Team Build: Z-Way | Z-Merc Edition | (Update 3.0)

I really like your hero-teambuilds. Been using Z-way for some months now One question though: where/how do you flag your heroes in The Eternal Grove HM? Having a hard time there.
Thanks for your awnser! Recorded this today, first try so pretty sloppy but you can get a good idea.
https://youtu.be/nNwCedfhCTY

Nothing much of a real update, I haven't played in a while but found a screenshot worth posting.

The good part of this post is that you're now able to do 11 minute runs in Mallyx's Citadel.
This way requires atleast one mercenary hero.

Personal Record Time 674 seconds.

http://i61.tinypic.com/23rwg06.jpg So I'm still doubting the optimization of this build, especially the player bar. I was just able to finish the first part of mallyx at /age 9, and that's with whatever bars I already had. If I was to optimize for mallyx I could probably get 8, and tbh this area doesn't really favor my builds. I get that the mostly afk part of this is a draw, but I don't understand how that speaks to the build when playing GW is what you want to be doing.

Edit: Scratch that, after some tinkering I don't think 8 is doable.

Hey life bringer,

The optimization is as good and true as I could possibly make it by resembling the initial Z-Way team.
The player build is mostly too provide enchantments (since the idea is for you too AFK all waves for farming purposes) for the Infuse elementist, which makes the Infuse capable of restoring back too full health with a random spell cast after using Infuse Health.

The reason you are getting faster times is most likely because you are participating in dealing damage other then being "AFK", which ofcourse a player always does better then a single hero.
And if hero placement is spot on, the chances of surviving all waves is easily 90%.

But id love too hear input for improvements, especially for Hard Mode as that has proven very very hard to do, and nearly impossible.
(Trust me, iv tried over 30 diffrent types of setups) I guess the point I'm making is that if you are capable of essentially afking all these areas/bosses/fights, then by definition the build is not optimized because you are not utilizing your 8th(and, as you said, highest potential) party member. This likely means that the setup is overly defensive, and could be improved by increasing the offensive capabilities of the team.

The one thing I notice right off the bat is that you have so many interrupts packed across the bars that there is no way that they can all be used. The shutdown is simply too great for all but the most dense caster mobs, and even when considering those, the spells that might get through aren't damaging enough to the team to bother with interrupting them.

I guess the point I'm making is that if you are capable of essentially afking all these areas/bosses/fights, then by definition the build is not optimized because you are not utilizing your 8th(and, as you said, highest potential) party member. This likely means that the setup is overly defensive, and could be improved by increasing the offensive capabilities of the team.

The one thing I notice right off the bat is that you have so many interrupts packed across the bars that there is no way that they can all be used. The shutdown is simply too great for all but the most dense caster mobs, and even when considering those, the spells that might get through aren't damaging enough to the team to bother with interrupting them.
I understand your concerns and has indeed been brought up earlier regarding the Defense/Offense ratio.
But everything lays in the details, the entire team is woven into eachother too provide solid Defense and crowd controll while they take turns interrupting the enemy skills, this way especially in longer fights like high health boss fights is that the target will be shut down for a very long period of time, more precisely till the target dies.

The first thing it will provide is damage migitation towards your team so they last longer and are able to do what they are made for.
I agree with the fact that this team is more of a stand-alone group that excludes you to do its job, Physical Support teams is the other way around and solely is there to provide benefits for the player other the being able to deal with things themselves.
This however allows the player too play whatever his heart desires, may it be Damage or Healing, a marksman necromancer or fire casting ranger.

However I do disagree with the fact that spells that may leak through would not be dangerous, especially in Hard Mode and prominently in Domain of Anguish, and versus any Mesmer or Elementist.
Dont forget that the real hard enemies have over 22-24 points in their skill tree's, and without the propper Protection or controll you will simply get overwhelmed for example in the area of Forgewright.

On the offensive part of the team I agree and disagree, choosing to take for example two Fire elementists for Bogroots will indeed show that that may prove more efficiënt as you'll be facing enemies with a lower resistance to Fire.
But that only stops there, do make note that all sources of damage this team does is armor ignoring, and all damage on every single enemy will be the same in any situation and in any area, whether their armor is 60 or 225.

Also make note that there is so much AoE damage in this team (almost primairly) that it wont matter if you hit a single target, or 40 enemies balled toghether, they all will drop at the same rate.

Thank you for the feedback which always is much appreciated, but if you can tell me which other skills too take for my mesmers too fill the "lack of offense" gap you feel is present, then please let me know.

Zephyr.

I understand your concerns and has indeed been brought up earlier regarding the Defense/Offense ratio.
But everything lays in the details, the entire team is woven into eachother too provide solid Defense and crowd controll while they take turns interrupting the enemy skills, this way especially in longer fights like high health boss fights is that the target will be shut down for a very long period of time, more precisely till the target dies.

The first thing it will provide is damage migitation towards your team so they last longer and are able to do what they are made for.
I agree with the fact that this team is more of a stand-alone group that excludes you to do its job, Physical Support teams is the other way around and solely is there to provide benefits for the player other the being able to deal with things themselves.
This however allows the player too play whatever his heart desires, may it be Damage or Healing, a marksman necromancer or fire casting ranger.

However I do disagree with the fact that spells that may leak through would not be dangerous, especially in Hard Mode and prominently in Domain of Anguish, and versus any Mesmer or Elementist.
Dont forget that the real hard enemies have over 22-24 points in their skill tree's, and without the propper Protection or controll you will simply get overwhelmed for example in the area of Forgewright.

On the offensive part of the team I agree and disagree, choosing to take for example two Fire elementists for Bogroots will indeed show that that may prove more efficiënt as you'll be facing enemies with a lower resistance to Fire.
But that only stops there, do make note that all sources of damage this team does is armor ignoring, and all damage on every single enemy will be the same in any situation and in any area, whether their armor is 60 or 225.

Also make note that there is so much AoE damage in this team (almost primairly) that it wont matter if you hit a single target, or 40 enemies balled toghether, they all will drop at the same rate.

Thank you for the feedback which always is much appreciated, but if you can tell me which other skills too take for my mesmers too fill the "lack of offense" gap you feel is present, then please let me know.

Zephyr. I will say that it is pretty cool that you have taken the player completely out of the equation and still have a successful build. It's exactly this reason why you have had such great responses from the public. That being said, if you are someone who can agro and and pull correctly there are bound to be improvements that can be made.

First, the point about "lasting longer" is largely irrelevant. Fights in pve just don't last that long. A point that a few of us were trying to drill into people years ago on this site was that the best mitigation is death. If you can blow thing up faster, you will take far less damage(to a point), than if you allow the fight to take that extra 15 seconds. You mentioned some areas where fights do tend to take a while, such as Duncan. The problem with this example is that his entire damage potential is from spirits, which you can avoid, and Spirit Rift, which can be completely avoided by dropping one party flag and moving it whenever Duncan casts rift. In general, single boss targets aren't really what's going to kill you.

As for the spells that leak through, isn't that what Shelter is for? If you plan to stop every nuke from hitting your party, why is the ST even there? Even without an ST, smart positioning and agro removes the need to stop everything. Forge is more than doable without an ST, let alone 5 mesmers.

I don't actually know what you're currently running as far as bars go so it would be difficult to suggest specific changes. From what it looks like you have a base of maybe 3-4 bars and swap out the rest situationally. If you post your current bars I'll give it a run through and see what I can suggest. Note that I don't have mercs so it'll have to be without those. I don't think this is too unreasonable considering a player shouldn't need mercs to clear areas, similar to how you shouldn't need cons either.

Also I'm fairly sure the game caps attributes at 20, even in HM.