Mesmer PvE | Open World Greatsword, Sword/Sword | Damage Illusion Army 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, Clone Cripple Bomb, is explained here.
This is the second, Illusion Army, which is based on buffing your illusions (particularly phantasms) health and damage and letting them fight for you. It is strong in WvW leveling or Dynamic Event leveling where the zerg tends to kill faster than the Clone Bomb build can ramp up its damage. It also has strong single-target direct damage so you don't have to worry about about the condition stack cap [1], [2] on DE boss fights.
I. Weapons and Skills
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- 0Fury: 10 s
- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
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- 0Fury: 10 s
Weapon and Skill Details
Weapons
Greatsword and Sword/Sword are chosen for several reasons:
1. Very high direct/burst damage
2. Very high direct/burst damage phantasms.
3. Very low cooldowns on phantasms, especially with both weapons traited.
4. Easy to trait all three weapons, only requires two traits.
Utilities
Utilities are almost completely optional, player's choice. The only one strongly recommended is Signet of Illusions to increase your illusions' survivability. Dead illusions do no damage, and cost expensive cooldowns. Other than that, feel free to experiment.
II. Traits
Domination
Dueling
Chaos
Inspiration
Trait Details
This leveling build is more direct-damage oriented and is based on taking all traits (and signet) that buff illusions' health and damage and letting them fight for you.
In a nutshell, select Adept and Master traits that:
1. reduce illusion spawn cooldown.
2. buff illusion survivability (health).
3. buff illusion damage.
Cooldown reduction and survivability traits take precedence over damage, b/c at lower levels your illusions tend to be squishy, and dead illusions do zero damage. But otherwise feel free to play with the order of trait acquisition, this is just one suggestion:
Greatsword//Sword/Sword Version
1. 20: 0/10/0/0/0 *
2. 30: 0/10/0/10/0
3. 40: 0/10/0/10/10 **
4. 50: 0/20/0/10/10
5. 60: 10/20/0/10/10
6. 70: 20/20/0/10/10
7. 80: 20/30/0/10/10
Alternate Staff//Sword/Sword Version (less damage, more defense)
6. 60: 0/20/10/10/10
7. 70: 0/20/20/10/10
8. 80: 10/20/20/10/10
Level 80 Dungeon Versions
When you reach 80, the following two dungeon meta builds will feel very familiar to you, you'll just have to get used to using offhand Focus instead of offhand Sword.
1. 10/30/0/30/0
2. 0/20/0/25/25
* At low levels it's generally better to focus on reducing illusion spawning cooldowns than increasing illusion damage, at least prior to getting Deceptive Evasion, but feel free to experiment with using Phantasmal Fury here instead of Blade Training.
** 3% more damage per illusion applies to both player damage and illusion damage.
*** For weapon Sigils, use Sigil of Bloodlust in 2H weapons and Sigil of Bloodlust and Sigil of Force in 1H weapons.
**** If your illusions are dying faster than your weapon cooldowns can produce them, add one or both Phantasm utility skills. If not, feel free to use those two utility slots for something else you prefer, like condition removal and teleport.
III. Stat Specifics & Effects
Primary Stats
- Health 18632 (+2710)
- Vitality 1187 (+271)
- Armor 1087 (+171)
- Toughness 1087 (+171)
- Attack 2505 (+489)
- Power 1405 (+489)
- Critical Hit 14% (+14%)
- Precision 1216 (+300)
Secondary Stats
- Condition Damage 100 (+100)
- Condition Duration 20% (+20%)
- Critical Damage 20% (+20%)
- Damage 1100 (+0%)
- Ferocity 300 (+300)
- Healing Power 100 (+100)
- Shredding Recharge Rate 10% (+10%)
Boons
Conditions
Control
Fields & Finishers
Stat and Effect Details
Focus your stats on Power, Precision, Toughness, Vitality as you level.
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: 995-1100
- Power: 239
- Toughness: 171
- Vitality: 171
- Weapon Strength: 0-0
Weapon Set I
- Weapon Strength: 905-1000
- Power: 120
- Toughness: 85
- Vitality: 85
- Weapon Strength: 905-1000
- Power: 120
- Toughness: 85
- Vitality: 85
Weapon Set II
- Weapon Strength: 905-1000
- Power: 120
- Toughness: 85
- Vitality: 85
- Weapon Strength: 905-1000
- Power: 120
- Toughness: 85
- Vitality: 85
Water Weapon I
Water Weapon II
Upgrade Item Details
Upgrade your weapons at least every 5 levels, and your gear at least every 10 levels. Focus on Power, Precision, Toughness, and Vitality gear.
V. Basic Gameplay
Initiate fights at range with GS or Staff, try to keep multiple Phantasms up, let them fight the mob while you kite and dps it from range. If it gets close, swap to S/S for melee range, burn it down with Blurred Frenzy (Sword #2), avoid damage with Illusionary Ripost (Sword #4).
Keep as many phantasms and clones up as possible, let them do all the fighting for you, and don't Shatter them unless you're about to die and you need Diversion or Distortion to survive and get away.
Alternately, use Sword/Focus. A fun trick with S/F is to start casting Focus's Phantasmal Warden (#5), and while casting it, also cast Sword's Clone (#3), which cripples the target and holds it in place till iWarden finishes casting.
Then use the #3 secondary cast to swap places with the clone and Blurred Frenzy while the Phantasmal Warden does Blurred Frenzy at the same time. Can do a lot of damage to single or packs of mobs with that combo.
This build is more offensive, less defensive than the one above, and may not be able to solo Champions and tough Veterans as well as the condition build, but is better at Dynamic Event farming and dungeon leveling.
Main Skill Rotation
The first three GS attacks can be done so that they land almost simultaneously. Mirror Blade has a 3/4s cast time plus a travel time.
If you start at max range (1200) and cast MB first, then Phantasmal Berserker as it flies through the air, and then Mind Stab, all three will hit the target at the same time, resulting in a large damage spike.
This will aggro the mob/s and pull them to you. Use Illusionary Wave to push them back if you want, or not. Then swap to Sword and cast its phantasm and clone. Teleport to mobs with Swap (Sword #3), Blurred Frenzy, Ripost to block or spawn another clone if necessary.
Finish with Sword autoattack.
VI. Weaknesses
Main weakness of this build is it pure damage, not a lot of defense, so you may find it hard to survive overpulls or difficult Veteran or Champion mobs. If you find this the case, try Clone Cripple Bomb instead.
But some people just prefer max possible damage, even at the expense of travel speed or survivability, which is what this build is about. Offhand Sword has a much lower Phantasm cooldown, and iSwordsman hits like a truck and sticks on moving targets, unlike iWarden.
That said, many players, myself included, get used to popping open the character gear screen, equipping a focus for traveling somewhere, then when you get there swap it back out for Sword.