Guild Wars 2

I’m playing as a condition chronomancer using rabid gear. I’m finally getting better with the build I’m using, so I’m thinking I might drop some of the toughness on my armour and pick up something else for more dps. What armour stats would you guys recommend?

Condition damage and crit rate are a must.

Game mode? If in PVE, use Viper. Other modes, don’t know.

Oh yeah sorry, pve (pretty important detail). I’ll look into viper

Sinister is a more clear trade-off with Rabid, so it’s easier to get used to. But Viper is a strong competitor, no question.

To be more clear, I should point out that you can’t really get more condition damage than you can with Rabid (maybe Dire, with a tuning crystal, but eh). So any tradeoff of durability for damage will be to add some power into your mix for direct damage.

That said, Viper might be the closest thing condi has to pure glass. It loses precision (less bleeds) and some condition damage, but gains condition duration and a strong amount of power. It’s possible that the condi duration will outweigh the lost condi damage in raw power, but no one’s done the math on that yet.

There is a post in pvp that the new amulets, including Viper’s, that has concentration or expertise do not have the boons/conditions increase actually applied, respectfully. The tooltips and stats show the increase, but the actual result doesn’t. I heard a fix in on the way, but no ETA of it. Hopefully very soon.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/New-stats-on-new-amulets-do-not-work/first#post5647319

Edit: Just tested with Confusing Images on a random mob in Dragon’s Stand. With 59 expertise + Signet of Midnight, I have 23.93% condition duration and it suppose to give the skill 11 seconds of confusion, but it still shows 10 secs on the target.

AlphatheWhite.9351:

To be more clear, I should point out that you can’t really get more condition damage than you can with Rabid (maybe Dire, with a tuning crystal, but eh). So any tradeoff of durability for damage will be to add some power into your mix for direct damage.

That said, Viper might be the closest thing condi has to pure glass. It loses precision (less bleeds) and some condition damage, but gains condition duration and a strong amount of power. It’s possible that the condi duration will outweigh the lost condi damage in raw power, but no one’s done the math on that yet.

Somebody has.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

AlphatheWhite.9351:

To be more clear, I should point out that you can’t really get more condition damage than you can with Rabid (maybe Dire, with a tuning crystal, but eh). So any tradeoff of durability for damage will be to add some power into your mix for direct damage.

That said, Viper might be the closest thing condi has to pure glass. It loses precision (less bleeds) and some condition damage, but gains condition duration and a strong amount of power. It’s possible that the condi duration will outweigh the lost condi damage in raw power, but no one’s done the math on that yet.

Somebody has.

You said yourself in your OP that you didn’t actually do the math comparing the two on condi dps :P
But more importantly, a Rabid playstyle tends to rely heavily on Sharper Images, which is raw crit-fueled. My point was that it is easiest to swap in Sinister pieces, because nothing changes on the crit front, you’re just swapping some durability and secondary condi damage for power.

In the end, your assessment that mixing Viper and Sinister so you exactly hit the duration cap is likely best is correct. My pre-HoT build was sitting at about 95% condi duration, so I’ll be swapping in enough Vipers to get 25% condi duration, enough to make up for the nerf to food and the last 5%.

Shatter builds are actually sitting in an even easier position regarding Viper/Sinister, as the 33% confusion duration trait makes it easier to hit cap on the condis you actually use.

In the end though, it’s gonna take full-build math to really determine what the best mix is. As you say, you can start taking alternatives at various points. Might Signet of Domination outperform Signet of Midnight if you have Viper? Or Bursting outperform Malice? Or Earth outperform both?
Etc.

Edit: all this said with the understanding that Viper is currently not actually working :P