Remaking Chronophantasma PVP Mesmer in WvW
That condi damage is really, really low.
I’d rather swap all that soldier’s gear out for more Dire or Carrion.
Hey I appreciate the feedback! So do you think I should just straight ignore the power stat? I know the build in pvp is largely a hybrid damage build which is what I was trying to copy. I know it’s impossible to get those same stats in WvW, so I tried to do my best to get as close as possible. Also which of the two rune sets would be the better choice? Thanks again!
Yeah it’s a tradeoff.
There is no Mercenary gear for wvw yet as far as I know (thank goodness because that would be scary), so there must be a tradeoff of either Power or Toughness/Vitality.
Given survivability is more important than a little extra direct damage (especially given you will rarely crit and the crit will be very low damage), I’d say it is better to focus more on condi damage.
You could mix up some Carrion and Dire, at the expense of toughness, but I haven’t much experience in knowing if that is worth it or not.
If you drop Sword and take Scepter (which I think is better in wvw because it’s more open field so iLeap kiting isn’t as useful as in the pvp maps, and it’s only really Blurred Frenzy for survival – but it’s not mandatory) then you can drop power entirely and go full Dire (or Trailblazer mix, but I don’t know which is optimal out of those two stats).
Undead runes are fine – a great cheap option, as are Scavenger runes (the lifesteal is quite nice to have). Otherwise if you take Scepter then Tormenting is a solid choice as well, although expensive.
Good stuff man – I was thinking the same thing, if I was to go the pure condition route I should probably use scepter. So taking all that advice in, how does the build below look? I don’t think I can get condition damage any higher (ignoring backpiece for now) without ascended or legendary, but I may be missing something.
As you say, with condi ascended backpiece and trinkets you could increase the damage more. Also things like Bursting sigils, but geomancy is good as well.
Personally I would rather use Restorative Mantras with Mantra of Recovery – but healing is a personal choice, it just so happens I’m not too fond of the Well of Eternity.
I would certainly take 1 stealth skill at the very least – either Decoy or Mass Invis – you need a gtfo card in wvw, and I don’t think Moa is useful solo roaming unless you’re in an organised group. Better to have additional survival.
Style (play):
If you go full conditions you essentially get a different build. The entire point of hybrid builds is to utilize the fact that they are hybrid and to draw on advantages in the context rather than in the stats. Alot of people seem to overlook that a 2k+ power build still packs quite a punch even without ferocity and that a hybrid build aims to build specifically around that – using a power base augmented by conditions rather than big crits – and specific mesmer mechanics like the phantasms that draw from base stats.
Stats (options):
That said, in order to close the stat gap from mercenary’s gear in PvP, WvW has access to things like stack sigils so I would strongly consider that, along with stronger runes (like nightmare). If you want clean stats the best combination is probably dire armor with soldier accessories. Like your build, that will net you slightly higher defensive stats than mercenary’s at slightly lower power/condi, but will keep you closer to the 2k/1.3k mark.
If you want to top up your stats I would consider giving up the dire (or di-rabid-) combinations and go soldier together with more offensive sets of weapons and armor, like sinister or viper. That will peak your offensive stats to about 2.2k/1.3k after stacks but also tweak up some condition duration goodies. Your defensive end will drop to 2.4k/21k but that is very similar to the mercenary’s stats.
Specifics (mode):
With all that said, the quad-hybrid chrono builds are among the better options for Mesmers at the moment (even in a WvW context, with all the elite specs’ big skills) but it still kind of lacks a role in WvW. The quad-hybrid is very specific to sPvP. For WvW you can roam with it and you can roam with a full defensive condi build too, but I would not recommend dropping too much power if you aim to run havoc with some friends etc. Then, a weak full power build or a highly powered hybrid still pulls the best role out of the context (the environment or meta).
Ed. I just read that you are looking for cheap and easily obtainable gear and while that is fair I think it is also fair to underline that the stat-difference is substantial and that was sort of the point of my comment here. It is possible to recreate Merc stats and to draw on some differences in the game mode to make an equally powerful build and later tweak it to adapt to the mode itself. However, true, that is not possible on an immidiate budget.
(edited by Subversion.2580)
Hey I really appreciate the long post, I read the whole thing and tried to merge your advice with what I was kinda looking to do. How does the following look (trying for that hybrid damage build). 2050 power with bloodlust stacks, 1800 condi damage with corruption stacks, 2400 toughness and 22.3k health. Not as much defense as I’d like but it should suffice with the massive amount of clones being spit out everywhere soaking up some damage. Let me know what you think, thanks!
Hey I really appreciate the long post, I read the whole thing and tried to merge your advice with what I was kinda looking to do. How does the following look (trying for that hybrid damage build). 2050 power with bloodlust stacks, 1800 condi damage with corruption stacks, 2400 toughness and 22.3k health. Not as much defense as I’d like but it should suffice with the massive amount of clones being spit out everywhere soaking up some damage. Let me know what you think, thanks!
With stacking sigils it’s one or the other. Whatever sigil you use then can use food/consumables to raise the other stat.