Guild Wars 2

put more power over crit chance and you got decent hybrid
also boon sharing is useless here as you dont put much stack to share them
my state are 3k attack 50% crit chance 70% crit dmg 2800 armor 18k hp 1.2k condi dmg

Honestly, after trying a number of support builds myself, I’ve never found one that really played the role well. And having now tried a few other professions, I just don’t really think it’s a good fit for mesmer on the whole.

You can do it, but not as well as other classes, and at a much higher cost to your effectiveness than other classes. Mesmers just aren’t really built for it.

This build looks solid enough, but what’s it really providing by way of support? A few random boons every 45 seconds is nice, but it’s just a bit of an extra benefit to a group, not true support.

If you want to do support, you need to at least build around the few things mesmers do have to help a group, like healing mantras, AoE condition clears, and so forth. And consider using group utility runes as well, such as altruism.

While playable, I feel that your build lacks focus. Others already pointed out some weaknesses. You do not really provide a lot of support besides boons and those won’t be as useful as condition cleanses (Mantra or Nullfield) and reflects (Feedback or traited Focus) in neither zerging and small group skirmishes.

Some more specific thoughts:

Gear
Why all the condition damage? Yes, you do have some bleeds and one occasional burn. But that’s it. You don’t even have crit Sigils with bleed or torment. The investment is in no way justified. You will be much better off when going power or switching weapons when you want to keep your stat allocation (e.g. Staff or Scepter). Your Runes are fine in my opinion.

Boon sharing
Yes, you can generate some boons yourself. BUT they require you to stay in stealth during which time you are no help to your comrades. That is a very big downside. Sharing boons can be very powerful but it might be better to focus on sharing boons other people provide (e.g. Elementalist or Guardian) instead of generating them yourself. If you really want to generate the boons yourself, then you might be more successful with GS/Sw+Sw or Focus or Pistol for more interrupts for Bountiful Interruption. However, Stability might screw you over. You should also use the Superior Sigil of Battle for gaining more Might stacks.

isnt the current problem with mesmers in general that no matter how we trait we dont really do that thing very well compared to others? Its not all that fair to say a build is “unfocused” when one of the characteristics of the class currently is being unfocused

Hedger.9261:

isnt the current problem with mesmers in general that no matter how we trait we dont really do that thing very well compared to others? Its not all that fair to say a build is “unfocused” when one of the characteristics of the class currently is being unfocused

actually i wonder about why ppl say this, some classes can do everything we can do better , buuuuuuuuuuuut~ u guys even thought about that ?: they might be doing better ,but we r like 2-3 proffession combine and do everything 3 classes do as a single classes, just slightly lower then the other classes do but we can do em all.

i always wondered why u ppl be like: mesmer is useless, everything we do is crap compared to other classes.

mesmer is pretty flexible and thats why i love playing it

Wyrden.4713:

actually i wonder about why ppl say this, some classes can do everything we can do better , buuuuuuuuuuuut~ u guys even thought about that ?: they might be doing better ,but we r like 2-3 proffession combine and do everything 3 classes do as a single classes, just slightly lower then the other classes do but we can do em all.

i always wondered why u ppl be like: mesmer is useless, everything we do is crap compared to other classes.

mesmer is pretty flexible and thats why i love playing it

Dont get me wrong, i know that mesmers strength is being able to do many things at the same time, Its why we are so powerful in 1v1 situations. We have so many tools on hand that we just simply overwhelm our opponents. But the question then becomes how many times does that 1v1 situation come up? Unless your strictly spvp or a wvw roamer (very narrow aspects of the game) its not often. So when grouped with others who do specialize in a role, your short comings are all the more apparent.

As for this thread, im just saying its a bit rough on a reasonable build to say its not focused, when that aspect is baked into the class and has very little to do with the build itself.

Hedger.9261:

isnt the current problem with mesmers in general that no matter how we trait we dont really do that thing very well compared to others? Its not all that fair to say a build is “unfocused” when one of the characteristics of the class currently is being unfocused

I don’t think anyone means to be unfair. But you asked for feedback/advice.

Unfocussed in the sense of aiming at being supportive but not bringing the best support you could provide. Not in comparison with other classes. Stealth just takes you out of fight for a way too long time in a team fight. Boons aren’t the best support we can provide. If you want to go for it, do it. It will be playable. But there is room for improvement. You might be more valuable when going for Mantras/Glamours plus Signet of Inspiration. Just share your teammates boons instead of your own.

Unfocussed in sense of running power weapons while gearing up for condition damage. That is a pretty easy fix. Your weapon set up just doesn’t marry that well with your items.

its not my build, im just here discussing the issue in the hopes of improving my own knowledge.

@Xaylin: all valid points. I understand your position much better now.

There are some valid points here for sure, especially about the stats and build direction. I’m not too sure hybrid power/condition is the optimal setup here but Osicat or Blackdevil are more versed with that.. I just wanted to take a minute to explore your boonsharing potential.

I’ve been working with Mesmer support and Signet of Inspiration possibly more than any other Mesmer utility besides Blink. I love the signet and I believe the concept of Mesmer boonsharing is underrated and underutilized. What you have here can actually work, you’re just lacking a bit on the boon duration to make it as effective as it could.

At 65% boon duration (chocolate omonmberry creme if you’re willing to take it) you’ll be proving your team with 20+ seconds of Protection and Regen thanks to stealth from Torch and/or Decoy. Stealth doesn’t necessarily take you out of the fight if you’re using your abilities in the proper order. You can still summon phantasms, use ileap, dodge-roll clones (dat CC), and use any of your utility skills (including Signet of Inspiration) without breaking stealth, so it really comes down to timing.

You have to remember your limits and learn your role/rotations, it’s looking like when sharing signet this build would pass Might/Protection/Aegis/Regeneration/Vigor while constantly hitting enemies with Bleed/Vuln/Weakness/Cripple. Taking the “clone-death” abilities with DE adds a heavy amount of soft CC (weakness/cripple) to help mitigate damage in addition to the protection/regen you offer: Essentially your’re defensive support. Another big factor of your effectiveness will be how often you keep an eye out for other classes that you can scoop boons from, such as Guardians, Engineer and Elementalists.

If you’re happy with your damage, then what’ll make or break this build will come down to learning when and how to properly apply your signet.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

You have to remember your limits and learn your role/rotations, it’s looking like when sharing signet this build would pass Might/Protection/Aegis/Regeneration/Vigor while constantly hitting enemies with Bleed/Vuln/Weakness/Cripple.

I really like your support builds and they look great for some contents. I personally just don’t like them for WvW or PvP. I still feel that the Signet of Inspiration is most suitable for copying boons your allies provide rather than providing the boons yourself.

The question would be: Is it worth hiding in stealth to provide boons through PU? Might comes from Bountiful Interruption and Sigils, not PU. Even worse, it is difficult to ensure successful interrupts when coming out of stealth. So you might have to decide to either share your defensive boons or the offensive ones. Regeneration is highly accessable through Phantasmal Healing even without the Signet. Vigor could be provided through Vigorous Revelation which also does not require the Signet.

PU is great for Protection. Aegis is nice, too. But it will be one Aegis every 45 seconds. The question is if the provided Protection is worth the effort in WvW.

Well, if he’s running an inspiration Mesmer then he should be gathering boons from allies as a general rule in addition to his own boons; that’s a big part of what makes boon support viable on a Mesmer.

The stealth actually isn’t a problem. It really matters on HOW he’s using the stealth. He can use it to reposition near allies to share/collect boons, or right after an interrupt to stack boons to share, or simply just to safely summon phantasms. What makes PU good in a boonsharing build is the duration of Protection that can be applied: 20+ seconds easily. Aegis is cool, Regen is nice, but Protection is the boon that shines in this build. Vigorous Rev would require a trait/playstyle adjustment, right now vigor will be from crits and is more of a convenient benefit than an active concern.

Like I said, this build’s strengths will be from the combination of defensive boons for allies(I’d only count on interrupts to increase personal DPS and defense rather than something to be shared since the only thing to rely on here is Greatsword’s iWave)
and the constant AoE Cripple/Weakness/Vuln output. How viable it is will depend on how skillfully the build is used.

(This thread inspired me to do more Signet of Inspiration support-Mes research)