Newcomer!

Greetings fellow Mesmers.

I have just recently started playing Guild Wars (2 days ago) and my first choice of profession just so happened to be a mesmer. I am level 16 right now (with the prophecies campaign) and I can't help but wonder how the playstyle of a Mesmer is "supposed" to be played.

What builds are most common for newcomers? (I have read the guides, but would like some insight from other players as well.)

My second profession is Elementalist, but I find myself only using Mesmer skills and not any of my elementalist. Is that to be expected, or am I just being and ignorant noob?

After lurking around the forums a bit, I have read that Mesmers are the hardest and least played profession in the game.

Any insight would be appreciated.

=D

A mesmer's main job is disruption and control. A golden rule you could say is find out what is hurting your team, shut it down; and find the other teams weakness and exploit it. Example is some foe ele is laying down some hurt, you can interrupt and stop him. Or when facing a single monk, you can single handedly shut him down, and wipe the group much easier. In the end pve is still about dps over the biggest area possible. But simple reasoning like that will be worth its weight in gold if you ever decide to pvp, and I hope you do.

For skill choices, since aoe is the golden goose in pve. Esurge, ether nightmare, cry of pain, cry of frustration, shatter hex are irreplaceable.

I use this but I do not know what campaigns you have so below is an all prof bar:
[build prof=Mesmer/Necromancer][Energy Surge][Energy Burn][Ether Nightmare][Signet of Corruption][Cry of Pain][Power Drain][Power Spike][Resurrection Signet][/build]

[build prof=Mesmer/Elementalist][Energy Surge][Energy Burn][Shatter Hex][Cry of Frustration][Power Drain][Power Spike][No Skill][Resurrection Signet][/build]

The last slot is up to you, choices are glyph of lesser for no energy problems ever, inspired enchantment for enchant removal, inspired hex for more hex removal. Or whatever you wish...


For ele, searing flames really is the best elite due "its aoe without being aoe" I use this on heros, but its effectiveness is still rediculous.

[build prof=Elementalist/Mesmer][Searing Flames][Glowing Gaze][Liquid Flame][Meteor Shower][Power Drain][Glyph of Lesser Energy][Fire Attunement][Resurrection Signet][/build]

All prof build:

[build prof=Elementalist/Mesmer][Rodgort's Invocation][Searing Heat][Fireball][Incendiary Bonds][Meteor Shower][Elemental Attunement][Fire Attunement][Resurrection Signet][/build]

Prophecies fire magic is so weak, stupid NF spoiled me.

Welcome to GW, and to the Mesmer profession!

The trick to playing a Mesmer is to think about how your enemies act and react, and how you can turn that against them in some way - in other words, exploiting the actions of others for your own benefit. If they like to defend themselves with enchantments, bring a skill that removes enchantments. If they like to hex you a lot, bring a skill that removes hexes. If they like to cast spells at you, bring a skill that prevents them from finishing their casting (like an interrupt) or punishes them for doing it (like Backfire, Guilt or Shame). It is this way of thinking that makes Mesmers more difficult to play, because not only do you have to learn how your own skills work, you also have to learn what every other profession is capable of and the effects that their skills have when used against you. This upcoming point is extremely important: your greatest weapon as a Mesmer is your brain - use the wikis (the official wiki can be accessed from within the game by pressing F10) to research your enemies and the skills they use. This will let you plan out the skills that will be most useful to you as you travel through each area.

It is perfectly acceptable to only use Mesmer skills. It is your decision on whether or not you want to use any skills from your secondary profession. That being said, your secondary profession can sometimes provide you with a few useful gems that can make things easier for you. Taking Elementalist as your secondary is useful for one big reason: Glyph of Lesser Energy (linked to Energy Storage, and one of the skills you should have learned in pre-searing) is incredibly useful for energy management purposes. Even though you can't invest in Energy Storage as a secondary Elementalist, GoLE will still reduce the cost of your next two spells by 10 energy each, which is a huge energy saving.

Here's an example of a simple Me/E PvE build that you could try out, using only Core skills that are available no matter which campaigns you own:

[Ether Feast][Empathy][Backfire][Energy Surge][Cry of Frustration][Drain Enchantment][Glyph of Lesser Energy][Resurrection Signet]

It's a very simple build that can tackle a range of different situations, however it's very broad in what it does. More specialised builds that are specifically tailored to the area you're currently travelling through are more effective, although as you say you're still relatively new to the game I don't want to throw anything too advanced at you for the time being.

Lastly, practice with your skills. Most Mesmer skills are either stupidly powerful or utterly useless depending on what targets you use them on and when. Play around a bit and work out what they all do - in Prophecies, you're often given free skills from local quests right when you start to need the effects they offer. And most importantly, have fun sowing chaos, panic and disorder among your hapless victims

I run a fairly generic build...

[build prof=m dom=12+1+1 Ins=10+1 fas=8+9][Cry of Frustration][Power Spike][Power Drain][Leech Signet][Empathy][Energy Surge][empty][empty][/build]

The last 2 slots are ulitiy. I've been using [[Hex Eater Signet] for hex removal, but [[Chaos Storm] isn't bad (though it was better when it cost less), [[drain enchantment] is a useful skill, and [[ether feast] is a passable self-heal. The various Mantras are available for heavy elemental areas. A Resurection isn't bad to carry as well.

Only part of that that's not core, is Hex Eater.

I've not ventured much into Illusions, but that's better for direct damage, but it'd be instead of Domination.

Welcome to Guild Wars!

Mesmer was my first choice too. In fact, my original class was Me/E, like yourself. Also like yourself, I found myself using very few Elementalist skills. As other people have said, a Mesmer's job is to cause disruption and are an excellent weapon against major casting classes such as Elementalists and Monks. Although I've seen many people talk about Mesmers being the most difficult class, I disagree. It may seem difficult at first but with practice, it's a lot of fun, especially in PvP.


Wasn't really helpful but there's my 2 pennies worth.

Quote: Originally Posted by Toutatis

when i start any game i start with a agile fighter type thing or the close i can get. when i saw the mesmer picture in the create your charater part i saw an a green women lightly armor with a cool lookin sword. turns out it was a wand lol.
anyway mesmer is the BEST class to start with because if you push though the fact you seem weak in the public meta game it forces you to get a greater under standing of the game. domination builds are strong and degen (skills that inflict -x health degeneration and turn enemies health purple) builds are pretty good too. i spend a lot of time on wiki and i'm the best person in my friend group just because the advance understanding i get. i got a friend who play ele first, he has a weird play style (he uses number and arrow key, and mouse!) and knows nothing but spam builds. friend who played dervish (from nightfall) think that the best player is the one the has the most raw power and doesn't die easily. And Another friend who players monk and doesn't use the best resources available to him.

Quote: Originally Posted by KMVRanger

Quote: Originally Posted by Wootiekin My second profession is Elementalist, but I find myself only using Mesmer skills and not any of my elementalist. Is that to be expected, or am I just being and ignorant noob? No, you are not.

I believe you should always learn to play your primary class before working on your secondary. You never have to use any secondary skills. As it happens, some Ele skills might come in useful at level 16, when not too many skills will be open to you, like [[Glyph of Lesser Energy] for a little energy management, until you can buy [[Power Drain] and the like.

People have posted many builds in this thread so far...without you even having said whether you own all the games or not. Use "grown up" builds (like the ones posted here) as something to work towards for now, as their general format remains the same:
Physical Punishment ([[Empathy], [[Clumsiness], etc..) Caster Punishment ([[Backfire], etc..) Interrupts ([[Power Drain], [[Cry of Frustration], [[Power Spike], etc..) Utility - something to help your team ([[Shatter Hex], [[Hex Eater Signet], [[Drain Enchantment], etc..) Resurrection Skill ([[Resurrection Signet], or [[Restore Life] if you're secondary was Monk - a Hard Res is always better) Energy Management ([[Power Drain], [[Guilt], etc..)
As a Mesmer:Accept that getting invited into PuGs may be a little trickier than with other classes (if PuGs even exist any more!). Learn to interrupt well Learn when to kite (run away)

Quote: Originally Posted by Celestial Beaver

Quote: Originally Posted by upier

Quote: Originally Posted by Dean Harper