Mell.4873

True you could use a Power style build for trash and then change to Condition style build for a boss but I think for most people that will mess up your muscle memory. I mean my Open World build is not the highest DPS since I take a lot of defensive stuff.

Yes and no, druid can keep spirits alive much better than the other elite specialisations Ranger has but honestly the reduced cooldown trait Fervent Force can just let you re-spawn them at a far quicker than trying to heal.

What is worse is it insentivises builds that would otherwise be not be conducive to team playing. I mean you won't get gold trying to support silver players rather you will get gold by taking the rains and trying make a jack of all trades build. I think this is how we ended up with this chase heavy meta since it can address most problems you will face with silver players which is stuff like far or home flipping.

The only real use case for Ferocious Symbiosis is Power Greatsword and Longbow since they have long cooldowns on their stuns. Some sort of Teleporting one shooting build I guess. The rotation is worse than a piano since you can interrupt your Axe 2 very easily so its more like a Electric Guitar level of playing. Not to mention weapon swamping at 8 and Ambush at 15 seconds, You might as well have an overlay counters since a single icon on the bar for the Ambush skill is impossible to see.

Rather than making another post i will add hit here but i discovered another insane build for Untamed. Power Hammer with only Cantrips, you can get roughly the same DPS in an Open World setting. The huge advantage is the Standard hammer 5 (one stun) and 3 (two stuns) can used back to back with Exploding spores to take Perilous Gift and Forest's Fortification off-cooldown right away. This essentially means you cant die or be stunned. Not to mention the amount of barrier you can produce.

Shall I guess the comment responses: Mirage still has one dodge so it''s unviable Virtuoso's Bladesongs cant be used against good players Thief is counter to Mesmer so it is shutdown in that matchup I watched some of your other videos so i know its not true.

I cant comment on WvW just sPvP, all I'm really saying is I see people play Mirage in Gold and Plat. I guess US servers so maybe EU has zero.

There are plenty of people who play Mirage in Gold and Plat, When you play Mirage in Conquest PvP you have to play burst and try and complete your rotation while weaving the dodge(Ambush) to its maximum potential. The only build you cant play is a bunker style Mirage (well it doesn't stop people from trying). The game play reminds me of specter since it is very much a hit and run style of play.

I see plenty of people post Mirage Roaming compilations. Vullan just did one a month ago and it was his only new Mesmer video for months. I think the main misconception and this goes for Mesmer in general, is up is down and down is up. Everything a Mesmer can do it backwards, you want to use the dodge purely for Ambushes and you want to use your utilities for dodging like I have been saying the whole time.

I will conclude any point I'm making here: I would love the second dodge back but I'm hesitant to suggest it because I believe it will break Conquest PvP even more that is already is (right now is about 1-2 Mesmer's per game) WvW is an anomaly in itself where supportive classes dominate Zergs and Dueling classes like Mesmer dominate Roaming. The lack of a second dodge does not impact energy (dodge bar) regeneration, the energy sigil is the exception. I highly doubt they will ever return the second dodge so we will never see a bunker Mirage like we have in PvE (that's not really how you play Mirage anyway)

Most movement skills cant be used while stunned, I guess all the shadow steps can. Is it anything without a cast time?

I could see that being a great fix but Mirage is in some sense a burst style elite rather the more sustain we see with Untamed the other Ambush specialization. Who cares you can use it while stunned and it can let you avoid mechanics (just not dodge them). Mirage does have other dodges skills so the lack of dodge frames should not be a problem. The main problem is you cant play a tank/bunker as Mirage like before.

I mean when I tried it in WvW I didn't play it any different, dodging for damage and not for avoiding mechanics; Jaunt is for dodging. This is how played Mirage in all PvE end-game content, I normally saved my Jaunt and not my dodge. I think the real problem here is people are trying to play Mirage like they did back before the one dodge nerf. My whole point is there is not much different in the rotation and people who claim one dodge is a nerf to energy gain is wrong.

I mean you answered your own question, Jaunt replaces most of what dodge should be. I mean that is how I see people us it in the 250 players in Conquest PvP. I'm not saying its ideal that Mirage has only one dodge but its not the end of the Elite. I mean I would prefer they remove the immune to stun element to the dodge and then bring 2 dodges back (mind you the burst damage is still pretty insane) Honestly I have seen high level players still use Mirage and in the right hands they can easily pick off players with a flurry of conditions and clones. If anything they do better in Zerg's since its really hard to find the right clone. This is all going in deaf airs since everyone wants Mirage to be easier to play and intern handing the tools to PvP players to dominate.

I never said anything about them fight each other just roaming potential. I more meant stealth nerfs which I did see they reversed some of them once they rebalanced some Shadow Arts(SA) traits. I going off the Thief forum so i guess i was mistaken if you say there are no nerfs to Thief. My point still stands that Mesmer can be a good roamer and over all i see their popularity matched in Conquest PvP, most games have at least one Mesmer and one Thief. In terms of WvW I don't know, you would probably have a better idea about the popularity?

Updated advice

At least not at the same level of Mechanist or even Thief sub forums.

I personally use Hammer mostly because the attack chains are so flued when you get the hang of it. The Ambush skill is a lot of fun since it has a massive AoE circle. A few tips: Very good damage if you Ambush off-cooldown (15 second) with the hammer Use the default 3 and 5 weapons skills as the opener then Unleashed 1, 2, 4 after Ambush Use the Markman tree and predictor onslaught so your DPS is more consistent and less reliant on set rotations like with Greatsword or Longbow Use two hammers so you can maintain fury on yourself without relying on outside boons when soloing. Edit: more coherent advice

I think most people still run energy recharging builds so after the first dodge the rate at which you get them back should be pretty consistent. I guess the sigil goes to waste a little bit when you weapon swap so that is the only issue but the playstyle doesn't change much. Right now it honestly in an okay position in PvP, some of the Mesmer players on this forum still use Mirage for both Conquest PvP and WvW. I think a big factor is simply that Thief has had repeated nerfs which means Mesmer is good option for roaming.

Good breakdown and as a Mesmer arming yourself with multiple builds so can tackle any scenario is the best approach. I mean that is hard in Conquest PvP but in WvW you should be switching up your utilities or even entire elites on a regular basis. I.E. Roaming, Small Zerg, Large Zerg. Good examples of standard playstyles, I think gear is the most flexible part of building a Mesmer (maybe not Virtuoso though)

I think it has far more to do with the front loaded damage which includes the ranged element. Most of there power skills do damage right away while most other classes needs some level of set up. I mean "sic em" Soulbeast can get higher DPS but you need to set up the rotation with 2 skills before hand and of coarse be in melee.

Hmmm I think the balance is fine outside of the current Mechanist conundrum. If anything the balance is has been the best in recent months, much better than it ever has been. I mean PoF and HoT launch was a complete mess with tones of exploits to get you absurd DPS. This time around we only have mechanist and its not even top DPS.

It does depend on the build, and most of the high dps rotations do include damage increases with other skills (condition builds mostly) Its really just an Engineer problem, most other classes have there highest dps skills primary on other weapons skills. I mean take Ranger for example most of its damage comes from its 2 and 5 weapon skills. Hammer is probably the one power exceptions since it does have a combo but it's not the much more damage than auto-attacking. Flamethrower is probably the worse power offender since nothing comes close to the auto-attack.

I count one call for a Firebrand nerf on the Guardian professional forum on the first page. Even then people ask to have other professions buffed rather than nerfing there own which won't really solve the problem.

Careful picking Mechanist since there is a good chance they will nerf the upfront power damage. In terms of the playstyle is it generally classed as support dps since it has alot of boons hense one of the reason people don't like the Mechanist spam Meta. Otherwise honestly pick a playstyle rather than the best class since everyone has a build that can do well in end game content, even Elementalist for its problems.