User:Paradise Light

Lazyway through PvE contents with 7 heroes. You don't have to worry about balling up enemies correctly or extended fights (overaggro or bosses, I would say this is the most common scenario where most teams got wiped out, tied by heavy AoE damage and followed by spike damage to key party members). The key idea is to have "infinite energy" for everyone. Note: This build will never be posted to be rated, it's here for my guildie's reference only.

Motivation behind the build

 * My comp is slow and my connection is laggy at best. So preferably I would like a build which can excel even if the player is absent from battle.
 * To be lazy
 * Excessive flagging or microing heroes around is not necessary (of course, you can get more out of heroes if you do)
 * Versatility, one build for all areas. No skill change is required for most areas.
 * Do not have to worry about managing aggro or patrols properly. Accidental double/triple aggro, random popups, etc. should be handled with ease.
 * Subject to the lazy constraint, we also want to be able to complete our objective in a time efficient manner.

Any/Rt Player
[build prof=Any/Rt commun=12 cha=12][Signet of Spirits][Vampirism][Bloodsong][Pain][Armor of Unfeeling][Painful Bond][Summon Spirits (Kurzick)][Optional][/build]


 * Optional
 * as a meat shield to initiate battles (my preferred choice).
 * to increase DPS output of heroes.

Equipment
A 45-50e energy pool is optimum for this build.
 * Full radiant.
 * Staff with Hale and Hearty inscriptions.

Note

 * As a player, your priority is to keep your spirits alive and placed properly as a spirit wall to shield your heroes from melee foes. Cast PB with spare energy.
 * This build allows you to be lazy because you will be wanding most of the time.
 * Your output is minimally affected by quests or missions that require you to carry an item around.

ER Prot/Healing Sousuke
[build prof=E/Mo energy=11+1+2 hea=12 prot=6][Ether Renewal][Aura of Restoration][Protective Spirit][Spirit Bond][Reversal of Fortune][Patient Spirit][Heal Other][Jamei's Gaze][/build]


 * Variant
 * Replace with . Sousuke will spam it when there's a MM around and ER is not up and will run low on energy pretty fast, so be careful with the energy.
 * Replace with,  or  for condition removal, or with  or  for hex removal.

Equipment

 * Full Survivor
 * Spellcasting weapon with HSR and with of Enchanting
 * Full Vitae
 * Highest Vigor you can afford

Note

 * There are two main problems with E/Mo ER Prot Hero. The first is that it is simply bad to have infuse health on a hero team. What usually happens is that Sousuke will infuse health a low hp party member and then another healer on your team will heal Sousuke. In many cases, it is simply better to have the other healer heal the low hp party member directly.
 * The second problem is that there is too much prot. With my lazyway, Sousuke will be idle most of the time if it goes full prot. And let's face it, the two most powerful low recharge prots, and, function good enough even at a low prot rank.
 * Sousuke tends to spam RoF and PS for a net energy gain.

ST Defensive Spirits Xandra
[build prof=ritua/any commun=12+1+3 spawni=12+3][Soul Twisting][Shelter][Union][Displacement][Armor of Unfeeling][Signet of Creation][Boon of Creation][Optional][/build]


 * Optional
 * or for a hard res.
 * as emergency heal against large amount of AoE damage. Save my team from wipe tons of time because after a huge AoE wiping out almost spirits, I could immediately recast a spirit (or summon to where my heroes are) and Xandra will sacrifice it for party heals.
 * for condition removal.

Discord Livia
[build prof=n/any death=12+1+2 curses=10+2 soul=8+1][Discord][Desecrate Enchantments][Defile Enchantments][Animate Shambling Horror][Weaken Armor][Mark of Pain][Rising Bile][Signet of Lost Souls][/build]

Discord Olias
[build prof=n/rt death=12+1+2 curses=10+2 soul=8+1][Discord][Desecrate Enchantments][Defile Enchantments][Animate Shambling Horror][Enfeeble][Putrid Bile][Signet of Lost Souls][Death Pact Signet][/build]


 * Variant
 * Replace with . Enfeebling blood is better but my observation is that using enfeebling blood at the start of the battle makes the mobs focus fire on Olias due to lower hp than other characters. Olias thus have the highest mortality rate among my heroes (it was worse when I have Olias as N/Rt with PwK, since having PwK means Olias will be standing at the front of the formation).

MM Master of Whispers
[build prof=n/rt death=12+1+2 resto=10 soul=8+1][Discord][Animate Bone Minions][Death Nova][Masochism][Signet of Lost Souls][Protective Was Kaolai][Spirit Light][Life][/build]

Why Discord
There seems to be widespread hatred of discord heroes which I don't really understand. Most of the arguments goes along the line that discord is a single target spike skill and so its damage can be easily outdone with AoE skills. I agree with the previous statement but for AoE skills to be better, you need the mobs to clump together, which happen often with proper aggro and balling, but not always. I'm not going to go through all the arguments here but I'll list my observation during PvE and state why I like discord.


 * Don't have to worry about proper aggro.
 * Can finish off the mobs quickly even when the mobs are not clumped together., which happens often.
 * Can finish off stragglers in a group not caught by AoE skills quickly.
 * Can spike down mobs with healers.
 * Can spike down bosses faster.
 * Discord is only 1 slot and have a wonderfully low 2s recharge. You can't chain AoE skills due to high recharge but you can chain discord every 3 secs.
 * Most importantly, I believe the key to a versatile team is to have a balance of AoE and single-target damage skills. I already have enough AoE skills from Descreate Enchantments, Defile Enchantments and from my mesmers below. Think of a fight as three phases --- aggro, kill off most enemies, pick off stragglers. AoE shortens the time to kill off a lot of enemies, but to pick off the last straggler, spike damage is faster. The most efficient build is the one that shortens the time to clear the whole group of mob.

Melee-hate Gwen
[build prof=me/any illusion=12+1+2 fast=8+1 insp=10+1][Lyssa's Aura][Clumsiness][Wandering Eye][Signet of Clumsiness][Arcane Conundrum][Calculated Risk][Accumulated Pain][Power Drain][/build]

Dominating Norgu
[build prof=me/any domination=12+1+2 fast=8+1 insp=10+1][Lyssa's Aura][Mistrust][Cry of Frustration][Unnatural Signet][Spiritual Pain][Wastrel's Demise][Power Drain][Optional][/build]


 * Optional
 * or for a hard res.
 * for hex removal.

Why Lyssa's Aura?
My objective for the build is to be lazy and not having to worry about extended fights. At the same time, I want to be able to do missions, clear dungeons, etc efficient and versatile enough without ever having to tweak more than one or two skills. The three keywords here are extended fights, efficient and versatile.

No matter what e-management I slot in for my Gwen and Norgu, they always run out of energy within a very short period of time. Power drain is unreliable because a lot of mobs are not casters. Waste Not, Want Not is horrible because heroes don't spam it often enough and mobs are either attacking, casting spells, or wanding most of the time. Not to mention that WNWN gives only a net 7e gain at 11 insp and will be immediately blown through by the mesmers casting a 10e spell.

If you think your ineptitude or panic mesmers are not running out of energy, you're simply being delusional. Open up their panels and you'll see what I'm talking about (esurge mesmers won't have serious energy problem with WNWN is you don't cramp in more than one 10e skill on the bar)

Running out of energy quickly is bad for extended fights because I would lose their damage mitigation. Also, mesmers without Lyssa's Aura will often end the fight with less than 10 energy left and will often start the next battle with a less than full pool in a dense mob area.

Simply speaking, having Lyssa'a Aura allows my Gwen and Norgu to have steady damage mitigation ability and over the long-run, be able to pump out DPS equal or exceeding any mes without it (I notice a speed up in my mob-clearing speed once I switch to Lyssa).

(Optional) Spirit Spammer Razah
[build prof=rt/any commun=12+1+2 spa=12+2][Soul Twisting][Disenchantment][Shadowsong][Dissonance][Anguish][Signet of Creation][Boon of Creation][Optional][/build]
 * Optional
 * or for a hard res.
 * as emergency heal against large amount of AoE damage.

Note

 * You can swap out Xandra and have Razah instead for the lower-end PvE contents like vanquishing or HM missions. Xandra is preferred for higher-end contents like EoTN dungeons, DoA, UW, etc.
 * Alternatively you can swap our either Olias or Livia for Razah.

Counters

 * #1 skill to fear due to AoE enchant removal.

Where can I faceroll with the build

 * All vanquishing and HM missions.
 * All EotN dungeons NM/HM except for (Slaver's Exile) Forgewight HM due to excessive AoE damage. Some simple aggro tactics (like flagging your heroes away from you before aggro, pre-casting spirits, etc.) are helpful for dungeons like Shards of Orr. Modifications are required for Duncan (you need at least 2x if you don't want to swap out spirits).
 * Fissure of Woe NM/HM
 * Underworld NM (Flagging and some microing is necessary)
 * (Domain of Anguish) City of Torcqua, Stygian Veil and Ravenheart Gloom NM.