Guild Wars 2

In the past couple of months I have been running many build variations which use Chaotic Interruption. I just love the trait and the lockdown concept. They all provided a lot of fun but all of them felt short at something.

However, since I am a lonely wolf and realize the strength of a PU based build and all the goods it does when roaming (but don’t want to run PU), I have tried to incorporate CI in what a power PU build would look like (namely a 20/20/30 Osicat PU power build, for example).

But of course CI and PU cannot co-exist.

So, by swapping the two grandmaster traits and making little adjustments, this is what it looks like:

Dom 20: II, IX
Duel 20: IV, X
Chaos 30 : V, VIII, XI

Weapons : GS, S+T (battle+battle+Perception)

Utilities : Ether, Mantra of Resolve, Mantra of Distraction, Blink, MI

Gear: A mix of Berserker, Knight, Cav. + Travelers

Food: +20% boon duration or +40% cond duration or +power or crit depending on personal taste

This is essentially what I was running, with the exception of pistol (or sword) instead of torch and shattered concentration instead of torch trait. Less burst but better at disengaging and cleansing.

I would like to accomplish a decent lockdown play style and gaining a bit more survivability which torch gives. The other trade off I was thinking of is to keep my previous weapons setup and have decoy replacing one of the three utilities but 1) MoR or any other cleansing utility is needed 2) if I want a lockdown style I see MoD to be mandatory 3) will it help survival if I swap blink for decoy?

How do you see it?

For an interrupt build, sacrificing the extra interrupt hurts too much. Find the extra survivability in other ways.

My interrupt build is sw/p, GS 10(II)/20(II,X)/30(V,VIII,XI)/10(IV)/0. It is pretty much the same as yours, but with mender’s purity you can forget about the torch and pick up decoy instead of MoR (I run decoy, MoD, blink).

Just keep in mind that with interrupt builds, you want to be aggressive. Interrupting key abilities (like a heal) only buys you 5 seconds before they try them again. In those precious seconds, you need to apply as much pressure as possible. The goal is to get the person down before you run out of interrupts, at which point the build suffers.

The other option is to run generosity sigils and then drop Mender’s Purity in favor of Shattered Concentration or Empowered Illusions. That also gets you the Domination master minor trait, which is nice for interrupt builds. I plan to experiment with this after the sigil cd patch.

I have tried to make the torch work in a lock-down type build using chaotic interruption to no avail. The reason being is simply that there are no interrupt proc’ing traits available on the weapon set containing the torch. This renders your expensive CI trait useless when using that set. Just not worth it IMO to only have MoD and whatever else on your second set.

For more ideas on a power 20/20/30/0/0 setup using CI, check out the WvW build in stickerhappy’s Phantasmic Interruptions thread.

Regarding blink vs. decoy, it depends mostly on if I need more mobility in the build, though in general I never run without blink. Decoy at times can be the better disengaging tool due to the stealth, but overall I’d say it’s a toss up.

cyyrix.6105:

For an interrupt build, sacrificing the extra interrupt hurts too much. Find the extra survivability in other ways.

My interrupt build is sw/p, GS 10(II)/20(II,X)/30(V,VIII,XI)/10(IV)/0. It is pretty much the same as yours, but with mender’s purity you can forget about the torch and pick up decoy instead of MoR (I run decoy, MoD, blink).

Just keep in mind that with interrupt builds, you want to be aggressive. Interrupting key abilities (like a heal) only buys you 5 seconds before they try them again. In those precious seconds, you need to apply as much pressure as possible. The goal is to get the person down before you run out of interrupts, at which point the build suffers.

The other option is to run generosity sigils and then drop Mender’s Purity in favor of Shattered Concentration or Empowered Illusions. That also gets you the Domination master minor trait, which is nice for interrupt builds. I plan to experiment with this after the sigil cd patch.

A necro that will succesfully land a fear on you (followed by 3-4 other conditions) will laugh at mender’s purity, disenchanter (if not casted yet) and AT since all your skills will not be useful for few secs. and your health will be drained to death.
The beauty of MoR is that it will let you cleans anything at any time you wish, ever, as long as it’s charged.

What I wanted to accompish by using torch is having a break, especially when 1vsXYZ, sort of what you do when using PU… same type of fight style which is not possible without abusing on stealth (MI and blink is often not enough)

As Osicat says in a different post “you should ask yourself if the build you are running will let you win or escape a fight if 1-2 thieves are pounding on you hard, a necro and a guardian joins in… and so on”. If you are a roamer all this matter and your build of choice should help you accomplish that.

I do not know if the trade off from pistol/torch will buy me more time and help winning/escaping when facing multiple opponents but using only aggressive style (and 0 ways to mitigate the pressure) will only work in 1v1 or uplevel enemies. It is proven by the hundreds of videos from well known players where all of them have mutliple ways for stealthing. As I said MI and blink are often not enough.

I haven’t tested it yet and I could be completely wrong but in a way I was expecting an answer like yours

skcamow.3527:

check out the WvW build in stickerhappy’s Phantasmic Interruptions thread.

I will

Done. That’s actually what I was using myself except Mental torment and gear choice slightly different. But I bet the playstyle is the same. It could be a L2P issue from my side, but this build doesn’t asnwer positively to Osicat question…

trooper.2650:

What I wanted to accompish by using torch is having a break, especially when 1vsXYZ, sort of what you do when using PU… same type of fight style which is not possible without abusing on stealth (MI and blink is often not enough)

It sounds like you really want to run torch, so you should give it a shot. If it matches your playstyle, then go for it. For me, while torch makes it easier to escape, it makes it much harder to get over the dps hump of a 1v3 or 1v4.

trooper.2650:

skcamow.3527:

check out the WvW build in stickerhappy’s Phantasmic Interruptions thread.

I will

Done. That’s actually what I was using myself except Mental torment and gear choice slightly different. But I bet the playstyle is the same. It could be a L2P issue from my side, but this build doesn’t asnwer positively to Osicat question…

Well if you’re building a roaming build that must meet those requirements you’re going to need a moderate amount of stealth, which usually means torch for sure and almost always means PU.

Keep in mind that there is absolutely no doubt playing a PU based build is the best way to roam as a mesmer. That said, you can certainly roam with other, non-PU based builds, but just expect you’re not going to have as much survivability or disengage ability.

Just want to help manage expectations.

I personally do not play PU, fully understanding that I would survive longer and get more kills if I did. I like playing non-PU builds to test myself and the strength of other builds that may get looked over in a dominant PU meta.

If you’re looking for the best non-PU build that meets the requirements stated by Osicat, keep experimenting. Who knows, you might have success with the torch/CI idea. I’m personally working on a couple non-PU builds that are as strong as most I’ve seen for survivability, but it tends to be a constant state of experimentation.

Needless to say that I spent the night to try the torch (with hydromancy sigil) in a lockdown build.
As expected it doesn’t have any way for interrupting (only MoD if really needed) but on the other hand it is really usefull for recharging your mantras and since I am running with two, you can imagine how handy it can be.

Overall it boosts survivability a great deal and I am 100% positive that the trade off is worth it. The dps loss is little compared to what torch can give in terms of survival and flexibility. For example MoR and traited torch guarantee that conditions will not be an issue anymore (thinking of swapping MoR for disenchanter at some point for boon removal too).

I did most of my testing in pvp and just a little in wvw, but I was able to handle various 1vsX where I either did not die while holding 3 ppl or managed to kill few 1v2. I remember well a fight with 2 necros+1 warrior. I couldn’t cap the point but I held them there enough to feel just god. Bad players? Probably, but 1v3 is never easy.

The interesting change was that I initially tried swapping CI and FI for fun in a 20/30/20/0/0 and I think that while CI helps nailing ppl down (and freaking them out too), FI not only is a dps increase but a general help by letting you cast phantasms and defensive spells alike faster, which is a godsend when you need to recharge mantras or just burst someone down.

I will defenitely keep using it for a while for I see potentialities within. I need to fully test it in wvw too but I will need some gear balance first. I wouldn’t mind submitting it to the FOTM contest (FI builds are so rare) but I foresee a lot of skepticism.

Final build (for now):
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQNAR8flwzCpnRTmGb9IiJFBnvRShp9alewbXItB-TsAg0CnIYSxkjJDTSmsMNEZJyGEA

Edit: do the choosen sigils conflict with internal cd? I know it will be removed with next patch but what about now?

Interesting change in furious interruption. Even though your interrupt sources aren’t many, I could still see it working decent due to the 15s ICD on the trait. It makes MoD that much more valuable. Even though it’s just a single target interrupt, it can get you quickness which applies to all your actions. Furious interruption is also all the more valuable due to your use of 2 mantras.

Also, the on-swap sigils you have on sw/t will conflict with each other.

skcamow.3527:

Interesting change in furious interruption. Even though your interrupt sources aren’t many, I could still see it working decent due to the 15s ICD on the trait. It makes MoD that much more valuable. Even though it’s just a single target interrupt, it can get you quickness which applies to all your actions. Furious interruption is also all the more valuable due to your use of 2 mantras.

Also, the on-swap sigils you have on sw/t will conflict with each other.

Thank you skcamow. I will change sigil on torch. I am debated between +power on kill or +crit on kill. What’d you say?

My interrupt sources are GS wave (aoe) and 2xMoD (single target). As you pointed, I’d say they are ok because of the FI internal cd. When I was running the build I didn’t really feel the need for another one because, while in stealth from torch, I was busy recharging mantras, healing or bursting with blurred frenzy.