Mesmer Elite Spec - Dancer

The dancer weaves through the battlefield with their Phantasmal Doppelganger to strike foes with elegant and enchanting yet deadly manuevers. Their syncronized choreography and hidden daggers strike foes in unison when they least expect it.

! Disclaimer: No numbers yet, just a concept that I had in my head. Balancing is another whole differet aspect of it. I'm not really creative with names soooo /shrug

Elite Spec Mechanic - Phantasmal Doppelganger

The Phantasmal Doppelganger is a much stronger illusion than regular Phantasms or clones. It deals as much damage as the Mesmer and mimics the moves that they do but delayed by a second. (Includes movement and dodging) Thus, having the Phantasmal Doppelganger removes illusions and replaces regular shatters with dances. Additionally Phantasmal attacks become regular attacks that mimic the effect of the Phantasm that was supposed to be summoned. (ie Phantasmal Berserker becomes like Warrior's Whirlwind Attack)The Doppelganger inherits clone and Phantasm traits,Killing it will render it stunned for 7 seconds, in which it will be resummoned on the Mesmer's location afterwards.Instead of gaining an illusion like usual, you gain a Reality Charge which allows your illusion count based traits to affect the Mesmer like usual. (Duration 10 seconds)And it also transports your Doppelganger to where your clone would be normally summoned. This allows the Dancer to tap Sword 3 once, to summon her clone near a foe, then tapping it again will let her swap positions with her Doppelganger. Or if using GS 2, your Doppelganger instantly appears right beside the target, Staff 2 summons the Doppelganger on your original place etc.

New Shatters:

The new shatters inherit the same traits as the base Mesmer shatters. Using a dance would interrupt your doppelganger.First Dance: Sharp Mind:The dancer and doppelganger spin around in unison, dealing heavy AoE damage over time. The dance becomes stronger with more Reality Charges you have. Inherits traits that affect Mind Wrack.Second Dance: Return to Me!:The Doppelganger runs toward the dancer with superspeed, ignoring terrain, Confusing and Crippling foes passed through by the doppelganger. Intensity of conditions applied depends on the number of Reality Charges you have. Inherits traits affecting Cry of Frustration.Third Dance: Dazzle:The Doppleganger blinks toward a location, dazing foes around. Length of daze depends on the number of Reality charges. Inherits traits affecting Diversion.Fourth Dance: Crystallize:The Doppelganger turns into a solid crystal that grants the Mesmer distortion. It is rendered useless for 5 seconds. Inherits traits affecting Distortion.

Traits:

Minor Profienciency:Dagger Proficiency: (Melee long/short bow could work too like a Chakram)The Dancer gains the ability to wield two daggers in both hands, allowing to weave in and out of the battlefield with gracious and elegant manuevers.Dagger 1: Autoattack> gains more damage with Reality Charges on final hit.Dagger 2: Dagger Throw>Mind Rip: Throws a dagger to a target, if it connects cripple the target, gain a Reality charge and allows you to cast Mind Rip. Casting Mind Rip blinks you and your doppelganger behind your foe dealing damage and vulnerability.Dagger 3: Fan of Blades: Slice your dagger infront while spinning away gracefully. Deals moderate damage while evading.Dagger 4: Phantasmal Dancer: Perform an elegant dance summons and throws phantasmal daggers around you. (think 20~ daggers that seek targets for the whole duration).Dagger 5: Blank Thoughts: Daze a target, when hit from behind stun and rip a boon instead. Deals small damage.

Minor Adept: Phantasmal DoppelgangerMajor Adept 1: Tireless Partner: Your doppelganger has 30%~ more healthMajor Adept 2: Imaginary Stance: Whenever you activate a stance gain a reality charge.Major Adept 3: Dancing with Daggers: 20% CDR on dagger skills, Dagger projectiles now bounce to an additional target.

Minor Master: Sturdier Glass: gain 75 power and condition damage per Reality Charge.Major Master 1: Doppelwalk: The doppelganger resets its position to yours every 5 seconds. (i don't know if this trait would be good or not lol)Major Master 2: Realist: Reality Charges lasts 10 more seconds.Major Master 3: Evasive Dancer: Gain 2 seconds of quickness everytime you dodge an attack. (7 sec ICD)

Minor Grandmaster: Elegant Performance: Gain swiftness when doing a dance, 5% more damage when under the effects of swiftness.Major Grandmaster 1: Unison Raid: Doppelgangers now mimics the same moves at the exact time.Major Grandmaster 2: Ideal Reality: You can gain two more reality charges at a time.Major Grandmaster 3: Jaded Audience: Your and your doppelganger's dances taunt enemies affected by the dance for 2 seconds, gain protection on use. (20 second ICD)

Utility Skills: Stances (subject to change)

Wave Stance (Heal): Synchronize with your doppelganger and provide a healing aura around you two.Tag-along: Swap with your doppelganger's position.Evading Tango: Break stun and evade skills while dashing forward. (charge, 20 seconds per charge, 5 second cooldown)Quick Step: You and your doppelganger gains quickness and stability over the duration.Mimicry: You and your doppelganger come together and confuse enemies. You will be randomly placed next to each other and for a 3 second duration your doppelganger isn't delayed for a second. Breaks enemy targetting.Waltzing Daggers(Elite): You and your doppelganger come together and waltz, flourishing into summoning falling daggers around an area as you perform the dance with your partner. (think of Meteor shower but much weaker).

The theme of the spec is all about micromanagement and deceiving your opponents with your Phantasmal Doppelganger. I made the concept as such so that it takes into account old shatter traits and illusion traits as well. Let me know your thoughts. :3

reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/78c7ko/elite_spec_concept_the_dancer/)

I love the idea of permanent illusion (I even posted kind of similar idea in one of those phantasm rework related threads some time ago). :heart: The spec itself and the theme are very interesting too. There are some underwhelming features here and there, examples:1) Evasive Dancer: the icd is way too long for such mediocre effect (especially considering it's a major master trait).2) Return to me!: I get the idea, but it seems a little clunky. I feel like it would be difficult to reliably apply conditions with it, not sure though.Also, it makes Doppelwalk unnecessary imo.

But I really adore the concept as a whole. It's another evidence that the community has much more interesting ideas than the devs. :grin:Good job!

Cool concept, I'd play it. :D

Nice concept. Needs a bit of work though (mostly traits).

I'm not a big fan of AI-centered specs, mostly because the AI can be problematic, even if it tries to mimic the player.But I guess many people would like that kind of gameplay.

One suggestion:Crystallize - Would be cool if this would act like an actual object, so you could use it to LOS attacks.

Thanks for all the feedback, I wasn't really sure of the traits, as I wanted it to work like: top - doppelganger traits, middle - Reality charge traits and bottom - dancer themed traits. And for underwhelming effect of some, yeah I could agree with that and would probably easily tweak it to balance. Honestly Sturdier Glass seems to be a bit too strong... providing the effect of 9 might if untraited and 15 when traited. Specially it's a Minor Master trait.For Return to Me! maybe adding the effect again as the Doppelganger arrives would allow to apply more conditions reliably.Yeah Crystallize could also work like an actual object probably could also provide Distortion to all allies in an area while it's Crystallized. (but that would be a bit op?)

The doppelganger would need to function more like a ranger's pet, the problem people tend to forget about mimicked movement is that both you and the doppel will have different orientations and locations (so you moving forward can make the doppel move in a stupid direction). So I think its movement and autos must be its own but still respond to your target and skill calls.

Very fun concept but some technical leaps would need to be made.

How would sword 3 function?

@Abelisk.4527 said:Very fun concept but some technical leaps would need to be made.

How would sword 3 function?First cast: Gain a reality charge.Second Cast: This is kinda tricky... could do with Swapping with Doppel and Immobilize enemies on arrival or just immobilize foes nearby.

@Coulter.2315 said:The doppelganger would need to function more like a ranger's pet, the problem people tend to forget about mimicked movement is that both you and the doppel will have different orientations and locations (so you moving forward can make the doppel move in a stupid direction). So I think its movement and autos must be its own but still respond to your target and skill calls.

Doppel should move around the target independently, because mimicing caster's movement could lead to huge clunkiness, I agree. But it should mimic mesmer's AA and still attack only after the caster's attack, so it would be different from ranger's pet which attacks even if the ranger doesn't do anything.

OP's idea about movement is nice, but hard to implement and balance imo.

@Refia Montes.3205 said:

@Abelisk.4527 said:Very fun concept but some technical leaps would need to be made.

How would sword 3 function?First cast: Gain a reality charge.Second Cast: This is kinda tricky... could do with Swapping with Doppel and Immobilize enemies on arrival or just immobilize foes nearby.

1st cast: Gain a reality charge and tp your doppel to your target.2nd cast: Swap places with the doppel and immobilize foes.

Sounds interesting, but depends hardly on how much you have to reposition your doppelganger. Special when it is stunned /immobilized / knocked back and you are not. Also to land melee attacks with him could be hard if he doesn't stand next to the target as well.

The idea that he moves individually is nice, specially when he also uses port skills and leaps when you do. But that all depends on AI then :S

The theme fits nicely to the Mesmer with all it's butterflies :)

@NeroBoron.7285 said:Sounds interesting, but depends hardly on how much you have to reposition your doppelganger. Special when it is stunned /immobilized / knocked back and you are not. Also to land melee attacks with him could be hard if he doesn't stand next to the target as well.

The idea that he moves individually is nice, specially when he also uses port skills and leaps when you do. But that all depends on AI then :S

The theme fits nicely to the Mesmer with all it's butterflies :)

Yeah depends on how the AI will be coded... which I hope Anet can do, but basing from ranger pets and Necro minions they couldn't really do this spec justice honestly.

@Refia Montes.3205 said:

Mesmer Elite Spec - Dancer

The dancer weaves through the battlefield with their Phantasmal Doppelganger to strike foes with elegant and enchanting yet deadly manuevers. Their syncronized choreography and hidden daggers strike foes in unison when they least expect it.

! Disclaimer: No numbers yet, just a concept that I had in my head. Balancing is another whole differet aspect of it. I'm not really creative with names soooo /shrug

Elite Spec Mechanic - Phantasmal Doppelganger

The Phantasmal Doppelganger is a much stronger illusion than regular Phantasms or clones. It deals as much damage as the Mesmer and mimics the moves that they do but delayed by a second. (Includes movement and dodging) Thus, having the Phantasmal Doppelganger removes illusions and replaces regular shatters with dances. Additionally Phantasmal attacks become regular attacks that mimic the effect of the Phantasm that was supposed to be summoned. (ie Phantasmal Berserker becomes like Warrior's Whirlwind Attack)

The Doppelganger inherits clone and Phantasm traits,Killing it will render it stunned for 5 seconds, in which it will be resummoned on the Mesmer's location afterwards.

Instead of gaining an illusion like usual, you gain a Reality Charge which allows your illusion count based traits to affect the Mesmer like usual. (Duration 10 seconds)

I am in love with this idea. I can already see myself with music on killing mobs to the beat.

i like it, but i vote its renamed Bard, so i can quasi relive/remake my old Everquest days.

I’m 100% up for a bard. When I was making my Mesmer initially I was going around the idea of an entertainer, a musician or a gambler potentially. Bard just nails it.

@leftharted.7102 said:i like it, but i vote its renamed Bard, so i can quasi relive/remake my old Everquest days.

While I'd be down for a Bard idea, I don't see it working with my concept of reworking Illusions and Shatters altogether. That was the main purpose of this fanmade spec, to have a really different feel to Mesmer. Just outright renaming this idea won't work, and needs to be made from ground up.

@Refia Montes.3205 said:

@leftharted.7102 said:i like it, but i vote its renamed Bard, so i can quasi relive/remake my old Everquest days.

But why? A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet. Changing the name doesn't affect any of your proposed mechanics.

that being said: while I truly Love your idea, I doubt it will ever come to fruition; no matter how well thought out it is... out of the plethora of MMO's I've played for the last 20ish years; never have I ever seen a fan-made suggestion (even good ones) used... They likely have an established agenda based on variables/metrics that aren't available to us. 8/

Otherwise, I just think the title Bard is more appealing overall than Dancer, heh... 8P

@leftharted.7102 said:

@Refia Montes.3205 said:

@leftharted.7102 said:i like it, but i vote its renamed Bard, so i can quasi relive/remake my old Everquest days.

@bart.3687 said:I feel like The Dancer fits the theme more than The Bard. To me, Bard would be more about playing instruments, while this spec's design is clearly about movement and rhytm.

I personally disagree. Even though my original reference was to the Everquest bard, which did revolved around instruments; a true bard is more of a storytelling poet, where choreography/musicianship were used to compliment that main ideal.

But isn't Weaver based on fan-made concept? Pretty sure I've seen a thread about it somewhere (maybe old forums?)

TBH, im not sure about that; in my old age ive become more of a casual troll when compared to my early MMO days of theory-crafting and raid nights, etc... and therefore im not 100% attuned to GW2 history... but, I wholeheartedly bet that it was more of a coincidence than actually based on a fan theory. I admit I could be wrong; but id bet against it.

just my 2c. 8)

@leftharted.7102 said:

@Refia Montes.3205 said:

@leftharted.7102 said:i like it, but i vote its renamed Bard, so i can quasi relive/remake my old Everquest days.

I don't know, maybe you could stretch the movement, and the dualist properties as bards duet? I see bards as solo musicians, having a mirror image redoing the same song doesn't sit right with me. Argue it all you want, but the whole concept fits Dancer more because everything here was made with partnered dancers mirroring and doing dances together.

Id give this a 11/10 if the weapon was spear. I mean come on if you see abit of spear fighting it resembles dancing far more than any other weapon would.

@zealex.9410 said:Id give this a 11/10 if the weapon was spear. I mean come on if you see abit of spear fighting it resembles dancing far more than any other weapon would.

Also its. a god damn. spear.

@zealex.9410 said:Id give this a 11/10 if the weapon was spear. I mean come on if you see abit of spear fighting it resembles dancing far more than any other weapon would.

Yes, please, or at least 2nd set of abilities for staff so that we can use it for some fancy spins and stuff like those mobs with scythes from Istan. Although I'd like spear more. It's time for Anet to let us use underwater weapons on land.

@bart.3687 said:

@zealex.9410 said:Id give this a 11/10 if the weapon was spear. I mean come on if you see abit of spear fighting it resembles dancing far more than any other weapon would.

Staff wouldnt work. How would you use the original staff skill set?

If it's any help, I have my own "dancer" idea as well. A short summary, since I haven't developed it well enough yet.

Bladedancer

• New mechanic: Puppets
• New weapon: Dagger (Main-hand and off-hand)
• New slot skills: Rage (Physical skills that can hurt you too)

No shatters and no clones at all. Now you have a new type of illusion, the puppet. You have three, and they walk besides you all the time, in formation. When you attack, they take turns to attack too. Every skill has a secondary effect attached, performed by one of the puppets.

Aside from their coordinated attacks, you can give puppets orders, too. That's where dancing gets in. You can order them to dance around you, doing different moves, with different effects. They might spin doing melee damage to enemies, or take a defensive stance and block projectiles. What makes these skills interesting, is that you can chain them. By changing orders in the right moment (like if you were dancing and performing different moves) you can get better effects. Timing is the key to concatenate dance movements.

The puppets will always stay by your side, except when using rage slot skills, which will launch them against the enemy. If the dance movements aren't coordinated well enough, your puppets might suffer damage and be destroyed, and you'll need to respawn them manually.

Very different from yours, but it might give someone some inspiration, so there it is. Very early version, as you see.

I'd like a spear as well. I think it would fit the concept too.