How to Support (In Fractals)?

[Shaft Master.9261]

I've been playing GW2 for quite a while, mostly casually. A lot of my knowledge of playing MMOs has come from WoW, GW1, and GW2. In WoW and GW1, I feel that the roles are quite structured and I know what I'm doing when it comes to support, be it healing or tanking. I understand that GW2 doesn't have these traditional paradigms, but it still does have the concept of a support role.

 

It may sound stupid to ask, but how do I support in this game (and specifically for fractals)? I know there are support builds on metabattle with instructions on how to play them, but how do I know when to splash out aegis or protection? How can I use the UI to track how well I'm doing in terms of providing support? What cues or triggers does the game offer to let me know I should use a particular skill. A basic example would be if someone's health is low, then heal. I'm struggling at the moment because I don't know when I should be applying boons to allies, and also, I don't know if I'm truly being useful by not attacking and instead focussing on support. In other words, is the loss of my personal DPS made up by the increase in DPS/utility I bring to the party?

 

I play both a guardian and mesmer. My favourite role in team based games is to provide support. What's the best way I can do this in fractals? Are there any good guides online?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Shaft Master.9261

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

That's very simple. Your job is to turn suicide squad into successful mission.
At least 3 teammates will most likely be full glass cannons that expect both defense and final touches on their offense (offensive boons) to be provided elsewhere.

Your personal damage doesn't matter that much, because it's not a matter of them being better of with 5th dps rather than a support. It's a matter of them wiping all the time, vs not when support is present.

As for "when/what?" that's a matter of knowledge and experience. Offensive boon bursts (stacking might, quickness, fury, alac) obviously are best before burst windows or phases where boss does not go crazy on damage or mobility. It's up to you to learn when that is for a given encounter.

Defensive ones are obviously needed most when ball is in boss' court and it's the phase where you team needs to survive rather than go ham on offense. Again some knowledge and experience is necesarry.

If you're starting as support a very good choice could be to build more tanky and have strong ress capability (like elixir R for scrapper). Being alive to provide constant support and ress downed allies is more important than being another squisher that falls the same as all the rest on a failed boss mechanic.

Once you gain more experience you can push your builds to more personal dps at cost of personal safety.

[Crystal Paladin.3871]

Support in gw2 is a nice role ... Sometimes it feels like you act behind the scenes to keep the party alive... 

Example:

1) When boss gets a breakbar and is about to unleash a powerful attack and all your party members are focussed on dpsing the boss and provide less to no breakbar DMG, u use most of your cc skills to keep party alive 

2) When boss swings for a major attack, u see the animation but dps ppl won't move and they're focussed on executing their rotations rather than respecting mechanics, u keep them safe either by pumping aegis at the right time or reflects if needed

3) if u notice most of party members in low health and getting constant DMG, pull out that tome 2 and throw healing water on their face 🤣

4) most mechanics in fractals are assigned to support roles and dps ppl won't move and are glued and stacked in a single spot. Will a dwarf road save them from knockbacks and improve dps time and when will the boss unleash knockdown attacks.

5) sometimes it depends on reading the situation and type of encounter... Are allies getting bombarded with too many conditions? Are they having mobility issues? Will a condi cleansing field help them? Will superspeed cheese the situation?

 

I can recommend playing dps classes firsthand and then finding the difficulties and then you'll have a better idea of when to do what