Mirage axe is silly fun!

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

I dusted off my Hizen condi staff mirage, and started to play around with varying it to be an axe mirage (in open world).

OMG, this is such a fun spec! Very active gameplay, yet not nearly as demanding as my weaver (thanks to the clones), and the reward/effort ratio feels much higher than weaver. It's hard to die to enemies, unless I don't pay attention.

This is my current spec, which seems to work well in open world so far, after several hours of play:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAcyZlRwgYJsDmJW0XavPA-zRIYsSHwXGZmC5WBePLV5sB-e

It's not perfect insofar as 1) it lacks condi cleanse, 2) maybe if I "git gud" I could swap some or all rabid with vipers or sinister, and 3) using axe 2 or 3 skills near a cliff could be problematic. But with the evades, condis are not a big deal, and the resilience is so good, I'm not sure I want to make my life stressful by getting rid of toughness. Also, I chose sword for offhand instead of torch for the illusion generation, and the shorter cooldowns - torch cooldowns are waaaaay too high, imo, despite the damage they claim to inflict.

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there!

[Veprovina.4876]

Try fighting near a ledge, then vault over the enemy with axe 2. :tongue:

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

@Veprovina.4876 said:Try fighting near a ledge, then vault over the enemy with axe 2. :tongue:

Yea...I already mentioned that.

[Veprovina.4876]

@TheAgedGnome.7520 said:

@Veprovina.4876 said:Try fighting near a ledge, then vault over the enemy with axe 2. :tongue:

Yea...I already mentioned that.

I missed that, my apologies. :smile:

[Dadnir.5038]

To be fair, the mesmer is the most fun profession to play, Mirage being fun to play is thus a given.If one stop himself at the fun aspect, the mesmer and it's e-specs are fine. When it come to efficiency and PvP, it's easy to lose the "fun factor", thought.

[Zraurum.8493]

Cooldown of torment sigels separate or common?

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

@Zraurum.8493 said:Cooldown of torment sigels separate or common?

I believe its shared cooldown. Wiki page for Sigil gives this example:

A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.

[Zraurum.8493]

@TheAgedGnome.7520 said:

@Zraurum.8493 said:Cooldown of torment sigels separate or common?

I believe its shared cooldown. Wiki page for Sigil gives this example:

A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.

Why don't mirages in www assemblies use agony and smoldering sigils?

[wolfyrik.2017]

Honestly, I was about to give up on mesmer until AliamRationem.5172 thread; open world domination : mirage. Highly recommend if you haven't seen it already. It's somewhat out of date, but still useful. Trying out his build was.....expensive... but made Mirage my main. It's the utility. I dropped the sigils for Feedback and Null Field for much hilarity. It wrecks in the Labyrinth. Seriously, have you ever tried mimic>Feedback on the Grand Viscount Candy corn's Projectile phase? He literally solos his own defiance bar.Add to that the flowing combat of mirage axe, and the joy of getting your enemies to walk themselves to death as they chase you around?Perfection.Mirage Axe always reminds me of that opening Nightcrawler fight scene in X-men 2. Weaving in and out of combat, from enemy to enemy. It's a dance of death and it's glorious!

Edit - Forgot to mention, torch isn't really there for the damage but the utility. Stealth and the additional condi cleanse you are missing, especially combined with Jaunt, should mean you have few issues with conditions.

[Lucio.4190]

I totally agree with you about the Axe. The Sword 4 will block and 5 will create a phantasm, two actions that will give you some extra seconds during the fight.I'm using the Axe and Pistol now, going for Deception skills. Used to have Condi gear, but it's been replaced by Power now. Berserker.Been playing around with new builds. Not there yet, but I'm looking at this now: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?Pi1AcqFlVwOYQsHmJOeP7vWA-zRRYBR3jNYBJMSJXGHE-e

Axe 2 and 3 makes you move a lot, then using 8 will jump out of the fight and 9 will jump in again. 0 will teleport to a nearby area.The armor is still Exotic, but I'll work on that.Greatsword is okay, good range but don't get fooled. Some bosses will still one-shot you.I've managed to solo some Champions with this build, which I would say is okay... for a mesmer. When the damage on Axe 1 is above 1000 and the Axe makes 2500, I tend to be satisfied.

[otto.5684]

@"TheAgedGnome.7520" said:I dusted off my Hizen condi staff mirage, and started to play around with varying it to be an axe mirage (in open world).

OMG, this is such a fun spec! Very active gameplay, yet not nearly as demanding as my weaver (thanks to the clones), and the reward/effort ratio feels much higher than weaver. It's hard to die to enemies, unless I don't pay attention.

This is my current spec, which seems to work well in open world so far, after several hours of play:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAcyZlRwgYJsDmJW0XavPA-zRIYsSHwXGZmC5WBePLV5sB-e

It's not perfect insofar as 1) it lacks condi cleanse, 2) maybe if I "git gud" I could swap some or all rabid with vipers or sinister, and 3) using axe 2 or 3 skills near a cliff could be problematic. But with the evades, condis are not a big deal, and the resilience is so good, I'm not sure I want to make my life stressful by getting rid of toughness. Also, I chose sword for offhand instead of torch for the illusion generation, and the shorter cooldowns - torch cooldowns are waaaaay too high, imo, despite the damage they claim to inflict.

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there!

This is way too defensive, especially that you are running torment runes. While this would be great for soloing things that are hard to solo, I would not recommend it. Mirage is very bursty. There is no reason to slow yourself down. Just go full viper or sinister for OW. Also, the condi off hand hierarchy are pistol then torch then sword. If I need survivability I would use staff not off hand sword. In OW I use axe pistol/torch and drop torch for staff, if needed.

Chaos is generally better than illusion for condi. There are some condo builds that work well with condi, but you need to be using either sinister or diviner.

Mirage elite cleanses one condo.

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

@otto.5684 said:

@"TheAgedGnome.7520" said:I dusted off my Hizen condi staff mirage, and started to play around with varying it to be an axe mirage (in open world).

OMG, this is such a fun spec! Very active gameplay, yet not nearly as demanding as my weaver (thanks to the clones), and the reward/effort ratio feels much higher than weaver. It's hard to die to enemies, unless I don't pay attention.

This is my current spec, which seems to work well in open world so far, after several hours of play:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAcyZlRwgYJsDmJW0XavPA-zRIYsSHwXGZmC5WBePLV5sB-e

It's not perfect insofar as 1) it lacks condi cleanse, 2) maybe if I "git gud" I could swap some or all rabid with vipers or sinister, and 3) using axe 2 or 3 skills near a cliff could be problematic. But with the evades, condis are not a big deal, and the resilience is so good, I'm not sure I want to make my life stressful by getting rid of toughness. Also, I chose sword for offhand instead of torch for the illusion generation, and the shorter cooldowns - torch cooldowns are waaaaay too high, imo, despite the damage they claim to inflict.

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there!

This is way too defensive, especially that you are running torment runes. While this would be great for soloing things that are hard to solo, I would not recommend it.

I like to solo things that are hard to solo.

Mirage is very bursty. There is no reason to slow yourself down. Just go full viper or sinister for OW.

Sinister....that's an interesting thought. I sure wish I could stat-swap asc armor. But having rabid just makes my life comfortable. This is OW after all, I have no need to min-max.

Also, the condi off hand hierarchy are pistol then torch then sword. If I need survivability I would use staff not off hand sword. In OW I use axe pistol/torch and drop torch for staff, if needed.

I like sword - personal preference: phantasmal swordsman's aggro, damage, and quickness is really great. Torch CDs are too long and pistol doesn't interest me. Staff is my alternate weapon.

Chaos is generally better than illusion for condi. There are some condo builds that work well with condi, but you need to be using either sinister or diviner.

Chaos seems to me the more defensive line, I started with that, but I get better dmg w/Illusions.

[Veprovina.4876]

Honestly, if you like the gameplay for Axe mirage for Open World, just go with whatever and have fun. It's a fun elite for Open Wolrd (though gutted in WvW).Use chaos or illusions, doesn't really matter as long as you have a good stat combo on your armor. Rabid is fine, very tanky, great for solo. I run Trailblazer for more expertise (recently made a staff mirage and soloed Deadhouse meta - LOL that build), but you can also viper, sinister... Even if you completely "mess up" the traits, it'll still do damage, it's condi, they'll die eventually. :wink:

I used to play an Axe/Torch, Staff Mirage in WvW roaming and open world (with some utility and trait changes), full trailblazer of course, and it was very fun in both modes. Now it's only fun in one mode.

[Orack.9756]

@"TheAgedGnome.7520" said:I dusted off my Hizen condi staff mirage, and started to play around with varying it to be an axe mirage (in open world).

OMG, this is such a fun spec! Very active gameplay, yet not nearly as demanding as my weaver (thanks to the clones), and the reward/effort ratio feels much higher than weaver. It's hard to die to enemies, unless I don't pay attention.

This is my current spec, which seems to work well in open world so far, after several hours of play:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAcyZlRwgYJsDmJW0XavPA-zRIYsSHwXGZmC5WBePLV5sB-e

It's not perfect insofar as 1) it lacks condi cleanse, 2) maybe if I "git gud" I could swap some or all rabid with vipers or sinister, and 3) using axe 2 or 3 skills near a cliff could be problematic. But with the evades, condis are not a big deal, and the resilience is so good, I'm not sure I want to make my life stressful by getting rid of toughness. Also, I chose sword for offhand instead of torch for the illusion generation, and the shorter cooldowns - torch cooldowns are waaaaay too high, imo, despite the damage they claim to inflict.

Anyway, just wanted to throw that out there!

A bit late but I started like you with Hizen build, who is very boring to play cuz dmg are so low..Then I made mine, same as you with axe but different. I still use it these day, still can solo anything I encounter and, yes, it's very fun !The build I use : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiABc+drlRwwYIMImJW2P6vOA-zRJYkxfZ0TVlZq69sUlzG-eVery tanky, ton of heal from run, many stamina for dodge, I love the stamina sigil a LOT for all the pack of trash, that the best way I've find to kill them very fast while taking 0 hit, 100% worth the slot :) (Work also nice with a staff on meta event farm !)