New Flavor of the Month, Smiting Enchantments

It's fun to observe what people are doing in the Tombs or GvG and discuss the counter strategies. Perhaps I was too quick to dub Ward Against Foes the "Flavor of the Month" as this was just the skill of choice for pick-up Gank builds during PvP Extreme Weekend.

LTWarhound was correct to point out in the Ward of Foes thread that Smiting Enchantments are the Flavor of the Month. With Nature's Renewal no longer removing enchantments Smiters are running wild.

Also, without Nature's Renewal that leaves Necros and Mesmers as the only professions with enchantment removal skills.

The typical build is 2 El/Mo's, 2 Warriors, 1 Ranger (often with Frozen Soil), and 3 monks. The Elementalist/Monks cast Balthazar's Aura on the Warriors and then begin spiking. The Warriors charge to the target, with Balthazar's Aura doing 22 dmg/second to all nearby foes which is a bit more than 10 arrows of degen! Add in Warrior attacks and perhaps Zealots Fire and you have some serious damage.

The main counters would be to remove the smiting enchantment(s) or to stay away from the Warriors by slowing them. Iron Mist with 90% slow comes to mind.

Here are the options for Enchantment Removal:

Mesmer
Shatter Enchantment (Spell) Remove an Enchantment from target foe. If an Enchantment is removed, that foe takes 14..83 damage. 15 energy / 1 sec. cast / 25 sec recharge.

Drain Enchantment (Spell) Remove an Enchantment from target foe. If an Enchantment is removed, you gain 10..20 Energy. 10 energy / 1 sec. cast / 25 sec. recharge

Inspired Enchantment (Spell) Remove an Enchantment from target foe and gain 3..13 Energy. For 20 seconds, Inspired Enchantment is replaced with the Enchantment removed from target foe. 10 energy / 1 sec. cast / 20 second recharge (when replacement ends)

Necro
Chilblains (Spell) You become Poisoned for 3..13 seconds. Nearby foes are struck for 10..37 cold damage and lose one Enchantment. 25 energy / 0.75 sec. cast / 15 sec. recharge

Desecrate Enchantments (Spell) Target foe and all nearby foes take 6..49 shadow damage and 4..17 shadow damage for each Enchantment on them. 15 energy /2 sec. cast /15 sec. recharge

Lingering Curse ELITE (Hex Spell) Sacrifice 10% max Health. Target foe loses all Enchantments. For 8..18 seconds, target foe gains only half Health from healing spells. 25 energy / 3 sec. cast /10 sec recharge

Rend Enchantments (Spell) Target foe loses 2..8 Enchantments. For each Monk Enchantment removed, you take 40 damage. 10 energy / 3 sec. cast / 30 sec.

Well of the Profane (Spell) Exploit target corpse to create a Well of the Profane at it's location. For 8..18 seconds, enemies in that area are stripped of all Enchantments and cannot be the target of further Enchantments. (50% failure chance with Death Magic at 4 or less.) 25 energy / 3 sec. cast /10 sec recharge

Strip Enchantment (Spell) Target foe loses one Enchantment, and you gain 30..102 Health. 10 energy / 1 sec. cast / 20 sec. recharge

Rend Enchantments, Lingering Curse and Well of Profane look like good options because they are the only skills that strip more than one enchantment. Most Warriors will have more than one enchantment on them because so many skills are enchantments (like Reversal of Fortune or Healing Breeze). However, Rend Enchantments could cost you 40 x 8 = 320 health in a worst case scenario.

Drain Enchantment and Strip Enchantment also look like good options because they could be used for restoring health & energy.

Desecrate Enchantments is nice because it turns the tables on the Smiter dealing more damage for more enchantments. This could really hurt someone trying to stack enchantments to prevent removal.

I am curious to know what strategies others are using to counter smiting enchantments. http://www.theamazonbasin.com/gw/forums/index.php?showtopic=3264