Mesmers use the power of a foe against it, and have builds to counter almost every class, however, focused skills make them highly situational, and often are useless in areas they are not prepared for.
Always remember, when choosing secondary skills, that native skills often have better synergy with the profession's purpose, interact better with the profession's other skills, and benefit from runes.
Warrior
- Illusionary Weaponry with some combination of the IAS (Increase Attack Speed) Warrior skills provides ample pressure damage, however, the lighter armor of a Mesmer makes this a very difficult role to play.
- Mesmers can also take advantage of superior energy regeneration to use the more energy-intensive skills within the Tactics line to mitigate damage.
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, but the lack of energy storage makes this style of play challenging.
- Fast Casting can be used to take advantage of some of the timing-based effects offered by the Elementalist class, such as knockdowns with Gale.
Monk
- The "Rezmer", a fast casting resurrection specialist, is a feature in some forms of PvP play.
- Because Mesmers have many skills that affect Signets, they can accelerate damage using Smiting Prayers Signets.
- Repeatable resurrection spells are often beneficial in PvE.
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, but care should be taken to ensure splitting attributes in this way does not hamper the effectiveness of these combinations.
- Soul Barbs compounds the damage of the numerous Mesmer hexes.
- Fragility along with several Necromancer spells that cause conditions, Especially Virulence, can be powerful.
- Mesmer anti-melee hexes such as Spirit of Failure can be combined with Necromancer anti-melee hexes, such as Price of Failure.
- A Mesmer can stack hexes faster than a primary Necromancer, due to Fast Casting.
Assassin
- Daggers, due to the chance of double strikes, have a "faster" attack speed than Swords and Axes, and can be better for Illusionary Weaponry. However, using them sacrifices the usual bonuses a shield provides, and Assassins have no IAS of their own, blunting the effectiveness of Illusionary Weaponry.
- Feigned Neutrality can be used while attacking with Illusionary Weaponry, as your attacks never hit.
- Assassins have a number of hexes that can expand a Mesmer's effect, such as Shadow Shroud to assist spikes.
- 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.
- Skill from the Shadow Arts line, such as Return, can help with a Mesmer's survivability.
Ritualist
- Fast Casting affects both Item Spells and Weapon Spells, but not Binding Rituals.
- Fast Casting can be combined with damage skills from the Channeling line to provide a fast spike.
- Repeatable resurrection spells are often beneficial in PvE.
Dervish
- The Mesmer/Dervish typically focuses on using Illusionary Weaponry in conjunction with a scythe.
- Dervish protective and healing enchantments can be very helpful for Mesmers who may find themselves hunted by opponents.