100% Vigor (Mirage)

[ShadowKatt.6740]

I generally try not to ask for help. There's places like Metabattle that you can do your own research if you need to, the wiki to explain anything you don't understand, and good old fashioned trial and error. But I'm trying to do something and I can't figure it out, if it's even possible.

I'm trying to make an ambushing build for my Mirage. I'm using Axe/ Scepter/Focus and I want to build something that can stay in Mirage Cloak as long as possible and Ambush as much as possible. The best way to do that, as I figure, is by refilling my endurance as much as possible and while there are a couple relics that help with that I think the best way to do it is Vigor. Lots of Vigor. All the Vigor, all of the time. But it's harder than I thought. There's not that many skills or traits that actually give Vigor, but that's why i come here. Ya'll know more than I do, so how would I go about makin a Vigorous Mirage?

[Infinity.2876]

I don't know if it's a good build or not but I run this for OW.

It doesn't upkeep vigor like you were talking about, but it gives ambush skills frequently through desert distortion it does mean you don't get very powerful axe ambush because you can't take mirrored axes but through blurred inscriptions you get ambush from signets and escape artist gives ambush through phantasm. I run scepter/pistol but because you don't have ways to gain quickness you might want to use staff or dagger/pistol instead. Your weapons work too I just don't like using focus that much from personal preference.

[ShadowKatt.6740]

46 minutes ago, Infinity.2876 said:

I don't know if it's a good build or not but I run this for OW.

It doesn't upkeep vigor like you were talking about, but it gives ambush skills frequently through desert distortion it does mean you don't get very powerful axe ambush because you can't take mirrored axes but through blurred inscriptions you get ambush from signets and escape artist gives ambush through phantasm. I run scepter/pistol but because you don't have ways to gain quickness you might want to use staff or dagger/pistol instead. Your weapons work too I just don't like using focus that much from personal preference.

I think my build is similar, but I think I see a few things I could adopt. And I use a focus for thematic purposes. The Mirage comes with an axe, and Phantasmal Warden throws axes. So I have an axe, it has an axe....just kinda made sense.

[SeTect.5918]

Dueling gives a fairly high amount of vigor.
Critical_Infusion in dueling gives a good amount of vigor. Basically 50% uptime.
If you choose celestial gear and use chaos as 2nd core spec, you get like 55-60% additional boon duration which is then a bit more than 77.5%-80% vigor uptime.
False_Oasis is probably the best heal to use on mirage because it heals more than any other mesmer heal and leaves behind a mirage mirror. But it also gives 5 seconds of vigor on a 25 second cooldown (around 7.5-8 seconds with celestial gear and chaos spec).

Both of these traits/skills should make it 100% or almost 100% vigor uptime.

Edited January 7 by SeTect.5918

[Mevelios.4809]

Here is what I'd use, following your weapon set.

Viper gear allows for a 1/3 chance to land a crit, which thanks to dueling provides vigor every 10s. Then, chaos offers some more on your main shatter, on top of the usual mirage trait. You want to spam your shatter 1 as well merely to renew your vigor, not for the damages; shatters 3 & 4 are rather opportunistic uses.

Vigor shouldn't have 100% uptime however, it'd take some concentration in the stats set to allow it. Dodging isn't the only way to get mirage cloak, the utilities are here too - you could drop the signets to take Illusionary ambush and Sand through glass (which has the added value of breaking stuns/immobilize).

Take in consideration also ethereal fields to combo with the axe & jaunt; extra stacks of confusion on spinning are always welcome, while your leap finishers will trigger some chaos aura from which you expect stacks of regen, to maintain all its benefits from the chaos spec. That way you can fully benefit from your healing skill, for maximum duration on its vigor, on its regen thanks to chaos again, and for another ethereal field - its cooldown being reduced and almost the same as your healing skill thanks, once more, to the chaos spec.

You could also consider using the dagger, since its interrupts would trigger dueling's Ineptitude. For relics, the Mirage one pairs well with a bunch of dodges you could perform, the Fractal one is a safe choice for big damages although not really fit for clearing crowds of trash mobs (because of its CD), and finally the Demon queen one could fit the dagger well alongside ineptitude's effect.

[dead.7638]

Are you using the food that gives endurance regeneration, like 40%.   It’s kinda the only food for poor mesmers and very good.

Edited January 7 by dead.7638

[dead.7638]

Assuming you’re also using a condi build?   Dagger on mirage is very strong, I would test it out since you’re already using axe in both main hand, wouldn’t hurt and open up more flexibility as you will now have a range option.

Edited January 7 by dead.7638

[Mevelios.4809]

5 minutes ago, dead.7638 said:

Are you using the food that gives endurance regeneration.   It’s kinda the only food for poor mesmers and very good.

The truffle stew's indeed a great help in this regard, although I'd rather use it when soloing something is the objective 😋

[ShadowKatt.6740]

Okay, so I made a lot of modifications to my Mirage build. I wasn't even using Dueling before....now I am. The biggest problem I think I'm having with Dueling though is I'm wearing Celestial armor. Don't get mad at me, I could only afford to build ONE set of ascended armor so I went generalist over specific. So my crit rate isn't good. One thing I did learn though is that since shattering counts yourself, I can technically grant myself vigor just by pressing a shatter button....whenever. But it does seem to defeat the purpose a lot of the time. Ambushes hit hardest with clones, so I'll open when 3 or 4 ambushes after I generate 3 clones, but after that...it kinda peters out into nothing. I guess it's a decent enough strategy, but I was hoping I could sustain the ambushes longer than that. Maybe my goals were a bit too lofty.

[Mevelios.4809]

You can use shatters without clones if the objective is purely to keep cumulating vigor duration; that's especially the case with shatter 1, which (without illusions spec) doesn't have much interest in a condi build. So basically, you get your three clones out, use shatter 2, and before any other action use shatter 1; then 12s later (while shatter 2 is halfway through its cooldown) that's when you should make a choice, between giving up on that renewed shatter 1 for three more seconds of vigor or not using it for more damages through your clones. If you're using axe & scepter on both weapon sets though, clones shouldn't be an issue - spin twice and jaunt in to resummon three clones in two seconds!

[Micah.3789]

Are you using Sigil of Energy on both weapons and swapping on CD? That's where a huge chunk of mirage's endurance comes from. Since you're using celestial gear, you can upkeep 100% vigor with just Nomad's Endurance and Bountiful Disillusionment (chaos trait). It does take some clever clone management to use those shatters but still get back to max clones quickly for ambushes. Deceptive Evasion (dueling trait) and Self-Deception can help immensely with that. With Deceptive Evasion, you can dodge with just 2 clones, but another will summon and immediately ambush as well.

Good timing with phantasm skills can also minimize low clone time after shatters. Time your shatters just before phantasms finish and convert to clones. Then use clone generators combined with the converted phantasm(s) to quickly recover. Phantasmal Warlock (staff) is my favorite for this because it generates 2 clones. I can cast it, immediately ambush, and shatter after my clones are done casting all before the phantasmal warlocks finish and convert. Then I start off with 2 clones immediately after my shatter. 

 

[ShadowKatt.6740]

23 hours ago, Micah.3789 said:

Are you using Sigil of Energy on both weapons and swapping on CD? That's where a huge chunk of mirage's endurance comes from. Since you're using celestial gear, you can upkeep 100% vigor with just Nomad's Endurance and Bountiful Disillusionment (chaos trait). It does take some clever clone management to use those shatters but still get back to max clones quickly for ambushes. Deceptive Evasion (dueling trait) and Self-Deception can help immensely with that. With Deceptive Evasion, you can dodge with just 2 clones, but another will summon and immediately ambush as well.

Good timing with phantasm skills can also minimize low clone time after shatters. Time your shatters just before phantasms finish and convert to clones. Then use clone generators combined with the converted phantasm(s) to quickly recover. Phantasmal Warlock (staff) is my favorite for this because it generates 2 clones. I can cast it, immediately ambush, and shatter after my clones are done casting all before the phantasmal warlocks finish and convert. Then I start off with 2 clones immediately after my shatter. 

 

I went and checked the sigils I'm using on my Veilrender and Meteorlogicus. I'm using two Superior Sigils of Absolutely Nothing....I never actually got around to slotting sigils and infusions into them...

SO I'll look into some superior sigils of energy. I'm sure they're not that expensive. THe harder part will be the whole weapon swapping thing. I carry a ranged and melee weapon for ranged and melee options. If I swap weapons to refill my endurance then I'll be forced into either chasing mobile targets with a melee weapons, or trying to kite enemies with a ranged weapon. Not impossible, just not a gameplay style I'm familiar with.

[Curunen.8729]

Bountiful disillusionment F2 gives incredibly long vigour.

Between that, false oasis, on crit in duelling, and shatters from nomads endurance it should be enough to get by, though could mix and match with some boon duration if preferred.

Relic of evasion kind of overkill and more fun to go with other relics in pve - ie on interrupt for dagger ambush, or eg akeem in open world with D/F. wvw still think adventurer relic is better than evasion for effectively a third energy sigil, given you have enough vigour when cele.

Sigil of energy mandatory in all game modes, it's crutch for mirage - basically glorified "reload".

However also sigil of stamina if GS or Dagger against many enemies, incredibly broken you will get repetitive strain from spamming so much dodge lol.

 

[Mell.4873]

On 1/9/2024 at 11:50 AM, ShadowKatt.6740 said:

Okay, so I made a lot of modifications to my Mirage build. I wasn't even using Dueling before....now I am. The biggest problem I think I'm having with Dueling though is I'm wearing Celestial armor. Don't get mad at me, I could only afford to build ONE set of ascended armor so I went generalist over specific. So my crit rate isn't good. One thing I did learn though is that since shattering counts yourself, I can technically grant myself vigor just by pressing a shatter button....whenever. But it does seem to defeat the purpose a lot of the time. Ambushes hit hardest with clones, so I'll open when 3 or 4 ambushes after I generate 3 clones, but after that...it kinda peters out into nothing. I guess it's a decent enough strategy, but I was hoping I could sustain the ambushes longer than that. Maybe my goals were a bit too lofty.

You should be Condition damage if playing Mirage so critical chance will not mater just Torment duration. 

[Mevelios.4809]

9 hours ago, Mell.4873 said:

You should be Condition damage if playing Mirage so critical chance will not mater just Torment duration. 

That'd mean ignoring Sharper images, which is a huge damage factor especially on multi-hit phantasms such as the Warden under Phantasmal fury (since in OP's case there's no intent on using the pistol). Chaos can already handle a huge chunk of condi duration through Chaotic persistence, then add the Signet of midnight to get close to 100%; round it up with some cheap food like Koi cake and you no longer have to think about condi duration, since you've hit the 100% cap 😉