Guild Wars 2

This is nothing amazing or even new, but in light of the removal of Merc I played around with this for a while and I have to say I like it a lot. I do think it has some interesting choices that give this build a good trade-off between Power damage output, team support (Boon Share), and solid sustain.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWnsnBtfiFoBmpBEgiFijq+S70S1MASgF6sBugOD-TJBBQBe4UAAgnAwDLDcw9HAA

At first I tried it with a focus on Wells and thus Well traits, which kinda gives you more team support, but for our Wells to work you really need good team coordination. (Preferably voice communication) In PuGs I still see most people seemingly deliberately jumping out off my Wells more than into them. I also don’t like the long CD on my personal Heal, again not PuG friendly.

Pros:
- Very good sustain (for a Mesmer)
- Solid boon sharing
- Medium Power damage output (considering it’s a tanky support build)
- Solid control (3x AE Interrupts & Slow on Interrupt )
- Fast Rezzing
- good mobility/juking
- Instant on demand Stability & Quickness

Cons:
- medium damage output
- no Portal (easily changed out for WoC though if not PuGing)
- low illusion production, not terribly important, but must be mentioned

Some explanations for the somewhat unique parts of the build:
- Since this build has a lot of AoE Interrupts, I added the Slow-on-interrupt trait and I’m liking it.
- Scraper Runes with Paladin Amulet is quite tanky, especially if you add a bunch of Toughness from Chaos/CA plus of course Inspiration.
- Sigil choice is admittedly odd, probably not optimal, but I like the >60% chance to crit on my own attacks, since this build is largely about damage I do, as opposed to my crappy Phants. The Battle Sigils are just in there for more Might sharing really.
- Well of Calamity just cuz! :P Yeah Portal would be a better team option, but since Paladin Amulet means your damage output is somewhat less than stellar, this can add a bit. (And I like having it for the extra Etheral field for more Protection.) I actually like the damage that WoC and GW add to this tanky build. Again this is probably a PuG thing.
- Master of Manipulation is another arguable point. I like the 12s CD on Mirror and the 4s of Reflection is occasionally very useful and quite funny.
- Illusionary Reversion I kept in there for a little more illusion generation over more self Alacrity. Seize the Moment is also mainly for sharing out viz SoI.
- Medics Feedback is a must for any support oriented build. The amount of rezzes I’m getting off under pressure in this build is very impressive. (Really a combination of good sustain, stability, lots of AE interrupts, the slow on interrupt, and of course MF.)

It’s definitely also just fun to play something other than the meta Condie Shatter build, and I figured I may as well adapt to the Merc Amulet removal now.

more support version less dmg

with perma alacrity your healing skill will be ready every 9 sec so 2 condi cleanse and best healing ratio on self

but still WoE is needed to support allies not only yourself

slow – when interrupt is trash but with time warp on the area you negate so much healing from the ele and dmg from the dmg dealers with slow
also STM is usless now so CP is much better to create illusion

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWnsnBlqhFoB+fCUrhFij6sBugJouS/0Q1MASgFC-TJhIABFVGY59HA4UAI7TAAA

Definitely more support and less damage on that one. ;-)

As usual, you make good comments, but they are also very much focused on being 100% support with little to no damage output. While that certainly may turn out to be more effective overall, I don’t find that playstyle to be appealing to me.

Since I mostly PuG I like to be self-reliant and able to at least hold my own in 1v1s, if not against great players, then at least against the band-wagon riff-raff of any particular profession. (cough Thieves cough)

I want to be both a significant factor in team fights, and be dangerous solo. All my builds aim to find that balance, rather than focusing on one thing entirely at the cost of another.

I believe this build does that quite well. The team support I give between boons, resses, control, and damage output is definitely significant, but I also don’t just draw-out 1v1s or even 2v1s until help arrives.

Thanks for the input though, I will try out some of your suggestions to see if I can find an even better balance.

messiah.1908:

more support version less dmg

with perma alacrity your healing skill will be ready every 9 sec so 2 condi cleanse and best healing ratio on self

but still WoE is needed to support allies not only yourself

slow – when interrupt is trash but with time warp on the area you negate so much healing from the ele and dmg from the dmg dealers with slow
also STM is usless now so CP is much better to create illusion

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWnsnBlqhFoB+fCUrhFij6sBugJouS/0Q1MASgFC-TJhIABFVGY59HA4UAI7TAAA

Why runes of radiance? Is PR in TW/CS/NF that significant?

DeathReign.7821:

messiah.1908:

more support version less dmg

with perma alacrity your healing skill will be ready every 9 sec so 2 condi cleanse and best healing ratio on self

but still WoE is needed to support allies not only yourself

slow – when interrupt is trash but with time warp on the area you negate so much healing from the ele and dmg from the dmg dealers with slow
also STM is usless now so CP is much better to create illusion

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWnsnBlqhFoB+fCUrhFij6sBugJouS/0Q1MASgFC-TJhIABFVGY59HA4UAI7TAAA

Why runes of radiance? Is PR in TW/CS/NF that significant?

radiance give you 1.5 sec to chaos armor which means more weakness and cripple procc and more boons on you so more protection and regen uptime
also when using heal you get light aura so with healing skill you can get 10 sec which means more vulnerability on enemy (good for your allies) and more retaliation boon on you so more dmg output for you.
also it give vitality which you need now more while having good armor

null field and tw – yes it is significantly . having 2 sec resistance while in null field . as null field ticking cleanse means you dont get hit for 2 sec while the condi is being cleanse. good for ress also protect from poison field. tw buff your dmg dealers enormously. thief doing only AA will hit like crazy. and also sharing back the boons prolong its duration on them.

Windwalker.7421:

Definitely more support and less damage on that one. ;-)

As usual, you make good comments, but they are also very much focused on being 100% support with little to no damage output. While that certainly may turn out to be more effective overall, I don’t find that playstyle to be appealing to me.

Since I mostly PuG I like to be self-reliant and able to at least hold my own in 1v1s, if not against great players, then at least against the band-wagon riff-raff of any particular profession. (cough Thieves cough)

I want to be both a significant factor in team fights, and be dangerous solo. All my builds aim to find that balance, rather than focusing on one thing entirely at the cost of another.

I believe this build does that quite well. The team support I give between boons, resses, control, and damage output is definitely significant, but I also don’t just draw-out 1v1s or even 2v1s until help arrives.

Thanks for the input though, I will try out some of your suggestions to see if I can find an even better balance.

i tried paladin. yes it work in 1v1 in pug group. but only versus bad ones. your 2.6k armor is not much versus their burst atm. so to control a point might be hard sometimes. also you have to decide. whether to support which means always move with your group (with comms its easier as they know when to come to you) and share boons etc… or holding points but than you dont need much group support.

messiah.1908:

DeathReign.7821:

messiah.1908:

more support version less dmg

with perma alacrity your healing skill will be ready every 9 sec so 2 condi cleanse and best healing ratio on self

but still WoE is needed to support allies not only yourself

slow – when interrupt is trash but with time warp on the area you negate so much healing from the ele and dmg from the dmg dealers with slow
also STM is usless now so CP is much better to create illusion

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWnsnBlqhFoB+fCUrhFij6sBugJouS/0Q1MASgFC-TJhIABFVGY59HA4UAI7TAAA

Why runes of radiance? Is PR in TW/CS/NF that significant?

radiance give you 1.5 sec to chaos armor which means more weakness and cripple procc and more boons on you so more protection and regen uptime
also when using heal you get light aura so with healing skill you can get 10 sec which means more vulnerability on enemy (good for your allies) and more retaliation boon on you so more dmg output for you.
also it give vitality which you need now more while having good armor

null field and tw – yes it is significantly . having 2 sec resistance while in null field . as null field ticking cleanse means you dont get hit for 2 sec while the condi is being cleanse. good for ress also protect from poison field. tw buff your dmg dealers enormously. thief doing only AA will hit like crazy. and also sharing back the boons prolong its duration on them.

Sounds interesting! I’ll give it a shot. Why do you use Cleric ammy btw? Isn’t the healing power really wasted on Mesmer as a main stat?

To my hybrid core mes I’m using sage amu. Just started to use it, and I need to say it give the same damage but I need to be more focus, specialy when playing against thiefs and wars. I.m a little bit more squishy but I still can do enough in team fights.

DeathReign.7821:

messiah.1908:

DeathReign.7821:

messiah.1908:

more support version less dmg

with perma alacrity your healing skill will be ready every 9 sec so 2 condi cleanse and best healing ratio on self

but still WoE is needed to support allies not only yourself

slow – when interrupt is trash but with time warp on the area you negate so much healing from the ele and dmg from the dmg dealers with slow
also STM is usless now so CP is much better to create illusion

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseWnsnBlqhFoB+fCUrhFij6sBugJouS/0Q1MASgFC-TJhIABFVGY59HA4UAI7TAAA

Why runes of radiance? Is PR in TW/CS/NF that significant?

radiance give you 1.5 sec to chaos armor which means more weakness and cripple procc and more boons on you so more protection and regen uptime
also when using heal you get light aura so with healing skill you can get 10 sec which means more vulnerability on enemy (good for your allies) and more retaliation boon on you so more dmg output for you.
also it give vitality which you need now more while having good armor

null field and tw – yes it is significantly . having 2 sec resistance while in null field . as null field ticking cleanse means you dont get hit for 2 sec while the condi is being cleanse. good for ress also protect from poison field. tw buff your dmg dealers enormously. thief doing only AA will hit like crazy. and also sharing back the boons prolong its duration on them.

Sounds interesting! I’ll give it a shot. Why do you use Cleric ammy btw? Isn’t the healing power really wasted on Mesmer as a main stat?

your amulets choices
paladin – more dmg versus less healing output on allies.
knight – more dmg and armor versus lower health and low healing output
cleric – best healing output but no dmg. well heal the second healing getting all the buff from healing power. also regen will be 280 and not 140 hps. all the rest is just meh but still the longer the fight it adds up.

just consider ele cleric is still better. he puts protection, regen like crazy with shouts, heal like crazy with all his abilities, while cleanse conditions
downside he cant share more boons like we do. and he got lower hp base

pico.6402:

To my hybrid core mes I’m using sage amu. Just started to use it, and I need to say it give the same damage but I need to be more focus, specialy when playing against thiefs and wars. I.m a little bit more squishy but I still can do enough in team fights.

i think ppl will test it and will choose between paladin and cleric
its hard to be low armor versus the power creep while standing on point and bunkering and support

Paladin is a bad amulet unless you dont like to kill but just hang around all the time. Best merc replacement for the moment is prolly the wonderer. It’s still poopy dho.

Paladin is not a bad amulet at all, but it’s simply outclassed by Merc on a Condie build, since Condie doesn’t require Crit Chance. Yes, the damage output is a trade-off for the increased survivability it gives you, but that’s the point of the amulet.

It’s also outclassed by Marauders on glassy DPS builds, obviously, but as messiah said, in the current meta it’s pretty hard to stand on a point without armor. (Especially in PuGs where you can’t rely on your team-mates to save your bacon, in exchange for bringing significantly higher spike damage then Paladins.)

However, there is nothing wasted on the Paladin Amulet for us, and it’s a 4 stat amulet and all the stats are significant, so it’s actually pretty decent if you don’t have unrealistic expectations. It’s not a pure damage amulet, obviously.

You can be Thief bait and do decent spike damage in Marauders, or you can do significantly less spike damage, but gain significant amounts of survivability. It’s simple math and not hard to see that it serves the purpose for which it was designed; a solid trade-off between damage and survivability.

This build seems to be an ok support, but will not perform well as a 1v1er, and in terms of support will most likely be inferior to druids and eles. Seize the moment really isnt worth it imo, short duration quickness that isnt that impactful to share, even if you spam all your shatters.