Guild Wars 2

1/6/2014 – Updated for 12/10/2013 patch.
Video here and build description a few posts down.

Videos
Paladin 1.0 dungeon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ2b501w2io
Paladin 2.0 Sw/Sw-Sw/F dungeon: (coming soon)
Paladin 2.0 GS dungeon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLLOT7TLGyo
Note: For the small amount of dungeon runs that require GS, this is still useable.

Intro
I loved the Paladin class back in the good ‘ole RPG days. I loved the healing capabilities to go along with a tank damage spec. One thing great about GW2 is that any class can spec into damage, conditions, and support (obviously some better than others). I’m pleased that the Mesmer can be such a great support class and I wanted to create a build as close to a Paladin – damage AND healing – as possible.

THE PALADIN MESMER 1.0
This builds can successfully be used in WvW and PvE (open world and dungeons) in a support role. There are some great bunker/support type builds out there, but I have not seen any that have focused on a solid healing/damage hybrid, with high healing power, respectable precision and power. That was my goal, which has taken a lot of playing around, a lot of gear and gold, but a lot of fun to arrive at. Now, if you want to go all out boon support with the gear and traits, read no further. Go directly to Chaos Archangel’s Chaos Maestro build on the build list. In this Paladin build though, we have high healing power (~930) and are geared for respectable damage.

Traits/Skills
Trait selection is either power: 10/5/30/25/0 or support: 10/0/30/30/0.

Inspiration-25 for the power build to get glamour reduction, traited focus and phantasmal strength. For the support build, you go 30 to grab restorative mantras.

Chaos-30 for Chaotic Dampening and Bountiful Interruption (BI). The might you can obtain from this trait are not to be overlooked. Chaos Storm alone can fill you up with boons but with BI traited, the daze interrupts proc often and you get an additional 5 might stacks and a random other boon for every interrupt, with no cool down. It also works magnificently on focus pulls. The single extra boon from BI is random-one of vigor, regeneration, swiftness, protection, retaliation and might. They are long lasting (5 second base) and with the moderate amount of interrupting you’ll be doing with Chaos Storm and Focus pulls, it’s well worth the 30 investment in Chaos for a boon sharing support build.

There are two build variants, depending on where you’re playing:

Full Power Build: http://tinyurl.com/k9y3xxj

• 10/5/30/25/0
• Solo PvE/Dungeons
• Feedback for reflect heavy scenarios and null field for condition management/boon stripping.
• Alternate is to go 0/0/30/25/15 to get all illusion cool downs with iCelerity.

Full Support Build: http://tinyurl.com/nfcpogy

• 10/0/30/30/0
• WvW small group/guild organized play
• Use Restorative Mantras for party AoE healing.
• If you must, can be used this in PvE but the healing and armor is way over the top

Gear
Berserker with the power build and Clerics/Magi/Berserker with support.

Runes/Sigils

• Full power: A couple Altruism runes to get an extra amount of might on heal and the rest ruby orbs. Take battle sigils for 3x might on weapon swap.
• Full support: Full Altruism and battle sigils.

In both builds, take a spare MH/OH with a sigil of bloodlust, perception, or life on each to charge an extra 250 power, precision, or healing (respectively) as needed, then switch to the main weapons.

Nourishments
For both builds take omnomberry cream for boon duration and maintenance oil for precision. This helps the support build crit on reflects.

Support
How are we supporting exactly? Both builds provide a great deal of party support, with the power build only lacking in healing, which is less important in PvE/Dungeons.

For the support build, let’s start with regeneration. We will be healing on a personal level and more importantly, spreading that around. Our healing sources are:

• Chaos Armor (personal/randomly).
• The Chaos line minor traits (personal).
• The Inspiration Phantasmal Healing trait (party).
• Bountiful Interruption trait (personal/randomly).
• Signet of Inspiration (personal).
• Signet of Inspiration boon sharing (party) (yes we will use this as often as possible and makes all personal regen sources party sharing).

As regeneration is a primary focus, we need a way to extend it as long as possible. We have base 30% boon duration, extra 15% from the Altruism runes and 20% from food. So we’re at 65% regeneration duration each time it procs. Even better, the 4/30/13 patch saw to it that our boon duration passes to our phantasms. It’s safe to say you will maintain perma-regen for both you and your allies.

With above 900 healing power, regeneration will tick close to 250/sec, stacking up to at least one minute per ally. Regeneration scales well with high healing power and we milk that as much as we can while doing decent damage. One of the best methods of providing predictable AoE regeneration is our phantasms. As a result, we have to keep them alive as long as possible. With the 6/25/13 patch, phantasms got a nice HP buff which makes Persisting Images needed less in PvE/Dungeons. Take Glamour Mastery instead for both builds. I shy away from Vigorious Revelation due to the importance of keeping phantasm up. It’s a powerful support trait though, feel free to play with it as needed. Last but not least, you have 2,800 AoE healing from restorative mantras.

Damage
Ok Mr. Paladin, how are you going to do your share of damage? The power build speaks for itself with decent stats. The support build can do a decent amount of damage and will be the focus here.

Use sigils of perception to get the 25 stacks, then use a sharpening stone. At that point, you’re at 45% critical chance and 1,800 power. This will do decent damage while maintaining close to 800 healing power. Charging the sigils is very quick if both MH and OH weapon have them – 2 charges per kill. When fully charged, switch to the weapons with the battle sigils.

With at least 9 stacks of might sustained and often higher (from sigils of battle/runes of altruism/bountiful interruption/signet of inspiration), power is increased much further.

A note on dungeons: Running the power build, I always use enemy specific potions to get the +/-10% damage instead of oil/stones. I also find it helpful to use a sigil equipped with a damage modifier for the type of foe you will face on my focus OH (e.g. sigil of sorrow for dredge). Sigils of night work well with night dungeons. With the potion and sigil, that’s an extra 20% damage you’re dealing when using sword/focus while not giving up too much of anything else.

A typical boon sharing chain has been detailed very well on the Chaos Maestro build thread, http://tinyurl.com/ChaosMaestroBoonStorm. I pretty much follow the same, with minor differences to account for Bountiful Interruption. This chain is the same for both the power and support build.

• Start with Sw/F. You will already have 3 might stacks lasting about 30 seconds from the swap from Staff. Do the Sword leap/light combo on temporal curtain (15 seconds retaliation).
• Swap to Staff (3 more might stacks on the swap).
• Immediately Phase Retreat on curtain (more retaliation duration).
• Dodge back in. As you dodge, Destroy curtain for interrupts to proc BI and more boons/duration.
• As you finish your dodge roll, cast Chaos Storm (aegis, swiftness, more retaliation, additional BI boons/duration) AND Chaos Armor #4 (protection). Stand in storm for 3 seconds. Watch your boons balloon. If you already had many, your boon durations just got a huge buff from BI.
• At the end of Chaos Storm, blow a Power Return for more AoE might/fury – plus adding to your own might/fury you are about to share.
• F3 Shatter for interrupt to proc BI and more boons/duration.
• Finally, Signet of Inspiration. You’ve just AoE transferred many might stacks at high duration, fury, protection, retaliation, aegis, vigor – the list goes on.

The above chain can be executed once every 36 seconds, with random power returns and MoP spamming to spread AoE might/fury and direct healing in between via altruism. Do I execute the chain as stated every time? Not typically. I try to at least once in a drawn out fight. For the “light” version, before you cast Signet of Inspiration, do these at a minimum:

• Have at least two weapon swaps worth of might charged.
• Stand in Chaos Storm for the full interval.
• Power Return heal.

Those 3 things will proc a lot of boons with decent duration. You will learn to work in some of the other steps as you play with it.

Retaliation Damage

• Leap/Light combo with Sword/Focus.
• Inspiration Vengeful Images trait: Very sparse damage now due to the 6/25/2013 patch but you might get a little in that first 5 seconds after summoned.
• Signet of Inspiration.

Playstyle – WvW

• ZERG/SQUADS
  You’ll be using the support build. It works best in the mid to back line as phantasms have a better chance of surviving. Lay down temporal curtain to reflect ranged attacks. Try to place phantasms behind it and stand near them. In a small group (Build 2), get a good 10-15 seconds regen on yourself and use Signet of Inspiration. You will want to watch ally health bars and proc restorative mantras using MoP if a quick boost is needed. You will be tanky enough to get a few hits in yourself but the main focus is to keep those phantasms well placed and doing their primary job of regenerating your allies. The build works especially well with the mantra heals and regen when taking towers.

• ROAMING/SOLO
  Use the power build. It can be beneficial to gear in a little more healing power as the passive regeneration can make you difficult to down, especially in 1vMany scenarios. Sword/Focus will be your primary sparring choice. In 1vX fights, get your phantasms up to get some good regeneration on yourself. I like to go Temporal Curtain, Warden (simultaneously destroying curtain), Leap > Swap > Blurred Frenzy > Mind Wrack. This is the common Sword/Focus pull warden combo that is very effective if you can hit. It will force your opponents to blow cool downs and deal nice burst damage. From there, switch to staff. If they are still in melee range, often I will immediately Phase Retreat and Cry of Frustration for additional burst which is usually effective. Then just kite. Warlock and back to Sword/Focus to try to land the Focus pull combo as often as possible.
  Though altruism runes are perfect for group play, you can use them greatly to your advantage when running solo. With these and your other might sources, you will have perma-might with at least 9 stacks on you at all times in a fight. Also if I’m sitting well health-wise, I’ll often blow a power return specifically to get fury if I want to go for a BF or MW burst. It’s very effective.
  Don’t be afraid to shatter with this build. When first testing, I would play 1vX, keep my phantasms up and would stalemate opponents. Sure I’d stay alive and have 45 plus seconds of regeneration but what good is that if you’re not killing anything. Get a good 10 seconds of regen and then be aggressive. Signet of Illusions not only keeps phantasms alive longer, but also helps by recharging shatter skills if you need it.

Playstyle – PvE
Roll the power build. Nothing special here.

So, does all this make us a true Paladin? Let’s not kid ourselves … not really. Guardians are the closest class to attaining what I would consider a true Paladin. But due to great build diversity, we Mesmers have the ability keep our allies alive while dealing some nice damage of our own.

Feel free to comment/critique as I’ll always be looking for ways to improve the build.

THE PALADIN MESMER 2.0 (Might Master)

The build: http://tinyurl.com/kug3p7f
New video coming soon due to weapon change.

This build is intended for open PvE and Dungeons. I used to use GS but I’ve changed it to Sword/Sword and Sword/Focus due to changes in the meta. The build still has the capability to quickly stack large amounts of might, vigor, retaliation and regeneration to share with the team with a long 70% duration. Party condition cleansing is done via iWarden/Temporal Curtain combo.

With the 12/10/2013 patch we lost might on shatter but gained iCelerity. The build still has a mild shatter focus due to the vigor and retaliation procs. The idea is to allow the iSwordsman and iWarden their initial attack, then shatter, share boons and move on. It’s unlikely they’ll last for more than one attack cycle (iWarden for sure). We have full cool downs on these phantasms so they should be up quickly. Though not permanent, you’ll hit it and maintain 15-20 might stacks often. A short version of the play style:

• Get your first 3 illusions up (allow phantasms to attack once), then F2 shatter.
• In between F2 shatters, try to keep you phantasms alive for a good amount of regen.

That’s it – you’ll have large stacks of might, long lasting vigor, retaliation and regeneration at all times, especially in longer fights. I have a long, drawn out version of the boon chain which can reliably buff 20 stacks of might without interrupts and I’ll provide on request – just ran out of room.

Alternate: 10/0/20/20/15 removes sword cool downs in favor of empowering illusions. Not sure this is worth it due to the precision loss as well.

Why not do the boon duration runes, getting 40% boon duration with 2xSupWater, 2xSupMonk, 2xMajWater/Monk/Sanctuary? They also give Healing Power, and the 40% Boon Duration works well in your favor with a build like this.

Note: Running Sigil of Hydromancy and Sigil of Battle on the same weapon set is useless. They don’t stack (mainhand will proc, and then sigil cooldown will go into effect, making the Sigil of Battle worthless).

From there, I see you don’t run any condition removal. You can actually trade out the Bowl of Saffron-Scented Mango Ice Cream for a Bowl of Saffron-Scented Poultry Soup which, for the price of 70 Healing Power, gives you the ability to remove a condition when you use a healing skill (10s cooldown, as opposed to Mender’s Purity 0s cooldown).

@Esplen, I don’t run the full boon duration rune set up because I really want the might and fury from Altruism. With 45% boon duration I have, it’s more than enough to provide long lasting boons.
Good point on the hydromancy sigil – originally I was using a water sigil which worked with hydromancy but later changed to battle which obviously doesn’t, and I forgot to update the build. I need to find something else there for WvW and PvE. Any suggestions there? I could go for a water sigil or air/fire.
In dungeons I’m always running the +10% dmg vs foe sigil.

Condition removal is no problem when using Build 2 cause I will always be in a group which cleanses plenty, coupled with the warden/temporal curtain light combo. When using Build 1, that’s what shattered conditions is for.

The problem with water/fire/air is that they also override the battle. Say you swap your weapon. Now you get some might, which means that for 10 seconds, your water/fire/air can’t proc. Now, if they DO proc, your weapon-swap won’t proc battle for another 5 seconds.

Great write-up for a very interesting build. Similarly to the Chaos Maestro style build, the boon combos and setup seem a little daunting to execute in chaotic situations, but it still looks like it would be fun to try out.

Thank you for sharing it! I’m curious as to how much healing effectiveness this build loses by using something other than Cleric’s armor / Magi Trinkets. (The latter of which I think are very underutilized, and I’m glad to see them used!) From my understanding, Restorative Mantras doesn’t benefit a whole lot from Healing Power, but would the hit to Regeneration make all of the combos not worthwhile?

Also, would this be a feasible build with a condition angle instead? (My reason for asking is mostly selfish – I have a set of Apothecary gear with Altruism runes and and trying to get around buying a new set of Cleric’s gear and runes to go with it. ^^)

@Sinaya-yes it’s very similar to the Chaos Maestro (hence the call out) but really the build centers around the signet of inspiration, for without that skill, all these boon support builds are nothing. There are many diverse ways for mesmers to acquire boons and as a result, I believe many different types of support builds (this one with Bountiful Interruption as a centerpiece) that can be made – all ending with SoI. We’ve seen some amazing boon support builds for mesmer, but there are some I personally haven’t seen yet (I’m working on 2 more currently). Can they outclass a the overall support of a guardian? Not likely but the fact remains that we mesmers can offer solid, effective boon support and healing, which makes for a very refreshing, different play style.

The combos aren’t the easiest to land but like I explained, I don’t focus on landing the big one all the time. The light version is a great place to start and you can fit in other parts of the big combo as you get comfortable with it. The play style is actually about as frenetic as a shatter mesmer. You’re constantly doing something, multi-tasking especially with mantra charges.

The high healing power is not for restorative mantras, it’s for the regen. The more clerics you take away, the more regen dips to the point of not being feasible if you want to keep the spirit of the build. I really tried to make the perfect hybrid of healing/support and damage. With the might stacks you maintain and semi-frequent fury, you are deceptively powerful – more than you would think built out like this. If we end up getting the additional 5 stacks of might with Bountiful Interruption in this next patch … well, that buffs the damage of this build quite a bit, and it’s already respectable.

@Sinaya, sorry I forgot to answer your question about Apothecary gear. I don’t think it would work well with this build. I suppose I could probably come up with something but Fay has a build already tested that I would recommend trying with that gear:
http://www.destinysedge.net/fay/mesmer/panacea.html

If you still want to try the Paladin build, I would suggest maybe decking out in all rares to test it. You’ll still get a good feel without it costing too much.

cool ideas here. I already play variations on tanky boon/support, so I may give this a try too.

I also want to second your point about the super complicated combo. When learning the focus/retaliation combo, I found myself feeling like I wasn’’t able to do everything I was trying to do.

As you improve and get used to different pieces of the combo, the required skills and their effects, you learn to adapt your playstyle on the fly to suit the situation. For example, the focus retaliation combo is really nice, but sometimes a pain to squeeze in before a boon storm. However if you’re stacking up with a group and facing aoe, it is way worth it to get lots of retaliation and spread it around. Similarly, if the group is just trying to focus something down, a simple heal (proccing altruism rune) and weapon swap (proccing sigil of battle) and rune of inspiration giving 9 might and fury, is more than enough to help the party….even if they’re not getting any protection/aegis this time around.

so yeah, like the op mentioned, the optimal combo is there to show what is possible with the build, and as you go, you should learn to do each piece of the combo. Pulling off the whole, ideal combo takes some skill and practice, and if that is all you’re doing, it might be boring/frustrating. So mix it up, have fun and realize that pieces of it are more than ok.

With the trait changes it looks like you can get both bountiful interruptions, as well as the buffed PU using this build. I think im going to mess around with this build with the new changes to see what all i can accomplish in small man wvw roaming.

By taking out the 5 points from illusions you can get protected mantras for even more defense while casting mantras to heal, or if you want more DPS, you can put 10 points into domination for halting strike, which just got buffed, and with all the inturrupting you do to trigger BI, halting strike could potentially do alot of damage along with the minor trait that adds vuln while inturrupting.

Im going to mess around with a 10/0/30/30 build and see how that works

Anyone else have ideas to change the build after the patch?

I have made some edits to account for the 6/25/2013 patch and updated the two original builds, obviously re-routing the 5 from Illusions. I feel the build is stronger now. I’ve also made some slight gear adjustments to add a couple Magi armor pieces. For sure in dungeons it’s very, very nice with the huge might stacks that can be shared. I didn’t notice the IC nerf too much there but I haven’t played around with it in WvW yet where I’m sure it will be much more noticeable.

@Xelnok, yes the patch has opened up some nice options with the build. Protected Mantras is great in Dueling or you can go with fury for phantasms for more damage. Great thing is you still get Vigor from 5 there. Or you can go 10 in domination which inflicts the 5 vuln stacks on interrupt (goes nice with the interrupt focused build), plus, decreased cool down on signets which can be very useful for either the group or solo build. Or you can go for the extra 15% phantasm damage. Lots of options here.

Regarding going 30 into Chaos, you certainly can to take advantage of the recent prismatic understanding buff, but if you do, you can’t take Chaotic Dampening which is very important to the build. Sure you can make up for some of the boons you are losing (due to increased Staff skill cool downs) by taking PU, but you’d also have to add stealth skills which take away from the required utility skills in this build. That said, I’d be interested to hear of anyone trying that out using a Staff and Sw/F or other variation.

First video added up top showing the boon chain and dungeon/PvE play. WvW and PvP (hopefully) videos coming soon.

Paladin Mesmer 2.0 (Might Master) build added with video. Thoughts/comments welcome as always. With interrupts firmly entrenched in the current meta, many mesmers are running boon stacking and sharing builds.

What are you running for extreme might stacking?

I just recently hopped onto the might-stacking bandwagon. I was running some tests in the queens gauntlet pavilion yesterday, trying to solo as many vets as I could at once (about 6 or so flame legion, ogres are too easy.. can’t mess with the bandits though, too much aoe knockdown) and omfg. I used to hate the greatsword till this week. ’

Dat knockback!

The interrupts when you combine focus and greatsword are glorious dude, that weapon combination really makes Bountiful Interruption shine. And having 25 stacks of might with protection and all these other buffs and then popping signet on my iwarden so he has 25x might ONTOP of gaining a stat boost from my might?

Even my full support build is pumping out very nice damage, so I can only imagine the kind of awesomeness the Paladin is pumping out. Thanks for pushing the interrupt traits so much bro, you’re definitely on to something there.

I’d definitely recommend the Paladin build to anyone looking to push out some real nice damage with their boonshare.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I just recently hopped onto the might-stacking bandwagon. I was running some tests in the queens gauntlet pavilion yesterday, trying to solo as many vets as I could at once (about 6 or so flame legion, ogres are too easy.. can’t mess with the bandits though, too much aoe knockdown) and omfg. I used to hate the greatsword till this week. ’

Dat knockback!

The interrupts when you combine focus and greatsword are glorious dude, that weapon combination really makes Bountiful Interruption shine. And having 25 stacks of might with protection and all these other buffs and then popping signet on my iwarden so he has 25x might ONTOP of gaining a stat boost from my might?

Even my full support build is pumping out very nice damage, so I can only imagine the kind of awesomeness the Paladin is pumping out. Thanks for pushing the interrupt traits so much bro, you’re definitely on to something there.

I’d definitely recommend the Paladin build to anyone looking to push out some real nice damage with their boonshare.

Funny about your experiment. I hadn’t played the paladin 1.0 build in awhile and decided to dust it off to try the exact same thing a few days ago. I jumped into the middle of 5 veteran bandits (yeah knockdown sucked). I toyed with them for a few minutes. Once you get a good 20-30 sec regen, you’re hard to bring down.

I can see how effective GS would be w/the Maestro – of course there are trade-offs by dropping staff but you still get the good’uns, protection from that stealth.

The paladin 2.0 build is the best I’ve personally found at stacking and retaining the highest possible might. The knockback can pretty much fill you up but ironically I built it to stack w/out using interrupts … they just provide the icing. Without interrupts I can reliably get right around 20 stacks to share. Interrupts ensure 25 and I throw a lot away. You get the might plus other offensive boons such as tons of vigor, retaliation and swiftness. GS is such a fun weapon to play with and I steered clear of it for so long while the iZerker was bugged, but after Anet fixed it, I started in on this build.

One drawback with using GS and Sw/F though is that you can quickly induce rage with your team if you’re not communicating those pushes and pulls. When I’m not in a guild run I reserve those for when the opponent is against a wall or I know the pull won’t move them too much.

EDIT: I added a couple variations to the paladin 1.0 and 2.0 builds, spec’ing for more power vs. armor (especially for PvE/Dungeons). Damage is increased respectably.

Who else is running might stacking builds and what spec are you running? There are many variations …

0/20/30/20/0 boon duration runes = AoE 25 stacks of might for 20 seconds.

Also lets me switch to a near-perma invis run build at will.

Good pug build, but I wouldn’t use it for anything else.

Esplen.3940:

0/20/30/20/0 boon duration runes = AoE 25 stacks of might for 20 seconds.

Also lets me switch to a near-perma invis run build at will.

Good pug build, but I wouldn’t use it for anything else.

I might argue the pug statement but I understand where you’re coming from with it. Sometimes you don’t always have a warrior and guardian in the party.

You running staff and sw/f? Main source of boon acquisition BI? 0/20/30/20/0 is an interesting variant – why the 20 in dueling? 5 is obvious but beyond that, why not the full 30 in insp?

Would be interested to hear from anyone else running this type of build …

Hi skcamow,

I stumbled upon this thread when looking for a “healing mesmer”. Yes, I also had the Paladin in mind from the good old Wizardry and M&M days…

The build does look intriguing, but before I start translating everything to German and then buying/crafting equipment and spending Hero points I’d have a couple of questions…
- Has anything relevant changed due to the big update in June?
- My Mesmer is currently level 21. Any suggestions which specialization I should focus on first (assuming that your build requires a lvl 80 character)?

Thanks alot!
—kay

@Kay, this is a very old build I haven’t updated in a couple years. There were huge updates in the June patch. As a result, you can’t really look at the build as it currently is and create it in game.

The most viable PvE builds ended up being mostly full damage specs, leaving this build no place.

When Heart of Thorns is released, there may be more viability for support specs in PvE as Anet revealed plans for much more difficult encounters.

In the meantime, I would suggest you check out this leveling guide (I think Kai is regularly updating it):
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Kai-s-Complete-PvE-Compendium

When you get to level 80, there are PvE builds on metabattle that are decent for most content you’ll face (dungeons and the like). They will all be max damage focused, again due to the current state of the game those are the most viable.

If your interest is in PvP, there are some intriguing support options for mesmer currently.

Hi.
Thanks for the fast reply!

That’s what i feared: Too many changes in the last year.

Kai’s guide seems like a good approach, combined with the one from Chaos Archangel I guess I will have a lot to read and a lot to try out…

If I could just give on advice, do not focus on “interesting” builds for leveling. Leveling in PvE is usually done solo + fights are usually short so healing is not as important as killing things fast. I remember in my first days in the game trying to use a fancy hybrid necro build and I was not killing things fast enough. The build game starts when you do specific content like dungeons (although unfortunately here again, healing is not so important) or PvP/WvW. So my advice is to just level up doing max damage and once level 80, start to enjoy the fun in playing with builds.