OW Staff Mesmer -- Core or E-Spec?

Hallo!

I've several 80's, but I main an Elementalist. The build I settled into is a Power Staff Tempest, that I sometimes gear as Scepter/Focus for funs. I do OW PVE, and aim for DPS with a touch of durability when I build. I tend not to prefer glass cannon playstyles. I don't mind taking an extra 5-10 seconds to defeat something, though taking an extra 3 minutes to defeat something is likely too much ;)

Recently, I decided to use one of my lvl 80 boosts that I got with the expansions on a Mesmer. I've tootled around a bit with her, and I know that I like Staff best, as far as weapons. From reading, I gather it is not ideal, but I don't aim to be omgandallthebbq competitive. My Ele is Power based at this time, and am toying with the idea of going condi on the Mesmer. Not married to that idea, though I did get Emberspire as a drop, so she's using that.

My main question is ... what sort of build should I aim for on this Staff Mesmer? Core, Chrono, or Mirage? I know the mantra of "most anything works for OW", but I'd also prefer some synergy with my traits and not to have to constantly struggle for a laid back playing experience.

Thanks so much :)

Well power staff is pretty trash, so I wouldn't recommend that. Granted, condi staff is at least semi-trash too, and I can't really recommend it. That being said, the best way to do it will be mirage with infinite horizon. Forget that the 3-skill even exists on the staff, spam clones and dodge and you'll do some damage. You'll want something like dueling/chaos/mirage probably, vipers or grievers for the most part.

There's never any situation where you want to use vanilla mesmer for anything, so that's never an option. For PvE stuff, generally chrono is going to be either support or power, and mirage will be condition damage.

@Pyroatheist.9031 said:Well power staff is pretty trash, so I wouldn't recommend that. Granted, condi staff is at least semi-trash too, and I can't really recommend it. That being said, the best way to do it will be mirage with infinite horizon. Forget that the 3-skill even exists on the staff, spam clones and dodge and you'll do some damage. You'll want something like dueling/chaos/mirage probably, vipers or grievers for the most part.

There's never any situation where you want to use vanilla mesmer for anything, so that's never an option. For PvE stuff, generally chrono is going to be either support or power, and mirage will be condition damage.

Noted. I've been tootling around as dueling/chaos/* so far. Of the other weapons I've played with, Scepter doesn't seem too bad. I would like to like GS, but I am not sure why its not clicking for me. Maybe I should play with it longer.

How useful would folks consider Phantasmal Disenchanter and Defender?

@Rhaethe.8045 said:How useful would folks consider Phantasmal Disenchanter and Defender?

They're power-based phantasms. Defender doesn't have a lot of utility these days, but it does nice damage. Disenchanter has the boon strip if you really need it, but also does good power damage.

For IH mirage take DE and you can even stand still, let all the clones spawn on you and keep proccing might from their collective ambushes, only pressing dodge.

Of course realistically things are more involved.

@Rhaethe.8045 said:

@Pyroatheist.9031 said:Well power staff is pretty trash, so I wouldn't recommend that. Granted, condi staff is at least semi-trash too, and I can't really recommend it. That being said, the best way to do it will be mirage with infinite horizon. Forget that the 3-skill even exists on the staff, spam clones and dodge and you'll do some damage. You'll want something like dueling/chaos/mirage probably, vipers or grievers for the most part.

There's never any situation where you want to use vanilla mesmer for anything, so that's never an option. For PvE stuff, generally chrono is going to be either support or power, and mirage will be condition damage.

Both are pretty good power damage Phantasms. Disenchanter deals tons of damage when the foe is boonless and if there's boons it strips up to 5. Defender is a ticking timebomb that deals 3 seconds of Taunt in PvE and explodes damaging nearby enemies depending on how many attacks it blocked. This is useful for breaking bars, AoE, getting some defense by taunting foes away from you.

So, I went ahead and opened up Mirage about halfway last night. The dodge mechanic replacement is ... interesting. Replaced some of the Soldier's jewelry with condi damage jewelry. Gear wise, am I looking at Sinister, Rabid, Carrion, Dire, or some mix thereof?

@Rhaethe.8045 said:So, I went ahead and opened up Mirage about halfway last night. The dodge mechanic replacement is ... interesting. Replaced some of the Soldier's jewelry with condi damage jewelry. Gear wise, am I looking at Sinister, Rabid, Carrion, Dire, or some mix thereof?

Depending on how confident you are at the spec. I always recommend people start with rabid/carrion, but if they want to go for end game content afterward then viper is the one you aim for in condi PvE spec. Rabid/carrion are easy to come by and give the necessary survival without the need for extra ticks in open world.

Dire is an interesting choice, because if you feel like a bit of WvW in the future then dire would help a lot. But good thing about PvE/WvW is you can always mix. In general WvW having 1400 toughness will save you from most one shots and again you can go even higher as you wish.

Sinister is quite glassy though O.oIf you want sinister then might as well go for viper since viper wins out in terms of damage. In terms of difficulty in obtaining both are pretty similar, with viper you can get from story/crafting and sinister just run SW couple of times.

@NICENIKESHOE.7128 said:

@Rhaethe.8045 said:So, I went ahead and opened up Mirage about halfway last night. The dodge mechanic replacement is ... interesting. Replaced some of the Soldier's jewelry with condi damage jewelry. Gear wise, am I looking at Sinister, Rabid, Carrion, Dire, or some mix thereof?

Aha. As I think about it, there is that one trait in the Chaos line that also gives extra condition damage based on Toughness, I think. So I might keep that in mind when picking through gear :) Maybe mix it up with Dire/Rabid :)

Thank you!