Mirage tips in spvp

[Les.4872]

So I'm trying to get better at mirage and I don't see many good mirage pvp streamers aside from helseth so i was wanted to ask a few questions regarding the current mirage pvp build.

1. What's the big burst combo on the mirage? Meta battle suggests shattering after sword leap from mirage cloak with 2 illusions up but i've seen people shatter after a jaunt. Is it just a situational thing or is one better than the other?

2. How do i manage my shatters to make the most out of it? like do i go all in with the shatters on a big burst with 2 or 3 illusions up for max confusion stacks (mainly f2 and f1) or do i use my shatters more sparingly like only one (either f1 or f2) at a time when i have at least 2 illusions up?

3. How do I survive when I'm out of shatters but the enemy's not dead. Do i play the mirage build using a hit and run play style or is it possible to survive on point until shatters are off cd?

4. Lastly how do I engage another mirage? They do what I do but the invis breaking target sometimes makes it hard to generate clones directed towards the enemy player to do any kind of damage.

[Abelisk.4527]

Use Metabattle as a start, but then stop there. Most of the combos you actually perform are situational and there many techniques + tricks you can pull after playing enough and practicing enough. For example Power Rev has a large amount of techniques, overwhelming even, yet players who stick with it learn how to play it very well.

Me personally, I ditch staff and go Axe/Sword instead. Keep Sword/Torch.

With axe you can do a lot of combos. I also take Infinite Horizon for more combos.

Dodge + axe 2, Axe 3 + Mind Wrack, Axe ambush + Axe 2 or 3, Sword 4-block-dodge- ambush-shatter, possibilities are numerous.

[Wandering Mist.2973]

As Abelisk said, pretty much everything in spvp is situational. If you get bogged down with trying to do the "best" combo all the time, you will most likely fail. It's not like in PvE where you have an optimal rotation that should be used 90% of the time. Adapt to who you are against and learn to do combo's on the fly. As for the other stuff, unless you are Helseth, it's good practice to save a dodge and an invis for disengage in case you need to escape a duel. This is mostly about endurance management more than anything else, and knowing when to use your sword ambush for gap closing or disengaging. Again this isn't something that can be taught, only learned through experience. In a mirror match-up, it's mostly mind-games. Make them waste their CDs and you win.

[Tseison.4659]

Don't spam your endurance bar so much leaving you defenseless. I run core mesmer a lot and it's pretty funny how other mesmers keep doing this and don't time their cloaks properly...

[dubidubidubidu.5308]

maybe that can help:

hf with mirage! :)

[rank eleven monk.9502]

Watch the video, but personally for starters I recommend condi mirage, it's a lot easier to play :)

(power is more fun tho, but needs a lot of practice and experience to properly play imo)

[Exciton.8942]

You want to F2 shatter when you have illusions up. Always shatter in melee range. Sword ambush and Jaunt are basically tools to help you get in melee range. Two strong burst skills ppl often overlook are torch 4 and 5. A good damage combo would be casting torch 5 together with jaunt at the same time you come out of torch 4 burst. Shatter F2 F1 at the same time as well.

It really depends. You need to know what kind of defensive and cleanse CDs your opponent have left. In a +1 where your opponent is already pressured, you probably want to unleash all the pressure at the right time. But in a 1v1, you might want to slowly bait out opponent CD and spread out your damage skills.

Mesmer is very CD dependent. You will die if you try to face tank anything. So yeah, leave the point if you are out of defensive skills.

Mirage vs mirage is tricky. There is a lot of CD baiting and unexpected burst. There is really no good suggestion other than trying to play more yourself. Make sure you are keeping track of the amount of defensive skills(including dodges) enemy mirage has left.

[Exciton.8942]

@rank eleven monk.9502 said:Watch the video, but personally for starters I recommend condi mirage, it's a lot easier to play :)

(power is more fun tho, but needs a lot of practice and experience to properly play imo)

I can't agree with this.

Since chronomancer days, our condition build has way more intricacies than power builds in PvP, also much higher skill cap. Power burst is actually easier to pull off but also easier for enemy to read and avoid. It is more gimmicky but not necessary harder.

As for which is more fun completely depends on the individual.

[rank eleven monk.9502]

@Exciton.8942 said:

@rank eleven monk.9502 said:Watch the video, but personally for starters I recommend condi mirage, it's a lot easier to play :)

(power is more fun tho, but needs a lot of practice and experience to properly play imo)

I can't agree with this.

Since chronomancer days, our condition build has way more intricacies than power builds in PvP, also much higher skill cap. Power burst is actually easier to pull off but also easier for enemy to read and avoid. It is more gimmicky but not necessary harder.

As for which is more fun completely depends on the individual.

Well, let's agree to disagree :)

All of Chrono (!), condi and power mirage have very high skill caps, the difference between chrono and mirages is the importance of interrupts. Pulling off a power burst properly is actually a lot more difficult for the same reasons you listed: if you are an average player, you won't have success with power ever because it is actually easy to read and avoid. Unless you are very good at stowing, fake casting, interrupts etc. Not to mention power block; it is pretty much one of the most important skills of power mesmer - if you can't interrupt, you are kinda f*cked in 1v1 situations.

On the contrary, condi mirage has got incredible condi flood, which makes it a lot easier to burst the enemy more often. Not to mention the survivability of condi mirage is a lot higher than power.

But this is just my 2 cents after playing probably way too much with condi chrono and power + condi mirage (currently T2 plat with power). Topic is fairly subjective