Fairly new to Mesmer, need help with what to do next

Hi I just recently dinged 80 on my Mesmer and have been leveling up Mirage

I purchased a set of exotic Carrion gear with trinks and accessories and have been using a staff Mirage condi build for open world pve while i complete world map completion with my gf who is still leveling up

I spoke to some people who said that power builds are better for that sort of content and got myself a set of exotic Berserkers gear also, which I have tried using with GS and Sw/(sw/focus)

Im not entirely sure which is stronger right now, I need some help as to what gear i should be using, and the right build for the content I want to be doing, I want to first complete the world map(at 65% atm) Should I also stick with Mirage or switch to levelling Chrono?

Im also looking to dip into doing PVP so what build and gear should I be using there?

Also further down the line, which ascended pieces should I be aiming for as the first ascended pieces to get?

I have looked at Metabattle but its not exactly clear on gear, and the condi staff build is listed as a top open world build? while ive been told otherwise, any help would be much appreciated, cheers

For PvE, before anyone pressures you into playing either chrono/mirage, this shouldn’t matter until you get into T4 CMs (fractals) and raids. Even so, both chrono/mirage aren’t very strong in fractals if it did matter, and either option has its own niche in raids anyway. So for this specific case, what you choose to invest into first is very much what you enjoy playing more.

Ascended pieces to aim for is berserker’s for chrono and viper’s for mirage. Due to the runes used for each spec, berserker’s is more interchangeable across other classes if you decide to commit to another class. Note: gear used specifically for open world (knights, rabid, trailblazer etc.) should be kept exotic if possible, or achieved only after you have proper gear for instanced content (and have excess money), or if you don’t plan to get into instanced content.

The reason why condi staff appears at the top is because it’s a easy build to use with low risk/high reward rating. More experienced or daring players opt for more offensive builds (usually derived from builds used in instanced content so they don’t have to change) because they are more familiar with having an increased amount of risk in their playstyle.

For PvP, next is to change class.

"Better" and "Stronger" can have different meanings. We recommend berserker gear for open world PVE for a couple of reasons:

(1): Money. Berserker gear has the fastest time to kill. Killing things faster means you get loot faster, which means you can move on to the next thing quicker, so on and so forth. Killing things fast lets you maximize your play time, getting more loot and doing more stuff than you otherwise would.(2): Timers. A lot of events in the game have a time limit of some sort. Whether it is a clock ticking away in the top-right of the screen, or if you have to defend an NPC from enemies, you are on the clock. Because of this, you don't necessarily want to take your time while killing things.(3): It lets you carry people. Berserker gear has very high peak performance, which is often needed to compensate for the upscaling caused by less-than-capable overworld players.
(4): Once you get the hang of it, overworld is pretty easy. Most of the learning curve is just familiarizing yourself with the controls and abilities. Most enemies have one or two things that they do, in which you either dodge, strafe out of the way, or use a skill to stop them. You heal instantly after a battle, and it will surprise you how often you can just face tank an enemy and win, even in berserker gear.
(5): It is easier to build around berserker than to build without it. See, if you have trouble surviving, you can always change your traits, utilities, weapon, and playstyle to more defensive options to get you through a tough spot. Changing gear is expensive, because you have to buy that whole new set of gear. However, if you are in a scenario where you need more damage, it is really hard to get more damage by changing traits, utilities, or the weapon.

The recommended overworld builds you see on metabattle and youtube aren't designed to maximize loot.. They're made to give a player a strong combination of offense and defense, to ensure that even the newest of players taking on the strongest of champions will still stay alive and keep fighting. These builds are, overall, stronger than the pure DPS berserker builds that you see in other places. However, the game was designed so each class at base health and armor is capable of surviving and fighting well, so for PVE you don't really need all of that extra durability. This is why most people prefer berserker, and also why I personally recommend it.

@Noodle Ant.1605 said:For PvE, before anyone pressures you into playing either chrono/mirage, this shouldn’t matter until you get into T4 CMs (fractals) and raids. Even so, both chrono/mirage aren’t very strong in fractals if it did matter, and either option has its own niche in raids anyway. So for this specific case, what you choose to invest into first is very much what you enjoy playing more.

Ascended pieces to aim for is berserker’s for chrono and viper’s for mirage. Due to the runes used for each spec, berserker’s is more interchangeable across other classes if you decide to commit to another class. Note: gear used specifically for open world (knights, rabid, trailblazer etc.) should be kept exotic if possible, or achieved only after you have proper gear for instanced content (and have excess money), or if you don’t plan to get into instanced content.

The reason why condi staff appears at the top is because it’s a easy build to use with low risk/high reward rating. More experienced or daring players opt for more offensive builds (usually derived from builds used in instanced content so they don’t have to change) because they are more familiar with having an increased amount of risk in their playstyle.

Thanks for the help my man, seen some of your other posts and you know your shi* so I appreciate the help, I think I will stick with exotic berserkers gear RN and test out both chrono and mirage to find out which I prefer

@viquing.8254 said:For PvP, next is to change class.

Is this only because its not FOTM? I have owned gw2 for a long time but never actually commited any time to it until now, but have seen mesmer as meta picks in pvp multiple times ive checked, surely this is subjective to change?

@"Blood Red Arachnid.2493" said:"Better" and "Stronger" can have different meanings. We recommend berserker gear for open world PVE for a couple of reasons:

(1): Money. Berserker gear has the fastest time to kill. Killing things faster means you get loot faster, which means you can move on to the next thing quicker, so on and so forth. Killing things fast lets you maximize your play time, getting more loot and doing more stuff than you otherwise would.(2): Timers. A lot of events in the game have a time limit of some sort. Whether it is a clock ticking away in the top-right of the screen, or if you have to defend an NPC from enemies, you are on the clock. Because of this, you don't necessarily want to take your time while killing things.(3): It lets you carry people. Berserker gear has very high peak performance, which is often needed to compensate for the upscaling caused by less-than-capable overworld players.

(4): Once you get the hang of it, overworld is pretty easy. Most of the learning curve is just familiarizing yourself with the controls and abilities. Most enemies have one or two things that they do, in which you either dodge, strafe out of the way, or use a skill to stop them. You heal instantly after a battle, and it will surprise you how often you can just face tank an enemy and win, even in berserker gear.

(5): It is easier to build around berserker than to build without it. See, if you have trouble surviving, you can always change your traits, utilities, weapon, and playstyle to more defensive options to get you through a tough spot. Changing gear is expensive, because you have to buy that whole new set of gear. However, if you are in a scenario where you need more damage, it is really hard to get more damage by changing traits, utilities, or the weapon.

The recommended overworld builds you see on metabattle and youtube aren't designed to maximize loot.. They're made to give a player a strong combination of offense and defense, to ensure that even the newest of players taking on the strongest of champions will still stay alive and keep fighting. These builds are, overall, stronger than the pure DPS berserker builds that you see in other places. However, the game was designed so each class at base health and armor is capable of surviving and fighting well, so for PVE you don't really need all of that extra durability. This is why most people prefer berserker, and also why I personally recommend it.

Thanks very much mate, like you said I haven't really struggled in open world pve at all in berserkers gear, and my playstyle is definitely more inclined toward a greater offence over defense; so the extra durability is not needed. I will keep my exotic carrion set on one of my tabs but will continue building upon the power set

Is anyone able to recommend me weapon types to use in pvp/pve?I know that GS is absurdly strong, but not sure if that is just for a certain elite spec or not? Cheers again

@"Seku.6928" said:Is this only because its not FOTM? I have owned gw2 for a long time but never actually commited any time to it until now, but have seen mesmer as meta picks in pvp multiple times ive checked, surely this is subjective to change?Yes, you've got a choice of picking a class/spec for purely competitive reasons, or picking a class/spec because you enjoy the theme, visuals, audio...

The two points overlap, and depending on the state of the game may even align. But if you go by the latter, then regardless of balance at least you'll always enjoy the gameplay to some extent.

However one issue in all this is if you are aware of how Anet tend to handle balance when it comes to mesmer in general - sure there have been good changes over the years, but often there doesn't seem to be a final goal in mind, and knee-jerk changes tend to be of the order of crude 50% nerfs or virtual deletion, rather than careful shaves.

That and regardless of how weak or strong mesmer is relative to other classes, you will always get a disproportionate amount of hate from the community, because alongside thief, it seems most people tend to not enjoy fighting against trickster/rogue characters compared with "straight to the face" (as Grunt said in Mass Effect 2) supposedly "honourable" characters.So just be aware to have some thick skin if wanting to play mesmer in pvp or wvw for that matter.

@Curunen.8729 said:

@"Seku.6928" said:Is this only because its not FOTM? I have owned gw2 for a long time but never actually commited any time to it until now, but have seen mesmer as meta picks in pvp multiple times ive checked, surely this is subjective to change?Yes, you've got a choice of picking a class/spec for purely competitive reasons, or picking a class/spec because you enjoy the theme, visuals, audio...

I am usually swayed by picking classes for competitive reasons, and have also just been trying out thief just now in the pvp lobby, Thief does seem pretty fun, but I would like to stick by my choice this time though and stay mesmer, also because I will have map completion

Yeah I get you, that does sound kind of shitty

That sort of mentality has never made sense to me, its something you deal with when it comes to any pvp game so im prepared for whatever illogical hate I would get xD

I've also come from alot of WoW pvp, but I feel more attached to characters in gw2 than I do in wow

Power Chrono will be faster than Condi Mirage in nearly all overworld content. It will have higher overall DPS, and faster up-front damage. Chrono also has a built in speed boost for getting around when mounts aren't allowed or if you don't have them yet.

The times when Mirage will be better is if you take on a large group of sturdier enemies that don't get insta-deleted by your opening burst, or if you are unlucky and Champions or Legendary enemies decide to ignore your clones and go for you instead. In these cases the Condi Mirage will have more evasiveness through utility slots, and perhaps more damage reduction/health through gear choices than power.

Overall I go with Power Chrono for most content, but will switch over to condi Mirage if I want to try something crazy on my own. It's pretty easy to switch now with templates being a thing.

I run full Marauder gear on my Chronomancer and Dire with Trailblazer trinkets for the rare occasions I play Mirage.

I play power chrono for PvE it's good. I dish out very good dps on fractal bosses . But that being said it's bad on PvP. Unless you are fighting against someone who doesn't know what they are doing it's a challenging fight especially tankier opponents. Right now the best build for Mesmer PvP is core shatter IMO. It has a decent burst but again it is just that a one trick pony once you blow all cooldown and opponent can recover you have to stealth and comeback again with CD up. You can always play Mirage DoT on PvP if you want IMO for 1v1 its really good.

@Seku.6928 I think you got hold of open world. And others said, chrono for power and mirage for condi. GS is my preferred OW power as well. Though sword is pretty viable with no issues. Not super survivable though. Mesmer is alright in most instances grouped content. You should not have issues there either.

PvP, heads-up everything in PvP is different. From timing to duration. Some skills that deal damage, do not or close to zero. I was a big fan of GW2 sPvP, but after a recent remake patch, it became pretty bad. Still give it a try. You may like it. And ya, Mesmer is not currently meta. But this changes all the time.