Build:Spellbreaker - DPS Spellbreaker

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damage, Dps and Boon removal

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on August 29, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Spellbreaker build for WvW. Combines high personal damage, good personal survivability and extreme boonrip.

Skill Bar

Greatsword

Hammer

Utility

Variants

Weapons

• Hammer ⇒ Axe/Axe significantly better spike damage, but drops most CC and a lot of mobility
• Spear good DPS option with high range and utility

Utilities

• Banner of Tactics
• Endure Pain

Template Code

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Specializations

Variant

• Axe Mastery on Axe/Axe

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Greatsword
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Hammer
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Relics

• Relic of Speed
• Relic of the Thief

Stats

• Feel free to use as much Berserker's gear as you can without dying

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of Durability trades off damage for survivability

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Energy
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Bloodlust

Consumables

• • feast option with additional power and ferocity.

Usage

Priorities

High

• Winds of Disenchantment
• Spike Damage

Moderate

• Sustained damage
• CC

Low

• Boon rip

Surviving

• This build has moderate passive defense
• This build has high mobility skill access
  • Use Whirlwind Attack to move out after spiking
  • Rush can be used for repositioning or gap closing
    • Drop your target if using it defensively
• This build has low active defenses
  • Balanced Stance gives Stability and makes you immune to critical hits for its duration, but is very important for protecting Winds of Disenchantment
  • If you think you're likely to completely die with no chance of being rezzed, use Balanced Stance to survive, but if you're likely to be rezzed by an allied Illusion of Life or Signet of Mercy, consider saving the cooldown for Winds of Disenchantment instead

Active defense priority

• "Shake It Off!" - for stunbreaking
• Balanced Stance - for stunbreaking
• Warrior's Sprint - for Immobilize
  • Whirlwind Attack
  • Rush
  • Earthshaker
• "Shake It Off!" - for Immobilize
• Dodge
• Defiant Stance
• Whirlwind Attack - general use
• Balanced Stance - general use

Detailed Explanations

Spike damage

• Arcing Slice ⇒ Full Counter ⇒ Arcing Slice
  • Full Counter should be used exclusively to reset the cooldown of Arcing Slice
  • To ensure Full Counter triggers, you can briefly move into hostile enemy ground pressure.
• If your adrenaline is too low, use Break Enchantments to activate Loss Aversion

Sustained damage

• Hundred Blades is situational. You stand still during channel, which means hitting CC'ed, movement impaired and downed foes is the ideal setup for this ability.
  • Making good use of Hundred Blades is critical to maximizing damage, look for any chance to get multiple ticks off
    • Delaying your Arcing Slice combo for Hundred Blades is worth it in low pressure situations where proccing Full Counter is not guaranteed
  • A stow weapon keybind is very useful to cancel Hundred Blades after enemies move out of the way
• Use Rush for single target damage even when already in melee

Skill priority

Greatsword

• Arcing Slice
• Full Counter - only while Arcing Slice on cooldown
• Hundred Blades
• Rush
• Bladetrail
• Whirlwind Attack - save to disengage

Hammer

• Fierce Blow
• Hammer Shock
• Earthshaker

CC

• Use your CC when:
  • Your group calls a spike:
    • Winds - Winds of Disenchantment
    • Wells - Well of Corruption+Well of Suffering
    • Shades - Desert Shroud
    • Traps - Procession of Blades+Test of Faith
  • On top of enemy downs (while alive players are on top of them)
  • Enemy groups moving defensively while your group is pushing
• Much of your boon rip comes from CC due to the synergies between Dispelling Force, Sigil of Superior Sigil of Absorption and Enchantment Collapse
  • Since you need to actually apply the stun/daze/knockdown to proc your trait/sigil synergies, make sure to target enemy players and watch their boon bar, only prioritizing CCing over boon rip when they run out of Stability
• Aim Earthshaker to the side of enemy groups instead of center mass to avoid damage. The AoE is large enough to still catch 5 targets.
• Full Counter should be used exclusively to reset the cooldown of Arcing Slice, only use it on hammer if you will die without using it
  • To ensure Full Counter triggers, you can briefly move into hostile enemy ground pressure.
• Be careful with the knockback of Staggering Blow, the skill is not worth casting if it will move enemies out of damage
• Backbreaker is a single target CC and very slow cast, its best use is following up on a player singled out by other CC and unable to avoid it

CC priority

• Earthshaker - only when enemies lack Stability
• Staggering Blow - only when enemies lack Stability
• Backbreaker - only when enemies lack Stability
• Full Counter - only when enemies lack Stability

Boon rip

• Land Winds of Disenchantment on the enemy group while your group is in range to follow up with a spike
  • Communicate while casting, let your team know if it gets interrupted and whether it's available or not
  • Make sure Balanced Stance is ready every time Winds of Disenchantment is and use it immediately before starting the cast to protect it
  • It is worth casting Whirlwind Attack just to get into a better position for Winds of Disenchantment, even if it hits no enemies
• Break Enchantments is a great way to proc Loss Aversion to give you enough Adrenaline for Arcing Slice