Some Useful Mesmer things, and Mirage

[Avion Blade.4869]

Staff: 
Phase Retreat and Phantasmal Warlock then Chaos Storm with all three of you in it; chances of aegis block on the clones and phantasm will guarantee at least one of them, and you can stand behind them as if they were living shields. Helps with soaking up projectile fire or LOS ccs.

 

Staff is the best weapon against thieves.

Staff 4 and Staff 5 Especially when they pop on you. Confusion is thief's worst condition on them due to playstyles relying on repetitive usage of some weapon skills; and so many key pushes means more damage on them.

Those two skills reduce the thieves damage momentum that would snowball if you don't put up chaos aura/armor.

Pair this up with having bountiful disillusionment to avoid being Cc'd while they surprise attack you. Shatter to have stab while on, and blink as a last resort if you are cc'd.

Off-Hand Sword:
This is an underrated weapon, try to use it more, those blocks really change the dynamics and the expectations of the opponent, and your follow up evade frame while riposting is good. You also have the daze-line option if you press 4 again without blocking. If you have trouble landing the might boon bonus with Sword Key 5, Axe is a good pair with this because you jump near them with axe 3 without using blink/jaunt and can land a hit on them with sword 5 as a follow up.

 

Crippling Daze (Mirage):

In quick succession, Axe 2 > Blink or Jaunt if in Range > F3 Diversion Shatter; results in opponent panicking/forced to respond quickly; pairs well with superior sigil of severance following up with Axe 3 or 2 and power shatters with clones up. If you get that interruption, go ham.

Mirror Heal: 

Use this with Chaos Spec line Column 1 Low Option:

Recharge goes from 20 Seconds to 16 seconds; and the spec option also makes blink from 35 seconds to 28 seconds. If Mirage, Alacrity makes it feel like 12 seconds if alacrity is consistently up. 

 

Mirage Evade:

Do not evade all the time, wait until a horrible stack of conditions are on you, then evade (Mirage).

Evade as a second to last resort when all other defense options (other than Invul) are exhausted, then use Distortion invul as a last resort.

 

Stand Still from time to time after a target break or teleport; don't always move around.

Cast your AOE's about the end of the opponent's dodge rolls/evade frame.

 

You can reapply your confusion/torment on the enemy with staff easily by standing closer to them and having staff clones up; remember the second bounce applies confusion; the opponent's best course of action to take the least amount of damage is to move around and not push any buttons. It takes time for the orb to reach the opponent, therefore standing closer allows for faster bounces and more stacks.

 

See you in another post! Glhf.

Edited August 31, 2022 by Avion Blade.4869
Grammar and Typos

[Salt Mode.3780]

Im sorry its quite hilarious how you mention Evade last resort when all other defensive options are exhausted when you literally only have one (Mirage). As well as one of our core offensive abilities is ambush which is tied to our evade.

The problem with 1 dodge is you either have to use it offensively or defensively, sitting there with a full dodge bar is a waste ESPECIALLY if you are using sigil of energy. 

2nd with the active thief buffs on SA confusion and any damaging condis will just slip right off them, confusion isn't exactly the strongest damage source esp with the changes and nerfs to it, back when burn was still part of staff that was the thing that melted people because burn was a full on unconditional damage that didnt rely on anything. With how confusion and torment changed, condi Mesmers really do nothing unless the person is going to commit to the fight.

Edited September 1, 2022 by Salt Mode.3780

[Avion Blade.4869]

2 hours ago, Salt Mode.3780 said:

Im sorry its quite hilarious how you mention Evade last resort when all other defensive options are exhausted when you literally only have one (Mirage). As well as one of our core offensive abilities is ambush which is tied to our evade.

The problem with 1 dodge is you either have to use it offensively or defensively, sitting there with a full dodge bar is a waste ESPECIALLY if you are using sigil of energy. 

2nd with the active thief buffs on SA confusion and any damaging condis will just slip right off them, confusion isn't exactly the strongest damage source esp with the changes and nerfs to it, back when burn was still part of staff that was the thing that melted people because burn was a full on unconditional damage that didnt rely on anything. With how confusion and torment changed, condi Mesmers really do nothing unless the person is going to commit to the fight.

 

I guess I could say to use the evades more sparingly instead of last or second to last resort; I just don't want it to be spammed for no reason. The confusion stacks do work well for me more so than not, so perhaps I have yet to see more players that deal with it better.  I remember burn yeah I miss it.

 

I use Illusionary Ambush, Mirage Advance/Retreat, Blink, and Jaunts, Phase retreat, and Axe 3 and off-hand sword 4 for defenses blocks, evades and relocation to avoid damage and aoes; so I rely more on the utility and weapons that give mobility more so than the evades to avoid damage. Of course the evade isn't ignored for a full 2 minutes though.

I agree with your last sentence though, when they commit is when they have to soak in the condis; which explains why the cautious players pull back.

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Avion Blade.4869

[Yoci.2481]

It's not bad advice. It just doesn't change the fact that thief hard counters your. So when you run into a good thief there's nothing you can do.

 

It is really sad how they changed torment. It was a really good condition from a player vs. player point of view. Punish people for moving around too much. But they had to change that because there are a hand full of mobs in PvE land that don't move around a lot. Ridiculous when you think about it.