I never liked much the condi meta, not enough apparents synergies.
But now the tool specialization make all sense, since toolkit and rocketboot are strong skills with condi attacks, and scrapper complete it nicely as it provide strong defensive options (mitigation, protection, stability, stealth) which fill the remainings slots.
Why take scrapper in a condi build now ? for me core engi condi now is better also for spvp . With your build you don’t have alchemy but alchemy in my opinion is stronger than scrapper in a condi setup ( only snake gyro is relevant imho in scrapper for a condi setup ) . With new gadgeteer trait you can play core engi builds in spvp much easily using aed now .
Just for comparison, on my current build with basically 0 healing power..
Healing Turret (20s cooldown):
2500 heal, 400 regen (shared)
2500 overcharge (shared), 650 regen (shared)
1300 detonate blast (shared)
+ 800 regen Regenerating Mist (shared)
1300 blast on regen mist (shared)
So if I added that up right, it’s 9450 heal per 20s, almost 7k of it shared.
AED (24s cooldown):
12300 heal.
If you scale AED’s heal-per-second to 20s rather than 24, you get 10250 heal per 20s.
IMO, even traited it’s not NEARLY worth the risk of death or the lack of team support for an extra 800 heal per 20s.
U have to consider the condi clean aspect of AED. I am not saying it is better, i am saying that it opens to different builds. I played condi engi with wanderer / rabid a lot in last seasons and going against a condi necro or a condi mesmer was a pain. Now with A.ED. on 24 secs it is not easy but it is much easier than before.
I think meta will remain scrapper with ht as usual for now but i think that A.E.D. now is a viable alternative if you don’t want or you can not take another strong condi remove ( purge gyro or elixir C ) for condi builds .
For me, now , with rabid or wanderer core engi AED is better than HT , not for all engineer builds ….. but for core engi builds it is better and it is something finally new .
Shield doesn’t need any changes. It’s probably the best one aside from chronomancer’s in the game. The only reason it isn’t used in PvP or WvW is because the main hand pistol is just about the worst weapon at our disposal.
Shield isn’t used anywhere.
I’ll repeat myself for emphasis: The only reason it isn’t used in PvP or WvW is because the main hand pistol is just about the worst weapon at our disposal.
I don’t find Pistol main hand so bad especially for spvp. I play usually condi with p/P and it does not seems to me bad . What in my opinion was the real problem of condition engineer was that it was hard with rabid or wanderer to survive to a condi burst for the low health pool. Now with reduce cd on AED i find much more easy to play condi engi
There is no condi meta . As u can see easily from here : https://metabattle.com/wiki/Conquest
on 9 classes only 2 classes in meta use a condi hybrid amulet. And they are hybrid becouse they uses direct damage and condi damage togegher. Full condi builds ( for example the ones based on rabid and wanderer ) are not viable at all for the complete lack of vitality. try them if you don’t belive it .
In higher tiers where people know some stuff about rotations, class matchups, class roles, etc… Then I do believe that a thief or a mes can be extremely effective. But in lower tiers players are like little robots. They always do the same, and never listen. Winning the first mid fight will give you a 70% winrate in bronze and silver imho.
I don’t agree, mesmer can be really effective in low ranks becouse you can add mobility to bunkering. You can win 1 vs 1, you can help midfights and have a little bit of bunkering ( much more than a thief ) and on the same time , if you play smarty with portal you can outrotate your enemy team. I am not saying that mesmer is op or that but i am saying that in lower tiers it can be really effective. For example , if i don’t cap close i let portal down at start so that if team dies on mid i can try to go far to decap or help mid, just for saying a stupid example .
it is not more effective with sword shield as in spvp ? scepter creates clone at the 3rd attack with with sword you can create a clone immediatly with sword 3. And with scepter staff you have 2 range weapon …
In my opinion here it is a little different. There are classes which are really good only in an organized team other less.
Mesmer meta for example is one of the best soloing class of the game becouse it is strong in 1vs 1, it has mobility , it can also bunker a bit (shield , sword 2 , distortion let you survive a bit ) and it can also give a little support with its aoe healing and heal on shatter. It is not the best probably in any of them but when you go alone you can try easily to adapt to your team. Mender Scrapper is on the same spot… great support, good damage and good bunkering ( no mobility) … so you can try to put what your team misses. On the other end in your example elementalist is only an heal machine so it is quite obviouse that in solo it is much harder . Probably one should try to modify build based on the team composition in that case but other builds are not that great
How many condi build do you see in high level except mesmer and some necro ? tell me. … how many condi guardia, condi warrior, condi ele, condi engi , condi thief do you count ? if u play something different than mesmer and you are a little bit good the power version is better . I play condi engi for fun a lot in spvp and in wvw. … ok it is fun but if i want to win I usually take mender or paladin scrapper … and i do the same with mesmer … if i want to have fun i play power, if i want to win i play condi … .give us some numbers instead of complaing on
Condi is broken,its easymode cheese play that people can play with one hand,what more do you want to know ?
How many condi build do you see in high level except mesmer and some necro ? tell me. … how many condi guardia, condi warrior, condi ele, condi engi , condi thief do you count ? if u play something different than mesmer and you are a little bit good the power version is better . I play condi engi for fun a lot in spvp and in wvw. … ok it is fun but if i want to win I usually take mender or paladin scrapper … and i do the same with mesmer … if i want to have fun i play power, if i want to win i play condi … .give us some numbers instead of complaing on
the only real effective condi build , as list in spvp is mesmer, for all the other 8 profession power builds are better than condi ones so i don’t really see where condi builds are too strong .
Huh, the build feels like we traveled back in time hehe.
Yes and i can ensure you that it works better than what you can think. If you use the tools you have you can do quite well also in 1 vs 1 . Obviously meta mender is better … ok .. .but for me hammer is too boring.
It has less damage than standard becouse it has not ft but of ft i love only the toolbet skill which has a huge cold down. Instead i find the couple toolkit + eg really strong for survivability. it is not strong as mender scrapper but i am using it till now in gold and i am quite happy.
I find this build amazing and it can have really good survivability . The idea is to spam crate toolbet skill every time it is ready. It is strong and i have quite often top healing .
( eg 5, crate toolbet , ht ) togegher are strong.
Also traited toolkit is quite underrated imho for a core engi setup. magnet is not reliable but when you learn to look at terrain you can use it and it is also an interrupt skill. it is not like hammer, obviously , but it is not bad at all .
When there are 2 necro usually i switch to mesmer , but that another story and i switch becouse against 2 necro especially condi, i don’t like to fight them also with mender scrapper .
Scrapper is the best all around and it’s also very hard to +1 since it has passive s and insane sustain.Disenchanter Mesmerv engi is a interesting matchup tho and it can go either way but it’s engi favor.
Also rev doesn’t beat menders engi if you play well.And even if u struggle in them at matchup,your rev is winning the teamfight and your thief can 1shot that rev at any time.
Perhaps mender scrapper is the strongest class for 1vs 1, i play it too since season 2 but in contest i find mesmer more effective, especially if in the team there is no other chronomancer.
Scrapper has low mobility in map so it is hard to 1 vs 1 against it but it is quite easy to outrotate . Meta chrono is really strong, it has a really good survivability with sage amulet and it has much better mobility ( but i understand that the question was about 1vs1 and about conquest ) and it is strong in 1vs 1 . For me i usually play scrapper mender, i switch to mesmer in 2 cases :
– 2 necro in other team becouse i find easier to survive to condi burst with mesmer
– none on my team has good mobility … i find mobility a strong plus in conquest
I add a question. WHen you play dire, do you use scepter or sword ? I began playing scepter /torch staff but for 1vs 1 many time i prefer sword shield staff. Scepter sometime seems to me weak even if in a fulll condi setup it should be better. Any advise ?
Snake gyro is not that resolutive tool. it is strong but a good player does not see you but he sees the gyro. So he can destroy it or he can also “try” to imagine where you are with aoe. I am not say that it is not strong but , for condi P/P i prefer to take tools + traited toolkit and elixir S rather than scrapper trait line becouse , for me, the only thing that scrapper put on the table in a condi setup is snake gyro, tools gives you a reliable block every 13,5 secs , speed , shorter cd on toolbet skills and , with kynetic battery double stealth or moa if you get used to it . Also Elixir X is quite important imho with condi becouse it helps you a lot against classes with strong condi remove like ele . For condi p/p i find elixir X really important … i’d say that elixir X > crate > snake gyro in a condi setup. Obviously you lose function gyro … I also find that crate can be really good , especially when you get used to put down it’s toolbet skill before starting a fight and every time it is ready. I find it strong .. a more heal every minute is not that bad at all ,for me it is underrated .
Even against a strong condi bomber ? I play scrapper meta and mesmer meta but there are some situation in which i find scrapper easier… other i find condi mesmer easier, especially good condi necro …
People knock the build diversity here, but it’s much better than PvP. In PvP, you are really limited in what you can do due to the nature of Conquest. Your builds, first of all, must have elite specs. Otherwise, your loss is assured. Second, your builds revolve around capture points: whether it’s decap, bunker, mid fights. Everything you do is in relation to points.
WvWs problem is as in PvP, elite specs and conditions. Also, there are some broken stats, dire/trailblazer. Even so, WvW allows you to run what you want, provided it helps you and your small group or zerg to survive and not be a walking loot bag.
I used to be an alarmist about WvW, but I’m enjoying it more and more each day.
If you delete dire/trabalizer you have also to eliminate power stat like soldier or settler or cleric ( as it has been done in spvp ) . There are power build much more unbalanced than trabalizer or dire. There are warriors or guardians who hit like trucks and have a lot of active defense ,regen and toughness. I agree with you that there are balanced problem , but it can not be only on trabalizer/dire becouse “i don’t play it” .. if you want to balance you have to balance all the stats … not only what you don’t like
There is a huge different u forgot. PVP is balanced. Every people has access to the same stats … no food , no ascended .. nothing. It is a balance fight 5 vs 5 and you start with the same tools as your opponents … wvw is a mess where there are a lot of unbalanced builds. Someone who buy this game now, after the starting matches of pvp ( rank 20 , if i remember right ) can then go to ranked and tournament and have the same instruments of other people …. for wvw it is not the same … there are power warrior for example in wvw really strong… not unkillable but really hard to take down … in spvp it is completely another story … if u make great damage you also eat great damage …
I really not pick FT for dmg but for nice burst TB and CC. This build make angry many enemies and even more my team mates.. they (both) expect power scrapper and don’t want see something different. No matter if we win , how many top stats I have (usually top dmg, revives and offense). This build suit to me more better then power scrapper and more then thief. So, why are ppl too much salty? Idk, I only know that you can be good player without meta and this build is one example.
I love p/p gameplay and i don’t like scrapper hammer. The real problem is that hammer scrapper is stronger than P/P . with p/p ( scrapper or not) it is hard to win if there are condi spammers on other team and if you meet a team with an ele ( a good one) he can nullify your damage. Also a mender scrapper with eg 5 and 3 can reduce your damage on the team … with hammer you have project reflection and block for free… it is really a huge vantage . After nerf to bulk gyro i am playing scrapper hammer with eg , 2 elixirs and snake gyro. I don’t like it but it is terribly strong in 1vs 1 if you time your elixirs well ( i usually use elixir B+U) or if there are 2 necro i switch to C+U … you can hit hard with paladin or also with mender amulet … and you last on a point much more than with P/P and this game is a conquest game… the more you stay on point the more point you get .
Against good players i think that core P/P with traited toolkit is better than scrapper condi becouse at least you have a block. Toolkit is not good as hammer but it is not bad at all and it saved my life so many times …
Condi works, but IMO it’s not a ranked-viable build.
You can put out some very good condi burst, but there are drawbacks.
not enough sustain to sit on a point under pressure like scrapper, so you have to play off point and surrender the cap more often than you’d like. This is a big deal in a point capture game.
reflect is annoying (especially on pistol 3).
You can’t touch certain builds until you exhaust their condi cleanse/resist. This can take too long. Eg. Warrior pops berserker stance. They will die, but not until they force you off point for 12s.
Also, I’m not a fan of FT. You have enough burn from Blowtorch and IP. I’d rather take Grenade Kit for more cover condi and more sustained aoe ranged pressure.
Defense slot, I use Rocket Boots (because the damage is good in this build, and you need to gtfo pretty often) or Purge Gyro for team support and aoe pressure.
Overall, I find this build racks up kills, but doesn’t hold a point well – fills the same role as thief, but without the mobility.
True pietro , inventions and alchemy is great sustain but I find that this sustain is still joke and if you not offer some team support which function gyro offer , you sinking your team. For example I kill with core engi necro on point and incoming enemy DH, Rev and my mate. They downed my mate – I start ressing him in stealth but rev ress necro. Then we face 2v3 and that was a loose. Another similiar scenario where I run condi scrapper end better -> I safe stomp (can’t remember class) and fun gyro ressing cleaving downed mate. So we end 2v2 and our thief +1 us. Thats why I recommend pick scrapper any time if you want win.
FT is need i think. I hate this kit but it offer nice blast finisher with burning, cool CC which help my fun gyro stomp many players and instant aoe blind. Looking for sustain like power scrapper have is pointless. Scrappestill have good def skills on hammer which condi engi don’t have. So I change playstyle more common to thief play. Platinum T 3 now
when i try to use ft usually i die …. it is a problem of mine and not of the kit but i really hate it …
I really love P/P gamestyle and i don’t like hammer playstyle. In my opinion scrapper condi is weaker than core condi. The reason is simple … if you play scrapper condi you can take firearms, invention, scrapper or firearm alchemy scrapper but invention + alchemy is one of the reason of meta sustain so, for me at least alchemy invention is quite a must and i find alchemy invention firearm the best setup for condi spammer
I also don’t like Flamethrower and i am having great success with this build . It is a “turret” build and i find it really strong : http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQJAqalUUh2tYVVwKw6FLsFlYHNFPB4HeiBQ4SdRxGA-TJRAwABeAAx2focZAAnAAA
I find now flame turret really strong ( the only usefull turret for me… i call it turret build as a joke ) , especially with pistol 5. I also love F5 with crate, i use it on point ""before" starting a fight and whenever is ready and i have quite often top healer … for a build with a really strong damage. I don’t use ft becouse i am not able to use it and becouse for staying alive, for me , eg 4 for outplacing is quite mandatory especially against warriors and dh or melee classes
i hate scrapper gameplay even if the sustain of meta is great … mender scrapper is really “unkillable” but i don’t like that gameplay and i have not fun with it so i play something different. Usually i play core engi condi , now i am in gold but when there are 2 ele for example on other team i switch to this troll build . It is really troll and it is not that great in 1vs 1 … (even if i win quite often in 1 vs 1 it is not the best for that) but it is great fun in teamfight … the idea is to take stability … spam a lot of bomb on point and then runaway … the couple rifle bomb in my opinion has good damage and it is quite fun but obviously it is not a tournament build. In many matches, at least at my level it works and it is fun.
i am playing in gold with 2 different build , one condition pistol pistol and other with bomb and rifle and elixirs. it is a different way of play but after the nerf to sigil i can say it is viable . The great advantage of scrapper is that in 1 vs 1 you can hold the point.. with other builds, even if you win the fight usually you are not decapped. I find for example fire turret really good in condition builds … The real problem is that if you want to last a bit you need alchemy and invention so it is hard for example to take toolkit with i love really much
New arena is really a great add on . I love it . You can use it in many ways … for testing… for learning… for training … it is a great way to try your weakness and you build
I just want to share my opinion, on what i think could make WvW great and fun again.
…………
Hope someday WvW will become how it should be.
Thank you for reading and bless you.
In my opinion you don’t consider what player base likes . GvG is dead and it interests only to a little part of players.
WvW is for the most formed from 2 kind of players :
pve mostly oriented players who loves to go togegher in zerg and to fight in great blobs in which you target as many enemy as you can behind a commander and more oriented pvp players which usually prefer roaming and balanced fights .
This are 2 different ways of playing … roaming builds are quite often optimization for wvw of the PVP builds while in zerg quite everything can work … ( the numbers make the differences ) . I don’t see much space for gvg becouse it seems to me that only a little part of players has interest in it . I don’t like zerging and usually i roam alone in enemy maps but i see that the greatest part of players like going in a blob so i can understand why anet ignores completely GVG. Probably they could have modified obsidian sanctum with not much work for gvg but they did not waste time on it becouse the big part of players don’t care on it. Till some monthes ago i thought that the way was to force blob to split becouse i like roaming but i understood i was wrong. People love zerg and love to fight 50 vs 50 or also 120 vs 50 …. so , wisely , anet let them do it . What you want is different from what the most part of players want… and anet wisely takes care of the major of the players. forgive me for my bad english
I can login, i can select a character but after that i can not go on. It loads the loading screen of hotm but then it remain there…. for minutes …. is PVP broken ?
IN my opinion you are doing a mistake. If you have to reroll with 2 thieves it is becouse 2 thieves in a team don’t work if other team is not bad or not at the same skill level. So if you think to substitute a thief with something that do the same … , not better than thief … you probably will end having worse resault. If there is no condi mesmer in , in my opinion , rolling to meta mesmer can be a good choice becouse you have good mobility and you can also bunkering a point for a bit. What is not good of having 2 thieves is that your team will be in trouble in holding point so in my opinion the choice should go on a class which can hold . If there are not healers you can chose ele or druids or mender scrapepr ( well played can change the matches ) , if there are already you can go dh, necro, mesmer, warr. The real important thing is to switch to something you can play well …
Ya I’ve noticed this too. Good druids shouldn’t die in 1v1’s, period, If they do it’s because they are being murked in a 2v1, or 3v1 by a necro and/or thief.
The rangers I’ve seen die in seconds in 1v1’s, or in team fights…in plat games. it blows my mind. I’ve also seen a lot of condi trap rangers lol.
I had a bad night yesterday, nearly a 15 game loss streak, fell from plat to gold 3. Some games i felt like it was impossible to carry because the opposing team was decent, while my team wipes to a single burn guard or something ridiculous like that.
Another thing i observed is that the quality of matches drop down greatly from friday evening to sunday evening. In the week end at least silver, is a truly nighmare.
It seems that the population raises but there are much more players with no clue on what to do . I don’t complain on them but when you see people dieing in mid in less then 5 seconds there is something wrong.
thanks for little buffing in mesmer and engineer. It is always a polite thing to do something to all other classes except on 2 . I really liked it . Thanks .
i DON’T CARE WHAT ANYBODY SAYS. That place of no return is real!
I literally got down to g 1 and was afraid to play any more for fear of getting-into Silver…it is quite literally…a one way ticket down the ranks.
People mocked me for being Bronze/Silver last season…placed G3. yeah sure.
I have over 2k hours…I think. There’s just no way…but I did skip a few seasons sooooo.
Silver has more afkers, more bad players in general. The people who speak against it haven’t been there. I’ve come close to platinum…but meh.
Yes silver is really hard becouse you have some good player, at least normal player and a lot of terrible players. It is completely random. I am not speaking about ESL or top players but at least people which don’t start capping 2 on close ( it happens often to me ) and people who don’t run as an idiot rally bot 1 vs 3 on mid or elsewhere. Atleast learn to wait your teams. If there is one with 5% of the health against 3 running there alone is meaningless.
Another thing strange i see is that it is now full of terrible rangers. Rangers which die in seconds and not do damage at all. I have not idea which builds are they using .
I don’t know if it is a problem of mmr or of players. When your team is below some skills it is really really impossible to play … quite often the matchmaking system put 1 or 2 or 3 terrible players on the same team and “decent” players on the other so you can do anything . I think that there is only 2 real important metrics that people should observe in low tiers…. how many times you die and in how much time. If you are wiped in seconds in lower tiers where usually people don’t focus you have a great problem… you are using the wrong build or you are using it in the wrong way .
thief is the fastest but mesmer has his card to play : group mobility with portal and mesmer offers more for bunkering and supporting than thief (its aoe heal can be really helpfull and also regen on shatter or moa) . For a team i think you need both … for roaming solo i prefer mesmer becouse it is more versatile .
I am just shocked they had Rev. Would raver have extra Rng thf or mesmer lol
I don’t play rev but probably it is a matter of role. I would not take 2 thieves in any case.
I’d prefer to have 2 mesmer or another profession rather than 2 thieves …
Ok, I am sick and tired of afkers and dcers screwing up my PvP. Especially in the placement phase.
I lost a match today in placement because this yay hoo decided that we were gonna lose, and the )(&%$$ proceeded to sit out most of the match in the spawn. And imagine that.. we lost.
There NEEDS to a be a sharp, stinging, NASTY penalty for these (*&%## individuals. I recall last season some yay hoo doing the same thing, and taunting the team that we could go ahead and report him, nothing was going to happen.
Suggestion 1: Any player receives 30 reports by other players needs to be reviewed. Yes, this is more work for Arena Net people. But verification needs to be done to check for yay hoos making bad reports. After review, if the afk or dc pattern is confirmed, that player is banned from PvP for one week. No appeal.
Suggestion 2: False or bad reports earn you the same punishment as the afker. Say after 10 or 15 bad reports.
Suggestion 3: All PvPers NEED to be encouraged to make reports, even if they are not on the affected team. If all nine active players from one match report a dc or afk, then that will make Arena Net’s job MUCH easier and hasten the dismissal of unwanted afkers.
Suggestion 4: If afk/dc behavior continues after the first ban, and another 30 reports confirm that, then that player should be banned for the REST of the Current Season. Again, no appeal.
Suggestion 5: This new policy needs to be spammed to all players emails by Arena Net. In fact, it should be spammed two or three times over the course of two weeks. That way NO body will be able to whine or gripe (legitimately) when they get banned from PvP for being a (*^@#$$.
nuff said.
You can punish people if you put a surrender button. Why should i jump down to let me kitten d in every way when a match is already lost ? When you start a match and your team is wiped in 30 secs or less every time and you are 35-350 why on the earth have i to jump down ? also if i die at 360 -480 what is the meaning to jump down ?
It is not going afk , it is realizing that match is lost and accepting it
I agree with you only with a condition plus : put a surrender button. It is unsuefull to jump down when my team is 50-350 …. or also when it is 350 -480 …. so it depends on what you are complain on. Many people go afk when a match is already a sure loss … and without a surrender button is something that i find correct .
Mesmer and thief are quite balanced in spvp . Mesmer is really strong but on the other hand it requires mechanical skills … it is not so easy to use effectly. Thief requires map awarness. If you play thief in teamfight as a warrior or a guardian … you will not have any result against a decent opponent . it is all different in wvw in which for roaming , mesmer and thief are really really strong, op if you want, for stats ( dire + trabalizer for mesmer ) , food and mobility , but in spvp i find them balanced becouse they are not immediate to learn and for mesmers there are no dire stats so you have to pay attention to direct damage much more. In wvw infact, imho, scepter mesmer is really strong, better than sword one with full dire/trab and no power … in spvp you have 2k power so sword shield is better. Mesmer for soloing in spvp , imho , is better than thief becouse it is more versatile … ( can do better in teamfight, have a good mobility ( not like thief ) with portal and can go 1 vs 1 … )
Looks like a fun set up and I’ll mess around with it a bit in unranked, but I have a feeling that Mender Scrapper is the likeliest candidate of what I’ll play next season.
it is new “troll” meta… better for nothing but great fun … and if you put down your combo well , with minefield and rifle turret now you can have a lot of fun and kill … obviously it is not the new tournament meta…. it is the new troll meta becouse if you lose against a core engi with 2 gadgets , 2 turrets , gadgetteer and rifle …. what is there worst on earth ? Probably seriously i would not take gadgetteer … but in this build it is great even if trash … the last piece over the trash cake (next season probably i will not play engi )
Anet modified turrets. In this “new” meta we have the best of the engi : rifle, turrets, gadget … the strongest thing. I don’t think you will see this build in competitive levels but i can ensure you it is fun and it is "in some way " viable. Now putting down a rifle turret on a mine in static discharge build is not bad at all …
how many class play conditions and how many power ? …. condition is used as meta on 2 class on 9 i think … ( mesmer and rev …. ) some other classes can use it but are not meta… there would be a reason …
Damage nerfs were small compared to other professions. Their damage is overtuned, as with mesmer. Have fun in season 6 getting zerged all game and not knowing what hit you.
Mesmer has been hit really hard in survivability and in damage also. It is true that they buffed something but the great nerf to illusionary reversion is something that bring down damage and sustain making shattering more hard …
Even with the buffs to sword 4 and scepter 2 and huge damage of scepter 3 and fast illusion generation… I still prefer staff because it plays a lot “smoother”.
Phase retreat is such a powerful mobility skill that even though the rest of the weapon is mediocre it’s still beneficial to use.
Staff is mandatory indeed but with illusionary reversion nerf, in my opinion , the way to go is staff / sword sword ….. or if someone like it , staff/scepter torch. The reason is that with staff 3 , sword 5 or torch 5 you create 2 illusions and with a clone ( for example sword 3 or scepter autoattach you can have 2 shatters of 3 illusions in a row ….Sword offhand has also low cd with meta so you have phantasmal spawn, block and regen ( from shatter ) quite easily . I know that shield skills are better but , in this situation of trait, i find sword offhand more rewarding ( i literally hate the look of double swords … )
The real problem is that if you want to last a bit you need alchemy and invention so it is hard for example to take toolkit with i love really much