(edited by apharma.3741)
All you have to do is bring a GS to a dungeon. 
Though, I don’t think there is anything to add here other than link the already linked metabattle page. The two builds on it are pretty much the go-to builds now. I don’t see any other alternatives that could compete for meta spots, in direct dps or reflects. One exception would be Power Block. The trait is actually pretty kitten good now, as long as you can coordinate defiance stack management. For times where there are no defiance to manage, the trait is pure gold – ie Bjarl.
I run FotM 50s and the occasional Arah when I’m not busy with small group roaming. Level with me for a bit.
Current Ele DPS is a staggering 23k DPS. That’s a good 50% more than almost every other class aside from Engineer. For a Mesmer running in an ideal group composition of 3 eles and a warrior, you have a COMPARATIVE advantage traiting into a build oriented around reflects, crowd control, and support. This is the build that I use: http://intothemists.com/guides/5916-gfc_fractal_cc_mesmer
The DPS delta between my support build (Dom/Duel/Insp) with PB procs and a pure DPS build (Dom/Duel/Illu) was around 2k DPS (~13% decrease) but the tradeoff gets you AoE heals, AoE cleanses, AoE distortion, reflects for days, and interrupts for days (good for defiance stripping).
P.S. Try PB on Baron von Scrufflebutt!
This is pretty much THE mentality I have right now. We’re never going to have the DPS of Elementalists, Warriors, Thieves, or even Rangers, so I just build for Support, Manipulation & Control (Dom/Duel/Insp). And I use Power Block too, simply because I can daze up to 5 people in one cast. “Into the Void” plus PB is pretty much lockdown on any group of mobs.
Running the DPS build (Dom/Duel/Illu) is fine in Open-World events, World Bosses and such, but in Dungeons & Fractals, when you have classes like the Warrior doing 32k HB, Thieves doing 13k Pistol Whips, and Elementalists doing everything else, it’s pointless to compete. Much rather just assist their DPS & keep them alive longer using Feedback/Reflects, Cleanses, Heals and Time Warp.
All you have to do is bring a GS to a dungeon.
Though, I don’t think there is anything to add here other than link the already linked metabattle page. The two builds on it are pretty much the go-to builds now. I don’t see any other alternatives that could compete for meta spots, in direct dps or reflects. One exception would be Power Block. The trait is actually pretty kitten good now, as long as you can coordinate defiance stack management. For times where there are no defiance to manage, the trait is pure gold – ie Bjarl.
LOVE PB! I use it constantly on Trash mobs simply because if they’re packed together, you can stun them all. Still trying to get used to interrupting though. Kinda hard when you’re in the middle of a melee, and with all the godkitten spell effects and bright lights, it’s hard to tell if they’re casting anything. THAT’S really the only downside to PB, attempting to score an interrupt on a cast in the middle of a epileptic fireworks show…
(edited by Faction.4013)