Guild Wars 2

Hey All,

As of late, we have had a lack of builds being thrown around the forums. I know some say that we’ve tested them all, but even so, I would like to think that we can keep discussion going and improving!

As such, I would like to share a build that I haven’t seen around. It’s served me well for the past couple months in both PvP and WvW. I’ll also mention I am not low tier nor high tier in PvP (seem to be in the same ranked PvP as CountLess, Blu & a few others), so no excuses of ’you’re a great player and could make anything work’ or ’you’re just in trash tier, so anything could work’.

This has been called “Warden’s Mindgames” after the reflect, interrupt, pull and boonstrip shenanigans that make this build fun and entertaining. I hope you all enjoy it

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsdRl0npBtlpxRNcrNipxcyqWikB0QpLZ8FA-TpBFwACOCANeAA12fYxJAoaZAAHCAA

Weaponset: gs+sw/f
The focus is by far my favorite weapon, and can excel once you practice it! It is by no means an easy weapon to pick up, but has some of the most versatile utility (and highest dmg phant if you can land it) for our offhands. GS sigils are air+fire to increase burst while sw/f uses leeching+energy to help sustain/setup burst.

Traits — 4/6/0/4/0
--
Domination
-Halting Strike: Amazing trait to have, it adds versatility to the build’s damage and you have enough interrupts to make this worth it. Some may prefer empowered illusions or mental torment, but I find it indispensable.

-Shattered Concentration: Boon strip is one of our best mechanics and is very useful. (esp. against pesky cele builds). This trait is necessary for the build to remove stab for us to pull, stun, launch, and daze our enemies.
—
Dueling
-Phantasmal Fury: Extra crit on iWarden (and some benefit to iZerk). You can take Blade Training (IV) instead if preferred, but Phant Fury will give more damage once you get used to setting up iWarden.

-Deceptive Evasion: This isn’t a phantasm build, it needs shatter fodder.

-Harmonious Mantras: This trait is the reason we can survive condi builds. MoR with 3 charges now outheals Ether Feast, and removes a total of 6 condis with Mender’s Purity (spaced when you want it). Out of charges? Lay down a reflect/blurred frenzy/stun, hold out for a few seconds, decoy, then recharge! Traited MoR is pretty kitten nice.
—
Inspiration
-Mender’s Purity: See above. With MoR, amazing investment of 2 points.

-Warden’s Feedback: Amazing trait imho, one of my favorites since traited Temporal Curtain can neuter a weapon set or key skills from most classes (lich form, whirling wrath, rapid fire, etc) if you stand ON the field or place it directly on your target’s feet. Even if it isn’t reflecting, it typically baits out a dodge or two. This can be used to create a ‘safe’ zone from your enemy — projectiles will be reflected, and melee gap closers can be easily interrupted via pull (which doesn’t interrupt channeling)
--
Utilities
-Signet of Domination: This is personal preference. Alternatives include MoD, feedback, and portal. I prefer the 3s stun of the signet, since we have no CI, the stun is an additional setup for GS burst, guaranteed iWarden hits, or making time to charge MoR.

-Blink: Amazing utility, you aren’t a bunker or using blurred inscriptions. Don’t leave home without it.

-Decoy: Stunbreak that makes time to use MoR? Yessir! Don’t be afraid to burn a decoy to setup for Curtain>iWarden or GS burst either — all around a useful utility for this build.

Thanks for reading!

I’ve not run focus in a while but since I like it, I’ll give your build a try.

I’m not liking the Harmonious Mantras just for the sake of the condi clear on *cough*mantra heal*cough*. Seeing as I don’t run any condi clear right now, I’m not sure why I’d want to give up 2 points for a GM for a heal that’s weak as is.

Anyway I’ll play around with it and see how it goes.

Thanks Ross!

Maybe try MoD instead of signet of dom to get more use out of Harmonious Mantras if the trait seems less useful to you? That or switch into ether feast, and run another trait (blade training?)

I’ve used no condi clear in past builds, and the main issue I’ve had with it is immob (ex. Ranger’s Entangle). The heal mantra lets you quickly cleanse it & other nuisance condis without blowing a big CD.

As for it being weak, having 3 uses of a 2700 heal makes for 8100 hp total while a 3 illusion ether feast nets you 7740, add in the on command cleanse and short CD and its actually pretty respectable! Only downside is the cast time, which can be covered for easily with all of the reflects/invis/invuln. (ofc this only happens due to MoR being traited so heavily – take away the traits and Ether Feast is the obv choice again).

I apologize for highjacking the 3D. Although a little different, I would like to use your post and share my take at “focus traited” build. Here it is:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAR8dlknpGtlpxRNcrNipxcyqWi0BkwBlskxB-TZBEABGcBAyZ/BsLDAwRAggHCAA

I think in terms of damage, this build is second only to pure shatter and similar to asskicker build from Ross.
The focus and GS are both traited, which for my playstyle is vital. The benefit of having fast recharge on iWave and curtain is essential, especially becuase of MoD and halting strike make this build similar to a lockdown build. The reflect is just the icing on the cake, for more denial.

You’ll notice no GM trait. However, it is quite peculiar how this build is the one I have been playing the most. I usually change build every 2 weeks (lol). But I think I found my sweet spot for it gives me what I need.

Survival is above average. The traited curtain helped me so much so many times. It is a great tool and along side blink and decoy it helps you to survive longer (or to kill quicker)

Only downside I found is the curtain itself which isn’t always reliable, even on flat terrain: depending on angles, projectiles may pass through. Luckly it works most of the times.

@trooper
No problem! The idea is for more builds like this to come out for ppl to test.

Looking at your build it seems like a combo between this build and Ross’ Asskicker. As for the damage, I’d argue that we can do more than a pure shatter if iWarden lands. This is of course a pretty big ‘if’ with stunbreaks, so while the usual burst will fall below shatter, we can survive longer to set up more bursts (and more consistent halting dmg).

If you haven’t tested and rejected it, I’d recommend using Shattered Concentration over Empowered Illusions. The extra 15% dmg adds up to around 450 dmg if every warden attack hits (roughly 900-1000 if every one crits). Comparatively, removing one stack of regen, protection or stability from an enemy effectively does more damage because they can’t mitigate the damage you are already doing. If you didn’t use deceptive evasion (like Ross’ build) then the extra illusion damage becomes more valuable again.

Hey Flufferz, you are right, it’s a mix. The asskicker was the blueprint. What I wanted to retain from that build was short weapons cd, MoD, hard hitting phantasms and the amulet/sigils.

I changed weapons for my comfort and picking focus leaded me to 4 in Inspiration.

I could run the build without DE, no problem, but chosing either longer blink (which I absolutely love in wvw) or blade training with only one sword seemed sub-par vs DE or even phant fury, very important for this build.
I very seldom manage to get three phants out anyway, so clones never overwrite them.

Shattered concentration is something I would pick if I wasn’t pumping phantasms damage. Having strong iBerserker and iWarden out, you do not want to shatter too often. In fact I shatter only when opening with mirror blade+mind spike combo, or for extra interrupt by F3 or for safe stomping by F4 (or when doing curtain pull into warden spin+blurred frenzy+mind wrack).

In the end the build from Ross worked well even without Shattered concentration. If I see stab I try to remove it with mind spike else I just wait for it to fade. Not a big deal so far.
I agree it would be nice to remove regen, protection and big stacks of might at will, but with this build I favour Halting strike for the many interrupts I have, Empowered illusions for phants are a good chunck of my damage and GS training for a smooth flow when switching weapon-sets.

Do you have any videos showcasing your build?
I will try to upload what I got so far, when I have a chance.