Mesmer in zerg wvw

[tellinin.8250]

Hi guys,

i came back to play after 4 years of absence and I decided to start all over with a mesmer. Looking on the internet I tried to understand the various roles of the mesmer at the moment but there is nothing certain, everyone says his opinion and then everything seems false. So I ask you some simple question ONLY FOR WVW ZERG:

1) which is the main mesmer role?

2) what's the role of chronomancer?

3) what's the role of mirage?

For what i understand chronomancer is for supporting role with mediocre damage, mirage is for good damage and good survaival. Just i'm willing to know what chronomancer/mirage do. Let me know your opinion explaining why you say that. If you could link a build or something like that could be also good.

[Leo.5829]

1) You are mostly there for your utility skills. Eg, Veil for mass stealth and Portals for tp into a keep or positioning in fights ( although the tp for fights often fails).Portals are sometimes also used to speed up a golem attack (since golems are incredibly slow portals will we save some time getting to the objective). During sieges you can repick your traits and give people who use siege weapons quickness and euphoria for dps buff.

 

2) In a Zerg setting the chronomancer is probably the better choice since you can pick more alternative options to be usefull as for example: wells for additional aoe dmg and cc or you can buff your allies.

 

3) Mirage is more of a roaming spec. It offers mobility. I don't really now enough about it to be honest.

 

Mesmer isn't there as a dps character but as a useful utility character. You usually don't want more than 1 Mesmer per 20 people ( because 20 people can fir through one portal). In terms of pure support the guardian is better. In terms of damage and boonstrip you are better of with a necromancer.

 

As for the build: The Mesmer is supposed to adjust his traits, weapons and utility skills according to the situation (More than other professions) . That being said you can go check out Metabattle for builds that work. (Reminder: Builds on metabattle aren't necessarily the best or up to date but they do usually work great and that with low amounts of effort)

[Pyroatheist.9031]

I'm going to assume that you're talking about organized and comped groups, not a pug zerg. The pug zerg answer is pretty quick and easy: all 3 are useless, go play scourge.

 

1. The mesmer role is support.

2. The chronomancer role is support. You bring stability mantra, shatter boons, SoI, cleanse mantra, and sometimes veil.

3. The mirage role is picking chronomancer in their traits so that they play chrono instead.

 

Mirage is a roaming spec. It has good mobility, great damage pressure, solid cleanse access and is slippery for outnumbered fights. It provides next to nothing in groups. Chronomancer also provides no damage capability in groups but brings extremely significant support. You provide most boons in the game, great stability uptime, cleansing, and excellent capability to recover after a bubble strip. You'll usually take the place of a guardian in a party, providing stronger boon support at the cost of firebrand healing capability.

[KeoLegend.5132]

Mesmers are more of a Support role

[Dawdler.8521]

Technically every class can be replaced with trailblazer scourge and minstrel firebrand (in a rough 70/30 ratio). No others are needed.

 

*That said* the minstrel chrono will work best as frontline support (ie the veilbot) while a power mirage is excellent at flanking attacks to bring down backliners. I usually play my mirage on the side of zergs. If you can get close enough to the main force without stepping in 20 fear circles, the power spec is also good for suppresion and keeping the frontlines hp down just before/during pushes. The greatsword is highly underestimated in terms of how much and how quick damage it can do at range in a zerg scenario. Just 5 mesmers could in theory wreck a zerg by crippling either their backline or their frontline in one blow at range. All the rest have to do is mop up and AoE the ressers. But of course its not really that simple in practice because few if any zergs even have 2 mesmers. They are all scourges and firebrands.

[Pyroatheist.9031]

> @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> Just 5 mesmers could in theory wreck a zerg by crippling either their backline or their frontline in one blow at range. All the rest have to do is mop up and AoE the ressers. But of course its not really that simple in practice because few if any zergs even have 2 mesmers. They are all scourges and firebrands.

 

Yeah, that's really just a load of bull. If it were that effective we'd do it. In reality what would happen is the phantasms would bounce off of cc and damage and end up doing little to nothing, the damage would be shrugged off, and the frontline wouldn't even notice. You could do a solid pick squad with a thief and a mesmer or two, but that's for single target focus. Don't delude yourself into thinking a couple of mesmers can be effective on a group-wide scale.

 

[Dawdler.8521]

> @"Pyroatheist.9031" said:

> > @"Dawdler.8521" said:

> > Just 5 mesmers could in theory wreck a zerg by crippling either their backline or their frontline in one blow at range. All the rest have to do is mop up and AoE the ressers. But of course its not really that simple in practice because few if any zergs even have 2 mesmers. They are all scourges and firebrands.

>

> Yeah, that's really just a load of bull. If it were that effective we'd do it. In reality what would happen is the phantasms would bounce off of cc and damage and end up doing little to nothing, the damage would be shrugged off, and the frontline wouldn't even notice. You could do a solid pick squad with a thief and a mesmer or two, but that's for single target focus. Don't delude yourself into thinking a couple of mesmers can be effective on a group-wide scale.

>

Then I will keep deluding myself with knocking 20-40% off the hp of a 5 man group deep in the zerg most of the time I toss a berserker, thank you very much. Alas if only I had 4 clones of me. WvW gravity toward whats simple and effective, not just whats effective. Walking straight forward on an magic red carpet of no-go-death while randomly tossing AoE around is simple and effective. Actually having to flank and pick a target is not simple but it can be effective.

 

[Eypheha.5831]

Mesmer is support. You can veil, use portals and run along behind to pick up the trash...but if you run to the front you'll die quickly. Escape is good if you roam, but realize you have to be fairly skilled to survive a 1v1 versus almost any other class. You can take camps and some weaker objectives. Targeting is good and you can pick out single members of a group and sometimes down them....IF....you can spend a few rounds.

 

Generally, if the group has 20 or more, you may find one Mesmer. And since you'll be spending your time far back in the pack, expect to have every roamer that preys on the tail of zergs after you.