Power Mirage - good or not good?

[Budo.6839]

Hello fellow Mesmer,

I want to play as Power Mirage, but my friend says it's not that good. I would like to hear your opinion and would like to see your builds. I'm a casual player which has the most fun in OpenWorld but maybe want to start someday with instanced PvE content. (Especially because I like to have this sword someday. )

 

Thank you for your answer!

[Moradorin.6217]

I have not been playing Mesmer so much recently but it was always one of my fav classes. Power Mirage is not meta the spec just lacks traits to help boost power damage compared to chrono I think. I think if you tested on a dps golem power Mirage would have a much harder time sustaining damage than condi mirage or power chrono. It is also partly situational. For instance, on Mirage with persistantly multiple targets and very rapid death (in a squad of players) you can do some neat things like duel GS with Stamina sigils to gain a dodge each time a thing dies and then make clones on dodge. With the energy+stamina combo on 2 GS doing that can be very fun and surprisingly decent dps. However, that doesnt really work solo due to rate of death of targets and lack of mob density in most places to really get it going. In Haloween Lab tho its very fun, at least if you ask me.

 

If you are having fun with it its fine. It is always a good idea to try the suggested alternative or a cheap version to at least give the other builds people like best a try. The player base develops consensus about certain builds for  reason. That said, many builds that are not good can be good in the right situations and/or hands.

[JazzXman.7018]

this is what i play in pve: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAEx3lRwmYRsLmJOSLdvKA-zRIYRUzfGZqE6UEo4BA-e

since i use my wvw gear it can be more optimized for pure pve purposes in terms of rune and sigils i guess. i also dont remember my second sigil on gs atm but its most likely not optimal for pve anyway. you also prob can take something else for blink in some instances. sometimes i switch crystal sand for feedback or something else that makes sense depending of what mops are doing.

 

its not made to be top dps in pve since im not a hardcore pve player and i have no dmg meter myself but a friend i know has and he said the dmg is quite good while i didnt even tryharded to make the rotation perfect. so it should have a decent benchmark and the rotation is quite demanding if you wanna do it correct the whole encounter (and with that not as boring, but easier than the chrono one, its a good mix of chill and challenge hehe), since you always have something to press and never run out of steam, its rly fluid to play also. if you do it correct you can nearly permanently spam gs ambushes with shattering on cd with f1,f2 and f4 (for mirrors) bc also clone generation is super high.

 

as long as you play it well and dont try to join a hardcore speedrun group with that you should not have any trouble in pve with it. 

Edited September 22, 2022 by JazzXman.7018

[Mik.3401]

For open world you can play anything because that content is not challenging at all by default. For endgame pve instanced content is rather stick to meta builds listed online to prevent being a meme

[Suyheuti.1732]

In PvP, Open World and WvW, it is viable and I'm using. GS ambush is fun. But in instanced content which requires high dps, it is not. 

[otto.5684]

Power mirage is not good.

[Waffles.5632]

 

 

 

 

Power Mirage is great in open world, though the dps is less than condi mirage by a noticeable amount. It's more burst however, so for trash/tagging it works wonders. It is very flexible if you are only attached to sword, because you can mix up the weapons and still get great efficiency. The above 4 videos are pretty much JazzXman's build, but with some open world optimization. Like I went Vicious expression because of the neat interaction with clones on sword ambushes. These are old videos too so the damage is higher now due to power creep.

 

Also, you don't need to be tied to zerker/assassin stats fully. I run a half celestial/half assassin build that uses Sword/Sword and Staff and it works just as well for open world and chill group content purposes. Chill group content would be like, metas, most strikes, low level fractals, dungeons, etc. Definitely not raids, unless everyone's just trying something new haha

Below are old videos showcasing Sword/Pistol+ Staff Mirage :

 

 

 

 

 

With offhand sword, you will do even more damage because of the phantasm, though that skill is a bit tricky to work with. Sometimes the Phantasm decides... not to do... the thing it needs to do lol, so that's always a bit frustrating. Pistol is the more consistent weapon, alongside Focus, while sword is more dps by a far margin. I currently run sword/sword because I like the damage and the extra block I get from offhand sword 4.

 

Just remember as a Mirage you don't play by the rules. You won't have sustain but you won't need it, because you're not supposed to be getting hit. All of your defense is active, so the better your timing, and position the more you are rewarded.

Missing your timing and being out of position is death. Do not trade hits.

 

For comparison here is Cele Mirage with Staff/Axe:

 

 

 

I run 50/50 Celestial/Vipers but you can go 100% vipers or 100% celestial, it's all a matter of preference and how chill you want the playstyle to be. Less hp = less mistakes you can make. What I like to do, on any class, is figure out how much hp I generally need to not be one shot, build for that, then dump rest into dps stats. Hence the half vipers.

 

Edit : Here is the Staff/Sword/Sword build :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAwyZlRwwYSsLmJO8KdvKA-zxQY1IitjGcZEWBkZK45AA-e

Edited September 23, 2022 by Waffles.5632

[Revalent.4205]

Power mirage is very fun to play, though it’s not so tough as condi - it has its own charm. Bursty, with GS and 2 swords - he is just beautiful.

[Antycypator.9874]

Worst thing about power mesmer is lack of precission/crit chance. For everything exept Virtuoso, you have to run Assassin's gear to crit cap yourself with fury, so... power mesmers for solo play are generally not good.

[taara.3217]

On 9/22/2022 at 4:17 PM, Budo.6839 said:

my friend says it's not that good

your friends are right in context of endgame OW PVE solo content

Edited September 29, 2022 by taara.3217

[draxynnic.3719]

It really depends on what you're doing. It's not the optimised mesmer power build for group content by any means - but it will typically function well and be fun in open world.

What I'd suggest is that if you're looking to go into endgame content at some point, look up the gear for power virtuoso and invest in that, and then you can use that set of armour and trinkets (and any overlapping weapons) with a power mirage build. This would give you the ability to switch to a meta build for group content quickly, and then back to power mirage for situations where optimal DPS is not important just as quickly.