Secondary professions for a Mesmer

Mesmer Warrior
Mesmer Warriors are most frequently seen in PvP using Illusionary Weaponry with some combination of IAS Warrior skills, such as Flurry. Since using Illusionary Weaponry makes the weapon attributes and the Strength attribute irrelevant from a damage standpoint, Mesmer Warriors instead look to maximize the damage done with Illusionary Weaponry. To do so, the mesmer can maximize the Illusion Magic attribute using runes, unlike a warrior primary. Mesmers can also take advantage of their superior energy regeneration to use the more energy-intensive skills within the Tactics line to mitigate damage. Finally, by using the warrior secondary along with Tactics, the mesmer is able to equip a shield effectively to provide a level of defense higher than the average mesmer caster.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/W Illusion Slasher
 * Build:Me/W Illusory Forge Runner

Mesmer Ranger
Mesmer Ranger is a comparitively rare combination, but it can produce powerful specialized characters.

The mesmer and ranger professions each have interruption skills, and they complement each other nicely. On the downside, all ranger interrupts are bow attacks (or, in one case, a pet attack), which not only makes timing them difficult, but also means they can be evaded by means of stances, or avoided entirely by moving out of line of sight.

Most Mesmer interrupts, on the other hand, are near-instantaneous skills/spells and therefore cannot be avoided except by special means, such as the elite enchantments Spell Breaker, Obsidian Flesh, and Shadow Form. Mesmers also have a wider arsenal of "shutdown" skills than simple direct interruption. A Mesmer/Ranger can hope to combine the benefits, and avoid the shortcomings, of the interruption and shutdown skills available to either profession.

Many ranger attacks and traps inflict conditions on the target. With the Mesmer spell Epidemic, these can be spread to other enemies. Together with Fragility, and especially if there is a necromancer in the team with Virulence, the condition spreading mesmer can be a powerful spike damage player.

One of the biggest problems for a trapping ranger is the easy interruption while setting traps. The mesmer stances Mantra of Concentration and Mantra of Resolve can be used to prevent interruption. Mantra of Resolve is particularly useful because it prevents all interruptions while the stance lasts, although focused fire can quickly deplete the mesmer's energy.

Note that traps are not spells, so the mesmer attribute of Fast Casting does not speed up trapping, but Echo can be used for fast trap laying; 2 traps can be laid for every 1 trap a primary Ranger can set using this spell, leading to devastating effects.

Mesmer is a difficult class to solo; though they can be effective, one of their biggest problems is healing. Ether Feast does heal, but not effectively enough to cover for lost health while it casts. With the Wilderness Survival skills of a Ranger, the Mesmer is able to show more resilience with healing skills and Stances. Troll Unguent and Dryder's Defenses, for example, supply good healing and damage reduction. Wilderness Survival also contains Serpent's Quickness,which shortens the recharge time of skills; it combines well with Fast Casting.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/R Illusionary Beastmaster

Mesmer Elementalist
The Mesmer/Elementalist can take advantage of the Mesmer's Fast Casting attribute with the Elementalist's high damage spells to create large amounts of damage until their energy is depleted. The Me/E has the potential to do the fastest simple damage dealing (that is, direct damage without relying on intricate scenarios) in the game, though without large amounts of support (Succor, Blood is Power, etc.) they are unlikely to be able to keep up their blazingly fast barrage for more than one or two kills.

A popular method of fast cast spiking or fire nuking is done with stacking attunements. With the combination of Elemental Attunement +Air/Water/Fire/Earth Attunement, energy management is effectively resolved and allows for a constant stream of fast spiking. However, this has been made somewhat less effective by the update that linked Elemental Attunement to Energy Storage.

Fast Casting can be used to take advantage of some of the more timing-based skills offered by the Elementalist class, as well. For example, it is much easier to time knockdowns with Gale or ensure Aftershock connects while your opponent is still on the ground if their cast times are reduced.

As with Me/R, another way to use a Me/E is with use of Fragility. Many Elementalist skills cause their target to suffer from and recover from Conditions very quickly, triggering Fragility both when they are hit with the Condition and when they lose the Condition. This can, when used properly, cause a very large amount of damage to accumulate over a very short time.

For those who wish to concentrate on Mesmer attributes (e.g. Fast Casting, Inspiration and either Domination or Illusion), the Elementalist's unlinked skills such as Glyph of Lesser Energy (for counteracting the high cost of Mesmer skills such as Conjure Nightmare) can be of significant benefit.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/E Air Spiker

Mesmer Monk
In general, Me/Mo is a good combination for solo and group players. Fast Casting and Inspiration Magic work very well with Healing Prayers and Protection Prayers to provide a constant stream of support casting.

Since the slow-casting resurrection spells of a Monk are easily interrupted, some Mesmers go with a monk secondary in GvG bringing a resurrection spell and also putting attribute points into Fast Casting to allow for faster resurrecting. This is often referred to as a "Rezmer" and is one of the more specialized uses of a Mesmer.

Because Mesmers have many skills that affect Signets, they can dish out fast damage and support using Monk Smiting Prayers Signets. For instance, using both Mantra of Signets and Mantra of Inscriptions will allow a player to use Signet of Judgment almost 3 times more often than normal, with 12 or more points in Inspiration Magic.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/Mo Faster Caster
 * Build:Me/Mo Migraine Interrupter

Mesmer Necromancer
Me/N is a profession combination usually associated with specialization in status effects like hexes. This mix has access to a wide range of hexes from both professions.

Many of the Necromancer Curses can be combined with Mesmer Illusions to increase the effects of both spells. For example, casting Conjure Phantasm, followed by Feast of Corruption will health degenerate a target, damage all surrounding enemies, and heal the caster. Similarly, Soul Barbs compounds the damage of the numerous Mesmer hexes. Other strategies make use of the mesmer's Fragility spell along with several Necromancer spells to cause conditions.

Another interesting benefit of the combination of Necromancer and Mesmer skills is your option to be an incredibly effective anti-caster character. Several Necromancer skills, for example Soul Leech and Mark of Subversion, can be combined with Mesmer skills, such as Backfire, to make your character an enormous thorn in the side of any enemy spell caster. Other Necromancer skills to supplement your Mesmer anti-caster abilities include Well of the Profane, Malaise, and Spinal Shivers.

Some people have also noticed the slow cast times of certain blood spike skills, and have built a Me/N using almost exclusivly Blood Magic and Fast Casting to increase DPS to much higher levels.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/N Fast Casting Orders
 * Build:Me/N Virulence Spiker
 * Build:Me/N Recurring Soul Barbs

Mesmer Assassin
Daggers have a very fast attack speed and are a good way to do a lot of Illusionary Weaponry damage, as Dual strikes trigger IW; however dagger attack chains become impossible. Assassins also have a number of hexes that can fit into a mesmer's playstyle, such as Shadow Shroud to assist spikes (particularly effective when the enemy team relies on Boon Prots for healing). Aura of Displacement and Blackout could be used to shutdown an enemy monk from afar while being able to safely teleport back to your group.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/A Neutral IW

Mesmer Ritualist
Keep in mind that since Binding Rituals are not spells, Fast Casting does not affect them. However, both Item Spells and Weapon Spells are spells, so you can use skills like Mantra of Recovery and Arcane Echo along with Fast Casting to spam those. Fast-casting some of the powerful but slow Channeling spells, such as Spirit Rift, can also be effective.

Because a Mesmer does not have the primary attribute Spawning Power, Me/Rt spirits will be significantly more fragile than those of a primary Ritualist.

Me/Rt can be effective using Flesh of My Flesh for in-battle resurrecting.

Example Builds:
 * Build:Me/Rt Blitz Ritz

Mesmer Paragon
Similar to a Me/Mo, Paragons have many Signets that a Mesmer can effectively use with Mantra of Inscriptions and Mantra of Signets.

Mesmer Dervish
Much like the Mesmer/Warrior or Mesmer/Assassin, the Mesmer/Dervish typically focuses on using Illusionary Weaponry in conjunction with a scythe. The benefit to using the scythe is that Illusionary Weaponry will work with the scythe's ability to hit multiple targets at once, allowing the Mesmer to deal armor-ignoring damage to multiple opponents. Dervish enchantments are also useful in providing a cover enchantment for Illusionary Weaponry, as many of them have useful effects when they end.