Bard or Enchanter (or x) for...

[Hrothgaar]

...support in "dangerous situations"?

This question is a little difficult for me to formulate.
I am looking for a support class that is viable in many different "situations of emergency" and that has the potential to heavily impact grave situations.

I am not so much looking for advice on which class has a situational tool like for example Paladin's Lay on Hands ability but I am looking for the class that has a core "when the shit hits the fan" skillset that is needed when the fight gets out of balance.

From what I read an Enchanter and a Bard has for example the Mesmerise Ability, which would fit what I was looking for quite nicely but which of the two classes would have a bigger impact on these "oh shit!" moments in terms of usefulnes and flexibility given their full skillset? Which ones impact might be bigger?
Is there another class except of Bard / Enchanter you can think of that falls into this category?

(Let's assume an equal player skill and ignore the constant need for klicking for bards.)

[Jimjam]

I mean wizards have a ‘screw this’ button in the form of evacuate. For less sever incidents they can aoe snare a ball of mobs and either kite or off root, and have a reasonable range of stuns.

If you are doubled up on clerics one can cc decently, i think they get a bit better in kunark where wave of fear is good at the fm giant fort and of course atone. Necromancer has a couple of tricks (screaming terror).

Out of the two listed i’d give the award to enchanter against mobs higher than level 25. Sadly Bard’s pbAoE mez career is short lived (and includes no mem blur).

[ChooChoo Train]

Enchanter as much as I hate to admit it, has access to a longer duration charm, longer duration mezzes, roots and AoE mez so they can typically handle a larger shit storm.
Bards do however get pbaoe fear which makes it easy to get a zoneline. Once Kunark drops bards get access to a Pbaoe snare + deftdance + Group DA which can be used to escape the nastiest of trains. I give the edge to the enchanter though for the complete oh shit moments though.

[DMN]

It's not really the duration that makes so much a difference but the fact that the enchanter is mainly only constrained by his own clicking speed and internet latency while bards are all hard coded to require waiting for the ticks to exert any influence on the mobs.

There are probably some very specific situations where the bard would be better choice, and it's worth noting that enchanters have very little room for error and much more highly affected by RNG since they have virtually no way buffering a bad run of resists(or teammate dipshittery) while bards have more HP and much better AC.

As far as other classes, no, though the often maligned druid does have heals, evcas and eventually does get an AoE root. It's a level 60 spell, though.

[kjs86z]

Its enchanter and its not even close.

[Hrothgaar]

Is it even enchanter when figuring in that the bard with it's versatality could maybe fill in a few roles of groupmembers who died?

Like overtaking slowing if the Shaman is dead or Snaring if the Druid died?

But on the other hand, I guess realiable Enchanter-Mez would be much more useful than anything the bard can bring to the party in terms of emergency situations or what do you think?

[ChooChoo Train]

A bard can definitely fill more roles than an enchanter but when it comes to Oh Shit moments enchanter is the class you’ll want there to turn that oh shit moment into a pile of enemy corpses

[Nuggie]

In Velious bards are more appreciated.

[branamil]

Well it's obviously enchanter by far , but I guess Necro isn't bad, because they can feign+rez the healer.

[GnomeCaptain]

I play Bard and Chanter.

They're both boss classes, but when it comes down to bringing order to total pandemonium you want a Chanter.

AE mes is far and away one of the most powerful spells in the game, and the Bard just can't touch it.

And of course a good Chanter can literally dismantle a train and send it home, Bard can't do that.

[Bardp1999]

Bards suck even more in Kunark with mez level restrictions.

[Hrothgaar]

Hmm... Ok...

As a last question, do you think the added flexibility / utility a bard brings over an enchanter is worth the sacrifice in the enchanter's ability of negating these "oh shit" moments? Which one would you prefer to have in a dungeon group or xp group?

[Jimjam]

As in what I want another player to play?

Enchanter. The pet means they need to stay focused and in velious they can turn my character into a dog.

Bards on the other hand have the opposite incentive, they can ‘just gotta pop to the shops for fags, will leave heal song running’ and never be seen again.

[Hrothgaar]

Hehe, let's assume for this comparison that attention level is 100% on Enchanter and on Bard and that both classes are played to their full extent :-)

Which one would you prefer in Exp groups (Mostly in Dungeons)?

[Indecisive]

In 99% of all cases, you'd want the enchanter. But... in a case like this (https://youtu.be/LHQP-KW2XCM?t=407), Bard is amazing.

Can't really go wrong with either class, just play whatever you like best.

[kjs86z]

Hehe, let's assume for this comparison that attention level is 100% on Enchanter and on Bard and that both classes are played to their full extent :-)

Which one would you prefer in Exp groups (Mostly in Dungeons)?

enchanter every time