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Open World Domination: Mirage


AliamRationem.5172

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I love this thread! This is my favourite thing to do in the game as well, albeit more modestly.

I've got one thought point that may have been raised, and I might have missed it, but how useful are mirage mirrors really for champion+ fights? It's mostly when I look at False Oasis vs Mirror that I wonder, since they do have some perks that is easy to not even take in, such as the weakness CC bar, extra ambush during staff and such. Is it just too little compared to the reflect to consider at all?

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@aspirine.5839 said:Are you just bringing staff for chaos armour btw? The rest of the skills seem really weak.

I love staff! It's fun and incredibly useful as a ranged defense/utility weapon. The fact that it deals surprisingly good damage for a weapon that is focused on anything but is just icing on the cake!

That's why I'm a bit confused by your statement. From my perspective, Chaos Armor stands out as the only fairly useless skill on the bar. I mean, I'm playing Mirage here. The whole idea is to avoid getting hit, right? Meanwhile, skills 2, 3, and 5 are all excellent abilities. Perhaps you could tell me what you find weak about them?

If it's the lack of damage output, I'm with you. However, if you're designing an open world build to handle pretty much anything you come across including bounty boss solos, a ranged weapon is pretty much essential. Now go take a look at how awful scepter is and you'll begin to understand why I choose staff!

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@Amethyst Lure.5624 said:I love this thread! This is my favourite thing to do in the game as well, albeit more modestly.

I've got one thought point that may have been raised, and I might have missed it, but how useful are mirage mirrors really for champion+ fights? It's mostly when I look at False Oasis vs Mirror that I wonder, since they do have some perks that is easy to not even take in, such as the weakness CC bar, extra ambush during staff and such. Is it just too little compared to the reflect to consider at all?

The traited reflect is nice. Since Mirage can teleport out to range any time they like and only ground-targeted area effects and unblockable attacks can damage you through reflect at that point, it's pretty much a sure thing you're going to get that heal off. Also, the shorter cooldown is quite useful for a class that doesn't take damage often. Stretching that little sliver of health for several seconds is much easier than stretching it for 10, 15+ seconds. And once you have enough health to take a hit without going down, you can usually make that last that 12 seconds to your next heal.

Having said that, I started out using False Oasis and it's a great heal. It was hard to give it up for Mirror. I like that free ambush, but chasing after mirrors is annoying in practice and, like I said, that super short cooldown on Mirror is just addictive!

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@Curunen.8729 said:

@aspirine.5839 said:Are you just bringing staff for chaos armour btw? The rest of the skills seem really weak.

Staff ambush with IH melts stuff in open world - especially with deceptive evasion and the easy clone production from staff with low cooldowns when traited. It's a beautifully Zen like playstyle that also happens to be functionally efficient.

Also aim to line up clones and stand in front of them to build high stacks of might and essentially perma fury (you will have Duelling for DE anyway so also benefit from free Fury minor trait there) from all the ambushes. Just be aware Evasive Mirror can reflect staff projectile away from enemies and not proc the boons on you (but on the flipside you can stand on the other side of a target and reflect a clone's ambush back through it, if you proc mirror via evade).

Hmm I dont get it. So you changed it a bit and took Deceptive evasion or is it more for noobs like myself?

I don't get what you don't get? Staff ambush with IH and clone/player autos add up a lot of damage for open world play (open world - ie not raids/high level or cm fractals where dealing most damage with axe).

Put on some viper gear, take a staff, trait IH and DE at the least, and watch pretty pink orbs melt stuff while pressing one button (dodge). It's both therapeutic and effective. Anything else is personal preference.

Changed what? I play my own build created for wvw solo play, which also allows me to chill in open world or do fractals with one set of gear and a single trait change (EM to IH), other than AR infusions... The function in open world happens to be similar between any hybrid/condi build that uses IH so discussion here can be applied to all of them with small variations. Chill and kite in staff while ambushes melt things, swap to axe for more efficient melee burst (or if feeling bored with staff). :)

I mean your link to the setup where you do not use Deceptive evasion? So I thought perhaps you do not need it anymore and noobs like me should change that :)http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnsnBNohFMDWoBMMjlVDrMCccCA+DwG4D0MGsDeBA-jxxHQBzT9HAcKAo1TAIjKB3x+DjTfwAV+RGgq1A-e

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@aspirine.5839 said:

@aspirine.5839 said:Are you just bringing staff for chaos armour btw? The rest of the skills seem really weak.

Staff ambush with IH melts stuff in open world - especially with deceptive evasion and the easy clone production from staff with low cooldowns when traited. It's a beautifully Zen like playstyle that also happens to be functionally efficient.

Also aim to line up clones and stand in front of them to build high stacks of might and essentially perma fury (you will have Duelling for DE anyway so also benefit from free Fury minor trait there) from all the ambushes. Just be aware Evasive Mirror can reflect staff projectile away from enemies and not proc the boons on you (but on the flipside you can stand on the other side of a target and reflect a clone's ambush back through it, if you proc mirror via evade).

Hmm I dont get it. So you changed it a bit and took Deceptive evasion or is it more for noobs like myself?

I don't get what you don't get? Staff ambush with IH and clone/player autos add up a lot of damage for open world play (open world - ie not raids/high level or cm fractals where dealing most damage with axe).

Put on some viper gear, take a staff, trait IH and DE at the least, and watch pretty pink orbs melt stuff while pressing one button (dodge). It's both therapeutic and effective. Anything else is personal preference.

Changed what? I play my own build created for wvw solo play, which also allows me to chill in open world or do fractals with one set of gear and a single trait change (EM to IH), other than AR infusions... The function in open world happens to be similar between any hybrid/condi build that uses IH so discussion here can be applied to all of them with small variations. Chill and kite in staff while ambushes melt things, swap to axe for more efficient melee burst (or if feeling bored with staff). :)

I mean your link to the setup where you do not use Deceptive evasion? So I thought perhaps you do not need it anymore and noobs like me should change that :)

Oh I think you're confusing me with Aliam - I know all skritt kind of look alike but trust me we are different! (on that note, still want hive mind playable skritt mesmer xD I would race change instantly from asura to skritt).

My build is in signature (swap EM for IH in pve) - it's not optimsed for open world being grieving/cele but translates well across various game modes (just don't play it in raids or cm fractals).

Personally I will never play mirage without deceptive evasion in it's current form, it's too useful for me with both axe and staff and enables a smooth/flowing playstyle. :)

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@Curunen.8729 said:

@aspirine.5839 said:Are you just bringing staff for chaos armour btw? The rest of the skills seem really weak.

Staff ambush with IH melts stuff in open world - especially with deceptive evasion and the easy clone production from staff with low cooldowns when traited. It's a beautifully Zen like playstyle that also happens to be functionally efficient.

Also aim to line up clones and stand in front of them to build high stacks of might and essentially perma fury (you will have Duelling for DE anyway so also benefit from free Fury minor trait there) from all the ambushes. Just be aware Evasive Mirror can reflect staff projectile away from enemies and not proc the boons on you (but on the flipside you can stand on the other side of a target and reflect a clone's ambush back through it, if you proc mirror via evade).

Hmm I dont get it. So you changed it a bit and took Deceptive evasion or is it more for noobs like myself?

I don't get what you don't get? Staff ambush with IH and clone/player autos add up a lot of damage for open world play (open world - ie not raids/high level or cm fractals where dealing most damage with axe).

Put on some viper gear, take a staff, trait IH and DE at the least, and watch pretty pink orbs melt stuff while pressing one button (dodge). It's both therapeutic and effective. Anything else is personal preference.

Changed what? I play my own build created for wvw solo play, which also allows me to chill in open world or do fractals with one set of gear and a single trait change (EM to IH), other than AR infusions... The function in open world happens to be similar between any hybrid/condi build that uses IH so discussion here can be applied to all of them with small variations. Chill and kite in staff while ambushes melt things, swap to axe for more efficient melee burst (or if feeling bored with staff). :)

I mean your link to the setup where you do not use Deceptive evasion? So I thought perhaps you do not need it anymore and noobs like me should change that :)

Oh I think you're confusing me with Aliam - I know all skritt kind of look alike but trust me we are different! (on that note, still want hive mind playable skritt mesmer xD I would race change instantly from asura to skritt).

My build is in signature (swap EM for IH in pve) - it's not optimsed for open world being grieving/cele but translates well across various game modes (just don't play it in raids or cm fractals).

Personally I will never play mirage without deceptive evasion in it's current form, it's too useful for me with both axe and staff and enables a smooth/flowing playstyle. :)

I agree. I've tried using Self-Deception for clone generation as well as Deceptive Evasion. There's no contest. If you're running Adventurer runes and Energy sigils with endurance regen food like I am, you can generate a lot of clones just by burning endurance as you normally would. Running both works well, too.

This is the build I'm currently using:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnsnBNohFMDupBMMjlZjycEWhWyv+7//vMAutkB-jxxHQBDU5340HQrnAwO2fAAnCg5p+TGVCSGgq1A-e

I can never decide whether I like Bountiful Disillusionment or Chaotic Interruption better. And Renewing Oasis can be swapped out in favor of Self-Deception for better clone generation at the cost of regen uptime. The build is excellent for open world and works quite well in PvP and WvW (roaming). It's adequate for dungeons/fractals, but not speed runs and is not suitable for raids.

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I was commenting in a thread in the "Players Helping Players" forum and ended up testing a new open world condi Mirage setup (well, new for me anyway!). This build is not as strong for soloing champions, but it is as cheap as it gets (<20g for full 80 exotic with superior upgrades at current instant buy prices), has a more passive play style, and is much tankier and therefore more forgiving than my Viper build.

This might be the perfect open world build for new players or those who just prefer a little bit slower, more forgiving play style than Viper Mirage. Here is a video of the build test and a link to the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnsICNohFMDWoBMMjFcjycBitRyP9n/6vMAWtfB-jhyCwAGM/1U5RKdBQUCeUJGgTBgw9Hwp+TgnAgetAkCIhRbA-e

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I just wanted to say that doing some Hot story mode, event in silver wastes and story in Pof it works pretty good for me. And that is coming from a player whos experience with mesmer is just really basic. Not in Vipers yet, I do not have the gear but it's working fine with my current gear.

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@Masaru.1345 said:Hey I'm new to Mirage, how do you play your build?Like rotation etc.

I don't follow a strict rotation. The priority changes too quickly in solo open world play. The biggest thing is timing and managing endurance. If you spam ambush back to back, you'll miss out on ambush attacks and leave yourself vulnerable. On the other hand, you don't want to waste refills from energy sigils and adventurer runes by using them when you have more than 50% endurance. I sort of use the AA chain as a spacer between dodge/ambush attacks, axe 3, and illusionary ambush. You don't miss out on ambush attacks this way and it gives you a little bit of time to regen endurance so you don't tap too low and leave yourself vulnerable.

Staff is in the build for a ranged option, quick escapes, and boon generation. It's stronger than axe defensively, but doesn't deal as much damage. If possible, try to take advantage of the ambush attack's might stacking by positioning yourself so that clone ambush attacks pass through you on their way to the target. You can also leap combo the ethereal field if you need protection (traited chaos armor grants 4s protection). Since you have access to 5 leaps with this build and most of them are instant, you can stack over 20s of protection on a cast of chaos storm if you think you're going to need it.

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Greetings,

as longtime Chronoplayer i want to give Mirage an other shot to maybe get hopfully into the spec this time. I'm using full viper gear with 2 trapper and 4 nightmare runes. I traited my spec like in your posting here:

This is the build I'm currently using:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnsnBNohFMDupBMMjlZjycEWhWyv+7//vMAutkB-jxxHQBDU5340HQrnAwO2fAAnCg5p+TGVCSGgq1A-e

I don't want to change my runes (use my ascendet gear also on my necro) so do i need to made some adjustments on the traits?

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@"SunTzu.4513" said:Greetings,

as longtime Chronoplayer i want to give Mirage an other shot to maybe get hopfully into the spec this time. I'm using full viper gear with 2 trapper and 4 nightmare runes. I traited my spec like in your posting here:

This is the build I'm currently using:

I don't want to change my runes (use my ascendet gear also on my necro) so do i need to made some adjustments on the traits?

I think you'll be fine. The Adventurer Rune is particularly strong in open world play when using traited mirror heal, but it's not like you're going to be at some massive disadvantage. Lately I've gone back to using Self-Deception over Renewing Oasis. The extra clone generation allows more shatters without ending up short on clones, and shatters provide useful boons through Bountiful Disillusionment. But this is really just nit-picking. It works great either way!

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@SunTzu.4513 said:Have tested it and it's pretty fun. Melting trough everything what stands in my way. Need some more time to get into the changed dodges but since now it's awesome.

So, basically open world domination? Excellent! That's exactly what I'm going for with this thread! Glad it's working out for you and thanks for the feedback!

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Hi @ AliamRationem.5172

im a new Messmer Player, just got all my HP this weekend :) Im a Little bit confused from this thread, so many changes to your builds ^^ i bought full rabid gear, since i dont have vipers yet :( didnt even start to level my crafting skill but will do that shortly.

Can you please link me your actual build? :) That would be dang awsome, so i can start practice to Play with mirage, since i played so long as a core Messmer.

Any way great vids from you, i hope, i will become also a such a good Messmer Player as you :) have fun and thank you in advance.

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@ElPatron.7450 said:Hi @ AliamRationem.5172

im a new Messmer Player, just got all my HP this weekend :) Im a Little bit confused from this thread, so many changes to your builds ^^ i bought full rabid gear, since i dont have vipers yet :( didnt even start to level my crafting skill but will do that shortly.

Can you please link me your actual build? :) That would be dang awsome, so i can start practice to Play with mirage, since i played so long as a core Messmer.

Any way great vids from you, i hope, i will become also a such a good Messmer Player as you :) have fun and thank you in advance.

I do change things up a lot, but this is the setup I'm currently using in open world:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnsnBNohFMDupBMMjlZjyf+7//3cEWhWqMAutkB-jxxHQBA4UAkRlgjTfwAV+RrnAwO2fYeq/QGgq1A-e

However, I also came up with a variant designed specifically to be inexpensive, more forgiving, and easy to play. This build even proved to be stronger in scenarios where you are swarmed with smaller enemies - just the sort of thing you find all over the expansion maps and storylines!http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAnfWnsICNohFMDWoBMMjFcjqMAWtfxP9n/63cBitRC-jhyCwAHViBRJoBzf61C0U5hw9HSpLAwpAIwTAAn6PkCIhRbA-e

Basically, the second build is a lot tankier with tons of armor, more health, and extremely high condition damage. However, it works best when you have enemies to kill because killing an enemy will refill endurance and grant a large boost to condition damage. It also cost me less than 20g to outfit this entire build in full exotic! That's a lot more accessible than the Viper set I use with my build!

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@AliamRationem.5172 said:

@ElPatron.7450 said:Hi @ AliamRationem.5172

im a new Messmer Player, just got all my HP this weekend :) Im a Little bit confused from this thread, so many changes to your builds ^^ i bought full rabid gear, since i dont have vipers yet :( didnt even start to level my crafting skill but will do that shortly.

Can you please link me your actual build? :) That would be dang awsome, so i can start practice to Play with mirage, since i played so long as a core Messmer.

Any way great vids from you, i hope, i will become also a such a good Messmer Player as you :) have fun and thank you in advance.

I do change things up a lot, but this is the setup I'm currently using in open world:

However, I also came up with a variant designed specifically to be inexpensive, more forgiving, and easy to play. This build even proved to be stronger in scenarios where you are swarmed with smaller enemies - just the sort of thing you find all over the expansion maps and storylines!

Basically, the second build is a lot tankier with tons of armor, more health, and extremely high condition damage. However, it works best when you have enemies to kill because killing an enemy will refill endurance and grant a large boost to condition damage. It also cost me less than 20g to outfit this entire build in full exotic! That's a lot more accessible than the Viper set I use with my build!

Yo :) thank you very much , very apriciated. Will start to try this out, you helped me a lot.

have a good one Ali

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  • 3 weeks later...

@schmots.6803 said:I would really like to see if @AliamRationem.5172 can still to the beat downs that he used to before the nerfs.

The nerfs didn't have any major impact defensively (lost a small amount of boon duration, but gained free resistance on invuln!), and although I haven't been running arcdps to perform precise DPS comparisons I'm noticing no difference in my ability to take down bounties, HoT champions, legendary/champion bandit bosses, etc. Also, keep in mind that some of the nerfs are geared toward burst damage (burning stacks vs. burning duration) and don't impact sustained damage and others are PvP specific or hit PvP builds much harder than they do PvE.

I'm having issues recording usable video, unfortunately, or I'd run some tests and share videos for you. But in my opinion, this hasn't had any noticeable impact on open world play for Mirage.

Edit: I've also tested on some of the new bounties in DoK. I defeated the crystal griffon and that legendary with the army of awakened on the first attempt. Mirage is good! Don't worry!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys! I've solved my framerate issues, so I'm able to record video again! Yay!

Recently I purchased the expansions for my extremely video game-challenged girlfriend. She's very much into enjoying the scenery and progressing her character, but she has a strong aversion to learning combat mechanics and she absolutely hates getting killed! Obviously, this is a bit of a problem in an action combat game. So, for this project my goal was to design the most passive and forgiving playstyle I could come up with. And I think I've succeeded with this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQFAWnsICNohVoBeoBMrhlZjyv+3//3sC2tWqMAutkB-jByCwAAeAAv0BARJoP1fCcBAaq8T4+DGM/RKgqEtB-e

Here's how it works:

Step 1: DodgeStep 2: Auto AttackStep 3: Push buttons

No, really. Just dodge, auto attack, dodge, auto attack and push buttons. Any buttons will do as long as they are weapon skills or shatters. No weapon swapping. No healing or utility skills. Just push buttons when they come off cooldown while dodging and auto attacking as often as possible. That's it. It really is that simple!

The basic idea is that you derive both your offense and defense from dodge/ambush bolstered by passive effects and boon generation. While you could improve your performance by understanding your skills and timing them properly, it isn't strictly necessary as even just pushing them off cooldown you will generate useful boons, damage, healing, and defense. Meanwhile, with a very high armor value, 25k health, strong passive healing, solid protection uptime, as well as additional % damage reduction from traits you will outheal almost anything you come across!

Here is a video demonstrating the build. I intentionally avoided skilled play and more or less attempted to just stand there eating attacks as much as possible while literally just pushing buttons off cooldown while spamming dodge and ambush. You can see in the video it handles veteran hydras, forged raiding parties, and even a PoF bounty champion without breaking a sweat!

Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

To those of you who, like me, are a bit offended at the very existence of a build like this? Don't be. I'm sure you have friends or family who find the expansions a frustrating experience and could use a build like this. And if you'd rather have a build with higher damage where you actually have to experience a little risk for that reward? Please see my Viper setup here:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAW3fnsnBNohFMDupBMMjlZjyf+7//3cEWhWqMAutkB-jxxHQBDU5XGVCSrrAw40Nsj9Hmn6PA4hAQKgqEtB-e

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Actually this build is great and thanks for posting. I usually run the full Vipers axe/torch/staff build but broke three fingers on my right hand a couple of days ago and it has been very difficult to play but I tried this build and it is scary easy and I am able to do some PvE again until I heal so thanks!!!! Obviously this build is slower with a lot less DPS but it is surprisingly effective.

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@kyllar.6907 said:Actually this build is great and thanks for posting. I usually run the full Vipers axe/torch/staff build but broke three fingers on my right hand a couple of days ago and it has been very difficult to play but I tried this build and it is scary easy and I am able to do some PvE again until I heal so thanks!!!! Obviously this build is slower with a lot less DPS but it is surprisingly effective.

Glad it's working out for you! I also prefer the more active and relatively higher risk/reward ratio of the Viper build. But this setup really worked better than I expected and, more importantly, the girlfriend says its a night and day difference. She went from dreading playing by herself to loving open world right away! Which makes me happy because she isn't ready to throw her computer out the window anymore and she doesn't need me to walk her through every other event or storyline boss she comes across! Win!

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So, I don't personally like this playstyle, but it's undeniably effective. Here's a video of a modified Trailblazer variant of the staff build I shared yesterday.

Build:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQJAWWnsICNohFMDWoBMMjlZjqMAutkxsC2tWyf+3//H-jxxHQBUUJY40F4i9HAwTAIgK/o1lAIeq/QKgqEtB-e

Trailblazer Staff Mirage vs. Legendary Seneb the Desecrated

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