7 replies to this topic

[Grav]

As I spend more time (and gold) getting my mesmer ascended, I'm starting to pay a little more attention to some of the details of my build and so I'm after some advice around sigils.

Currently I run greatsword + sword/focus.  The sigils respectively are Perception, Ice and Hydromancy.

Regarding Perception, I read this interesting Reddit post comparing Bloodlust and Perception.  In his case, Bloodlust worked out marginally better; I'd like to know if the same is true for me, and I can't brain too good when it comes to math like this.  I currently have approx 2300 power, 50% precision and 65% crit damage.

I went with Ice and Hydromancy a long time ago as I was convinced that Chill was a pretty underrated condition, and I still believe that.  However, I'm not sure these are the right choices for my particular build anymore.

Hydromancy I'm unsure about because when I switch to sword/focus I usually find myself away from my target since I've been busy greatswording them up to that point, so the timing of the chill means it's often gone to waste.  I'm considering Battle or Energy in its place; I can test each of them out myself unless anyone has any better ideas?

As for Ice, I literally only noticed a few days ago that it has a 10 second cooldown (derp), which means it'll only ever proc once during my cycle, at most.  I'm thinking I might just switch this one to Force instead?  Any other suggestions?

Also while we're on the subject, there seems to be some conflicting/unclear discussions on various forums around which sigils work with phantasms (if any) and which ones don't.  Does anyone have a definitive answer on this?

Thanks in advance.

[Riz]

In general, I love Hydromancy on classes that are in close.  It's great on my Guardian, for instance.  However, I'm not sure I'd really want it on my mesmer, for the same reasons.

Perception is silly on your mesmer, as 50% crit is plenty.  Adding more crit, with only 65% damage is never going to do more than scaling up more power, given your already decent crit rate.  If you are using a builder, I'd go for Bloodlust.

Now, for sigils other than builders...

Battle and Energy are great.  I'd drop Battle on your greatsword.  When you switch to it, it will boost your damage (and your zerker's damage) quite well.  I don't know if you are shatter spec or phantasm, but it will help with both.  I'd put Energy on your sword.  You will most likely be pulling that out when you are close, so chances are, that's when you want the extra dodge.  I'd actually consider keeping hydromancy on the focus (which goes against pretty much everything I said at the start).  Chilling the enemy and having an endurance boost is a great defense.  Of course, I tend to switch to sword for defense on my mesmer, so our playstyles may differ.

Aside from hydromancy, perhaps Accuracy is a decent one, given its 5% crit, it could be just enough boost in crit, that added with the extra power from bloodlust, would produce the maximum dps.

[Nathon]

Bloodlust, Force, and Energy are all better choices in my opinion. Energy is too good not to use, and is even more useful if you run clone creation on dodge roll.

[matthen]

Answers to this question are build and play style dependent. A couple of general notes:

1. Bloodlust versus Perception: what typically pushes mesmers to perception are "on crit" abilities. If you have bleed and vigor on crit (Dueling > 15), you probably want the perception stacks. Otherwise, you can make an argument for either. Put the stacking sigil in sword or focus, and have a backup weapon with a Force or Accuracy sigil to swap in when you have full stacks.

2. Battle versus Energy. If you have clones on dodge, take energy... otherwise, take battle. Alternatively, mix battle and energy. You can't really go wrong here. You'll be swapping weapons a lot with GS/S+F, so you'll be getting good returns on either.

I think that's pretty safe, general advice. Other choices may be better depending on whether you have a specific tactic in mind.

[matthen]

Regarding your question on sigils and illusions, I can't verify the answer, but I would look at this thread and focus on the statements that Pyroathiest supports. He always seem up on this kind of thing:

https://forum-en.gui...weaps-phantasms

[Reisa]

What kind of Mesmer build are you?  Clearly not a condition build, but are you a phantasm Mesmer or a shatter Mesmer?

Illusions inherit three stats from the Mesmer--precision, toughness, and critical damage.  If you're a phantasm Mesmer, most of your damage will be coming from your phantasms and Mesmers don't really do enough damage to warrant a Force sigil, unless they're shatter mesmers hoping to burst down an enemy super fast.

Accuracy sigil *may* also apply to illusions.  I've heard conflicting reports about either.

If you're not taking staff, I recommend a Sigil of Energy somewhere.  Between almost perma vigor (for now), one sigil is enough to ensure that you have almost permanent dodge uptime.

Lastly, if you're roaming in WvW, consider Sigil of Doom (on weapon swap: next attack causes poison for 5 secs, 9s CD).  Poison well and truly wrecks people, even on zerker mesmers, because their healing takes a huge hit (and some classes have pretty sucky healing).  This makes them easier to kill in the long run.

I'd go with something like the following: Superior Energy, Superior Flamestrike/Superior Doom/Stacks sigil and then your preference on Force or Accuracy.

Also, if you ever go condition build, keep in mind that Sigil of Torment is the only sigil that's on its own cooldown, instead of sharing in the global cooldown.

[Mirror Owl]

*Edit injection: Reisa, not correct. Illusions inherit nothing but your base stats, i.e. Power, Precision, Vitality, Toughness.  Thus Force and Accuracy sigils will not impact illusion damage, whereas Bloodlust or Perception will because they modify your (and  thereby your illusions') base stats.

My go-to sigils are Bloodlust on a stacking weapon (over Perception because once you're in the 50%+ range, you're getting more damage from the power than a couple extra %'s of crit chance).

Then I usually go for Force, Accuracy, Energy, or Fire.  Generosity sigils are also stellar, unless you're running Mender's Purity plus the Mantra heal.  Grossly pricy though.

[Grav]

Thanks everyone.  I'm going Bloodlust/Force/Energy for now.

Reisa, on 31 December 2013 - 10:50 AM, said:

What kind of Mesmer build are you?  Clearly not a condition build, but are you a phantasm Mesmer or a shatter Mesmer?

Phantasm fwiw.  I do shatter occasionally, but I'm not traited for it.

Mirror Owl, on 31 December 2013 - 04:06 PM, said:

Illusions inherit nothing but your base stats, i.e. Power, Precision, Vitality, Toughness.  Thus Force and Accuracy sigils will not impact illusion damage, whereas Bloodlust or Perception will because they modify your (and  thereby your illusions') base stats.

Excellent info, tyvm.