Build:Spellbreaker - Support Spellbreaker (GvG)

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

Focused on: Healing, Condition cleanse, Boon removal and Crowd control

Designed for: WvW GvG

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on July 06, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Spellbreaker build for WvW that brings modest healing, strong condition cleanse and incredible boon removal. They also have near constant application of some form of crowd control.

Skill Bar

Hammer

Sword/Warhorn

Utility

Variants

• "For Great Justice!" over Balanced Stance

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Specializations

Variants

• Shrug It Off - if party is already capped on Might
• Phalanx Strength - if party is already capped on Quickness
• Vigorous Shouts - if party is already capped on Quickness and Might

Variants

• Swapping Discipline to Defense gains great personal survivability and adrenaline gain in exchange for Fast Hands

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Equipment

Head
Celestial

Shoulders
Celestial

Chest
Celestial

Hands
Celestial

Legs
Celestial

Feet
Celestial

Backpiece
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Accessory
Celestial

Amulet
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Ring
Celestial

Hammer
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Celestial

Warhorn
Celestial

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Equipment Variant

Stats

• Minstrel for more healing with Vigorous Shouts
• Giver for more Immobilize duration at the cost of Might and Quickness uptime

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Trooper Additional cleanse but less boon support

Consumables

• • personal food option

Usage

Priorities

High

• CC
• Boon rip

Moderate

• Condition clear
• Boonshare

Low

• Supporting allies

Surviving

• This build has high passive defense
• This build has high mobility skill access
  • Savage Leap will leap towards your target if you have one, make sure to drop your target if you need to use it for mobility
  • Since Earthshaker has other uses, prioritize Savage Leap when repositioning defensively
• This builds has low active defenses
  • Balanced Stance gives Stability and makes you immune to critical hits for its duration, but is important for protecting Winds of Disenchantment

Active defense priority "Shake It Off!" - for stunbreaking Warrior's Sprint - for Immobilize Savage Leap/Earthshaker Charge (warrior) - for Immobilize "Shake It Off!" - for Immobilize Balanced Stance - for stunbreaking Dodge Balanced Stance - general use "To the Limit!" "Shake It Off!" - for Vigorous Shouts

Detailed Explanations

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 Earthshaker
  • To ensure Full Counter triggers, you can briefly move into hostile enemy ground pressure.
• Make use of Hammer Shock to proc Leg Specialist when you need a CC with a range higher than your other, melee range CCs
• Be careful with the knockback of Staggering Blow, the skill is not worth casting if it will move enemies out of damage
• Flurry can be cancelled with a Stow Weapon keybind. Flurry applies its Immobilize instantly, and the other effects are negligible on a support build.
• 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
• Your Hammer skills are generally better than the skills in Sword/Warhorn, don't be afraid to camp the weapon and wait for cooldowns if there isn't a good opportunity for any skills on the other set
  • At the same time, if you can't do anything in Hammer swap to Sword/Warhorn so your Weapon Swap will be ready after you use the skills on Sword/Warhorn
• Sword autoattacks are slightly better than Hammer due to proccing Leg Specialist on the third hit of the chain

CC priority Hammer Shock - while enemies have Stability (procs Leg Specialist) Earthshaker - only when enemies lack Stability Full Counter - only when enemies lack Stability Hammer Shock - general use Staggering Blow - only when enemies lack Stability Flurry Backbreaker - only when enemies lack Stability Sword Autoattacks - Leg Specialist

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 Earthshaker and/or Savage Leap just to get into a better position for Winds of Disenchantment, even if they hit no enemies
• Break Enchantments is a great way to proc Loss Aversion to give you enough Adrenaline for Earthshaker
• Use Autoattacks to proc Sigil of Superior Sigil of Nullification and Enchantment Collapse when no other useful skills are ready and you can do it safely.

Condition Clear

• Focus on clearing Immobilize since your clears are very good at doing it and you have limited clears available
  • Charge (warrior) specifically clears Immobilize in a very large radius and should be prioritized whenever possible
  • "Shake It Off!" is a massive condition clear, but has a very long cooldown. Do use it to save Immobilize allies, but be conservative and only use it when other supports would take too long to clear it
• The most important time to clear Immobilize is when enemies are spiking, watch out for the following skills:
  • Winds - Winds of Disenchantment
  • Wells - Well of Corruption+Well of Suffering or Gravity Well
  • Traps - Procession of Blades+Test of Faith
  • Shades - Desert Shroud

Condition clear priority Charge (warrior) (for Immobilize, Chill or Cripple) "Shake It Off!" "To the Limit!" (with Rune of Superior Rune of the Trooper)

Boonshare

• Most of your boons come passively from Empower Allies and Martial Cadence
• Use Charge (warrior) to give Quickness when your group is spiking

Supporting allies

• Use Call of Valor just before engaging when possible, since the Barrier will last 5 seconds after application
  • If an ally in your party has Illusion of Life cast on them and does not manage to remove it before the duration times out, you can keep them alive by giving them Barrier before the 15 second duration ends
• Use "To the Limit!" after your group dodges through the enemy to restore Endurance

Settings

• Under General Options / User Interface check Always show squad health bars and Always show party health bars. These will make it much easier to keep track of who needs your support.
• Also under General Options / User Interface turn on Thick party health bars
  • Thick squad health bars can be used too as a matter of personal preference, but is not recommended for large numbers
• Under Squad Options uncheck View as a grid. This will allow you to keep track of your allies' boons, conditions and health, enabling a better decision-making and skill management.