Hey All,
Probably a silly question. I’ve always run mesmer condi builds, always loved them. Love shatter but nothing like a good condi.
Does playing in PvE seem viable to run a condi chrono with phantasm focus?
so like either Inspiration/Illusion/Chrono or say Dueling/illusion/Chrono. If so what would you recommend for weapons for both options?
Cheers.
Short answer: yes.
Long answer: careful, you might start another “viable” argument.
Open-world: condi is very viable.
Dungeons: meta is alacrity chronomancer, what you bring after that is just gravy. You can run condi if you want, and you’ll be just fine. There’s a solid argument in power’s favor, but since your personal dps is supplementary, and condi dps is decent, you’ll be fine. The only exception is reflect-heavy paths, where Assassins will dramatically outperform, and condi-hostile paths (like some Arah paths).
Raids: See Dungeons.
If you do roll condi in dungeons, though, absolutely use Sinister gear over the traditional Rabid. Not only does rabid make you more of an aggro target, but you need the extra power in order to damage objects (like graveling burrows). Fun fact: objects can’t be crit, so Sinister technically does the same damage as Power (minus trait/rune/sigil bonuses).
For a trait setup, I’d say Dueling/Illusions/Chrono is not optional. iDuelist is the only competitive condi phantasm, and that requires Dueling. Illusions is obv necessary for the shatter condis, and chrono is part of your premise (and is why you’re being brought in the dungeon anyway).
For weapons, I’d recommend Scepter/Pistol+Staff. If you want to go heavier into support, swap pistol for shield and use Staff clones/shatters as your primary condi application, swapping to shield to Tides of Time the raid.
For open-world PvE, condi Staff is one of the best soloing weapons in the game. I have so far managed to solo every champ I’ve come across in the HoT zones with my staff, sometimes even under reasonable trash mob pressure (heavy trash mobs makes it really tough). For dungeons/raids, staff clones are a much-needed backup in case your phantasms keep drawing aggro and getting squished, and staff is an essential defensive weapon if you’re relying on pistol instead of shield (since you lost all those defensive traits from Chaos).
For gear I’m still recommending Sinister, as it combines all the best stats (power for objects, precision for reflects, condi because you’re a condi build). I haven’t played around with Viper yet, but it’s possible Viper will outperform (especially with the nerf to condi duration food), though your reflects will be even weaker on it. Maybe a mix would be good.
For Runes, top competitors are Nightmare (with a Rampagers Orb in the 6th slot) and Berserker. More accessible options (read: cheap) are Undead and Krait, but do your math before you use them, because Krait might be overfilling on your condi duration and Undead won’t be netting you as much extra condi damage without Rabid gear.
Nightmare was the uncontested winner for Sinister before HoT in my opinion, but that 5%/5% from Berserker is…really tasty (fyi, the 5% damage affects reflects like Scholar does, but without the 90% health requirement that Scholar does).
