Warrior in Memser's clothing

Hi guys. I have built a melee Mesmer/Warrior that does not use Illusion Weapon and it works great in PvP! I posted this build on another website, but the people over there hated it because it was a build they never saw before. They only play builds that every one else plays, and original ideas are never welcome. Thats why I left that website and came to GWGuru

I would like to share my Melee Mesmer/Warrior with you. You need the Factions expansion pack though. The best armor for this build is the Savant Armor (which looks cool too). This armor provides +10 armor when you have a stance active, and this build uses a stance virtually all of the time (as you will see). The stance this build uses is "Physical resistance", which costs 10 energy and lasts for 78 seconds with this build. Thanks to the Savant +10 armor bonus, whenever you use Physical resistance stance, you gain +50 armor vs physical attacks but -4 armor penalty vs Elemental attacks. Add a Grip of Shelter to your weapon for aditional +5 armor. This gives you 115 physical armor and 61 elemental armor. Nice for a melee Mesmer, despite mediocre elemental armor. Therefore, this build will have little problems getting into the fronlines of battle like other Mesmer builds.

Now another problem this build addresses is anti-Warrior hexes (such as Empathy) or general hexes (such as Conjure Phantasm). This build uses the Elite Factions skill "Expel hexes" which costs 5 energy, 1 cast time, 8 recharge and gets rid of TWO hexes at once. This skill will make it easy for you to fight with Anti-Warrior Mesmers or Necros. I actually had no problems with Anti-Warrior spellcasters thanks to this Expel Hexes elite skill, and killed many anti-Warrior Mesmers 1vs1. The ability to remove 2 hexes every 8 seconds for only 5 energy will give an Anti-Warrior spellcaster an extremely hard time to shut you down.

Now that those two common problems are solved, I would like to share my build with you. The weapon I used was swords, but if you prefer Hammers or Axes, you are free to try that.

Armor = Savant Armor (requires Factions)
Weapon = Get a weapon that gives damage bonuses when you are in a Stance

12 Swordsmanship
12 Inspiration (10+1+1)
9 Fast Casting (8+1)

Sever Artery
Gash
Hamstring **
Seeking blade
Ether feast
Expel Hexes {Elite - this skill requires Factions}
Physical Resistance
Ressurection Signet

** Hamstring is a PvP skill. If this build was used for PvE, I would recommend Standing Slash instead of Hamstring.

I used Seeking Blade becasue with ony 4 sec recharge, it provides good DPS and cannot be blocked. It is also a counter vs somebody evading your attacks, this is why it is suitable for PvP, and can be used for PvE if desired. The skill 'Hamstring' is PvP-based, since it cripples for 13 seconds, making it effective vs runners/kiters. Ether Feast is for healing yourself, and Physical resistance activates the Savant armor +10 armor, which in total gives +50 Armor vs physical attacks. Sever Artery is for bleeding, Gash is for deep wound. I hope this build impresses you, because it impressed me when I played it.

Some people dislike swords, and if you wish to change to Axes or Hammers using the same fashion as this build, feel free to try it. This build worked fine for me.

I hope you's like my build. This build is completely original, I did not go into Observer Mode to steal other people's builds. I designed it myself and tested it to see if its effective. I have won alot of battles with this build and it works fantastically

Any suggestions/criticisms/compliments are welcome, and thank you's for reading my post!

Interesting. I've never played a Mesmer primary before, so I didn't know about the armor bonuses they received.

This won't help you vs Warriors or Rangers using Elemental damaging weapons, will it?

Fiery Swords or IDS would hit you at the 61 armor right? Warriors also have the ability to remove stances I think, but I'm not sure if anyone in PvP ever uses them. In PvE I've never seen any monster do that, so it sounds very nice.

I haven't ventured far in Factions, but Assassins can "steal" your stance, have you encountered anyone copying your stance?

Does this work vs anyone? (Obviously you would change Physical Resistance to Fire/Lightning/Cold resistance vs Elementalists)

Please don't think I'm being critical or anything, I'm just curious. The last thing I want to do is create a character and get smacked on the head because of something totally unexpected happens.

Your build gives me another reason to create a mesmer.

Good job, and thank you.

Elemental damage will kill you - Kindle Arrows, elemental weapons etc. I suggest replacing Physical Resistance with Distortion because of this. You can maintain this stance for as long as you want since the rest of the build doesn't require much energy.

I recommend speccing into Tactics, not only to meet the requirements for your shield (getting the full 16AL), but for Healing Signet - replace Ether Feast with this. You can drop FC entirely if you do this, since Expel becomes the only spell in the build, and it's 1 second cast. Also, there's are two very nice skills in the Tactics line which you should consider - Riposte and Deadly Riposte.

So, something like:

Me/W

Swords: 12
Illu: 6+1+1 (to get a 2-energy Distortion)
Tactics: the rest

Sever Artery
Gash
(Attack skill)
Seeking Blade
Healing Signet
Distortion
Expel Hexes (E)
Res Sig