Mesmer PvE | Open World Staff | Damage Clone Cripple Bomb Leveling Build
Table of Contents
Summary
Introduction
Reposting this Mesmer Leveling Guide I wrote on Reddit months ago.
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There are only two known ways in the universe to level a mesmer without wanting to hang yourself by your toenails by level 10.
They're squishy at low levels moreso than most classes, don't kill as fast or feel as visceral (as, say, thieves or warriors) and hence harder to level, don't outgrow that till around 50-60, and don't actually get good till you're geared up in Exotics at 80.
But at 80 they're truly magical, and one of the most fun and desired classes in the game (dungeons, FotM, sPvP, WvW), and well worth it if you can stick it out. This is how to stick it out.
First, don't use a Level 80 build to level to 80. That may work for some classes, but not for mesmers. Many Mesmer level 80 builds (particularly Shatter builds) depend largely on Grandmaster traits you can't get till level 60 at the earliest, which defeats the point of a *leveling* build. What you want is a leveling build that is effective with Adept and Master traits only.
Second, familiarize yourself with the class. There is no better way to do this than watching Mr. Prometheus's Comprehensive Mesmer Guides [1], [2], [3], [4]. Also, familiarize yourself with GW2's general combat mechanics if you're not already.
Third, there are two very effective Mesmer leveling builds that work brilliantly solo and well in small groups, that will let you do fun things like survive accidental overpulls and solo Veterans and even some Champions while leveling. But they're not obvious or intuitive.
The first is this build, Clone Cripple Bomb, which is based on applying AoE CC, conditions, and damage when clones are killed or overwritten and from Staff skills. It is strong for solo'ing lots of trash mobs, handling accidental overpulls (especially useful in caves and enclosed areas with fast-spawning mobs and nowhere to run if you accidentally pull too many at once). It is also very good at solo'ing Champion mobs (if you have the patience for epic 20-30m battles of attrition).
The second is Illusion Army.
I. Weapons and Skills
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- 0Crippled: 3 s
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Weapon and Skill Details
Primary Weapon: Staff. Most importantly, your Staff #1 autoattack will stack Fury and Might on you, and Chaos Armor and Chaos Storm will stack other random boons on you, increasing the damage of everything else you're doing. Damage starts low, but ramps up quickly as boons stack on you (see that in action at this point in Mr. Prometheus's guide video).
Counterintuitively, despite its 1200 range, Staff is a close-quarters weapon. The closer you are to your target/s the faster the Staff #1 attack will bounce, so the faster the boons and conditions build on you and the target. Between Staff #1, #4 Chaos Armor, and #5 Chaos Storm the range of defensive boons and conditions that go up make you nearly invincible - Aegis, Blind, Protection, Weakness, Regeneration, Confusion, Swiftness, Cripple, Poison, Chilled, Daze.
Secondary Weapon: Secondary and any healing/utility/elite skills I didn't specify are up to you. I usually went with Greatsword (GS) b/c its Phantasm does Cripple plus more AoE damage, but Sword/Sword (lowest illusion cd of all options), Scepter (with its clone factory autoattack), Focus (runspeed), Pistol (strong ranged dps phantasm) are all interesting as well. Torch gives you an instant stealth to get out of trouble, but its phantasm is the weakest of all phantasms mesmers have.
Utilities: Goal is to have the highest possible clone generate rate, so take the two Clone spawning utilities. If you do it right you'll always have at least 2 Clones alive, which in turn makes Ether Feast your most effective heal.
II. Traits
Domination
Dueling
Chaos
Inspiration
Illusions
Trait Details
Leveling Priorities
1. Get Crippling Dissipation and Debilitating Dissipation first, the core of the build.
2. Then max your Clone generation rate with Deceptive Evasion.
3. Then reduce cooldown on Staff skills with Chaotic Dampening,
4. Finally, as you hit 70 and get to Orr, increase your damage with Compounding Power and Illusionary Elasticity (20pts in Illusions).
Trait Acquisition Order
1. 20: 10/0/0/0/0
2. 30: 10/0/10/0/0
3. 40: 10/10/10/0/0
4. 50: 10/20/10/0/0
5. 60: 10/20/20/0/0
6. 70: 10/20/20/0/10
7. 80: 10/20/20/0/20
Note: Dueling Adept trait is left blank above, meaning it is player's choice. A few suggestions, based on your secondary weapon set choice:
1. Sword: Blade Training. Especially nice with Sword/Sword.
2. Greatsword or Pistol: Phantasmal Fury. Both GS and Pistol phantasms benefits a great deal from 20% Crit.
3. Scepter: Desperate Decoy. No other good choice here for scepter.
III. Stat Specifics & Effects
Primary Stats
- Health 17632 (+1710)
- Vitality 1087 (+171)
- Armor 1337 (+421)
- Toughness 1337 (+421)
- Attack 2366 (+339)
- Power 1255 (+339)
- Critical Hit 10% (+10%)
- Precision 1116 (+200)
Secondary Stats
- Boon Duration 20% (+20%)
- Condition Damage 200 (+200)
- Condition Duration 10% (+10%)
- Critical Damage 13% (+13%)
- Damage 1111 (+0%)
- Ferocity 200 (+200)
- Shredding Recharge Rate 20% (+20%)
Boons
Conditions
Control
Fields & Finishers
Stat and Effect Details
Focus stats on Power, Vitality, Toughness, and Condition Damage while leveling. It's more important to have the most up-to-date, highest level blue or green gear you can find than any particular stat.
IV. Food, Armor, Trinkets & Upgrade Items
Food Nourishment
Utility Nourishment
Armor & Runes
Armor Stat Totals
Rune Bonuses
Accessories & Jewels
Accessory Totals
Weapon Set Sigils
- Weapon Strength: 985-1111
- Power: 239
- Toughness: 171
- Vitality: 171
- Weapon Strength: -
Weapon Set I
Upgrade Item Details
Use the highest level blue or green gear you can find while leveling. Power, Vitality, Toughness, and Condition Damage all useful.
V. Basic Gameplay
Keep as many clones up as possible, fill in the gaps with phantasms. When clones are are killed by mobs or overwritten by other clones/phantasms, they explode and apply Cripple and another random condition to all nearby mobs. Keep Cripple on the mobs as much as possible, and kite them while Staff #1 autoattack + conditions kill them.
Stack conditions and boons with bouncing Staff #1 autoattack, #4 Chaos Armor, and #5 Chaos Storm. Casting #2 Phase Retreat inside Chaos Storm is a combo finisher that gives you a second Chaos Armor.
Don't Shatter - Shatter does *not* apply Cripple or the random condition. Only shatter if you're about to die and need Distortion (F4) or Diversion (F3) to escape.
You can singlehandedly take out groups of mobs, handle accidental overpulls, and even solo non-ranged Champion mobs by Cripple-kiting them.
Main Skill Rotation
VI. Weaknesses
The one thing this build is weak at, at any level, is in zergs. Like big DE's or WvW zergs. Things either die before you can ramp up your boons and damage, or the boss will quickly reach the condition stack cap [1], [2].
When someone applies a 26th stack of that condition, the oldest stack is removed to make way for the new one. This happens so fast and frequently in a zerg that your conditions sometimes don't run their full duration before being replaced, hurting your dps.
So just keep in mind if you want to level via big DE's with zergs, and have a hard time tagging mobs and getting drops with this build, you may need a more direct-damage oriented build, similar to the next one below. However, given that most players are now 80 and the lower pre-80 leveling zones are sparsely populated, a strong solo build is optimal.