I’m kind of liking the playstyle lately. I think it would be fun to try to play it a bit in 1v1, maybe team v team, though it seems to difficult for me to try to lockdown multiple people. There are a lot of different builds around, but no videos teaching us how to play it or showing what it can do (I get the general idea though). There is one that I know of which is Mind Crush dueling by Alissah, why are there no more? If there are, please post the link here!
A big part of the lockdown build is a loose thread.
I haven’t seen any standard traits, 4/4/6 is what I liked to use, seen people use different ones, I’ve seen variants that spam a lot of chill which I think should be fun to try out, but I don’t really know how much chill procs on interrupts, chaos storm ect.
Runes wise I’ve seen mesmer, traveler, this, that, strength ect.
Weapons – staff seems to be always in there, what else? Sword + sword or sword + focus?
I’m thinking a shatterlock build would be easier to learn on or better to tPvP with?
Thank you guys a lot!
Much love,
Also should see what standard utilities are. I’d guess MoDistraction is pretty key (I can’t live without it), not sure what else. I consider Arcane thievery to be a lockdown utility especially when traited; it’s sweet boon removal.
If we´re talking about utilities the iDisenchanter is great as a lockdown and condition remove tool. In wvw roaming it´s a bit unreliable, but I used it in a few duels lately where it can be just awesome (/wave condition thiefs ;P).
Aditionally you shouldn´t forget the greatsword as a weapon, MoD+CI+gs burst is definitly a nice combo. It seems like every weapon can work in a lockdown build which leaves a lot of possibilities for customization.
It’s a shame really.. I had really wanted to get some videos out -finally- this week but I think I’ve gotten a total of .. 3.5 hours playtime in the past 4 weeks. x_x Unfortunately it seems my time with this game is coming to a halt. =[
But I digress! There’s actually a few options when forming a lockdown build, the two most popular are 4/4/6 and 6/4/4 but you can also very easily make a 4/4/0/0/6 shatter build with some lockdown spice. I’ll be referencing the build I’m most familiar with, 4/4/6/0/0
WEAPONSETS Sword is pretty important for a lockdown build, not only is iLeap an AoE immobilize but sword allows you a variety of offhands to chose from. Offhand Sword, Focus, and Pistol all make for good choices, but Greatsword and Staff also provide a hefty amount of control.
Offhand Sword: Offhand sword works reeallyyy well in a 6/4/4/ lockdown build because it has the shortest cooldown interrupt (that also happens to be a daze that pierces multiple targets, good for stopping stomps/rezzes) and provides excellent damage. iSwordsman demands enemy attention with it’s rapid heavy hits and even when you’re not using the sword daze, the counter hits like a truck. Out of all the offhands, this is my personal favorite both for the aesthetic of wielding two swords like a total and complete boss, and for the high damaging in-your-face fighting style.
Offhand Pistol: The pistol… I never use it.
Not because it’s bad or sub-par in any kind of way, but it simply isn’t my preference. The phantasm, iDuelist, may not deal as much damage as the Swordsman due to being much more easy to evade but it has the advantage of sitting safely out of range while it unloads shots on an enemy, forcing them to either spend a dodge, reposition, or suffer the consequences. The pistol’s ranged 2s stun is niiice, especially combined with Signet of Domination and/or Sigil of Paralyzation. I’d rate this stun above the offhand sword’s daze because of how it cuts enemy movement and reliably bounces to daze a second target, and blind a third, giving a diminishing form of lockdown for each bounce.
Offhand Focus: This is what I currently use. The Focus is the best lockdown-focused weapon in my opinion because of Temporal Curtain’s multi-purpose field and Warden’s projectile nullifying. Though it’s currently bugged, it’s still the best aoe-oriented lockdown offhand of the bunch.
Staff Staff is my favorite weapon for many reasons, but it works well in a lockdown build because of Chaos Storm/Armor. Chaos Storm’s lockdown works defensively and offensively. It punishes anyone standing in the field with debilitating conditions, making it very difficult to do damage but also it dissuades people from ever standing within it’s relatively large AoE, which allows you 6 seconds of area denial. Chaos Armor is worth mention here too because of it’s ability to inflict blind/cripple. Blind in particular is the most important here, and is the reason why BLASTing an Ethereal field for AoE Chaos Armor is so valuable as it really hurts enemy AoEs.
Greatsword Greatsword offers excellent offensive pressure and a fair bit of control. The offensive pressure is worth noting because that in itself is a form of control; used on an enemy that’s not targetting you, they’re forced to either disengage from their target or soak up a huge amount of damage. Mind Spike, iZerker, and iWave all work as control abilities, spike is an AoE boonstrip while zerker AoE cripples and wave is a push/interrupt. While I personally don’t use Greatsword very often it makes for one of the best ranged options in a lockdown build besides Scepter/Pistol.
Ran out of room.. will continue on my next post. Here’s my current lockdown build, sometimes I use grenth runes instead for more AoE chill.
iDisenchanter/Nullfield/Arcane Thievery These make up your boon/condition manipulation options and usually you’ll only be able to pick one. The safest and most reliable choice is Null Field, offering an ETHEREAL Field (already wrote why chaos armor is a good control ability) in addition to 5 pulses of boon/condition stripping. The drawback here is that the enemy can easily walk out of the field to avoid getting stripped and Null Field isn’t very good when you’re being hit with multiple conditions at once. Disenchanter is my personal favorite, though it can be tricky to use and becomes less reliable the more opponents/allies are in a fight. Every 4 seconds it shoots a bouncing projectile that strips 2 boons and conditions among 5 people, it’s excellent for smaller fights and 1v1s but falls short in big battles. Arcane Thievery is hit-or-miss. It can be excellent to strip boons and can really hurt when you throw conditions back on an enemy, but its rather long cooldown holds it back and sometimes it isn’t ideal spend your condition removal to steal boons. I like Arcane Thievery to use against warriors, engineers, necro/ele (transformations), and guardians.
Signet of Domination/Mantra of Distraction While Mantra of Distraction is the main interrupt utility, Signet of Domination offers a stronger form of control in a meaty 3-second stun. Combined with Pistol and Sigil of Paralyzation (and if you’re feeling particularly lockdown-y Domination XII- Confounding Sugestions and Runes of the Mesmer) you can keep someone shut out of a fight for well over 6 seconds… and then why the hell not Moa them for ultimate trolling? Mantra of Distraction requires a bit more finesse, it’s best reserved for when you can predict an interrupt opportunity such as when an enemy is going to heal or when an elementalist is going to do … anything.
RUNES/SIGILS
Runes of the Mesmer Works well with Confounding Suggestions, adding to the daze duration to give nearly 2s dazes, the power/precision it offers is nice as well.
Runes of Lyssa Still one of the best condi-removal runes and works well with Mass Invis to save yer cheeks in tight condition-heavy situations.
Runes of Grenth The big thing here is the Chill-on-Heal. It works instantly with Mantra of Recovery and has a slight delay on the other heals. When you merge this with Runes of Hydromancy, you can start stacking up some major AoE Chill even in a power build. (Chill is a great control ability, putting enemy skills on longer cooldown AND crippling their movement speed worse than.. er, Cripple.)
TRAITS
Bountiful Interruption Works great in any lockdown build by rewarding you with an extra 175 power (5x might) per interrupt AND a random boon. People often forget about the extra boon it provides, which can be anything from Protection/Vigor to Might/Regeneration. In fact, Bountiful is so good it works well even outside of lockdown builds as long as you have the right weapons.
Furious Interruption Like bountiful, it’s not so great that you could focus a build around it, but it works well in a 6 Dom 6 Dueling lockdown build. It takes a while to get used to but can be really worthwhile with Sword and Greatsword, especially with the new Sigils of Rage
Chaotic Interruption One of, if not the best lockdown trait. Chaotic hits with an immobilize AND cripple/chill/blind on itnerrupt. There isn’t much to say on this trait that hasn’t already been said. It rocks, even outside of lockdown builds depending on your weaponset.
Power Block Power Block isn’t a bad trait, it’s simply one that suffers from the “why take this trait when I could have.. THIS TRAIT!!”-complex. It simply can’t compete with Confounding Suggestions and Chaotic Interruption. While it can really hurt an opponent’s play, it’s hard to tell in a group fight and hard to rely on since you really can’t see enemy cast bars. Still, it works well with chill to really slow up enemy cooldowns when it works.
Confounding Suggestions Some people dislike how this skill seems to contradict itself with either a daze OR a stun. I find that it’s more a matter of perspective: both effects are a win/win, it’s just that you can’t predict what you’re going to get. A longer daze duration, combined with runes of the Mesmer, make for excellent chain dazing but the stun still ends up being superior because of how it cuts enemy movement. Since most of our dazes are single-target, I’ve found Confounding better for smaller groups and 1v1 situations.
Hope that helps a bit! I swear to myself I shall have a video produced. >_< I tried again recently to record a tpvp match but the video seems to glitch out halfway through.
I like the idea of interrupting a ton of skills while spamming chill on the person and then moaing him. I wish I could be on teamspeak with the person I’m doing that to to hear his reaction hehe.
I’ll look into it and make my own variant. As long as I don’t have to spend too much, I’ll probably be getting a lockdown set!
Thank you a lot of the help. I really appreciate it!
Well this is what I came up with..
What do you think?
The few things I’m uncertain of is if I should go for mesmer runes maybe coupled with paralyzation sigils + energy sigils?
Also would using Mirror of Anguish be better instead of bountiful interruption?
EDIT: Nvm, figured Interruption would give a lot of might stacks in a team fight situation..
Looks like the standard 4/4/6 CI lockdown build. What’s nice about it is it can be useful with various weapons. Also most people use debilitating dissipation versus illusionary defense. The weakness procs are really, really good.
As stated in that thread, my advice would be to ditch the grenth runes since they are more condition damage focused, and keep the ice sigils. You could alternatively go for hydromancy on Sw/F if you anticipate being in melee more often when you swap to that set.
Very interesting ideas, make me wanna comeback to a power based interrupt build.
@Jurica
Its not overkill because we only have a few sources of chill and they are RNG.
IMO, the best heal to use with the grenth runes is the mantra heal but its very tricky to use.
Mantra heal with trait lets you proc Grenth no.6 4 times, 1 at the activation and 3 on cast. Pair it up with blink and you have a snare utility on your hands. But, it is unfortunately your heal too.
But the upside of mantra heal regarding the rune over other heals is that it has the same ICD as the rune, and best part of it, once the mantra is ready, the rune proc is insta cast, other heals proc the rune right after the channel i.e ether feast.
