Guild Wars 2

I was trying out a power block build in sPvP last night. I was running 30/0/30/10/0. I really liked it but I noticed two things from previously being a shatter build. One – I was clone starved. Two – many times I missed illusionary persona when it came time to stomp somebody and I wanted to get invulnerability or interrupt without a clone. However, when I landed an interrupt it was AMAZING!!! So fun to watch someone standing there looking stupid.

I’m too lazy to look up the specific trait names, but had the following:
Power block
damage on interrupt
Reduced cooldown on GS
Bountiful Interruption
and 30 point trait to randomly add chill, immobilize, or cripple

I was running GS/S/P zerker amulet, generosity and engergy sigils and mesmer runes.

How are you guys running it?

The lightbulb moment for me a month or two back running a 30/x/30/x/x build without DE, coming from shatter, is you need to adopt more of a phantasm playstyle. Stop trying to shatter all the time and let your phantasms get a couple rotations off. You will be shocked at how much more effective it is. It was like a night and day difference for me.

That’s not to say you never shatter, but you need to be very selective. I rarely use MW or CoF anymore, unless its on a downed target to avoid wasting clones.

Well in spvp I’m going to try the Confusing Suggestions / ranged shatter build, for which I must give credit to Helseth using it months ago when confusing suggestions + chaos storm was lethal. I think with Power Block, seems well worth trying again, although hopefully won’t get same false results if it is bugged on autoattack.

So it’s 30 Dom, 20 Duel, 20 illusions. Staff + GS, Mantra of distraction, blink and portal. Lyssa runes and beserker amulet.

I tried power block with 30/20/20. So far, I prefer CI to Power Block. Power Block feels almost more defensive (slowing down the opponent’s rotations) whereas CI feels more offensive (immob’ing the enemy to setup bursts). Of course both traits can be used offensively/defensively, but that’s how it feels to me.

Nettle’s 30/10/30 seems like the most viable option, although it’ll probably play a little slower with the phantasm approach.

Thanks for the feedback. I’ve been trying to tweak this so that I can put on the most pressure. Life would be so much easier if I could just play 6/4/6/0/6 haha. Anyway, I digress.

This is the spec I’m trying to optimize for sPvP, and below are the things I’m on the fence about:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-NFRg;1VPVz097BV-71;9;4T-T9-19C;127A3;3Uom6h;1DsV2DsV25Bt

Halting Strike vs Empowered Illusions:
Would the 15% damage from illusions place more pressure than the damage from an interrupt?

I never see GS Mastery in anyone’s lockdown builds:
In the domination line I also chose GS mastery because I liked the reduced cooldown on Illusionary Wave. (The build is based on interrupts so why not have a trait that offers more interrupts)

Master of Manipulations vs Illusionary Defense:
Again, I always feel cooldown starved in sPvP and I’ve found that my decoy or blink pops back up just in time when I have MoM traited. I haven’t found Illusionary Defense to be worth it because I have a hard time cranking out clones without Deceptive Evasion. Plus I’ve found that with point capture, they get destroyed by aoe a lot.

10 Inspiration vs 10 Dueling:
I pretty much went with Mender’s Purity just for the added condition removal. I’ve found that this trait, plus Generosity runes, and null field gives me barely enough condition removal. However, I see the merits of possibly going 10 into dueling in order to get reduced cooldown on blurred frenzy due to Blade Training. Furthermore, Critical Infusion is offered in this line. So, this is a hard choice for me to decide which offers more survivability.

Mesmer Runes vs x Runes:
I went with Mesmer for the 33% daze duration. However, it only adds 1/4 second to each clone hit for Diversion and another .5 second to Magic Bullet. Maybe Lyssa would be better which could help with my decision to drop mender’s purity?

Pistol vs Sword Off-hand:
I just went with pistol originally because it hit more thane one target reliably whereas Counter Blade hits in a line. Also the illusion does more damage, but it’s also more in your face than Phantasmal Duelist. Kinda in the middle on this one.

My experience falls in line with Nettle’s. Play Power Block as a Phantasm build and you will see a world of difference. I was running 6/x/6/x/x before, but at Nettle’s suggestion in another thread I switched some traits and skills around and I’m in love with it. Most of the sustained high damage of a Phantasm build with a strong dash of GW1 style Mesmer play. Your enemies are barraged with annoying Phantasms, Interrupts, Stuns, and immobilizes while you throw their own conditions back at them or turn them into boons.

Seriously Nettle, write that build up for in it’s own post. You have to come up with a suitable name though, how about “Phantasmal Nettler”? It gives you credit while quite adequately catching the nature of the build.

The reason that many people choose to do a shattery interrupt build is that stability will completely ruin your build in every way. With shatters though, you can take shattered concentration for fantastic aoe boon stripping.

There are ways to deal with stability in a more phantasm based build too though. You’ll need to take the pDisenchanter generally. Null field can work too, but it has a very long cooldown.

6/2/6
Halting Strike, GS Training, PB
pFury
iDefense, BI, CI
Utility: Mantra of Distraction, Blink, Portal/pDisenchanter – really nice to remove that stability.
Elite: MI
lyssa/berserker
Staff/GS
on both energy sigils
other two are personal taste – I tried it with force on GS and Hydromancy on staff – there may be better options.
I play it as a phantasm build.