Guild Wars 2

So, I’ve been looking for a raid chronotank build and found these two:

Commander:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhUQRAse8cnsICFoh9fCmfCUrhlnjCdx+gH7sACgDr+PT0FF-TBSBQBmRJIe0wcP9DUSlgDquzVU+BgTCw/2fgUAjK1C-e

(source): http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Chronomancer_-_Chronotank

Knight:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAse8dnsICtfi9fCmfCUrhlej6cDKhWzMAugMqeUb1XF-ThCBQB4T/wZUCiFlGA4kAAv9HyjGGMqMITq/UGlYB4JAQKAvmaB-e

(source): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcw9eepx5v0

I am not sure which one to choose. The Commander build offers longer boon duration and higher dps, but the toughness is much lower than on the Knight build. Any advice from experienced chronotanks?

Thanks.

As long as your team is good, you only need 1-2 pieces of toughness gear. I usually use an amulet to get the toughness, and I run zerker for every other piece.

Fay.2357:

As long as your team is good, you only need 1-2 pieces of toughness gear. I usually use an amulet to get the toughness, and I run zerker for every other piece.

So would you suggest using the Commando build with berserker’s chest/trinkets over Knight’s, because of the boon duration bonus?

I use zerker with 1-2 pieces of knights. Commander gear is overkill since I run with a revenant.

with runes of the chronomancer ?

Yeah, chrono runes combined with SoI is where a large portion of the shared quickness comes from.

So I’ll try something like this http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhUQRAse8cnsICFoh9fCmfCUrhlnjq+PT0FFdx+gH7sACgDD-TxRBABcpcAgTCAlq/clSu/3fwMlg4p/hUAjK1C-e

Thanks for the advice

For newish chrono tank on VG fight, you probably want a hammer guard providing protection. It helps great deal in terms surviving.

In theory, you have enough defensive measures to negate damage. But when you start, it can be a bit overwhelming. I remember when I first time tank VG, I got hit by his ‘punch’ attack twice and each attack hits for like 5k damage. With protection, it will be only 3k and you can be easily healed.

Ye, I’m a bit worried about that low toughness. Seems like I’ll be ‘squashed’ a lot.

You have to remember that Pyro (Fay) is a very experienced Mesmer and is most likely not being hit much. Take as much survivability as you need however don’t go overboard with it. Learning to dodge and timing your evade/blocks is part of learning. It’s ok to die a few times.

Jaffawer.4932:

Ye, I’m a bit worried about that low toughness. Seems like I’ll be ‘squashed’ a lot.

Er, yeah, you can pile on more toughness if you need more survivability. I do have the advantage of both having done the fights a lot and I raid with a top notch druid, so dying isn’t really something I have to worry about much. I also use restorative illusions in the first raid wing, so that lets me get extra healing. With persistence of memory, proper shatter cadence will allow you to rotate the shield block and blurred frenzy for almost every attack that VG makes.

Gorseval is actually far easier in terms of incoming damage. He doesn’t hurt all that much, and his attacks come slower and are well telegraphed. VG is definitely the hardest to stay alive on.

well… now I’m even more worried about trying the tank role The bigges issue is that I don’t have any stable raid group, and everyone expect you to be exp and best, with X amount of Li.

Jaffawer.4932:

well… now I’m even more worried about trying the tank role The bigges issue is that I don’t have any stable raid group, and everyone expect you to be exp and best, with X amount of Li.

So I highly recommend finding a steady group to raid with. There’s always groups recruiting, and almost everyone wants a chronotank. Pugging raids can be a really bad experience between toxic people and unskilled players which means failing, then people leave, then you find more, then fail, then people leave…you get the picture.

Insofar as tanking VG goes, staying alive is important, but ultimately not too tricky. The most difficult part of that fight to learn is the proper way to rotate VG around the arena without letting green circles spawn behind you. This means moving it early on some segments to take into account an upcoming breakbar, and essentially playing as flawlessly as possible. As tank on VG, your performance is more important than anyone else on your group (not to scare you), so it’s pretty nice to have a more permanent group that doesn’t ragequit the first time you don’t do the rotation flawlessly.

I may try running some dungeons first to practice the skill rotations and blocking/evading boss attacks. I need to prepare my gear anyway.

Hey,

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAse8encfCtfiFoBmfCUrhlnjq+PL0FFdx+gH7sACgDD-TBSBABUquioqUAwBB4/9H6S5HaKB/+BAgn+BSBA4UL-e
(There are no Superior Sigils of Concentration in the editor, so I used platinum doubloons (symbolic) instead, use the Sigil instead ofc)

• Recall when solo Chrono
• offhand focus for Gorse
• for VG you don’t “need” any 2nd offhand, makes it easier to proc concentration and block

Greez!
- Madame Le Blanc

Xyonon.3987:

Little hints:

Tank, Shield, Avenger, Danger Time.

Now pick a proper gear stat combination

Definitely not a fan of danger time. I’m sitting at 85%-90% crit in my raid with full buffs, so danger time is way overkill.

Fay.2357:

Xyonon.3987:

Little hints:

Tank, Shield, Avenger, Danger Time.

Now pick a proper gear stat combination

Definitely not a fan of danger time. I’m sitting at 85%-90% crit in my raid with full buffs, so danger time is way overkill.

I edited my post right away :P but i was too slow it seems … :<
With the build link it will make more sense I guess

well… the usual dilemma between lower crit chance with higher crit dmg vs. higher crit chance with lower crit dmg
It won’t make much of a difference anyway… and since I’m more used to zerker, I ithink I’ll stick to it. Finding the right balance between toughness and dmg will be the hardest part.
Btw, do you think it’s possible to run raid tank with exotic armor + ascended accessories? Dunno how long it will take me to craft a new set of ascended armor.

Ascended armor is totally overrated and has almost no impact on your gamestyle unless you need the agony infusion slots for fractals. Exotic armor is fine for EVERY profession.

You don’t have lower crit chance with this build, you have +30% against slowed targets -> 3x iavenger, and invest the precision overkill into toughness. That’s all what is happening. A tiny bit of power loss too, but you will not notice that ever, especially as Chrono…

Danger Time is a very underrated trait wich opens a way to use different gear. You can also go full zerk with it for more dps. If you have problems to have 100% alacrity uptime with 3 iavengers, then you might not want to play Chrono at all :P Can’t imagine a better tank option.

greez!

Commanders is superior in my opinion due to boon duration. when you learn to use your active blocks and invulns, toughness becomes somewhat of a non issue so you really don’t need knights.

“Need” is the wrong word. It’s just free toughtness you can go for with a Danger Time & Cavalier combo.

You can’t block every attack or every aura tic. If you have that free toughness the druid doesn’t have to heal (you) that much, so he can focus on buffs or even damage (condi).

Commanders is fine if you are a solo Chrono and tank. But in all other scenarios, rather not. You don’t “need” the additional boon duration either. Heck you don’t even really “need” the Revs boon duration, but SoI luck never will hit 10 different ppl all the time.

But in theory you can share 100% quickness to 10 ppl with full zerk and without rev. In practice tough, somewhat between 5-10. You don’t “need” other buffs or toughness or boon duration – but it helps to achieve the optimum.

I disagree, without a revenant. I sit on about 50% boon duration, still not enough and that’s with commanders. I’m unsure how you’d get 100% without a revenant. and without commanders that will be even less, probably take you down to like 30%

As a chrono you DO need boon duration since your primary role is providing boons. Literally there is no other reason to take a chrono.

You can block a good 80% of Vale’s attacks if you time things right, and when you shatter you also heal, mesmer tanking is so much more about active defenses than stacking on defensive stats.

The one to Rule.2593:

I disagree, without a revenant. I sit on about 50% boon duration, still not enough and that’s with commanders. I’m unsure how you’d get 100% without a revenant. and without commanders that will be even less, probably take you down to like 30%

As a chrono you DO need boon duration since your primary role is providing boons. Literally there is no other reason to take a chrono.

You can block a good 80% of Vale’s attacks if you time things right, and when you shatter you also heal, mesmer tanking is so much more about active defenses than stacking on defensive stats.

If you need more than the 50% provided by a revenant, you’re doing your rotations wrong.

Fay.2357:

The one to Rule.2593:

I disagree, without a revenant. I sit on about 50% boon duration, still not enough and that’s with commanders. I’m unsure how you’d get 100% without a revenant. and without commanders that will be even less, probably take you down to like 30%

As a chrono you DO need boon duration since your primary role is providing boons. Literally there is no other reason to take a chrono.

You can block a good 80% of Vale’s attacks if you time things right, and when you shatter you also heal, mesmer tanking is so much more about active defenses than stacking on defensive stats.

If you need more than the 50% provided by a revenant, you’re doing your rotations wrong.

You need at least 50% so you can get 100% uptime so if you go no boon duration at all it most certainly doesn’t mean you’re doing a rotation wrong. you don’t have enough boon duration, and sure pulling off proper rotation is important, but i find it hard to beleive you can upkeep 100% duration just by rotation alone.

Heya,

Fay said “if you need more than the 50% provided by a revenant”.
The one to Rule said “you need at least 50% so you can get 100% uptime”.

Those are two completly different things. I agree that you need 50% boon duration, even a bit more to make it smooth. But this does not require you to have a Revenant, not does it require you to have crappy commander gear.

If you have 20% boon dura food and 33% from Superior Sigil of Concentration, you’ll be fine. If you want to be on the safe side, simply use 10% boon duration utility.

With 63% boon duration, you’ll have more than enough quickness uptime wich (in theory -> SoI randomness stuff) could grant permaquickness for 10 ppl.

If you are a solo Chrono, you will most likely have a Rev in your sub-party anyway, if you duo Chrono, you just have to provide quickness and alacrity to 5 allies, wich i find more reliable and successful (also increases alacrity uptime to 100%).

Here some rota vids I’ve made:

Rotation (Solo with Revenant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPVOhi_cw0
Rotation (Duo without Revenant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGl-bV2RjA

(read descriptions)

Greez!
- Xyo

Yey, thanks for the video, it’s good to see it in action. And with Jazz!

Yea don’t have a good video edit programm so I used some free-to-add youtube music :P still better than total silence and some of them are surprisingly good

If you feel something can be done better, please let me know, I’ll test it out and redo it if it’s better!

greez!

Jaffawer.4932:

well… now I’m even more worried about trying the tank role The bigges issue is that I don’t have any stable raid group, and everyone expect you to be exp and best, with X amount of Li.

Trying out tanking with a PuG is virtually the last thing you should be doing. PuGs demand experience and competence and show no leniency where a stable group might actually show you patience and guidance.

Besides, a large part of your performance is tied with your chemistry with the group. You’ll struggle when you get a healer or DPS that each time do something and expect something different, unlike a proper static group who know how you play and likewise you know what they are doing.

Xyonon.3987:

Heya,

---

Fay said “if you need more than the 50% provided by a revenant”.
The one to Rule said “you need at least 50% so you can get 100% uptime”.

Those are two completly different things. I agree that you need 50% boon duration, even a bit more to make it smooth. But this does not require you to have a Revenant, not does it require you to have crappy commander gear.

---

If you have 20% boon dura food and 33% from Superior Sigil of Concentration, you’ll be fine. If you want to be on the safe side, simply use 10% boon duration utility.

With 63% boon duration, you’ll have more than enough quickness uptime wich (in theory -> SoI randomness stuff) could grant permaquickness for 10 ppl.

If you are a solo Chrono, you will most likely have a Rev in your sub-party anyway, if you duo Chrono, you just have to provide quickness and alacrity to 5 allies, wich i find more reliable and successful (also increases alacrity uptime to 100%).

---

Here some rota vids I’ve made:

Rotation (Solo with Revenant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPVOhi_cw0
Rotation (Duo without Revenant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGl-bV2RjA

(read descriptions)

---

Greez!
- Xyo

Yep, this info is accurate. Just wanted to clarify that the post I quoted explicitly stated that he was sitting at 50% and it wasn’t enough to keep quickness up permanently, and he needed a revenant to push it the rest of the way…hence my comment about doing it horribly wrong.

Jaffawer.4932:

So, I’ve been looking for a raid chronotank build and found these two:

Commander:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhUQRAse8cnsICFoh9fCmfCUrhlnjCdx+gH7sACgDr+PT0FF-TBSBQBmRJIe0wcP9DUSlgDquzVU+BgTCw/2fgUAjK1C-e

(source): http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Chronomancer_-_Chronotank

---

Knight:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQRAse8dnsICtfi9fCmfCUrhlej6cDKhWzMAugMqeUb1XF-ThCBQB4T/wZUCiFlGA4kAAv9HyjGGMqMITq/UGlYB4JAQKAvmaB-e

(source): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcw9eepx5v0

I am not sure which one to choose. The Commander build offers longer boon duration and higher dps, but the toughness is much lower than on the Knight build. Any advice from experienced chronotanks?

Thanks.

Personally as someone looking into building a chronotank as well, I’m going to use full assasins/zerkers with knight trinkets. As I get more efficient with chronotank I will be removing more knight trinkets. For one simple reason, the knight variant can be used effectively for other content as well.

Xyonon.3987:

Heya,

---

Fay said “if you need more than the 50% provided by a revenant”.
The one to Rule said “you need at least 50% so you can get 100% uptime”.

Those are two completly different things. I agree that you need 50% boon duration, even a bit more to make it smooth. But this does not require you to have a Revenant, not does it require you to have crappy commander gear.

---

If you have 20% boon dura food and 33% from Superior Sigil of Concentration, you’ll be fine. If you want to be on the safe side, simply use 10% boon duration utility.

With 63% boon duration, you’ll have more than enough quickness uptime wich (in theory -> SoI randomness stuff) could grant permaquickness for 10 ppl.

If you are a solo Chrono, you will most likely have a Rev in your sub-party anyway, if you duo Chrono, you just have to provide quickness and alacrity to 5 allies, wich i find more reliable and successful (also increases alacrity uptime to 100%).

---

Here some rota vids I’ve made:

Rotation (Solo with Revenant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqPVOhi_cw0
Rotation (Duo without Revenant): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZGl-bV2RjA

(read descriptions)

---

Greez!
- Xyo

THanks for the video!