Scepter Mirage

[Roadkizzle.2157]

So with the changes to Alac generation, I started wondering what the other weapon options had to provide. I'd never looked at their Ambush Skills.

 

Is there any use for Scepters with Mirage in a manner similar to the Condi Staff of avoiding Shatter Skills but making use of the Mirage Cloak? I understand Scepters for Mesmers are crap but I wasn't sure if the Ambush attack changes anything because it is unique for the Mirage.

 

I'm not good enough to really try this myself. I haven't gotten more than 5k damage myself on any other build I've tried.

 

But it appears with three Clones you'll do 20 hits per Mirage Cloak inflicting a mix of Confusion and Torment. I know there is lacking Might generation with this though which I think probably will be a problem.

 

Is the lack of boons really the killer for this build? It would let you use better Phantasms than the Warlock with your offhand.

[pninak.1069]

think scepter is mostly a weapon for fast clone generation that is better suited for shatters. I used to play both staff and scepter on mirage where staff turned out better because of alac and might. now in pve combat you can get 25 might pretty easily in a bigger event. think even now staff is better than scepter because you can't shatter as much as you generate clones and with staff you don't take a 50/50 gamble between torment and confusion. in pve some enemies also die before they can even attack making confusion a useless condition.

[Gesbo.6420]

scepter used to be pretty good with ambush skills but they immediately gutted it for some reason, kind of sad about it

[Roadkizzle.2157]

3 hours ago, pninak.1069 said:

think scepter is mostly a weapon for fast clone generation that is better suited for shatters. I used to play both staff and scepter on mirage where staff turned out better because of alac and might. now in pve combat you can get 25 might pretty easily in a bigger event. think even now staff is better than scepter because you can't shatter as much as you generate clones and with staff you don't take a 50/50 gamble between torment and confusion. in pve some enemies also die before they can even attack making confusion a useless condition.

One of the reasons I was looking at Scepter was because I've always heard the issue with condi mirage is the focus on Confusion. I knew that the Mesmer scepters give Torment so I was thinking there may be less reliance on Confusion...

 

But I do know Confusion is still a major part of the Scepter.

 

The clone generation keeps pumping clones out to continue the Ambushes when they're being killed without you having to really worry about it.

[pninak.1069]

do you mean an ineptitude build? I didn't play that one, because some enemies hardly attack. think for confusion to work you need high attackrates and those aren't as common in pve imo as compared to stuff like pvp/wvw. as there is no other weapon that is condi focussed without having confusion you are pretty much forced to play staff or use a power playstyle. the issue with that is that you lose dmg bonuses for conditions making it a handicap.

[Roadkizzle.2157]

6 hours ago, pninak.1069 said:

do you mean an ineptitude build? I didn't play that one, because some enemies hardly attack. think for confusion to work you need high attackrates and those aren't as common in pve imo as compared to stuff like pvp/wvw. as there is no other weapon that is condi focussed without having confusion you are pretty much forced to play staff or use a power playstyle. the issue with that is that you lose dmg bonuses for conditions making it a handicap.

 

Yes the Mesmer reliance on Confusion is why I've heard the Staff build struggles in fights.

 

But that's why I was asking about Scepter. I've never seen anyone talk about the Scepter Ambush ability. But it loads the enemy up with a lot of Torment stacks and Scepter 3 has a lot of direct damage to go along with the confusion. So Scepter seemed less reliant on Confusion conditions to do it's damage.

 

I know Confusion is still a big aspect but I was just wondering how it compared with Staff that is also a Confusion build.

[Moradorin.6217]

Scepter was never great dps on Mirage, however, before the nerfs to Mirage during 2018-2019 it was a neat option. It took allot of work to position yourself and get swap targets to hit multiple targets with scepter 3 or to be in place to try and throw up the block at the right moment so you get hit at a time that lets you make use of the clones and condi application. However, it was mostly confusion damage. Axe is the only good torrment stacking weapon available to Mirage IMO. Axe however has that unreliable evade on 3 key that is only 900 range and often seems not to trigger during basic encounters. That might not sound big, but I like my evades/blocks to be timable and I dont like being stuck inside the opponents hitbox for good damage.

 

Scepter used to be ok, it was maybe even good for a few months iirc in 2018 when they buffed its damage but it was quickly nerfed and they also removed a clone from scepter 2 in wvw/pvp so its no good in pvp/wvw either rly. That said I used to enjoy stacking confusion with it. Its just to weak overall now to be good.