Build:Herald - Condition Mallyx

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

Focused on: Condition damage, Utility and Boon removal

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on April 14, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A condition-based Herald build with decent boon removal, pressure, and utility. The current version specializes in dueling/sidenoding.

Skill Bar

Mace/Shield

Staff

Utility

Utility

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

• The Acolyte of Torment + Abyssal Chill combo lets you squeeze more damage out of the build.

Every Grandmaster tier trait is viable depending on the situation:

• Diabolic Inferno adds some AoE pressure, you're free to take it if the enemy team doesn't have significant condition pressure.
• Fiendish Tenacity works best against enemy comps with heavy condition pressure but no boon removal.
• Permeating Pestilence is somewhere inbetween the other two traits, mixing both defense and offense. Best option when facing condition builds with heavy boon removal, such as Necromancers and other Mallyx players.

Equipment

Mace

Shield

Sigil

Sigil

Staff

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Equipment Variants

Runes

• Rune of Sunless - great stats plus an AoE CC on a relatively short CD.
• Rune of Resistance - fell out of favor after getting nerfed, but it sill has good defensive stats and potential trait synergy.

Usage

General

• Invoking a legend resets energy to 50, procs various traits such as Invoking Torment or Spirit Boon, and could even trigger the sigils of your active weapon set (if they are not on CD) among other things. Swapping legends is basically the main resource management tool in the build - swap whenever you're out of CDs or low on energy. That's not all however, on Mallyx builds legend swapping may also be used to do AoE burst damage or manage conditions on yourself.

• Start on Dragon stance (Glint) and while still in the base activate the following 4 upkeep skills for party buffing:
  • Facet of Nature (use its active when your energy is about to hit 0)
  • Facet of Elements
  • Facet of Strength
  • Facet of Darkness

• In combat Facet of Nature is used for dealing with conditions. On Mallyx True Nature (Demon) transfers conditions to nearby enemies, while on Glint it extends the duration of boons on nearby allies, which is best used when you have Resistance.

• Swapping legends deactivates the upkeep skills of that legend without sending them on full CD.

• Chaotic Release can be used to knock downed opponents away from their rezzing teammates, or to knock them off of capture points - this allows you to take the cap while bleeding them out, delaying their respawn.

Pressure

• Most of the damage comes from Mace and Mallyx.

• Chain Searing Fissure ⇒ Echoing Eruption in order to stack Might. Use these two weapon skills on CD.

• Banish Enchantment is now split between gamemodes and no longer is the go-to skill to spam in sPvP due to its high energy cost, even with Abyssal Chill procs. It's still however a strong skill in certain situations, especially mirror matchups where removing the enemy's Resistance could be key.

• Call to Anguish (CoA) is the best CC skill in the build, capable of balling up an entire team or pulling enemies off the highground. While it doesn't do much damage on its own, if you have enough allies around you may consider abusing this skill as much as possible to harass the enemy team and set up kills.
  • Banish Enchantment is a great followup for CoA (if you have the energy for it). While generally viewed as a single target ability, it's capable of hitting multiple foes if they are close enough to each other.
  • Consider activating Embrace the Darkness right before doing a CoA jump, as CoA is a leap finisher and EtD is a Dark field. By combining them you can grant yourself Dark Aura.

• Embrace the Darkness is where most of the burst comes from. Always try to activate it before using Mace skills.

Self Sustain & Disengaging

• Every Mallyx skill has a chance to proc Resistance on a 5s ICD. Other sources of Resistance include swapping legends with Fiendish Tenacity equipped or using an elite skill to proc Rune of Resistance's 6th bonus (if taken).

• Crystal Hibernation is basically your third healing skill. It heals for a fair amount, blocks attacks and cleanses conditions.

• Envoy of Exuberance aimed at your character heals for a small amount and grants Protection.

• Pain Absorption is the most reliable skill to use if you want quick access to Resistance. It's also a great support skill in general, removing conditions from allies and granting them Resistance.
  • As with all stun breaks with a cast time, the second part of this skill can be interrupted and instead of just going on CD, you'll lose all the energy for nothing. Glaring Resolve could help with that - if you break stun with Pain Absorption you'll gain just enough Stability to cover the channeling.

• Call to Anguish will be your best mobility tool and on some maps can be used to leap to places where enemies can't follow (or at least, not easily).

• Facet of Light's chain effect Infuse Light is your jail free card - makes you immortal for the duration by converting all incoming damage into healing. Some players may stop pressuring you once Face of Light's been activated, in this case you should just wait a couple of seconds before using Infuse Light. Make sure you get at least 10k healing out of this skill, try to predict when burst is coming and use Facet of Light in advance - FoL has a cast time thus cannot be used while stunned, while Infuse is instant.

Top Streamers

• Twitch: ShaoAZ

Related Builds

• Condition Mallyx Roamer - WvW Roaming version.