Guild Wars 2

Hello. I’m thinking of making a Mesmer that stuns, dazes and interrupts my target. How effective are interruptions in dungeons and in pvp? I think bosses need many stacks of stuns/dazes before you can successfully interrupt them. In pvp, players can escape stuns. But I love stuns so much!

Thanks for reading my post.

Sorry but stuns in PvE is pretty worthless. Havent really tried it in PvP though.

Stuns/dazes/interrupts are actually pretty useful in both PvE and PvP. Whether or not they work in PvE sort of depends on the boss/mobs your going against, but doing things like staggering diversion are incredibly useful. There’s also a trait that allows diversion to hit up to 5 targets, Imbued Diversions (grandmaster trait in Illusions).

Mirror of Anguish mirrors your disable back to whoever used the skill. Master trait in Chaos.

Pistol is useful for targets you need to focus-fire, and focus is great for aoe pull/interrupt.

Depending on your build, it could be very efficient, especially with the update on Signet of Domination (increased to 3 seconds). I’m planning on doing a bit more with stuns in PvP.

PvE stuns can be useful. Stuns are hella useful in PvP. The thing about PvE is that they are useful but usually a waste as the only mobs you really need to worry about stunning are bosses and they have defiant and you have to use so many of your stuns just to get those defiant stacks off it is kinda pointless. That being said Diversion is easily the best skill for removing stacks of defiant.

I ran an interrupt build for a few weeks solo roaming in wvw. The idea is awesome and if well played the build is really strong, but there is a major downside: It is very hard to play, or at least, it requires alot of focus.

There are no cast bars on enemies, so you have to look closely for animations, this is all fine if you are experienced in pvp because you will know most of them, but some skills don’t have a cast time, therefore you can’t interrupt them.

The damage on an interrupt build is poor compared to shatter/phantasm at least if you go full interrupt. However if you aim to interrupt someone’s heal, you can do this 10+ in a row. This does require your opponent to be absolute stupid to trigger his heal over and over again knowing you will interrupt it. This gets me to the next part, you completely rely on the other person to do something, if he doesn’t, like run away, you won’t damage him (It is really easy to run away from a full interrupt build).

On a normal setup I ran 10/20/30/0/10, which is in general strong versus a necromancer,engineer,mesmer,elementalist,ranger but has a big problem when fighting warriors,guardians,thieves. The reason that it is hard when fighting heavy classes is because of the stability uptime, this could also happen on necros and eles, but not as much. When your opponent has stability your build becomes useless and this forces you to switch to 20/20/30/0/0 to rip off the stability. You give away alot of your interrupts to do this tho. Fighting thieves is even worse, because you can’t interrupt anything that is stealthed as all your attacks need a target. This doesn’t make it impossible, you just have to be really fast and interrupt him between the time he comes out of stealth and attacks you.

The build only works as 1v1, if you want to use it as a group build you’d have to go 30 into illusions which you actually can’t afford and when you do so you have to pick the trait over illusionairy persona.

Tl;dr: Damage is poor compared to other builds, if your opponent is stupid you will win easily, some skills make your build completely useless, hybrid is a better solution, but you miss out on alot where the build is based on (might,immobilize), traits are spread out in different trait lines.

I ran an interrupt build in PvE for awhile after the big patch change. It was sort-of fun, but ultimately useless.

The majority of the time that I ‘interrupted’ a skill, it actually did not interrupt. This is due to defiant and unshakeable. I would get the bonus of interrupts from traits (added might, immobilize enemy etc), but the skill they were using still went through.

I ultimately found that it was detrimental to my parties, as I was not contributing as much damage as I otherwise could, and that I wasn’t providing the support that was intended.

That said, I did find one useful thing. You gain 5 stacks of might from an interrupt. If you dish out 3 illusions and get in melee range with IP, then you can get 20 stacks of might instantly with Diversion. You could then use Signet of Inspiration to share the 20 stacks of might with your party.

MartyPartys.9187:

I ran an interrupt build for a few weeks solo roaming in wvw. The idea is awesome and if well played the build is really strong, but there is a major downside: It is very hard to play, or at least, it requires alot of focus.

There are no cast bars on enemies, so you have to look closely for animations, this is all fine if you are experienced in pvp because you will know most of them, but some skills don’t have a cast time, therefore you can’t interrupt them.

The damage on an interrupt build is poor compared to shatter/phantasm at least if you go full interrupt. However if you aim to interrupt someone’s heal, you can do this 10+ in a row. This does require your opponent to be absolute stupid to trigger his heal over and over again knowing you will interrupt it. This gets me to the next part, you completely rely on the other person to do something, if he doesn’t, like run away, you won’t damage him (It is really easy to run away from a full interrupt build).

On a normal setup I ran 10/20/30/0/10, which is in general strong versus a necromancer,engineer,mesmer,elementalist,ranger but has a big problem when fighting warriors,guardians,thieves. The reason that it is hard when fighting heavy classes is because of the stability uptime, this could also happen on necros and eles, but not as much. When your opponent has stability your build becomes useless and this forces you to switch to 20/20/30/0/0 to rip off the stability. You give away alot of your interrupts to do this tho. Fighting thieves is even worse, because you can’t interrupt anything that is stealthed as all your attacks need a target. This doesn’t make it impossible, you just have to be really fast and interrupt him between the time he comes out of stealth and attacks you.

The build only works as 1v1, if you want to use it as a group build you’d have to go 30 into illusions which you actually can’t afford and when you do so you have to pick the trait over illusionairy persona.

Tl;dr: Damage is poor compared to other builds, if your opponent is stupid you will win easily, some skills make your build completely useless, hybrid is a better solution, but you miss out on alot where the build is based on (might,immobilize), traits are spread out in different trait lines.

For your 30 in Chaos, are you using Chaotic Interruption? A build I posted recently (link below) works fairly well against multiple opponents due to the focus on AoE interrupts. It’s powerful enough to take down opponents no problem, and others have come up with condition variants in the thread that have worked well.

Granted with this build it’s RnG primarily; you’re not waiting for a animation for a focused interrupt using the daze mantra for example, but are proc’ing a lot of interrupts from the AoE sources. Works well defending points in PvP (for a short while anyway, nothing like bunker) and has worked nicely in WvW solo roaming and especially vs zergs.

I will also say, as others have reported, that it doesn’t work as well in PvE, mostly because of the length of time between casts/actions. You’ll bring things down, but not as efficiently as with other builds.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Build-ChillRuption

Hi everyone!

While using Chaotic Interruption, can we immobilize mobs and bosses even if they have defiant (does using a stunning skill count as an interrupt even if they are not stunned due to defiant)? If that’s the case, then we can kite melee mobs/bosses by immobilizing them. And, we can immobilize opponents that attack from far, put a Feedback bubble around them, stay out of Feedback bubble and stay safe. I think it’s almost as good as stunning the ranged opponents. Too bad Feedback bubble recharges only every 40sec.

Oh yeah can players and mobs attack from far even if the enemy is behind them?

Also, can we use Arcane Thievery to take away stability (or anything that protects them from stuns) away from bosses/mobs and then be able to stun them?

Thanks everyone!

In PvE, they are useless because of that nasty “look at me, I’m immune to nearly everything except damage, trolol” buff.

Martial.4916:

Hi everyone!

While using Chaotic Interruption, can we immobilize mobs and bosses even if they have defiant (does using a stunning skill count as an interrupt even if they are not stunned due to defiant)? If that’s the case, then we can kite melee mobs/bosses by immobilizing them. And, we can immobilize opponents that attack from far, put a Feedback bubble around them, stay out of Feedback bubble and stay safe. I think it’s almost as good as stunning the ranged opponents. Too bad Feedback bubble recharges only every 40sec.

Oh yeah can players and mobs attack from far even if the enemy is behind them?

Also, can we use Arcane Thievery to take away stability (or anything that protects them from stuns) away from bosses/mobs and then be able to stun them?

Thanks everyone!

Immobilize seems to work against defiant yes; however, it is a very short lasting immobilize, so it’s not really enough to kite around with.

In PvE, they are useless because of that nasty “look at me, I’m immune to nearly everything except damage, trolol” buff.

Keep in mind that although the “defiant” buff will block the actual interrupt, traits that trigger “on interrupt” will still process.

So when fighting a champion boss, and you see the “interrupt” text displayed. You may not actually interrupt the boss, but traits like Bountiful Interruption, Chaotic Interruption and Halting Strike will process.

I only found out about this a couple a months ago.

Thanks SlimChance and everyone that posted/read my post.

I think I know what build I want to run. It’s going to be very similar to Skcamow’s: 10/0/30/0/30.

Domination: Halting Strike (woo!)
Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption.
Illusions: Illusionary Invigoration, Phantasmal Haste, Imbued Diversion.

Skills that are not related to weapons: Feedback, Arcane Thievery, Signet of Domination (and may be Decoy instead of Arcane Thievery or Signet of Domination sometimes because Decoy is just so cool!).

Weapons: Scepter and Pistol; Great Sword.

This build (that is not completely mine) will be about assisting others by stunning and immobilizing foes. Also, creating feedback around immobilized, ranged opponents so we can beat on them without them beating on us. I’ll try it and see what happens.

I have a few questions. Is Mind Stab (Great Sword) good enough to strip stability off of others? Or do I need arcane thievery (do opponents have more than one boon on usually?)? How long does Immobilize last when interrupting them (chaotic interruption)? Is it 2 seconds?

Martial.4916:

Thanks SlimChance and everyone that posted/read my post.

I think I know what build I want to run. It’s going to be very similar to Skcamow’s: 10/0/30/0/30.

Domination: Halting Strike (woo!)
Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption.
Illusions: Illusionary Invigoration, Phantasmal Haste, Imbued Diversion.

Skills that are not related to weapons: Feedback, Arcane Thievery, Signet of Domination (and may be Decoy instead of Arcane Thievery or Signet of Domination sometimes because Decoy is just so cool!).

Weapons: Scepter and Pistol; Great Sword.

This build (that is not completely mine) will be about assisting others by stunning and immobilizing foes. Also, creating feedback around immobilized, ranged opponents so we can beat on them without them beating on us. I’ll try it and see what happens.

I have a few questions. Is Mind Stab (Great Sword) good enough to strip stability off of others? Or do I need arcane thievery (do opponents have more than one boon on usually?)? How long does Immobilize last when interrupting them (chaotic interruption)? Is it 2 seconds?

Glad to hear you’re trying a ChillRuption variant – I love your Mirror of Anguish choice. That trait rocks, but I just can’t use it because I need Chaotic Dampening for GS/Staff. I may eventually try Sw/Sw with GS which would free that up.

Mind Stab should indeed strip stability, but using arcane thievery makes stealing stability much more fun, as often opponents will indeed have more than one boon :-). Typically I reserve it for condition removal, but if an opponent is loaded with boons, it’s too sweet not to use it at that point.

As I noted in the ChillRuption build thread, the build shines in PvP/WvW and especially zergs if you can get in close for some AoE interrupts. PvE I’ve found it’s not quite as good simply because foes aren’t attacking as often and thus proc’ing less interrupts. However, if you build enough power in and get in areas with lots of mobs (like cursed shore pent/shelt events), it’s way fun. Dungeons I’m not sure how it would run, but I’d be curious your experience if you try it there. You proc interrupts on bosses, but they are often immune to the effect of the interrupts. In dungeons with heavy mobs though, it would be golden.

You’re correct, the default immobilize from Chaotic Interruption is 2 seconds, then if chill procs – 2 seconds, blind – 3 seconds and cripple – 3 seconds. I suggest building at least 50% condition or chill duration (depending WvW/sPvP) so you can AoE immobilize for 3 seconds, then the extra duration applies to the resulting proc’d condition.

Thanks Skcamow for your advice.

Do you think putting 30 points into Domination in order to increase condition duration is a good idea? I’d only put 10 points into Illusions and I’d sacrifice being able to immobilize 5 opponents in order to get longer lasting stuns, dazes, confusions, chills and immobilize. I’d go after one opponent at a time in pvp and pve. Or would you recommend me to only use equipment to grant an increase in condition duration?

I’d also get Harmonious mantras and attempt to use Mantra of Distraction 3 times in order to sort-of stun-lock an opponent.

This could be the new build: 30/0/30/0/10.
Domination (for power!):-Halting Strike, Greatsword Training, Harmonious Mantras.
Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption.
Illusions: Illusionary Invigoration.

Weapons: scepter/pistol; greatsword.

Seezungenschleuder.8319:

In PvE, they are useless because of that nasty “look at me, I’m immune to nearly everything except damage, trolol” buff.

That immunity is what makes an interrupt-build so good in PvE! O.o
You can do a Dispersion-shatter and have 3-4 interrupts because the enemy never aborts their cast. 15-20 stacks of might + 3-4 random buffs + 3-4 debuffs. Yay!

Martial.4916:

Thanks Skcamow for your advice.

Do you think putting 30 points into Domination in order to increase condition duration is a good idea? I’d only put 10 points into Illusions and I’d sacrifice being able to immobilize 5 opponents in order to get longer lasting stuns, dazes, confusions, chills and immobilize. I’d go after one opponent at a time in pvp and pve. Or would you recommend me to only use equipment to grant an increase in condition duration?

I’d also get Harmonious mantras and attempt to use Mantra of Distraction 3 times in order to sort-of stun-lock an opponent.

This could be the new build: 30/0/30/0/10.
Domination (for power!):-Halting Strike, Greatsword Training, Harmonious Mantras.
Chaos: Master of Manipulation, Mirror of Anguish, Chaotic Interruption.
Illusions: Illusionary Invigoration.

Weapons: scepter/pistol; greatsword.

Confounding Suggestions is obviously more useful than IB in a 1v1 scenario. If that’s what you’ll mostly be doing, the 30/0/30/0/10 build makes sense. If you’re all about focused, timed interrupts (versus the more random AoE), the daze mantra definitely comes into the picture and harmonious mantras becomes that much more enticing. I would play with both traits there to see which feels better; unfortunately you can’t take Harmonious Mantras and Confounding Suggestions together.

The moment you start factoring in 1v2 or higher, that’s when I recommend thinking about shifting over to 10/0/30/0/30.

Also as a general rule, never (if possible) use the trait lines to increase any particular stat. Craft the build you want to use, then use the stats you have to then match the gear to get the full picture you’re after (power/condition, etc). Also remember that condition duration does not apply to stun.

Thanks Carighan and Skcamow. Carighan, I feel better about using interrupt build in pve.

Skcamow, I’ll probably be roaming with others and be in 3 vs 3 situations. Either in dungeons or in pvp. So I might go with Imbued Diversion (10/0/30/0/30).

I’ll mostly use gear instead of trait lines to get myself some power and condition duration.

Does duration of immobilize increase with increased condition duration?

Also, what does IB stand for?

Martial.4916:

Thanks Carighan and Skcamow. Carighan, I feel better about using interrupt build in pve.

Skcamow, I’ll probably be roaming with others and be in 3 vs 3 situations. Either in dungeons or in pvp. So I might go with Imbued Diversion (10/0/30/0/30).

I’ll mostly use gear instead of trait lines to get myself some power and condition duration.

Does duration of immobilize increase with increased condition duration?

Also, what does IB stand for?

Sorry, I meant Imbued Diversion (ID). Immobilize is affected by condition duration – so effectively all conditions inflicted by Chaotic Interruption are, which begs one to build in some kind of condi-duration into the build.

On the PvE front, I tried ChillRuption in a couple dungeon runs last night and it worked a lot better than I expected. The cc is noticeably useful in many situations (depends on the dungeon). The only real downside is when a boss is immune to cc. Then, DPS needs to be high enough to do decent damage since mass cc and staff boons are really what you’re bringing to the group in this build.

Is the boss sometimes immune to any of the conditions given by Chaotic Interruption?

Also, does cc mean crowd control? I’m excited about dungeons now. It seems that a chillruption build could be useful in pve.

Thanks Skcamow.

cc means control effects: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Cc

When the interrupts proc, they do get immobilized/chilled. There is an effect bosses get called unshakable: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unshakable which in turn gives them an effect called defiant when someone successfully cc’s them. They get multiple stacks depending on how many allies are in the area. When the boss gets defiant, it CAN be interrupted, and interrupting is the only way to remove all the defiant stacks (one interrupt removes one stack). The interrupt effects, like from chaotic interruption, are useless on the boss during this time, but those interrupts will proc traits that give the player boons or other effects on interrupt, for example – bountiful interruption.

Once the defiant stacks are gone, the boss can successfully be cc’d again, etc.
There is another effect called unstoppable: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unstoppable, where you pretty much can’t inflict cc or movement restrictions on it, so if you see that, don’t waste your interrupts.

Being that bosses are just one aspect of any dungeon, the build can still shine against other dungeon encounters where cc’s are easier to inflict.

So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.

I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?

Thanks everyone.

Martial.4916:

So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.

I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?

Thanks everyone.

Bosses are immune ONLY to hard cc when they have defiant. The base buff that applies defiant, ‘unshakeable’ makes blinds only 10% effective and causes the duration of weakness and vulnerability to be halfed.

All other types of cc work fine.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Martial.4916:

So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.

I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?

Thanks everyone.

Bosses are immune ONLY to hard cc when they have defiant. The base buff that applies defiant, ‘unshakeable’ makes blinds only 10% effective and causes the duration of weakness and vulnerability to be halfed.

All other types of cc work fine.

Thanks for the clarification. So when a boss has Defiant, it is immune to these hard cc’s:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effect

Meaning immobilize, chill and cripple can still get inflicted if proc’d, correct?
EDIT: Understanding that in this case they can’t be proc’d from Chaotic Interruption, due to the interrupt requirement (daze/push/pull of which it’s immune), but it can get these conditions from other classes or our potential sources (like an iLeap/Swap)?

skcamow.3527:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Martial.4916:

So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.

I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?

Thanks everyone.

Bosses are immune ONLY to hard cc when they have defiant. The base buff that applies defiant, ‘unshakeable’ makes blinds only 10% effective and causes the duration of weakness and vulnerability to be halfed.

All other types of cc work fine.

Thanks for the clarification. So when a boss has Defiant, it is immune to these hard cc’s:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effect

Meaning immobilize, chill and cripple can still get inflicted if proc’d, correct?
EDIT: Understanding that in this case they can’t be proc’d from Chaotic Interruption, due to the interrupt requirement (daze/push/pull of which it’s immune), but it can get these conditions from other classes or our potential sources (like an iLeap/Swap)?

If you use an interrupt while a boss is casting an ability, the interrupt actually will occur. You’ll get the little interrupt floater, and your interrupt traits will proc, you just won’t actually interrupt the skill, but instead remove a stack of defiant.

Pyroatheist.9031:

skcamow.3527:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Martial.4916:

So when bosses have defiant, they are immune to immobilize, cripple, chill and blind (Chaotic Interruption)? Well at least we can get might and apply vulnerability.

I have one more question. When we apply diversion and have 3 clones activated, do each clone apply one stack of daze?

Thanks everyone.

Bosses are immune ONLY to hard cc when they have defiant. The base buff that applies defiant, ‘unshakeable’ makes blinds only 10% effective and causes the duration of weakness and vulnerability to be halfed.

All other types of cc work fine.

Thanks for the clarification. So when a boss has Defiant, it is immune to these hard cc’s:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Control_effect

Meaning immobilize, chill and cripple can still get inflicted if proc’d, correct?
EDIT: Understanding that in this case they can’t be proc’d from Chaotic Interruption, due to the interrupt requirement (daze/push/pull of which it’s immune), but it can get these conditions from other classes or our potential sources (like an iLeap/Swap)?

If you use an interrupt while a boss is casting an ability, the interrupt actually will occur. You’ll get the little interrupt floater, and your interrupt traits will proc, you just won’t actually interrupt the skill, but instead remove a stack of defiant.

Right, that’s been my experience with Bountiful Interruption for some time. So in the case of Chaotic Interruption for example, you’re saying that even with defiant, the boss will get the resulting conditions if interrupted (even though his action is not)?

@skcamow: from my experience, the boss still carries on with the skill, but we get all the interrupt effects: HS dmg, Might from BI, conditions from CI. I haven’t tested FI with boss yet, but it should work in the same way.

Edited: boss with Unstoppable (rather than Unshakable) will be immune to CC conditions so I suppose CI won’t proc.

keenlam.4753:

@skcamow: from my experience, the boss still carries on with the skill, but we get all the interrupt effects: HS dmg, Might from BI, conditions from CI. I haven’t tested FI with boss yet, but it should work in the same way.

Edited: boss with Unstoppable (rather than Unshakable) will be immune to CC conditions so I suppose CI won’t proc.

Agreed, for Unstoppable that’s pretty cut and dried. It’s the negative conditions that I wondered would be inflicted on interrupt proc under defiant. I believe Pyro was confirming that to be yes but I wanted to make sure.

EDIT: I honestly didn’t create the chill build with PvE or Dungeons in mind, but it looks like Chaotic Interruption certainly has some potential both in my recent experience and these facts. Thanks everyone for clearing up the boss interrupt questions. Martial – I’d love to hear your experience if you end up taking this build concept into those areas.

I hate Unstoppable.

Hey, can we steal Unstoppable from a boss using Arcane Thievery? That would be funny. Or may be remove Unstoppable using Mind Stab?

Skcamow, if I try Chillruption build in dungeons, I’ll report back here and be like “Yeah! Woo!” and I’ll describe how fun it is (or whether it is fun and if it works well). (But it will be a while since I’m only level 13 now.)

There is one more thing I want to ask to be cleared up (it’s about how Unshakable works). If a boss has Unshakable, they get at least 3 stacks of defiant when they are first targeted by a skill that gives a control effect. Then every time they are successfully affected by a control effect (including the skill that initially gave the boss 3 stacks of defiant), one stack of Defiant is removed. If all stacks of Defiant is removed, then the boss will be affected by the next skill that gives a control effect. After the boss suffers a control effect, they get at least 3 stacks of defiant again. Is that right? This is from my understanding of the Wiki.

@Martial: That is how it works. However, at higher levels, the defiant stacks scale massively, so you’ll end up with 20 or 30 stacks each time, making skillful interrupts more or less completely useless.

Thanks Pyroatheist and everyone!

Is it reasonable to expect almost every player participating in a dungeon to contribute a stun to the boss and make him/her vulnerable to stuns? If everyone tries to stun the boss once, enough defiant would be removed so someone can try stunning the boss.

I’d like to bump this if that’s ok.

I have one more question if you don’t mind. Can I expect mesmers that are participating in dungeon runs to take turns performing feedback on an immobilized boss? (mesmers traited with Chaotic Interruption can lock down a boss even when a boss has defiant) The idea is that a few mesmers (including myself) can lock down a ranged boss using Chaotic Interruption and all mesmers that know Feedback can take turns using it to protect the entire party from ranged attacks from the boss. And ranged party members can beat the boss down. If the boss is melee based, then mesmers can keep immobilizing him/her/it and kite. What do you think?

It’s definitely possible, even better, bring guardians into the rotation as well, they have good reflect & immobilize skills.

Yeah Guardians are a good idea.