good support/damage profession?

Hi guys,

I am interested in a new char and have realised I like support through healing and protection but I dont like monk as that is all they do. I want a class and build that can provide support but also deal a bit of damage so I dont have to just stare at red blocks all the time.

I tried Rits but I found most of the skills rely on having spirits cast and they die so darn easily now that you spend most of the time recasting and not really doin damage or healing.

ANy ideas what profession and builds I could try for some damage and support play?

thanks

i think 55 monk would be a good choice^^

Paragon might be what you're looking for (if you have NF)
- they have both defensive and offensive skills to choose from and do very well as support while still dealing some damage.

Monks aren't all about the healing and prot. Check wiki for smite skills.

How about Elementalist/Monk.

Loads of energy so you have spare for healing when needed more than any other class.

Good area effect spells and defensive wards.
really good protection from the earth sphere.
Blow em away power from fire
Knock em down from air
or slow them down from water

Otherwise the Paragon idea is a darn good one if its open to you.

Hi guys,

thanks for your replies.

Yea 55 monk sounds good if I'm playing on my own, but I know that as soon as I join a PUG they will ask me to go pure healing or prot

I do have NF so I may look into a para. I've heard they have suffered some bad nerfs recently tho

I have the same problem with ele as I do with monk. People more often than not take an ele for nuking, which is boring, not enough skill to it.

Therefore I guess I'm asking, is there any class/ builds for dmg and support that are accepted/required by PUGS?

thanks

Yeah, Any type of Paragon will make a decent member of a PUG. Nice to have, as opposed to some other classes. Just gotta make sure you have a decent build.

It is also much easier to get into a PUG if you make the PUG. But to do this you need some decent amount of heroes, with decent builds.

As for support classes, Paragon is probably what you're looking for. Even with nerfs, they skill have some great skills.

No one wants a 55 monk on their team, and you'd need two armor sets to go 55 and heal/prot.

An Ele is widely accept if you are a nuker, and as you said nukers bore you.

Rangers are good for damage, and their spirits can help to support your team. But remember that spirits affect All non-spirit creatures withing range..

Necromancer is a cool pick if you want to make a Minion master, or you could go curses heavy with SS. Since there is no description other than Support/damage other casters may not me a good choice, but necromancers have blood magic enchantments and well that can really help a team out.

Mesmer, Ritualist, and Dervish are probably not what you're looking for. All of them good classes nontheless

Let's not even go into assassin. That profession should only exists for users who have been playing for more than 1 yr.. And even then...

Try a channeling Rit with extra attributes in restoration. Spirit of Recuperation takes some of the load off the monks. Bloodsong lasts for quite a while. Load up on channeling dmg and maybe take a weapon skill to help the team.

No.... It won't. Paragons and PUGs don't mix, since paragons are not: tank, nuker or healer.

The proper wording would be: Paragon will make a decent members of good groups.

In PUGs, you're either a tank, nuker or healer. Nothing else exists, never has, never will. In PUGs, each class has exactly one role. Deviate from that, and you'll get shunned if you're lucky, or more commonly insulted.

For balanced groups however:
- Curses necro with condition and hex spam to prevent/reduce damage dealt by enemies, possibly dealing great amount of damage in the process
- Mesmer - the de-facto 1 on 1 class, but probably one of best classes against bosses with complete shutdown. Much more useful in pvp and hard mode, the problem is their effects are hard to see, so most believe mesmers don't do anything useful for the party
- Non-fire ele. Any variation of warder with strong offense, and various counters (blind, snare hexes, knockdowns), as well as wards.
- Paragon, built around party buffs, especially duo paragons with There's Nothing to Fear, perhaps party running skills, and other support.

Paragons imo.

~Prof.

I strongly suggest trying paragon out...just stay away from the male nipple armor. Paragons ftw.

As many other people have suggested, the Paragon is an excellent blend of damage and support. Even though the Paragon has had a number of nerfs since its introduction, the class still offers an excellent damage potential from range, as well as a huge variety of vocal support skills that offer unstrippable buffs that can cover the whole party at once. They also have a few healing abilities in the motivation line and a harz rez, so they can help take the burden off the healers in an emergency situation (I've heard the term "Paramedic" being used for Paragons who specialise in this area).

The Mesmer is another profession you might consider looking into. They're difficult to get your head around at first, but once you figure out for yourself what they do and the unique kind of support they can offer a party, they become a very valuable asset to any group.

Also, don't give up on the idea of a Ritualist just yet. Yes, they rely on spirits and yes, those spirits are fragile (even more so since the past weekend), but one of the biggest challenges of playing as a Ritualist is learning when and where you should place your spirits. It is possible to put them down in safer places if you wait for a moment and watch how your enemies are moving and where they're attacking, so you can figure out the safest locations for your spirits to sit in. Most spirits have an excellent range on them, so they don't always need to be in the line of fire to be useful.

Its the ritualist vs the paragon here. When talking about PUGs, nothing else fits your requrements. An ele is expected to be a nuker, necro to be mm or ss, and mesmer... well, the mesmer is not expected at all.

Youve tried the rit so now try the paragon, which is a really boring class imo and was very disappinting to me, but you decide for yourself.

Well, when I think support I come up with 3 professions:

Ritualist
Paragon
Necromancer

The Paragon "nerfs" aren't that bad. Paragons are still REALLY good and overpowered. People who are complaining are just mad they aren't quite as overpowered as they used to be.

The other 2 professions that sound like your play style are definately Ritualist (if you own factions) and Necromancers (who can run a lot of curse builds for support and damage).

Ritualists - Communion (weapon spells, spirits) - help offense and defense
- Restoration (weapon spells) - life steal helps offense and defense
- Channelling - helps mainly for offense
- Spawning - helps for party healing

Paragon - Spears - offense
- Command - party health regen, party energy regen and defense
- Motivation - party health heal, party energy gain, condition removal
- Leadership - helps heal others and condition removal

Necromancer - Wells help reduce enemy effectiveness and some give health regen (Well of Power gives both health and energy regen)
- Curses - conditional damage and helps reduce non-spell damage (ie: Price of Failure, Reckless Haste, enfeeble, etc.)
- Blood - direct damage that heals you, and some conditional spells that does damage or interupts.
- Death - condition spreader, MMing

Elementalist - Fire - damage dealer - BIG AoE
- Earth - direct damage - some AoE, good wards
- Water - direct damage - some AoE, slow enemies
- Air - direct damage - knockdowns

Earth elementalist without a doubt. It's a great balance of support and damage. If a PUG won't take you because you run an earth build and not some wiki build, they'd have failed and Leeroyed with your last member saying "lawl wuts a rez?" anyway. So all you're doing is weeding out the weak and stupid.

A paragon can also have a mix of support and damage, providing you have Nightfall.

You can probably try a ritualist, but they're never the same class for more than a week with all the nerfs.

Oooohhhh, an emo smiter! I totally forgot about that one. I used to play that in pvp and it was so much fun.

id go with either an ele/monk or a paragon. ritualists would be good but apparently you dont like those because of spirit dependence.

Ritualist, Can Heal good and do signifcant amounts of damge compared to all other characters, so if u wan a support healing/damge proffession(other then monk) go ritualist