Just made a PVE Mesmer. Need some opinions, options and more!! Lots of details inside

[Valkyries]

Hey everyone,

I made my very first PVE mesmer. I've been playing the class since the day I started GW but I've only ever played Mesmers in PVP. I am not sure why this exactly is, I've been through the game with my Ritualist, Warrior, and Necro respectivelly but now its time to give a PVE Mesmer a chance and some love. :)

My question is, what staff do you guys find most effective?

I actually already have the one I am going to use, but I wanted other people's opinion as well.

Ive made the decision to go the Domination Route. Im very acustomed to it, and I love the skill sets that it offers. At least in PVP Anyways, perhaps PVE is much different. We'll get to that shortly. I chose 10/10 for all skills instead of 20/20 for Domination because in my experience Ill always spread out my attributes and skill sets. Mesmers offer SO MUCH with all their attribute lines that I find its very tough to take all from Domination because you will want inspiration, FC, etc.

Do most of you guys run 20/20 staffs for your particlar Mesmer build, or do you run 10/10? I also have the +30 health mod and +5 energy to round it off. Thought that would be a good route to go... Hopefully I made the right choice, staff wasn't exactly cheap but I know I could sell rather easily given the skin (Zodiac) and the fact that its absolutely perfect :cool:

Mesmers are such an awesome class in PVP especially and I think the reason I shy'ed away from them so much in PVE is because I thought that it would be very hard to get groups etc. Basically the only thing I really care about is getting lvl 20, and some FoW armor for her so groups wont be a huge issue. Plus Hench > PUGS almost all the time. :evil: So I dont forsee this being a problem anymore.

I believe for my secondary Prof Im going to go with Elementalist. I realize Me/N is an absolutely awesome combination but I already have a N/Me and that is just way too similar for my liking so I figure if I mix it up it would be much more fun to play. Plus I really enjoy Glyph Mesmers, again I don't know how this works in PVE but in PVP its absolutely fantastic.

So just some thoughts on what I think... I'd really like to hear what you guys have to say. I know from my PVP days on this board that the Mesmer community here is the best. ;) So I know Ill get some good feedback. Remember, Im not new to mesmers, just mesmers in PVE so lets focus our discussion around that. Also if anyone else has any tips or helpful advice please share!

Thanks for reading
Cheers!

[Quinn]

Hey, and welcome to your PvE mesmer :) I'm no expert on this, but I'll give you my opinion. I've been playing a PvE mesmer since the start but have hardly done any PvP at all.

I focus on domination. I tend to hench a lot, like you, and domination gives a good amount of damage. Plus I really enjoy the interrupts. I'd suggest not spreading your attributes too much to stay effective.

As a staff I've been using the Willcrusher for a long while now. Especially for the 20 recharge on domination skills which is really useful. Casting time doesn't matter a whole lot for a mesmer with some FC, though I'd like to get a 20/20 domination staff to try. The Reduced Daze on the Willcrusher didn't do much up to now, but the amount of daze-doing skills is steadily increasing with Factions and upcoming Nightfall, so it is actually getting more useful over time ;) Besides all that, it's a nice light skin.

[Valkyries]

Thanks for the reply Quinn.

Maybe I should have rephrased my "spread out thin" part because of course you can't spread your attributes TOO thin... I meant basically

10 FC
14 Dom
10 Inspiration

Something to that effect (not calculating it is an example, with runes etc).

So I find that the 10/10 staff would be good for the Dom/Ins magic Ill be using. Or maybe thats a question, IF it would be better/more viable :P

Basically, when I do PVP I run something like this. This changes GREATLY on the build, so before anyone posts being like "WTF why would you use that" Its just an example

3-4 Dom Skills
2-3 Ins Skills for Energy Mgmt
1 res
1 Elite (which could be a ton of things depending on the build)

This is what I mean by spread out. If I have 3-3 for Dom/Ins I feel the 10/10 would be better than the 20/20. Yes 20% is awesome but it only affects those skills. I kind of like it effecting ALL my skills... which was why I posted the question. :)

I hope that helps clarify a little.

On another note, for sure the cast time don't matter too much with FC but I find with a Mesmer its never too fast. ;) Especially with Diversion which is maybe my favorite skill in PVP. I love watching the Monk cringe and either wait 6 seconds or cast knowing they have another minute before that skill will be active.

Wow I love Mesmers... almost forgot HOW MUCH I do!

[Quinn]

Hey Valkyries,

That spreading sounds fine to me. Maybe you want to have more than one weapon, to change with the skills you pick at a certain moment, and let the choice for 20% domination or inspiration recharge or 10% global depend on the actual skills you pick. I would go for the 20% recharge bonus for the skills on your skillbar that have the longest recharge times. And go for 10% global if you really have a lot of different types of skills at some point. I have a 10/10 that I hardly use, but that may just be a matter of taste.

I guess it’s time for me to reveal my killer build :p This is very probably not the best someone can come up with, but it’s what I made up myself and what I run most of the time.

Me/R
15 Domination
10 Fast Casting
10 Wilderness Survival

Serpent’s Quickness (Wilderness Survival)
Empathy (Domination)
Energy Surge (Domination, Elite)
Shatter Enchantment (Domination)
Power Spike (Domination)
Complicate (Domination)
Troll Unguent (Wilderness Survival)
Res Sig or Cap Sig

So this build is pretty domination-heavy, hence my love for the 20% domination recharge. Serpent’s Quickness gives a nice recharge bonus and Troll Unguent replaces the pretty crappy mesmer self-heal. For energy management I usually rely on the necro hench that uses Blood Ritual on me :D Maybe these choices can inspire you or some other mesmer to create their own preferred setup.

[Valkyries]

Thanks again for the comments Quinn. Very good!

After seeing your build, you are right that is very heavily depending on Dom so I totally see why you are wanting to have the 20% recharge.

I chose the 10% global because I use much more of a mix for skills

Ill show you what I used to run for HA.

10 FC
14 Dom
10 Inspiration

Glyph Of renewal {E}
Diversion (Dom)
Cry of Frustration (Dom)
Power Leak/Shatter Enchant(Dom)
Power Drain (Ins)
Drain Enchantment (Ins)
WildCard (Depending on what the team ran)
Res

So as you can see, I run 1 Elite that isn't either of the Mesmer attributes, 2 Ins, 3 Dom a res and a wild card which could really be anything. It really depends on what my teammates are doing.

Now please note this is HA... and that will greatly change with PVE.... I just wanted to give you an idea what I ran for reference. :p

So, looking at what I have there, do you agree the global is better or do you think I should re-invest in a 20% :) I can always get both as you said, pick up something like a Willcrusher (I like it too btw) and run both. We shall see. For now Ill stick with my pretty Zodiac. ;)

[SnipiousMax]

I have a 20/20 wand + 20/20 offhand combo for both Illusion and Domination. I usually run a Illusion Degen build or a Backfire/Empathy type combo. Since I'm spreading hexes to multiple enemies, I've always found the increased chance for a quick recharge is the handiest mod.

[Valkyries]

I have a 20/20 wand + 20/20 offhand combo for both Illusion and Domination. I usually run a Illusion Degen build or a Backfire/Empathy type combo. Since I'm spreading hexes to multiple enemies, I've always found the increased chance for a quick recharge is the handiest mod.

Actually good point!

I think what I'll do is buy a Wand + Nice off hand and then I can swap between the global staff and the two mods... probably my best bet. :)

Thanks for the comment.

[LightningHell]

I run something like this:

Energy Drain/Mantra of Recovery
Drain Enchantment
Shatter Enchantment/Empathy
Diversion
Cry of Frustration
Shatter Hex
Distortion/Backfire
Rebirth

I use a +5e sword, actually.

+5e, X/Enchanting (What else? Can't think of anything else.) and a 20/20 Domination (duh) focus.

[Themis]

Generally I always use a 10/10 Gorel's Cane and a Rockmolder (10/10 now...:mad: ). If i need some more health i take a 10/10 Illyana's staff instead.

Except:

When i have an illusion/inspi build i take a Vokur's Cane (20/20 illusion) + Rockmokder.

With a pure dom build i prefer a Gorel's + a inscribed Chakram (20/20 dom)
... or a Willcrusher (more fun)


All this might sound a bit complicated, but that's what i prefer. I avoid using double 20/20 cane+chakram, except when i have 2-3 inspiration skills, otherwise too fast recharge is hard on energy.

[SnipiousMax]

All this might sound a bit complicated, but that's what i prefer. I avoid using double 20/20 cane+chakram, except when i have 2-3 inspiration skills, otherwise too fast recharge is hard on energy.

I almost always use an elite E-Managment from the inspiration line.

[Hella Good]

I haven't even run my PvE Mes through Factiosn yet. I unlocked all the Mesmer elites on the Necro and PvE Necro is 100x easier than PvE Mes. I only made a PvE Mes to prove the point that Mes is viable in PvE and to buy me some cool stuff (like Fissure, items and all). I mostly run a Me/E, so I can unlock Ele skills as I go along. I think FC nuke probably gives you the best chances of finding a group. I mean, there is tons of things you can do but AoE stuff is a bit too important in PvE and Mes are a bit too short on it (Shatter Hex and Cry of Frustration are great PvE skills).

[Themis]

I almost always use an elite E-Managment from the inspiration line.
I agree that with E-Drain a 36% recharge is possible. Unfortunately, in my case, i end up finding myself mostly using (or beind asked to use) illusion/dom/fc Elites :( (and in some cases, a sec proffession Elite).

Perhaps the standard e-surge build is an exception to this rule, especially with Guilt AND Shame.

[LouAl]

Here is a great weapon set for a Dom/Insp mesmer
Garbok's Cane (20/20 Inspiration) and Domination off-hand from Droknar's (20/20 Domination). There is realy no reason not to have 20% cast/recharge on both lines as your primary set. If they are recharged you don't *always* have to cast them again right away.

That is what I usually carry when I a Dom/Insp build. I also usually carry a second set with Illayna's Staff (for extra energy and health boost), and a third set with Garbok's Cane and the Forgotten Fan (great to switch to when rebirthing someone). I sometimes also have a 4th set with Gorrel's staff for when I get in a pinch and need a quick 60 health.

[Hella Good]

i like 5 nrg wands. plenty of those in factions. i actually think i have one in my stash. ill check and let you know.

Edit:
Yea, I got a gold 10-20, r.10 dom, 9 uni recharge, 5^50 nrg
and a Korvald's Cane
You can have em, just pm me, I don't log in often anymore.

[TeeGee]

As for build - try this in pve - it works for me:

Glyph of renewal - problem of mesmer spells are high recharges
Cry of frustration - awesome interrupts in pve
Power spike - interrupts, does decent damage, low recharge - perfect for pve
Power drain - energy managment
Empathy - glyph it and spread on two warrior/assasin mobs to greatly add to teams dps
Shatter hex - removes hexes and glyphed works as awesome nuking spell
Backfire or Hex breaker or Wards against melee - im not fan of BF so I use hexbreaker. Wards could be helpfull for team.
Rez signet - obvious

It works through most pve areas - does damage and helps with all that nasty casters in cantha. Have fun trying this.

As for equipment - there is nor reason for additional fastcasting with mesmer (and all that interrupts in skillbar), but mesmer spells has high recharges so i use +5energy^50/20% faster recharge wand and +30hp/20% recharge focus for domination magic.

[Solar_Takfar]

I just started my own PvE mesmer, too (and a PvE monk, and a PvE ele. extra char slots FTW!). As I tried to decide what second class to use, I initially thought about Ele, since skills from both sinergize quite well... But decide to forgo it, because I was just starting a primary ele too, so I wanted something different. I considered Me/N, but I already have a N/Me. So I settled for Me/R, for something different. Decided to go Domination for damage, Inspiration for e-management and selfheals, and Beast mastery, just for the heck of it (it sounded fun to have a mesmer being followed by a giant pink chicken - I'll probably drop it later on).

So far, it does feel a bit more tricky to damage enemies with Me than with the Ele, for instance, even with the added pet damage. The skill bar also seems a bit short for all the stuff I want to use (anti-melee dom, anti-caster dom, self-heal insp, nrg mang insp, comfort animal, charm animal, rez sig: just one slot left! I'll probably take an interrupt, which leaves no room for a pet attacks, for instance). I considered going wilderness survival for the self-heal, but I figured FC won't help with troll ung, since it's a skill, not a spell, right... o well.

Bottomline is, it's a challenging choice, I'm having fun so far (lv6, just arrived in old ascalon), and then there's the added bonus that female mesmers have the sexiest outfits in the game :)

[lightblade]

I like 20/20 wand/focus too!

Too bad there's non that have this kind of effect AND look good the same time

[Almighty Bob]

For PvE, pure domination is the way to go.

13 Fast Casting
16 Domination

Energy Surge (E)
Energy Burn
Empathy
Backfire
Chaos Storm
Shatter Enchant/Hex
Guilt/Shame
Rez Sig

The idea here is pretty obvious. Just wipe people out. This build also works rather well in PvP. I've used it to great effect in Alliance Battles before. Granted, it also helps that people will cast/slash through the hexes in AB, but still. Start with energy Surge and Burn to get some early damage in- try to use these first as not only are enemies more likely to be grouped together, but they also are more likely to have energy to burn (literally ^_^). Chaos Storm should be saved for if a Warrior decides to attack you- cast it when he is right in front of you, and he will break aggro to get out of the AoE. Empathy/Backfire should go on their respective targets. Guilt/Shame for interrupt, energy denial, and energy management. Shatter Hex does more damage to more people, but Shatter Enchantment has the added bonus of turning Monk enchantments against their targets. If you don't need the rez sig (if you have a party with enough rez or are in AB) then bring both guilt and shame- never can have enough energy.

I've used this build many a time in many a situation, and it does good, consistent damage. The best part of the build is that none of the damage it does can be reduced by armor. If your energy burn will do 80 damage, it'll do 80 damage. The major negative aspect is that nearly all of the damage relies on a condition being met. No energy? No Burn or Surge. No attacking? No empathy. No enchantments? No Shatter. And so on. This is a minor issue, however, as there will be plenty of everything around. Also make sure to change your build as the area dictates. It will tax your energy at times, and the recharges will catch up with you, but pick your targets well, and by the time you run out of spells, the earliest ones will be charged again.

[Shanaeri Rynale]

IMHO, for PvE, when not playing pure interupter a fast cast of about 9 is ok. After 9/10 one starts seeing dimishing returns. I would put more into another line than going to 10+ in FC. Buy a second set of gloves for example, and put a major/Sup fast cast on it, then armor swap in the rare occasions you may need a 10+FC, then switch back to your normal config.

see http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Fast_Casting for FC tables.

[Lady Lozza]

Hey everyone,

Hello, Valkyries!

I made my very first PVE mesmer. I've been playing the class since the day I started GW but I've only ever played Mesmers in PVP. I am not sure why this exactly is, I've been through the game with my Ritualist, Warrior, and Necro respectivelly but now its time to give a PVE Mesmer a chance and some love. :)

My question is, what staff do you guys find most effective?

I actually already have the one I am going to use, but I wanted other people's opinion as well.

Ive made the decision to go the Domination Route. Im very acustomed to it, and I love the skill sets that it offers. At least in PVP Anyways, perhaps PVE is much different. We'll get to that shortly. I chose 10/10 for all skills instead of 20/20 for Domination because in my experience Ill always spread out my attributes and skill sets. Mesmers offer SO MUCH with all their attribute lines that I find its very tough to take all from Domination because you will want inspiration, FC, etc.


Firstly, I advise you to experiment with illusion and inspiration as well :) Because mesmers are so versitile in pve, you will never be playing just a single build or single line of builds. Even though it isn't offensive there are times when running a pure, or near pure, Inspiration build is worth it's pixels in gold.


Do most of you guys run 20/20 staffs for your particlar Mesmer build, or do you run 10/10? I also have the +30 health mod and +5 energy to round it off. Thought that would be a good route to go... Hopefully I made the right choice, staff wasn't exactly cheap but I know I could sell rather easily given the skin (Zodiac) and the fact that its absolutely perfect :cool:


Thankfully green weapons for mesmers are "fairly" cheap. They are also fairly good. Because pve mesmers are versitile, you will want numerous weapons sets.
You have to remember that things like +1 dom. will not be effective if you are running a lot of skills like blackout, where the +1 will not increase the effectivness of the skills at all. However if you are running a shatter build the extra damage can be really nice.

Remember that with FC 20% cast is not really necessary. Yes, sometimes (for a few spells) it is really, really nice, but most of the time it will make very little difference. So if you find a gold with 20% recharge + another random mod, it may be that it is just as useful as a 20/20 or even more so.

Next point, look carefully at your build. If the domination skills you have have a large recharge, and are the "focal" point of the build then you will want a 20 recharge, however if they are not - if you have a bar of mixed skills, with recharges that aren't all that important then you might be better running with 10% all skill lines. Sometimes though, you might find something like the handsmasher useful, it is a dom staff with 20/20 inspiration.

Mesmers are such an awesome class in PVP especially and I think the reason I shy'ed away from them so much in PVE is because I thought that it would be very hard to get groups etc. Basically the only thing I really care about is getting lvl 20, and some FoW armor for her so groups wont be a huge issue. Plus Hench > PUGS almost all the time. :evil: So I dont forsee this being a problem anymore.

Mesmers own in Cantha, period. If you have factions, henching any of the areas will not be a problem.

I believe for my secondary Prof Im going to go with Elementalist. I realize Me/N is an absolutely awesome combination but I already have a N/Me and that is just way too similar for my liking so I figure if I mix it up it would be much more fun to play. Plus I really enjoy Glyph Mesmers, again I don't know how this works in PVE but in PVP its absolutely fantastic.

In all honesty, 2ndary prof for mesmers don't matter too much. Especially when you can change easily.

So just some thoughts on what I think... I'd really like to hear what you guys have to say. I know from my PVP days on this board that the Mesmer community here is the best. ;) So I know Ill get some good feedback. Remember, Im not new to mesmers, just mesmers in PVE so lets focus our discussion around that. Also if anyone else has any tips or helpful advice please share!

Welcome to the pve mesmer community!
We're a little more inventive than the pvp community, and we argue endlessly over the use of some skills, but because we are all so versitile and flexible (my catchphrase for the day I think...) I doubt you will ever find yourself on the bad side of this little community we have here. Well... not too frequently at any rate ;)

[Valkyries]

thanks so much for all the great comments. I would have written earlier but I was on vacation and 8 Euro an hour for internet wasn't in my plans. ;)

At any rate, seriously great comments. I haven't had time to play my mesmer much as of YET but I am gearing up to doing so tomorrow and this week. Im going to post a build that I will run in PVE and maybe you guys can give me some pointers on if it looks ok or what I should change. I really only have experience with Mesmers with PVP only and I realize its a completely different ballgame using them in PVP than it is in PVE. So Ill give it a shot and see what I like.

Oh and Lady Lozza, thanks very much for the detailed description on the weapons. Actually I know for sure Ill be using a large range because of my favorite skills and such. :p I've used almost every Mesmer skill at one point or another (again in PVP) but I STILL know what I like and what I dont like. So thats why I invested in a 10/10 Staff which I think will be extremely useful. I am also going to buy a green staff to compliment that with 20% like the rest of you great folks suggested and go from there.

Thanks again to all who replied. Some great builds posted here too! I look forward to playing my mesmer tomorrow and posting what Im running (and maybe grabbing some ideas from these) ;) Ill post when I have my mesmer past lvl 3. LOL! I figure I should be half way to 20 by tomorrow. :D

[Valkyries]

Ok well after a few days and lvls, here is what I managed to come up with :D

Keep in mind this is my first stab at a PVE Mesmer build. I have LOTS of experience with PVP but I know its VERY different so Im doing my best at this but Im not sure if Im on the right track.

So far I just have one elite because it was simple to Cap. Luckily its a VERY good one in my opinion...

So the attributes are all messed up because Im not lvl 20 yet.... I did have almost every non elite skill unlocked though because of PVP. So I just had to buy some :D Works out nicely for me. I did it the hard way when I used my PVP mesmer... just grinded faction and bought whatever I want. Now time for the other route

Ok so without further adue, here is what Im playing around with. Please feel free to comment, etc just don't say it sucks and leave... I know it sucks, of course it does... I really am not sure what to run for PVE at all so suggest changes, cuts, etc. That would be VERY helpful for me!

Expel Hexes {E}
Diversion
Backfire
Energy Burn
Shatter Hex
Power Drain
Drain Enchantment
Res Signet

What do you think? Too much energy?? I running full enchanters so I have approx 52 energy and 4 Pips. So hopefully that'll offset this a bit.

I'd NEVER run this in PVP but again Im very new to Mesmer PVE.. so any help is appreciated :cool:

[Sab]

The build looks decent. A few suggestions:

- Drop E-Burn for Empathy - simply better for dealing damage
- Considering switching Diversion for a direct interrupt instead (e.g. Power Spike) or Shatter Enchantment
- If you're feeling interrupt-heavy, try using Energy Drain instead of Expel and Power Return instead of Power Drain

[Valkyries]

The build looks decent. A few suggestions:

- Drop E-Burn for Empathy - simply better for dealing damage
- Considering switching Diversion for a direct interrupt instead (e.g. Power Spike) or Shatter Enchantment
- If you're feeling interrupt-heavy, try using Energy Drain instead of Expel and Power Return instead of Power Drain

Hey, thanks for the tips!! :)

First one, E-Burn was kind of a wild card. Honestly I wasn't sure what to put there so I thought dealing decent dmg plus taking out a Monk's energy would be a decent choice. I will try Empathy though... because honestly I don't have much exposure to it.

I REALLY love diversion in PVP but again I dunno how good it really is in PVE. I will at least try your suggestion but its so hard for me NOT to run this skill. Its really one of my favorites :ninja:

I would have perhaps ran a different elite but I only have Expel Hexes at the moment. :p Its very easy to cap (just out side of Kaineng) and Im only like lvl 6 right now. When I get to lvl 20 and can cap basically everything Ill start grabbing different ones. What Elite would you consider the best for Dom in PVE? In PVP there are a ton of choices. ESurge, Panic, etc... and I usually use Glyph and play Glyph Mesmer with Ele as a secondary.... but again not sure if this is a good choice in PVE.

Again thanks for the comments.

[SnipiousMax]

What Elite would you consider the best for Dom in PVE?

I usually run E-drain as my elite. If I spec all in Dom and Illusion I run Ineptitude.

If you run Edrain, then I'd drop Power drain in favor of something else. I'd also look into Cry of Frustration, as the group interrupt is very useful in PvE. I really like the skill Overload, as I think it synergizes well with Backfire, but it's not really a popular choice.

[Darcy]

I have a Me/W with Rogue's armor. (Don't ask, I don't remember why the warrior secondary)

My favorite weapon set:

Garbok's Cane 20/20 Ins req 9 Dom
Jeweled Chalice eng +27, eng reg -1, hp +30, req 9 ins (crystal desert
collector)

My current skills (I'm exploring and capping elites in the Southern Shiverpeaks with henchmen):

Images of Remorse
Empathy
Conjure Phantasm
Ether Feast
Energy Tap
Energy Drain (E)
Wildcard (currently Elemental Resistance)
Rez

As you can see, I'm set for a lot of e-denial and hp degen plus protection for myself. If I take less damage and self-heal periodically, the healer(s) can concentrate on keeping the henchies alive. My attack skills can take out an enemy healer in seconds. It's worked very well so far.

While Cry of Frustration would seem to be a good interrupt, I don't use it because I don't find that hench warriors can draw a group.

[Effigy]

Based on the specs Valk described, here are the weapon sets I'd recommend (works for PvP and PvE):

Slot 1 - Main wand/focus
Mina's Gaze (9 Dom)
HSR 10%
Energy +5^50% hp

The Time Eater (9 FC)
HSR 10%
+30 hp

Slot 2 - Enchanting swap
Rajazan's Fervor (9 Sword)
Cold dmg
+5 energy
20% enchanting

The Time Eater (9 FC)
HSR 10%
+30 hp

Slot 3 - Negative energy swap
Ironclaw (9 Axe)
+15% dmg
-5 energy
20/20 sundering
+30hp

Tattered Fan (9 Chan)
+30 hp
+5 armor
-5 energy

Slot 4 - High energy swap
Rajazan's Fervor (9 Sword)
Cold dmg
+5 energy
20% enchanting

Mohby's Artifact (9 FC)
+15 energy
-1 energy regen
+30 hp

With those sets, you're ready for any situation you might encounter. For PvE, you could replace the negative energy swap with a long bow for pulling, since you won't be getting drained that much by mobs. Hope that helps.