Power Alac Mech or Power Quickness Herald

[ArkLightXXVII.4768]

I need a little help in choosing which profession should I go with. This is mostly for solo content and group content PvE. (Maybe I can try with WvW Roam)
I really like both playstyle but can't choose which one would prefer in LFG and Pub groups. While I'm trying to push my gears into full ascended

Edited March 16, 2023 by ArkLightXXVII.4768

[vares.8457]

In my opinion Power alac mech is easier and quickness is already often covered by firebrands. 

[ArkLightXXVII.4768]

3 hours ago, vares.8457 said:

In my opinion Power alac mech is easier and quickness is already often covered by firebrands. 

Do alac would be more difficult to fill in specially in group content?

Edited March 16, 2023 by ArkLightXXVII.4768

[draxynnic.3719]

2 hours ago, ArkLightXXVII.4768 said:

Do alac would be more difficult to fill in specially in group content?

I haven't noticed a significant difference in being able to fill either role - but I CAN fill either role, so maybe it's just a problem I rarely run into because I can fill in the gap.

Of the two, though, I think alacmech is more accepted overall? Quickherald is sorely underrated - pugs do tend to ask for firebrand specifically for quickness. Which is sometimes justified due to firebrand being able to bring something specific that makes dealing with some mechanic a lot easier... but not always.

[Polar.8634]

if u also want to do solo quickness will give you more value. if you want to do harder content, too, cele herald will also be able to do that. you can go full cele with firebrand rune, 100% quick uptime and tankiness for solo content

[ArkLightXXVII.4768]

3 hours ago, Polar.8634 said:

if u also want to do solo quickness will give you more value. if you want to do harder content, too, cele herald will also be able to do that. you can go full cele with firebrand rune, 100% quick uptime and tankiness for solo content

Is this also viable for fractals and raid content?

Edited March 17, 2023 by ArkLightXXVII.4768

[ArkLightXXVII.4768]

8 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

I haven't noticed a significant difference in being able to fill either role - but I CAN fill either role, so maybe it's just a problem I rarely run into because I can fill in the gap.

Of the two, though, I think alacmech is more accepted overall? Quickherald is sorely underrated - pugs do tend to ask for firebrand specifically for quickness. Which is sometimes justified due to firebrand being able to bring something specific that makes dealing with some mechanic a lot easier... but not always.

If there is already a quickness healbrand in the squad, would I still be a boon support dps if ever I go with Herald spec? 

[ventress.4879]

6 hours ago, ArkLightXXVII.4768 said:

If there is already a quickness healbrand in the squad, would I still be a boon support dps if ever I go with Herald spec? 

Firebrand can barely cover quickness unless they focus on that and not healing. In my opinion Herald could still be used since it has very good DPS for a quickness support.

Edited March 17, 2023 by ventress.4879

[draxynnic.3719]

6 hours ago, ArkLightXXVII.4768 said:

Is this also viable for fractals and raid content?

Fractals, yes. For raids, you'd probably want to have a set that doesn't have Toughness, both to avoid interfering with tanking mechanics, and for scraping out that extra bit of DPS for hitting DPS check mechanics.

 

58 minutes ago, ventress.4879 said:

Fitebrand can barely cover quickness unless they focus on that and not healing. In my opinion Herald could still be used since it has very good DPS for a quickness support.

Wait, what? Quickness on healbrand is using Mantra of Potence and one or both of MoS and FMW on cooldown. There's plenty of space for healing in between, especially since healbrand is a bit like heal herald in that a lot of your healing is incidental to things you're already doing.

Going back to the original question, though:

6 hours ago, ArkLightXXVII.4768 said:

If there is already a quickness healbrand in the squad, would I still be a boon support dps if ever I go with Herald spec? 

Well, a squad of 10 will require two quickness sources, so you could be the quickness source in the other subsquad. Firebrand is preferred by most groups simply because that's what they're used to - groups who actually know what everyone is capable of should be equally accepting of heralds for the role, though.

In the end, though, it would be good to have a pure DPS build as well. In my experience, eight or nine times out of ten, if I join a PUG and say I can do quickness, that's what I'm asked to do, but sometimes there is an excess and it's good to be able to shift to pure DPS as well. Power herald DPS isn't the best in the game, but it's competitive and not overly complicated to run - the main thing to watch out for is while the build is very similar to power quickness herald, how you play it is quite different. Premade groups who are just looking for a few more slots are also probably more likely to already have the support roles covered.

Same comments would apply to alacmech, though, possibly even more so - if you rock up with alacmech, there's a chance that the group will already have the alac roles filled and you'll be asked to do DPS. There's also probably a higher probability that if you rock up with alacmech you'll be asked to go heal alac mech, while people are more inclined to have their quickness sources be DPS boon support. (Although I don't really agree with that - I think running HAM and quickdps results in more overall DPS, but in my experience, groups with a healbrand or healherald are often smoother.)

In the long term, if you're interested in both, it's probably worthwhile to get both ready so you can do either quickness or alacrity depending on what the group needs.

[vares.8457]

3 hours ago, ventress.4879 said:

Firebrand can barely cover quickness unless they focus on that and not healing.

Quickness firebrand can cover both quickness and healing just fine. 

[ventress.4879]

33 minutes ago, vares.8457 said:

Quickness firebrand can cover both quickness and healing just fine. 

It can but more is always better. Herald has one super power which is boosting everys boon duration too. 

[vares.8457]

2 minutes ago, ventress.4879 said:

It can but more is always better. Herald has one super power which is boosting everys boon duration too. 

But then why waste three spots for support? If two spots are enough and you can have three full dps 

Edited March 17, 2023 by vares.8457

[ventress.4879]

7 minutes ago, vares.8457 said:

But then why waste three spots for support? If two spots are enough and you can have three full dps 

I don't know if you know this but most dps supports can preform better or equal to most DPS benchmarks. The difference is a percentage so if the top dps is 20k the dps supports are at 15k.

When I play Virtuoso in raids/strikes I often slot in Inspiration when there isn't a dps requirement (normally to cheese the fight) 

Edited March 17, 2023 by ventress.4879

[ArkLightXXVII.4768]

7 hours ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

In the long term, if you're interested in both, it's probably worthwhile to get both ready so you can do either quickness or alacrity depending on what the group needs.

Actually I do have interest on both. But as far as gold making and just starting out, I'm afraid I can't take two mains for now. So I might focus on a single main which I would like for most of the end game content and a little bit of WvW or PvP

I also might consider if I would go for those alternate builds that you mention specially HAM Mechanist. I'm too tired of playing Healer support in most games I played before. So I might pass on this one.

[Cuks.8241]

If you have a revenant you also have an option of alac cdps renegade. But on the other hand as an engineer there is also quick scrapper. Both are just fine if not more.

You can't really miss with any of those 2 as both classes have probably the best variety in the game. If you take mech be prepared to be asked if you can alac heal pretty much all the time though. People are just so used to having HAM lately.

[Gibson.4036]

I was just watching a video today about Power Herald that noted how Herald has the advantage that it plays the same across all game modes. So you don't have to learn different skills when you move from mode to mode.

[Polar.8634]

23 hours ago, ArkLightXXVII.4768 said:

fractals and raid content?

It is, power version is better in good groups but you will provide quickness and damage for team on cele too. Downsides of cele are: less cc and less burst damage then power, you have toughness so need to coordinate with squad in raids(u can tank on it as well if needed). Upsides are: it's tanky, better in longer fights(random groups), u can take it to open world, it can boon strip and pull(this makes it better for fractals then power imo).

[draxynnic.3719]

13 hours ago, ArkLightXXVII.4768 said:

Actually I do have interest on both. But as far as gold making and just starting out, I'm afraid I can't take two mains for now. So I might focus on a single main which I would like for most of the end game content and a little bit of WvW or PvP

I also might consider if I would go for those alternate builds that you mention specially HAM Mechanist. I'm too tired of playing Healer support in most games I played before. So I might pass on this one.

Fair enough. I figured that was probably the case, hence why I specified "in the long term". Starting with one, getting that one fully geared (to whatever level you consider fully geared), and then using it to fund gear for the next is a good appraoch. As is stacking up on tomes of knowledge so you can fast-level future characters. It is worth noting that alacrity renegade is making a comeback, and I think you can get away with using basically the same gear on a power alacrity renegade as a power quickness herald (or a cele alacren versus a cele quickherald). Basically, you've got two starting equipment slots, you could probably set up a power set and a cele set that will get you through almost everything.

If you're looking to avoid being pigeonholed as the healer, then, rev might be the better option. I really don't agree with it in the slightest, but there is a perception in some parts of the community that the alacsupport should also be the healer, while I don't think I've ever seen a herald asked to heal by a PUG unless they had already volunteered.

[AlPower.2476]

On 3/17/2023 at 5:18 AM, ventress.4879 said:

It can but more is always better. Herald has one super power which is boosting everys boon duration too. 

Can cover both if team know how to stack 

[ventress.4879]

18 hours ago, AlPower.2476 said:

Can cover both if team know how to stack 

No it will just be your 5 man section.