need help with a build spec for new zones

[Blego.1859]

revenant / renegade player here who just made a mesmer and i am planning to take to the story and new zoneschrono fully unlocked , got zerker / viper / minstrel gear all 3 complete setsonly played chrono tank in a few raid encounters when it was needed so not much experience on mesmer ... like 90h playedtried s/p & torch viper or gs & s/f zerker in the new maps but i find both to be completely underwhelming compared to power renegade (25 instant might , 1-2k/sec heals), i mean single target its ok but in the new areas single target isnt a thing ... pretty much every fight is vs multiple mobs and due to the illusion / phantasms mechanic is annoying / slow to engage / kill multiple targets ... unless they clump up and u manage to hit them all with shatters or torch #4 if condi

is there a specific build to make things easier / faster in new maps ? ... do i need to unlock mirage fully with proof of heroics before starting ?or this is just the mesmer way of doing things and if i dont like it try something else

[Hagen.3528]

I'm not an advanced Mesmer in any way (started playing HoT content like 2 months ago), but I was having a blast doing PoF maps (fully completed, got the ascended backpack and Veilrender unlocked) with the Mirage-centered build. I think I was half-way through unlocking the skills for the Mirage specialization so I started just using every new skill to test it out. For weapons I picked Axe/Torch + Staff. I ended changing my build to more coherent one but I still was using the beforementioned weapons. You could also try Axe/Torch + Axe/Pistol or Axe/Pistol + Staff. I didn't feel like using Pistol so I just sticked to the Torch. Swapping before weapons and being able to attack from the distance with the Staff really helped surviving stuff and gave me a lot of fun. I haven't got the full viper gear, only on armor, other staff I just used gear from PoF, mixing condition damage and duration with precision, toughness and healing power. I ended being really tanky which smoothened out my solo playthrough. I'm not sure how much my DPS went down but I didn't have issues with things dying to slow.

If you're interested, here's the build I ended with, nothing fancy or extraordinary: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhMQNAnfWnELDVohNoB2LDMMjlXDrMB8biGoBgmzzxv/VAPgA-jxSFQBfQbAUUO4rnAQCOFAAwkTc2fAO6AeqSGBpEseq/0DlQAA-e

It's not optimal by any means (for that I have not enough gold), but makes sense and works for me :) It also uses a lot of items PoF gives you along the way.The talent specialisation is rather focus on quick fights and survivability.

[Lanhelin.3480]

Like Hagen said just use a Staff. I'd go even further and recommend it for soloing no matter what build you play, be it Condi or Power or Support. Staff offers the best skills to manage and defeat larger group encounters. While Clones usually do 0 direct damage, in GW2 they can crit (for again 0 dmg) and apply bleeding additionally, if you have Dueling in your build. I play a Power build Sw/Sw + Staff and if ever, I'd rather change Sw/Sw than dropping the Staff.