Shiraya.4012

Hi! I haven't been playing Mesmer for terribly long, but I just noticed this while tweaking my build around for Mirage.

I noticed that Illusionist's Celerity does **not** in fact stack with Mirrored Axes. Normally this would be fine, we don't want to give too much CDR to a strong skill, but I tested it with Sword's Illusionary's Riposte with Illusionist's Celerity and Fencer's Finesse, and the cooldown reduction **does** in fact stack. Base is 12s, with Celerity it becomes 9.5, then with Finesse it becomes 7.25. Axe should be benefiting from increased CDR from Illusionist's Celerity because it is a skill that does spawn an illusion.

Here's mine! Rera The Second. Water elementalist and support extraordinaire.


> @SharkBall.5829 said:

> This is nice... you can do the same with a good base of Harrier's on a standard healing druid. Axe/warhorn primary, staff alternate. What I've seen best is celestial trinks (cept back) to keep T under 1300, armor and back harriers (you need 62%+ boon duration to keep fury/swift/3x might from warhorn/5 permanent uptime), and marshall's weapons (water/transferrance runes). Decent damage (alot more than full magi or minstrell druid) and really good support. Doesn't mess with Toughness tanks in raids either.

I can see that type of build doing well, and the offensive support of Druid is not to be underestimated. The reason I find this particular build so compelling is it maintains the 100% uptime on all of the aforementioned buffs without relying on quickness or alacrity. It's very isolated in its capacity, and doesn't rely on there being another support to work.

Hi! I have no credentials beyond I've been playing ele at length for the last 3 years, and really enjoy the supporting aspect of the profession. This in mind, I wanted to share a build I've been working on that I think has been thoroughly enhanced by some of the PoF features and such.

Always a fan of supporting, for the longest time I ran a zealot build that sought to provide boon uptime to myself and allies through the use of auras, but I found out that other support professions were able to provide the offensive support better. This was true right up until the release of Path of Fire and the release of Harrier stats.

Unlike every other statline that provides concentration, Harrier gives you a full secondary stat's worth of concentration and healing power, while still providing power as a primary stat. This is important for where this build goes. Harrier stats allow this build to push into the range of 90% boon duration.

So, here's the build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBLhdSfJ0fJWhJ4yAwhJWaAMhCQA4DScEKCxA3L7md0C-jxxGQBCZ/hbqHgcPAggq+DUVCuUlfA4EAQKA/GGB-e

The way it plays out is similar to current fresh air auramancing variants, but because of the insane boon duration, you're capable of managing 25 stacks of might in addition to swiftness, fury, regeneration and vigor. On top of being able to provide top offs, burst healing, vulnerability stacking and CC. It's a very versatile build.

How does it work?

You start out in fire. Overload Fire -> Arcane Wave -> Dragon's Tooth -> Phoenix -> Heat Sync. This will provide your allies with 25 stacks of might for somewhere around 35 to 40 seconds. This is why high boon duration is important because the cooldown on all of the skills you use to provide might are on 30s or fewer cooldown times. If you're able to keep a mental track of your Heat Sync cooldown, you can easily manage 25 might stacks on your team at all times, so long as they stay within 600 range when you call out your stacking periods. Note that these stacks do not decay to below 25 until the last 5 seconds of the buff uptime.

Once you've stacked might, you can do whatever you want until the cooldowns are back up. You're running fresh air, after all. Use your auras, overload air, provide vulnerability, throw out CC and healing until you're ready to might stack again. How much you have to babysit your team's health bars will determine how well you can stack might, but once you get proficient with the build, it becomes easier and easier to fight your allies while providing everything to support. Another important thing to note is you have good flexibility in what attunement you cycle through, you can use earth for reflects and blinds, water for burst healing and air for damage output. I should note, I recommend keeping one stack of arcane wave sitting on your bar at all times for when you need to burst heal. Water Warhorn 5 plus arcane wave is very strong for topping your team off. If your team seems to not need the extra help, use it in your initial might stacking rotation.

The main disadvantage to this build is it's very squishy. Currently, Harrier stats are the only way to get above 65% boon duration before buffs, as no other build provides concentration in any greater capacity than a minor stat on a 4 stat style. You might be able to get away with minstrel, as it manages about 70% boon duration after food and utility, but it gives you less wiggle room on healing and utility and forces you to focus more on managing Heat Sync's cooldown.

All in all I believe this setup is the premier Tempest support build, sporting immense boon uptimes, good healing, vulnerability stacking through overload air, and passable damage output with a power primary statline. It's high octane, interesting, and it makes you into a multiplying factor in your team's composition. Played well, this build can turn any pug run into an extremely smooth turnout.