New to Mesmer at 80

[Hypnotic.9605]

So I had been enjoying Mechanist a TON since EoD came out, always had a soft spot for the idea of Mesmer and with the power mech nerfs, figured id try switching mains for a bit to get an appreciation for another class.

I've looked up some metabattle builds since the switch and tried a few out, but wanted to get others' input on the class and what you think about the 3 elite specs and what you use them for

Also, if theres another place to find builds other than meta battle, im all up for sharing o/

[Veprovina.4876]

Mirage - used to roam with it, now it's too gutted and 1 dodge sucks - i use it in strikes now.

Chronomancer - WvW support and general open world (2 different builds)

 

Don't use Virtuoso or Core...

 

If you plan on raiding, there's Snowcrows for builds, or Discretize for fractals.

You can also just make your own builds for open world. As long as you don't go too defensive, they'll all be fine for exploring and doing meta events. 

 

Lately i like power Chrono best because it's kinda bursty in open world which ends fights quick, but it's useless in instanced content.

Condi mirage dual staff i use for Strikes, it's pretty good once you get the rotation down and has nice survivability.

Don't enter strikes as "dps" though, your role will be alacrity.

 

For PvP and other content, let someone else say what's good there.

[HowlKamui.5120]

Welcome to the mesmer subforums. We live off of copium, are jaded, but still enjoy the game (even if we say we dont).
You're gonna love it here.

[Alsandar.7420]

For more builds check out hardstuck. 
 

For open world I like event mirage (on metabattle) which provides infinite mob tagging, infinite dodge, aoe fun. You also can’t go wrong with staff/staff mirage, also on metabattle. Lastly for open world, both condi/power virtuoso are fun and super pretty.

 

For zergs in wvw, sword/shield sword/focus boonstrip support is a incredible

[Suyheuti.1732]

Firstly, unlock mirage first. Because mirage is the most versatile mesmer spec in all 3 of them. Best sustain for OW, staff/staff version is best for solo bosses, strong enough to kill even legendary bosses alone (Check Lord Hizen on Youtube). Staff-axe/torch is the best OW farming with high sustain. In instanced content, axe/pistol-torch is the best condi build but it is one of the hardest builds to play properly. Staxe version is quite decent dps, semi support and easier to play, staff/staff is for condi alac support. In PvP, there are tons of variations in mirage. But the problem is mirage has one dodge in PvP and WvW. Even it has 1 dodge, it is still better than the others. In WvW zergs, (for support, boonrip chrono is the best, it got nerfed but still better), if you prefer dps, you cannot find this build online but GS/GS mirage is awesome. (Dont play it solo roaming because it sucks) For solo roaming, power mirage with GS-Sword/Pistol is awesome. (Check Vallun on Youtube) 

In the end, first choice of yours should be mirage. Because with mirage, you can do HP run solo. (Maybe not balthazar in Auric Basin at the beginning :D) 

[Waffles.5632]

Mirage is King in open world, and very welcomed in all pve content. This is condi/cele variants that go staff/staff or staff/axe+X. They bring alac+might and very solid ranged dps. Mirage is a chill playstyle as well since staff+clones do a lot of the work.

For solo it can do it all.

 

Virtu is probably tied with Mirage atm in PvE imo. They are ranged dps, have several high performing builds, and very relaxed playstyle AFAIK. Virtu is also easier since there are no clones.

 

Chrono is in third place. It's not bad, but not good compared to the other two, however it's still viable imo, and welcomed in -most- content. The truth is Chrono has been somewhat neglected until recently and while they did just get a good buff in pvp, in pve there are just equal or better performing classes that require way less effort. If Chrono is what you end up finding most fun though, play it. They still bring a lot of value to a team.

 

Coming from Mecha to Mesmer might jolt you a bit so don't want to scare you but Mesmer, alongside Ele are the defacto classes if you want to press lots of buttons all the time, you will often need to use 3-4 abilities to get the same damage as other classes who need to press 1 or 2 skills, but the trade off is Mesmer buttons are mostly all instant cast, so you can create combos and such and it's very flexible. Where as let's say a Warrior needs to plant themselves fully for 100blades, if an AOE drops, they're screwed, where as a Mesmer can literally use a multitude of abilities to outright ignore mechanics, like their #1 defensive skill, distortion, which makes them literally invulnerable to everything for 1-4 secs depending on clones.

 

 

 

The best experience I ever had with a Mesmer was during the Whisper of Jormag strike on my Mirage. The massive AOE storms and beams when he reaches 25% hp and I was in a position where on any other class I would have died, but because I was on Mirage I just used my distortion and literally walked through everything immune to all the damage, and you can free cast while distorted too, so you can rez ppl, still do dps, etc etc.

 

A lot of Veteran Mesmers will take that for granted, but Distortion really is still one of the most powerful skills in the entire game, and every Mesmer build gets access to it. There's a lot more to it yeah, but I would say Distortion is one of the class defining skills a Mesmer has.

 

Mesmer in general offers a lot of flexibility and utility on how to approach things, and nothing will feel quite as good as being able to portal all your friends too with Portal Entre

 

Keep in mind though, Clones are not Mechas. They are rather fragile. Mesmer is about position and active defense, so the more you know about the enemies you're fighting the better you will perform. While this is true for all classes, it is especially true for Mesmer.

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2022 by Waffles.5632