Guild Wars 2

Continuum Shift certainly isn’t something you use on a whim, as people have pointed out using it at the wrong time (which tends to be most of the time) can be detrimental. But used at the right time (and it’s not hard to judge what the right time is, really) it’s an absolute game-changer.

Remember that Continuum Split isn’t just about resetting CDs, it also resets your health and everything. So it’s a good way to give it all you’ve got for a few seconds knowing as long as you don’t die, you’ll be as good as new at the end while your enemies would’ve taken the full brunt of your reckless assault.

1.5s per Illusion is just about enough to do this. Any shorter and it will only be good for CDs.

ATM I primarily use F5 to drop Time Warp (I think you can get Time Warp every ~60s or so this way), or I’ll use it early in the fight and kamikaze into the fray (just don’t die, won’t save you if you die).

I think people who complain about F5 specifically being OP just don’t know how to counter it yet, specifically the fact that you can destroy the rift.

My feeling playing as a Condi Chrono is yes, Chronomancer is OP because of two things…
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1. Slow. Far too much access to Slow. If you build for it (GS with Danger Time and Lost Time) you can maintain 100% up-time of uncleansable Slow as well as 100% crit chance against your victims. I suggest that Lost Time should have an ICD instead of a counter system.
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2. Alacrity may be making Shatter cadence a bit too fast. With my build, which doesn’t use Improved Alacrity, I pretty much always have Mind Wrack, Cry of Frustration or Diversion ready to go, allowing me to inflict continuous packets of Torment and Confusion.

To be honest though I’m not sure if this is an issue as pretty much only condition builds can take full advantage of this, and condition Mesmers are hardly considered “meta”. So I would wait and see for this one.

Curunen.8729:

Trouble with Rabid in Inspiration/Illusions/Chrono is the precision is useless.

Sadly the pvp amulet selection is kitten, but I’d rather take Carrion in any case.

Thanks for your feedback on this trait selection – I am very much looking forward to playing it in the future, with minor adjustments.

Yeah that’s why I’m considering Carrion, but I really like Toughness especially with all the healing I’m getting. So I’m torn.

I’m kinda hoping they’d consider these now rather than saving them for the next Elite Spec. I don’t envision these being huge changes though, just minor stuff that makes them more reliable and interesting.

Misguided.5139:

Regular defender gets the cd reduction, but I haven’t tested the version from the trait.

The build I’ve been theorizing (and got to play today) has a much more aggressive power/Condi hybrid slant, substituting chaos for inspiration (bountiful disillusionment being the key) and making use of that with shattered strength to stack massive amounts of might

Seems like a pain to test, really… I hope the answer is yes though.

Are you using Rabid or Carrion for your build?

My Condi Chrono uses Sceptre/Shield. Check it out and tell me what you think.

So I’ve been playing a Condition Chronomancer and it’s been an absolute blast. This is my current build:
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INSPIRATION

• Restorative Mantras
• Restorative Illusions
• Mental Defence
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ILLUSIONS

• Persistence of Memory
• Maim the Disillusioned
• Malicious Sorcery
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CHRONOMANCER

• Time Catches Up
• Illusionary Reversion
• Chronophantasma
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WEAPONS

• Staff (Sigil of Leeching, Sigil of Energy)
• Sceptre (Sigil of Earth)
• Shield (Sigil of Bursting)
  .

SKILLS

• Mantra of Recovery
• Blink
• Mirror Images
• Portal
• Time Warp
  .

GEAR

• Rabid Amulet
• Runes of the Nightmare
  .

Offensive Strength: The combination of traits, illusion blocks and Alacrity more than compensates for the lack of Deceptive Evasion, and low Shatter CDs allows you to cycle between your three offensive Shatters almost non-stop. The cadence is so good I don’t even care if I’m not in melee range for Illusionary Persona, since my next burst of conditions is just seconds away.
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Defensive Strength: Constant Shattering means very regular healing and condition cleansing from Restorative Illusions. Generous use of illusion blocks further mitigates damage, and if things get a bit dicey you can switch to the always reliable Staff. Runes of the Nightmare help protect you from ambushes.

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Okay, so now to the “help me out” part. A few questions:
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• I took Malicious Sorcery because I spend most of my time in Sceptre-Shield, but that means I’m not taking Ineptitude… should I take that instead?

• I didn’t take Persistence of Memory because it doesn’t affect iAvenger, and it doesn’t seem worth it if only iWarlock benefits. I do however have iDefender from Mental Defence, but I’m unsure if it’s affected by Persistence… does anyone know? Persistence of Memory as well as Alacrity confirmed to affect Mental Defence.

• An obvious variation of this build would be Dueling (or maybe Chaos) instead of Inspiration. I went with Inspiration for easy condition cleansing (not to mention great heals), but that means I’m not getting the synergy between Precision and Condition Damage on the Rabid Amulet. The alternative is the Carrion Amulet, but I’m a bit iffy about not having any Toughness… do you think that’s a problem?

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Any feedback is welcome, and feel free to post your own builds and findings.

I’m surprised at how strong a Chrono-Condi Mesmer is. Currently I’m running Inspiration-Illusions-Chronomancy with Staff and Sceptre-Shield, and I can shatter non-stop thanks to great Shatter CD reduction and Illusion permanence with Reversion and Phantasma. I actually find myself staying in Sceptre-Shield as I simply don’t need the extra pressure from Staff Clones, the constant Shattering is pressure enough.

Question: does Persistence of Memory affect the CD of Mental Defence? And hopefully Avenger not being affected is a bug rather than WAI.

I only played one unranked match with this, but I feel a Lost Time + Danger Time + Imaginary Burden build could be very strong. You could permaslow and have 100% crit chance on one target.

First thing I noticed is Echo of Memory/Deja Vu is apparently not considered an Illusion skill for the purpose of traits. Illusionist’s Celerity doesn’t reduce its CD, neither does Persistence of Memory.

With Lost Time and Danger Time it is very possible to create a build with 100% Slow uptime on a target plus 100% crit chance. Haven’t tested this in actual combat yet but something to bear in mind.

tobascodagama.2961:

Just throwing another one out there: What if the pulses immobilise enemies for a short duration (<= 1s)? Less flavourful than getting yanked toward the centre, but it doesn’t interrupt/stun and affected enemies can still blink out. And it’s still a “gravity” effect, too.

Problem is you can’t dodge while Immobilised and the frequency means cleansing won’t give you a chance to dodge. Sort of the same issue with CC and stunbreakers.

Well we already have it in the Shield, which obviously cannot be part of any “Phant Spec”. Plus a spec that changes skills from all your existing weapons doesn’t seem like it would work. And besides, Chronomancer is basically the “Phant Spec” with Chronophantasma.

The idea is since we’re going to get it on the Shield, why not make it for everything. It’s more interesting that way and also makes them more reliable (specify a location for Warden, guaranteed cleanse with Disenchanter, predictable line of whirling with Berserker).

Hammerguard.9834:

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

As I always like to say when on the subject of conditions and whining; People just hate condition builds because they get to think about it before the conditions kill them.

Lol

That’s pretty true. IMO condition hate is primarily psychological, similar to how Thieves and Mesmers generate hate whether they’re OP or not because their defences rely on evading damage rather than facetanking it.

The main reason people hate condis is because they don’t like having to bring condi cleanse which isn’t as useful when not fighting condi builds. And when they take a risk by not bring condi cleanse and get matched against condi builds, they rage.

Dastion.3106:

I would just like to see all Wells made so that they can be ended early. As it stands, most of our wells have effects that really need to be timed ‘well’ but which is difficult to do with the current iteration.

Simply give each Well a longer duration (6-8s) and have the skill flip to a collapsible version of the Well when cast. Using the second skill destroys the well and triggers its End effect (Float, Blur, Heal, etc). However, increase the potency of the end effect based on how long the Well ran before being triggered, having it reach max potency a few seconds before the skill ends naturally.

This allows the skills to be a little less predictable, adds in some skillful play aspects to the abilities, and even makes them better fit the Chronomancer concept.

I know gameplay over aesthetics and all that, but the ticking clockface thing isn’t going to work if this is the case.

I understand the reasoning for removing the pulsing pull, but something else should be in place instead so people can’t just walk out of it. Well of Calamity has Cripple, Gravity Well should at least have that if not Chill; given it’s an Elite.

Increasing CD doesn’t necessarily do anything for the Chronomancer since you can have any skill on F5’s CD.

I actually think Chill and Endurance drain to be more thematically fitting, like you’re increasing gravity in an area (slower movement, unable to dodge) and then suddenly reversing it (Float).

tobascodagama.2961:

That’s a fair point. If returning the pulls or adding Cripple isn’t on the table, then we should at least get a radius buff or something. As it stands, you can literally dodge out of Gravity Well and take 0 damage.

Dodge out? More like walk out.

But yeah Cripple won’t be enough since you can just dodge, hence why I suggest it also drain Endurance (and Chill instead of Cripple because as you say, the area is tiny).

Why restrict it to “keep the original pull and float effect”?

Anyways. I suggest making each pulse Chill and drain Endurance from enemies, that makes it difficult for them to escape the area before the Float pops.

With regards to Gravity Well, what if it also Chills enemies and drain their Endurance every pulse? That would make it much harder for them to get out without giving it a pulsing CC or Immobilise.

So far all of the Mesmer’s phantasm conjuring skills do just that: conjure a phantasm. The iCapAmerica is the first to break the mold where the skill itself also does something. Personally, I think this should be done for all phantasm skills. So, for example:

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Phantasmal Berserker: Send an illusionary greatsword whirling towards your target, damaging and crippling all foes in a line. When the greatsword reaches its maximum range, a phantasm appears and grabs the greatsword to continue the attack (phantasm will not attack until its attack CD is finished).

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Phantasmal Warlock: Weave a malicious spell that extends the duration of conditions on your target, then conjure a phantasm next to you that deals bonus damage for each unique condition on your target.

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Phantasmal Swordsman: You leap in and stab your target with your sword while evading attacks. Conjure a phantasm that will leap out with you, then continue the attack (phantasm will not attack until its attack CD is finished).

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Phantasmal Duelist: Fire a bullet at your target that Confuses them, then conjure a phantasm next to you that will unload on your target.

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Phantasmal Warden: Create a shield bubble at the target location that destroys all projectiles for a short duration. Conjure a phantasm within the shield that will run to your target and whirl to destroy projectiles.

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Phantasmal Mage: Throw an illusionary torch at the target location that explodes, Burning enemies and giving Fury to allies within the area. Conjure a phantasm at the epicentre against your target that will Burn foes and grant Fury to allies (phantasm will not attack until its attack CD is finished).

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Phantasmal Defender: grant Protection to yourself and allies around you, then conjure a phantasm behind your target that redirects some damage suffered by nearby allies to itself.

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Phantasmal Disenchanter: blast the target location with dampening magic, cleansing conditions from allies and stripping boons from enemies. Conjure a phantasm at the epicentre against your target that will cleanse conditions from allies and strip boons from enemies (phantasm will not attack until its attack CD is finished).

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Phantasmal Mariner: You teleport behind your target and stab them repeatedly with your spear while evading attacks. Conjure a phantasm that will evade out with you, then continue the attack (phantasm will not attack until its attack CD is finished).

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Phantasmal Whaler: Mark a target for the hunt, making them Vulnerable; then conjure a phantasm next to you that will Bleed your target with a flurry of harpoons.

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Phantasmal Rogue: Immobilise your target, then conjure a phantasm that will stab them in the back; dealing double damage.

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I’m pretty conservative here, mostly mirroring the phantasm’s own attacks so as to not introduce too much new stuff. I’m sure others will have more interesting ideas.

Drgori.5724:

Scepter AA is just good on condi builds, that clone also cast ether bolts which applies torment too.

It really isn’t. The Staff is far better than the Sceptre if you’re just looking at the AA. In fact Ether Bolt probably scales better from Power (no number-crunching, feel free to prove me wrong) than condition damage.

SappFire.5793:

Embolism.8106:

Most healing skills are pretty interruptible, plus almost all of them makes you glow blue so they’re obvious too.

Most?.. Then why almost every time when I try to interrupt enemy’s heal they pop out text like “Block”, “Evade” or just instacast?

Because most doesn’t mean all. You don’t try to interrupt Shelter for example, unless you can penetrate Blocks (hello Well of Precognition).

Mantra insanity was the main reason Mesmers were OP. Now it’s not a thing anymore everyone’s crawling back into the woodwork.

Plus a lot of professions use channelled skills for their burst which is really easy to interrupt.

Another thing: Ether Bolt doesn’t transition to the next skill in the chain until the previous Bolt disappears, which means the chain is faster the closer you are to the target. I feel like this needs to be changed. And maybe then we wouldn’t need +15% on top of that.

Misguided.5139:

Silverkey.2078:

Well the clone production could be in theory valuable if the AA did more conditions. For example, if the scepter AA produced staff clones, people would love it because staff clones are useful. But scepter clones… meh

Agreed. I love scepter, including the AA, but the best part of the AA is making the clone, so the clones themselves don’t do much. If the clones were of a different type, even a random type (possibly via trait?), it could be a big improvement.

Let Sceptre Clones use the full Ether Bolt chain, that way it gets the longer duration Torment on Ether Blast and also attacks faster overall. Malicious Sorcery’s +15% should be baseline, if not a bit faster.

Then we shall have a MH Condition weapon to rival the Staff, and assuming they don’t nerf Ether Bolt’s direct damage, a decent ranged Power MH too.

Most healing skills are pretty interruptible, plus almost all of them makes you glow blue so they’re obvious too. Even with latency (I play with 300ms) it isn’t difficult to interrupt skills with obvious tells.

And setting an enemy’s healing skill on a 15s CD when they need it now is priceless. The damage and Weakness is just icing.

Silverkey.2078:

Well the clone production could be in theory valuable if the AA did more conditions. For example, if the scepter AA produced staff clones, people would love it because staff clones are useful. But scepter clones… meh

That’s presumably why Anet insists on keeping Ether Bolt weak and not letting Sceptre Clones use the full chain (apart from the Clone spawning Clone silliness that should be pretty easy to code out).

Every Mesmer weapon set has an interrupt. GS has Illusionary Wave, Sword has Counter Blade, Focus has Into the Void, Pistol has Magic Bullet, Staff has Chaos Storm, Shield has Tides of Time, and okay Torch doesn’t have one but anyways.

So unless you run Torch you always have 3 interrupts.

Or just get rid of it altogether. Then maybe Anet will buff the Sceptre and not hold back because of some theoretical Massed Clone Singularity.

Mirmil.5074:

Take Power Block

• I don’t think Mental Anguish effects condition dmg unless I’m just a ignorant noob.
• This trait is too good not to take if you’re running 4 interrupts. You will understand this when your heal goes on CD for 15s.

Forgive the noob question, but how do you get 4 interrupts?

MoDistraction, Diversion and an interrupt on each weapon. You can get SoDomination too but most people don’t run that.

The idea is using Alacrity to boost Phantasm DPS. Other than iCap though the only way we can give Phantasms Alacrity is the Well.

On the other hand perhaps a mix of iCap and iSwordsman could be better than 3 damaging Phantasms.

Exciton.8942:

Embolism.8106:

I feel Alacrity might actually be very strong when boosting Phantasm attack CDs rather than the Mesmer’s own CDs. Swordsman for example has 3.5s CD when Hasted, add a bit of Alacrity and you could potentially have the Swordsman attack multiple times in a row.

Also I hope iCap’s damage isn’t low like iDisenchanter. It’s a weapon Phantasm, should deal decent damage. hides iMage

I think it already applies slow, a very strong condition. So it probably won’t have good damage, if any.

Yeah I’m not expecting it do deal any damage, but I don’t see how you can justify using it in PvE if it doesn’t. That’s half your firepower down the drain, and short duration Slows won’t be that great in PvE.

I feel Alacrity might actually be very strong when boosting Phantasm attack CDs rather than the Mesmer’s own CDs. Swordsman for example has 3.5s CD when Hasted, add a bit of Alacrity and you could potentially have the Swordsman attack multiple times in a row.

Also I hope iCap’s damage isn’t low like iDisenchanter. It’s a weapon Phantasm, should deal decent damage. hides iMage

If I’m being rapid fired while casting MI, I’d personally be pretty thankful for the reflect. Could turn things around where MI couldn’t.

That said, I think if you’re casting MI in the middle of a fight things are already going south anyway. When used as an initiator there’s no issues with reflection.

Overall not a big issue IMO.

If you use F5 to pop Time Warp only once (as opposed to back-to-back) you can basically get Time Warp on F5’s CD, which is 76.5s if traited, and less with Alacrity. Not bad, and remember it also Slows enemies.

I wouldn’t use it in a Shatter build either, clone generation through Ether Clone is just too slow and the Sceptre lacks strong defensive skills. Illusionary Counter is pretty good as a counter (if you’re a condition build) but doesn’t compare to Blurred Frenzy or the Staff’s kitten nal.

If Malicious Sorcery’s speed buff (maybe a bit faster too, like 20 or 25%) is baseline for Sceptre skills it would make it far more bearable.

As a Mesmer you never want to stay in melee even if you’re using MH Sword. The idea is to jump into the fray, burst the target, then get out. Mirror Blade and Blurred Frenzy both cater to this style of melee combat, and since Shatters also proc on yourself you want to be in melee range when you use Mind Wrack.

All in all, the famed Mesmer burst is completely melee.

Sceptre is strange. I find that at the moment it’s more of a Power weapon than a Condition weapon. Ether Bolt and Confusing Images both scale very well with Power. Overall though the Sceptre is just too slow: Malicious Sceptre helps but taking a GM skill to make a sub-par weapon bearable isn’t worth it IMO.

In PvE the problem with the Sceptre is Ether Clone will overwrite Phantasms, and Phantasms are king in PvE. You’re better off using MH Sword or GS, or even using Mantra of Pain as your “autoattack”.

Or maybe when it ends, it could pull every enemy in a much larger radius than the Well into the centre, then Float them. Given that people have 3 full seconds to respond to it (dodge, Stability, whatever) it shouldn’t be something you can just step out of.

Esplen.3940:

Meanwhile Asura still hold their GS.

This. It’s height discrimination, I say.

The main benefit to playing Condition Mesmer in PvP is people tend to expect Power Mesmers, so there’s a slight surprise factor. Other than that Condition Mesmers are pretty selfish, another class can do constant pressure better and you’re not contributing the Mesmer’s famed burst; and being survivable isn’t a huge boon when enemies can afford to ignore you and focus on your allies first.

It would be nice if Protected Phantasms procs again when Chronophantasma does. As it is it’s a trash trait (along with Persisting Images), but if it could ensure Phantasm survival during the Daze it would be pretty neat.

That said I’d be leery about going Inspiration just for that. All the Phantasm support traits in Inspiration need work.

Silverkey.2078:

@Embolism what you’re describing seems to be a build where you expect staff clones to o the damage for you. This may be how condi mesmer was played in the past when clone death was a thing, but now, people are mostly using condi shatter which is as dynamic as usual shatter.

PS: about malicious sorcery, the 15% faster stomp may be a bug (time will tell), but I love it and it is enough for me to tip the balance.

I consider shattering (i.e. a condition burst, which I mentioned) an essential part of playing Condition Mesmer well.

However, Condition Shatters lack the bite of Power Shatters and compensate by the constant pressure you can dish out in between Shatters; and that comes primarily from Staff Clones. Every Sceptre Clone you have out is reducing the pressure you’re putting on your target, which could mean you won’t be able to force a cleanse for the Counter + Beam + CoF combo you’re preparing.

The problem with Mesmer condition builds, I feel, is it goes against what people usually expect from Mesmers; and that is high burst. Condition Mesmers are much more focused around constant pressure and personal survivability, while Shatter Mesmers sacrifice most of their survivability for a mean burst.

The other problem is Mesmer survivability is mostly based around mobility and, if you choose to use it, stealth; which isn’t very useful for holding points… so investing in your own survivability as a Mesmer tends to be seen as a selfish act that is detrimental to the team.

There’s also the perception that Condition Mesmer is a highly passive playstyle. To some extent this is true: unlike Shatter Mesmers you dish out constant pressure by simply keeping Illusions up, and being more survivable means you rely somewhat less on active defenses. The reality however is a passive Condition Mesmer is almost completely ineffectual, and you’re not going to contribute anything unless you set up condition bursts; which in some ways is more difficult than a power burst as you not only have to ensure it hits, but also that it cannot be cleansed.

With regards to the Sceptre, the only reason to use it is for #2 and #3 as part of a burst. You want to swap out of Sceptre ASAP because every Sceptre Clone you create is reducing your DPS. You only rely on #1 for Clones if you’re desperate.

I don’t think it would be overpowered if Mantras can CD right to zero (instead of whatever percentage relative to remaining charges) as long as one change has been used in combat. The main problem was the first strike kitten nal Mesmers had going into every fight, as long as you can’t start with no CD on your Mantras it should be fine.

Silverkey.2078:

So, conclusion, the trait is probably working “almost” as intended.
Question now: does this make it a good trait worthy of its GM spot?
I’m not so sure…

No. It does very little to improve the Sceptre’s autoattack pressure and the benefit to long-casting skills isn’t that significant. If Mantras weren’t nerfed back to their clunky self then maybe, but as it is I still feel pressured to swap out of the Sceptre as soon as possible.

Confusing Images does feel better, but I chalk that up more to the CD reduction than the cast time.