Guild Wars 2

I just wanted to share a pretty hilarious mesmer bunker build based on spreading aoe retaliation twice, among other bunkerish things.

The main trait build is basically :
0
0
20 (3% Reduced Dmg per Illusion) + (20% Staff Recharge)
20 (20% Phant Hp) + (Vigor on Shatter)
20 (Retaliation on CoF) + (Confuse on Blind)

The last ten points I just threw into Chaos (Tough/Boon) for the stats + boon on interupt (for Chaos Storm/Temporal Curtain) but it’s a very flexible set up.

The build mainly just sits in staff, the secondary weapon set doesn’t matter too much, in this case I just took Sceptre/Focus, Greatsword is good when you’re might stacking if you take the “Additional Bounce” trait since that will give you 9 stacks of might per cast, and might stacking is fantastic for boosting your dmg in a low dmg tank spec.

The main Utility for the double aoe retaliation gimmick is Signet of Inspiration to spread all the boons you will stack up, tanking hits to gain massive durations of Regen/Protection/Swiftness, any Might/Fury you stack from Staff, Might you stack from Greatsword (or might on shatter in the last tree), as well as the retaliation and vigor from shatters.

The second important utility would be iDefender, the Phantasmal Retaliation trait sets you up for aoe Retaliation coverage (aka double tics of retal per hit), as you will be spreading the Retaliation you gain, as well as your iDefender soaking hits thus also spreading retaliation in a sense. The best part is, you get to see all the little numbers from your iDefender (the other half being invisible).

The third Utility I just happened to choose iDisenchanter since it is fantastic for being close to immune to conditions for a bunker playstyle, and just great support in aoe fights, stripping 2 boons/2 conditions every 5 (4 with trait) seconds on multiple people is sex.

I took Tough/Cond/Heal (Shaman) Amulet since with the high toughness, and all the dmg reduction you gain from perma protection, iDefender, 9% reduction trait, the perma Regen you gain from Chaos Armor will go a long way, on top of your heavy main Heal. The condition dmg is mainly for your secondary way of dealing dmg with the build which is just Staff Auto’s and the massive amounts of Confusion you can stack with Chaos Armor (Confuse on Blind trait gives you a 66% chance to confuse).

The runes were 2 Water/2 Monk/2 (Might/Regen/Prot Duration), Sigils don’t matter, I just took either Healing or Condition on kill.

The basic combo is to start with your secondary weapon set, pop a phantasm, switch to Staff, pop iWarlock/Clone and immediately Cry of Frustration for Confuse/Retaliation/Vigor (about 20 seconds worth with 3 illusions on 24 second cooldown) then iDefender and pop Signet, then iDisenchanter, and pop another Staff Clone and then just go from there. That’s the combo I would do just starting a decent sized fight, otherwise you can save signet for when you’ve stacked up a bunch of boons, giving your iDefender a giant heaping of extra Retaliation and Prot/Regen to increase it’s longevity is amazing.

Another thing to consider is a more selfish bunker build using the Phantasm HP Signet just to have bigger life batteries (iDefender) and longer lasting iDisenchanters.

Well that’s the gist of it, abusing the power of Retaliation in the ultimate way. As well as the broken interaction of boons/confusion on Chaos Armor. Oh and don’t forget to rotate your Chaos Armors with Leap/Storm in case you don’t know about that already. x.x

I like it. I have to try something like this.

This looks hilarious. Will try it out.

Tried. Not enough healing to bunker properly. Most people run when low and not enough dps to finish.

Can turn a group fight tho. So more of a group build.

Wolfield.9812:

Tried. Not enough healing to bunker properly. Most people run when low and not enough dps to finish.

Can turn a group fight tho. So more of a group build.

I can bunker against 3-4 people for a decent amount of time. You shouldn’t have any problem lasting in a 1v1. And it’s not meant to chase and kill people. It’s just a super tanky boon spreader.

This is awesome. Every time I think I have mastered the class, I come across something sweet like this. I was onto something sort of like this yesterday, but I was using power/toughness, with Sword/focus, Scepter/Sword. I took retaliation on block and iDefender, but it didn’t really work out. I love staff and condition builds, so this is perfect.

The double bounce trait is probably my favorite trait ever, since it basically doubles the Staff’s damage potential. Using sigils of corruption, you can still get to great levels of condition damage while having the absolute maximum defense possible.

I will probably take Warden’s Feedback, just for lower cooldown on Temporal curtain and the awesome reflecting capabilities, which can totally troll people. A combo something like (starting from staff):

1) iWarlock
2) clone (Phase Retreat)
3)swap weapon,
4) either scepter #2 for block+clone or auto attack til clone pops
5) Cry of Frustration
6) iWarden (which will run around and cause a lot of trouble)
7) iDefender
9) iDesenchanter

Then you could swap back to staff and have 3 phantasms running around with retaliation. I would probably take the illusion health signet for sPvP and the boon sharing one for tPvP

Protection, iDefender, 3k+ toughness, auto condition removal from iDisenchanter…..so cool. That is about as close to being invincible as you can get

Thanks for the awesome idea!

Would throwing those last 10 trait points into Inspiration for Shattered Conditions allow you to bunker more effectively? Or do you find the iDisenchanter handles condition damage well enough?

Abarcine.7189:

Would throwing those last 10 trait points into Inspiration for Shattered Conditions allow you to bunker more effectively? Or do you find the iDisenchanter handles condition damage well enough?

You could, the thing is you want your iDefender to have as much uptime as possible. If you try using signet to boost it’s health I’d suggest just keep iDisenchanter out. AFAIK that trait is only 1 condition removal per shatter, unless its 1 per clone, I haven’t actually tested that out really.

If you focus on Phantasms instead of the boon spread gimmick with Phant HP signet and Phantasmal Haste the Disenchanter is godly, 2 conditions removed every 4 seconds and you can pretty much keep him up 100% with only a 16 second cooldown.

Westibone.3985:

The double bounce trait is probably my favorite trait ever, since it basically doubles the Staff’s damage potential.

That trait is amazing for Greatsword, if you go for this build and want to take the bounce trait take Greatsword, that’s 9 stacks of might per cast with a 10s base duration (18 seconds with the runes/traits). It’s fantastic to doing good dmg as a tank build and you can spread it.

The only thing that sucks is that clones/phantasms don’t benefit from the trait which is a tragic.

Also you should see with this build does to necro’s that Life Transfer. 9 tics of dmg on 5 targets = 45 tics of dmg x2 = 90 tics of retaliation alone x 210 (average retaliation dmg) = Well, they usually don’t last the whole channel lol.

And Chaos Armor/Double Retal is just disgusting against shortbow rangers.

This looks fun. I wonder if I can make it work in WvW. Retaliation seems to be very strong there.

I haven’t tested, but would taking Superior Rune of Lyssa (6) and popping elite stack on the others to spread just for lulz?

It seemed to be one per clone when I ran it in a dungeon but I’ll need someone to confirm.

Edit: Although if you’re not having trouble with condition damage than the other 10 in chaos or even illusions maybe better. It seems like a fantastic build though.

Confessor.8957:

I haven’t tested, but would taking Superior Rune of Lyssa (6) and popping elite stack on the others to spread just for lulz?

This was actually the build I tried out about a month ago. It’s awesome on paper, but not terribly practical in practice.

Confessor.8957:

I haven’t tested, but would taking Superior Rune of Lyssa (6) and popping elite stack on the others to spread just for lulz?

No reason it shouldn’t work, it’s just that you’re losing the +30% Boon Duration from Water/Monk combo which is really really good.

this build could be better used for dungeons, since mobs dont back away or run when they’r almost dead

people that are almost dead would just run and stop attacking, making the retaliation not so awesome

plus, if u get focused u wont have deceive or teleport to break stun/ccs to run/survive

it would be hella fun to have retal up and watch a sin 1shot himself with a backstab!! hahahaha

So, an update…. I tried this out last night and it was totally awesome. I just did some sPvP, to get a feel for things. I used the greatsword/staff with Illusionary Elasticity and the trait for might on shatter.

I would open with greatsword, use iBerserker, mirror blade, Illusory wave to blow them back, swap to staff, iWarlock, CoF, then iDefender and just go to town. I found the iDisenchanter to not be so effective due to the zerg environment (which will change of course in tPvP), so null field was a better choice there. I also used the Signet of Illusions to better keep the iDefender alive in the zerg.

The lasting power is unreal. You can totally lol at a thief who is trying to backstab you down, which is probably the most satisfying thing ever. No one could really do anything to me 1v1, and you even win against other bunker builds, since you are stacking might and putting confusion on them + your retaliation actually adds up to some decent offense. Especially since you are double-tapping them with the staff due to illusionary elasticity.

Really really fun build overall. Highly recommended.

Westibone.3985:

So, an update…. I tried this out last night and it was totally awesome. I just did some sPvP, to get a feel for things. I used the greatsword/staff with Illusionary Elasticity and the trait for might on shatter.

I would open with greatsword, use iBerserker, mirror blade, Illusory wave to blow them back, swap to staff, iWarlock, CoF, then iDefender and just go to town. I found the iDisenchanter to not be so effective due to the zerg environment (which will change of course in tPvP), so null field was a better choice there. I also used the Signet of Illusions to better keep the iDefender alive in the zerg.

The lasting power is unreal. You can totally lol at a thief who is trying to backstab you down, which is probably the most satisfying thing ever. No one could really do anything to me 1v1, and you even win against other bunker builds, since you are stacking might and putting confusion on them + your retaliation actually adds up to some decent offense. Especially since you are double-tapping them with the staff due to illusionary elasticity.

Really really fun build overall. Highly recommended.

If you ever use the Confuse on Blind trait make sure you find a Shortbow Ranger and use Chaos Armor, you’ll laugh your a** off.