ArenaNet has announced the final profession that will be available to players for Guild Wars 2, at least for launch: the Mesmer – despite the crafty illusion you may see on the Guild Wars 2 home page. This announcement is likely not going to shock many people, and not just because it was leaked out earlier this week. Rather, the community has been theorizing the Mesmer would be the final class for quite a while, and they already successfully managed to guess the Thief and Engineer. Now though, ArenaNet has officially made the announcement and revealed quite a bit of information.
The Mesmer was one of the classes in the original Guild Wars, and ever since the title’s launch. A group-focused profession, the Mesmer was effectively an illusionist with crowd-control abilities and plenty of ways to help and harm enemies, even if they weren’t traditionally your front line fighting character. It seems the Guild Wars 2 team is keeping a lot of the spirit of the Mesmer around with plenty of illusionary tricks up their fancy sleeves, but there are plenty of changes to be found, too.
Their two main mechanics are illusions and mantras. Illusions probably seem pretty straight forward sounding. The Mesmer can create an illusionary person, such as a duplicate of themselves. One of the two types of illusions are Phantasms, which look like the caster, but have their own names and weaponry. These can take a few hits and are used, at least in part, to beef up the Mesmer’s damage.
Clones, while they won’t deal much damage, or take much damage, can be used to confuse enemies. Two examples of abilities that make use of clones are “Leap” and “Illusionary Leap.” The former sees the Mesmer launch himself forward while leaving an illusionary clone behind. The idea here is most likely so that the player can run off and leave a clone behind to distract an enemy while he makes his escape. Illusionary Leap, on the other hand, is the opposite: the player stays where he is, but a clone leaps forward. No doubt this is designed to cause mobs to attack your double while you keep at a safe distance.
The uses of having both of those abilities in PvP might already be creeping into your mind though. While this isn’t something that ArenaNet specifically pointed out, a crafty gamer might see the use already. Imagine running toward your opponent but using Leap, instead of Illusionary Leap. Yes, you’re close to your foe, but will he know that, or will he assume that you’ve actually used Illusionary Leap instead? Which should he attack, and what terrible things have you and your companions done to him by the time he decides to either run past you to attack your double, or to engage what is actually really you? Sounds fun.
One of the other main mechanics that Mesmers have are their Mantras. Each mantra has a long cast time, but their effects aren’t immediate. Instead, it replaces the Mantra on your hotbar with an instant-cast spell that can be used even while channeling another spell. This could allow the Mesmer to prepare several mantras before battle, and then unleash them all at once for a maximized spike of damage or other effects.
The deceptive nature of the class is highlighted by some of the other mechanics. Enemies can have a “confused” condition applied to them during battle, and that condition can be stacked. The more confused they are, the more damage they take. Additionally, Mesmers can actually shatter their illusions to cause additional effects. By shattering an illusion, they can cause damage to enemies around them, or add the confusion condition to enemies instead. Shattering an illusion can stun enemies, or even create a barrier around the Mesmer to reflect projectiles.
Finally, Mesmers have a variety of weapons they can make use of, like the other classes. Swords and Scepters can be used in the main hand. A focus, pistol, sword, or torch can go in the off hand. Staves and Greatswords are usable for their two-handed options.
As always, ArenaNet released a video to show off some of the profession’s abilities, and you can check that out below:
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