Team Build: 6 Hero Support v1.2 - Finalized

Chrisf

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2011

Louisiana, US

Pain Train Choo [Choo]

27 Feb 2012 at 10:18 - 1

Bonsoir, my name is Chris and I enjoy under-manning PvE content. 6 Hero Support is a primarily melee support build that I use for, say, helping Alliance mates get through missions, dungeons, tough vanquishes, etc., etc. Admittedly, many of the individual builds are pretty generic, but I'm looking for feedback nonetheless posting them here to hopefully help out some struggling title- or hero-chasers. No more updates will be made, however.

6 Hero Support v1.2 - 2 Me/1 Mo - Updated 02/28 - Presently, this is the setup that I use. #1 (myself) uses a pair of Zealous daggers of Defense. #2-4 run 40/40 sets, and #5-6 both use +5e spears of Defense and -5^20% shields of Fortitude. For the most part, I micro skill 1 for #2-5. For exceptionally difficult content, I may replace E-Surge with Panic, but it's rare that I feel a need to. 02/28: I've traded my RoJ/SoA for a second E-Surge Mesmer. This is my finalized build and it's likely what I'll be sticking to until GW2 launch.
v1.2 - Added 02/28

7th Hero Suggestion: Ineptitude Mesmer, Panic Mesmer, RoJ Monk, SoGM Ritualist, AotL MM (trade the ST for E/Mo Prots)

Have something to say that could potentially improve upon these builds? Post or PM me here or in-game and we can talk about it. However, I won't be updating this post anymore. Thanks again to all previous posters! Cheers.

Olle

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Aug 2008

Ign: Miniature Julia

Teh Academy[PhD]

W/

27 Feb 2012 at 10:47 - 2

I use a nearly the same setup (v1) But i have necro's instead of Monk-RoJ's.
They have a full energy bar 99% of the time, and can burst out alot more RoJ's than the monks.

Otherwise, these bars looks like they can burst trough most things (including WoC:3)

Chrisf

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2011

Louisiana, US

Pain Train Choo [Choo]

27 Feb 2012 at 11:00 - 3

You should most definitely hit me up with those Necro builds. Or maybe just a hint as to what you run on them.

I've put together a third version. It's highly tentative, as I'm not sure how much truth there is to the idea that an offensive Communing Rit > an E-Surge Mesmer in damage output. I'm reluctant to run SoGM over ST because I don't expect to (or like to, for that matter) take long enough per group of mobs for spirits to recharge. At first look I'd assume an E-Surge to be more effective in clearing out mobs in a quick fashion, but with the addition of Painful Bond and the inherent defensive perks of having more spirits around, I don't know...

Lukyboy

Elite Guru

Join Date: Nov 2007

The Mirror of Reason [SNOW]

D/A

27 Feb 2012 at 12:07 - 4

In v2, you could switch 1 or 2 of the Esurge mesmers for a Panic and/or an Illusion mesmer

I personally prefer Leech Signet over Drain enchantment aswell

Olle

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Aug 2008

Ign: Miniature Julia

Teh Academy[PhD]

W/

27 Feb 2012 at 12:35 - 5

Something like this :

Basicly, the first 3 skills are "needed" then the rest is up to you; Damage,Prot,Heals,w/e

Spiritz

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

DMFC

27 Feb 2012 at 14:08 - 6

Never underestimate the foes in hm when using spirits - it can be a big mistake.
Normally i vq ( more faction farm ) unwaking waters map and for last few weeks its been kurz owned so i stayed away - other day its back to lux ( woohoo ) and in my excitment i forget eles had a buff - rather a big mistake whe you have an ele boss and several ele foes to contend with.My heros layed spirits as normal and i pulled not only the ele boss but 2 other groups of eles and a few kraken - before ele update this wasnt a problem as i always over aggro .Sadly 2 of the ele dragons along with ele boss decided it was revenge time and within a few secs noit only had all my spirits wiped but also all undead and you can guess what happened next - yes we got wiped bigtime.I can joke an lol about all day long but in reality - if we survived and only lost spirits an minions the 2nd rit would be waiting for recharge - with sogm at least for a few secs the spirits were able to pump out enough damage that when i returned there was about 7 foes less - and ele boss i think died because of pain inverter :P.
So yes sogm can be very handy at helping to pump out that bit extra dmg.Also consider that sogm affects spirits that attack but dont normally do dmg and using it gives them extra dmg which is damn useful

mortenya

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

Oregon, USA

rddt

Rt/

27 Feb 2012 at 17:48 - 7

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lukyboy

In v2, you could switch 1 or 2 of the Esurge mesmers for a Panic and/or an Illusion mesmer

I personally prefer Leech Signet over Drain enchantment aswell using too many interrupts will be counter productive for e-management. heroes will stack them on a single target rather than spread out to others.

Chrisf

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2011

Louisiana, US

Pain Train Choo [Choo]

27 Feb 2012 at 21:55 - 8

Quote:

Originally Posted by mortenya

using too many interrupts will be counter productive for e-management. heroes will stack them on a single target rather than spread out to others. It's for this reason that I feel like v2 might be overdoing it with 3 Mistrusts and CoFs in addition to the Power Drains for e-management. I can't really be sure until I have a chance to try it, though.

Still looking for a little feedback on whether a switch from v1 to v2 or v3 would be worth taking some time for myself to go through WoC HM for a second time -- I recently helped someone through it from start to finish, but...it counted as my NM completion. Bummer, right? On the same token, with tweaking, do you believe that triple Mesmer or triple Ritualist would be superior for general HM use? My goal here is quick kills without sacrificing too much defense.

floodwig

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Feb 2007

Illinois, USA

Legends of the New Republic [LnR]

Mo/

27 Feb 2012 at 23:12 - 9

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chrisf

It's for this reason that I feel like v2 might be overdoing it with 3 Mistrusts and CoFs in addition to the Power Drains for e-management. I can't really be sure until I have a chance to try it, though. Yea, when I first saw 3 mistrusts I was pretty surprised. In my experience more than two can cause them to just stack it all on one target, wasting my mesmer's precious energy. I do like the multiple CoF's though, they can cause some serious aoe rupts which have saved my butt many times. I would advise staying away from 3x esurge though, since panic and ineptitude are such strong shutdown skills. And since it sounds like you mostly tank for your group, melee will ball on you, making ineptitude explode stuff.

Over all though these look like pretty good builds, very similar to what I run on my heroes. I look forward to seeing what developments you make!

mortenya

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

Oregon, USA

rddt

Rt/

27 Feb 2012 at 23:38 - 10

well, i'm generally a fan of 1, but 2 has merit's as well. i run smiters, albeit slightly different.

so i guess to answer, i'd say 1, but it could use some panic, imo.

Chrisf

Academy Page

Join Date: Jun 2011

Louisiana, US

Pain Train Choo [Choo]

27 Feb 2012 at 23:57 - 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by floodwig View Post

Yea, when I first saw 3 mistrusts I was pretty surprised. In my experience more than two can cause them to just stack it all on one target, wasting my mesmer's precious energy. I do like the multiple CoF's though, they can cause some serious aoe rupts which have saved my butt many times. I would advise staying away from 3x esurge though, since panic and ineptitude are such strong shutdown skills. And since it sounds like you mostly tank for your group, melee will ball on you, making ineptitude explode stuff.

Over all though these look like pretty good builds, very similar to what I run on my heroes. I look forward to seeing what developments you make!

You've got a point on the Ineptitude, I think I'll go ahead and throw it in there. The reason I don't use Panic, however, is because of the wealth of shutdown already provided by dual Domination Mesmers. Even with just two Monks with PD + an E-Surge Mesmer, I don't have much trouble. I think the only time I really run Panic is when I'm helping someone do HM content I'm not used to, like WoC.

In the end, Panic is a largely defensive skill. It's a blanket interrupt that I never seem to need all that badly, so I reserve it for things I'm not comfortable enough with yet to play as usual. I enjoy the extra spike damage of E-Surge > Panic a little too much at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mortenya

well, i'm generally a fan of 1, but 2 has merit's as well. i run smiters, albeit slightly different.

so i guess to answer, i'd say 1, but it could use some panic, imo. I'm a big fan of my current setup, it's pretty solid overall. Like I said though, I use Panic primarily for new or unfamiliar content. It's a bit of a safety net to me if anything.

Edit: Scrapped v3. Spirits are squishy, and the build relied a little too heavily on them being up on every pull. They could easily be AoE'd down or something equally bad could happen that would likely result in a wipe or at the least a much longer fight, which I'm just not looking for.