Guild Wars 2

Hey guys,

I’m wondering if I should make a necromancer or a mesmer. My only 80 is a Guardian, and I want to give being a caster a try. What I’m looking for in a caster is one that can be tuned to chuck out a ton of damage or playing a more supportive/defensive role. I like to run dungeons and do open world PvE dynamic events. I’m also looking into WvW and sPvP (done neither).

Thanks

A ST mesmer glass cannon will outdamage a necromancer ST glass cannon under most circumstances. Necromancers have more options for AoE (with PBAoE wells and marks on staff).

Both can offer decent support. For my money, Necromancer healing with Mark of Blood and Well of Blood trumps mesmer mantra healing. However, mesmers general utility with reflection, condition removal, portals, party swiftness and quickness makes their support more versatile imo.

This is really a matter of what fits your play style, I don’t have a mesmer so I won’t comment on them, but necromancers are durable and will not go down easily as they do have the highest health pool. The caveat being they aren’t the strongest hitters but that doesn’t make them any less deadly. Necromancers know they will out last their opponents so their fighting style focuses on just that

Im a necro and i have played 600 hours on it now. I still love it. The amazing AOE with both wells and staff marks + the traits that makes you heal everytime you hit a foe… Amazing heal from not doing anything really. i get like 1k healing a second, without using my healing skill.

Combine that with 28k HP and death shroud (Extra life bar) makes me incredible hard to kill

Honestly, given your short description of what you’re looking for, the other caster (Elementalist) might be the best option for you.

But for Mesmer or Necro, given your criteria: For damage purposes, Mesmer is probably easier for power ST builds, Necro shines in the AE and conditions. For utility / support, Mesmer is pretty lackluster in a boon-giving, healing sort of support. Their utility comes from AE stealth, haste, portals – more control and movement support. Necro is more of the healing type, but nowhere near what an Ele brings.

I have both at 80 and love both. One consideration would be that the Mesmer is generally considered to be one of the top 3 classes, while the Necro is firmly ensconced among the bottom three red-haired step children. You will generally be more sought out for what you bring to the game as a Mesmer. I don’t know if that makes a difference to you as both are generally viable and both offer a fun playstyle.

I would say Mesmer is the clear choice until they fix condition stack limits.

Just be aware that a low level Mesmer is horrible, but it picks up after 40 or so.

For dungeons: mesmers are wanted a little more because of things like portal, time warp and better single target damage.
For dynamic events: Necro. Mesmers are terrible at tagging AOE and probably one of the worst for DE’s.
For WvW: Both have their place. Necro does amazing AOE damage and are great in a raid and especially if they have another condition person to work with (they spread conditions). Mesmers have their support spells which are very powerful and ironically work really well with a necro partner.

How about for bosses or any other type of single target fight?

I have lvl 80 Mesmer and a lvl 80 Necro. It really is about how you like to play.

The mesmer puts out more direct damage and really excels at single target play. In terms of support, you will primarily be reflecting damage away from your team, dazing/stunning targets, crippling, applying vulnerability and, possibly, handing out boons to allies (via chaos storm and signet of inspiration).

The necro is more about AOEs and condition damage. When it comes to support, you have reliable aoe heals and condition removal (from both you and your allies). The necro really shines in applying conditions to the target (not just damaging) – primarily chills, blinds, vulnerability and weakness – all of which make things much easier on your party.

To answer the question about single target fights, it really depends on what role you want to play. If it’s all about damage, definitely the mesmer. If you want to potentially keep the boss from killing players or keep your fellow team members alive, I would say necro (mainly because of blinds and weakness).

Of course, how you trait and gear whichever you choose is just as important.

Mesmer so you can laugh at everyone that doesn’t pay attention to debuffs and suicides to your confusion xD

Ah mesmer you are missed but for now guardian has my heart.

Seriousness though I have both and I enjoy my necro for bag farming wvw but my mesmer is definitely a better all over character for me personally. She was my first character I chose to level though so I’m sure that plays a part in it

Mesmer is useful in just about everything.

Pvp you’ll wreck, especially with the right builds trust me they can kill many things in just a few abilities.

Pve everyone loves mesmers in dungeons especially time warping and teleporting ones.

This build for mesmers is very strong in WvW and sPvP right now, it doesn’t do too badly in PvE either.

Videos in the thread so you can see gameplay.