Build:Spellbreaker - Power DPS

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

Focused on: Direct damage

Designed for: Raids and Fractals

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on September 15, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Spellbreaker is a great all-rounder, combining high sustained damage, consistent boonrip, big CC and good survivability thanks to Full Counter.

There are two distinct versions of Spellbreaker that depend on whether you use Hammer or Spear.

Hammer unlocks even more CC as well as the Defense traitline, allowing for even higher sustain and near-permanent Stability. This build fits the melee brawler archetype perfectly, and as such cannot really do anything if forced out of melee range.

Spear is exclusive to the Janthir Wilds expansion and is higher damage while also providing great ranged damage, but also requires more precise play and reliable boons to excel. Spear benefits more from the Tactics traitline, so it will also be providing a small amount of group support.

If using Spear, be sure to check the weapon and specialization variant sections to set the build up properly.

Skill Bar

Hammer

Dagger/Mace

Utility

Weapon Variants

• Offhand Axe can be used if you have doubts about your Quickness uptime (it can generate ~35% for yourself).
• If using Spear, replace Hammer. This build uses the Tactics Traitline, which pushes the damage of offhand Axe quite a bit higher than Mace.

Skill Variants

Qadim Lava Elemental Kiter Variant

• Healing Signet gives you more sustain while kiting Lava Elementals
• Break Enchantments does increased damage to enemies that have boons. Qadim regains boons on a very short interval. Replaces Bull's Charge
• Signet of Rage can be used if adrenaline generation is an issue. Alternatively, use your Signet of Fury actively to make up any adrenaline deficiency, which allows you to take Winds of Disenchantment in case DPS isn't high enough to skip Qadim's defiance bar (or on Challenge Mode)

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Specializations

• Loss Aversion - On bosses that regain boons very regularly you will not gain the benefit of Sun and Moon Style, and you can reliably gain the extra damage and adrenaline for removing boons with this trait.

Specialization Variants

If using Spear, Tactics is the stronger traitline (replacing Defense). Empowered is a key part of this traitline, so this variant will underperform if your boon uptimes are low.

• Martial Cadence is chosen to provide some Stability uptime, as you will rarely have this boon permanently so it improves your Empowered uptime.
  • Be aware that on encounters that corrupt boons, Stability will be corrupted into Fear, so it is best to pick one of the other traits.

Equipment

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Hammer
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Dagger
Berserker

Mace
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• For players that don't own Janthir Wilds, a Relic of the Thief is the best option.
• Against bosses that don't get Stunned, a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air on Hammer will do more DPS than the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact.
• If using Spear, replace Hammer. Also replace the offhand Mace with an Axe.
  • Against bosses that don't get Stunned, a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air on Mace and a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Hydromancy on Spear will do more DPS. This is especially useful in the opener, where you may otherwise have to delay your first Harrier's Toss due to lack of adrenaline.
• If you're able to reliably use CC during a bosses attack animations, then Sigil of Superior Sigil of Severance will trigger, which can make it better than Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact.
• Against bosses where you can reliably remove boons (such as Qadim), Relic of Nourys may offer higher DPS. Be aware that you will also stack this relic passively in combat, so the damage buff may trigger on a moment where it's not useful.

Consumables

Food

• or ascended versions

Utility

Usage

Hammer rotation

Start on Dagger

Opener

1. Winds of Disenchantment
2. Bull's Charge
3. Breaching Strike
4. Disrupting Stab
5. Tremor
6. Crushing Blow
7. Weapon Swap

Hammer section

1. Fierce Blow
2. Earthshaker
3. Hammer Shock
4. Staggering Blow
5. Hammer Swing (warrior) ⇒ Hammer Bash (warrior) ⇒ Hammer Smash x2
6. Fierce Blow
7. Backbreaker
8. Fierce Blow
9. Earthshaker
10. Hammer Shock
11. Weapon Swap

Dagger/Mace section

1. Disrupting Stab - this is interchangeable with Crushing Blow, but as it is a priority skill we use it first to prevent us interrupting Crushing Blow
2. Crushing Blow
3. Breaching Strike
4. Aura Slicer
5. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike
6. Tremor
7. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike x3
8. Bull's Charge
9. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike
10. Breaching Strike
11. Disrupting Stab
12. Crushing Blow
13. Weapon Swap
14. Return to start of Hammer section

Video example

Offhand axe rotation

Offhand Axe has a very similar rotation, with the main difference being that you autoattack more while on dagger.

Start on Dagger.

Opener

1. Winds of Disenchantment
2. Bull's Charge
3. Breaching Strike
4. Disrupting Stab
5. Dual Strike
6. Weapon Swap

Hammer section

1. Fierce Blow
2. Earthshaker
3. Hammer Shock
4. Hammer Swing (warrior) ⇒ Hammer Bash (warrior) ⇒ Hammer Smash x2
5. Staggering Blow
6. Fierce Blow
7. Backbreaker
8. Fierce Blow
9. Earthshaker
10. Hammer Shock
11. Weapon Swap

Dagger/Axe section

1. Disrupting Stab - this is interchangeable with Dual Strike, but as it is a priority skill we use it first to prevent us interrupting Dual Strike
2. Dual Strike
3. Breaching Strike
4. Whirling Axe
5. Aura Slicer
6. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike x2
7. Bull's Charge
8. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike
9. Breaching Strike
10. Disrupting Stab
11. Dual Strike
12. Weapon Swap
13. Return to start of Hammer section

Video example

Spear rotation

Spear benefits from precise aiming on several of its skills, which can make it less reliable if there are other enemies around. Specifically, Maiming Spear and Harrier's Toss deal extra damage to the target closest to the centre of their AoEs, and Disrupting Throw and Spear Swipe do increased CC to the first target they hit.

Additionally, this rotation has lower coverage of Attacker's Insight compared to the Hammer build. You only crit cap when at five stacks, so CC is spaced out to try to cover as many of your high damage skills as possible during these periods. If you are slow or miss your CC skills, you may find youself dropping below three stacks, making your crits far less reliable.

Opener

1. "To the Limit!"
2. Winds of Disenchantment
3. Bull's Charge
4. Breaching Strike
5. Dual Strike
6. Disrupting Stab - it is optimal to use Disrupting Stab to cancel the aftercast of Dual Strike, and it has its own aftercast that can be cancelled by the weapon swap. If you find yourself cancelling Dual Strike entirely though, just reverse the order of these two skills.
7. Weapon Swap

Spear section

1. Maiming Spear
2. Disrupting Throw
3. Harrier's Toss - this has a long aftercast on it, so its best to mash the next skill to reduce downtime
4. Spearmarshal's Support
5. Mighty Throw until Maiming Spear is off cooldown
6. Maiming Spear
7. Spear Swipe - pushing forward during this skill will cancel a lot of the forced movement
8. Mighty Throw until Harrier's Toss is off cooldown
9. Harrier's Toss
10. Disrupting Throw
11. Maiming Spear

Dagger/Axe section

1. Disrupting Stab - this is interchangeable with Dual Strike, but as it is a priority skill we use it first to prevent us interrupting Dual Strike
2. Dual Strike
3. Breaching Strike
4. Whirling Axe
5. Aura Slicer
6. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike x2
7. Bull's Charge
8. Precise Cut ⇒ Focused Slash ⇒ Keen Strike
9. Breaching Strike
10. Disrupting Stab
11. Dual Strike
12. Weapon Swap
13. Return to start of Spear section

Kiting Qadim's Lava Elementals

This build can reliably kite Lava Elementals at Qadim, while also bringing decent DPS on the boss and utility in removing Stability during Parry by using Winds of Disenchantment. It is however very unforgiving for mistakes and becomes more difficult quickly when Qadim gets stacks of Fiery Surge. This guide assumes the use of offhand Axe.

Build variation

• Healing Signet gives you more sustain
• Signet of Rage can be used if adrenaline generation is an issue. Alternatively, use your Signet of Fury actively to make up any adrenaline deficiency, which allows you to take Winds of Disenchantment in case DPS isn't high enough to skip Qadim's defiance bar (or on Challenge Mode)
• (Optional) Break Enchantments does increased damage to enemies that have boons. Qadim regains boons on a very short interval. Replace Bull's Charge and use off cooldown (be aware that it interrupts other skills)
• (Optional) Loss Aversion - Qadim regains boons very regularly, so you will not gain the benefit of Sun and Moon Style. You can however reliably gain the extra damage and adrenaline for removing boons with this trait.
• (Optional) Relic of Nourys can be taken since Qadim regains boons constantly that you can remove to stack this effect.

Kiting Strategy

For a general overview, see this section.

Since this build has no ranged capabilities, we will be running around to kill the Lava Elementals up close. The elementals spawn in an anti-clockwise pattern around the platform Qadim is on. The main strategy for killing the elementals is to go through a loop of three methods (and since the platform is a triangle, that means that we'll be using every method in the same corner every time).

• Whirling Axe or Disrupting Stab and Dual Strike (alternate between them every loop)
• Breaching Strike
• Aura Slicer

Since we don't have Fury, it's possible we won't crit every time. Just finish the elemental with some auto attacks in that case.

Running around the platform means most of Qadim's attacks won't hit us. The main danger comes from , but this attack can be dodged or jumped over. Fire Dance will usually occur right before going back to the first elemental spawn spot, but this can deviate based on Fiery Surge stacks. If we avoid all the attacks, the only sustain we need is for the passive aura. This sustain is provided by the passive of Healing Signet and building up Adrenal Health by hitting Breaching Strike. If an emergency block is needed, Full Counter can be used which will also add stacks of Adrenal Health if it hits an enemy. Adrenaline can be topped off by using the active of Signet of Fury or bringing Signet of Rage.