Guild Wars 2

My experience on mesmer is pretty much limited to clicking 80 tomes of knowledge and running around with an HP train. Unfortunately, tomes of knowledge impart very little actual knowledge, and so here I am. I"ve read the standard build guides but i’m still a bit unsure how to gear up.

My goal is to eventually start raiding on my mesmer, but for now I just want to do fractals to get the feel of things. I guess i’m looking for a “training wheels” kind of build. I’m familiar with all raid and fractal content, so the training wheels are for learning chrono, not the content.

So my question is, what gear should I be using? I have lots of unused ascended chests for both weapons and armor, so fortunately cost isn’t an issue. Would you guys rec commanders or minstrels to start off with? If I like chrono I’ll prob get a set of both eventually.

I’m even more confused about runes. I will say there is a 0% chance i"m going to get leadership runes. I’m leaning towards durability runes, but I’m certainly open to suggestions.

Lastly, total noob question. The stress on boon duration for chrono is because when you share out boons its based on the chrono’s boon duration, correct?

Thanks for whatever advice you can give.

While I don’t raid on my Chrono, I do run t4 fractals daily with her. I’d stick with the metabattle/QT builds, especially if you plan on taking your Chrono into raids. The Commander’s leggings and rest zerker build is meta for a reason

Personally though, I went marauders mostly because I run fractals and any of my junk Chrono DPS isn’t going to be missed within the group by bulking up my HP; also it raises my crit chance as well. I play on a potato computer and sometimes I am not able to see the ranged attacks being thrown at me. Then because I am too cheap to make the 20% boon duration utility buff (it’s horridly expensive and I run my fractals to make gold kitten it!), I tossed on more commander’s trinkets to up the boon duration. I rarely end up on the floor and I am able to keep passing on the quickness to the group.

Most important part however is learning the quickness rotation. This and your alacrity buffs is the reason you are being brought. Priority is always getting your rotation down and right. There are a few youtube videos at there, though most are pre the signet nerf. I found this one on reddit to be particularly useful: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/596shf/gnus_guide_to_easy_quickness_in_five_simple_steps/

You don’t have to use Leadership runes but they are by far the most helpful for boon duration. Yes, basically the Chrono stress of adding up to 100% duration is because you are the one passing off the quickness duration. Durability is a good alternative but if you find yourself bored, go find a Dragon Stand meta map and spend an hour and a half getting the ores, it never hurts to work towards them.

Thanks for the reply. I checked my account and between proofs of heroics and the crystaline ore I already have, I could get 5 leadership runes now. So I guess its not too much to ask to do 1 or 2 more to get a full set. If I could I’d really like to slot those into legendary armor so i could swap around, but….

Berserker Chronomancer
This is the build you will aim for eventually:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs+dncfC9fiFoBmfCEgiFVjqOZn2q98JGipjMAGhdC-TBSBQB4RvA/2f4bTQAwJBICKBviyPKp+zEfAAkCAwpWA-e

Heal-O-Mancer / Minstrel Chrono
Ths is an alternative “easy mode” build that will carry you through any content, just a bit slower:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAs+dncfClohFoBmfCMrhFnjCtCChI7MAGgFrOQP0GF-TBiXABBr8Dg9H09BAkiehQPJAxq+DWKBNcCCpA8bqF-e