Build:Herald - Quickness Support Condi 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: Condition damage, Support and Utility

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on October 30, 2024 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condi Herald build that provides permanent Quickness, Fury, Swiftness (optional), Regeneration (optional), high Protection, and around 23 Might to its subgroup. It also provides Facet of Nature, increasing boon duration while channelling Glint.

It can also provide other utilities depending on the second Legend chosen, such as Stability or damage reduction, though this a more significant damage loss than it would be for the power build.

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Skill Bar

Mace/Axe

Spear

Utility

Utility

• Your second Legend defaults to Legendary Demon Stance. Read the Legends section below to see other alternatives.

Weapon Variants

Mace/Axe, Shortbow and Spear are all very close to each other in terms of damage, and can be mixed and matched depending on your preferences:

• Spear/Spear has the highest potential DPS and is perhaps the easiest weapon set to do well on, but unlocking the full potential requires more precision than other options, as well as having forced movement. It also requires slightly different sigils.
• Spear & Mace/Axe can deal almost as much damage as Spear/Spear but has a faster ramp and more structure.
• For players that don't own Janthir Wilds, the best weapons are Mace/Axe and Shortbow. It ramps at a similar speed to Spear & Mace/Axe, but has lower long-term damage.
• Spear & Shortbow is the lowest damage of all the options, but comes with the advantage that both weapon sets are fully ranged and it still ramps faster than Spear/Spear.

Specializations

• For the Spear/Spear rotation Abyssal Chill performs slightly better.

Equipment

Head
Viper

Shoulders
Viper

Chest
Viper

Hands
Viper

Legs
Viper

Feet
Viper

Backpiece
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Accessory
Viper

Amulet
Viper

Ring
Viper

Ring
Viper

Mace
Viper

Axe
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Spear
Viper

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

• This setup has ~35% boon duration without the need to invest into any concentration.
  • Quickness uptime is quite tight with this amount, so feel free to swap in as many Ritualist stats pieces as are needed to make it permanent.
• You can tank by swapping some pieces to Celestial stats.
• If using Mace/Axe & Shortbow, it is important that the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Torment is on the Mace/Axe set, as this section of the rotation is slightly longer which makes triggering it three times per loop more reliable.
• If using Spear/Spear, replace the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Earth with a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Demons and pair this Spear with Legendary Demon Stance.

Equipment Variants

Rune Variants

• Many of the popular Alacrity providers also some Might, but in the event this is not the case, you could use Rune of Superior Rune of the Aristocracy to gain an extra ~5 stacks of might generation.

Consumables

Food

• , , , or ascended alternatives (such as )

Utility

• or

Usage

Quickness

You apply Quickness through the trait Elevated Compassion. This pulses healing and Quickness whenever you are using upkeep energy of six or above. Fortunately, all of your non-Legendary Dragon Stance legends have a skill that uses exactly six. Thus while in these legends you want to maintain the skill in question for almost the entire time. Glint is a little trickier as all the skills use upkeep, but Facet of Chaos and Facet of Nature combined are six energy, so these two are maintained together.

Swiftness

By default, the rotations below only generate ~35% Swiftness uptime. To provide more, you need to skip the first use of Elemental Blast and maintain Facet of Elements while on Legendary Dragon Stance (you should still use Elemental Blast before swapping legend). You may need to toggle off Facet of Darkness early to ensure you have enough energy for weapon skills.

Alternatively, as Swiftness is not stripped at the start of encounters, you can make sure to channel Facet of Elements before the fight starts. If you manage to start with 60s, you should be able to maintain it for a further two minutes without compromising your damage, or even longer if there are split phases in which to refresh it.

Legends

• Legendary Dragon Stance - absolutely key to the build, this is your source of almost all your non- Quickness boons. It's Facet of Nature—Dragon increases the duration of boons your subgroup provides by 20%. Note this effect does not actually increase Concentration, it increases Boon Duration (and is not shown in the Hero Panel), so a build with this effect and 100% Boon Duration would provide boons lasting 120% longer.

• Legendary Demon Stance is by far the highest DPS legend, and also offers a pull with Call to Anguish which may be useful when fighting trash mobs if your group does not have pulls.
  • It can also be used in fractals to remove the boons from No Pain, No Gain if no-one else is able to.

Other legends are a significant DPS loss, and will leave you doing less damage than the power build taking the same legend.

• Legendary Dwarf Stance is a significant DPS loss. You can provide Stability through Inspiring Reinforcement, CC through Forced Engagement, and reduce personal incoming strike and condition damage by 20% with Vengeful Hammers. If needed, it can also reduce incoming strike damage to your subgroup by 50% with Rite of the Great Dwarf. This legend is much easier to bring on the power build, as it loses much less damage.

• Legendary Centaur Stance is an extremely niche option. It is a massive DPS loss that should only be taken if your group desperately needs projectile block through Protective Solace. It also offers condition cleanse through Purifying Essence, CC through Energy Expulsion, and a very weak heal through Facet of Nature—Centaur.

• Legendary Assassin Stance provides personal mobility through Phase Traversal and Impossible Odds, and CC through Jade Winds. It has no real use in combat, but could be used in between encounters.

Spear & Mace Axe Rotation

Opener
Start on Mace/Axe and Legendary Dragon Stance with Facet of Strength, Facet of Elements and Facet of Darkness active.

1. Facet of Nature ⇒ True Nature (Dragon) - make sure the boonstrip at the start of an encounter has already happened
2. Facet of Light (optional) - this allows a few extra pulses of Quickness but to ensure you have enough energy for the whole opener you should be at 50+ energy
3. Abyssal Raze
4. Abyssal Blot
5. Abyssal Raze
6. Abyssal Force
7. Abyssal Raze
8. Elemental Blast
9. Burst of Strength
10. Legendary Demon Stance
11. Embrace the Darkness
12. Weapon Swap

Mace/Axe
The stronger effect of Embrace the Darkness can only be activated once per pulse, so the first auto chain is split up to ensure that pulses aren't wasted. This requires precision to avoid either cancelling Misery Swipe or delaying your legend swap, so it may be better in practise not to worry about it.

1. Searing Fissure
2. Echoing Eruption
3. Misery Swipe
4. Temporal Rift - you can sneak this in without interrupting the auto chain
5. Anguish Swipe ⇒ Manifest Toxin
6. Searing Fissure
7. Misery Swipe ⇒ Anguish Swipe ⇒ Manifest Toxin x2
8. Searing Fissure
9. Misery Swipe ⇒ Anguish Swipe ⇒ Manifest Toxin
10. Echoing Eruption
11. Legendary Dragon Stance
12. Facet of Strength ⇒ Burst of Strength
13. Facet of Elements ⇒ Elemental Blast
14. Searing Fissure
15. Weapon Swap

Spear

1. Abyssal Raze
2. Abyssal Force
3. Abyssal Blot
4. Facet of Darkness and Facet of Chaos
5. Autoattack, and activate Abyssal Raze and Facet of Nature as they become available
6. Abyssal Force
7. Chaotic Release
8. True Nature (Dragon)
9. Abyssal Raze
10. Facet of Elements ⇒ Elemental Blast
11. Facet of Strength ⇒ Burst of Strength
12. Legendary Demon Stance
13. Embrace the Darkness
14. Weapon Swap
15. Return to start of Mace/Axe section

Spear Rotation

Click to view

The concept of Spear is rather simple. All your Spear skills reduce the cooldown of Abyssal Raze, which in turn is your most powerful ability.

The gist of the rotation is then to use Abyssal Force and Abyssal Blot off cooldown, and spam Abyssal Raze with your remaining energy (while also providing boons).

If using two spears, start on the set with Sigil of Superior Sigil of Doom and Sigil of Superior Sigil of Geomancy. If not using, just ignore any weapon swaps.

Opener
Start on Glint and Shortbow with Facet of Strength, Facet of Elements and Facet of Darkness active:

1. Facet of Nature
2. Abyssal Raze
3. Abyssal Force
4. Abyssal Blot
5. Elemental Blast
6. Burst of Strength
7. Facet of Chaos
8. True Nature (Dragon)
9. Legendary Demon Stance
10. Embrace the Darkness
11. Weapon Swap

Mallyx
Activate Embrace the Darkness as soon as you enter this legend, then Weapon Swap.

The pulsing damage of Embrace the Darkness is boosted when a skill is used, though this effect can only be activated once per pulse. A single autoattack is added after key skills to ensure that pulses aren't wasted. This requires precision to avoid either cancelling Abyssal Strike, so if it may work out better to just use abilities as fast as you can.

Energy is tighter on this legend, so use Abyssal Raze a maximum of two times if Abyssal Blot will come off cooldown while on it.

Glint
When Legendary Dragon Stance is available:

1. Legendary Dragon Stance
2. Facet of Elements ⇒ Elemental Blast
3. Facet of Strength ⇒ Burst of Strength
4. Weapon Swap

Activate Facet of Chaos 3-4 seconds into this legend, along with Facet of Darkness if you need to provide Fury, or Facet of Nature otherwise. If using Facet of Nature here, just activate Facet of Chaos when Facet of Nature comes off cooldown.

Use spear skills as normal, and as Facet of Elements and Facet of Strength come off cooldown:

1. Facet of Darkness ⇒ Gaze of Darkness (optional) - quickly using this skill allows you to provide a small amount of Fury while still benefitting from Facet of Nature
2. True Nature (Dragon) - if you weren't already maintaining this, flip it on and immediately consume
3. Facet of Elements ⇒ Elemental Blast
4. Facet of Strength ⇒ Burst of Strength
5. Legendary Demon Stance

Your spear skills have higher value when used on Mallyx, so don't delay your legend swap.

Mace/Axe & Shortbow Rotation

Click to view

Opener
Start on Glint and Shortbow with Facet of Strength, Facet of Elements and Facet of Darkness active:

1. Facet of Nature
2. Sevenshot
3. Burst of Strength
4. Elemental Blast
5. Facet of Chaos
6. True Nature (Dragon) - we slightly delay using this to be sure that Quickness has pulsed at least once
7. Legendary Demon Stance
8. Embrace the Darkness
9. Weapon Swap

Mace/Axe
The stronger effect of Embrace the Darkness can only be activated once per pulse, so the first auto chain is split up to ensure that pulses aren't wasted. This requires precision to avoid either cancelling Misery Swipe or delaying your legend swap, so it may be better in practise not to worry about it.

1. Searing Fissure
2. Echoing Eruption
3. Misery Swipe
4. Temporal Rift - you can sneak this in without interrupting the auto chain
5. Anguish Swipe ⇒ Manifest Toxin
6. Searing Fissure
7. Auto-attack chain x2
8. Searing Fissure
9. Auto-attack chain
10. Echoing Eruption
11. Legendary Dragon Stance
12. Facet of Strength ⇒ Burst of Strength
13. Facet of Elements ⇒ Elemental Blast
14. Searing Fissure
15. Weapon Swap

Shortbow

1. Spiritcrush
2. Bloodbane Path
3. Sevenshot
4. Scorchrazor (optional) - you can greed for extra damage if Fury is being covered by the other support and you don't need CC
5. Facet of Nature
6. Facet of Chaos
7. Facet of Darkness - skip if you don't need to provide Fury
8. Shattershot, and Bloodbane Path whenever it comes off cooldown
9. Chaotic Release when your cooldowns are at ~2s remaining
10. True Nature (Dragon)
11. Bloodbane Path
12. Spiritcrush
13. Sevenshot
14. Facet of Strength ⇒ Burst of Strength
15. Facet of Elements ⇒ Elemental Blast
16. Legendary Demon Stance
17. Embrace the Darkness
18. Weapon Swap
19. Return to start of Mace/Axe section

Video example

Video example (skipping fury)