Mesmer Greatsword Glass Cannon (WvWvW/sPvP)

I didn't see very many Mesmer builds up here so I figured I would add mine to the mix. 

Main Weapon: Greatsword

Swap Weapon: Sword Main hand, Pistol Off hand

Weapon Gear & Sigils: Berserker; Air, Earth or Blood

Armor: Berserker, modified with Superior Rune of the Scholar 6/6

Jewelry: Rare quality Mithril Ruby rings, amulet and accessories with rubies in slot would be the ideal equipment, but due to the rarity of those in game at the moment try to get Masterwork or even Fine quality. 

Traits & Skills

The linked traits will allow you to have high damage output with your Greatsword abilities and use of Mind Wrack. It will also allow you to deal more damage when having max clones/phantasms out and provide some defensive deception with Desperate Decoy, allowing you to get away or buy you some time to recover. You'll also gain Fury when you interrupt a foe, and with these skills and abilities you will have multiple opportunities to do so. 

The key with the Greatsword is to stay at long distances so your Spatial Surge can deal the most amount of damage while minimizing the amount you are taking. Swap when you get into melee range (Illusionary Leap is great for closing the distance by swapping places with your illusion) and take advantage of Blurred Frenzy's high damage output and temporary defense from Blur, create a Duelist then use Blink to put some distance between you and swap again. Build up your clones and phantasms with Mirror Blade/Berserker/Duelist quickly and Mind Wrack often for extra damage. You can also shred them with Distortion if you get into trouble. Diversion is a good interrupt tactic when dealing with casters and enemies trying to revive their friends. Mind Stab is a decent AOE and Mirror Blade bounces between foes and creates a clone at the primary target's location, creating confusion for the enemy.

Note: clones will look like you and mimic your actions but will deal very little damage; phantasms appear translucent but are your primary damage dealers.  Keep 3 phantasms up in small engagements such as 1v1 for sustained damage and create clones when you want to quickly shred them using Mind Wrack for burst damage, which tends to be more effective when in a crowd as they deal AOE damage. 

Skill Breakdown

Signet of Domination is excellent for Interrupting and Stunning runners, increasing your chances to get the kill and prevent the target from getting away. Magic Bullet is also useful to interrupt as it causes a single condition (stunned, dazed, blinded) to three targets in range and is great for causing general confusion in the enemy as well as stopping runners. Moa Morph is good when in a 1v1 situation or when in a crowd to temporarily neutralize a target that needs to be taken down. Illusionary Wave will also interrupt enemies as it knocks them back, dealing aoe damage in a frontal AOE cone. Its range is shorter than your other abilities however so keep that in mind. 

Blink is an excellent utility skill as you can break stuns, teleport behind an enemy, get out of danger and increase the distance when you need to get away. Null field will help you and your allies while debilitating your enemies, however you can also swap this skill out with Mirror Images if you'd rather create clones quickly in order to shred them on a target or for your own protection. 

Tactics

You can hold your own in a 1v1 match with burst when you Mind Wrack, keeping your enemy at bay with knock back, stuns and Moa Morph while you are beating them to death with your other abilities, but you'll have the most fun with this build when you are in combat with large crowds.

This build is great for pushing, as in leading the charge, pushing through the enemy lines and creating general havoc for the opposing side. Illusionary Wave will knock over anyone int he front, creating space and allowing for your casters to inch up and get their aoes deeper into the enemy line. Mirror Image and Mind Stab will damage multiple targets as you start to mow through enemies, using your stuns to allow your teammates to catch up to the targets. This build is also good for holding the line, as you can stun and interrupt the enemy and keep them from pushing on you with your array of abilities until teammates are revived or until reinforcements get there. This is effectively demonstrated in close-quarter bottlenecks, where you can steadily push back an enemy force if done correctly and with the right support from your teammates. 

As a Glass Cannon, you won't be able to take a lot of damage for very long so you'll need to utilize your dodging ability and Blink to avoid AOEs and nasty attacks. Shredding illusions with Distortion is also a great counter if timed right. Hotkey the 'Look Behind' camera view (I use Z) and use it in conjunction with Blink (i hotkeyed my 9 key to X for my own ease of use) when you need to teleport after being revived, or need to teleport directly behind you quickly. 

Just a quick question (or 2).... Does the duelist do more damage than the swordsman - or is it just playstyle? Also - do you know if the warlock has a great range on their spells so that during keep sieges you can cast him and he can target players or oil on the walls? ... and ... thanks for posting this.

The swordsman's damage is listed at 656 while the Duelist's is 200 (8x), so 1600. I find it unloads a ton of damage, and you can have 3 duelists going at once if you're looking to put out the sustained damage vs. the burst from just Wracking them. As far as the Warlock goes, its range (1,200) is equal to that of the other phantasms like the Berserker and Duelist. Any of the phantasms can target people on the walls or burning oil as long as you are within range.

» Edited on: 2012-09-15 05:29:49

» Edited on: 2012-09-15 05:53:42

» Edited on: 2012-10-02 10:12:21

If you are worried about people on the walls etc run a focus in your off hand . Then cast temporal curtain then use the pull from it to pull defenders off the wall to your team below , plus it gives you swiftness !

One *very* important thing to note is that the Berserker does not require line of sight, so you can use it against people/siege weapons to the back of the wall. I usually like to single out ranged defenders, use feedback, and swap to greatsword and use berserker, which if they're not paying attention will usually down them. On the other hand, you can use berserker first, feedback second, use temporal warp to pull them to the edge (or off the wall) and use Warden to deal around 6000 damage while they're getting up. Focus traits also allow you to *reflect* any projectile with Warden or Curtain (so making ranged champions and bosses a non-issue :p) and can also be used on the wall to reflect all the ranged back at them. A ranger or thief using only ranged abilites cannot kill a traited Warden for example. Hope this helps :p.

» Edited on: 2012-09-27 01:35:57