Build:Chronomancer - Boon Support Power DPS

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

Focused on: Direct damage, Support and Utility

Designed for: Raids

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on February 22, 2023 and is up to date for the October 8, 2024 patch.

Overview

Power Quickness chronomancer provides EITHER 100% Quickness uptime or 100% Alacrity uptime to its subgroup while dealing okayish DPS. The quickness variant is good and flexible, the alacrity variant is not and should only be played by people that truly enjoy chronomancer, as other alacrity providers are simply better. Generally speaking, Build: Mirage - Alacrity Support Condi DPS will perform better at giving alacrity, or at least provide more boons.

This build can also easily tank. If the aggro is toughness based, simply equip some toughness. The amount needed will depend on the encounter and you and your squad's performance and skill. Nevertheless, it is better for a healer to tank.

As with all mesmer builds, it has access to plentiful utility should it be required, such as Feedback, Blink, or Portal Entre.

Quickness chronomancer was in the past rarely used as an offhealer, but nowadays that is a very bad option that simply cannot compete with the boons provided by reliable quickness healers.

Note that chronomancer used to be able to provide both quickness and alacrity at the same time, this is no longer possible.

Skill Bar

Sword/Shield

Greatsword

Utility

Quickness variant

Use Mantra of Pain in the empty slot.

Alacrity variant

Use Well of Recall in the empty slot.

Weapon Variants

Greatsword is mandatory but offhand Shield can be replaced by a Focus if you need Temporal Curtain to pull adds into the boss. These variants use different gear, so check the gear section.

Skill Variants

Utility

Quickness variant

Can replace Mantra of Pain if needed, and Well of Calamity if absolutely needed.

Alacrity variant

Should not replace skills. Only replace Phantasmal Disenchanter if it is asbolutely mandatory.

• Well of Action provides a decent amount of Might to your subgroup.
• Feedback provides a long-duration reflect.
• Well of Precognition provides aegis to your subgroup, useful for fights like Deimos CM.
• Mantra of Concentration provides Stability to your group.
• Mantra of Distraction for encounters that require heavy CC.
• Signet of Domination offers more CC than Mantra of Distraction but on a longer cooldown, which may be more suitable for some encounters.
• Portal Entre if you need a portal.
• Mimic allows you to get a second use out of a key skill if you'll need it more often than the cooldown. Often used together with Portal Entre.

Elite

The Quickness variant can use a different elite skill. The alacrity should always use Gravity Well.

Time Warp is not required to maintain quickness, but it provides an easy way to start fights with quickness and can be used to cover up any mistakes in the rotation.

• Gravity Well should be used if an encounter requires heavy CC or for maximum DPS.
• Signet of Humility bigger and faster CC than Gravity Well but on a longer cooldown, which may be more suitable for some encounters.

Template Code

Quickness variant

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Alacrity variant

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Specializations

Quickness variant

Use Seize the Moment.

Alacrity variant

Use Stretched Time.

Trait Variants

• Time Catches Up - very minor dps gain if you don't need the extra CC from Delayed Reactions.

Specialization Variants

Sometimes, utility is more important than damage. The Inspiration traitline massively lowers your damage but is very rarely taken for the Aegis of Inspiring Distortion if Well of Precognition would not be enough, or if the cooldown of Distortion is too long to deal with some mechanic so you complement it with Blurred Inscriptions, for example if tanking Vale Guardian. Replaces Dueling.

• If the feedback from Medic's Feedback might cause problems (such as in Cairn), then you can swap it out for Restorative Mantras or Sympathetic Visage depending on whether healing or condition cleansing is more useful.
• If using a focus, then Warden's Feedback is very nice, assuming the reflects won't be an issue.
• For Blurred Inscriptions you can consider Signet of Inspiration to help your subgroup with boon uptime, or Signet of Midnight for its instant cast.

Equipment

Quickness variant

Can use either shield or focus, but focus requires more boon duration leading to lower damage, so it should only be played when you need the utility of Temporal Curtain.

Aalacrity variant

Uses shield. If you absolutely need the utility of Temporal Curtain, you will need to replace Phantasmal Disenchanter with yet another well and do even lower damage.

Quickness shield

Head
Assassin

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Assassin

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Diviner

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Assassin

Accessory
Berserker

Accessory
Berserker

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Assassin

Ring
Assassin

Sword
Berserker

Shield
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

• This gear set provides 15.4% boon duration so you can comfortably upkeep permanent Quickness. You have 75% critical chance with food, reaching 100% with Fury.
• If you want to maximise your damage, swap the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Concentration for a Sigil of Superior Sigil of Air for 5.4% boon duration, but your quickness will drop if you can't maintain a perfect rotation.

Quickness focus

If you absolutely require the utility of Temporal Curtain, replace shield with focus and use this gear set because you will need a lot more boon duration.

Head
Diviner

Shoulders
Assassin

Chest
Diviner

Hands
Assassin

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Assassin

Backpiece
Diviner

Accessory
Assassin

Accessory
Diviner

Amulet
Assassin

Ring
Assassin

Ring
Diviner

Sword
Assassin

Focus
Assassin

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Assassin

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

• This set provides 38.33% boon duration will lets you comfortably upkeep permanent Quickness. And 99.05% critical chance with food and Fury.

Alacrity shield

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Assassin

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Assassin

Accessory
Assassin

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Assassin

Ring
Berserker

Sword
Berserker

Shield
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Consumables

Food

• /

Utility

Usage

The usage section focuses on the quickness variant. If you are playing the alacrity variant, follow the same rotation but prioritise above everything else using all your wells off cooldown.

Rotation

Opener

Start on Sword/Shield

1. Echo of Memory (while engaging the boss. If the fight starts inmediately, use Time Warp first, then Echo of Memory, and cast one greatsword auto inbetween Mirror Blade and Phantasmal Berserker to ensure the Echo of Memory phantasm has enough time to become a clone)
2. Tides of Time - to immediately get Quickness or Alacrity out while you generate clones
3. Illusionary Leap ⇒ Weapon swap to cancel the aftercast animation.
4. Mirror Blade
5. Phantasmal Berserker ⇒ Continuum Split with 3 clones at the end of the casting time. Cast one charge of Mantra of Pain
6. Phantasmal Disenchanter
7. Signet of the Ether and Time Sink during the cast
8. Phantasmal Berserker
9. Phantasmal Disenchanter and Split Second during the cast
10. Well of Calamity ⇒ ⇒ Mind Stab ⇒ Rewinder so Mind Stab cancels the long aftercast of Well of Calamity
11. Mirror Blade
12. Continuum Split ends during Mirror Blade
13. Phantasmal Berserker and start spamming Mantra of Pain anytime it gets a charge
14. Phantasmal Disenchanter
15. Well of Calamity ⇒ Signet of the Ether so Signet of Ether cancels the long aftercast of Well of Calamity.
16. Phantasmal Berserker
17. Mind Stab and Split Second when you hit 3 clones
18. Mirror Blade
19. Weapon Swap

Loop

The loop is very simple. In the greatsword set, you will use Phantasmal Berserker 3 times thanks to Signet of the Ether. You use Phantasmal Disenchanter once per weapon set.

If you need a full breakdown, this is the full loop:

1. Blurred Frenzy
2. Autoattack (making sure to finish your auto chains) while using Phantasmal Disenchanter, Tides of Time and Well of Calamity as they come off cooldown
3. Blurred Frenzy
4. Weapon Swap when available - make sure you use Tides of Time once per sword section, so delay the swap if necessary
5. Phantasmal Berserker
6. Mirror Blade
7. Mind Stab
8. Autoattack and use Mirror Blade when it comes off cooldown
9. Mind Stab
10. Phantasmal Berserker
11. Mirror Blade
12. Signet of the Ether
13. Phantasmal Berserker
14. Weapon Swap
15. Return to start of loop

• Fill the gaps with auto attacks.
• Use Mantra of Pain, Phantasmal Disenchanter and Well of Calamity off cooldown.
  • Use the last charge of Mantra of Pain just before the end of a phase and recharge it near the start of the next one to provide some Might to your subgroup.
• Use a shatter whenever you reach three clones
  • Try to use Split Second off cooldown, so save clones for it if necessary
  • In a perfect world you never need to use Time Sink or Distortion for Quickness (outside of your Continuum Split), so you can save them for utility

Continuum Split

• When Continuum Split is almost off cooldown, prepare 3 clones to use it on greatsword. You want to use Phantasmal Berserker and Phantasmal Disenchanter twice thanks to Signet of the Ether, plus Well of Calamity, and Mind Stab.

Video example of quickness rotation

Video example of alacrity rotation

Notes

• Shield is the default weapon because it allows you to run lower boon duration, in turn doing more damage. But focus is still very good with Temporal Curtain ⇒ Into the Void to pull adds onto the boss. Just remember that the quickness variants needs higher boon duration if you are going to use focus —check the gear section— while the alacrity variant will have to run 4 wells.
• Time Warp is not necessary to maintain quickness. Once it comes off cooldown after the first use, just use it when your allies might not have quickness, for example when coming back from doing cannons on Sabetha, or when coming back from the demon realm on Deimos.
• Blurred Frenzy and Illusionary Riposte can be used to avoid incoming damage with less of a DPS loss than dodging.

Clone Sources

The following skills summons clones

• Illusionary Leap summons a clone on your target.
• Illusionary Riposte summons a clone on your target if you successfully block.
• Mirror Blade summons a clone on your target when the projectile hits.

The following skills summon phantasms than later become clones

• Phantasmal Berserker summons 2 phantasms that later become 2 clones.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter summons a phantasm that later becomes a clone.
• Echo of Memory sumons a phantasm that later becomes a clone.
  • If you block an attack with Echo of Memory, you can use Deja Vu, which summons a phantasm that later becomes a clone.

Shatter Usage

• Split Second is your primary shatter and does by far the most damage. As you practice this build, you will always have 3 clones ready for it, so you're going to be using if off cooldown.
• Rewinder should only be cast in the greatsword set shortly after Split Second, because the greatsword loop rotation generates enough clones to have 3 ready for the next Split Second.
• Time Sink should be saved for emergencies to provide CC or cover quickness gaps.
• Neither of your shatters line up perfectly in your loop, so they will drift, but you should be using Split Second at least once on each weapon set.

Crowd Control

• Time Sink - daze.
• Tides of Time - stun (shield only)
• Temporal Curtain ⇒ Into the Void - pull
• Illusionary Wave - Knockback.

If you need more CC remember you can take Gravity Well, or Signet of Humility, or Mantra of Distraction, or Signet of Domination.

Encounter Specific Tips

Spirit Vale

Vale Guardian

• If tanking, consider taking extra toughness as the boss's autoattacks hit fairly hard.
• Bring Gravity Well for the breakbars.
• Maintain a sword clone in the split phase to help with boon removal.
• Use Temporal Curtain to help with seeker control.
• Save Blurred Frenzy to evade through blue AOEs while keeping up DPS.
• Save Distortion to negate the damage of a Green in high preasure situations. If it's really needed, take Inspiration with Blurred Inscriptions and Signet of Inspiration to negate the damage of all Greens.

Ghost events

• Feel free to bring Feedback for some reflects. Blink and Portal Entre can be used for more mobility.
• Abuse the adrenal mushrooms to reset your Blink and Portal Entre.

Gorseval the Multifarious

• Bring Gravity Well for the breakbars.
• You can use your signets (if you're using Blurred Inscriptions) to Aegis Gorseval's knockback or the black zones during the CC phase.
• You can use Illusionary Leap and Swap to immobilize Charged Souls.
• Use Temporal Curtain to pull the adds. The pull works best if you place the curtain just behind his hitbox.

Sabetha the Saboteur

• Bring Time Warp as there is only one breakbar which your teammates can easily cover.
• Use Temporal Curtain to pull the bandit adds for easier cleaving. You can do this when Sabetha starts her flamewall.
• Be careful of teleporting into flamewalls with Continuum Shift. You might have to abort CS early or delay it to avoid this.
• You might need to abort Continuum Split if you have to throw a bomb.

Salvation Pass

Slothasor

• Bring Gravity Well for the breakbars.
• Use Temporal Curtain to pull some slublings but always make sure you don't pull your friendly slubling.
• You can use Temporal Curtain without the pull (or delay the pull) to provide more projectile defense.
• If you are using Feedback keep in mind where your group will stand in the next few seconds. When you're about to move don't place it on your current position.
• Distortion can be used to destroy the projectiles from the unblockable shake attack by jumping inside the boss when it shakes like a wet dog.

Bandit Trio

• Bring Gravity Well for add control.
• Use focus to pull mobs together.

Matthias Gabrel

• Bring Gravity Well as failing to CC will result in a squad member's death.
• Be careful with your reflects! You should only use Feedback to break Bloodstone Shield. If you reflect his slam attack Matthias will get a damage buff for each projectile you reflected.
  • Also be careful with Tides of Time as this skill will eat the shards needed to break Bloodstone Shield.

Stronghold of the Faithful

Siege the Stronghold (Escort)

• Bring Gravity Well for add control.
• The most popular strat for this encounter is "all up" or "insta cap", where one chronomancer solos the cave, tanks the tower mobs, and uses Portal Entre to taxi the group up to every tower. This lets you effectively have 9 people on both the main path and the towers. If you are filling this role consider running extra toughness to make it easier to survive the tower mobs on your own.
  • If your group is fast you might need to Mimic your Portal Entre, or ask another mesmer to bring Portal Entre and help you port the 4th tower.
  • If your team is okay with you not giving quickness in order to make sure you can reliably solo the skip part, you can bring Blink and Mass Invisibility.
• Use focus to pull mobs together.

Keep Construct

• Bring Gravity Well for the breakbars.
• Make sure to have Quickness ready for the burn phase.
• Use Temporal Curtain to help pull the core through the rifts. Coordinate with other players on who is going to pull and when.

Xera

• If tanking, consider running extra toughness as there is a lot of random damage on this fight and your healer will have their hands full.
• Bring Gravity Well for the breakbars.
• Well of Eternity can be useful for condition cleanse and Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar uptime.
• Use your Temporal Curtain to pull adds into the boss.
• You can use Temporal Curtain to pull orbs. Make sure to pull the last orb to make sure you're not pulling more than one orb.
• If you're tanking, make sure to keep Xera facing away from your group as her Blurred Frenzy will deal massive damage to your DPS. You can use Blurred Frenzy or Echo of Memory to protect yourself from the attack while staying in place.

Bastion of the Penitent

Cairn the Indomitable

• Bring Time Warp as there are no breakbars here.
• You can use Blurred Frenzy to evade through red AOEs while keeping up DPS.
• If doing greens, you should delay your Quickness until everyone is back in the center.

Mursaat Overseer

• Bring Time Warp as there are no breakbars here.
• You should take either Claim or Dispel to get Improved Alacrity on the special action key.

Samarog

• Bring Gravity Well as Samarog has a huge breakbar and failing to CC will result in a squad member's death.
• Coordinate your CC with your teammates; try not to burn too many big CCs on the same breakbar.
• Use Into the Void to pull Rigom under Samarog during the split phases.

Deimos

• Bring Time Warp as the breakbars are small and easily broken by your teammates.
• You can block the pizza attacks and Mind Crush with Inspiring Distortion.
  • Note that a player standing in two pizza slices at the same time will still get hit.
• If tanking, save Blurred Frenzy to dodge the pizza attack while staying in place.
• You can use any of your blocks or Well of Precognition to block Mind Crush.

Hall of Chains

Soulless Horror

• If tanking, consider taking extra toughness as the boss's autoattacks hit fairly hard.
• Bring Signet of Humility as failing to CC will wipe the group and Gravity Well is risky with the Tormented Dead around.
• Take care when using Tides of Time as it will freeze Tormented Dead in place and interrupt knockbacks.
• Try to block the AoE attacks for your team with Inspiring Distortion.
• If you're tanking, coordinate the aggro swap with the other tank. Aim to swap aggro as soon as your current stacks expire.
• If you're tanking, move the boss near the wurms at the start so your DPS can cleave them down (with Epidemic or otherwise).
• Make sure to stand behind Soulless Horror if possible. If you're the tank, keep her facing in the same direction as her attacks deal massive damage to anyone who isn't the tank.