Guild Wars 2

This profession is really pretty cool. Every time I get bored, because I feel I’ve tried all possible builds, I end up find some “new” build that is enjoyable to me. (Note: Someone probably has had the idea before, or a similar build, and in that case more power to you!)

I’ve played lock-down builds before, and generally they haven’t been my cup ‘o tea. I’ve played a lot of interrupt focused builds as well, and they can be quite fun for sure, but I always ended up back at the classics of PU power/condi or shatter builds when I end up getting by butt handed to me.

The thought occurred to me when fighting a condie Necro and sigh getting caught again by the old Condie-dump=>Fear combo. "Wait!? We can do that! " And thus this build idea was born, and it ended up working far better then I had imagined. I didn’t think we could compete on the condie-dump part, but we have a boat-load more Lockdown to compensate.

I also never gave Confounding Suggestions the credit that it is due. I often felt that I couldn’t punish players enough during our relatively short —albeit frequent-- lockdowns, but with Condie rather then Power focus, I feel this works quite well. I also underestimated the “tanky-ness” you can achieve in 1v1 and 1v2 due to lock-downs. Thieves especially are having a really hard time dealing with me in this build. (but I’m doing very well in 1v1 against all professions, generally speaking.)

Here is the build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fhAQNAsaWl0npGtNoxRNcrNSpxcqrIdAPUQpPp8GA-TJhHwAo3fAwpAAZZgAPBAA

Important Features:
- Boonstrips from Shatters and Sword Clones, VERY important to this build as Stability is your biggest enemy.
- Ridiculous lockdown from 3x Power Lock, 3s Stun from Signet of Domi, F3 Shatter, Chaos Storm, and Pistol #5. I’ve had quite a few people complain about not being able to fight back most of the fight. Some were quite angry! :-)
- Geomancy Sigils are IMO important to this build to help with condie-burst, but Doom would probably also jive well in 1v1. (I wanted more AoE damage though.)
- Halting Strike might well be worth trying out even with low POW, over Crippling Dissipation.
- I chose Travelers runes over Balthazaar, because I value combat mobility very highly, but I’ve tried Balthazaar as well and the AoE Condie-burst is naturally noticeably stronger!

The play-style is pretty fast and furious, without the pauses that PU/stealth builds generally provide. I suggest having a good hotkey for your Power Locks, because interrupting important opponent actions is definitely part of the skill involved in playing this build well. (Which is why I really should try HS, cuz I usually get a lot of interrupts.) Always have an eye out for Stability, but otherwise it’s all about getting your condie-burst out as fast as you can, and then chain locking your opponent out of being able to deal with those conditions and/or mounting a counter-offense.

It’s also a pretty good team build, because all the stuns and other lock downs really provide good synergy with the higher burst DPS professions in your group. Although you’re not really a bunker, you can bunker down very well against 1 or 2 opponents, without stealthing and thus giving up the point.

The last thing to re-iterate is how incredibly frustrating it is to face this build in 1v1 or even 1v2. Most opponents spend up to 50% of the fight being locked down, and having most of their best attacks & utilities interrupted.

Enjoy!

why would you play with condition gear?
I have this trait build for a while but with power gear.
Anyway, having mesmers in your team, is not an advantage, playing mesmer require more skill than most of ppl have. I advice them to play war ham bow or bunker condi.
Playing condition and power together is not efficient, at all: most of people bring dispell and your dd is not powerfull enough.

It’s a condie/lockdown build, and a pretty critical part is the fairly underrated Confounding Suggestions trait that plays a very critical role in this build. Also, between Interrupts and Dazes, you will load up a lot of Vulnerability and that makes the DD a larger part then I had imagined actually. Although, the point of this build is certainly not DD, but Condie damage & locking your opponent down…forcing him to eat those Condies.

I don’t play Condition & Power together, just because I invest into a Power line. It also has condie-duration, lots of Vuln stacking, CD, and extemely vital boonstrip shatters, on top of CS.

You’re kinda missing the whole point of the build, but thanks for your input. Try it out, might surprise you too as it did me.