72 replies to this topic

[Silvernis]

I'm curious about sigils as well. I'm currently packing bloodlust on my GS because yay unimaginative power boost, but everything else is still open.

[Biff Rangoon]

The main reason for doom isn't damage, but to reduce your opponent's healing by 33% when they're poisoned. It still does that even with 0 points in condi damage, and can deny your opponent thousands of health when they really need it.

I'm pro energy on anything, and then it depends on my spec. Fire, air, and/or bloodlust (if you can tolerate generating stacks) are all good choices for a shatter mesmer.

[KaiX]

fire and air on GS, for swap go doom and leeching or energy and leeching.

[Slein Jinn]

Grav, on 30 July 2015 - 01:57 AM, said:

Which sigils are you guys using?

Double on-crit sigils on the Greatsword is a must.  Air+Fire is the standard, but you can do double Air (Major+Superior) or Air+Blood.  Your ranged poke with Greatsword Auto Attacks is an integral part of the Mesmer class, and a huge part of that poke comes from your sigils.  It's also something you can play around to some extent.  

Your weapon swap has a lot of room for personal preference.  In WvW, it's hard to get away from having a Bloodlust Sigil on your off-set.  Energy is also always a solid choice on such weapons.  It's ludicrously expensive, but if you're running Chaos instead of Inspiration, Generosity is one of the best choices.  If you're using Runes of Strength, then Battle is a good choice.  Doom is great 1v1, but less useful as the fights get bigger.  Failing any of those, I'd go with one of the on-crit damage sigils that isn't on your Greatsword.  

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I don't really see the point in Doom as mantra shatter isn't a condi build, unless it's intended more as a cover condition?

Doom is for the healing reduction.  Almost every 1v1 build uses it--it has almost nothing to do with condition damage.  It cripples the sustain on builds with passive healing and baits cooldowns on builds with active healing.

[matthen]

I run GS/Staff almost exclusively, although I swap in Sword/Torch occasionally.

GS: Air + Fire. I tried using Energy for a little bit, but swapped back to Air + Fire. Being able to out pressure your opponent from range forces them to come close (into your shatters) or run away (more pressure means that you are more likely to down them before they escape).

Staff: Energy + Bloodlust. See Slein's post above.

Lots of reasonable options, but I haven't felt any compelling reasons to change from the above.

[Blackthorn]

Another for Air and Fire on the greatsword. I think I've currently got Energy and Perception on the other set, but I've tried a lot of things - Doom, Battle, Hyrdromancy, Peril. All were effective, I thought, though with Hydromancy and the like you've got to be careful because it can reveal your position when you don't want it to.

I'm intrigued to try Sigil of Force in conjunction with the Seaweed salad food. Someone who uses that combo tried to convince me that the damage bonuses multiply, but ... that can't be real.

[Biff Rangoon]

Blackthorn, on 30 July 2015 - 06:42 PM, said:

Another for Air and Fire on the greatsword. I think I've currently got Energy and Perception on the other set, but I've tried a lot of things - Doom, Battle, Hyrdromancy, Peril. All were effective, I thought, though with Hydromancy and the like you've got to be careful because it can reveal your position when don't want it to.

I'm intrigued to try Sigil of Force in conjunction with the Seaweed salad food. Someone who uses that combo tried to convince me that the damage bonuses multiply, but ... that can't be real.

They should multiply, as that's how all % damage multipliers work in the game. To be clear though, that doesn't mean 10% x 5%=50%; it means 1.1x1.05=1.155 (15.5%).

[matthen]

Blackthorn, on 30 July 2015 - 06:42 PM, said:

I thought, though with Hydromancy and the like you've got to be careful because it can reveal your position when you don't want it to.

Yes. Hydromancy is a bad idea for this very reason. On swap sigils with a direct damage component should be avoided. It is not uncommon for me to decoy, swap, i-zerker, mirror blade, shatter.  Doom works fine because the poison is applied on the next attack.

[Blackthorn]

Biff Rangoon, on 30 July 2015 - 07:25 PM, said:

They should multiply, as that's how all % damage multipliers work in the game. To be clear though, that doesn't mean 10% x 5%=50%; it means 1.1x1.05=1.155 (15.5%).

Thanks! Zesh had said the same thing afterward, but no one wanted to believe him cuz it's Zesh.

matthen, on 31 July 2015 - 01:01 PM, said:

Yes. Hydromancy is a bad idea for this very reason. On swap sigils with a direct damage component should be avoided. It is not uncommon for me to decoy, swap, i-zerker, mirror blade, shatter.  Doom works fine because the poison is applied on the next attack.

We found it could be pretty useful, actually. I ran it one night using sword/torch and GS. I would get people low (if not down them), snare them with Hydromancy/sword 3 chain, down them, and leave point for a bit while the rest of everyone cleaved and bunkered. The next day I went to duel with a lockdown build, forgot to change my sigils, and got rekt because of the Hydromancy. So, I think for a very specific scenerio/playstyle, it can work well. Outside of that, I agree that it's more likely to get you killed than anything.

[Ronald Rekdonald]

I have a serious question, because I was told in pvp by multiple people that PU Condi mesmer is harder to play then zerk shatter, or even zerk boonshare. To me I was surprised, really? Its that hard to stay in stealth the entire time and lay condis? Damn, Im missing my skill then.

Besides that...I have been running a modified Zerk Shatter boonshare mes.
Works pretty good...

PLUS:
Almost unlimited stability (stability when you shatter)
Easily 25 stacks of might upkeep for a good 15 seconds as long as you are in combat
Tons of clones via dodge
Supports your party or just nearby friendlies
DPS is amazing

CONS:
Tons of boons = Tons of condi when u face a necromancer. (However with a condi cleanse utility, this build works great)
No more traveler runes. I swapped and never thought I would, but with basically unlimited swiftness, I dont miss it.
Loss of immediate burst without Sword/Torch - DPS is great, but is more sustained. (Dont get me wrong you can still 100-0 a thief with this build with mind wrack)

I have been rolling this for a few days now. Staff/Greatsword.

Will be releasing a video about it in the upcoming days but if you have q's...ask them!

Ronald out.

[Biff Rangoon]

Ronald Rekdonald, on 01 August 2015 - 04:34 AM, said:

I have a serious question, because I was told in pvp by multiple people that PU Condi mesmer is harder to play then zerk shatter, or even zerk boonshare. To me I was surprised, really? Its that hard to stay in stealth the entire time and lay condis? Damn, Im missing my skill then.

I have no idea about a proper match, but in single duels PU condi is waaaaaaay easier to play. I'm the trashiest of the trash mesmer, and even I was killing people with it without breaking a sweat. Shatter was definitely more difficult even though it's not that complicated to play, and the opportunity for a skilled player to squeeze more juice out of it seems greater.

Maybe they meant more difficult to play and be an asset to your team? If your opponents are sharing regular condi cleanses, I don't think you'd be doing that much except staying alive.

[Liric]

As a warrior, I don't find the condition variants difficult to face at all in WvW. I'd much rather watch condis fall off of me all day than have to bother with those obnoxious bursters who rely on surprise OP spike damage after a combination of stealth and lag.

That said, I won't bother to engage either one because of the cancerous stealth escape crutch.

[Blackthorn]

Ronald Rekdonald, on 01 August 2015 - 04:34 AM, said:

I have a serious question, because I was told in pvp by multiple people that PU Condi mesmer is harder to play then zerk shatter, or even zerk boonshare. To me I was surprised, really? Its that hard to stay in stealth the entire time and lay condis? Damn, Im missing my skill then.

Besides that...I have been running a modified Zerk Shatter boonshare mes.
Works pretty good...

PLUS:
Almost unlimited stability (stability when you shatter)
Easily 25 stacks of might upkeep for a good 15 seconds as long as you are in combat
Tons of clones via dodge
Supports your party or just nearby friendlies
DPS is amazing

CONS:
Tons of boons = Tons of condi when u face a necromancer. (However with a condi cleanse utility, this build works great)
No more traveler runes. I swapped and never thought I would, but with basically unlimited swiftness, I dont miss it.
Loss of immediate burst without Sword/Torch - DPS is great, but is more sustained. (Dont get me wrong you can still 100-0 a thief with this build with mind wrack)

I have been rolling this for a few days now. Staff/Greatsword.

Will be releasing a video about it in the upcoming days but if you have q's...ask them!

Ronald out.

As someone who is regularly the beneficiary of your 25 stacks of might, stab, and 3+ minutes of swiftness, I love this build.

I'm playing ele in recent days, and our thief and mesmer are both running support builds. What's even happening?!?

Edit: Oh, and as for PU condi, I agree with Biff - 1v1 and even in a lot of 1v2's, it's much easier to play than zerk shatter. I messed around it like a year ago because I wanted to check out the Scepter changes they had made at that time. There were very few builds it was weak against (e.g. Diamond Skin ele). I remember winning a 1v4 against some Ferg's Crossing people with it at one point. You're probably not gonna see that happen with zerk shatter, no matter how bad the opposition is. In larger fights it's kinda useless unless the opposition lacks condi clear. Even still, it's hard to focus your damage, like the scepter 2, which melts people if they don't clear it.