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Willbender - Power DPS

Part of the current metagame

Our curator decided this build is in the current metagame regardless of rating. The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required: End of Dragons buildsJanthir Wilds builds

Difficulty:
Normal
This build was last updated on February 23, 2025 and is up to date for the February 11, 2025 patch.

Overview

A Power DPS build for Willbender.

When running Virtues, Willbender has the advantage that it can more easily maintain Aegis Aegis than Dragonhunter and core Guardian thanks to

, which can be used to ensure uptime during burst phases where it might otherwise be lost.


Skill Bar

Spear
Greatsword
Utility


Weapon Variants

  • Sword/Focus is the best option for players that don't own Janthir Wilds
    • Offhand Sword deals slightly less damage than Focus, but could be useful for the extra mobility from .
    • Players that own Secrets of the Obscure can run Longbow instead of Sword/Focus, this is a small DPS loss but has better ranged potential.


Skill Variants

is not only a decent damage skill, but it allows for frequent triggers of on the Sword build.


Template Code

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Specializations


Specialization Variants

Virtues offers a significant damage boost, but is dependent on maintaining a high uptime of Aegis Aegis or remaining above 90% health, which requires skill and may not be practical on many encounters. In such an instance you can run Radiance, though in this case Dragonhunter is perhaps a more natural fit.


Equipment

Head
Assassin
Shoulders
Berserker
Chest
Assassin
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Assassin
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Assassin
Accessory
Assassin
Accessory
Assassin
Amulet
Berserker
Ring
Assassin
Ring
Assassin
Spear
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Greatsword
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic
  • This setup has 2322 precision.
  • If using Sword, the extra teleports make the stronger option.


Radiance Variant

Head
Berserker
Shoulders
Berserker
Chest
Dragon
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Dragon
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Dragon
Accessory
Berserker
Accessory
Berserker
Amulet
Dragon
Ring
Dragon
Ring
Dragon
Spear
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Greatsword
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic


Consumables

Food

Utility


Usage

Spear Rotation

Spear's unique mechanic is the Illuminated effect. When under the Illuminated effect, skills 2-4 have enhanced effects:

In addition, each of these skills itself applies the Illuminated effect for five seconds. Finally, while

gains no extra benefit from Illuminated, it causes all skills to be Illuminated for as long as the symbol is active, regardless of where it is in relation to you.

Given that all your main skills on spear apply Illuminated, practically speaking all you need to ensure is that you use at least one of your 2-4 skills every five seconds when

is not active. The easiest way to maintain it is via as it an ammunition skill with low cooldown.

The most important skill to Illuminate is

.


Opener

It helps a huge amount to precast a charge of

to gain extra triggers of . If you do not do this you may find yourself needing to perform an extra autoattack or two while waiting for cooldowns.

  1. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap
  2. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap


Spear Loop

  1. - this is a targeted movement skill. If you hover your cursor over your UI, you will charge in place and minimise the animation time
  2. - we want to use this twice each loop, but its long cooldown means you always want to use it as your second skill to avoid delaying your weapon swap
  3. Virtue
  4. until Helio Rush comes off cooldown
  5. Virtue
  6. until Solar Storm is nearly off cooldown
  7. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap


Greatsword Loop

The Greatsword section is quite flexible, so the following is the general structure. If the next listed cooldown is not available use either a single auto or a full auto chain, depending on which you can fit in.

  1. Virtue
  2. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap



Video example


Sword Virtues Rotation

Click to view Toggle


Longbow Rotation

Video example


Sword Radiance Rotation

Click to view Toggle

Opener

If you won't need them, you can precast

and to begin with stacks of . Begin on Sword/Focus

  1. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap


Greatsword Loop

  1. Autoattack until Symbol of Resolution is available
  2. Autoattack until Symbol of Resolution is available
  3. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap


Sword Loop

  1. Autoattack until Rushing Justice is available
  2. , and - the order can vary each loop
  3. Autoattack until Zealot's Defense is available
  4. Weapon Swap Weapon Swap


General Tips

  1. Use extra charges of to fill in gaps where you don't have time for a full auto chain - make sure not to let it reach three stacks!
  2. Use off cooldown, and fill in gaps in Virtue uptime with the other two.


Ratings

This build has a rating of 4 stars based on 4 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
Asul gave this build 4 stars • January 2025
Tested both Radiance and Virtues variants in high tier fractals. Recommendation: Always go for Virtues! You have better uptime for aegis compared to Dragonhunter so utilize it. Virtues deal more damage and makes Power Willbender more competitive.
3 stars
Lazerwolf gave this build 3 stars • October 2024
The Radiance/Zeal variant is a noob trap and it's really inferior to the Virtues/Zeal variant. It really shouldn't be there at all.
4 stars
OfficerAndyGentleman gave this build 4 stars • May 2023
The virtues build is the star of the show here, with the ability to do amazing burst damage if it can maintain the bonuses from Unscathed Contender. Otherwise it will typically fall behind dragonhunter.
4 stars
Wolfsen gave this build 4 stars • April 2022
I run virtues over zeal and i found the build kinda stupid, you really have tons of survability while keeping decent dps because you have very few down time: you can dps constantly thanks to the fact that you never have to dodge or move. I haven't tested numbers and i know it's behind carries like weaver but it allows you to dps in most situations where your team is forced to stop dps.

Comments

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