusions: clones and phantasms”
My bad they are both technically illusions…I guess the fact that it says 15% + dmg for phantasms and 15% + dmg for illusions made me think otherwise. But it looks like that has been changed!
I really wish you could edit posts/delete them lol…I’m tired.
This build is amazing Taugrim.
Absolutely slays people in sPvP.
Some of the best survivability I’ve ever seen.
Well done man, and thanks.
After trying out all your builds I find this one to be the most dominant overall, the rifle builds are definitely more bursty but the sustained dps, and survival via clones/CC’s (knock-back, stun, sheep, daze(if you shatter)) and blink makes this one of the more powerful builds I have seen in GW2. The only time I really lose 1v1 is against a very bursty hunter or thief. Most 2v1 situations go my way with 1 player dead than escape if necessary/ 2nd dead or running and me holding my point. Not that the warrior is not better in it’s own sense, but Mesmer has been my main since day 1 so I suppose I am more “skilled” to take advantage of all the tools that Mesmer provides and let me tell you there are many.
Yep, it’s a strong 1v1 spec.
Great video, and build. I’ve just rolled a Mesmer and this build is appealing. In the pve environment would you recommend stacking more power, or precision? Perhaps I’m mistaken but I don’t think there would be a need to specifically stack condition damage onto gear.
Hope the question makes sense, I’m a bit tired;p
Both are good in PVE.
For PVP, I go with high Crit for the bleeds from Illusion crits and for procs of Blood Sigil.
Ok tested the new build Taugrim, with GS instead of staff … Finally i get the dmg and pushback that I wanted… Though i dropped ill disenchanter cause you spawn enough illusions and phantasms with deceptive evasion … I found myself canceling my phantasms to much when I dodged …
So instead of disenchanter(if your playing pugs vs tons of condition monkeys go disenchanter) I took Decoy, which really gives me that last getaway option.
In w.v.w.v.w i run with Mass Invisibilty that is on a 90 sec timer, I havent tested it in sPVP, though it is insane that you can go invis for 8 secons combined, and it gives tons of escape posibilites. Moa seems to get dodged to often for me these days :/
Tjek out my w.v.w.v.w build here, I am completly dominating every class and vs 2-3 its still no problem with all the escapes. Though im thinking about going more toughness :)
I know w.v.w.v.w is not your thing, but could you test mass invisibilty for some runs and let me know what you think about it?
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/reptilens-w-v-w-v-w-domination-guide-greatsword-scepter-pistol-6613.html
Good!
?
I love WvW.
Oh, you just never talked about wvw :)
anyways … my friend is playing thief and he is my new nemesis, im really lacking the chaos armor now for those tight infights …
What do you do when you have alot of meele around you and GS skill 5 is on cd ?
Range is good though ;)
I pre-kite, meaning if I see a melee train coming, I maintain a gap from them.
If they’re close, I Blink to re-separate.
have you changed from Staff to greatsword?, coas i tested with staff and it worked fine, but with GS i have bit of a problem (feels like im killing ppl alot slower)
GS is superior for this build in sPvP. Phantasmal Berserker is AOE and the conal knockback rocks for kiting and interrupting.