Build:Spellbreaker - DPS Spellbreaker

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

Focused on: Strike damage, Dps and Boon removal

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on August 02, 2022 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

A Spellbreaker build for WvW. Combines high personal damage, good personal survivability and extreme boonrip.

Skill Bar

Greatsword

Axe/Axe

Utility

Variants

Weapons

• Hammer provides significant CC, Boon rip and mobility at the cost of damage from axe/axe

Utilities

• Banner of Tactics

Template Code

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Specializations

Variant

• Burst Mastery on Hammer

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Greatsword
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Axe
Marauder

Axe
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Equipment Variants

Stats

• Feel free to use as much Berserker's gear as you can without dying

Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of Durability trades off damage for survivability

Sigils

• Change Vision/Hydromancy weapon to personal preference
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Force
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Absorption - for Hammer
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Nullification - for Hammer

Consumables

• • feast option with additional power and ferocity.

Usage

Priorities

High

• Winds of Disenchantment
• Spike Damage

Moderate

• Sustained damage
• CC - with Hammer

Low

• Boon rip

Surviving

• This build has moderate passive defense
• This build has high mobility skill access
  • Use Whirlwind Attack to move out after spiking
  • Rush can be used for repositioning or gap closing
    • Drop your target if using it defensively
• This builds has low active defenses
  • Balanced Stance gives Stability and makes you immune to critical hits for its duration, but is very important for protecting Winds of Disenchantment
  • If you think you're likely to completely die with no chance of being rezzed, use Balanced Stance to survive, but if you're likely to be rezzed by an allied Illusion of Life or Signet of Mercy, consider saving the cooldown for Winds of Disenchantment instead

Active defense priority "Shake It Off!" - for stunbreaking Balanced Stance - for stunbreaking Warrior's Sprint - for Immobilize Whirlwind Attack Rush Eviscerate "Shake It Off!" - for Immobilize Dodge Defiant Stance Whirlwind Attack - general use Balanced Stance - general use

Detailed Explanations

Spike damage

• Arcing Slice ⇒ Full Counter ⇒ Arcing Slice
  • Full Counter should be used exclusively to reset the cooldown of Arcing Slice
  • To ensure Full Counter triggers, you can briefly move into hostile enemy ground pressure.
• Transition out of the Arcing Slice combo into either Hundred Blades or Whirling Axe, depending on if you can land Hundred Blades or not
• If your adrenaline is too low, use Break Enchantments to activate Loss Aversion

Sustained damage

• Start fights on Greatsword use at least your Arcing Slice combo before swapping to Axe/Axe
• Hundred Blades is situational. You stand still during channel, which means hitting CC'ed, movement impaired and downed foes is the ideal setup for this ability.
  • Making good use of Hundred Blades is critical to maximizing damage, look for any chance to get multiple ticks off
    • Delaying your Arcing Slice combo for Hundred Blades is worth it in low pressure situations where proccing Full Counter is not guaranteed
  • A stow weapon keybind is very useful to cancel Hundred Blades after enemies move out of the way
• Use Rush for single target damage even when already in melee
• Stay at the edge of the range of Whirling Axe to avoid interrupts

Skill priority Greatsword Arcing Slice Full Counter - only while Arcing Slice on cooldown Hundred Blades Rush Bladetrail Whirlwind Attack - save to disengage Axe/Axe Dual Strike - if lacking quickness Whirling Axe Eviscerate - only with >50% adrenaline Dual Strike - general use Cyclone Axe Throw Axe

CC - for Hammer

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 Arcing Slice, only use it on hammer if you will die without using it To ensure Full Counter triggers, you can briefly move into hostile enemy ground pressure. Be careful with the knockback of Staggering Blow, the skill is not worth casting if it will move enemies out of damage 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 CC priority Earthshaker - only when enemies lack Stability Full Counter - only when enemies lack Stability Staggering Blow - only when enemies lack Stability Backbreaker - only when enemies lack Stability

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 Whirlwind Attack just to get into a better position for Winds of Disenchantment, even if it hits no enemies
• Break Enchantments is a great way to proc Loss Aversion to give you enough Adrenaline for Arcing Slice