Curse

Lishy · Jun 04, 2011, 10:46 PM // 22:46

Hey guys. I'm a warrior main trying to decide the last profession of my final mercenary (I have all merc slots.) Could I have a little help?

I currently have the following mercs and setups:

Monk (RoJ)
Necro (Curse/Blood support)
Necro (Discord)
Mesmer (Illusions)
Elementalist (Searing Flames)
Ritualist (Channeling)
Paragon (Racway)

I was thinking of making fifth elementalist for extra searing flames because I have two of my other eles set up as ER and Air, but I'm still not too sure about it with the decline of elementalist usage in PvE.

A sixth necromancer on the other hand would not be too appealing either. I have one necro as SR heal, one a minion master, one curse/blood, then two discords. Is it really worth throwing in ANOTHER necromancer?

Then we have mesmer. Right now I have two illusions, and one domination. One option is to make another Mesmer and not rune anything but Fast Casting and Inspiration so that I can use it for RoJ-way and other potential support roles? But what?

With a fourth ritualist, I really don't see what else can be done. With my general-all-purpose channeling mercenary hero, I can easily just make him anything not already covered by my SoS and SoGM heroes.

A ranger seems appealing considering the allure of beastmasters. I myself even have an effective warrior beastmaster build, so having an army of pets would especially be useful! Unfortunately, currently Pyre and Acolyte Jin are my only beastmasters, with Margrid being a marksman for IA. So is it worth having a third beastmaster to make a four pet party?

Lastly, there is the monk. I currently have Tahlkora set Hybrid, Dunkoro to blatant heal, Ogden and my current merc to RoJ. Should I create a third RoJ hero?

So basically I cannot decide between:
- Third Searing Flames Ele
- FC/Inspiration Mesmer support
- Four beastmaster party with 3rd ranger
- Three RoJ heroes.

Advice?

Morte66 · Jun 04, 2011, 11:30 PM // 23:30

RoJ monks and Esurge mesmers are two roles where I find that if I want them, I want more than I've got -- I could imagine running four or occasionally even five of each, given the chance.

Since I don't have mercs, I sometimes fake them with necros. I find the necros are better at faking smiters (soul reaping allows heavier smiting bars) than dominators (I want fast casting to leverage the standout spells). So I'd go for another mesmer.

Plutoman · Jun 05, 2011, 01:25 AM // 01:25

Honestly, if you're going to run Ele's, either use an Invoke Lightning ele, or a Ether Renewal Ele. This is coming from a primary ele. Searing Flames loses it's value - the only time I'd run one is in NM, or with 'They're On Fire'.

As it stands, I like mesmers - either a mesmer, RoJ, or a beastmaster party would be an interesting change in playstyle.

Lishy · Jun 05, 2011, 01:59 AM // 01:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plutoman

As it stands, I like mesmers - either a mesmer, RoJ, or a beastmaster party would be an interesting change in playstyle.

Yeah, but I cannot figure out which of the three to use =/

Plutoman · Jun 05, 2011, 02:12 AM // 02:12

Well.. See what you're missing in the team, and think about what might be fun.

I've always liked RoJ just for the fact that it's awesome seeing the beam come down. Beastmaster's are cool to have an army of pets riding in. A mesmer is probably the most effective, imo, so if you're looking for pure usefulness that's what I'd use.

Hawkston · Jun 05, 2011, 08:08 AM // 08:08

I'd go with an air ele because you can set that up as anti-melee with Bsurge/Shell Shock/Enervating. Or swap Bsurge for Thunderclap for a bit of dazing. But I do agree you can't go wrong with another Esurge mesmer, they just own everything with the exception of foes using a lot of adrenal skills, and even then they kill very fast.

I just don't like the micro involved with RoJ, heroes cast it at the stupidest times unless you manage them.

Lishy · Jun 06, 2011, 02:37 PM // 14:37

So an ROJ can be imitated with another profession.. And a fourth mesmer would be redundant if I went domination with the third instead? (Any reason to have two illusion mesmers?)

So how does a fourth beast master in a party sound?