Guild Wars 2

I use this trait as I run inspiration with my chrono in PvE to ensure I always have focus reflects when needed. There isn’t a better GM trait to run anyway when going full wells. Even completely oblivious to it, it’s a nice passive buff to the party to refresh those boons on a fairly frequent basis.

These are great – more than anything, very glad to see they’re quick to fix things like the focus pull issue. Hopefully that’s a precedent going forward.

Arshay Duskbrow.1306:

If this is the worst that we get, we’ll be lucky.

Maxzero.4032:

Of all the nerfs ours hurt the least by far.

Agreed, chronomancers seems to be overshadowed by some of the more heavy hitter elite specs so hopefully this should be the extent of it.

tobascodagama.2961:

Nobody was using this for the damage anyway. It’s not even in the vicinity of a big deal.

Which is why it’s highly annoying. Why even mess with it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-October-23-2015/5672927

Why??

Please just don’t touch the cc of this skill.

I’m a fan of this concept, I’m pretty sure you saw my other thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Soldier-Chrono-PvP-Vid

The only real difference in the build is GS vs Staff. Crusader is what I started with but found sustainability (with high vitality) yet still delivering decent damage was found at the sweet spot of soldier amulet. Crusader was a lot of fun; I just survive a lot longer with soldier. You can definitely down people who decide to stay in melee range to fight you with soldier.

I’ve experimented endlessly with this idea – daredevil runes are a bit random for this. For classes like guardian/warrior where they have huge payload skills it’s going to be really nice. With the exception of mirror blade, you have many multi-target skills; a random AA, shatter, BF hit, etc. Where it does make sense is to proc lost time; however with 5 charges required and random crits, proc’ing that trait is going to also be random. The trait is balanced around a build with high crit chance so a decent slow uptime can be maintained. The 2s of slow you get from all that work trying to get crits/charges isn’t going to be worth it even with GS. I recommend chronophantasma which provides 2x iAvengers and a better chance for more overall slow output.

Also – your crits are really going to suffer without delayed reactions. Or, if you find they’re OK I would think you’d do noticeably more damage with it. There’s nothing better than iLeap > Tides of Time (interrupting), swap and BF with that slow on them. It’s probably one of the most important sources of slow and one of the linchpins of the build. You have plenty of AoE interrupt sources to make that work for you. At the very least, if you want to keep Lost Time I’d consider Delayed Reactions mandatory to help get those charges.

Sure you’d miss AWTEW, but with your high shatter cadence, the alacrity gained there should make for decent recharge rates.

My 2 cents …

Silverkey.2078:

In any case, healing mesmer is far from good. Our only outgoing hearings are:

• mantras with inspiration traits: 2900 in clerics when you finish loading a mantra
• well of eternity: about 5000 in clerics when the well expires
• ridiculously low amount from healing prism on 10s iCD

One thing needing added is our ability to provide AoE perma-regen. Obviously not direct healing but geared properly, this can be significant. Also worthy to note that no one seems to like the trait due to clunky behavior with executing other skills.

On the whole though, agreed mesmer shouldn’t be focused too much on healing. It’s a by-product of the other utility we provide.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Being hit by a Dragon Hunter True Shot for 6k damage. Which is on a 4s cd the wiki tells me :o

Killshot Guardian?

For sure. DH damage is really nuts atm. All those damage modifiers …

I think it’d be different if they had made three new virtues for DH (making six total instead of replacing the original three). Then nothing steps on each other and you can trait with maximum diversity.

If you look at most of the other specializations, there was an added F skill or the additional functionality was integrated with existing F skills but was brand new and didn’t affect existing traits (like overload for eles).

Obviously six virtues would greatly raise complexity of playing for newcomers but for seasoned players it would be amazing. Understanding that will never happen, what ragnar suggested seems to be the best solution. Problem there is that would leave some pretty huge empty trait slots that would somehow need filled.

I’ll be experimenting over the next couple days with it; all I can do is hope they’ve buttoned up the virtue trait synergy with DH. We’ll soon find out.

Silverkey.2078:

Thanks for the answers

If going for illusions, I can see switching to celestial, and grabbing the might on shatter. In a sense, condi (or hybrid) build makes sense for a more sustained damage, because all shatters deal damage. However, we also know that in a team fight for organized teams, there is a lot of condi cleanse… I’ll probably try it.

For the soldier build, I’ll try to play around it too. You seem to really overload it with slow, which is of course very good for defensive reasons, but also offensive with the major trait. Do you feel the difference from the 30% crit that much?

I don’t see celestial working as well with this because of the lack of condition output (even with illusions taken).

As for the crit chance, it honestly remains to be seen (in a PvP environment anyway). I’ve just posted a video in the main build thread so you can see. It’s definitely random but I only had a day or two to kick the tires with it.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Skcamow.. From what you played do you think the tankier amulet is worth it with danger time?

This seems to be an oft asked question and for good reason. The answer is, I’m as yet unsure. There’s still quite a bit of experimentation needed to determine viability. I will say that a base 30% crit chance isn’t too bad (pack rune+perma fury). Initial results seem decent but only two days of playing in the last BWE isn’t enough time to determine.

Here’s some footage: Soldier Chrono Video (BWE3)

I’m very clunky, much into the learning curve being I hadn’t played chrono yet until BWE3. The idea is there though and you can see some of it on display.

With a coordinated team around, this has definite potential. It’s going to take a couple weeks to confirm following the HoT release.

Nevhie.6079:

skcamow.3527:

This build was designed to do most of what you described:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Soldier-Chrono

I prefer Illusion + Chrono with OH Shield to abuse 4s Block every 15s. The combination of Chronophantasma and Persistence Memory + Alacrity.

For the last trait line either Chaos for CI(Might and set up for ur Team) or maybe Domi for Power Block.

There are possible variations. For sure BD stays due to the much needed stability since this was designed as an on-point fighter. The one trait line I could possibly see swapping out for another is dueling. Illusions could fit the bill but the problem with that is you’re really going there for persistence of memory/IC with the rest of the traits not very build defining.

Dueling provides really good damage mitigation with blinding dissipation in that with constant shattering in melee range you’re keeping blind applied during the course of a long fight.

Another mesmer friend has put together a variant with domination, more roaming focused.

The linchpin of this whole idea is being able to go with a tanky, sustainable amulet while keeping a decent crit chance and thus, damage with danger time.

This build was designed to do most of what you described:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Soldier-Chrono

I have some decent video from BWE3 I haven’t uploaded yet. I probably will tomorrow since there doesn’t appear to be any chronomancer changes coming ahead of launch Friday.

why do we perpetuate these threads? Please just stop posting. We’ll see if chrono is OP when it comes out Friday.

Xibalva.8704:

Shield of Courage don’t activate the Breakstun from Indomitable Courage since it’s has a cast time.

That’s really clunky IMO. These traits are supposed to work and have synergy with each other. Do you still get the stability?

Also for Absolute Resolution, do you get the regen and condition cleanses along with the big swooping heal?

This guide will probably prove most helpful. It really should be a sticky, I might request that. There will likely be some changes come Friday and it appears Kai is going to be actively updating it.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-The-Leveling-Open-World-Compendium-1

Daniel Handler.4816:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Xyonon.3987:

I find this one very satisfying:

:)

Bah, replace the whole lot with this and we’re much closer to perfection.

I’m just thinking of a day when we get rifle and you pee yourself.

Can’t help but ^

Do traits like indomitable courage and absolute resolution work with the dragonhunter virtues (wings of resolve/shield of courage) even though they specifically reference the vanilla guardian virtues in the tool tip?

Mikkel.8427:

I’ll start by saying- I loved everything I saw in today’s stream. Thank you, Joel.

If you didnt watch the stream, here are the notes on reddit-

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3p0wg5/guild_chat_livestream_notes_pro/

I’m curious if any of that technology will apply to our Illusions, though…

Like being able to change between targets during a channeled ability. If I summon a duelist on a target that dies before the duelist is done channeling its unload… will it shift its attack to another target?

Or, are there any plans to maybe make Illusions change targets if you’re still in combat?

I highly doubt it would apply to phantasms but maybe?

Really looking forward to waving my confusing images beam across targets if I’m fast enough (things like that seem potentially OP honestly). For things like rapid fire, yeah. Really cool change there.

http://imgur.com/g0xJ9Ui

lighter.2708:

Berserker isn’t “overpowered” enough for warrior to give up one trait line.
The utilities are mostly weak, torch is mediocre, berserk is ok, primal burst are underperforming

Really hoping for some good adjustments in the (again hopeful) forthcoming post BWE3 notes for berserker.

Anet (Grouch) has openly admitted that their most recent attempt at balancing didn’t bring them in line as much as they had hoped, but obviously closer.

runeblade.7514:

Bring a condi class.

While the condi player load the enemy with Vamp runes and the zerk player bring the hp down, the enemy will be cursed with invulnerability and he can’t do anything while bleed/burn/poison stacks kill him.

This is a heavy counter to dracula runes for sure. Unfortunately the meta we live in doesn’t have much of a focus on condition specs.

Aside from any balance related action on this rune, I think much of the frustration with it would be alleviated if it wasn’t allowed to be used if some of the more tankier amulets are taken in builds. Like this would ever happen (I realize) but I think would solve most of the problems with it.

Staff in a build like this isn’t about the conditions at all; it’s about the defensive and kiting abilities it has, as well as mobility.

I’ll add that when I say “highest damage spec”, I mean the trait lines themselves. It’s rather obvious that chaos and inspiration are more defensive but it has surprised me that more higher tier mesmers haven’t gone more ham with a spec like we saw today until now.

It was Frostball and Helseth. Both were running dom/duel/illusions with your typical traits in dom/duel and compounding power, shattered strength and ineptitude in illusions. Highest damage spec available on mesmer at the moment.

I was very pleased to finally see more higher tier mesmers run this. I think PU took away some of this spec’s thunder but I personally think this has been best all along.

TheFrighteningFrenchFry.3275:

skcamow.3527:

I think they should halve the CD and open up mimic to function on all skills (except elite). That would keep low CD skills in check and make mimic a more compelling choice to take when considering longer CD skills.

This would give vanilla mesmer a bit of a chrono feel without having to fully spec chrono, and prob wouldn’t adversely affect a chrono (does have a utility cost after all).

If that doesn’t happen (probably won’t), I think the idea proposed is good.

By halving the CD do you mean on the skill you use after mimic or on mimic?

I meant on mimic itself. If not halved (might be too much), at least lower than the 90s default.

I think they should halve the CD and open up mimic to function on all skills (except elite). That would keep low CD skills in check and make mimic a more compelling choice to take when considering longer CD skills.

This would give vanilla mesmer a bit of a chrono feel without having to fully spec chrono, and prob wouldn’t adversely affect a chrono (does have a utility cost after all).

If that doesn’t happen (probably won’t), I think the idea proposed is good.

Fay.2357:

CS and CI would do the same thing.

Doing the same thing is bad.

This has been stated and reiterated numerous times in this thread but OP doesn’t appear (or is unwilling) to see the logic.

Forum bug
/sick of this, fix pls

Someone surely must have already said this, but confounding suggestions got nerfed by the following already:

• Mirror Blade nerf
• Harmonious Mantras nerf
• Indirect air sigil nerf
• Mantra auto refresh bug fix

It’s not like it has no counterplay. At the very, very least, increase the ICD or remove the daze duration increase, but for heaven’s sake, the daze=stun trait functionality is fine.

Tealots.6095:

Glad to hear that it’s strong! It’s nice to break out of the Marauder/Zerk mainstream. My one concern regarding Soldier Amulet is that it lacks the ferocity to capitalize on all the extra crit chance you gain from traits. Then again, you are meaning for this to be more support than damage.

The ferocity is missed, but you’d be surprised what kind of damage this can do. It actually has decent burst but depends very much on the slow uptime of your opponents (which tends to be decent).

Tealots.6095:

The ability for the shield to summon two phantasms if you land a block is amazing. It’s an interesting weapon set when paired with the sword. I was toying around with Sword-Shield/Scepter-Pistol for a condition build today and I found myself using S-Sh way more during the fights.

Yes the best part of this is the synergy with chronophantasma. This augments the already strong AoE slow the build has.

Tealots.6095:

If you were to go more support in your build, would you sacrifice the Chaos line for Inspiration? Summoning an iDefender and iAvenger in one block is really nice for clone generation.

Indeed, if I were to change anything it would be to go inspiration but I wouldn’t sacrifice chaos, it’d be dueling. Bountiful disillusionment and chaotic dampening are far too important for an on-point build like this. I’m absolutely loving the AoE blinds from blinding dissipation and in a build like this, blind application via that trait is definitely optimized vs standard dps shatter builds (who shouldn’t be fighting on point the majority of the time).

Phloww.1048:

Your soldier Chrono build is a nice and different approach than the usual. Probably in HoT/raids, some vitality and toughness may be needed. I’m gonna have to look into seeing how it fares in PvE.

This is an interesting prospect (and something I wasn’t originally intending). The optimal specs for raids are still getting ironed out. I saw many parties going with a small contingent of more tanky dps/utility/support. This could potentially fill that role. For sure, a mesmer must have a sword for the boon rip.

I saw a lot of knight amulet which makes sense because of the higher precision. Still, good slow uptime on the boss shouldn’t be difficult and the higher vitality and power from soldier may not be a bad play.

Also … I do have some footage which semi-decently showcases the build. Not sure I’m completely satisfied with it so I may wait until HoT when I can play with Chrono a bit more, not be such a newb at it and have more time to get good footage.

One of these days I’ll post a vid of why scepter in a DPS shatter build just rocks.

Until then, I love the suggestion of swapping the clone on AA with a better (aka much faster) AA channel PLUS add 1,200 range!

This would put it more on par with GS AA, and overall as a weapon possibly overtake GS as the premiere ranged weapon of choice. The burst from confusing images in a marauder/zerker amulet eclipses what is consistently possible with GS and even ranger rapid fire.

DeathReign.7821:

Guys… He hasn’t posted a single post after calling Mesmers OP. No supporting arguments, no supporting evidence, nothing. Just a blatant “nerf mesmers plz dey op” post.

Time to ignore the troll and move on, me thinks!

This man gets it, +1

Good suggestions here.

One thing I’m dissatisfied with is our healing capabilities when taking inspiration. Besides restorative mantras I would love the option to trait more direct healing of self/allies. Healing prism was initially brilliant; I love how it scales healing power off illusions and the heal was great until they nerfed it.

The initial nerf was justified though due to unrestrained large heal output possible by receiving healing from other professions.

The nerf wisely changed it to apply to only healing sourced from the mesmer. So, keep the current ICD but increase the base healing to ~1,000. This provides a nice burst AoE heal akin to the #6 heal of rune of the water from all our #6 heal skills and those wishing to spec into restorative mantras and/or restorative illusions.

Finally, please allow the mesmer to receive this healing as it doesn’t currently.

I don’t see how AWTEW in it’s current state is anything but fantastic. Alacrity is the new mesmer thing. We should be providing it and it shouldn’t necessarily mean it requires a bar full of wells.

With well of recall alone you can spread quite a bit. One, maybe two more wells (eternity/gravity) and shouldn’t need more than that and you still have two slots open.

Build name aside, help me understand why you 1) aren’t taking power block with this with all those interrupts and 2) why you aren’t taking duelist’s discipline. The pistol CD’s are so good, especially on magic bullet.

All invites current.

Another nice looking bunker. It seems these builds are honing in on many similar things. The only thing I’d consider with this one is use of crusader amulet. In a true bunker I think you’ll want a higher health pool. Nicely done overall though.

Nice, it seems that chrono and bunker go very well together. Interesting choice on sentinel but makes sense. Zeromis rocked that amulet in his bunker just after the June patch to great effect. I think this one is even better though (dem wells). Hm…mantras or wells? Yeah.

This has striking similarities to the soldier build I posted; I just went more offensive with it. Really nice that there are so many effective tankier build options with chrono now.

I can say after many team q matches tonight, the simple changes to chronophantasma, time warp and soldier amulet make this one beast of a build. It can actually serve as a soft bunker but the damage this thing can output is really impressive. I was over 600k one match tonight in a non DPS, more supporting build. I know the stats aren’t everything but they can provide insight into what builds can do.

I should have went with soldier from the beginning, hence changing the post title and will surely be rocking this come HoT.

Thanks for the comments so far. I continue to welcome any and all feedback as to how to further improve it.

Levetty.1279:

I think people asking for Mesmer nerfs should look at what the other elite specs are doing.

Yeah I was just talking to a friend about this point. While alacrity is amazing, seemingly OP in a lot of ways, the one thing that should keep nerfs in check is the relative strength of the other elite specializations.

All eight seem to have finally landed in a strong place and it’s become harder in this beta to state which is strongest or at the very least, list off specs that are just plain bad.

Without a doubt though, going forward playing anything but the elite spec is going to be very disadvantageous for many of the professions.

After some testing, one huge change will be chronophantasma, much better than lost time especially in this build where I can’t stack the charges up quickly for the slow proc.

chronophantasma gives me that extra iAvenger for more slow. I’m gonna run time warp as well to see how that is.

I’ll also be trying soldier amulet today (last night was crusader). Damage felt good, stats indicated as well. Was doing a lot more honestly than I thought due to all the AoE. Never expected to see 500k.

For sure I was very difficult to take down but that seems to be the norm across the board for people playing chrono right now. A couple adjustments to this build would even make it bunker worthy. I’m hearing a lot of success being had for chrono in that area.

adelaide.6213:

I tried Chrono/Mistrust – Blind/Inepitude with shield tonight. Didn’t really work out (WvW and sPvP).

Anyone having good results with Mistrust to share?

Check this one out. I haven’t yet, but certainly intend to with the build variant I posted.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Theorycraft-Confusion-Chronomancer

Tealots.6095:

Why Pack Runes? You could go for something like Lyssa, which would up your crit chance while adding some duration to slow. Altruism would add some might-stacking, or Runes of Rage will up your ferocity and the damage you can do while you have fury.

Pack Runes always struck me as great for roaming, but if you’re going for a “brawler” vibe, the need to quickness doesn’t seem too dire, especially when Chronos get the 25% speed boost.

It’s definitely not for the swiftness, rather specifically for two things: 1) to keep base crit chance at 10% which gets me at 30% with fury and 2) maximizing fury uptime. Those are two extremely important factors to making a build like this even remotely work. The power is good as well because although I don’t consider this anywhere close to a dps shatter build, it’s still got to do decent damage while having great staying power.

Lyssa, while decent, probably isn’t as good as pack. It helps with base precision but only provides 2% more over pack. The 10% additional condition duration isn’t really going to help that much as I’ll get a decent amount from the chaos line anyway. The condi clear is probably the most enticing thing about it, assuming I stick with gravity well. Then there’s the power loss, which is important for me to keep since this build doesn’t stack too much might.

Another important thing to note about crusader is passive regen rates at 200/sec from the chaos line/BD. Obviously won’t be perma, but that kind of thing plays a lot into overall sustain.

The initial idea was crusader or soldier, and it may be that soldier is the better way to go – will be trying both.

Also I can’t see slow uptime being too bad honestly with this spread and utilities. Even without slow I’ll have perma fury so 30% isn’t terrible. Will have to see how it plays.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Silverkey.2078:

The weekly butterfly!! We so need a website to put that on (and keep archives)
Actually I think the whole gw2 community should have that. I would love to be able to browse through the archives and see for example the evolution of the PvP meta (I did not play since start, so I missed many interesting meta changes, like how the hell were spirit rangers ever good considering how bad spirits are atm?).

Short question: where do the 5 gold come from? community?

From my (painfully small) wallet. xD Though any donations/assistance would be grand.

A website you say? Hm.. I may have a talk with other-Fay about such things.

I could create a wordpress site super easy. I did for my pvp team, took maybe 1/2 hour. Just need to know the pages we want to set up, etc. If no wordpress, I’m not your dude cause I don’t know anything else =P

There are many build options with chronomancer. One intriguing prospect is the Danger Time trait, offering an extra 30% crit chance vs slowed opponents. You can trait full slow (all up) + iAvenger + Well of Action and Time Warp.

This is a lot of slow and a fair amount of it is AoE. I’ve watched a decent amount of chrono footage. Even without traiting this way, I see a fair amount of slow uptime on opponents (even just from lost time, albeit much of that from GS).

With slow so prevalent, we have some interesting options to make stalwart, damaging on point chrono brawlers. Here’s one I’ve come up with and will be heavily testing, build highlights below. I’m curious if anyone else has had ideas along these lines.

Soldier Chrono Build
Soldier Chrono Video (BWE3)

Build focus is around tanky sustain while dishing good damage. Should function primarily on the point.

• Tremendous slow uptime on opponents. Critical chance vs slowed opponents is increased by 30%. With fury you’re at 55% crit chance with a decent uptime due to all the slow sources.
• Slow sources:
  -AoE interrupts in Chaos Storm, Tides of Time, (optionally) Gravity Well.
  -Single target Diversion.
  -Well of Action: pulses AoE slow plus does decent (now buffed) base AoE damage.
  -Finally, iAvenger with it’s new melee attack which applies AoE slow.
• Moderate CC pressure (soft/hard) with Tides of Time, Chaos Storm, Well of Action and (optionally) Gravity Well.
• Good staying power on point due to new channeled shield block. Plentiful chaos armor from two leaps on each weapon set and three ethereal fields to leap from. This provides the most effectiveness of chaotic dampening, netting easy permanent protection.
• Light field (Well of Eternity), leap for light aura which provides retaliation. This along with chaos storm should provide a decent up time which goes great with the tanky setup.
• Decent party healing and condition cleansing from the revised Well of Eternity. Like all Mesmer wells, it pulses three times, clearing one condition off each party member for each pulse and AoE healing on the last.
• On demand stability from Bountiful Disillusionment plus party sharing boons like might, vigor, fury and regeneration.

As I stated, I’m going to be playing with both Time Warp and Gravity Well to see what we can do. If slow uptime is decent enough, I’ll definitely keep GW.

EDIT: Time Warp has proven to be perfect for this build. The doubling up possibility plus on demand slow is too hard to pass up.

I’m curious to hear any ideas or anything you’d change to improve this potential idea.

ozzy.8059:

you will be able to maintain 12 stacks of confusion and watch your enemy kill its self.

Which is a major l2p issue. Players with half a brain won’t do this. If this has been your experience, you definitely haven’t been fighting good players.

Tealots.6095:

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Tealots.6095:

Ross Biddle.2367:

I propose high tea

All day, ‘erry day, n’ah mean!?!?!

That.. Is how I actually talk. =[

This is probably exactly what would happen if we were friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vy2hUp_HHiQ

Anyway. I’d sign whatever petition needed to make the MPU. Sorry for derailing slightly.

Thanks for this. Needed that great laugh this morning.