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Guild Wars 2 Mesmer

The eighth and final Guild Wars 2 profession, the Mesmer is an arcane trickster who selectively uses deception, illusion, confusion and conditions as their weapons of choice. Through skillful play, GW2 Mesmers deploy a deadly combination of illusions, conditions, and phantasmal sources of damage to befuddle their foes, while also assisting their friends and allies. They use deception and positioning to force their opponents to react to their skills. Guild Wars 2 Mesmer revealed.

This cerebral approach to combat is a wise strategy when your armor is light and your physical prowess underwhelming, as you really don't want to be getting up close and personal with your foes, except perhaps for when it's time to deliver the coup de grâce.

In the 250 years since the time of the original Guild Wars and its most famous mesmer, Gwen, the Mesmer’s combat style has evolved greatly. It now focuses more on deception and illusions than on outright mental domination. This change in focus comes about primarily through the influences of non-human races changing how Mesmer magic was used.

The introduction of the Guild Wars 2 Mesmer also brings with it a new, stackable condition called "Confusion". GW2 Mesmer image.

A confused foe takes damage each time they activate a skill. The more confusion an enemy has, the greater the damage inflicted upon them will be when they start using skills, forcing them to make the decision of whether it’s actually worth attacking.

The short video below is from the Guild Wars 2 closed beta, in February 2012.
It displays the contents of the hero panel, showing the various
weapon skills, slot skills and traits available to mesmers in GW2.

Illusions

Coming in two types, "Clones" and "Phantasms", Mesmers create mind tricks that manifest themselves as physical entities. Most illusions are directed at a particular target, though anyone can see and attack them. They exist only as long as that target is alive and can only be dispelled by attacking the illusion itself, and not the mesmer who created them. A mesmer can maintain up to three illusions at a time, with the oldest illusion being replaced by the newly created one.

Clones - These illusions look like an exact copy of the caster, having the caster's name, and using a weaker version of the first skill of the weapon the caster was using when the clones were created. Clones will only attack the target upon which they were summoned, and once that target is dead they will disappear, as the illusion is something that only actually existed only in the target's mind. Clones are fragile and die very easily as they are not intended to be long lasting damage dealers, but more for creating confusion, deception and distraction.
For instance, a mesmer equipped with a sword has two clone-summoning skills: Leap, which launches him forward, leaving a clone at his location, and Illusionary Leap, which summons a clone at his location that then jumps forward.
Another useful clone skill is called "Decoy", which makes you invisible while leaving a clone in the spot where you disappeared.

Phantasms - These illusions are more powerful than clones, having more health and dealing a significant amount of damage. Phantasms are also not exact duplicates of you as they are slightly purple translucent color, have their own names and wield illusionary weapons, which look different and have specific behavior. For example, a great sword mesmer can summon a phantasm that spins around with a big purple great sword in his hand and cripples enemies. A staff mesmer summons an illusionary mage that attacks its target and deals extra damage for each inflicted condition.
While Clones will mimic the Mesmer, Phantasms always perform their specific skills. For instance, when Illusionary Warden is summoned, this Phantasm will reflect projectiles back at opponents while staying stationary. When Backfire is summoned, it will only attack an opponent if it uses a skill.

Each Mesmer weapon is capable of creating a clone and a phantasm. Added to this, there are also several utility skills which also create clones and phantasms, giving the mesmer nearly a dozen ways to create each type of illusion.

A mighty male Asura Mesmer confounds his foes with "Mirror Images".

Shattering

Working in conjunction with clones and phantasms, the GW2 Mesmer has a number of special abilities that "shatters" these illusions. Shattering destroys all illusions, both clones AND phantasms, at once but creates a secondary effect with different payloads.

There are four different shatter skills and each have a unique secondary effect :

Cry of Frustration - Destroys your illusions and inflicts the confused condition to nearby foes.
Diversion - Destroys your illusions and stuns all nearby enemies.
Mind Wrack - Destroys your illusions and does damage to opponents near them.
Reflection - Destroys your illusions and places a barrier around the mesmer, which reflects enemy projectiles.

Shattering skills are automatically acquired by levelling up. Players begin with the first two skills and earn the other two shatter skills at early levels.

Deadly use of "Chaos Storm" by this female Norn mesmer kills off her Sons of Svanir attackers.

A Mesmer can choose from a variety of magical, melee and ranged weapons, including :

Main Hand: Scepter or Broad Sword.
Off Hand: Focus, Broad Sword, Pistol or Torch.
Two-Handed: Staff or Greatsword.

Each of the main hand weapons and two-handed weapons have a clone related to it, with the exception of the sword which has two. If you equip a staff, you can conjure up an illusionary Mage, which inflicts additional damage for each condition on the target. Equip a gun and an you can summon an Illusionary Duelist with an attack very similar to the Thief's Unload skill. Wield a sword and you'll get either an Illusionary Swordsman who swirls around the battlefield and make enemies lame, or a swordsman who jumps in and out of battle.

Use a focus and you can create an Illusionary Warden who carries two axes and uses a skill similar to Whirlwind Defence, reflecting damage back at their attackers. There's also a very handy Torch skill, "The Prestige", which allows the Mesmer to go invisible for a short time.

No matter which weapon you're using you're always guaranteed to have access to AOE damage, the confusion condition, a stun, and a good defense against projectiles.

The power of "Mind Wrack" shouldn't be underestimated.

"Portal" and a Greatsword make short work of the enemy here.

Mantras

Rounding out the Mesmer skill set are Mantras, powerful utility skills with relatively long cast and recharge times which can be charged up before battle and then used in the middle of another spell, without interrupting that spell. Mantras are a category of skill that have two phases. In the first phase, the mesmer activates the mantra, which then replaces that skill slot with an instant-casting skill that the mesmer can then use as the second phase of the Mantra. For instance, "Mantra of Pain" can charge up into an instant-damage power spike that can be used during a channeled spell, such as the Greatsword skill.

There is also a healing skill that is a mantra, which lets you start the fight with an instant heal that you can cast at any time, including when you’re knocked out. A mesmer can have as many as four mantra equipped at any one time.

The video below shows a new Guild Wars 2 Charr Mesmer using "Veil"
to play a deadly game of hide-and-seek with an over-sized enemy.

The Mesmer will surely be more challenging to play well than some of the other professions in Guild Wars 2. The illusions and manipulating those illusions in the battlefield are really what the mesmer is all about, and it's certainly going to be interesting to see how players adapt to this new GW2 character option.