Mesmer - Core Shatter Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damage

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on February 22, 2025 and is up to date for the March 11, 2025 patch.

Overview

A Core Power Mesmer build for WvW roaming that's all about pulling off massive bursts and pressuring targets through interrupts and smaller combos inbetween or just surviving until the main combo comes off CD. Usable by F2P players as well.

Skill Bar

Greatsword

Sword/Torch

Utility

Skill Variants

Heal

• Signet of the Ether
  - this results in worse healing, but this heal has some synergy with Inspiration and the CD reset on Phantasms is a nice bonus if you want something more offensive.

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Specializations

Variants

• Phantasmal Fury
  can improve your damage a bit in exchange for some Vigor uptime.

Variants

• Medic's Feedback
  lowers your personal survivability but adds a lot of rez power to the build in case you're roaming in a group.

Specialization Variants

Chaos can replace Inspiration. Both of these are defensive specializations, but Inspiration focuses more on dealing with conditions whereas Chaos improves Stealth durations and adds Protection sources to the build:

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Greatsword
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Marauder

Torch
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Stats

• Beginners can mix in a few additional Marauder pieces for more sustain (don't overdo it though), while more experienced players could even consider going full Berserker for higher burst potential.

Equipment Variants

Relics

• Relic of the Wayfinder
  - improved mobility at the expense of some burst damage.

Runes

• Superior Rune of the Scholar
  - bit higher burst potential but lower consistency due to the loss of crit chance.

• Superior Rune of the Traveler
  - the stats aren't great, but it's an F2P option with mobility.

Sigils

Sword/Torch

• Superior Sigil of Bloodlust
  - sacrifices some sustain for better burst damage, if you're willing to bother with a stacking sigil.

Greatsword

• You could run Cleansing + Energy on this set too if you're having trouble surviving.

• Superior Sigil of Blood
  over
  Superior Sigil of Agility
  - armor ignoring damage proc that heals you, but your main combo becomes a bit slower.

Consumables

Food

• Peppercorn-Crusted Sous-Vide Steak
  - good stats and passive damage mitigation.

• Slice of Candied Dragon Roll
  or
  Omnomberry Ghost
  - cheap crit chance bump with armor ignoring damage procs which also heal.

• Bowl of Orrian Truffle and Meat Stew
  - defensive food that lets you dodge more often.

Utility

• Superior Sharpening Stone
  or
  Tin of Fruitcake
  .

Usage

General

• Signet of Midnight
  is your best defensive CD as it breaks stun, grants distortion and removes conditions via
  Blurred Inscriptions
  on top of giving you Stealth while blinding enemies.

• The build has several condition removals but no real mass cleanses:
  • Inspiration-only: Phantasms take 1 condition from you when summoned.
  • Inspiration-only: Using your healing skill removes 1 condition.
  • Inspiration-only:
    Signet of Midnight
    cleanses 5.
  • Swapping to Sword/Torch procs
    Superior Sigil of Cleansing
    which removes another 3.
  • The Prestige
    cleanses 2 other conditions when used.

• Mass Invisibility
  works both defensively and offensively. You can use its Stealth to disengage from fights or sneak-attack your opponent. As it's AoE you could even stealth downed allies to make reviving easier or prevent them from getting stomped.

• Blink
  is a rather flexible skill, how you're going to use it could depend on what other CDs are available. If both
  Signet of Midnight
  and
  Distortion
  are on CD then you might want to hold onto it as a stun break/panic button, otherwise this is a great mobility tool to either chase down enemies or surprise them with a sudden melee burst.

Damage

• The build doesn't have much in terms of sustained damage, but it has quite powerful bursts. Landing them is crucial for getting kills.

• If taken
  Signet of the Ether
  is mainly a defensive skill, but because it reduces the CD of your Phantasms sometimes it's worth using to gain early access to
  Phantasmal Berserker
  especially if you need to pressure a low HP enemy.

• Swapping to GS procs
  Superior Sigil of Agility
  , the brief Quickness serves to speed up your burst rotation.

• The GS combo is best done in melee range for various reasons. One, to get the most out of the
  Mirror Blade
  bounces and two, to make yourself act as an extra clone for shatters.

Basic combo:

1. Mirror Blade
   in melee range.
2. Mind Wrack
   once the clone from Mirror Blade has spawned.
3. Mind Stab
   as soon as you can.

Extended burst combo:

1. Optional - start from stealth to make the burst less predictable. If you're using
   The Prestige
   you could time your burst in a way that the stealth runs out in the middle of the combo as The Prestige does AoE damage after it runs out. Breaking the stealth doesn't cause the damage to go off any sooner.
2. Optional - if you start from Sword/Torch you could try rooting the target with
   Swap
   .
3. Mirror Blade
   in melee range.
4. Mind Wrack
   once the clone from Mirror Blade has spawned.
5. Mind Stab
   as soon as you can.
6. If the opponent is still alive, you can use
   Cry of Frustration
   /
   Blurred Frenzy
   /
   Phantasmal Berserker
   , or
   Illusionary Wave
   to interrupt healing skills.

Related Builds

• Core Shatter (sPvP) - the Conquest PvP version of the build.