A “shatter” build typically features 30 points In Illusions specifically to get the Illusionary Persona trait (XI). This build type also features main hand sword. These two aspects mean that you plan to spend some time up close and personal so that both you and your clones will be in shatter range when you want to shatter.
If you are fighting from range only, with ranged weapons, then half of your illusions pop too far from the target and have to run in towards the target to shatter. Especially in big fights and WvW, some of those illusions might not survive long enough to get into shatter range.
Many shatter builds feature staff on the weapon swap to serve as a getaway stick to gain range when things are getting too hot in melee range. Jink in, use all your shattering tricks up close and personal, then swap to staff and get distance and pew pew and force enemies to work to retarget you, then when you’re ready for another round of up close shattering, go back in to melee range again.
That’s the basic pattern and rhythm of shatter play.
To make this work well, you want LOTS of on-demand illusion generation so that you can shatter and immediately get out more illusions. This means the trait that generates a clone when you dodge is mandatory. And it means that you typically want Miror Images in one of your utility slots because that’s an instant 2x clones you can generate that way too.
Shatter builds also benefit from some amount of stealth too. In some cases, just the Decoy skill is enough. In other cases, you might use Mass Invisibilty for your elite skill and also Torch offhand for a third stealth from The Prestige (torch4). This stealth helps you stay juking aroun in melee range longer before the heat gets too hot and you have to gain distance and recover.
Speaking of gaining distance when you need it, Blink is another nearly must-have skill for shatter play, because with Staff 2 plus Blink you can get waaaaayyyyy away from the opponents.
Now, for the shatters themselves, you have three utility shatters (F2-F4) and one damage shatter (F1). IMO the two most valuable shatters are F1 and F2. If you take the II trait in Illusions (Cry of Frustration grants Retaliation), that makes a 3-illusion F2 shatter give you 14 solid seconds of Retaliation, which is huge. If you take this trait, then F2 is usually your first shatter unless you are rocking an offhand focus. After that, you typically leave your illusions in play and save your F1 shatter for a burst finisher when the target is at 1/3 health. Of course, in longer fights or against human players who heal up, you’ll have to play it by ear and go through more shatter cycles in each fight, but the general goal is to save a big F1 shatter for a surprise killing burst. And if you’re relying on Retaliation from the F2 shatter, to reapply retaliation as desired if the fight is going to drag out.
Speaking of Retaliation, if you use an offhand focus, you can get ANOTHER 14 seconds of retaliation by standing on your temporal curtain (Focus4), then using Sword3 to toss the sword clone at the target, then using Sword3 again to swap places with the clone. You can have effectively 100% uptime on Retaliation this way I’d you trait for the F2 shatter retaliation too. This is huge both in PvE and in WvW, but it takes a little practice and steady nerves to do the focus-based combo while juking around in melee shatter range.
Hope this helps!
Edit:
One other aspect of shatter builds. They are often somewhat tanky by using Knights armor (Pow/Tough/Prec). The goal is to get near 40% crit chance or better so your F1 shatter will hit hard, but still have enough toughness to stay in melee range and survive some hits. Shoot for 40% crit chance, at least 20% crit damage, around 27K Toughness, and around 17K health or more if you can squeeze it in. Some people tend to run 4x pieces of Knights armor and 2x pieces of Soldiers armor to hit these numbers. (For WvW, that means 2x pieces from the karma vendors in the Orr cathedrals, or the one at the gates of Arah has a head and boots that fit the bill.)
Another thing to understand: This playstyle isn’t targeted at Zerg vs Zerg frontline fighting (although it can save your bacon if an enemy is determined to bust through the front line specifically to try to burst you down). This playstyle is more for small group patrols and for sPVP. I tend to run with a Retaliation shatter build full time now even in zerg battles, but I switch out my staff for a greatsword instead and take my chances when crafty else’s or thieves try to get me. Usually the sword tricks are enough to discourage or kill them, and If I need a getaway I use GS5 to push them back, then blink away to gain the distance I need. And that works fine. And GS is much better for zerging than staff.
