Guide to playing as a mesmer

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Contents

[edit] Overview

Mesmers are usually considered the most difficult class to play in Guild Wars. But if played well, they can cause a lot of trouble for the enemy. They can be used to their highest potential when played in a group.

Mesmers can neither heal nor cause flashy damage; their influence on the battle is subtle, which is one of the reasons why they are often underestimated. However, the Mesmer is capable of turning the entire battle with a well-placed spell. A Mesmer can shut down enemies by interrupting their actions and removing their adrenaline and energy. They can also cause health degeneration. A Mesmer can even use someone's own energy against them (with skills like Energy Burn).

[edit] Basic knowledge

A good mesmer needs to understand the game elements described in these articles:

[edit] Understanding the Profession

[edit] PvE

A Mesmer has a flexible position in PvE, although some groups will not look for one. They can help keep the Tank alive by weakening the enemy, deal damage as well as any other caster class while improving the effectiveness of your melee teammates and lessen the risk to the Healer(s). Unfortunately this versatility that far exceeds any other class comes at the price that others will not inherently know what to expect from you. So not only be prepared to explain the role you wish to fill, but also be ready to adjust your role to do what you can do best to compensate for whatever the weaknesses of your party are.

Mesmers are best used by players who are well prepared in advance. Knowing the enemy ensures the Mesmer is as effective as possible, for example, if a Mesmer takes a skill bar set for interrupting spell casters, but the area is full of melee based enemies, the Mesmer's bar is wasted. Playing a good Mesmer requires flexibility, advanced forethought and having a strong knowledge of most skills and enemy types in game.

Due to your Fast Casting ability, many Mesmer skills can determine the outcome of a battle before many members of your team have even started their attacks. Many Mesmers are tempted to focus on Domination which has some quite powerful damage skills, i.e. Energy Surge and Energy Burn; however, these are often most effectively alternated with skills which weaken your enemy. Alternately, especially in the fast paced mission environment, Mesmers often focus on causing fast damage to their enemies by combining their fast cast and shortened recharge time from the elite skill Mantra of Recovery with damage causing skills. Many Mesmers will also utilize these inherent abilities in combination with a focus on a secondary class such as Elementalist to deal damage at a rate significantly faster then an Elementalist can.

A powerful although less noticeable style of play is the interruption Mesmer, using skills to stop the enemy from using his spells. These Mesmers usually concentrate on the enemy casters, interrupting healing spells or skills that could hurt the team. This approach is especially beneficial against enemy bosses and thus many Mesmers will carry an interrupt skill even if shutdown is not their focus.

Mesmers can also run a conditional build if they wish with a Necromancer secondary by stacking skills such as Spiteful Spirit with Empathy and Backfire. These skills can cause major damage to any kind of enemy and are an effective way to deal with melee and Monk bosses, due to the regularity of their actions. Alternatively, teaming up Backfire with Visions of Regret (VoR) will punish any spellcaster brutally, especially since the AI will not cast if Backfire or VoR alone will kill itself but will cast if both will result in death. Using VoR with Wastrel's Worry ensures that the target will take damage no matter what. These builds are even more effective in hard mode due to the faster speed at which enemies attack and cast spells.

Another possibility is an energy spiker, Mesmers have many spells to drain energy from their enemies. For most builds, Inspiration Magic is recommended for Energy management and also offers the opportunity to improve your own energy management. Inspiration management also provides some of the best specialized damage reducing stances in the game and it is not unseen for an entire team to carry a Mesmer skill such as Mantra of Flame or Mantra of Frost.

Finally, the mesmer needs to remember to take advantage of available PvE only skills. While mesmers can utilize the benefits of Fast Casting and faster recharge with secondary PvE skills such as Necrosis, Pain Inverter or Intensity, their true power becomes apparent when a mesmer hex is combined with Cry of Pain to interrupt and cause 65...100 damage to all foes in the area repeatedly. Using Signet of Illusions allows you to create powerful PvE summons with skills such as Summon (Asuran) and Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support, without needing ranks in the respective races and even at a higher level than that with just the Norn or Asuran Title Track. Also, using Arcane Mimicry on an ally MM with Flesh Golem and using the rest of the slots as an echo nuker with the signet can also increase PvE capabilities without the need to invest any points in another attribute.

[edit] PvP

PvP is the area where Mesmers show their full potential, shutting down the enemy backline single-handedly, assisting spikes with the other hand by removing defensive enchantments with skills like Shatter Enchantment.

The first thing a Mesmer should learn is to think like the enemy. Try to get a feeling for the enemy, when does he cast his spells, how much energy does he have and so on. A well timed Diversion disabling a Word of Healing might cause the enemy to retreat, panic, or die. Most people in PvP are intelligent enough to not use any skill until Diversion ends; they escape from the effects of this skill but they don't heal or inflict damage for six seconds. Knowing the recharge times on spells can greatly help you time your skills, as you won't waste a shutdown when the skill is not yet recharged.

The second thing a Mesmer should learn is to find out what might annoy your team most, like "Do they have a Blinding Surge Elementalist preventing our frontline from killing them?", "Is their Mesmer good enough to prevent our Monks from healing us?" or "We play a condition build, do they have a monk with Restore Condition?". Make sure that your team is communicating to you what they need shut down. A group that's communicating well with their Mesmer will utilize their Mesmer much better. This includes things such as knowing when you have disabled a key skill (like Spirit Bond or Infuse Health) so that your team can act upon that.

While most skills are used in an obvious way, Mesmer skills have very subtle uses that the skill doesn't specify. For instance, using Blackout on a warrior drains all his adrenaline, and using Psychic Distraction goes through anti-interruption skills. You should learn these, and put them to good use, using your bar to the fullest to aid your team. Ether Feast is not commonly on a mesmer bar, but if it is, remember you drain energy, and use that to its full advantage.

Most Mesmer bars in PvP will contain at least one interrupt. Cry of Frustration and Power Drain are two very common examples. On a Mesmer, it's important to note that even your 1/4 second interrupt skills cast faster due to Fast Casting, so you can easily interrupt 1 second spells, which some rangers have difficulty doing. If you still have problems interrupting spells that have short time casting, skills like Arcane Conundrum and Frustration give you extra time to interrupt. Since your skills have slower recharge then most ranger or warrior interrupts, you should be careful to use them only to interrupt key skills where their effect is most used. It's pointless to interrupt low recharge spells in general with Power Drain unless you need the energy, because it will recharge quickly anyway, unless you are using an interrupt spell with a disabling quality, such as Power Block or Power Lock. Knowing which key skills to interrupt defines the Mesmer's role; Ward Against Foes, Word of Healing, Guardian and even an enemy Mesmer's Diversion are key skills to keep a mindful eye on.

Lastly, keep in mind that while some hexes last only 6 seconds, a lot can happen in 6 seconds if they are timed properly. Diversion for example, can be placed on a monk when someone is being spiked, and forces that monk to choose to either divert a skill or let the person die. Its not always possible to shut down all the monks, but if you do it successfully, you have a virtually guaranteed kill. By contrast, using the skill randomly allows the monk to just wait for it to wear off with no consequence, since nobody is in danger of death.

Learn to use your bar correctly and efficiently, and you will soon be a force to be reckoned with in PvP.

[edit] Staying alive

Because of the low Armor rating of Mesmers, it is best to stay in the midline. Kiting is also an effective tactic. Equip a shield for added armor, and don't overextend.

[edit] Playing in a Party

As a midliner, mesmers have to stay close to the action without placing themselves too close to the enemy team's physical damage. Mesmers are often used to shut down other midliners, and sometimes backliners. Mesmers don't capitalize on damage - instead, they focus on shutting down key offense on the other team, which in turn can lower the amount of damage their party members may take.

In PvP, a mesmer's main goal is to not only shut down key members of the opposing team, but also to communicate when he or she does so. If you can tell when an enemy monk is out of energy or if he can't use a particular skill, it would greatly increase the chance of your team getting some kills. If a particular skill was giving a teammate grief (blinds can often do this), diverting it will enable the rest of your team to perform better. Mesmers in pvp are not built for direct damage, they are built for overall team support.

[edit] What to Avoid

  • Damage: A Mesmer, like all caster classes, should avoid any direct contact with the enemy. A combination of a maximum of 60 Armor and weak self-defense makes it easy to get killed by even a single enemy. Kiting, proper positioning in the mid or backline are crucial to the Mesmer's survival.
  • Mesmers rely heavily on spells, which is what they excel at countering. Don't try to cast long activation spells like Diversion if you know another Mesmer (or a ranger) is watching you to interrupt it.

[edit] Play Styles

[edit] Interrupts

Many Mesmer skills interrupt a target foe's actions. These skills can also steal energy, cause damage or disable skills. Combined with points in the Mesmer's primary attribute, Fast Casting, these already quick-activating skills are even faster to cast. Many Mesmer interrupts have very useful secondary effects (such as Power Drain).

[edit] Shut down

Domination skills put Mesmers in command of a foe's health and energy. They can force their foes to choose whether they should cast a spell or attack, when the consequence is loss of health or having their skills disabled (from skills such as Backfire, Empathy or Diversion).

Shut down also comes in the form of disabling spells or spells of an attribute from being used: spells such as Power Lock will disable the interrupted spell for a set amount of time, or the elite Power Block will disable all skills of the same attribute on the enemy's skill bar, effectively knocking them out of play for the duration. Blackout will disable the entire bar of an enemy, but will also disable the Mesmer's as well, so use caution with this skill.

Spells such as Simple Thievery and Arcane Thievery are a unique form of shut down that essentially remove skills from other player's bars and place them on the Mesmer's for a varying period of time, sometimes allowing the Mesmer to use these stolen skills to their advantage if they steal another Mesmer's skills, or skills of an attribute they are also using on their bar. In the case of Simple Thievery the Mesmer can steal a Resurrection Signet if they interrupt it, giving their team/party an advantage of an extra res if all sigs have been used or no other res skills are available.

Mesmers can also shut down martial professions with skills such as Spirit Shackles and Soothing Images which will cause them to lose their essential Energy or Adrenaline.

[edit] Energy denial

Mesmers can call on Inspiration Magic skills (like Energy Drain) to steal energy directly from their enemies. By taking the energy of their foes they can reduce the foe's effectiveness, as well as provide extra energy for themselves for casting more offensive spells at their foes. Skills such as Energy Burn can also be used to directly destroy the enemy's energy.

[edit] Health degeneration

Illusion Magic skills can drain away the health of those that oppose them. Spells such as Conjure Phantasm or Conjure Nightmare can cause incredibly high health degeneration.


[edit] Interrupter

Mesmers have skills that can interrupt other players' skills, thereby preventing them from doing damage, healing themselves, animating minions, creating spirits, entering a form, etc. Most interruption skills only interrupt spells, but a few can interrupt any skill, like Psychic Distraction. Other interruption skills include: Cry of Frustration, Power Spike, Power Block, Power Drain, and Signet of Distraction.

[edit] Health Degeneration

The Mesmers that specialize in health degeneration mainly use Illusion Magic hexes like Conjure Nightmare, Conjure Phantasm, Images of Remorse, Shrinking Armor, Illusion of Pain, Migraine, etc. Keep in mind, though, that health degeneration greater than -10 will only cap at -10. However, the degeneration over -10 can still offset added health regeneration. E.g. an enemy has degeneration worth -15 which is limited to -10. The enemy then casts a +6 regeneration Healing Breeze. Instead of having -4 degeneration, the hidden degeneration reduces the regeneration, leaving the enemy at -9 degeneration. Mesmers using health degeneration hexes can use Mantra of Persistence to make Illusion Magic hexes last longer.

[edit] Anti-melee

Mesmers also have potent anti-melee skills. These skills can be found in the Illusion Magic and Domination Magic attributes. They can inflict damage every time the foe attacks, interrupt the attack before it does damage, and reduce the effectiveness of attacks. Some of these skills are: Blackout, Clumsiness, Empathy, Ineptitude, Signet of Clumsiness, and Wandering Eye.

[edit] Anti-Caster

Mesmers can be very effective at reducing the effectiveness of spell casters. Hexes like Frustration or Migraine make the foe cast spells slower, enabling easier interrupts and reduced spamming of spells. Frustration has the added benefit of dealing damage every time the caster is interrupted. Some of the skills that cause the foe to cast spells slower are: Migraine, Arcane Conundrum, Frustration, and Stolen Speed.

[edit] Energy Denial

Another way to "Shutdown" the enemy is by energy denial; it consists of stealing or destroying the enemy's energy. Without energy, spells can't be cast; if spells can't be cast, enemies won't die, healing won't be done, and allies will die. Some common skills used for energy denial are: Energy Surge, Energy Burn, Shame, Guilt, and Energy Drain.

[edit] Damage Dealer

Mesmers can be effective damage dealers in PvE. Illusion Magic includes Clumsiness and Wandering Eye recharge quickly and deal considerable damage to multiple targets. Domination Magic includes the elite Visions of Regret hex, as well as single-target hexes such as Backfire and Empathy. In either case, Inspiration Magic is useful for energy management, and Sunspear skill Cry of Pain skill is useful for AoE damage.

[edit] Choice of Secondary Professions

Guides for all Professions
Core: Warrior Warrior • Ranger Ranger • Monk Monk • Necromancer Necromancer • Mesmer Mesmer • Elementalist Elementalist
Factions: Assassin Assassin • Ritualist Ritualist        Nightfall: Paragon Paragon • Dervish Dervish
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