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Mesmers are able serve a variety of purposes. In general PvE, it is agreed in the main that mesmer have been dealt the short stack, and mesmer players may find themselves frustrated by lack of quality spells that work well in PvE (PvE only skills have alleviated this problem somewhat). In specialized PvE roles, Mesmers are very capable if interruption, and boss killing or shutdown, but such applications are often limited.
In PvP, however, Mesmers really shine. They are a versatile class that is able to hex opponents, frustrate melee classes, drop enchantments, deny all energy, and stop casting almost completely. This guide should help you get a start on playing Mesmer in PvE and PvP as well as give you a deeper understanding of some Mesmer build concepts.
Playing As A Mesmer
Mesmers are often touted as a harder class to play. Because most Mesmer skills are based on what skills an opponent will be likely using, it is particularly necessary for Mesmers to know their enemies, because their primary function is often to mess with their foes' actions. The best Mesmers must have an in-depth understanding of the skills commonly used by other classes, and a grasp on how most human players will react to certain situations. It is therefore important to know that most people cast as soon as they stop running (or directly after a KD), most meleers attack through hexes, Resurrection Signets are fired quickly after a death, and human players often run skills on a rudimentary timer (Searing Flames every recharge, or touch skills every 2 seconds). The correct timing of skills is incredibly important, and this brings us to the Mesmer’s Attributes.
Attributes
Fast Casting
- "Fast Casting decreases the casting time of your Spells. Additionally, each rank in this attribute decreases your Signet activation times by 3%."
Investing in this primary attribute is wise, as many mesmer skills require hexes to be placed at key moments and the reduction of a 3 second cast time to 1.87 is a welcome benefit. One of the most used mesmer elite skills in PvE, Mantra of Recovery, comes from this line, as well as a few other less common elites (Arcane Languor, Stolen Speed) and some skills dealing with signet recharge and activation.
Domination Magic
- "No inherent effect. Many Mesmer skills, especially spells which disrupt spell-casting and deal direct damage, become more effective with higher Domination Magic."
Domination Magic is perhaps the most important attribute for Mesmers. This attribute is the reason that spell-casters fear and loathe Mesmers. It is linked to a large number of skills that interrupt the target's spells or chants while dealing damage or denying or stealing energy. Power Leak, for example, is very popular in PvP because it denies a large amount of energy in addition to interrupting a spell or chant.
Most Domination Magic is focused on punishing their foes for taking action. Empathy deals damage on every attack; Shame steals energy on defensive castings; Backfire deals a great deal of damage on any spell cast.
Illusion Magic
- "No inherent effect. Many Mesmer skills, especially spells which deceive your foes and hinder their movement and attacks, become more effective with higher Illusion Magic."
Illusion Magic is a mixed batch of skills with varied effects. This makes it difficult to give a blanket description for the general effects that all Illusion skills provide. However, Illusion Magic skills generally focus on damage over time through degeneration, on hindering melee opponents, or on slowing spell casting.
The most commonly seen type of Illusion Magic is damage over time (DoT) degeneration spells like Conjure Phantasm and Conjure Nightmare. These spells spread pressure throughout opposing teams, and can often overload a monks healing capacity. On a Mesmer with a taste for melee-hate, skills like Ineptitude and Imagined Burden can blind or slow attackers, and other skills can force adrenaline or energy loss on attack, interrupt attacks, or slow attack speed.
Another function of the Illusion line with skills such as Frustration, Arcane Conundrum, and the elite Migraine is to slow the casting time of enemy spells by up to 100%, thus making them much easier to interrupt, divert, and otherwise stop.
One final elite of note is Signet of Illusions, which allows the next 1...3 spells cast to use the Mesmer's illusion attribute instead of their regular attribute. This gives some access to interesting combinations, and the primary skills of other professions. However, it should be noted that Signet of Illusions may not be worth investing into unless you are speccing into spells from several different lines, as a Mesmer with Signet of Illusions is at best their secondary profession without an elite skill, and at worst a caster lacking attribute points for any of their skills if Signet of Illusions gets interrupted/diverted.
Inspiration Magic
- "No inherent effect. Many Mesmer skills, especially spells which generate energy and reduce damage, become more effective with higher Inspiration Magic."
Inspiration Magic is a very important attribute for Mesmers. Whereas Domination Magic is focused on disrupting foes and dealing damage, Inspiration Magic is focused on disrupting foes while healing either the Mesmer's health or energy, or simply protecting and healing the Mesmer in various ways.
The Inspiration line shines in gaining energy for the caster. An amazing 23 skills out of 39 help you gain energy in some way. Some simply steal energy from foes; Drain Enchantment, Inspired Enchantment, and Inspired Hex, along with the their Factions copies remove hexes and enchantments and give you energy. Power Drain provides you substantial energy upon an interrupt. Several mantras give you energy in addition to their myriad effects.
Inspiration Magic can be a very powerful attribute, but due to its lack of many skills that actually deal damage, you will be forced to utilize other attributes. Inspiration Magic is best suited as a support attribute, primarily providing energy management for the Mesmer while other attributes' skills shut down foes or deal damage.
Types of Mesmers
PvE
As a mesmer in PvE, your survival is going to be mostly based on exploitation of the AI:
- The AI ignores self-damaging hexes
- The AI removes hexes as soon as they are sighted, if the enemies are able
- Most AI enemies attack between castings
Domination Magic
Backfire is the crux of anti-caster PvE Domination mesmer. The AI won't stop casting through Backfire until doing so would be fatal. Empathy applies in the same way to physical attackers: warriors, rangers and, even more so, assassins. Unlike Backfire, however, the monster will not stop attacking while under this hex. Use Chaos Storm to apply pressure to casters or to disperse monsters due to its area-of-effect damage.
Illusion Magic
- Use mobs equipped with hex removal skills to your advantage by casting Phantom Pain or Shrinking Armor on targets; because they will always try to remove it, their conditions will trigger prematurely.
- AI opponents will always attack in between skills; therefore, Images of Remorse will often do its conditional damage, making it a cheap damage skill and cover hex.
Inspiration Magic
- Often, you'll know what kind of enemies you're going to encounter in advance. When dealing with elemental damage, you should always consider taking the corresponding mantra. For example, it is best to take Mantra of Frost in the Shiverpeaks, whereas Mantra of Flame is more useful in the Charr Homelands.
PvP
PvP Mesmers generally utilize either Domination Magic or Illusion Magic with a subset of the most popular Inspiration skills for energy management. Most PvP Mesmers play one of four key roles: shutdown, interruption, hex pressure, or energy denial. They often bring either a utility elite like Hex Eater Vortex or a shutdown or energy denial elite (Mantra of Recovery and Power Block are often used). Mesmers also typically bring Shatter Enchantment for enchantment removal and damage on a spike.
Shutdown and Interruption Mesmers
Domination Mesmers in PvP utilize strong interrupts and shutdown hexes to stop opponents from casting spells and force heavy penalties such as longer recharge times and energy loss with skills like Diversion and Shame. A typical role of the Domination Mesmer is to simply focus on one target (usually a monk, but sometimes a blind-bot Elementalist or anti-melee Necromancer) and shut them down as much as possible. Mesmers specializing in interruption often bring the Illusion elite Migraine to slow casting times as well as Domination-line interrupts to harass and punish as many opposing spell casters as possible.
Hex Pressure Mesmers
Illusion Magic is rare in organized PvP outside of splits in GvG and hex pressure teams. Illusion Mesmers typically use an elite hex and various other hexes to force the collapse of enemy monks as well as punish hexes.
Energy Denial
Mesmers are very powerful when it comes to taking the energy away from a single opponent completely. With skill combinations like Ether Phantom and Drain Delusions from the Inspiration line, and other skills like Power Leak in the Domination line, Mesmers are often able to deny their target energy for the larger part of a match. The Domination elite Panic can also serve in this capacity on hex pressure teams.
Skills
General Mesmer Set
Most Mesmers will do well with a certain set of spells, and although each is more useful in certain situations, these spells are a Mesmer's bread and butter.
Power Block 
Mantra of Recovery 
Migraine
- 3 most common elites, each having differing advantages. Mantra can keep Diversion on one monk almost constantly, Power Block completely shuts down many caster characters, and Migraine as a useful hex and a gate way for interruption.
- Common Domination shutdown skills to stop monk, and divert spammers.
Shatter Enchantment 
Drain Enchantment
- Most powerful enchantment removal skills, one causes damage while the other restores energy.
- All purpose interrupts that also give back energy
Interruption
These are listed from those more useful to those less useful.
Domination
- Attractive elite that interrupts the spell being cast and disables all spells of the same attribute. Spells disaster for monks.
- Useful interrupt that drains a lot of energy at high Domination levels.
- Shortest recharging non-elite interrupt that causes acceptable damage
- Basically a non-elite Power Block, excellent for hitting a monks elite (RC or LoD especially)
- Free interrupt that adds recharge for equipped signets. Goes well with Res Signet and Leech Signet.
- Free weaker version of Power Spike, goes well with Power Flux and Power Leech.
- Secondary function is basically useless (except against signet fighters...) But, it can serve as a 10e all purpose interrupt.
- Powerful if used in a tight group of enemies, but also very expensive for single interrupts.
- Disable other skills and take an elite slot in exchange for shortest recharge (2 seconds)
- Cause energy degeneration, takes up elite.
Inspiration
- Excellent skill with good energy management at relatively low levels of Inspiration.
- Great all purpose interrupt that also gives some energy on spell interrupts.
- Elite with one of the strangest icons in the game that serves as an energy stealer, but is easily removed.
Energy Denial
Mesmers have many options for stealing and stopping opponent energy gain. Listed are those most common, and powerful.
Domination Magic
- Steals energy from foes casting a spells on their teammates.
- Steals energy from foes casting spells on your teammates.
- Forces energy loss and causes damage.
- A once common elite that forces energy loss and does AoE damage.
- Does damage when foe's energy reaches zero.
Inspiration
- Causes energy degeneration of one, and forces energy loss if the hex is removed early.
- Removes one mesmer hex and steals energy from foe. Excellent combination with Ether Phantom.
- Removes 1 enchantment and some energy.
Illusion
Sympathetic Visage
Ancestor's Visage
- Takes all adrenaline and some energy on every attack.
Shutdown
Shutdown is the role Mesmers most often fill, and they have many skills to shutdown any type of attacker. With any shutdown, Wastrel's Worry can be used to punish a player for not using their skills. Casting every 3 seconds, this can often equal or exceed damage caused by Backfire or Empathy, if the target tries to wait it out.
Meleers
Sympathetic Visage Ancestor's Visageor 
Soothing Images
- Deal with Adrenaline-based attackers.
- Generic melee harassment.
- Warriors will often ignore it and be unable to cast non-adrenaline attacks. Assassins will lose attack power and may be unable to finish attack chains. Rangers lose energy needed for their attack skills.
Crippling Anguish
Imagined Burden
- These and other slowing spells can be used to slow their DPS and flee dangerous situations.
Some melee fighters are also casual casters (spells as support). Examples include the (in)famous W/Mo, most Assassins, and a few popular Ranger builds.
Arcane Thievery
Arcane Larceny
- Most only carry one of two self-help spells.
Slow Casters
Casters such as elementalists and necromancers who routinely cast spells that take 2 seconds or longer simply beg for punishment. Although general purpose interrupts will work, other spells work especially well on long casters.
- Double the fun for super long casting times (upwards of 6 seconds on some spells), be sure to cover with something quick and inexpensive.
- Cause damage to casters easily (sometimes even twice) during casting.
Spammers
Those who use a single spell repeatedly or the same set up spells in quick succession (Touchers, Spikes, and Monks) are hurt even more by longer recharges and stiff penalties.
- A Mesmer's best friend, can easily add 40 second recharge to important repeated casting spells. One of the most important PvP skills in the game.
- Completely stop casting for up to 6 seconds.
- Punish the unwary spiker with a well timed backfire just before a volley of spells.