Somnus Enim Mortuus Est
Mesmer WvW Builds

For supportive builds, you really want to have high concentration and some healing power to compliment your party, making the Minstrel's stat an ideal fit. I went with Celestial back piece, accessories, and trinket because those are the hardest to obtain. Celestial accessories allow me to have a friendlier budget for swapping to DPS if necessary. Rings are Minstrels to retain the supportive nature of the build, and are cheap to replace if you decide to change your build.

My work-in-progress gear set:

Currently, I am running half Minstrel's and half Berserker's armor with Berserker/Valkyrie rings and Celestial back, trinket, and accessories.
Pros:

• Mediocre spike damage with double
  when used with
• Sufficient, but not excellent healing power to sustain party when primary supports are on cooldown
• Weapons provide great crowd control from
  on Focus,
  on Staff, and
  on Sword
• Great self-sustain to avoid flankers

Cons:

• As a hybrid build, you will never assume any role as a primary agent -- power damage, boon uptime, or healing
• Highly dependent on team to convert downs

Unsure which stat prefixes are right for your playstyle? Here is a list of all stat combinations available.

Runes:

will give you the best rune in slot for a support build. You get a bit of everything, including some Concentration and Expertise to help with boons and banes. The (6) bonus will give you resistance upon your heal skill, which you can then cast on to share it with your party.

Alternatively, has decent boon uptime as well as some Toughness/Vitality to help with sustain. The (4) bonus is not something you can easily anticipate to follow up with , but it is still nice to have to keep yourself alive. This rune is accessible and can be purchased using WvW currency.

Finally, is a decent budget option for those that are new to Mesmer or are trying out risky plays and would like to practice staying alive. When the (6) bonus procs, you have a short window of opportunity to regain better positioning. This rune is not intended to be part of the final build, but has decent stats to keep the rest of your build viable.

Sigils:

is going to be your core sigil. As a stat that is not commonly found in boons or status effects, Concentration's rarity plays in part to the value of this sigil. With ~60% increased boon duration on your current setup, the full 25 stacks from this sigil will give you close to 100% increased boon duration, meaning your team gets the "Big 4" boons like Resistance, Stability, Alacrity, and Quickness for a longer window until someone in your party can refresh the boon with another skill. Place on your staff or greatsword if you find yourself mostly running with the zerg, since you can tag the most targets with those weapons.

is the butter to the bread that gave you. 33% increased boon duration implies that you only need ~66% increased boon duration without the effect from this sigil to have perfect boon uptime. Ideally, you would want to have attached to both weapon sets. Note that you only need this sigil on one of the two weapons if you are dual-wielding.

The last two sigils are up to personal preference. Remember that with this build, you are focusing on boonsharing not only the boons you are able to cast upon yourself, but also the boons from your fellow party members that are cast upon you. This means that healing should be secondary to your party's needs; if more healing is needed, consider swapping the mesmer out for a class with a more healing-oriented kit.

is a logical choice if you enjoy the healing kit mesmers have to offer. This sigil synergizes with and a constant recasting of .

allows you to provide minor sustain to your group regularly during your rotation. This is a secondary rune to , with which you will be constantly swapping between Staff(GS) and your Focus weapon set.

Here are some alternative sigils for your consideration. These may be a better fit depending on your playstyle.

works well with both Staff and Greatsword, which have multi-hit abilities. This sigil will require you to play offensively in order to proc the ability, meaning that it may not work well with builds that require constant casting of utilities. For example, charging may interrupt the flow of proccing this sigil.

grants immediate cooldown reduction upon getting a kill. This is a good option if your playstyle is aggressive and you often tag large groups of enemies, therefore giving you a greater chance of proccing. Remember: faster cooldowns means you get to recast sooner! However, since participating in a kill does not guarantee that this sigil will activate it may be more difficult to plan your rotation with this equipped. This sigil is available from the WvW merchant.

provides additional personal condition removal. If you are following the build on this page, there should be more than enough condition cleansing with personal skills as well as group cleansing from your party. Food for thought: if you need a lot more condition cleansing, your party's build may need to be reassessed, as you should not have to take the burden of condition removal with a sigil. This sigil is only obtainable through level 400 Artificer/Weaponsmith/Huntsman.

Healing Skill:

is a standard choice for fights with frequent maneuvering. works well with the trait and the Quickness boon, which will cause the spell to charge faster. With full alacrity and quickness uptime, you will want to use charges and recast Mantra of Recovery whenever you can. Mantra of Recovery will come off cooldown every ~6 seconds. This will provide sufficient sustain until the main supports (Firebrands, Druid, Tempests) regain their spells. Under the effect of Quickness, you should use both charges immediately in the midst of battle and recast the mantra to provide a group heal. If you are running the Inspiration traitline prescribed in this build, your minor Grandmaster trait gives group healing whenever you heal yourself on a 10 second internal cooldown, which conveniently matches the cooldown for .

Alternatively, run if your group does not move often and requires additional condition removal. Examples of good situations to equip this skill are when your zerg is under heavy siege fire when attempting to break into an objective or when the backline of your group is getting picked off. is difficult to pull off effectively because of how quickly the battle rotates around the field. Proper usage of this well will require exceptional movement prediction as well as spike prediction – a 30 second cooldown on this heal is no joke, since most fights do not last that long. will work best when you need to dedicate your attention to other skills (perhaps ) instead of micromanaging your primary healing spell.

can be substituted if you need better self-sustain. The Reflection granted by this utility will stack with , which will also reduce the cooldown of to 12 seconds. The main concern for equipping this skill, however, is due to the biggest utility being the Reflection and not so much the healing value. This healing spell provides lower Healing Per Second (HPS) than , meaning your build will be, by definition, less supportive.

is not recommended due to the long cooldown, but is a decent substitution if you are running supportive phantasms such as or , or if your playstyle allows persistent summoning of illusions.

cannot be perfectly utilized in a zerg battle because your illusions will die too quickly or despawn due to target swapping. However, it gives a substantial burst of self heal that should not be overlooked.

Utility Skills:

and are a must, but I use 3rd slot as an on-the-spot swap. Here are some examples of what I place there and why.

[Situation 1: FREQUENT ROTATIONS IN LARGE BATTLES]
This is primarily to help the midline rotate safely and not be picked off by the enemies with Superspeed.
Unless there is a lack of Support Firebrands or other main sources of Stability, I do not charge this prior to the battle. Charging it right when the battle starts will give your party 8 seconds of Quickness in addition to Stability and Aegis, after which you can faceroll your shatters and cast to help turn the tide.

[Situation 2: VERSUS HEAVY CONDITION BURST]
Always keep readied prior to an anticipated battle, especially in a condi meta.
Use a single charge of when YOU have 3+ conditions on you or if someone calls out for cleansing. It is important to prioritize yourself and expect the rest of the zerg to have decent position and sufficient self-sustain, otherwise your rotation will be underutilized.
If you need to use both charges, feel free to do so but try not to recharge mid-fight unless your other abilities are off cooldown. Your shatters should remove 1 condition each, and if you are running that is another 3 pulses of condition removal.

[Situation 3: CROWD CONTROL]

But wait, why are

and

irreplaceable?
Great question!

is core to all boonshare builds – this is THE boonshare!

As for , though we may be amazing at positioning in battles with perfect information:

1. We know where the enemy is,
2. We understand what our coordinated attack procedure is,
3. We can collectively predict which enemy skills will be cast during a damage spike,

shines in saving your butt during those clever enemy flanks. When you are flanked or sandwiched by two enemy teams, teleporting a safe distance away will obviously save you, but more importantly indirectly save your teammates in the long run by having boonshare available for the rest of the fight.

Elite Skill:

Use the build shown above unless you're having problems or feel comfortable enough to test something new.

Spec1: Describe my choice for spec 1
Spec2: Describe my choice for spec 2.
Spec3: Describe my choice for spec 3.

Foods: This is where text for foods will go.

Oils: This is where text for oils will go.

This is where your text goes for the Gear section.

For Runes: Describe your rune choice here.

For Sigils: Describe your sigil choice here.

Healing Skill:Describe your healing skill choice here.

Utility Skills: Describe your utility skill choices here.

Elite Skills: Describe your elite skill choice here.

Use the build shown above unless you're having problems or feel comfortable enough to test something new.

Spec1: Describe your choice for spec 1
Spec2: Describe your choice for spec 2.
Spec3: Describe your choice for spec 3.

Foods: This is where your text for foods will go.

Oils: This is where your text for oils will go.

This is where your text goes for the Gear section.

For Runes: Describe your rune choice here.

For Sigils: Describe your sigil choice here.

Healing Skill:Describe your healing skill choice here.

Utility Skills: Describe your utility skill choices here.

Elite Skills: Describe your elite skill choice here.

Use the build shown above unless you're having problems or feel comfortable enough to test something new.

Spec1: Describe your choice for spec 1
Spec2: Describe your choice for spec 2.
Spec3: Describe your choice for spec 3.

Foods: This is where your text for foods will go.

Oils: This is where your text for oils will go.