Nothing to impressive here, probably a similar build(or the exact one) floating around somewhere. But I just wanted to post it because its been really good to me and makes playing dungeons feel less of a chore.
The problem I was having was being to squishy. I like to play somewhat aggressive and I like to try and “save” downed people. I wanted to have an impact on my group in a tangible way. Glass cannon builds just did not seem to have the DPS to justify being such a weeny in dungeons. Especially if you like to lead the charge, or lead groups.
Here is the build.
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mmmc0Mz9MMMmxoMMmxo0Gx0GMamsack
Its basically just a variation or probably a well known build for all I know of the staff condition mesmer. The thing I found is that I hate managing too many cooldowns. I already have shatters and weapon CDs to worry about. And I don’t like skills that have a lot of downtime. In this way the signets are awesome. And taking cleansing inscriptions in chaos means I have 3 condition removers built in whenever I need them.
Signet of Inspiration – I like the boons it gives, all of them are beneficial in combat to some extent. Arguably you could use a different signet here. But I like the auto buffs myself
Signet of Domination – extra condition DPS and a on demand stun. Obviously great for CC and damage
Signet of illusions – makes illusions more tanky. A little counter intuitive to shattering, but then again I can have my illusions run a gauntlet of fire to there intended target and they go boom without being picked off so easy. Or I can have them out taking hits for our team.
And I use mass invisibility mainly as an escape tool or to save a downed player, its got a shorter cooldown than quickness, and in PVE its really not so great as people tend to spread out so much you are lucky to quicken more than a few people if that.
I play this as a hybrid of shatter spam and condition mesmer. The create a clone on dodge plus the staff lowered CD’s makes creating clones easy. You can just bomb mobs over and over and still get 3 illusions up in a matter of seconds for the 9% increased damage and 9% reduced incoming damage. On long boss fights I keep up Iwarlocks and just stack conditions as much as possible to get big hits in.
The clone generation plus the toughness from 30 in chaos and then the 50% increased illusion health means if needed you can be a constant source of tanking for your team. To me this is the biggest draw, being able to make the boss hit your illusions up to 50% of the time. And then you have total control blow them all up and summon 3 more in a split second.
And I find that I do decent DPS. I have near 950 con damage and 1850 toughness. So I can do some decent damage and still not be taken out. And with the signets doing 3 different things (con removal, passive buff, active effect) I feel the 3 utility slots are perfect. I can just worry about shatter CDs and weapon CDs.
Anyways that is the build I am using, I tried a condition build a while back I saw on the forums and I did not like how it worked. I also tried a shatter bomber build, it was just too squishy, I also made a support healer build that I saw somewhere, and it barely noticeable healed anything. So for me this build is the sweet spot, damage and group support with personal survivability with 3 con removers.
I had yet to be happy with a build but this one does if for me atm. If anyone has any suggestions I’d be happy to hear them.
(edited by Cromx.3941)