Spellbreaker - Support Spellbreaker

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: Healing, Condition cleanse, Boon removal and Crowd control

Designed for: WvW Zerg

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on February 24, 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

Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

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

Template Code

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Equipment

Head
Minstrel

Shoulders
Minstrel

Chest
Minstrel

Hands
Minstrel

Legs
Minstrel

Feet
Minstrel

Backpiece
Minstrel

Accessory
Minstrel

Accessory
Minstrel

Amulet
Minstrel

Ring
Minstrel

Ring
Minstrel

Hammer
Minstrel

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Minstrel

Warhorn
Minstrel

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Equipment Variant

Stats

• Celestial option for more Immobilize duration

Runes

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

Consumables

• • personal food option

Usage

General

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.

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 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

Overall Priorities

High

• Winds of Disenchantment

Moderate

• Boon rip + CC
• Clearing Immobilize from allies

Low

• Healing allies

Specific Priorities

Condition clear skills by priority

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

Boon rip/CC skills by priority

• Winds of Disenchantment
• Earthshaker - Only when enemies lack Stability
• Full Counter
• Break Enchantments
• Hammer Shock - For Leg Specialist
• Staggering Blow - Only when enemies lack Stability
• Flurry
• Backbreaker - Only when enemies lack Stability
• Autoattacks

Heal skills by priority

• Call of Valor
• "To the Limit!"

Detailed Explanations

Winds of Disenchantment

• Winds of Disenchantment (Commonly called Winds or Bubble) is the most important skill in the build, it is very important to land on the enemy group
  • Land Winds of Disenchantment on the enemy group while your group is in range to follow up with a spike
  • Avoid overlapping with other friendly Winds of Disenchantment
  • 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

Boon rip and 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, CCing 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.
• Break Enchantments is a great way to proc Loss Aversion to give you enough Adrenaline for Earthshaker
• 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
• Your Autoattacks can proc Sigil of Superior Sigil of Nullification which can proc Enchantment Collapse, make sure to autoattack for these procs when no other useful skills are ready and you can do it safely.
  • Sword autoattacks are slightly better due to proccing Leg Specialist on the third hit of the chain

Clearing Immobilize

• You only have limited options for clearing Immobilize, but the options you do have are very good at doing it:
  • 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

Healing allies

• This build sacrifices a lot of healing potential for boon rip, so it is generally better to let other supports handle this
• Your best "heal" is actually the Barrier from Call of Valor, use it 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
• "To the Limit!" gives healing with Vigorous Shouts, but should generally be used after your group dodges through the enemy since it also restores Endurance