Chronomancer - Boon Support Condi DPS

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage, Support and Utility

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on April 28, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Condition quickness chronomancer providess permanent Quickness or Alacrity to its subgroup while dealing large amounts of Confusion and Torment.

Though more niche than the power version, condi has a much easier time tanking and the presence of the Chaos traitline significantly increases the range of boons the build can provide.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Torch

Staff

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Axe is similar damage, but with more Torment and less Confusion. This means it will likely perform worse in real encounters (where torment loses damage and confusion gains it), plus it is a melee weapon. The difference is small enough for it to mostly be a matter of preference though, and there may be some niche situations where the evade from Axes of Symmetry is more useful than the block from Illusionary Counter.
• Focus for pulls at a DPS loss.

Skill Variants

Utility

If you need to provide utility such as, replace Mirror Images.

• Well of Action allows you to provide an extra ~10 stacks of Might and ~50% Fury uptime. The Fury uptime makes it easier to hold on to Time Sink for CC without compromising boons.
• Well of Senility does decent CC. Also removes boons if that is needed.
• Feedback provides a long-duration reflect.
• Well of Precognition provides Aegis and Stability to your subgroup, useful for fights like Deimos.
• Mantra of Concentration provides Stability to your group.
• Mantra of Distraction for encounters that require heavy CC.
• Portal Entre if you need a portal.
• Mimic allows you to get a second use out of a key skill if you'll need it more often than the cooldown. Often used together with Portal Entre.

Elite

• Signet of Humility should be used for CC.
• Gravity Well can be used if an encounter has adds that are worth CCing.
• Time Warp can be used when the CC from Gravity Well/Signet of Humility is not required.

Template Code

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Note that the Grandmaster trait has not been selected

Specializations

Quickness variant

Use Seize the Moment.

Alacrity variant

Use Stretched Time.

Trait Variants

• The first trait in Chaos is optional and can be switch to Illusionary Defense for permanent Protection uptime, or Master of Manipulation to provide Aegis. In the latter case, you will need to swap Mirror Images out for Blink so you can actually trigger it. If you swap Method of Madness out, you will need to slightly modify your rotation (see Usage, below).
• On encounters with boon corruption, the Stability from Bountiful Disillusionment may get corrupted into Fear. This may make it necessary to swap the trait out for another option: Chaotic Interruption will occasionally recharge your weapon skills, which can speed up your rotation, and Prismatic Understanding can improve your Regeneration uptime as you will gain a random boon whenever you use The Prestige. This could also be valuable on encounters where Stealth is useful, such as Harvest Temple.

Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Scepter
Viper

Torch
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Staff
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• Relic of Akeem and Relic of the Fractal are very similar DPS. Though Relic of Akeem is also AoE, triggering it off cooldown requires frequent use of CC skills, which can mean you don't have them available for defiance bars.
  • You don't apply any Bleeding inherently, so Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth is required to trigger Relic of the Fractal. Triggering the relic off cooldown will require weapon swapping nearly off cooldown.
• If tanking, Viper stats gear can freely be swapped to Trailblazer stats.

Consumables

Food

• • Ascended versions of or are a minor DPS loss if you wish to benefit from ascended buffs.

Utility

Usage

A significant part of this rotation is structured around maintaining a high uptime of Chaos Aura on yourself. This is because of the Illusionary Membrane trait.

Chaos Aura is granted when leaping or blasting in an ethereal field. Chaos Storm is your ethereal field, and you drop a second one with Signet of the Ether thanks to Method of Madness. Meanwhile, Phase Retreat is a leap finisher, and The Prestige is a blast finisher. Additionally, you directly apply Chaos Aura to yourself with Chaos Armor and Rewinder (via Illusionary Membrane).

Spacing out these sources allows for a high uptime of the aura and condition damage buff.

Note: If you aren't using Method of Madness, delay your weapon swap on staff in order to get a second use of Chaos Armor.

This rotation regularly uses Phase Retreat both to generate clones and as a leap finisher inside an ethereal field to provide Chaos Aura. As this teleports you backward, you will need to be sure it is safe to do so, and you may wish to skip entirely if you're tanking - the rotation generates more than enough Quickness or Alacrity without having to rely on the extra clones.

Rotation

Throughout the rotation, where Shatter is used, use whichever of your shatters is available, with the following priority:

1. Rewinder
2. Split Second
3. Distortion and Time Sink - feel free to save these to deal with mechanics.

Opener

1. The Prestige
2. Phantasmal Mage
3. Time Warp (if using)
4. Illusionary Counter ⇒ Counterspell
5. Weapon Swap
6. Phantasmal Warlock and Continuum Split during the cast
7. Signet of the Ether, plus Mirror Images ⇒ Rewinder during the cast
8. Phantasmal Warlock, plus Chaos Armor during the cast
9. Phase Retreat
10. Chaos Storm and spam other shatters before Continuum Split ends
11. Continuum Shift
12. Phantasmal Warlock
13. Signet of the Ether, plus Mirror Images ⇒ Rewinder and Split Second during the cast
14. Phantasmal Warlock
15. Chaos Storm
16. Chaos Armor
17. Autoattack and use Phase Retreat when it comes off cooldown - make sure to stand in your Chaos Storm to extend the duration of Chaos Aura
18. Weapon Swap

Scepter

1. Illusionary Counter ⇒ Counterspell
2. Phantasmal Mage
3. Confusing Images, plus Shatter during the cast
4. The Prestige - you will need to manually autoattack to break out of the stealth
5. Ether Blast ⇒ Ether Bolt ⇒ Ether Clone x3, plus Shatter when you reach three clones
6. Illusionary Counter ⇒ Counterspell
7. Weapon Swap

Staff

1. Phantasmal Warlock, plus Phase Retreat and Chaos Armor during the cast
2. Autoattack, and Shatter when you reach three clones
3. Chaos Storm just before Phase Retreat comes off cooldown
4. Phase Retreat
5. Autoattack, and Shatter when you reach three clones
6. Phantasmal Warlock
7. Signet of the Ether
8. Phantasmal Warlock
9. Phase Retreat
10. Weapon Swap

Continuum Split
When continuum split is off cooldown, skip a Shatter when on staff, and instead repeat the opener from step 6 when Signet of the Ether comes off cooldown.

Video example

Video example (axe)

General tips

• Open and close the Scepter section with Illusionary Counter ⇒ Counterspell.
• On Staff, use Phantasmal Warlock as soon as you swap so that you can cast it three times without delaying your weapon swap.
• Use Rewinder off-cooldown, you should always have 3 clones up for it.
• You can use Mirror Images to quickly provide 2 extra clones for Split Second (or any of your shatters if it will be more valuable).
• You can delay the use of Illusionary Counter if you will be able to block an attack with it - this is particularly useful when tanking.
• If you don't need the utility, Time Sink and Distortion can be used for extra boon generation. Make sure not to shatter clones that you need for Rewinder.

Breakbar

• Time Sink
• Phantasmal Mage
• Signet of Domination, though this is a significant DPS loss to use for CC.
• Gravity Well or Signet of Humility