Tempest - Alacrity Support Condi DPS

This is a test build. You may comment and rate it.

Focused on: Condition damage and Support

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

Overview

This is a build focuses on Burning and has rather high power damage for a condi build, that increases with target hitbox size.

Overloads allow this build to provide 25 stacks of Might, ~70% Protection uptime and high Fury uptime by extending it on allies via Heat Sync and Sand Squall.

Swiftness is permanent when using Arcane, but requires a small sacrifice of DPS when using Earth.

Skill Bar

Pistol/Warhorn

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Dagger is the best option for players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure.
  • Scepter offers similar damage while also being ranged.
  • Hammer brings slightly more DPS for players that own Secrets of the Obscure, though it needs to take extra boon duration and you'll miss out on the boon extension from Sand Squall.

Skill Variants

Utility

• Signet of Earth is higher damage than Glyph of Storms when using the Earth traitline, but the passive effect of Written in Stone causes you to gain 180 toughness while the skill is on cooldown, which could mess with tanking.
• Glyph of Elemental Power will be more damage than Glyph of Storms on bosses that won't stay inside the AoE for the whole duration.
  • As Glyph of Elemental Power is instant cast, it can be used without delaying the rotation. Using both Glyph of Storms and Glyph of Lesser Elementals can end up reducing your boon output.

As a support, you should be willing to trade DPS to bring group utility. Glyph of Storms can be swapped out for:

• "Aftershock!" provides Aegis to allies and makes your Protection uptime near-permanent.
  • Be aware that the magnetic aura applied by this ability can cause issues on some encounters.
• "Eye of the Storm!" provides Stability and Swiftness to allies.

Either of these skills will be helpful if there is a danger of being CC'd while in the middle of your overloads.

Elite

• "Rebound!" can be used to ignore certain mechanics that would otherwise down people.
  • As you are not a healer, your allies will be left on low health after it triggers. It may be worth immediately following up with "Wash the Pain Away!".

Template Code

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Specializations

Specialization Variants

For weapons other than Pistol, Arcane will perform better than Earth:

Equipment

Head
Ritualist

Shoulders
Ritualist

Chest
Ritualist

Hands
Ritualist

Legs
Ritualist

Feet
Ritualist

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Ritualist

Amulet
Ritualist

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Pistol
Viper

Warhorn
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Boon duration variants

• More or less boon duration can be obtained by swapping pieces between Viper stats and Ritualist stats as desired.
  • The setup above provides ~38% boon duration, which is sufficient for ~108% Alacrity uptime.
  • It is not recommended to go below ~33% boon duration.
  • The Pistol rotation video example uses ~40% boon duration.
• If you do not have access to Viper stats, Celestial stats are only slightly lower damage, but give you additional toughness, which can mess with tanking.
• If running Arcane, the inherent boon duration and reduced cooldown on attunement swaps allows you to run full Viper stats gear. This is sufficient to provide ~108% Alacrity uptime.

Consumables

Food

• or alternatives

Utility

• or equivalents

Usage

Granting an aura to yourself (or allies) will trigger the damage buff from Tempestuous Aria. Overloads, Shocking Aura and Sand Squall all give you an aura, as will attuning to Fire thanks to Sunspot. The buff stacks in duration, but has a 10-second limit.

Pistol Rotation

Pistol skills have a unique bullet mechanic where using a pistol skill stocks a bullet, or if you already have a bullet, consumes it for an enhanced effect. In each attunement, one of the enhanced effects is defensive while the other is offensive. As such, it is important that these skills be used in the correct order to avoid missing out on damage.

Stocked bullets appear as buffs on your bar, and as all attunements other than Earth Attunement use an even number of pistol skills, you can track whether you've made a mistake in these attunements and adjust for future loops - you should be exiting Fire Attunement and Water Attunement with a bullet stocked, and Air Attunement with no bullet stocked. If this is not the case, skip one of the skills in the relevant attunement on the next loop.

Throughout the rotation, use Flame Barrage, Signet of Earth (if using), and Signet of Fire off cooldown, and Glyph of Lesser Elementals and Glyph of Elemental Power (if using) off cooldown whenever you are in Fire Attunement.

Autoattacks are not listed.

Opener

Start with Fire, Ice and Earth bullets stocked.

You can precast Glyph of Elemental Power (if using) in fire attunement.

1. Overload Earth
2. Dust Storm
3. Sand Squall
4. Shattering Stone
5. Boulder Blast
6. Signet of Fire
7. Water Attunement

Water 1

1. Frozen Fusillade
2. Frigid Flurry
3. Fire Attunement

Fire

1. Raging Ricochet
2. Searing Salvo
3. Firestorm (Glyph of Storms) or Signet of Earth (if using)
4. Wildfire
5. Heat Sync
6. Overload Fire
7. Signet of Fire
8. Raging Ricochet
9. Searing Salvo
10. Air Attunement

Air

After using your first skill in earth, you will gain access to Elemental Explosion. This is a powerful skill, but will consume all your stocked bullets, so it is important not to use this skill.

1. Aerial Agility - charging away from your target allows Lightning Orb to hit more times
2. Dazing Discharge - make sure not to cast this too early, as it will go on an interrupted cooldown
3. Lightning Orb
4. Cyclone (optional) - CC, and your Swiftness uptime won't be permanent without it
5. Water Attunement

Water 2

1. Frozen Fusillade
2. Frigid Flurry
3. Earth Attunement

Earth

1. Shattering Stone
2. Boulder Blast
3. Dust Storm
4. Sand Squall
5. Shattering Stone
6. Overload Earth
7. Signet of Fire
8. Boulder Blast
9. Shattering Stone
10. Water Attunement
11. Return to Water 1

Video example

Dagger Rotation

• Use Glyph of Elementals in Fire Attunement, and cast Flame Barrage off cooldown.
• Cast Signet of Fire off cooldown, but it is lower priority than weapon skills.
• If using Glyph of Elemental Power, cast it in Fire Attunement during the cast of Burning Speed so that the damage buff will affect the blast damage.

The gist of the rotation is to cycle between Fire Attunement ⇒ Air Attunement ⇒ Earth Attunement ⇒ Air Attunement, using key abilities in each attunement off cooldown until the next attunement is ready.

When you enter Fire Attunement, use Burning Speed, Wildfire and Drake's Breath, then use your key abilities as they come off cooldown. When Air Attunement is available, use one last Drake's Breath and switch (Air Attunement should become available during the cast of Drake's Breath - you can switch attunement without interrupting the skill).

Opener

1. Wildfire
2. Firestorm (Glyph of Storms)
3. Overload Fire
4. Burning Speed - you need to be inside your target's hitbox for the fire line to hit your target
5. Heat Sync
6. Drake's Breath - for maximum damage, you will want to back away from your target during this cast
7. Air Attunement

Loop

Air 1

1. Signet of Fire
2. Convergence
3. Shocking Aura
4. Lightning Orb - this target hits more if cast some distance back from your target
5. Earth Attunement

Earth
In Earth Attunement, you want to cast Dust Storm and Sand Squall as soon as they are available, but as their cooldown is longer than the loop, their position will vary over time. Eventually, you will need to skip them for one loop.

1. Earthen Rush
2. Ring of Earth
3. Autoattack until Overload Earth is available
4. Overload Earth
5. Ring of Earth or Signet of Fire - if Signet of Fire is available here, skip Ring of Earth
6. Air Attunement - if you used Signet of Fire in the last step, skip Air and go straight to Fire

Air 2

1. Convergence
2. Shocking Aura ⇒ Transmute Lightning
3. Signet of Fire
4. Fire Attunement

Fire

1. Burning Speed
2. Wildfire
3. Drake's Breath
4. Firestorm (Glyph of Storms)
5. Overload Fire
6. Heat Sync
7. Burning Speed
8. Drake's Breath
9. Air Attunement during the cast of Drake's Breath
10. Repeat from the start of the loop

Video example

Other rotations

Video example (Scepter)

Video example (Hammer)

Defiance Bars

• While in Air Attunement you can use Shocking Aura ⇒ Transmute Lightning and Cyclone.
• If you are really desperate, you can switch to Water Attunement for Tidal Surge.