Holosmith - DPS Holo

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: Strike damage

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Expansions required:

Difficulty:

Hard

This build was last updated on February 12, 2025 and is up to date for the February 11, 2025 patch.

Overview

A power damage Holosmith WvW build meant to do massive damage within melee range, overwhelming the enemies with copious amounts of burst hits, causing great pain and harm to their bodies and souls and health bars, while having no meaningful downtime, unlike their other DPS such as reaper or berserker which struggle outside of

Reaper's Shroud

and

Berserk

.

Skillbar

Rifle/Rifle

Utility

Variants

Weapon

• Hammer

Heal

• Med Kit
  more team utility but less personal survivability

Utility

• Elixir S

Template Code

[&DQMGOyYvOS0qDwAAVxYAAJMBAACVAQAA8BUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]

Copy Template Code

Specializations

Variants

• Solar Focusing Lens
• Photonic Blasting Module

Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Demolisher

Ring
Marauder

Rifle
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rifle
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Relic

Variants

Stats

• Feel free to use as much Berserker's gear as you can without dying
• The given setup aims for maximum Effective Health
  • You can swap Marauder's to Demolisher's to make healing more efficient in exchange for increasing your chance to be spiked from 100%

Relics

• Relic of Fireworks
  - with Hammer
• Relic of Isgarren
• Relic of Speed

Sigil

• Superior Sigil of Stamina
  for activating
  Explosive Entrance

Consumables

• Fried Oyster Sandwich
  • Peppercorn-Crusted Sous-Vide Steak
    feast option with additional power and ferocity.
• Superior Sharpening Stone

Usage

General

• As soon as you get the 25 stacks of
  Superior Sigil of Bloodlust
  and get out of combat, swap back to the Rifle without it

Overall Priorities

High

• Damage

Moderate

• Superspeed

Low

• CC

Surviving

• This build has moderate passive defense
• This build has moderate mobility skill access
  • Holo Leap
    will leap towards your target if you have one, make sure to drop your target when using it for mobility
• This build has moderate active defenses

Active defense priority

• Holo Leap
  or
  Overcharged Shot
  - for Immobilize
• Dodge
• Elixir U
• A.E.D.

Detailed Explanations

Damage

• In
  Engage Photon Forge
  prioritize
  Corona Burst
  and
  Light Strike
  for damage
  • Use
    Holo Leap
    as needed for mobility
• Use
  Acid Bomb
  whenever the enemy group will be in the AoE for multiple ticks, the CD is very short
  • The backwards leap can be canceled by using a Weapon Swap keybind during the animation
• Use
  Laser Disk
  whenever you are sure you are going to be able to sit in melee for a long time
• Prime Light Beam
  is best suited for chokes or scenarios where the enemy is pushing at you, since it goes beyond the standard 5man target cap
  • Prime Light Beam
    roots you for a while during the cast so be careful to not greed
• Try to use both Exceed skills within Photon Forge, to grant them the
  Laser's Edge
  modifier
• During Photon Forge downtime:
  • Use your rifle skills, mainly
    Blunderbuss
    and
    Jump Shot
    for burst damage
  • Spam
    Flame Jet

Skill priority

• Prime Light Beam
  - over 50 heat
• Acid Bomb
• Corona Burst
• Laser Disk
  - over 50 heat
• Jump Shot
• Blunderbuss
• Dodge - for
  Explosive Temper
  (
  Explosive Entrance
  )
• Flame Jet

Superspeed

• Holo Leap
  gives Superspeed to an unlimited amount of allies
  • Use
    Holo Leap
    in the direction your commander is pushing whenever you use it
  • Cast
    Holo Leap
    behind the commander to keep the group together
  • Pair
    Holo Leap
    with
    Veil
    if your group isn't out of combat on
    Veil
    cast

CC

• Use your
  Holographic Shockwave
  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