Willbender - Condi DPS

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

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on April 12, 2024 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition DPS build for Willbender. Willbender is exceptionally bursty for a condition build, and focuses on rapid strikes to build up stacks of Burning. It has easier access to mobility and CC than other guardian specialisations, and while it has powerful personal defensive abilities it can end up trading a significant amount of damage if they are used at the wrong time. Condi Willbender's biggest weakness is that Firebrand exists.

Skill Bar

Pistol/Torch

Scepter/Pistol

Utility

Weapon Variants

• For players that don't own Secrets of the Obscure, Sword & Scepter mainhands are the best option.
  • Greatsword can replace the sword set. The two options have practically identical DPS so you can choose based on preference or requirement.
  • Sword offers some group Fury and a teleport, Greatsword offers a leap and pulls.
  • You could replace the Scepter set with Greatsword if you want both Sword and Greatsword, but it would be a DPS loss.
• As you only use one weapon set, you can bring utility options in the second set.

Skill Variants

• Bring Heaven's Palm if you need CC.

Template Code

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Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Sinister

Accessory
Sinister

Accessory
Sinister

Amulet
Sinister

Ring
Viper

Ring
Sinister

Pistol
Viper

Torch
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Scepter
Viper

Pistol
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• Players that find it difficult to keep up with the pace of the rotation may benefit more from a Relic of the Fractal. With this relic, you can also drop Scepter.
• If using Scepter and Sword, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth should replace Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air to provide reliable triggers of Relic of the Fractal. If you are not using this relic, a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Torment or Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air would be higher damage.
• The value of Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air relies on stacking virtues in order to get multiple triggers from a single hit. If you want to hold on to Flowing Resolve and Crashing Courage for utility, then a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Torment will perform slightly better.

Consumables

Food

• (or ascended versions)

Utility

Usage

Beginner Rotation

The easiest way to play Condi Willbender is to swap the Sword for an Axe and camp it unless you need to switch to Sceptre for ranged damage. This should give you an idea of how Willbender feels to play before moving on to the full rotation.

Opener

You can precast Flowing Resolve and Crashing Courage to start with stacks of Lethal Tempo, but skip this if you think you will need them for defence.

1. Rushing Justice
2. Active Zealot's Flame, but don't throw Zealot's Fire yet
3. Purging Flames
4. Whirling Light
5. Zealot's Fire x2
6. Symbol of Vengeance

For the rest of rotation, use the skills you used in the opener on cooldown, with Rushing Justice being the highest priority, followed by Purging Flames.

Video guide by Masel

Pistol Rotation

• Both your autoattacks are very weak, but the combination of Restorative Virtues and Relic of the Warrior allow us to limit the time we need to spend using them.
• Whirling Light triggers multiple whirl finishers, so always cast it after Purging Flames (which provides a fire field), at a time where there are none of your light fields.
• Where it lists Virtue in the rotation below, use either Flowing Resolve or Crashing Courage (Flowing Resolve is the higher priority if it is at two charges) for extra damage from virtue triggers. If you wish to keep these for utility, just ignore these steps and replace with autoattacks if necessary.

Opener

Start on Sceptre/Pistol. You can precast one or two charges of Flowing Resolve if you like, to start with Inspiring Virtue and Lethal Tempo.

1. Jurisdiction - allow to charge fully, and detonate immediately as is passes through your target.
2. Rushing Justice
3. Purging Flames - get this out early so combos interact with it rather than a light field
4. Symbol of Punishment
5. Weapon Swap

First Pistol Loop

If you're fast enough, Purging Flames won't be off cooldown by the time you swap back to sceptre, so the first loop is a bit longer to allow things to line up:

1. Symbol of Ignition
2. Peacekeeper and Zealot's Flame during the cast to start the cooldown
3. Whirling Light
4. Zealot's Fire
5. Virtue and Zealot's Flame during the cast
6. Zealot's Fire
7. Peacekeeper
8. Symbol of Ignition
9. Autoattack until Rushing Justice is available
10. Rushing Justice and Zealot's Flame during the cast
11. Zealot's Fire
12. Peacekeeper
13. Weapon Swap

Sceptre Loop

1. Symbol of Punishment
2. Hail of Justice
3. Virtue
4. Hail of Justice
5. Jurisdiction - allow to charge fully, and detonate immediately as is passes through your target.
6. Autoattack until Rushing Justice is available
7. Rushing Justice
8. Purging Flames
9. Whirling Light
10. Symbol of Punishment
11. Weapon Swap

Pistol loop

1. Symbol of Ignition
2. Peacekeeper and Zealot's Flame during the cast to start the cooldown
3. Zealot's Fire
4. Virtue
5. Cleansing Flame
6. Zealot's Flame ⇒ Zealot's Fire
7. Rushing Justice
8. Symbol of Ignition
9. Peacekeeper
10. Weapon Swap
11. Return to start of Sceptre loop

Video example

Video example (Fractal relic and mainhand pistol only)

Sword Rotation

Opener

You can precast Flowing Resolve and Crashing Courage to start with stacks of Lethal Tempo, but skip this if you think you will need them for defence. Start on Sword.

1. Rushing Justice
2. Active Zealot's Flame, but don't throw Zealot's Fire yet
3. Purging Flames
4. Symbol of Blades - be careful not to interrupt the cast of Purging Flames!
5. Weapon Swap
6. Whirling Light
7. Symbol of Punishment
8. Zealot's Fire x2
9. Cleansing Flame
10. Orb of Wrath until Rushing Justice is off cooldown
11. Rushing Justice
12. Symbol of Punishment
13. Zealot's Flame → Zealot's Fire
14. Orb of Wrath and Zealot's Flame → Zealot's Fire until Weapon Swap is available
15. Weapon Swap

After this, the rotation is mostly priority based, but there are a few ways to structure each section:

Sword Loop

The basic sword loop opens with:

1. Zealot's Defense
2. Symbol of Blades
3. Follow priority list (below) until Zealot's Defense is available
4. Zealot's Defense
5. Weapon Swap

Alternate Sword Loop

You can instead structure the sword loop as follows:

1. Symbol of Blades
2. Zealot's Defense
3. Follow priority list until Symbol of Blades is available
4. Symbol of Blades
5. Follow priority list until Zealot's Defense is available
6. Zealot's Defense
7. Symbol of Blades
8. Weapon Swap

This loop is slightly lower damage in general, but if used for the first two loops it causes cooldowns to line up slightly better, resulting in slightly higher DPS. Just following the basic sword loop is completely fine though.

Scepter Loop

The scepter loop is very simple:

1. Symbol of Punishment
2. Follow priority list until Weapon Swap is available
3. Weapon Swap

Priority List

1. Rushing Justice
2. Purging Flames
3. Skills specified in weapon loops above
4. Zealot's Fire - Zealot's Flame should be activated as soon as it is available as this starts the cooldown, you then have three seconds to throw Zealot's Fire so it can be delayed but don't miss the window
5. Whirling Light - This is a 4x whirl finisher, so it can be delayed up to ~three seconds if it will guarantee to combo with Purging Flames
6. Symbol of Punishment, Symbol of Blades and Zealot's Defense - when not specified in the weapon loops above, it is important to use these skills but as long as they don't delay your Weapon Swaps it isn't too important when
7. Cleansing Flame - This is higher priority than autoattacks, but as it has a long cast time it is important not to have to delay more important skills too much, and the burning is only applied at the end of the skill

Video example

Greatsword Rotation

Opener

You can precast Flowing Resolve and Crashing Courage to start with stacks of Lethal Tempo, but skip this if you think you will need them for defence. Start on Greatsword.

1. Rushing Justice
2. Purging Flames
3. Symbol of Resolution
4. Whirling Wrath
5. Weapon Swap
6. Zealot's Fire - you need to be fast or you might miss the window to throw this
7. Symbol of Punishment
8. Zealot's Flame → Zealot's Fire
9. Whirling Light
10. Cleansing Flame
11. Rushing Justice
12. Symbol of Punishment
13. Orb of Wrath until Zealot's Flame is available
14. Zealot's Flame, but don't throw Zealot's Fire yet
15. Orb of Wrath until Zealot's Fire gains a second charge
16. Zealot's Fire x2
17. Weapon Swap

After this, the rotation is mostly priority based, but each section follows the same structure:

Greatsword Loop

1. Symbol of Resolution
2. Whirling Wrath
3. Follow priority list until Whirling Wrath is available
4. Whirling Wrath
5. Symbol of Resolution
6. Weapon Swap

Scepter Loop

Provided you are fast enough, Radiant Fire will have triggered towards the end of the Greatsword Loop so Zealot's Fire will be immediately available

1. Zealot's Fire
2. Symbol of Punishment
3. Zealot's Flame → Zealot's Fire
4. Follow priority list until Weapon Swap is available
5. Weapon Swap

Priority List

1. Rushing Justice
2. Purging Flames
3. Skills specified in weapon loops above
4. Zealot's Fire - Zealot's Flame should be activated as soon as it is available as this starts the cooldown, you then have three seconds to throw Zealot's Fire so it can be delayed but don't miss the window
5. Whirling Light - This is a 4x whirl finisher, so it can be delayed up to ~three seconds if it will guarantee to combo with Purging Flames
6. Symbol of Punishment - when not specified in the weapon loop above, it is important to use this skill but as long as it doesn't delay your Weapon Swaps it isn't too important when
7. Cleansing Flame - If Rushing Justice will come off cooldown in the next ~two seconds, then delay this until afterwards
8. Binding Blade

Video example

General Tips

• On Greatsword, both Whirling Wrath and Binding Blade gain extra damage if used inside an enemy's hitbox.

Sword or Greatsword?

Both rotations have very similar benchmarks, so feel free to play whichever you enjoy most. There are a few elements to consider in terms of usability though:

• The greatsword rotation is much more structured, which may make it easier to learn.
• On the other hand, as you are locked out of torch when using Greatsword, it is much easier to miss uses of Zealot's Fire if you are disrupted or slow.
• Both weapons have a mobility skill, but the teleport from Symbol of Blades is more versatile and can be used for a variety of skips in fractals.
• Zealot's Defense offer projectile destruction, but it can be difficult to use it effectively without sacrificing DPS.
• Whirling Wrath greatly rewards standing inside the hitbox, which means Greatsword is less effective on bosses where this is difficult or dangerous.
• Binding Blade and Leap of Faith means that Greatsword has slightly more available CC than Sword.