Guild Wars 2

Hey there. I’m a Human Mesmer just not getting interested in maximimizing my powers. I have decided to go with a good DPS build I have seen on here 20-20-0-0-30 with Sword/Focus (Greatsword alt).

The one thing I have a question about is that the information I have seen really reccomends having Time Warp as your Elite skill because ofthe quickness buff. I understand this, however, I have been using th elite skill Hounds of Balthazar with some pretty good DPS.

Has anyone tried this? WOuld this be more beneficial in PvE vs. Time Warp as elite? Any suggestions would be great.

Thank you in advance,
Moldrath

I would imagine Time Warp is more beneficial because it not only increases your dps but your party aswell

Solo, I would go with Hounds. Group, I would go with Time Warp. Time Warp’s effectiveness goes up as you get more people. If you could run both Hounds and Time Warp, it would be ridiculous.

I can’t really get my thoughts into words right now, but let me just give you a little ideology here…

In an ideal speedrun, at the hardest part, you want everyone to be running Hounds of Balthazar… BUT you want every Mesmer to run Time Warp.

If you’re soloing, Hounds. If you’re in a group (3+), Time Warp.

Mesmer autoattacks aren’t our primary source of damage- our other skills are (shatters, phantasms, clones). These sources do not get buffed by Time Warp, because clones and phantasms have recharge times on their attacks, so quickness is completely useless for them. So unless you have a few others that will actually benefit from it, you’re better off getting the hounds, which have decent dps by themselves.

Is the Sylvari Hound a fair substitute for HoB? Does the same hold true for Sylvari?

Seras.5702:

Is the Sylvari Hound a fair substitute for HoB? Does the same hold true for Sylvari?

I’m not sure if Sylvan Houds would pack the same punch as Houds of Balthazar. I havent been able to find dps info on the Sylvan hounds though so I can’t attest to that.

Iv never played a human (why would you?) but the hounds only last 30 seconds.
I have played Charr and the warband summon (2 more charr) for 30 sec is pretty lame.
I assume they are for burst damage.
The sylvari hound lasts for 60sec and can tank great, it almost never dies. It also has a short 180 sec cooldown.
Its a great solo mesmer skill, I would dare say the best racial elite of them all.

if you summoned hounds in a fractal run while people were dpsing, people might start asking for time warp…if they’re jerks, they might kick you from the group.

as a support build mesmer, I can give my whole group fury, 7+ stacks of might retaliationand timewarp at the same time (plus aegis / protection from chaos storm). the added dps of all of that on 5 people far outweighs a temporary pet’s damage.

is it ok to run a build/skill even if it is suboptimal? I think it should be, but don’t be surprised if some people complain. there are certain berserker warrior groups who want a mesmer specifically for time warp….they’ll kick a necro or thief outright, and they’ll do the same if you’re a mesmer who isnt providing support. on the other hand, some of those guys are jerks, and who wants to play with jerks?

Seras.5702:

Is the Sylvari Hound a fair substitute for HoB? Does the same hold true for Sylvari?

Take Root, Sylvari Hound, and Tree are all viable, but I’m not sure in terms of straight DPS which is the best. The Hounds are for a P/P/C build, and I don’t know how the rest of them scale since they’re mostly suited for applying bleeding while smacking them down, at least from what I’ve read/seen.

I don’t play Sylvari, so I just get my Golames and Lamefire Wolf, but I gotta say, Radiation Field and Pain Inverter are so nice. Technobabble is terrible in my opinion, too long of a cooldown for a daze. I can just run Signet of Dom for a better effect with a cooldown I can reduce.

I also would like old Pain Inverter from GW1, huehuehuehue.

HoB if your running a high condition build, the aoe that they can put out is great