Guild Wars 2

Switch “Near to death” to “Unyielding Blast”, and “Spiteful Spirit” to “Reapers Might”.

You will become a cannon when camping DS like NeXeD suggested. 3k-4k crits wont be uncommon, and you’ll feel just as powerful in DS as you are out of it.

Preacher

If your coming from necro you might like this build a bit better. it’s a much more in your face build then your probably used to, but with 32k armor and all the heals you’ll be getting it will keep you very nicely. It’s built to roam, but you can also zerg because of the toughness. it’s a pretty selfish zerg build though.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVEQNAR8dlsApcoVDxbI8DRR8gY1nqCg50oX/LYOA-TFzDABuoSBqKBl7IAsy+D/o8DAzfHcBAWUdFLOIAeoLIgHAwbaEIDg5WA-w

Preacher

It can work, but will require more work to pull off then most people want to invest. What works the best is having a condi grenade engi working in tandum with you.

The goal here is to pressure enough to make the enemy blow it’s condi cleanse prematurely which a good grenade engi can almost do by itself. You’re looking at the 10-15sec mark to use you epidemic.

I wouldn’t count condie’s out in any fight under 20ppl per side. Just because they don’t do burst up front doesn’t mean they are sub-par. you just have to work with them differently then direct damage.

Preacher

Mobility.

Preacher

This is the rough basics. I’ve seen some variations with the last 20 skill points, but these are the main ones. anything i left blank is because those slots are really up to preference, and will depend what you will be doing with the build (SPvP or WvW)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vcAQJAqOlUUpPrlch1LSiRF6MoC5VUh8/RBAYLA-zEBBYhBMFtIasqbY6YER1AA-w

Preacher

Really the key is to stay out of melee range because that is where both Bomb and Nade engi’s sweet spot is. Yes we do have a good amount of damage avoidance skills, but there is a limit.

Preacher

Serraphin I agree that Rangers have the ability to stack a good amount of bleeds, but the same can be said about the other classes that have bleeding auto-attacks. Personaly I just find it odd that as you say the class with the most access to bleeds has no “reliable” way to apply them through their auto-attacks.

Preacher

Warriors have it, Thieves have it, Necro’s have it, Engineers have it and Ele’s have it in earth attunement.

I’m new to the ranger, but it strikes me as odd that Rangers (mesmer also) don’t have an auto attack that consistently applies bleed. I’ll say right now that I don’t really consider the short-bow to be that weapon since it has a condition that you must be on the side or behind your target to bleed them. I don’t understand the design decision that can makes the auto attack completely useless for some builds depending on which way your target happens to be facing. It’s just flat out bad design.

Just thought I’d throw that out there to get it some attention. It’s a simple fix which just requires the addition of bleeding and lowering the bleed duration so that it only stacks ~3 times before they start falling off.

Preacher

This is the build that I’ve been running with some great results. I run with a small group of 5 most of the time so my build reflects that with me needing to be a bit more tanky then a full zerker Necro. If you are wanting to go full damage get full zerker gear. Also take the 20pts in blood magic, and put them in spite picking up “axe training” and “reapers might”.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBIhZakRrSPTTcjfPhMpIbGnIFDzyQ9wdWnPE-jUyAYLBRCCIZBI7NN2EYQKlFRjVtgpKJiq9GFRrWKA9UGB-w

Preacher

EOTM is the new and shiny. It add nothing to PPT, but is a fun new map. Of course for the next couple of weeks people will be spending the majority of their time in there having fun. But, the time will come when it looses it’s luster and the guilds/players that care about sever ranking will be back in the BL’s battling it out.

I can easily see EOTM becoming home to the majority of causal pugs for their WvW, and the roamers that prey on them. EB and the BL’s will be made up of mainly guild groups/WvW mains. I don’t see this as a problem at all, and am kinda looking forward to a more consecrated WvW group.

Preacher

Nope no joke, and that explains it. Thanks for the help.

This is really just a question that i needed y’alls help to answer. I fought a d/d ele about three times a few days ago, and she would always open the fight with ride the lightning right into me. Now that in it’self i understand, but every time she hit me with it i’d get 8 stacks of confusion on me, and it wasn’t just me i had a guild about 800 distance away and he got tagged with the confusion too.

So my question is, how was she doing it?

Any incite would be nice.

Thanks

Preacher

I run a clone death build, and i don’t see this killing the build at all. It’s just going to make the player plan more on how to get their burst off, which i feel was their intent.

The flow of the build has been disrupted, and that’s really the only change.

Preacher

I have two side mouse buttons, and one is bound to doge.

Preacher

1) don’t worry to much about what commanders want on your bar. Stick with 1 or 2 good utilities and finish the rest out so it will be fun for you. The list just since you asked for it goes like. Veil, Portal, Time Warp, Null field, Feedback but not necessarily in that order.

2) I don’t really understand the question.

3) I will try to find something when i get home.

4) because it’s fotm and people don’t really know how to play it. They just picked it up because it was OMG SO OP!!!!

5) This one might take some explaining. There are mainly three different ways to play WvW
*Roaming
*Small Man (Havoc)
*Zerging
Each one of these to ways to play well requires dedicated builds. The roamer that tries to small man will find that the support he/she give his group is not up to par. The small man that tries to zerg will find that he/she is not min/maxed as much as the commander wants. And the Zerger that tries to roaming will be to kitten by min/maxing that it will be a frustrating experience. All that to say find what you want to do, then taylor your build to do it. Scouting and commanding are subsections of those game play types.

I would suggest playing around for a while and try not to pigeon hole yourself yet. Try to play the different styles then focus on that is the most fun for you.

Preacher

Ah i see where the confusion is. What i am talking about will be specifically for Towers. Keeps and castles wouldn’t be included in this since they can already get server wide way-points.

Preacher

It was changed when they introduced Sky Hammer to Spvp. Necro’s were being punted off the edge, but because of no dmg spill over from DS they wouldn’t die and just be running around on the bottom. I can’t say if it was OP or not, but that is the reason it was changed.

Preacher

Chris.3290:

The WP thing….should be expensive as all get out, be single use, and take a long time to save up for. That should be a clutch maneuver thing. I’m just thinking of how much pain some of the blobbier guilds could cause and how it would be ripe for abuse if it was spammable. (Picture that blobby guild from your tier, that you hate. Imagine them popping up in SMC every time you are about to cap)

I agree that it should be expensive (but not overly), and that it should be single use (one tower at a time). although i think that it should be a common thing for a guild to claim a home base.

In regards to the blob guilds abusing it to defend SM. This is already happening with the way-point timers, so i don’t see this having an effect at all.

Preacher

It is not that any of these suggestions are “needed”. The issue is that there is no incentive for claiming a tower except the +5 to supply. Once that is done the guild moves on because the tower is of now more use to them as a guild. it doesn’t give any more immediate added benefit.

These changes would give passive scouting on enemy movement, and and a type of forward command for guild to stage attacks/rush to defend. In all it adds more strategic importance to take and hold towers instead of just to gain PPT which a good amount of guilds don’t care about anyway.

Preacher

As has been stated in some other threads there really isn’t a good enough incentive for guilds to claim anything atm. The only reason that anything is claimed is for the 5+ supply boost, and even that goes untouched sometimes.

I’ve read about one possible change that would help, and that would be that the guards around your tower spam your guild chat when they are taking damage or aggro to an enemy. This would be a great addition, but I think that it would be nice to have something more that would give the guild an advantage to fight in the area of where their tower is.

I propose that when a guild claims a tower that they will have the ability to buy a way-point to that tower for influence, and it would be for guild only use. Have it work the same way as the current way-points in that you can not use it when the tower is contested. Overall i think this will give more of a since of ownership of the structure for the guild while giving them a very nice advantage for claiming it, and a huge incentive for holding it. Just some thoughts i had last night.

Preacher

Guardian can do more healing with Tome Of Courage then any other support class can do with a full rotation, so i don’t think anybody can argue that they are not the top when it comes to healing.

However WvW is not played in a vacuum where only the numbers matter, so we can’t just look at that and call it a day. You’ve heard the arguments for the guardian, so I’ll give you some comparisons where i think the Mesmer comes out on top.

Disclaimer* (I am new to the Mesmer, but i have been playing a support Guardian for nearly a year.)

Where the Mesmer lacks in burst healing it makes up for in constant tics for 2.6k base, and can keep this up throughout the fight. Also the Mesmer is much harder to train and bring down due to having more access to self invuls, and being altogether more slippery. The Guardian also has terrible group mobility support, and i think we all know that the Mesmer holds the highest honors in that category.

I feel like the healing would be comparable between the two in a prolonged fight, if measured correctly. It all depends on what you need from your support. I would say both can fill the role very well, but the play style of the group/zerg would be very different depending on which one was more prevalent.

Preacher

Dekk you may be right about the secondary weapons. The reasoning behind the sw/f was for the defense that they bring with the blur on the sword, and pull on the focus (the swiftness was a plus also). I’ll try out the sc/t and see how it goes.

Preacher

I agree that the Lock-down build can be classified/played as a support. However in my particular case I am looking for something that is more suited for outnumbered fights.

Preacher

This is what i’ve come up with so far. As i said I’m trying to fill two roles here as a support and condie pressure.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAW8dl4zCpnSTrGbNJiJFBHydSBz5ckKUalUcbXIA-jUCBYLQoOA0CQ00AZSFRjtaqIas6GYKWER1eEFRrWKgFVWB-w

Preacher

Hey thanks for the feedback. In all honesty I wasn’t even thinking about going the boon route, but I may have to rethink that after seeing what’s possible.

What I’ve been tinkering with is a mantra sustained healing build. Using staff/clones to apply condition pressure while cycling though my mantras. It does not pack as much burst healing as a guardian, but it does give great sustained healing over the course of a fight while having great group condie cleanse.

Preacher

I’m coming to the mesmer finaly after playing since launch. I mainly WvW with a small 5-7 man group, so I’ve been trying to come up with a good build that will fill a support role. I’ve been tinkering with some builds, but before i posted what i think might be a good build i wanted to come see what knowledge the forums had to offer. I just thought I’d ask if there are any tips from those of you how have had expirence playing a mesmer in a supporting role, or strong proven support builds. I’ll post my build after awhile for those who are interested. Thanks

Preacher

First I would drop backpack regenerator and get invigorating speed. Second I’ll tell you that you wont be killing very many people by yourself. There is just not enough Condition spike to your build because a lot of the damage spike comes from crit procs. You’ll be able to lay down a good amount of Codition pressure, which is very useful in a small group fight, but I don’t think you’ll have the damage to be effective alone.

This is very similar to the build i run except i use a majority of Rabid gear for more spike damage. i also run healing turret because the skills you have give you 3 blast finishers which when done right makes it a better heal then medkit.

Preacher

Oozo.7856:

Dragonbrand has no underwear…

Ah, so you found my web cam…

So, just from the action a of a few people you feel confidant enough to judge thousands with this statment.

Gracious.4279:

Dragonbrand has no honor…

It’s illogical and irrational. But hey, if it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside who am i to argue.

Preacher

Guys… This is WvW. It’s not designed to be perfectly balanced, and that is most notable in the small group fights. WvW is not about making sure that your opponent and you have the same advantages and disadvantages, and smart players will always try to give themselves the advantage. Advantages can be number of players, skill of players, maneuvering/fight location and a bunch of other things.

So yeah you died because you were outnumbered, out of position or out skilled. If you don’t want to die change your behavior and adapt. Only a fool will expect his enemy to give him a fair fight, so make sure the odds are in your favor before you commit.

Now, if you want the short and sweet version. Stop complaining that it wasn’t fair.

Preacher

Personally when i run PTV gear i don’t expect to kill many ppl. It is more for trolling, or for a front line cc machine/damage soak. I have a full set including weapons, and usually can tank 3-4 ppl without any trouble. i do roam solo with it because it has great mobility and very few ppl can kill me 1v1. In a 1v1 the build is not bad, but add a couple more ppl and your pretty much just trying to survive.

The tankcat build used cleansing formula for condition removal, but since i run melandru runes and Leek soup i go with the passive protection procs instead.

Here the build if your interested:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fcAQJAqel0p6ZH5y3F17IxoHde0bOkiCbYRKyv+B-j0xAorASLAoPgZvioxWGLiGrukIq2lQEVLDwyaA-w

Edit: I would never run PVT gear if your using grenades. sure you’ll tag a bunch of ppl, but as your op suggests your looking for solo/small group play. In that circumstance you won’t be doing enough damage to warrant you throwing grenades.

Preacher

Roll a Thief if you want the best class for roaming. Roll an Engi if you want the challenge.

Preacher

@vinceftw:

I agree that invigorating speed is another great defensive trait and will give more survivability the “longer” I am getting getting targeted. If I’m looking at being anywhere near the fight then I’d be picking that up instead of self-regulating defenses. However when I’m looking to fill the ranged aoe pressure roll in my group and don’t typically get targeted for long periods then SRD is a better trait for those moment when I’ve got two thieves heart-seeker spamming me. This is not a passive trait. it’s one you have to play around, and plan for because as stated it can bite you in the butt if your not ready for it. As stated it’s not great in every build, but don’t discount this trait altogether.

Preacher

There are two traits that I have always had in every build for WvW; Speedy kits and Self-regulating defenses. There is just not much else to say. Sure it got nerfed now that you can’t heal while tiny, but that three seconds has been just enough time on many occasions for a cooldown to finish and save me. I don’t run with zergs, and typically run dps in small groups so this trait is invaluable when a thief starts training me to allow time for my group to burst him down. It will not be a huge benefit for every build, and i am only talking for a WvW experience, but this trait is very far from being “junk”.

Preacher

JakobGW.5730:

Preacher.4836:

JakobGW.5730:

Preacher.4836:

EnRohbi.2187:

VolumePlus.8059:

Sir William PD.9615:

AZRG…I don’t ever want to see you again. Like…ever.

Wow. I hope you choke on all of the loot bags you got from us.

Man, that was a lot of fun last night!

Oh wow, I didn’t even know AZRG was a DB guild.
Now I’m curious what you guys did

Killed a bunch of people. We’re a small man group so it’s understandable that you don’t know us, but any enemy that runs a group less then 20 sure does.

Preacher

How many is “small man group?”

5-10 normally.

Let’s meet up! Next time you guys are around 5 strong, please send me a whisper and we can coordinate to the same borderland and try to find one another. When we do, let the fight begin. To us, spontaneous is much more fun than some pre-determined fight location.

Would you guys be down for that? We are [FEAR] and [TKVA] on CD.

I’ll talked to the others. Yeah we don’t like preset fights either, but i think letting each other know what borderlands each other is in would be interesting.

Preacher

JakobGW.5730:

Preacher.4836:

EnRohbi.2187:

VolumePlus.8059:

Sir William PD.9615:

AZRG…I don’t ever want to see you again. Like…ever.

Wow. I hope you choke on all of the loot bags you got from us.

Man, that was a lot of fun last night!

Oh wow, I didn’t even know AZRG was a DB guild.
Now I’m curious what you guys did

Killed a bunch of people. We’re a small man group so it’s understandable that you don’t know us, but any enemy that runs a group less then 20 sure does.

Preacher

How many is “small man group?”

5-10 normally.

EnRohbi.2187:

VolumePlus.8059:

Sir William PD.9615:

AZRG…I don’t ever want to see you again. Like…ever.

Wow. I hope you choke on all of the loot bags you got from us.

Man, that was a lot of fun last night!

Oh wow, I didn’t even know AZRG was a DB guild.
Now I’m curious what you guys did

Killed a bunch of people. We’re a small man group so it’s understandable that you don’t know us, but any enemy that runs a group less then 20 sure does.

Preacher

These leaks however awesome, just don’t read like they are real. The first big red flag I’m seeing is that about 80-90% of the notes are buffs in one way or another, and that is not the way Anet has proven that they balance their game. The second is that it is not even in their style of writing. I may be wrong, and in being wrong will be happy to play with the new toys they have given us, but I’m not holding my breath.

Preacher

For this to work as a close combat cleaving weapon it will need to have some kind of damage mitigation and/or life on hit. Also this could just as easily be a scythe

1. Chain
Weakening strike: Weakness 5sec
Rotten Strike: Poison 5sec
Disabling Strike: Cripple 2sec
(Passive Defense in the form of Weakness, and ability to stay on targets with Cripple.)

2.
Leaching Strike: PBaoe heals you for X% of damage done. CD 4-5sec
(This will need to be closely looked at before settling on a percentage, however this is needed to allow necro’s to stay in the fight. This should give about 2k health if your hitting 5 ppl, but should not be a lot health gain against a single opponent)

3.
Deaths Clutches: 900 range aoe immobilize for 4sec. CD 15-20sec
(Allows you to set up your cleave, and Leeching strike. Can serve as a chaser or, if your lucky a way to escape)

4.
Taste Their Fear: PBaoe 1sec Fear. For every enemy effected gain 2sec of Protection. CD 30-40sec
(This is very similar to Unholy Feast axe 3, but instead this give us a interrupt/damage mitigation/ohkitten button.)

You could throw life force gain on any one, or two of those skills and be set.

I’ve been on DB since launch, so if you know the servers history you know we’ve been on both sides of this issue. I’ve come to realize this is just part of human nature and therefore part of this game. Like i said I’ve been on DB for a long time and i do have a certain amount of loyalty to my server, but no amount of loyalty will ever make me continue to sacrifice my free time to do something that is not enjoyable to me anymore.

This is really what it boils down to. People find enjoyment in different ways. some people are only happy when they win, some people are only looking for good fights and some find enjoyment in seeing their sever rise to the top. Who is to say which one is better/more noble. Obviously this guild was either no longer having fun where they were, or they are moving to a place where they think they will have more fun then where they are now. So please keep this thread civil and stop bashing this guild for trying to find enjoyment.

Preacher

I know this will probably not be the new condition, but i think it would be an interesting idea anyway.

Hematophagy. (I could see Rangers using this also)
You are healed for X times the number of conditions on the target over the amount of time Hematophagy is on the target.

Efface.8460:

SolarStorm.7896:

Efface.8460:

Ty for abandoning us on reset night [Agg]…sorry you had a few problems with ques, but we branded fight for the server, not our own personal reputation…..

I think you may have found the wrong home

Please stop starting this kind of drama with any DB guild. That is not the character of our server. There is nothing wrong with people wanting to play as a guild.

and I don’t think there is anything wrong with DB understanding how conditional a guild’s participation is…. We rely on each other here….every guild coulda sick-called to ques tonight…yet I only heard of one that did…see what you want, as will I

Efface you talk of a guild not showing up to the fight, and that they need to find a new home because they didn’t commit to sitting in a que. I see you’ve been on DB since at least the end of last year, so it’s very confusing to me why you have this attitude. However much we (DB) prides ourselves for showing up to the fights week after week. We also pride ourselves on the laid-back and respectful attitude we show to each other. Out of the two attributes, myself and the majority of DB would prefer being known for the respect we have for people. So if you cannot show this level of maturity then maybe you should be the one looking for someplace else that will appreciate you more.

Preacher

Bunzy.8674:

[OG] has disbanded you won’t see anyone wearing that tag.
We were only roaming with 3 people (2 Thieves, 1 D/D ele) under the [iLL] tag, we did however have some people from [EVOH] running with us. We actually had quite a few fights with you from what I can remember, around 4-5.

Ah, well that’s to bad. Yeah i figured that was ya’ll. In the past we had some good fights when we were rocking the [Rakk] tag, but since then we have become [Azrg], which is actually [Rakk]+[Newl]. Again thanks for the fight, and now i know what tag to be looking out for…

Preacher

We are a small group that runs 5-10ppl consistently from 4pm-9pm server time about 3 days a week. We play to have fun, and our version of fun is beating the crap out of the zerg, or having good quality fights. Our goal is to be as effective as possible at busting enemy zergs, and becoming something to fear. This means two things; first you will die horribly if you can’t follow direction because we will be out numbered 90% of the time, and second i promise that you’ll never be more satisfied in this game then when you just beat 3 to 1 odds.

As of right now we are looking for a group support/healing guardian to run with. You will go through a trial period where we will evaluate your skill with the class/build before becoming a member. Ventrilo will be necessary

This is a taste of what you’d be signing up for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrOCYWXpjbo

Bunzy.8674:

Shout out to [AZRG] on DB

Well played in the small group fights.

Ah we didn’t relize that was ya’ll because we didn’t see any [OG], but yeah we had some really good fights. I don’t know if it was you who we fought by south east tower that ran the tank group, or the fight by the coyotes with high dps. My gut says you were the group with around 2 mesmer+3 thieves+3 dd eles. Either way i’ll tell you some class diversity will go a long way in making your group much more sustainable in longer fights.

Preacher

my personal favorite portal wipe

skip to 4:12 for the portal wipe

Preahcer

Learning to use smart casting is the way i do it. Use the Mist to learn the distances, and practice strafing and rotating the camera while throwing your nades. also unlock your camera, this will let you throw them 360 degrees while running in any direction.

if all else fails unbind your “walk back” this will force you to learn to do something else.

Preacher

Tysm’s past already proved what, and who they are. Anybody who didn’t see this coming were fooling themselves.

Preacher

This is similar to a build I’ve been playing around with for WvW small group tank/support play. I however I replace a Well with Plague Signet instead for more group support. Another thing that i am really loving about this build is the amount of control i have in a 1v1 with all the chills and dagger 2 you can keep your target from going anywhere. My Necro is only lvl 60 but I’ve solo’ed multiple lvl 80’s with him so far. They were not fast fight by any means, but a slow and methodical victory.

Rhoto.8791:

Is [rakk] new to DB? We were running a small 3 man and ran into them in FA BL. We had some really good fights, they have good tactics. Hopefully we can get a 5 man running later and run into yall. Good stuff!

Yeah Just to clarify we aren’t new to DB. We’ve been here since launch, but lately haven’t been running consistently. The fights were very close and hard fought. Yeah i think we out number you by around 3 at the first fight, but the second was either dead even, or we had one more. Ya’ll are one of a few guilds that can put up a fight with close to equal numbers. Good fight, and good luck.

Preacher