[POF] Mirage - Builds and Discussion

With the new forums up and the build editor finally updated with the new elites specs., show us what build you would like to try out.

Link to editor: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/

Condi Mirage doesn't seem too bad. Idk , random comment here to test out new forums :p

What would one use on a Condi Mirage? Like the two other trait lines ? Domination and Chaos ?

@Jake the Dog.5398 said:What would one use on a Condi Mirage? Like the two other trait lines ? Domination and Chaos ?

PvE: Ill/DueChaos provides stats, which are nice, but relatively insignificant compared to the actual condition output gained from Ill/Due.

As of the previews, Mirage is also a stat line as opposed to damage.

Build 1: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAnfWnsnBlphFpBGMDMMjlZjycEWhWqMAutkxv+7//H-jFyHABLp8bOlgzr6z46bU+UKAwTK4s9HSUNg3BHAX1qWdVWd1VX9qru6qruqBs6qru6qru6qruqUAVprC-w

Duelling – Desperate Decoy, Evasive Mirror, Deceptive EvasionChaos – Master of Manipulation, Chaotic Dampening, Bountiful DisillusionmentMirage – Renewing Oasis, Mirrored Axes, Infinite Horizon

Mirror (heal), Blink, Mantra of Resolve, Illusionary Ambush, Jaunt

Staff (Energy, Cleansing) + Axe/Torch (Energy/Cleansing)

Traveler Runespvp – Viper Amuletwvw – Cele trinkets/headgear, Viper everything else (all wvw malign infusions)pve – Viper everythingOrrian Truffle and Meat StewToxic Maintenance Oil

Build 2: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAnfWnknBFMjFpBOqBMMjlXDrMB8biGoBgmzzxv/VAPgA-j1xHABA8kCOb/BlPlCjrvZJlfzpEMR1feHcAcVra1VZ1VXd1ru6qru6qGwqru6qru6qru6qSBUluK-w

Duelling – Phantasmal Fury, Evasive Mirror, Deceptive EvasionIllusions – The Pledge, Shattered Strength, Master of FragmentationMirage – Renewing Oasis, Mirrored Axes, Infinite Horizon

Ether Feast, Illusionary Ambush, Mantra of Resolve, Decoy, Jaunt

Staff (Energy, Cleansing) + Axe/Torch (Energy/Cleansing)

Traveler Runespvp – Cele amulet (requires testing)wvw – Cele trinkets/headgear/armour, Viper weapons (all wvw malign infusions)pve – Viper everythingOrrian Truffle and Meat StewToxic Maintenance Oil

Playstyle:

Engaging in staff – 2 and/or 3 into dodge ambush, try to get in front of staff clone(s) before ambush to gain more might, swap to axe or otherwise blink in for followup ambush into shatter. Bear in mind a single dodge -> walk forward and ambush will generate 7 stacks of might (3 from the DE clone, 3 from you and 1 from food), and it should be easy to maintain high uptime of might.

Engaging in axe – either axe 3 or utility teleport into range, axe 2 dodge into ambush then shatter in melee.

Axe 3 in Chaos Storm for more Chaos Armour uptime.

Illusionary Ambush is a pseudo-stunbreak (can be used while stunned) repositioning, detargeting and gaining mirage cloak.

Biggest concern - boon corrupt/strip from Scourges and Spellbreakers.

Reasoning:

Regen on dodge slightly makes up for loss of RI for a little sustained healing (should be near perma regen). Vigour boosting condi damage incentivises maintaining high vigour uptime - hence the decision to focus on boons while having some flexibility.

Staff ambush, food and IH with DE synergise with boon and hybrid damage by providing good uptime of might. Chaotic persistence in Build 1 synergises with maintaining uptime of all boons and boosting condi duration further. Utility consumable should scale with boosted power/condi damage, further increasing boon duration (untested, but I'll test this out next weekend). Other sources of boons (fury, vigour, protection, stability...) further synergise with all of the above.

Weapon attacks provide sufficient condi application such that traiting MtD isn't necessary to apply condi. F1 and F2 still excellent for boosting burst damage (F1 under high might is solid power damage and F2 just adds more confusion). Having said that the idea is to keep 3 illusions out as often as possible, so ensure endurance and illusion summoning skills are available immediately or soon after shatter. Build 2 requires shattering to generate might.

High evade uptime = high reflect uptime providing evade criteria is met (easier to do with mirage dodge standing still as you're very likely to proc evade). Hence evasive mirror could see a lot of value.

the one thing i always loved about Mesmer in Guild Wars 1 was their massive denial and punishment capabilities...

so i've always been trying to get Power Block and Chaotic Interruption to work together, problem is, Chronomancer was too good to get rid of, especially because of added slow on interrupt for this mix, so i was forced into not having the Inspiration trait line to deal with conditions

this new dodge to remove condi, plus Renewing Oasis, hopefully might alleviate thatso, now i'm thinking something along the lines of this, mixing in condi and boon hate with lockdown

only problem is, this means i have to sacrifice toughness/vit for concentration, and with no Shield.....-sigh-time to get one-shot

i'll have to play around with runes to see Dwayna's higher regen uptime in action and if it's worth Melandru's toughness and base condi reduction, and maybe even see if Concentration is even worth it, even though Vigor and Mirage dodge work so well together, i might be able to bulk up more and find some other way to push more damage into pressure during lockdowns, like switching Greatsword in place of Staff for burst instead of the sustain/defense

-shrug-

the one thing i was looking forward to was Jaunt, the dodge, and that INSANE Sword ambush skill, but it seems like Mirage just has too many problems to just not be as useful compared to Chrono, power or condition wise....the lack of slow on interrupt still makes me sad, too....

we'll have to see, obviously nobody has been able to do any extensive tests enough to smooth out what goes with what and how well...

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW8alknha0YRawQNwsGLnGGZAYDEUMzBDhbgfDcCmBB-jJhIAB4XGo9nAAJ7PAwFBAA

I'm not too much into Condi builds so I'll give this a try. gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAscWnsnBlphFpB2oBMMjlTDjMAsACK+NwIYGsMD8cCHA-jpQSABtWGAg9HAAYeah... I'm a casual but it worked fine for me in the beta weekend.

For open world I do want to check out Dune Cloak + Endurance stuff. Looks like a fun way to play hybrid. Not too sure on the set up, though.

Damn... that forum likes logging you off fast...

no matter what I'm running illusion with Mirage, and then I'm going to try super hard to make inspiration work with it as well, but if I can't I'll probably use chaos or dueling.

@Durzlla.6295 said:no matter what I'm running illusion with Mirage, and then I'm going to try super hard to make inspiration work with it as well, but if I can't I'll probably use chaos or dueling.

Illusion and inspiration are strong trait lines that should always work.

The problem is that they have more synergy with chronomancer line that boosts shatter and illusion summoning. So you will not be as strong swapping chrono with mirage.

@Exciton.8942 said:

@Durzlla.6295 said:no matter what I'm running illusion with Mirage, and then I'm going to try super hard to make inspiration work with it as well, but if I can't I'll probably use chaos or dueling.

I'm determined to force Mirage to work with a semi shatter build lol, there's a good amount of traits inirage that work with shatter too.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhUQRAra3ansICNohlLDmpBMrhlcjyP9j/5vMAWteB9HWiZA-jxx0wA/U/5pyvyKBHswwL9DAeLAE2HIeQAwkEYVlqqqSKgFVWB-e

The build I have been experimenting with for most open-world content (and maybe raids) on my end. One thing I noticed whilst looking at mirage skills and playing the spec is that most of its CC capabilities have to come from core mesmer stuff, hence the moa signet and the pistol (plus the pistol with dueling just gives good reliable bleed stacks.) Dom Signet's also there to push condi damage just that extra bit, and I have Blink and the evade-mirror skill for positioning and stunbreaks as they are needed. However, these may also be swapped out should the situation require other utilities.

@Exciton.8942 said:

@Durzlla.6295 said:no matter what I'm running illusion with Mirage, and then I'm going to try super hard to make inspiration work with it as well, but if I can't I'll probably use chaos or dueling.

I personally have been running Inspiration for so long, I absolutely can't trade it away. All the condi cleanses and boon and distortion share, love it. For power builds I pair this with Domi, for condi I use Illusions, and for support I go with Chaos (for boonshare mainly). It might not push out the extreme damage some other combination would, but it's been a lifesaver countless times and seems to work just as fine as Dueling builds.

For raid, I can see an easy upgrade over the condition mesmer build by replacing chaos line with mirage. The Dune cloak trait should provide a decent dps increase. Not sure if it would make our dps competitive outside of Matthias and Cairn.

I am curious to know if infinite horizon will have a place for raid condition mesmer. The playstyle would be like, summon 3 clones, do ambush attacks until you exhaust the endurance. Then shatter and resummon all the clones. This would open up a new playstyle, potentially more fun than camping phantasms. But it requires testing to know its dps potential.

@"Jake the Dog.5398" said:What would one use on a Condi Mirage? Like the two other trait lines ? Domination and Chaos ?

Hrm... Illusion, Duelling, Chronomancer tbh. Best Condi "Mirage" setup. :tongue:

WvW - BuildIn The Hope that Mirage Mantle becomes a healing/barrier Trade, which I think would make sense ; http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAnf8anELDFMjFpBmpBMMjlXDrsC0bCOoBgcyzxv/NATgA-jVSHQBC4JAgT9Dz7gAEi9HEqKBFSdn6oEsJK/AwJAIAACwNbz2sNDu5Nv5Nv5N7628m38m38m38m38mlCoKlVA-w

Here's my PVE Condi build I'll be running.

Features 98.87% bonus Condition Duration on Bleeding targets, where Bleeds are supplied by the axe chain attack and Phantasmal Duelists. One aspect of the build I want to test out will be Vigor up time, and thereby benefit from Nomad's Endurance.

Currently unsure whether to switch out Ineptitude for Deceptive Evasion.

Kind of new to making my own builds, use to follow the meta's for raiding. So this build may be weird[?] But I actually kind of like it for now... Any feedback?http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhEQNAnfbnELDNohVoBGMDMMjFcjyf9n/6vMAWtfBNIaiaA-jxRAQBd7EAUt9HCo+gQq87mKBBwTAIiq/EAAB4itYLGwFv4Fv4FvYf3iZxs4FvYSBsoyK-e

@Ojimaru.8970 said:Here's my PVE Condi build I'll be running.

Features 98.87% bonus Condition Duration on Bleeding targets, where Bleeds are supplied by the axe chain attack and Phantasmal Duelists. One aspect of the build I want to test out will be Vigor up time, and thereby benefit from Nomad's Endurance.

Currently unsure whether to switch out Ineptitude for Deceptive Evasion.

You want scepter GM trait + phantasmal haste for a raid condition mesmer.

@Exciton.8942 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

Here's my PVE Condi build I'll be running

.

Features 98.87% bonus Condition Duration on Bleeding targets, where Bleeds are supplied by the axe chain attack and Phantasmal Duelists. One aspect of the build I want to test out will be Vigor up time, and thereby benefit from Nomad's Endurance.

Currently unsure whether to switch out Ineptitude for Deceptive Evasion.

Interesting. May I know the basis of your statement, taking into consideration the lack of Mirage benchmarks, even with the stress test numbers?

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

@Exciton.8942 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:

Here's my PVE Condi build I'll be running

.

Features 98.87% bonus Condition Duration on Bleeding targets, where Bleeds are supplied by the axe chain attack and Phantasmal Duelists. One aspect of the build I want to test out will be Vigor up time, and thereby benefit from Nomad's Endurance.

Currently unsure whether to switch out Ineptitude for Deceptive Evasion.

BTW, I think the new phantasm trait in illusion might be better than scepter trait. But you definitely don't want shatter trait as shattering phantasms always means a loss of dps.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVEQNArfWnsADtChVBBODBEEhF5BrKCklCAZhhWUMavlOT3pA-jRhMQBGUJI4U/BeK/gm+AAs/AA-e

Heres a fun build I threw together during the test weekend.

Good AoE condi, lots of quickness and good phantasm skills. Doubt it will be meta anywhere but it will be fun in open world.

Here is mine: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsc3dnELDFMj1oBmpBMMjlTDzvBWBvgljgVQ4gMAsBCKA-jRyHQBjTzw3OIADU5XGVCCgnAwO2fQPq/wqTAgX0DQKAtWaB-eThe Idea is to be able to dodge+ambush sword to daze and stun very quickly dealing damage. Can swap out either offhand for pistol, and even drop axe if wanted. Personally I think Mirage should have been designed specifically for power builds but whatever...

Honestly Im not a fan of condi so id like to try a zerkish build for mirage! ;)

My favorite play style is using high risk condition builds. I think Mirage will fit this perfectly. I'm excited to test things out further and see if it stands the test of time like I think it will.

Unsure if it stacks up against Chronomancer competitively. Depending on your tier of play though, it's possible to use many build types. Mirage will fit in. On the PvE side, I see some _interesting _potential for strong phantasms builds using Illusionary Ambush and Phantasmal Force.

My theorycraft "Mantra of Pain" mirage build:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAsfRnELDVLjloBOqBMMjlTDrcEsCSA+NwIYGkMAsACKA-jFCBABYp8rS1fOTJIAPAgMOCAbcKAyTfwP7PAA-w

Abuse "mirage cloak" for both defense and offense.Offense:Spam mantra of pain for dmg, stack might by recharing mantra (its quicker to manually recharge it rather than wait 10s for ammo reload).Use mirrors --> cloak --> sword ambush --> 1/4s daze --> 1s stun. Unleash dmg.

Defense:Dodge --> cloak to avoid dmg and cover mantra recharging and other long cast skills. Use stealth to disengage / buy time / relieve some pressure.

Playstyle is basically trying to finish off low health opponents or CC-ed opponents with your bursts with your amplified dmg.for example: Prestige --> MIrage Advance, MoP x2, Shatter, Blurred Frenzy, etc.

This is a semi-shatter build, not so reliant on illusions.