This discuss is on zWvW, i.e., WvW zerg fight, in which the effectiveness of condition builds for mesmers. Hopefully this detailed guide could help new mesmer players interested in condition builds for zerg fight.
-
From what I’ve seen on the forum, some would suggest a 15 on 15 GvG match is already a zerg fight, while those fighting on the scale of 40+ v.s 40+ all night long would definitely disagree.
But anyway, here’s the rules of thumb: the more enemies on the other team, the less effective your conditions are going to be. Also the more organized (i.e., consisting of good guild groups) the other team is, the even less effective you will be.
And here’s why:
-
Contents:
1. The mechanics
2. The source of condition damage
3. The trade-offs
4. The guild group factor
-
1. The mechanics
The reason lies within the game mechanics. Since The majority of condition removing skills prefered in zWvW are AoE (typically of the warrior & guardians) and the very fact that the conditions from all sources would eventually stack into the same 12 pools (of which at least 5 typically have very short duration and easily expire), a single removal effect could neglect the focused output of a dozen of people.
-
2. The source of condition damage
Secondarily, before investing into condition damage, you need to look these 3 variables of your condition source:
- Intensity: the damage spike—the number of stacks and your condition damage.
- Accessibility: how often can you apply those conditions.
- Duration: no need to be excessively long but must not be too short, since the damage ticks per second and the duration is often neglected 20% to 40% by the popular duration reduction food.
For example, the illusions, one of the main source of mesmers, never works well in a zerg fight. They are too easily destroyed before applying wanted amount of bleed/fire damage if not shattered, and even more before reaching the target if ordered to shatter. On the other hand, the conditions on death effect only causes trivia output. Another example is the glamour confusion, which was once popular before the nerf of confusion. All three variables are now just too low.
With the lackluster of the utility source and the illusion source, it leaves you mostly of the weapon skills to rely on. There are three weapons considered condition spec: the staff, the scepter, and the torch. The staff is known for it’s low DPS and regarded as a defensive weapon mostly. The torch/scepter set do have 3 skills with a good spike, a good duration and good accessibility of conditions, but the torment is on single target (AoE, even just cleeving, is more prefered in a zerg fight) while the torch is a point-blank AoE, which limits the application for a condition spec backliner.
-
3. The trade-offs
Third, you need to look into the trade-offs. For zerging, the main concern is, how much survivability you would lose if you’re going for a certain build. For the melee frontliners (usually of the heavy class), survivability is the key, but much less so for the backline casters. However, not every single battle takes place on the open field, and there are definitely certain terrain features where backliners will have to go face to face. The trade-offs under such scene has become important.
And to make your conditions effective, you have to achieve a favorable status of the 3 key variables mentioned above, requiring even more stat investment than direct damage and thus rendering you less survivable with those points could have been invested in Chaos and Inspiration traits and the defensive stats actually into condition damage.
-
4. The guild group factor
Almost needless to say, a well organized guild group should be highly resistant to conditions. I’ve been changing from tier 8 to tier 1 servers gradually, and the condition resistance differs greatly, mostly based on the quality and quantity of the members of guild groups. The better the opponent you’re fighting against, the less you should rely on your conditions as the main damage source.
-
It’s not like that conditions are worthless for zerging, but if you’re aiming on the damage output, conditions are just much less reliable compared to direct damage. I mean, if you’re following a guild group hammer train with condimancers, surely you could still have a chance to be effectively dealing damage as long as you listen to orders and focus fire with the others. However if then…I would just swap to my necro character for better intensity, accessibility and duration of conditions.
(edited by Virtuality.8351)
