Fastest-killing NM heroes build?

Alright I know NM isn't that difficult, and usually I just take sabway because it means I can C+space while multitasking and reading something else, and I still gets masters without any problem.

But I'd like to finish fast some missions and quests and was curious what heroes and their builds I should use? Sabway is fine, but minions lag behind so there must be something that is faster (I assume..).

I am looking at general builds, not builds I'll have to change every mission.

My own char is Mesmer, if that matters.

Discord is pretty much overkill in nm...Take out a few of the heals and throw in even more damage and that will pretty much be win...just so long as there isn't a ton of hex and condition removal you should be fine. It's easy to use and you can pretty much do it with even just 2 skills on your bar the rest are just to make it faster...and you should be fine in most areas...

I run nuker eles in NM untill I reach later in the game, then I switch to disord. (Probably around Vabbi, Crystal Desert)

Yeah, in NM you usually don't need the protects and heals as much. I also drop PWK (gasp!) so I can get the benefit of a full 40/40 casting set.

I think the OP was looking for something without minions that was fast, since he mentions that minions do lag behind. Are there any all purpose hero combinations that don't involve minions? Both Sabway and Discordway do.

You could run 2 warrior axe heroes and a fire nuke ele,2 monks/healers is usually enough and it'l provide physical and elemental rape.There's really so many possiblities you could try...

a build with a lot of aoe and some defence

Just for kicks I spec'd one discord necro with some Channelling spirits and the other with Communing spirits (I left the third necro as a healer). It looked like some pretty insane damage. Rolled through Against the Charr pretty effortlessly.

Again, the problem is mobility Good for prolonged battles, but probably not as fast if you just want to plow through the zone aka blitzkrieg.

But yea spirits are very lethal and disruptive. I had a Ritualist before and even without Painful bond the spirits do insane armor ignoring dmg. I used them in Norn tournament few days ago, on my new Mesmer, because it's easy and effective. Magni the Bison... right, just plant 1 Shadowsong and the rest of your skillbar hardly matters. No need for OP PvE skills.

I would think the insane damage output 11 level 21 minions more than makes up for whatever time they waste moving.

You can take 2 SF eles and put "Fall Back!" on them to speed up running and heal minions so your hero doesn't waste time botming when running.

Ah Fall back, forgot about that. Will try. But my MM hero doesn't use BotM, he's a bomber. His minions are also not high lvl, just 14dm. It actually helps, I noticed that compared to 18dm he had with Masochism before when I was testing it, he spends much less time lagging behind casting novas on his numerous minions.

Anything would work well for NM really. However, I dont advise you to rely as much on armor ignoring damage for NM because it always does a set portion of damage whereas elemental damage could do much more due to low armor rating of mobs. That said 5 sec AoE spells become more effective as well since mobs on NM hardly ever scatter from them.
I also found that many AP solo spike builds qork wonder since you can easily kill a target in one spike.
Discord still works wonders but you can drop one of them for something else overwise it overkills mobs too much. ^^

what u really need in nm in general is speed boost, like fall back on 2 heroes so they can chain it

I run 3searing flame ele heros altho i am a main para so i ass huge damage reduction. Kills pretty fast

Just as a quick sidenote: In Prophecies, from the Southern Shiverpeaks and on (possibly also in the Crystal Desert), both Warrior Henchmen use Charge, which they chain without a problem, so no real need for Fall Back there.

If you don't like Minions much, I guess you can always give RoJway a try. Works pretty decent with two Warrior henchmen, especially if you stick Judge's Insight on one of the smiter monks.

Meridon

Im thinking actually dual Rits with a Fall Back AoE Ele. Its not very practical in more leet places but im thinking if you wanna steamroll through some of easier NM places id say bring this setup:

1 SoS Rit with few spirits and 2 heals.
1 OoS Rit also with 2 heals and rest optional.
1 SH or Sandstorm Ele with Fall Back for speed boost

Im noob at making builds. But im thinking maybe this could work.

3 nukers with some rt heals {E/Rt}

Your MM is probably lagging due to casting Jagged Bones.
Throw Discord onto his bar instead.

Nah it's ok, MM lags much less with DM at 14 instead of 16 or 18. It's because he can have less minions, they die faster etc.. i guess. But it works better for a bomber.

try splinter barrage rangers, high damage and they keep up, also got some survivability
that + orders MM owns big time