Mirage axe absolute terrible to play.

[Carnage.6751]

I love playing Mirage and those mirage cloaks brings such a good flavor to profession.But not every weapon is not implement to character.Especially in PvP. I try to make axe relevant for pvp but its soo risky.You legit entering inside of enemies and this put you among of teamfights.Axes of Symmetr have 2 second of delay before landing.Since HoT Chronomancers so  hated Arena net ripped all of its defensive stats and our best option taking greatsword and buzzing from afar.

İF anyone have a good suggestion for make axe build in pvp please tell me .

[Geronmy.3298]

In pve is no different. The seeking axes are so bugged that most of the time they just wander off and hit nothing. I haven't played Axe in months and tried to bench last night just to find almost all my ambushes were wasted thanks to this issue.

And staff works almost perfectly and just keeps getting nerfs, the irony.

[Alsandar.7420]

Mirage is my fav. And aesthetically axe is fun. But I literally never play it. Sad

[Ronald McDonald.8165]

Lol what? 

 

[Roadkizzle.2157]

I've played Chrono the majority of my time in GW2. But then I eventually decided to try Mirage. 

I started out with the Axe because it looked cool... But it felt so horrible. My DPS and self healing were crap with Chrono but it felt like I was killing even slower with the Axe (probably because it's a Condi weapon so it takes time for the conditions to stack)

Things felt slow but because the forced movement kept me right in the middle of every group of enemies I felt even squishier than the Chrono.

I only really play solo open world so far.

Then I tried staff/staff which worked much better... But it's so goddamn boring doing nothing but getting a few clones and Dodging to keep Mirage Cloak.

 

 

Is Axe Mirage better in certain game modes or is it something else to get it to work better?

[dead.7638]

Mirage will feel better all around with new weapon mastery, of core and specs mirage will benefit the most.   Shield will be nice for virt but sword already offers an off hand block that is also a counter attack.   My virt builds probably won’t change.   Chrono might actually benefit from axe now giving it a gap closer and detargetting wep.   I also heard but didn’t try it myself but dagger was meh okay on chrono.   And core, idk.   Could get a huge edge with new weps but that we will have to see.

Edited August 19, 2023 by dead.7638

[Infinity.2876]

This build you could try. My builds are kind of not great but it could be a new perspective on that having to do with distortion, quickness, and signets using axe. It could use some refinement tho before playing

[Shiyo.3578]

This is what happens when the class dev "doesn't like axe so will buff staff instead"

[dead.7638]

I wouldn’t consider anything they’ve done with staff a buff.   Free staff 3 second phantasm!

Edited August 19, 2023 by dead.7638

[Bigpapasmurf.5623]

I have played DPS axe/T is wvw for years, and I will say that the nerf to axe DPS a while back hurt (even tho was "aimed" at condi mirage builds...go figure). I loves teh axe burst when you have 2/3 clones up however like others have said its a HUGE liability as if you dont get the burst off where it does something, positioning wise you screwed yourself and are stuck with the wep set for another 4-5ish seconds

I loved axe so stuck with it (great for PvE trash mobs that are clustered) however not great in competitive anymore (not as DPS anyway at least)

[otto.5684]

On 8/19/2023 at 4:35 PM, dead.7638 said:

I wouldn’t consider anything they’ve done with staff a buff.   Free staff 3 second phantasm!

Staff was very poor in pve, pre the buff like a year ago. It was nerfed since, but still way better than it was back n the day.

On 8/18/2023 at 10:12 AM, Carnage.6751 said:

I love playing Mirage and those mirage cloaks brings such a good flavor to profession.But not every weapon is not implement to character.Especially in PvP. I try to make axe relevant for pvp but its soo risky.You legit entering inside of enemies and this put you among of teamfights.Axes of Symmetr have 2 second of delay before landing.Since HoT Chronomancers so  hated Arena net ripped all of its defensive stats and our best option taking greatsword and buzzing from afar.

İF anyone have a good suggestion for make axe build in pvp please tell me .

it is good in pve. Sure, it can bug out sometimes. However, nothing major. As for pvp… ya. PvP balance is so bad, and mesmer has it the worst among all classes.

[Carnage.6751]

On 8/19/2023 at 9:47 PM, Infinity.2876 said:

This build you could try. My builds are kind of not great but it could be a new perspective on that having to do with distortion, quickness, and signets using axe. It could use some refinement tho before playing

I tried it today.İts absolute terrible.Especially againts reapers .At least staff can save me from tough situations with "phase retreat" and 4 is a good aoe damage.Thank you without a stun landing your 3 is impossible.

[Gibson.4036]

On 8/19/2023 at 3:19 PM, Shiyo.3578 said:

This is what happens when the class dev "doesn't like axe so will buff staff instead"

You’d think when that dev was removed from the balance team, ANet would have worked on walking back some of their more egregious changes.

But apparently not.

I very much miss my St/Axe Mirage.

It was fun to hop on Virt last night and just nuke things from extreme range, but I can’t seem to stay engaged with that kind of play very long. Zipping through foes on axe and being able to reassign my illusions if I timed it right was so satisfying.

[Crowfang.8529]

Axe dmg is terrible yeah.

[eutha six.5647]

I just made a condi staff/axe-torch mirage and it does amazing damage and is fun to play-I dont have the new expansion so had to improvise with axe and torch-beats my old staff/staff although I do lose alacrity, it doesnt matter as I am in axe-torch longer anyways

[Geronmy.3298]

5 hours ago, eutha six.5647 said:

I just made a condi staff/axe-torch mirage and it does amazing damage and is fun to play-I dont have the new expansion so had to improvise with axe and torch-beats my old staff/staff although I do lose alacrity, it doesnt matter as I am in axe-torch longer anyways

You do get better results with axe/pistol because of the extra bleeds and possibility of resets to the pistol skills on interrupts.

[dead.7638]

Mesmer is 100% x 100% better on power builds.   Unless confusion gets a buff (it won’t) condi specs in competitive mode will suffer.   Power is reliant and  has repeatable results.   Only that condi builds allow more sustain is why anyone would want to play them.   People in competitive also bring condi clear( some lots) making dmg deflated even if you got the burst off.    Gs burst can take people from 100-0.   Love to see you do that with axe.

[Salt Mode.3780]

On 9/17/2023 at 12:47 AM, eutha six.5647 said:

I just made a condi staff/axe-torch mirage and it does amazing damage and is fun to play-I dont have the new expansion so had to improvise with axe and torch-beats my old staff/staff although I do lose alacrity, it doesnt matter as I am in axe-torch longer anyways

This build was made ages ago in PoF early days so its nothing new. Torch got nerfed multiple times and so did axe thats why people stop running it. A huge weakness to the build is if anyone tries to just simply avoid you or run away you have no way to catch or secure the kill as burn is no longer part of staff. 

[dead.7638]

Staff build was completely gutted in like 2016/17?   Tbh the glory days in wvw on TB staff a/t have been long gone.   I doubt half the people here even knew what it was capable of.   Easily kite a group of 10 no problem with downs and leave at any point you wanted no scuffs.   Like ambush x2 staff = a downed person.   Every part has been nerfed, reworked, added increased cds on all skills plus icd to traits.   It was nasty to come across if you didn’t already know to run away.   Anet is still kicking this dead horse to this day 5 yrs+ later.   Because of this build axe is forever doomed.   Also axe was the first part of the build to be targeted for nerfs.   They still going at it.

Edited September 19, 2023 by dead.7638

[ShadowKatt.6740]

I don't have this problem? I'm not sure what's going on but my Mirage uses an axe(Because why wouldn't it? Mirages got axes, you should use an axe. I use an axe/focus) and I have no problem. Now I just PvE. I don't strike, I don't raid, I don't dungeon and I have no issues other than the usual I'm a MESMER and really don't like getting punched in the face, which tends to happen in melee range. But the axe works fine for me.

Then again, I still play a condi-staff build, so maybe I'm just desensitized to disappointment.

[Blur.3465]

I wish Mirage had more weapon options which were viable. 
I'd -love- Mirage with a sword and focus for example, or sword and torch. I want to play as a fencer and be the master illusionist who easily evades attacks by vanishing like mirage!

I never saw axe as something Mesmer would generally use and I've always seen them use more sophisticated weapons like staves, foci, scepters and rapier swords.
Sadly not many builds out there support that and even if you go Virtuoso there's dagger which kills the majestic animations and makes Mesmer look like a thief or warrior -- constantly 'flailing' with a dagger xc

Currently I'm playing staff/staff Mirage and it fits the fantasy really well.
I'm still holding out hope that ANet will remove those horrid floating daggers for Virtuoso and allow us to use more weapons / make them viable for high-end content. 
 

[ShadowKatt.6740]

2 hours ago, Blur.3465 said:

I never saw axe as something Mesmer would generally use and I've always seen them use more sophisticated weapons like staves, foci, scepters and rapier swords.

Mesmers are performers, and axe throwing has long been a staple of the carnival scene, along with knife throwing, sword throwing, and other such tricks. And the ambush for the axe throws a lot of axes.

[Blur.3465]

9 hours ago, ShadowKatt.6740 said:

Mesmers are performers, and axe throwing has long been a staple of the carnival scene, along with knife throwing, sword throwing, and other such tricks. And the ambush for the axe throws a lot of axes.

You're right!
Didn't think of it like that, but makes a lot more sense now.

STILL
I want more builds that use main-hand sword/rapier for the proper fencer vibe xC atm none of the viable high-end builds use that which makes me sad...and I really don't like the dagger animations 😧

[Roadkizzle.2157]

12 hours ago, Blur.3465 said:

I wish Mirage had more weapon options which were viable. 
I'd -love- Mirage with a sword and focus for example, or sword and torch. I want to play as a fencer and be the master illusionist who easily evades attacks by vanishing like mirage!

I never saw axe as something Mesmer would generally use and I've always seen them use more sophisticated weapons like staves, foci, scepters and rapier swords.
Sadly not many builds out there support that and even if you go Virtuoso there's dagger which kills the majestic animations and makes Mesmer look like a thief or warrior -- constantly 'flailing' with a dagger xc

Currently I'm playing staff/staff Mirage and it fits the fantasy really well.
I'm still holding out hope that ANet will remove those horrid floating daggers for Virtuoso and allow us to use more weapons / make them viable for high-end content. 
 

I think in WVW Power Mirage can use a sword.

The problem is Mesmers don't really have good damage from the weapon skills themselves.

 

Chronomancers rely on Phantasms for damage so the viable weapons are ones that lend to the best phantasm spam.

Virtuoso's get most of their power from their Traits like Jagged Mind.

Mirages rely on Ambushes and keeping Clones attacking for their skills. The Sword Ambush is useful because it Dazes. This can be great for WVW but just really isn't useful enough for PVE.

 

 

The best way to use the Sword as a Mesmer is with Chronomancer. But then the main hand sword really doesn't do anything except occasional Flurry's because you'll spend 90% of your time spamming Phantasms or planning to cast your next Phantasm.

[Blur.3465]

@Roadkizzle 

Aye I agree!

It is a shame though, as sword/rapier is what I'm living for and what I'm hoping to see one day. 
A little 'bored' of staff/staff Mirage but it flows so well and I'm kinda scared to explore Virtuoso, given I really don't like the floating daggers too xC
Ahhh, here's to hoping we get to see more variety when it comes to weapons -- or some buffs to swords!