Guild Wars 2

Was hoping to get some ratings on how crappy this build is, on a scale of 1-10. As long as the crappiness is 4 or lower I think I should be good with it.

I’m going through the preliminary process of converting my current WvW zerg support build into a new one given the things we saw today (or yesterday, I guess). I have a tendency toward gimmick or theme builds, although I generally like them to be somewhat effective.

Anywho, thought I’d put it out there as food for thought. I’ve been needing something fresh to go around WvW with and annoy the commanders since I’m not running an ele instead.

The build:

00666

Inventions:
Over Shield
Soothing Detonation
Medical Dispersion Field (Bunker Down?)

Alchemy:
Health Insurance
Inversion Enzyme
Stimulant Supplier (Iron Blooded?)

Tools:
Power Wrench (Reactive Lenses?)
Lock On (Streamlined Kits?)
Kinetic Charge

Skills:

Heal: Med Kit
U1: Tool Kit
U2: Elixir Gun
U3: ???
Elite: Mortar

Gear:

Weapons: Pistol+Shield
Stats: Some combination of cleric’s, magi’s, or apothecary’s, possibly zealot’s or even nomad’s
Runes: Water
Sigils: Life + renewal, possibly benevolence, water, leeching, or energy

So what the hell is this thing? Well it’s supposed to provide some support options to the zerg, particularly through AoE healing, blast finishers, condition clears and boon applications, while being able to assault the enemy zerg from long range. Additionally, it’s designed to be fairly survivable as to not be a simply rally bot.

Why those traits? Well, it works like so…

Inventions:

Minors: Helps provide AoE condi cleanses and regen. Synergizes well with the low cooldown on the bandage self healing skill, or the med kit swap if it happens to trigger from that.

1. Over Shield: This gives protection to the zerg, so they die less. Additionally, extra boons on the zerg will help improve the “shooming” output of the med kit, so that’s good. Furthermore, reduction on the shield skill cooldowns means better survivability and another blast finisher that can be used more frequently.

2. Soothing Detonation: Pretty obvious choice here. Additional healing output during water field blasting will be helpful. It also looks like this will occur on other fields as well, so it could be handy for some mid-battle AoE healing.

3. Medical Dispersion Field: Further healing output into the zerg. I’m not 100% sure about this trait. The way they described it seemed like it might make it hard to actually utilize properly, since you’d have to specifically time your big heals. Bunker down might be a better option if the engineer slotted magi or zealot’s gear since the higher precision would cause more med kits to drop, and the mines might actually be useful if they’re the boon stripping variety (although I don’t think they are). However, it might be a little hard for the zerg to effectively pick up the med kits, but as long as they drop in the general blob it should at least heal someone.

Alchemy:

Minors: Some self-protection from conditions, but also a nice buff to boon duration that synergizes nicely with the med kit and some of the other skills.

1. Health Insurance: Obvious choice. We’re using med kit, this maximizes med kit’s outgoing “shoom”.

2. Inversion Enzyme: A very cool trait. The elixir gun is already great at eating condis off a zerg, and this will just make it even better. Not only that, but it also synergizes with the med kit so that you can follow up with some more potent “shooming” afterwards.

3. Stimulant Supplier: More little healy packs into the zerg every 10 or so seconds. I feel that iron blooded is also a good option since it will help you survive longer, and you don’t want to be a rally bot. I think either will be an appropriate option for this spot.

Tools:

Minors: Some vigour and further tool belt recharge reduction is good. The damage increase also helps you be a bit more offensive without giving up defensive options.

1. Power Wrench: Fairly standard choice. Reduced tool belt cooldowns give you better shield uptime, and you can pull more enemies out of position with the magnet. You get a bit of extra damage to, so it might be good if you need to cleave with the zerg in melee. I feel reactive lenses might also be a decent option in this spot since it’s an auto-stun break, although it’s hard to pass up lower tool kit cooldowns.

2. Lock On: It might seem like an odd choice, but zerg fighting in WvW does feature a lot of running through veils and stuff. Being able to assault the veil with your mortar from range and revealing an enemy zerg member can help you stay appraised of their position. It’s also useful for hunting down mesmers during a keep sweep, or giving thieves assaulting the back line less of an opportunity to strike freely. I felt streamlined skits wouldn’t be the best option since the rest of the zerg will be giving you swiftness anyways, and the extra damage from takedown round is not really what this build is about.

3. Kinetic Charge: It should be possible to do some interesting things with this. In particular, you can double up on bandage self, giving you more powerful self-sustain and also keep the zerg better healed. It can also be used to refresh a stun break from regenerating mist, or get an extra blast finisher out of orbital strike.

Now what about the utility choices…

1. Med Kit: This is mostly to keep the zerg constantly “shoomed” up. We’d use this to keep the heals constantly rolling in over time, which is the point of the build, and bandage self provides a low cooldown method of sustain and AoE condi clears. You can also drop your packs out for some setup before a clash, although I think it might be a bit tougher for large zergs to really utilize that properly.

2. Tool Kit: Standard WvW choice. Pull people around, block attacks, throw cripple fields, give them the occasional pop, has a guaranteed projectile finisher that can hit twice. Not much to say there.

3. Elixir Gun: Serves as a potent condition muncher from the traited fumigate. Super elixir can also work nicely, especially comboed with throw wrench, although you don’t want to have it conflict with water field blasting. Also provides a means of condition damage output if you want to go the condi route.

4. Mortar: Allows you to assault the enemy zerg from long range, fighting people on walls and such. Perhaps it’ll also be good for shooting some ACs if they’re in the right spot. You can help keep poison and chill on the enemies, and provide a heal and a water field for your zerg on a relatively short cooldown, which you can then blast. Not only that, but the water shot is also supposed to be considered an elixir for trait purposes, so it will synergize with some alchemy line traits, namely removing an additional condition. It can also be good with the lock on trait since you can spam AoEs and find the enemy zerg that went through a veil, that mesmer that mass invised, or that thief that went into a refuge.

5. ???: I don’t know what to use for the last utility. It’s a bit of a freebie. I was thinking of slick shoes since it would eat away at the enemy’s stability and give you another stun breaker and a means to help you get back into position if you get caught out somewhere. Rocket boots is always nice for mobility and getting out of places you don’t want to be. However, elixir S is another good option, especially since you can remove another condition with it. Otherwise, there’s always the good old grenade or bomb kits.

Now about the gear…

Weapons: Pistol shield is mostly just to get the shield. Having that lets you get protection onto your zerg, and also gives you more frequent blasts as well as more defensive options. The pistol will also now pierce by default, so you can be more effective at applying conditions to multiple members of the enemy zergs with your standard weapon attacks. In particular, more poison and some pseudo-AoE blind can always be useful.

Runes: Runes of the water give you better boon duration and healing output, so it’s hard not to take them. You also get some additional protection for yourself against conditions. Other options will work here too, like monk runes or runes of the grove. Even forge runes if you want to push the condi and protection angle a bit more.

Sigils: The sigils are mostly for support too. Renewal works well since you can swap in and out of your kits pretty much whenever you want, and life just helps you build up stronger heals. They aren’t the only options that will work though.

Stats: For gear stats, there should be some variety to choose from. Cleric’s should work decently, although this build doesn’t have a lot of damage to work with in general. Magi’s could be potentially quite useful, especially if wanting to use bunker down. This might leave toughness a bit low though, but it does allow for on-crit sigils to be more of a possibility. Zealot’s could also be useful if you wanted to have a stronger damage focus without completely losing the supportive aspect. Apothecary’s should also fare decently, as you should be able to get around 900 condition damage while having a good array of conditions to use on the enemies. Even nomad’s could work if you want to be purely defensive, although the heals wouldn’t be as potent.

So what are some things it’s missing…

Well, the explosives line has some nice traits that would work with this build. In particular, we could spec into the grenade kit and take that in the empty utility slot for more damage output, and that would also allow us to spread vulnerability around to the enemy zerg. Or we could spec into the bomb kit instead. However, we could also take thermobaric detonation for additional blast finishers, or spec into siege rounds for more effective use of the mortar fields and an additional blast finisher.

However, I felt the build it was better as 00666. In explosives, you have to choose between thermobaric and siege rounds, so you’d always have to be giving up something. Additionally, the other traits don’t really play into the supportive role. It might be possible to drop the tools line and go into explosives for a bit more of a damage option in the build (that is, 60660), but then it’s becoming a bit more of a hybrid.

Well I think that’s all I can think about this build for now. If you actually read all of that stuff, thanks and feel free to let me know just how bad it is and how you would make it better.

You might be underestimating the effectivness of Mortars long water field when traited for durration. Or I might be underestimating it when it’s not traited… But you get my point.

Supply drop can also be a quite nice Elite. The toolbelt is 6 medkits on 50 sec cooldown, and the supplycrate itself can be overcharged like healing turret once it lands for condi removal and AoE heal, then detonated for 3! blasts in the waterfield.

Still, traited waterfield from Mortar is probably better for WvW zerg.

Are.1326:

You might be underestimating the effectivness of Mortars long water field when traited for durration. Or I might be underestimating it when it’s not traited… But you get my point.

Supply drop can also be a quite nice Elite. The toolbelt is 6 medkits on 50 sec cooldown, and the supplycrate itself can be overcharged like healing turret once it lands for condi removal and AoE heal, then detonated for 3! blasts in the waterfield.

Still, traited waterfield from Mortar is probably better for WvW zerg.

The main reason I didn’t opt for supply drop is the length of the cooldown. 120 seconds for three blast finishers is effectively one blast finisher every 40 seconds, which is what orbital stirke provides you. However, you can utilize kinetic charge to make this two blast finishers every 40 seconds. Using supply crate for nothing more than the blast finishers seems like a giant waste to me, and the turrets are never going to survive large battles.

In comparison, you can generate a water field every 20 seconds that provides some impact healing and will (read, should) cure a condition.

However, the tool belt skill for the supply crate could have nice synergy with kinetic charge. That would make a lot of med packs on the floor. However, it does mean not synergyzing it with one of your other skills, such as bandage self, so there’s still an opportunity cost there. Also, from experience, people have a knack of completely avoiding med packs on the floor.

The mortar is also a way for you to contribute to damage from long range, so you don’t have to be “useless”. I suppose you could always opt to use the grenade kit instead and stick with the good old box, but the grenade kit lost it’s poison field which is now on the mortar, meaning the latter is a better option for keeping enemies poisoned in an AoE for longer.

I still don’t think supply crate is a terrible option though, it’s always been the go-to elite. But if nothing else, the mortar will just annoy the commanders more, and that makes me happy… for some reason.

(Mortar-Medic = MM build)

This is my variant of the build above, main trait differences are explosives, and siege rounds. I focus a bit more on condition duration for offensive, and add Elixir B for backline support.

Explosives

Minors:

• Evasive Powder Keg: Create a bomb when you dodge.
• Steel-Packed Powder: Your explosions cause 5s of vulnerability.
• Explosive Powder: Explosions deal 10% more damage. Your turrets explode, dealing damage and knocking back nearby foes when destroyed

Adept:
Grenadier: Increases your throw velocity of grenades by 100%. Increases the blast radius of grenades by 60
OR
Glass Cannon: Deal 5% increased damage while above 90% health
Master:
Shaped Charge: You deal 5% increased damage to foes affected by vulnerability.
Grandmaster:
Siege Rounds: Orbital Strike comes down an additional time one second after the first strike. Mortar Kit ability effects last 40% longer.

Invention

Minors:

• Cleansing Synergy: When you use a healing skill you emit a cleansing pulse to nearby allies, removing a damaging condition from them. This trait has a 10 second internal cooldown.
• Heal Resonator: When you use a healing skill you grant 6s of regeneration to nearby allies.
• Energy Amplifier: While under the effects of regeneration you gain up to 250 Healing power.

Adept:
Over Shield: Shield recharge 20% faster, 4 sec protection to allies
Master:
Soothing Detonation: When you combo a blast finisher nearby allies are healed.
Grandmaster:
Medical Dispersion Field: You heal nearby allies for 12% of whatever you are healed for.

Alchemy

Minors:

• Hidden Flask: Drink an elixir B when struck while below 75% health.
• Transmute: Incoming conditions have a 100% chance of being converted into a boon. This trait has a 15 second internal cooldown.
• Alchemical Tinctures: Elixirs remove a condition from affected allies. Boons you apply last 20% longer.
  
  Adept:
  Health Insurance: While using Med Kit your outgoing healing to others is increased by 15%.
  Master:
  Inversion Enzyme: Elixir Gun abilities which remove conditions now convert them into boons instead.
  Grandmaster:
  HGH: Elixirs grant 2 stacks of might for 20s and their other effect durations are increased by 20%.
  
  Utilities

• Heal: Medkit
• Grenade Kit : take Grenadier if taking this
  OR
  Mine Kit : if you want unblockable boon-stripping and a ranged blast finisher
• Elixir Gun
• Elixir:
  B – for Stab/Fury/Swiftness(runes + tinctures + HGH = +60% duration)
  R – for Zerg Rez support (HGH = more pulses)
• Elite: Mortar

Rune Options

• Altruism
• Water
• Traveler
• Ice

Sigil

• Life: Stack heal rating
• Chilling: 20% Chill duration

Armor

• Soldier

Trinkets

• Berserker

Food

• Koi Cakes
• Toxic Sharpening Stones

Why?

I am trying to achieve something similar to you – a good zerg support build.
However, I don’t want to completely remove its offensive utility: Elementalists currently manage to provide good support while still maintaining offensive capability; we should be able to do the same.

Ultimately, I envisage this as

• Something that sticks in a back-line group, dishing out good healing and boons to the artillary (eg. Necros).
  Some groups will often run a guard in the Necro squads, hopefully an MM Engi can fill that role
  * Some stability in the form of Elixir B
  * Protection via shield skills
  * Lots of healing and condi cleanses – more important with Necro consume conditions being nerfed.
  * Good access to fury via Elixir B and medkit
• More healing potential as (current meta) Ele
  * Sigil of life, Runes (if taken), Energy Amplifier, Health insurance, Soothing Detonation, Medical Dispersion Field should be plenty of heals
  * I feel you shouldn’t need to take any heal rating on your armor + trinkets
• Imparing conditions
  * Lots of chill and poison potential – 2 chill and 4 (!) poison skills
  * Mortar fields have a high up-time and will help zone out sections of the battle field
  * Something that synergises well with other backliners, well timed chills can increase the time enemies spend in wells and other fields
• Maintain good damage
  * Vuln stacking + shaped charge means you can quickly stack vulnerability, as well as deal damage

Why no toolkit? If you are playing more backline support, you shouldn’t need the block unless you are being picked. The shield off-hand already provides some block and protection up-time; I’d rather be able to take grenades (for a solid damage dealer and extra conditions), or mines (for boon strip and an extra blast finisher).

Some thoughts on healing best-practises:

• Get plenty of tags early in fight with grenade/mortar – get the early kills to stack heal rating
• Water field from mortar, plus blasts from orbital strike, acid-bomb + shield (if safe to enter range), throw-mine (if taken)
• If only using ranged blasts – make sure equip med-kit for +15%
• Keep up regen on self with Elixir healing mist, and med-kit throw bandage (6s d/5s cd) to get the +250H from energy amplifier
• Use elixir-gun Super-Elixir, your heal rating bonuses and HGH will make this reasonably potent, but take care since it is a high duration light field – you won’t be able to dump a water field in this area
• Make full use of your Elixir skills to remove conditions (Elixir Gun: Fumigate, Acid-Bomb, Super-Elixir, Mortar: Elixir Shell as well as any utilities you picked).

On a side note: acid-bomb is now classes as an Elixir and thus affected by HGH +20% duration, so drop it on downs to cause them extended pain

Tor.1365:

On a side note: acid-bomb is now classes as an Elixir and thus affected by HGH +20% duration, so drop it on downs to cause them extended pain

When have they stated that? There have always been skills on the elixir gun that were labelled as elixirs, but did not count as elixirs for the purposes of traits. They did count as elixirs in the beta versions, but that was removed at release. They just never cleaned up the tool tips.

The mortar elixir round will be the first ability that features that sort of cross-traiting.

Unless of course they came out and announced such a change to the elixir gun skills, but if they have, I haven’t seen it.

I do like your use of elixir B though, that would be another good choice in my freebie slot due to the extra stability. Although the zerg should already be setup to take care of that (i.e. guardians).

The tool kit is also highly useful for the pull. If you can suck an enemy member of the zerg out of position, they can be turned into easy fodder. Also can rip people off walls if they decide to get a bit aggressive.

Yours should definitely be better on the offensive side of things though. I’d likely make similar changes to mine as far as traits go if I wanted to do that too.

Although I’m not really sold on the choice of HGH, I don’t think you have enough elixir-related abilities to justify it. If what you say about elixir gun is true, then I could definitely see it working, but otherwise I think the extra stims could be more useful.

Just a guess really: they’ve rolled Potent Elixirs into HGH. Given that that they’re really talking up the synergy – eg. talking about how seeker rocket is an explosive and is thus affected by explosives traits.

Given the Elixir round has the ‘Elixir’ tagged on it, and they mentioned that it is affected by traits, I was hoping that meant that the other ‘Elixir’ tagged skills would now be affected too.

rocket boots or slick shoes as your 3rd utility

I definitely want to see what the Gadgeteer boosted slick shoes looks like (bigger oil patches!). If its good, that might find a place for stab-stripping Engi’s that want to play a tankier front line support role.