mesmer MH sword

[Noodle Ant.1605]

the damage on the final hit of the sword chain is balanced out by its rather long cast time. a previous bencher for chrono (before dagger was available) once commented that you could technically break off from the chain after the 1st hit since it deals the most dps out of the three hits (followed by final, then 2nd)

ive always been used to blurred frenzy being stationary so i cant discuss much about adding movement to it. i think this skill is closely balanced alongside autoattack dps as the devs probably dont want the player to always throw it away for damage or withhold dps by saving it for defensive purposes

as far as my dps tests are concerned, whether or not the player chooses to use sword #3 is mostly inconsequential, unless the player is momentarily starved of clones. illusionary leap features a cast time - which means time not spent dpsing - for a clone which at best is worth ~150% of the 1st auto hit (half of 1-clone f1 shatter) but more often than not ~50% of one. blade leap has a rather long cast time, much like the final hit of the auto chain but with a worse coefficient, making it worse than just autoattacking if not for the blade (making it barely any better)

• both sword #3 skills straight up need buffs. these skills simply struggle to be worth using
• the final hit of the sword chain needs to sped up. it will likely put weight on the final hit again, but hopefully less painfully slow to cast
• the 2nd auto hit could be faster or deal slightly more dmg, considering that its that much worse than the first hit
• if the auto is buffed, then blurred frenzy should be buffed as well

[Noodle Ant.1605]

6 hours ago, Mevelios.4809 said:

And Fencer's finesse does not affect your phantasms, only your base stats matter from your gear; your sigils or traits (unless specified, like Phantasmal force) do not influence them.

i think fencers finesse should in fact affect phantasms (and clones), similar to how they are affected by might or food effects on the mesmer. illusions use whatever power/prec/fero/tough/etc (the rest are irrelevant) stats the mesmer has at the time, and fencers finesse boosts the mesmers ferocity. illusions dont inherit anything % related (that dont translate back into a base stat, assuming they benefit from enhancement effects) from the mesmer

full stacks of fencers finesse only amounts to a 4% increase on common pdps builds, however.

9 hours ago, Mell.4873 said:

Depends on your build. Chronomancers main source of damage is Shatters and Phantasms so maintaining that Ferocity is key.

Power Virtuoso is all about Greatsword so equally Sword + Sword offhand would be better in most cases for your opening move.

all mesmer pdps builds shatter and do phantasms. they are good for burst. but the main source of sustained damage is from the mesmers weapon skills; on long fights shatters drop down to ~10% of the mesmers output and phantasms ~30% in total (including chronophantasma/counting phantasmal blades)