Commander Mesmer
You crit 30% of the time (50% with fury) for a 60% chance for 1 stack of might for 10s. Terrible sigil choice.
That insignificant detail aside, what tier do you play? What sort of numbers are you leading and against what? Ever heard of commander focusing? Necros? Corrupt boons? Clearing condi’s is the least of your worries though. No stun breaks? It doesn’t matter how many team mates provide you stabos when they get stripped, you get imobbed, then whacked around like a pinball by every ranger pick team unloading their LB spam as soon as their skills come off cd.
But maybe your build works in whatever fights you’ve been having. In mine, I’m doubtful.
Well, there’s several pretty wonky things here.
First of all, you’re using signet of the ether. This happens to give 0 health regen if you don’t have illusions. It also pulses once every 3 seconds. That in mind, over the course of a 2 minute group fight, you’ll get somewhere between 0 and 2000 health in total. You’ll literally never have illusions up, they’ll die in a maximum of 2 or so seconds after spawning. Unless the only reason you’re taking that heal is for the cooldown refresh, it’s an awful choice.
Next, your sigil choices are poor, but Ross already covered that.
A bigger problem is that this build seems to have been made with literally zero understanding of what a commander needs to be able to do. You need to be able to wade through the front line of a zerg without being stopped or locked down. There are several aspects to this.
First, you regard condition removal as something that deals with damaging conditions. While technically correct, it’s also horridly incomplete. The big danger posed by conditions is the control they provide. If you get hit with 10 seconds of immobilize and chill without a way to remove it, you die. Condition removal is 100% essential.
Next, you have zero stability and no stunbreaks. You acknowledge this…but fail to offer justification as to why it’s ok. The answer is that it is not ok. Stunbreaks are actually less important than stability here though. Lines/rings of warding, unsteady ground, and other area denial skills require stability to pass. If you don’t have stability, you’ll just stand there bouncing off of them like a fool. A commander with no stability is no commander at all.
There are several other small things that don’t make tons of sense in your build, but they pale in comparison to the major issues that make it completely and totally inadequate for anything even remotely resembling commanding.
running with guards and necros that know how to condi clear and stabilize on voice request thus my focus on reflect spams. the sigil you have a valid point but in t2 given the current WvW population they last much longer than they should usually about 5 seconds average which is enough to get 1-2 heals from them. actual stuns are the only thing that really bother me in this build
running with guards and necros that know how to condi clear and stabilize on voice request thus my focus on reflect spams.
Relying on other people is a great way to get killed. What happens if someone isn’t there that day? What happens if they’re slightly out of range? What happens if the 5 target cap doesn’t include you? As the commander, it’s essential that you’re reliable and predictable. If you move erratically and get immobilized every 10 seconds, nobody can follow you.
the sigil you have a valid point but in t2 given the current WvW population they last much longer than they should usually about 5 seconds average which is enough to get 1-2 heals from them.
I play Mesmer in t2 too. They generally don’t last that long. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt though. Every 20 seconds you’ll get …4-6 ticks. Every 20 seconds you’ll receive 1200-1800 hp. Abysmal in every sense of the word.
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better than nothing and with sigil of blood and food its a healthy supply of incoming health.
2000 health every 20 seconds isn’t a healthy amount, it’s hardly noticeable. It’s literally worse than every other heal that mesmers have access to. “Better than nothing”…? That heal is the nothing that the other heals are better than.
Here,
This build brings much more to the table.
The one thing Mesmer commanders can bring that other classes cant, the one thing is target drop with stealth. Which in this commander focus meta is a great thing.
Forget about tagging and doing damage as a Mes commander, focus on your responsibilities first.
Finally Dollyak runes are fine. Other options are Melandru, Sanctury, or for a fringe option, Radiance.
Thanks Ross, I might try that if I feel like tagging up. =)
Here,
This build brings much more to the table.
The one thing Mesmer commanders can bring that other classes cant, the one thing is target drop with stealth. Which in this commander focus meta is a great thing.
Forget about tagging and doing damage as a Mes commander, focus on your responsibilities first.
Finally Dollyak runes are fine. Other options are Melandru, Sanctury, or for a fringe option, Radiance.
not bad but i dont like the instability brought by spamming boons a necro can snipe you with a corruption if your running that many boons with so few clears might as well run with clears and stunbreaks for your team at better intervals using a mantra build like this. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhMQRArf8dl0npYtVpxINcrNyqhY6YnWdqhlOTjAA-TFiDABxdCA6TPAAPBgNV/xQlgWp8zPNDos/ApAYSaE-w also since you by default have the minor trait to gain condi from toughness i switched the damage type to condi and switched the offhand sword out for focus because team swiftness is kinda a thing.
Here,
This build brings much more to the table.
The one thing Mesmer commanders can bring that other classes cant, the one thing is target drop with stealth. Which in this commander focus meta is a great thing.
Forget about tagging and doing damage as a Mes commander, focus on your responsibilities first.
Finally Dollyak runes are fine. Other options are Melandru, Sanctury, or for a fringe option, Radiance.
not bad but i dont like the instability brought by spamming boons a necro can snipe you with a corruption if your running that many boons with so few clears might as well run with clears and stunbreaks for your team at better intervals using a mantra build like this. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhMQRArf8dl0npYtVpxINcrNyqhY6YnWdqhlOTjAA-TFiDABxdCA6TPAAPBgNV/xQlgWp8zPNDos/ApAYSaE-w also since you by default have the minor trait to gain condi from toughness i switched the damage type to condi and switched the offhand sword out for focus because team swiftness is kinda a thing.
Condi vs Power is more about application, and why you’d bother. Retal means that everyone that hits you gets tagged. Every tag means death procs, including rallies from downs. It’s rolling the dice, but the odds are stacked heavily in your favor. Where’as condi might deal a harder hit on whoever you land said condi on (say burning from prestigue), but without some way to tag the entire enemy force you’re giving up your tag prowess. Focus is the obvious choice, not really for the swiftness, but for the pull. But the OH sword will proc retal on block.
That said, so long as you’re maintaining retal anyway you’re free to swap it out without any need for consideration whatsoever.
Dropping my 2 cents here.
In general, a commander should run a very selfish build; this means skipping out on all glamours in favor of more selfish utilities except veil/portal. Veil/Portal is the exception because theoretically there is no one more coordinated/reliable than yourself that can drop it.
This is the best build I can come up with maximizing invulnerability. A valid variation would be to use Harmonious mantras instead of Triumphant Distortion if you really need the extra reliable stability/condi clear.
Some notes on the build:
- Gearing is Nomad’s/Knights. You need a decent amount of precision for to proc vigor consistently.
- Energy sigils are a must. I chose cleansing sigils so you aren’t as pressured to pop the mantra heal inefficiently to get rid of a immob or something.
- Most of your damage/tagging will come from dodge (DE) + IP Shatter.
- I believe mantra is the most ideal heal for commanding. Regroups provide time to recharge it. It also synergizes well with Adventurer runes (extra dodge on heal).
- Focus should be fine instead of torch if you’re not being pressured.
- No reflects. A commander should not run reflects because of funny interactions with necro’s dark path.
- Although you probably won’t need to because you have stability mantra, remember that distortion can act as stability.
About Staff and effective usage of Phase Retreat
Some may disagree with my choice of staff because you should avoid using phase retreat during an engagement because it makes you harder to follow. Here is my justification of using a staff regardless:
- You can still phase retreat inside water fields to top off during regroups
- With this build, when you are pulled by an engi, a combination of stability mantra -> torch stealth -> phase retreat will quickly get you out of danger.
- Staff is still the best defensive weapon available with chaos armor/storm
By the way, I would avoid trying to do cheeky micro with phase retreat where you about-face as you engage head-on into the enemy zerg and phase retreat to “skip past” their hammer train and avoid damage. The video lag makes pulling off this maneuver reliably difficult. Furthermore, I believe you aren’t able to turn your character if you become immobilized.
Why did you pick Nomad armor? That’s Tough/vit/healing and I doubt it’s very beneficial to a mesmer. We’re only going to be healing ourselves nine times out of ten; it’s not like you traited to heal others and regen works off the healing power of the player it is applied to.
Why did you pick Nomad armor? That’s Tough/vit/healing and I doubt it’s very beneficial to a mesmer. We’re only going to be healing ourselves nine times out of ten; it’s not like you traited to heal others and regen works off the healing power of the player it is applied to.
What would you suggest? I cannot think of any stat combination better suited for survivability above all else given a suitable amount of precision obtained from having knight’s trinkets.
Soldier? Sentinel? They have the same stats except that the primary is different. You still get some toughness and you keep some power. You’ve offset the lack of precision with trinkets and weapons.
Here, I changed the armor and the runes. You walk away with higher power, toughness, and vitality, but also have lower healing power and condition damage.
Soldier? Sentinel? They have the same stats except that the primary is different. You still get some toughness and you keep some power. You’ve offset the lack of precision with trinkets and weapons.
Here, I changed the armor and the runes. You walk away with higher power, toughness, and vitality, but also have lower healing power and condition damage.
The build you linked swapped Adventurer runes for Melandru. When you account for this, it actually has less armor than the Nomad set. If you’re uncomfortable with Adventurer runes why not just use Melandru and keep the Nomad armor? Power does not contribute to survivability at all.
Also, looking back at the original build, I may have prioritized precision a bit too much. In this case if you’re looking for extra vitality, I would swap out the knight’s trinkets for soldier’s; I wouldn’t go under 30% crit though. (Ideally I would swap knight’s with nomad’s trinkets if they existed)
(edited by adelaide.6213)
The build you linked swapped Adventurer runes for Melandru. When you account for this, it actually has less armor than the Nomad set. If you’re uncomfortable with Adventurer runes why not just use Melandru and keep the Nomad armor? Power does not contribute to survivability at all.
False. My set with more toughness has more armor than yours. I also swapped the armor for Soldiers. As a mesmer you need to be able to kill and Nomads won’t allow for that. You can run in a circle and maybe whittle your opponent down, but by then either someone else has shown up to finish you off or they just laugh in your face as they heal up. So, the power is vital if you plan on killing someone with the kind of traits you’re using. Otherwise, reroll for a condi build and overpower them that way. And yes, the melandru runes are there to help keep up the toughness as well as keep down the conditions applied.
(edited by Calliope.8675)
The build you linked swapped Adventurer runes for Melandru. When you account for this, it actually has less armor than the Nomad set. If you’re uncomfortable with Adventurer runes why not just use Melandru and keep the Nomad armor? Power does not contribute to survivability at all.
False. My set with more toughness has more armor than yours. I also swapped the armor for Soldiers. As a mesmer you need to be able to kill and Nomads won’t allow for that. You can run in a circle and maybe whittle your opponent down, but by then either someone else has shown up to finish you off or they just laugh in your face as they heal up. So, the power is vital if you plan on killing someone with the kind of traits you’re using. Otherwise, reroll for a condi build and overpower them that way. And yes, the melandru runes are there to help keep up the toughness as well as keep down the conditions applied.
I don’t know where you’re getting your numbers from. Take any piece of nomad gear and compare it with soldier’s. You’ll see that Nomad has the more toughness and the same vitality.
Regardless, you should rely on the rest of your zerg/party to deal damage when commanding and focus on surviving. You get sufficient credit from kills to proc Triumphant Distortion from your party; and if you’re not in a party as a commander you’re doing it wrong.
Yes, base the Nomad has more, but is not conducive to mesmer, which is why I augmented with Melandru because you are also running without any condi-clears. Running a mesmer without a cleanse is asking to be mocked while melted with conditions. Even with my group, I make sure I have at least one cleanse, be it traits, mantra, or nullfield. My set up of your build has a higher survival rating than yours.
Yes, base the Nomad has more, but is not conducive to mesmer, which is why I augmented with Melandru because you are also running without any condi-clears. Running a mesmer without a cleanse is asking to be mocked while melted with conditions. Even with my group, I make sure I have at least one cleanse, be it traits, mantra, or nullfield. My set up of your build has a higher survival rating than yours.
Make sure you’re looking at the right build/post.
I am, but I forgot you are using one mantra for the heal cleanse. I think that’s wasted trait points. The argument is on the gear. Nomad is a bad idea.
Hm, personally I agree that the commander has to have a selfish build. Triumphant Distortion might be useful together with IP and Blurred Inscriptions to give plentiful invulnerability, or perhaps a mantra build using RM to give lots of healing and cleanse+stability. For weapons, focus seems to be a must to provide the mobility to keep at the front of your zerg and scepter for MH as sword’s teleportation and rooted Blurred Frenzy will make it hard for the zerg to stay with you. Staff, as a swap, or GS aren’t bad at all. Staff gives you safety, while GS gives your zerg a strong spearhead to break the enemy lines and push back. CC[Confusing Cry] will be very useful with IP, and IP seems to be a must. Illusionary Invigoration is also a very useful trait for giving an extra distortion at your half-life. For healing, either mantra or Ether Feast.
Other things of note can be the Shattered Conditions in a x/x/x/6/6 spec would be useful to add a cleanse ever 11 or so seconds with Mind Wrack.