Best Condition-er and Hex-er

Which of the professions is better doing both. I'm thinking either Necro and Mesmer for both, Ranger and Necro for conditions, and Necro and Mesmer for hexes.

necro has all

So you're choosing between a necromancer and a mesmer? Choose a mesmer -- Yes, they're the underrated class, but they are definitely one of the best. In PvE, they can tease, and destroy, a caster with a simple, beginner spell such as Backfire, or you could simply spread hexes/conditions to all your foes with Epidemic.

In PvP, they are probably the most annoying class. They can completely shutdown a physical profession to the point where the best thing for it to do is die, and they can force a monk (or any other caster) to not heal at all.

Those are the pros; they have very little cons (atleast for me they do; it's all about opinion). The only thing that sucks about them is that not many people play them that much, but I guess that's a good thing since it makes you stick out more.

Ranger/Me. Poison + Burning + Mesmer hex of your choice. Great spike, although you are out of energy after

I would say that Necros are more anti-physical, Mesmers are anti-caster. I think the con of them is that you are pretty high priority target.

Rangers are best for conditions, Necros are best for hexes, and Necros are best for both.
The only conditions necros can easily apply are disease, poison, weakness, and cracked armor. Rangers can easily apply poison, burning, dazed, bleeding, and crippled. Rangers can also do it more consistantly and reliably.

I'm thinking I like the Mesmer more, the looks are better, they aren't a hunchback, and Fast Casting SOUNDS nice. The problem I might run into is having energy problems as Me/N.

If you're worried about energy problems, either N/Me or Me/N have plenty of good options. On my Me/N I use Lyssa's Aura and virtually never have energy problems. With my N/Me soul reaping generally takes care of any issues, as long as I have minions in the party anyway.

Glad you chose mesmer as your profession.

Anyway, to counter energy problems as a mesmer, you could always run Lyssa's Aura or if your in Prophecies, early in the game of course, use Energy Tap. It'll help you plenty until your able to obtain Lyssa's Aura.

Energy is hardly a problem for a mesmer when you're beginning as you just take skills that steal energy and later on in the game you get elites which help e-management.

perhaps u could explain that spike to me.

Conditioner i'd say ranger,although a paragon can be an awesome conditioner spreader too with apply poison+spear atks,being able to inflict many diferent conditions stacked.R/P has the same concept.

Best hexer would be the necromancer,because he longer duration hexes and provide more effects other than degen.Mesmer hexes are of course good too,but not nearly as spammable and long duration as the necro ones(excluding the degen ones).

@OP,I don't see much advantage on doing both roles on one character.Condition roles are usually tied to physical character,while hexes only can be used properly by casters.
Still,the necro would win doing both at the same time,although not nearly as effective.

If this is for PvE, I would say the Necromancer for almost the everything.
Whilst necromancer skills only deal Poison, Disease, Weakness and Cracked Armour, they have access to secondaries with the extra things they don't have (Dazed, Burning etc).
Hell, the PvE skills You Move like a Dwarf and Finish Him provide (between them) Cripple, Deep Wound and Cracked Armour.

Whilst this of course applies to any caster, the necromancer can usually run it best with the rather insane Soul Reaping line, nearly removing any need for energy management skills.


A N/Me can spread some very useful conditions around with Fevered Dreams, YMLAD, Finish Him and Enfeeble. That provides big AoE Cripple, Weakness, Deep Wound and Cracked Armour. Add onto that, the extra dazed that is inflicted repeatedly, interrupting any spells being cast every time it's caused. This is perhaps the most powerful example of a condition oriented build I can think of.

Mesmer hexes tend to be short lived and have much more immediate and one time effects, whereas the Necromancer ones are generally longer lasting and provide a more steady form of debilitation. As for conditions, Mesmers are a long way off Necros, Rangers and even Elementalists. They have several skills that work nicely with conditions, but need a secondary for more reliable inflictors - a Me/N could work well, but a N/Me would be easier with Soul Reaping.
Necromancer hexes from the Curses line also tend to be much more potent in a PvE setting (Barbs, Mark of Pain, SS, etc).


For PvP, It's really a ranger for conditions and a mesmer for hexes and both can shut down casters (though mesmers are much more cruel).
Necros are less useful, as their primary attribute is generally a waste (hence we see Me/N cropping up more often).

If you want to bring a necro into pvp, they work great at shutting down melee. Incidious Parisite + weakness are great discouragers for melee, also they have been some pretty potent builts using a mesmer as a secondary proffesion that work well for shutting down casters and meleers, but not as well as if you only focused on one aspect.