Team Build: Fragway variation
count vlad94
I have been using this build for a while and it works well for me I was wondering if anyone had any advice on changing anything
The goal is for frag and all the conditions on our team to kill everything.
The Superb Killer
I would fit in Ineptitude, probably on a second Mesmer hero. Easier blind than UF.
madriel222
The Avatar of Balth build looks pretty weak. I'd probably couple AoB with a few quick recharge enchants (Aura of Thorns, Staggering Force, then either Fleeting Stability or Dust Cloak). Add in the two nasty tear down attacks Twin Moon Sweep and Wearying Strike, keep DC, and you have a pretty efficient condition spreader.
Voodoo Rage
How is your Soul Twisting Rit doing energy-wise? I usually run my ST rit doing nothing but recasting Shelter and Dissonance and even when he runs dry during battles (especially with minions).
Kaida the Heartless
You have too many slots dedicated to maximizing the potential of Fragility, which is met 90% by your build alone. There is a lot of wasted potential.
Some further tidbits from an experienced player:
Shared Burden is a bad skill, not because it is a bad skill, but because all the other options Mesmers have are better. If anything, swap the entire bar to a standard Ineptitude Mesmer.
Stolen Speed suffers the same problems as Shared Burden. Elementalists take the largest advantage from that skill, and you don't have any. The rest of the bar is also pretty weak. Heroes do not try to meet the extra criteria on Overload either. I'd switch this bar for a standard ESurge.
Virulence is just bad. Yea, it applies three conditions, but your build alone already does that. The Blood and Curses lines aren't enough to Justify it's use. Put a build here that does damage, such as another ESurge Mesmer or Searing Flames Ele.
I like the traditional side of the Minion Master you are bringing here. Take out Taste of Death (bad skill) and put in Animate Bone Horror. Don't use Animate Bone Minions because the spawns will probably overwhelm your minion cap and kill off all your pretty Bone Fiends. If you want Death Nova, replace Sig of Return with it. You can put a res on a Mesmer if you need to.
Your build lacks single target damage, so instead of the Dervish, put something like an Offensive Communing Rit here. That way, when the mobs dwindle, you'll kill them off quickly.
Heroes don't use Energetic Was Lee Sa properly (they'll drop it immediately after casting when low on energy). It's also a generally poor idea to use Glyph of Lesser Energy if you have several 5e Spells; much of it's potential is wasted. Run a standard ST Shelter rit with /P Command skills ("Fall Back!" and "Stand Your Ground!").
Run a /Rt Resto Necro for the last slot.
So, I basically just told you to run the meta but eh, it works. Honestly, like I said above, your build alone almost Maximizes the potential of Fragility, so burning all these bars to get another 10% or so is just bad.
If the team build is already working, just keep running it. I'm a min-maxer so my advice is probably going to suck the fun out of everything for you. :P
Some further tidbits from an experienced player:
Shared Burden is a bad skill, not because it is a bad skill, but because all the other options Mesmers have are better. If anything, swap the entire bar to a standard Ineptitude Mesmer.
Stolen Speed suffers the same problems as Shared Burden. Elementalists take the largest advantage from that skill, and you don't have any. The rest of the bar is also pretty weak. Heroes do not try to meet the extra criteria on Overload either. I'd switch this bar for a standard ESurge.
Virulence is just bad. Yea, it applies three conditions, but your build alone already does that. The Blood and Curses lines aren't enough to Justify it's use. Put a build here that does damage, such as another ESurge Mesmer or Searing Flames Ele.
I like the traditional side of the Minion Master you are bringing here. Take out Taste of Death (bad skill) and put in Animate Bone Horror. Don't use Animate Bone Minions because the spawns will probably overwhelm your minion cap and kill off all your pretty Bone Fiends. If you want Death Nova, replace Sig of Return with it. You can put a res on a Mesmer if you need to.
Your build lacks single target damage, so instead of the Dervish, put something like an Offensive Communing Rit here. That way, when the mobs dwindle, you'll kill them off quickly.
Heroes don't use Energetic Was Lee Sa properly (they'll drop it immediately after casting when low on energy). It's also a generally poor idea to use Glyph of Lesser Energy if you have several 5e Spells; much of it's potential is wasted. Run a standard ST Shelter rit with /P Command skills ("Fall Back!" and "Stand Your Ground!").
Run a /Rt Resto Necro for the last slot.
So, I basically just told you to run the meta but eh, it works. Honestly, like I said above, your build alone almost Maximizes the potential of Fragility, so burning all these bars to get another 10% or so is just bad.
If the team build is already working, just keep running it. I'm a min-maxer so my advice is probably going to suck the fun out of everything for you. :P
Outerworld
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaida the Heartless
You have too many slots dedicated to maximizing the potential of Fragility, which is met 90% by your build alone. There is a lot of wasted potential.
I think that alone sums the build up.
LexTalionis
As an alternate opinion:
Shared Burden is fine, it doesn't mandate a heavy investment into Illusion, unlike Ineptitude, so it's useful for Dom/Illu/FC tri-builds. It's also cheap, has a large area-of-effect, and very significantly reduces the damage output of enemies in HM. It's just not very helpful at doing speedruns, as it's purely defensive.
Ineptitude, although powerful, is sometimes quite overrated - the main problem being its "adjacent" range AoE and its short duration, hence somewhat uselessness, on casters.
Also, I kind of prefer Ash Blast and Glyph of Immolation after YMLAD as opposed to going with gaze. Ash Blast has a really useful long duration blind, which works on all monster types as opposed to poison. Glyph of Immolation at 3 fire magic and with good timing is pretty great at proccing fragility.
Shared Burden is fine, it doesn't mandate a heavy investment into Illusion, unlike Ineptitude, so it's useful for Dom/Illu/FC tri-builds. It's also cheap, has a large area-of-effect, and very significantly reduces the damage output of enemies in HM. It's just not very helpful at doing speedruns, as it's purely defensive.
Ineptitude, although powerful, is sometimes quite overrated - the main problem being its "adjacent" range AoE and its short duration, hence somewhat uselessness, on casters.
Also, I kind of prefer Ash Blast and Glyph of Immolation after YMLAD as opposed to going with gaze. Ash Blast has a really useful long duration blind, which works on all monster types as opposed to poison. Glyph of Immolation at 3 fire magic and with good timing is pretty great at proccing fragility.
Outerworld
He's a Nec primary Lex .
LexTalionis
Oh dur, I'm stupid.
Thanks for the save, Outerworld.
Thanks for the save, Outerworld.
mage767
I posted my version of fragway last year over here if you need some ideas, but it was a mesmer primary.
Fragway
Adjust bars as you like, nothing is concrete. Plus, with skill updates since post, some skills may be less viable than before.
Fragway
Adjust bars as you like, nothing is concrete. Plus, with skill updates since post, some skills may be less viable than before.