Holosmith - Explosive Roamer

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

Focused on: Direct damage, Mobility, Control.

Designed for:

Roaming

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Overview

A WvW Holosmith roaming build with high pressure and moderate sustain.

Skillbar

Sword/ShieldHealingUtilityElite

Slot Changes

Heal

• - way shorter CD which ultimately translates to more healing, but you have to give up the condition cleansing and combo potential of the healing turret.

Utility For the optional slot:

• - extra cleansing, both on the utility and the toolbelt part.

• - CC and a very short CD stun break on toolbelt.

• - a block which lets you keep pressuring targets in relative safety.

Elite

• - unblockable AoE CC for setting kills up.

Template Code

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Equipment

6x

Superior Rune of Durability

18x

Mighty WvW Infusion

Consumables

Food

• • - budget version

Utility

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Holosmith grants access to the Photon Forge (sometimes referred to as holo mode) and introduces a new resource: heat. Heat is generated passively while the forge is active and also by activating forge skills. Higher CD skills generate more heat.

• Reaching maximum heat (100) should be avoided as Overheating damages you and locks you out of the forge until heat goes back to 0. The best tool for heat management is dodge rolling, which vents 15 heat per roll via and does some moderate AoE damage.

• is used to activate the forge, after which your weapon skills will be replaced by 5 new ones. You can't exit the forge for at least 6 seconds, so be careful about reentering with high heat levels.
  • Both Engage Photon Forge and Disengage Photon Forge count as toolbelt skills and will work with related traits. Both skills can proc weapon swap sigils too.
  • If absolutely necessary you can abort Photon Forge by using .

Forge skills

• Auto attacks are just filler/spammable downed cleave if you'd need it.

• will be used to maintain permanent Swiftness and Vigor (through ), keep using this skill out of combat as well but don't build too much heat (manage with dodges accordingly). Holo Leap also does considerable damage while in combat. Keep in mind that this is a Leap Finisher, so always try to combo it with a Water Field for healing.

• tends to be the first skill Holosmiths use in combat right after entering holo mode. This is a two-parter that also stacks Might. The second strike goes off after a delay, making it ideal to combo with other skills for burst damage. Try to squeeze in 2 Corona Bursts before exiting the form.
  • The more targets you hit with this skill, the more barrier you get from Can't find such skill "Crystal Configuration: Eclipse"! Please refer to our skill index. which is important for your sustain. Against enemies like Rangers with pets or Mesmers with clones, aim to maximize targets hit by this.

• can be useful for reaching targets trying to escape, otherwise it should only be used if you can make sure that all of its projectiles are going to land (for example if the target is CC'd).

• is an excellent AoE CC and also a Blast Finisher. You can also fake cast it by stowing your weapon right after activation in order to bait enemy dodges.

General

• The build by default has rather poor access to condition removal, limited only to , , and .
  • Against condition burst 's immunity can bail you out.
  • For more frequent cleansing, you could consider picking up the Healing Turret instead of detonating it. That way you'll lose out on some healing, but the turret recharges sooner and cleanses the same amount of conditions per use.

• has both defensive and offensive uses. You could either hold on to it to break out of stuns and deal with CC in general, or burst targets with Quickness.

• is the go-to panic button in the build, making you immortal for the time being (well, except for fall damage). Beside just avoiding cerain death, this elixir's also useful for stomping enemies or reviving allies without any risk of interrupts.
  • is the only source of Stealth in the build, and it's AoE. There are plenty of situations where stealth can be a powerful thing to have. These include hiding allies who are being stomped thus saving them, removing pressure from yourself by turning invisible, or concealing your movement before an engagement to catch enemies off-guard.

• is a strong unblockable CC on medium CD, use it to set up burst.

Damage

• After every dodge roll you gain which adds a decent damage proc to your next attack.

• Most of your damage comes from spamming holo forge skills and dodging. Sword/Shield is mainly a filler set you use while the forge is cooling down.

• Right after exiting the forge follow up with and while your heat is still high, preferably in this order (Radiant Arc is a leap which makes it easier to land Refraction Cutter in melee range which increases the chance of landing all projectiles on one target).

• Once your heat is back at a reasonably low level enter holo mode and spam away.