Beginner Tips for Mesmer? (Previously Guardian/Necromancer)

So... I've been wondering around and thinking about going Mesmer (most possibly Chronomancer - not too much a fan of Mirage), except I've found the lack of tutorials and discussion for PvE Content surprisingly shallow outside of "Alacrity and Quickness!"

So - for someone who hasn't played Mesmer and normally plays Guardian or Necromancer (Valkyrie both) - is there any tips and tricks for Mesmer that I should know about? Additionally, any builds or armor sets I should be focused on crafting/earning? I was thinking Wanderer's might work, or Minstrels, but I have absolutely zero experience with a class like this.

Watch opponents animations. This will be the biggest make or break portion of Mesmer as a whole. You'll need to learn and read animations to be able to appropriately combat them. A good Mesmer will be able to negate most enemy attacks that people won't even know what they are (and subsequently fail like a fish out of water when dealing with them).

Since you're talking about PvE, I'm going to list some Raid mechanics that you'll want to look for before going into rotation "specifics".

VG: If you're tanking, aim the boss away from your group. He does a cleave attack that doesn't hit amazingly hard, but it knocks Power builds out of Scholar bonus and creates more work for your Druids. Whether or not you're tanking, you can sidestep/fancy footwork the blue circles without taking a moment to dodge since the boss is stationary during this position. Usually the Chronotank will be pulling the Green Guardian to the Blue sector, but it doesn't matter which Chrono does. There's a tactic that involves applying Distortion to your group everytime a green explodes, but honestly I find that setup slightly stressful. It entails using any of your Distortion abilities right as the green explodes to negate damage for you and your subgroup. You'll have more than enough tools to do this, but if anyone gets hit by a blue they're dead, as well as you not making any mistakes or people will most likely die.

Slothasar: You can block the ground shake circles with Shield4, but the attack usually lasts slightly longer than your block duration. Since you can't queue Shield4 onto itself, you'll probably still have to dodge unless you timed it perfectly. Note: it's worthwhile to dodge anyways because being on the ground is really risky during this fight. When you see Slothasar shaking, immediately pop distortion (F4, any Signet, summon Phantasm with Illusionary Inspiration off cd) and jump in his hitbox. Since you're invulnerable, you'll break any projectiles you come in contact with. Your groupmates won't usually thank you for this, but it will keep them alive.

Matthias: If you are running Chaos Chrono, you can opt for a traited Focus here (to the dismay of all your friends and family). Simply wait for Matthias to drop his shield and place your Focus4 under his feet. As soon as his shield breaks, you can pop the Focus pull to break the reflection. Otherwise, never be on Focus for this fight (unless you really need that extra breakbar).

Samarog: Always try to get aggro (be the furthest person from the boss as soon as the target gets broken). As a Chrono, you'll be able to negate almost all of his damage and the druids can top you off. Sword2 will evade all of his slam and you won't be causing the boss to rotate round round like a record baby by trying to always be behind him. Note: he also targets as soon as you kill Rigom.

Deimos: Don't panic. You have more than enough tools at your disposal here. Don't needlessly cast Shield4 or Sword2 if you're tanking. You can use Sword2 every time he does his slam, and Shield4 every time he does his Mind Crush ability (it'll also be up for the first slam). As a tank you don't care about your rotation. Your goal is to stay alive and keep the boss in an ideal location(s).

As always: You're almost always going to be running Focus for pull to allow adds to get cleaved. Use it off CD against most bosses if you see adds up (Gors, Sab, Trio, Escort, and Xera). Note for certain bosses you'll have a different use.VG: Use it to pull Seekers away from group. If you're simultaneously breaking his bar and pulling, do not place the curtain under his feet to allow breakbar damage without killing your group. Wow!Slothasar: If focus is traited, hold the curtain up for as long as you want to reflect, then pull.KC: Use it to pull the Orb away from pesky ghosts. This is important as the orb pusher almost always gets overwhelmed by ghosts unless they run Glyph of the Tides.Xera Phases: Be careful using it on the orb push phase as it will pull multiple orbs. If you do opt to use it here, make sure there is only one orb alive.

As for your rotation, it's quite flexible, but you should prioritize using a Phantasm and Signet of Inspiration while you have Quickness, as well as dropping wells off cooldown. Weapon swap before you do anything for the bonus Boon Duration. If your Continuum Split is getting off cooldown in 30 or less seconds, don't cast anything with a longer cooldown than Split as you'll want to save it for CS. If you pay attention, you'll get an innate counter for when Illusionary Inspiration is off cooldown. If you don't pay attention, just refer to your Signet of Inspiration.

Keep a focus in your inventory.

So... what armor would be best for the PvE content focused mesmer? I can think Power, Healing, Boon Duration and Vital/Toughness.

@AlphaWolvesGamer.5790 said:So... what armor would be best for the PvE content focused mesmer? I can think Power, Healing, Boon Duration and Vital/Toughness.

If you're looking to play a support, Boon Duration is the primary stat you want to cap (100%). So you can go for full Commander's with Firebrand runes, or a mix with Berserker gear and Leadership Runes.

QuantifyEU has a good guide to form your baseline for the specialization.

Re: focus on Matthias.

Unless they patched it out eventually, detonating TC leaves an invisible light field and fully functional reflecting zone for the full original duration of the skill.

Pretty sure it doesn't and hasn't for quite a while (the reflect portion, light field persists). Either way, the remaining duration is usually only 1s or less, and so even if he flips it'll naturally vanish. You just get rid of it for that clean finish.

If you want to argue that TC can reflect projectiles after his reflect phase, then the same argument can be made for Feedback, especially since Feedback lasts 1 second longer than TC.