Mirage and PoF... Help A Brother Out

I have had my Mesmer for quite some time. I kept it in mothball for the portal use in JPs. I have never been overly impressed by its playstyle though I envy those who have mastered it.I main a Necro and Thief depending on if I want to condi things down with the Necro or pistol things to death with the thief.

Tonight, I decided to go ahead and burn up the rest of my Proofs of Heroics and give the Mirage a try. I have never been one for melee but choose to stand back and nuke things down with escape abilities for when I get in trouble. Persoanlly with the new elite skills coupled with axe the kill down of mobs is overwhelming. The torch 4 gives me an escape as well as Mass Invisibility gives me the opportunity to escape when I take on too much and then get back in there and finish the mobs off.

Just a few hours in and I am having quite a bit of fun finally having a third viable toon to run PoF story line with. It’s more than mashing just a couple of buttons as you have to consider when to drop the elite and shatter skills. Keeps the fingers quite busy.

I run with scavenging runes because the ascended gear and what the runes offer give me scalability between Necro and Mesmer. Plus, I can’t afford the Torment runes and sigils but by all means if you have spares you don’t want…. I’ll take :P

I don’t PvP and WvW with thief only so I ask, how do you feel about to PvE aspect of the Mirage? Any pro-tips? Secondary weapon(s)? Food and Utilities that work the best for you? And so on.

Thanks for any input.

I'm with you. Leveled one of everything around launch and just never found the mesmer playstyle much fun until Mirage. Mostly because I found that the proper way to play it was to be constantly shattering clones, which made the whole idea of having self clones feel pointless and less fun.

Lean in to its strengths and set up a build around infinite horizon since mirage's core mechanics are mostly built around keeping up clones long term rather than using them as constant shatter fodder. Lean in to traits that buff your clones and skills that give you mirrors for more ambush attacks as its the obvious intended main mechanic of the spec and the thing that makes it different from other specs. That'll set you up to play a mesmer where shattering is more of an occasional panic button or various situations rather than part of your rotation and makes effectively retargeting clones/phantasms a much bigger part of the playstyle than shattering them.

@ PopeUrbanI have taken Domination and Illusions already for the Illusion buffs. I am still learning the rest of what makes the Mirage and what breaks it. Mirage does depend on keeping clones up which is one of the things I like. Constant shatter drove me away from Mesmer. I'll be looking into more of your suggestions and improve as I can. Thanks for the input.

I've got Scepter as a secondary weapon, for those occasions when I don't want to be in melee (like Harpy Spellbreakers, if I don't stop them from getting that PBAoE field attack off). Scepter 1 adds a clone at the end of the chain unless maxed, then it adds torment. Two is a block and blind and three channeled damage plus confusion. Ax kills faster, but when you really can't just stand there, I find Scepter/X to be better than staff, as I hate how slow the staff #1 fires.

Torment Runes are not needed for Condi Mirage or even Mesmer; the majority of your damage (over 50%) comes from Bleeding.

This is about my current build. The main priority and damage source of this build are the Phantasmal Duelists, which you will want to keep three up as long as possible. While a melee build, you can also opt to use the scepter for more ranged-friendly encounters.

As for food, Red-Lentil Saobosa is one of the best food available and for a very affordable price (as of time of writing). Since the Utility consumable overhaul, Condition Damage characters will generally pick one Tuning Crystal or another, usually favoring either Toxic Tuning Crystals or Master Tuning Crystals.

@usnedward.9023 said:I have had my Mesmer for quite some time. I kept it in mothball for the portal use in JPs. I have never been overly impressed by its playstyle though I envy those who have mastered it.I main a Necro and Thief depending on if I want to condi things down with the Necro or pistol things to death with the thief.

Tonight, I decided to go ahead and burn up the rest of my Proofs of Heroics and give the Mirage a try. I have never been one for melee but choose to stand back and nuke things down with escape abilities for when I get in trouble. Persoanlly with the new elite skills coupled with axe the kill down of mobs is overwhelming. The torch 4 gives me an escape as well as Mass Invisibility gives me the opportunity to escape when I take on too much and then get back in there and finish the mobs off.

Just a few hours in and I am having quite a bit of fun finally having a third viable toon to run PoF story line with. It’s more than mashing just a couple of buttons as you have to consider when to drop the elite and shatter skills. Keeps the fingers quite busy.

I run with scavenging runes because the ascended gear and what the runes offer give me scalability between Necro and Mesmer. Plus, I can’t afford the Torment runes and sigils but by all means if you have spares you don’t want…. I’ll take :P

I don’t PvP and WvW with thief only so I ask, how do you feel about to PvE aspect of the Mirage? Any pro-tips? Secondary weapon(s)? Food and Utilities that work the best for you? And so on.

Thanks for any input.

Are you from another timeline? You sure as hell sound like me. Actually almost exact with the whole Necro, Range, Thief pistols, liking Mirage to death and making it your 3rd main and not into PvP and PvE.I say though a mixture of Axe/Torch and on the other hand Pistol as I found it really handy at times.

Appreciate the feedback. @Oji - I am using the lentil food. I make them myself and glad to see I chose right.@Indgio - I used Scepter in the past and will grab from the bank as you make some good points@Ayumi - my long lost sister or brother? lol. I looked at pistol as OH but it just doesn't work for me but I do keep it for when I decide at some point to group up. A little range can go a long way.