Guild Wars 2

So with Chronomancer’s traits, it seems our spec will compliment shatter builds and lockdown builds even more? Specifically speaking on Lockdown for that is what I play. Will lockdown become even stronger with the new Chronomancer traits?

Based on the current HoT previews, you have a lot of choices for lockdown…

Domination has Power Block (the new trait that folds in Halting Strike), boon ripping, and stun-on-daze (now guaranteed). Because of what Power Block brings to the table, I’d say this line is utterly essential to a lockdown build.

Beyond that, though:

• Chrono has the Lost Time + Danger Time combo, which helps you debuff opponents and makes it easier to interrupt important stuff.
• Chaos still has the all-powerful Chaotic Interruption.
• Dueling has Deceptive Evasion, which may still end up being de-facto required for mesmer builds. It’s also looking good for Pistol-using interrupt builds. Don’t forget that Blind-on-shatter is a useful new addition to the “lockdown” toolbox.
• Illusions is a bit sparse but current speculation is that the GM shatters-get-better trait folds in the current multi-target Diversion trait. This is very powerful in a team fight, but previously it was held back by IP being so much more flexible as a trait.
  (Inspiration doesn’t directly help but may end up having useful survival or team support features.)

I think the most interesting thing is that it’s gonna be pretty easy to make “hybrid” lockdown/shatter builds (a lot of lockdown builds already shatter some, but now you can shatter harder) now that IP is baked into mesmer abilities. Given the current tendency to take Halting Strike in shatter builds, it wouldn’t surprise me if a typical HoT shatter spec is actually using Power Block and integrating control effects into its shatters.

Don’t forget about delayed reactions, which will inflict slow on interrupt.

I’m going to rock Dom/Chaos/Chrono for wvw.

Probably going to try Duel/Chaos/Chrono with Mistrust for Zerg tagging.