Mantra's still horrible.
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…snip…
1) You need to wall the target for FGS.
2) I just said mesmer lacks in AOE DPS.
3) Signet of Inspiration.
4) Mantras.I literally have no reason to play my guardian anymore. He has two legendaries and I have no reason to use them. If I’m running Arah or some other “hard” dungeon where I don’t trust the pugs to manage on their own, I run mesmer. Otherwise I run ele for DPS or ranger or engineer for offensive support. I cannot think of a single dungeon path where I would go “man I need to get on my guardian for this.”
I haven’t said anything so far but… wow. Someone is unjustifiably comfortable in a imaginary victim position. I really don’t get it. Guardians still are awesome in groups.
First of all, Mantras still are far from godlike or even from being outstanding. Condition removal could always be done by using Nullfield. While the Mantra of Resolve is less stationary it still does not outperform Nullfield if not specced for Harmonious Mantras which is not very attractive when running a support build.
The Mantra of Resolve has a very short range. Even if it had a larger range a Guardian will have it a lot easier to provide stability. The stability a Guardian provides can also come with condition removal. Meaning, Guardians have a natural advantage when filling this certain role.
You largely oversee the disadvantages which come with using Mantras. The recast totally kills you in PvP if you are not running a stealth heavy build. Going for Harmonious Mantras will then lock you in a 30/x/30/x/x set up. Meaning: Torch and PU. No reflect. And no Signet of Inspiration. In WvW the situation might be a bit less severe but it’s still the same. You might also end up using your stability for recharging your Mantras instead of using it for supporting your group. In PvE you could go for 30/20/0/20/0 (Harmonious Mantras, Glamour Mastery, Wardens Feedback) I guess. However, this is far from optimal damage-wise. There also is no room for Signet of Inspiration. Your SoI+Mantra+Reflect+Damage scenario just doesn’t exist.
The Signet of Inspiration is awesome, no question. Mesmers have a hard time generating boons themselves, though. They will have to go for PU and several stealth skills even in PvE. Conclusively, no space left for Glamours. Even then, their boons are very short. Signet of Inspiration actually is best if another class applies the boons to the group and the Mesmer just doubles the duration or the stacks. The Signet of Inspiration also rarely fits in any offensive build.
Reflect-wise the Mesmer might have easier access at the first glance. However, this also comes with a higher investment in traits (Glamours, Wardens Feedback). Traited Feedback (CD) and traited Curtain just add up to be slightly better than traited Wall of Reflection. And yes, the iWarden reflects projectiles. But he pops like a bubble in either WvW or dungeons. I personally feel that Mesmers and Guardians are on a similar level when it comes to reflects. Guardians just don’t use it that often. Not because they can’t. But because they are even better at providing other damage mitigation (blinds and protection), boons (e.g. stability) and constant healing. Listing permant regeneration through phantasms as a reason why Guardians become obsolete is pretty ridiciulous.
Mesmers and Guardians are both awesome support classes. The Mesmer might be slightly better at reflecting projectiles but the Guardian still provides additional ways of mitigating damage. Both can cleanse conditions for your group. The Mesmer might deal out more damage while supporting. The Guardian on the other hand provides a lot more boons and healing which lets his group members focus on the damage instead. Mesmer and Guardian can fill each others roles to a certain extent but they do not make each other obselet. The real issue is the combat system of GW2 which favours damage heavy groups making several supporters per group less appealing.
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