How is mirage?

I've been playing through the PvE content so I haven't had a chance to experiment. Over in PvE land, when people ask about mirage they generally say "It's probably meant for PvE". Well, how is it holding up?

It's probably meant for PvP*

I have played quite a bit of mirage in PvP over the weekend.

Overall, it feels a great improvement over the one in beta weekend. You can be really slippery with the spec with the new dodge mechanics in addition to basic mesmer's ways of avoid damage. And it definitely plays very different from chrono. Chrono favors a rapid and repeatedly shatter style while mirage requires a bit more planning and set up.

Most of the ambush skills are still on the weak side and are not worth using. The only exception is sword ambush that has synergy with multiple mesmer trait. And the mobility and clone generation alone from this skill already makes it worth using for any build.

The spec may not be top-tier at the moment but I think it is not far away though. The only things I have trouble with are spellbreaker and scourge. But I guess everyone has problem with them at the moment.

i’ve been watching Helseth, & the rotational speed is bonkers. that thing is a speed daemon. condi spike is pretty strong too.

@bluri.2653 thinks it can’t be an effective roamer because it can’t win 1v1 vs spellbreaker. but daredevil doesn’t have a good 1v1 vs warrior either, so i still think it has a chance at the roamer role.

still, that being said i dont play mes or thief so my opinion should be taken w a grain of salt.

Core Mesmer is stronger than Mirage. Why is such a weak trait like Mirage Mantle even a major master trait to begin with? It should be buffed to 2 seconds and swapped with Self-Deception and the latter buffed so that it produces a clone if you have 1 or more. Also, Mirage is literally unplayable without Elusive Mind. There's just way too much inadequacy for this spec to be competitive. Jaunt is pretty cool, though.

@choovanski.5462 said:i’ve been watching Helseth, & the rotational speed is bonkers. that thing is a speed daemon. condi spike is pretty strong too.

@bluri.2653 thinks it can’t be an effective roamer because it can’t win 1v1 vs spellbreaker. but daredevil doesn’t have a good 1v1 vs warrior either, so i still think it has a chance at the roamer role.

still, that being said i dont play mes or thief so my opinion should be taken w a grain of salt.

It is still much slower than daredevil. It is faster than anything else but we all know daredevil mobility is just on another level.

Also it won't be able to +1 as well as daredevil because helseth's build uses high condition burst but condition burst can be negated by good cleanse and condition removal by a lot of classes. Daredevil on the other hand, can just instant strip your stability and power burst you down.

Mirage is pretty good overall but still can't compete with daredevil.

It also cannot effectively +1 spellbreaker because of perma resistance :^)A roamer who cannot +1 the best duelist/1v1 class (aka the match up that you most likely have to +1) is not exactly what you want.

@Erzian.5218 said:It also cannot effectively +1 spellbreaker because of perma resistance :^)A roamer who cannot +1 the best duelist/1v1 class (aka the match up that you most likely have to +1) is not exactly what you want.

ah that makes sense.

seeker amulet SpellBreaker is the last thing any condi build wants to fight. and it's gonna be meta as soon as someone realizes how good that amulet is and streams w it.

maybe a GS buff could save mirage? idk

edit: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAoeRnMdAt6iVhAehAciglqADPEXiXxK9gYXOApA0ACAA-jpgARAg9HulBAAthat’s the set up i would run if i had PoF, & wasn’t playing gunflame. give it a twirl, condi builds will hate you.

Good for condi ... not that good for power/shatter. That is my take away on it.

I think that in 1 month or less people will complain on mirage being op .... it is not immediate to use but it can be terribly strong. Try to take the chrono meta , put 2 sigils of energy for vigor and take mirage instead of chrono and then you see how strong it is . you can sustain a lot and evade a lot of damage . For me it is really a strong strong spec .

@Exciton.8942 said:

@choovanski.5462 said:i’ve been watching Helseth, & the rotational speed is bonkers. that thing is a speed daemon. condi spike is pretty strong too.

@"bluri.2653" thinks it can’t be an effective roamer because it can’t win 1v1 vs spellbreaker. but daredevil doesn’t have a good 1v1 vs warrior either, so i still think it has a chance at the roamer role.

still, that being said i dont play mes or thief so my opinion should be taken w a grain of salt.

You should try my berserker build. No GS, has a ton of speed, and can catch up with daredevils.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAsf3cnELDFMjlpBGpBMMjlVDrMCMCCA+FwGYEENBUduOA-jpxHQBKpMQAPIAA4EA4vjAABfAA9b/BA

@Abelisk.4527 said:

@Exciton.8942 said:

@choovanski.5462 said:i’ve been watching Helseth, & the rotational speed is bonkers. that thing is a speed daemon. condi spike is pretty strong too.

@"bluri.2653" thinks it can’t be an effective roamer because it can’t win 1v1 vs spellbreaker. but daredevil doesn’t have a good 1v1 vs warrior either, so i still think it has a chance at the roamer role.

still, that being said i dont play mes or thief so my opinion should be taken w a grain of salt.

No you simply can't.

Dashes with perma swiftness + shortbow 5 + constant endurance refreshing skills. There is no way you can catch up a DD.

BTW, you don't even have portal in your build....

It's a roaming build, like Daredevil. It doesn't need portal.

Sword ambush has a 600 range leap, and shatters grant Vigor, aiding in your endurance. 25% movement speed is basically permanent swiftness as Thieves don't have 25% movement speed in their traits.

You also have Blink, and Illusionary Ambush which acts like a steal. Jaunt is also there, and if it's buffed to 600 range then you'll have close to the mobility of a daredevil.

This build definitely catches up to condi thieves though, as I've manage to chase one down.

@Abelisk.4527 said:It's a roaming build, like Daredevil. It doesn't need portal.

Sword ambush has a 600 range leap, and shatters grant Vigor, aiding in your endurance. 25% movement speed is basically permanent swiftness as Thieves don't have 25% movement speed in their traits.

You also have Blink, and Illusionary Ambush which acts like a steal. Jaunt is also there, and if it's buffed to 600 range then you'll have close to the mobility of a daredevil.

This build definitely catches up to condi thieves though, as I've manage to chase one down.

I don't know why I am even debating on this.... We are talking about dash thief not condition thief.

I know you want to advertise your build but it won't catch up thief, plain and simple. 33% swifness > 25% speed from rune. Thief use channeld vigor to get endurance outside combat. You won't shatter outside combat for vigor. Illusionary ambush doesn't act like steal it doesn't port you right on target.

Roaming build needs portal. I will pay you 100 gold if there is ever a meta mirage build that doesn't take portal.

"You won't shatter outside combat for vigor."

Uhh, Mind Wrack? 10 CD??

Illusionary Ambush + Axe 3??

@Abelisk.4527 said:"You won't shatter outside combat for vigor."

Uhh, Mind Wrack? 10 CD??

Illusionary Ambush + Axe 3??

The benefit is too small. You get 3 seconds of vigor for 7.5% more endurance at the risk of not having mind wreck for your next engagement? I might do it at start of the game but outside of that it is probably not worth it.

Again,m I don't know why we are debating this. If you truly don't believe, we can always test daredevil vs mirage mobility in game.

Do I like the mobility of mirage? Yes. Do I think it is even close to dash DD level? Hell no.

@Exciton.8942 said:

@Abelisk.4527 said:"You won't shatter outside combat for vigor."

Uhh, Mind Wrack? 10 CD??

Illusionary Ambush + Axe 3??

Well what I'm running you can catch daredevils in fights, or if you need to finish them off if their health is low. Dodge, run until superspeed runs out, use sword ambush, use blink, use illusionary ambush, or if you're still not close use another sword ambush and then illusionary. I have never not been able to catch up to a DD with this setup. I never said it's faster than DD, but it still is a roamer and decapper, and it still is a +1'er, and it can catch up to DDs that are low.

One advantage that I can see is Blink's CD is 50% lower than their Shadowstep. Another is SB 5 is often affected by terrain so the distance tends to be lower than 900. Sword ambush doesn't really suffer from the targetting so mobility is more clear cut.

Also my setup has many tools to engage and although Mind Wrack is off cooldown to engage with, 10 CD is so low you can expect it to get off CD really soon after. Plus, my build duels pretty well fo a zerk build.

Call me crazy but I think this is the second fastest build in the game, beaten by Daredevil.

If Jaunt becomes 600 range, that gap will be evem tighter.