Build:Spellbreaker - Duelist Condibreaker

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 and Control

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on December 08, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Condition Spellbreaker PvP build made to win 1v1s.

Skill Bar

Dagger/Sword

Longbow

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• Defy Pain turns Signet of Rage into a great defensive skill by adding an Endure Pain proc on activation.

Variants

• No Escape trades some tankiness for more CC.

Equipment

Dagger

Sword

Sigil

Sigil

Longbow

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Rune

• Rune of Traveler - worse stats in exchange for better mobility.

Amulet

• - another viable option.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Full Counter (FC) recharges your Burst skills Breaching Strike and Combustive Shot. Always try to use it when you can refresh their duration, except if you're under heavy pressure in which case you can use FC purely for defensive means.

• Always try to make sure Full Counter goes off: briefly move into hostile AoE spells, tank Mesmer clones or Ranger pets, etc.

• FC is both one of the best defensive and offensive skill in the build as it blocks, evades, grants Stability, and performs an unblockable AoE CC attack when triggered.

• Full Counter costs adrenaline just like any other Burst skill.

General

• Usually it's best to swap weapons every ~5s or so to get the most out of Fast Hands. That should be enough time to rotate through most if not all of the skills.

• Aura Slicer and Breaching Strike are leap finishers, always try to use them in some kind of combo field.
  • Combustive Shot creates a fire field, leap + fire = Fire Aura for more damage.
  • Banner of Defense is a light field, leap + light = Light Aura for extra sustain.

• Using Burst skills grants passive health regen via Adrenal Health.

• Dodging grants Resistance, allowing you to ignore non-damaging conditions like Fear and Chill.

Damage

• Spam Breaching Strike and Combustive Shot whenever they're available.

• Fan of Fire is a cone attack so it's best used in point-blank range where all 3 arrows are going to hit the target.

• Smoldering Arrow is mostly a defensive skill because of the Blind, but it's also a guaranteed projectile finisher which means using it inside a fire field applies Burning.

• Pin Down does great damage but also works as a setup skill for other key skills because of the Immob. For example Pin Down into weapon swap for Sigil of Doom and Sigil of Exposure procs with an Impale (warrior sword) followup can put quite a few conditions on your target.
  • It has a rather obvious animation, sometimes you can use that to bait out dodges by stowing your weapon before the attack goes off. Weapon stowing in general is encouraged because of the skill's high CD, if you see that it's going to be dodged or blocked then there's no point in wasting it.

• Arcing Arrow is a bit underwhelming with Rabid Amulet but still has value as a blast finisher.

• Dagger/Sword is a bit more utility-based than Longbow. Instead of a heavy focus on condition pressure here you'll find boon removal, CC, leap finishers and a block.

• Breaching Strike has tremendous value as an unblockable boon rip even if its damage isn't that high. Going Breaching Strike ⇒ Full Counter ⇒ Breaching Strike can remove up to 7 boons (6 from the 2 dagger attacks and 1 from Dispelling Force, all of it unblockable).

• Disrupting Stab isn't the most dangerous skill in the build but it's still a good interrupt for key skills like heals, and also removes a boon via Dispelling Force synergy.

• Impale (warrior sword) is one of the best skills on D/S. The pulsing Cripple and Torment are difficult to cleanse, making this skill excellent at applying cover conditions to enemies while keeping them snared.
  • The chain skill Rip can be difficult to connect, but it's still worth going for right before Impale's about to fall off.

• Riposte applies a ton of Bleeding when used offensively. This and Impale are the strongest skills on this set in terms of raw damage output, but quite often it's used more as a defensive skills while kiting.

Sustain

• Mending should almost always be used whenever it's available as long as you're missing a large enough chunk of health, but if you're facing a condition build and all of your cleanses are on CD then you might want to hold onto it for a bit so you don't get caught offguard with a condi burst. The 5 cleanses make this your best skill against conditions.

• "Shake It Off!" (SIO) is the second best cleanse in the build and also a stun break. This skill affects nearby allies too and can be used to support them if you can afford it.

• Riposte is an excellent defensive skill that can block way more than just one attack as long as you're not facing the target or you're outside melee range.

• Cleansing Ire and Brawler's Recovery make it easier to manage incoming conditions so you can save your bigger CDs for later. Cleansing Ire works best with Longbow's Combustive Shot - while other burst skills only cleanse if they hit an enemy target, CS only needs to hit the ground for the trait to proc. However if the projectile is destroyed by something like a Swirling Winds then the trait won't proc.
  • This interaction makes Longbow great at dealing with conditions even while you're kiting and nobody's near you.
  • Full Counter is a Burst skills and therefore also works with Cleansing Ire.

• You can never go wrong with Full Counter while under pressure. It blocks attacks, CCs enemies to prevent followup bursts, cleanses conditions, grants useful boons like Protection and Stability (the Stability could even secure a Mending cast).

• Banner of Defense should be used as often as possible while under pressure. Even at or near max HP the barrier and Aegis can be useful. Its range is quite large so try to support nearby allies with it too. For a few seconds the banner also works as a light field for your finishers. Using Arcing Arrow for example removes 1 condition from you and nearby allies when used in the field.

Related Builds

• Spellbreaker - Condibreaker Roamer - WvW version of the build.