MesmAIRway aka CLAPWAY

A team designed to provide more than adequate shutdown and anti-melee via combining the recently buffed Thunderclap of three Air Elementalists with Shared Burden of an Illusion Mesmer. One of the three Elementalists is also an off-heal with powerful Restoration Magic spells to compliment the supportive power of the usual BiP/ST backline. In my tests, it has proven to be the strongest and most effective hybrid support when raw damage is concerned.

To offer a quick idea of how this team works:

• Shared Burden slows down the cast times, attack speed, and movement speed of enemies by 50%. This simultaneously makes enemy melees less effective at harrassing the mid/backline, and…
• It allows Thunderclap to interrupt (because of the slowed enemy cast times), hit, and spread out Weakness and Cracked Armor with its recently acquired nearby range far more effectively.
• There is no Blind in the team, but Weakness reduces attack damage by 66%, which along with the slowed attack speed will provide a solide extra line of defense against melee enemies in addition to the usual ST setup (especially Displacement, which tends to be the first to break).
• Hex removal is provided via the Mesmers (4 points in Domination Magic for the Illusion hero. 42 armor ignoring damage on hex remove at 6s recharge is still pretty strong!) and the ST Ritu Monk skills.
• The ST Ritu also does not have Signet of Creation, which lets it cast its spirits faster when they expire. It has more than enough energy.
• 2 copies of SYG stabilize the team by having practically constant uptime and drawing energy from the Eles less frequently.
• The offensive power speaks for itself. Domination Mesmer adds an extra layer of shutdown and still is possibly the best DPS hero in the game. However, Air Ele comes pretty close to it in damage and depending on the number of foes hit, may even outdamage it. The difference is trivial either way given that both builds bring significant utility.
• This has been tested in HM PvE, but NOT elite areas yet. However, in elite areas, specifically DoA, I would swap the TC resto with a UA Monk and replace ESurge with Panic. Against Duncan, I would bring “Can’t Touch This!” on one of the Clappers over SYG, Panic for the dwarf stacks, and a Spoil Victor N/Rt off-heal over third Clapper.
• Bring Mirror of Disenchantment in areas where foes in groups are expected to have the same enchantments on.