Chronomancer - Utility Boon Support

This is a rough draft. Once adequately written, it will progress to the testing stage, where it can be rated by the community. You can help by proposing changes with a comment.

Focused on: Boon support, Utility and Direct damage

Designed for: Raids

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on June 28, 2022.

Overview

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Note: this build has not yet been updated for the 28th July 2022 patch that introduced significant changes to how chronomancers share boons. The information in this guide does not apply to the current version of the game.

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This version of Support Chrono is a boon support that provides 100% Quickness and Alacrity uptime for its party. This massively increases the group's damage and healing output due to faster cast times and lower cooldowns. In addition, it can increase group wide boon uptime through Signet of Inspiration, and cheese certain raid mechanics using Feedback, Blink, and Portal Entre.

This iteration of Support Chrono has been largely superseded by other sources of Alacrity. A higher-DPS version that provides only Quickness is now the common choice, which can be found here: Chronomancer - Power Boon Support.

This build is more pug-friendly as it doesn't require your group to stack within 240 units of you for Seize the Moment, and it assists players outside your subgroup with 10-target Signet of Inspiration. Chronophantasma also means that you generate twice as much Protection for your subgroup with Echo of Memory.

Skill Bar

Sword/Shield

Sword/Focus

Utility

Weapon Variants

Sword/Shield is mandatory but Focus can be replaced if there's nothing to pull with Temporal Curtain.

• Sword provides higher damage and a personal block.
• Pistol provides 250 extra breakbar damage from Magic Bullet (325 with Sigil of Superior Sigil of Paralyzation). This is useful if you have really bad CC or if you need to CC a lot (e.g. Samarog).

Skill Variants

Healing

• Well of Eternity sacrifices a small amount of personal DPS to provide group healing and condition cleanse. In high pressure fights Well of Eternity can maintain Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar uptime for your DPS which makes it easily better than Signet of the Ether.

Utility If you need a utility skill you can swap out Mimic:

• Well of Recall gives you more Alacrity.
  • Note that you are a poor primary source of Alacrity as you can only provide it to five targets at once, and to maintain it solo requires at least 90% boon duration, Signet of Inspiration, Mimic and Well of Recall (using Mimic on the well).
• Feedback helps with reflects.
• Well of Precognition provides Aegis to your subgroup, useful for fights like Deimos CM.
• Phantasmal Disenchanter is a selfish DPS option (only if you're using Chronophantasma)
  • If you're not using Chronophantasma, bring Mantra of Pain for damage.

Elite

• Gravity Well should be used if an encounter requires heavy CC.

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Specializations

Specialization Variants

• Warden's Feedback if you're using a focus offhand.
• All's Well That Ends Well if your group needs some extra minor healing.
• Time Catches Up in case Slow uptime is already permanent.

Illusions Variant

You take illusions to decrease the cooldown of Continuum Split. This doesn't particularly help phase boon uptime, as your cooldowns already fit fairly neatly, but it can be very useful when it makes the difference between starting a new phase with Continuum Split available or not. Master of Fragmentation also extends the length of Continuum Split, making it a good choice for newer Chronomancers.

Replaces Domination.

Chaos Variant

Chaos is most valuable on event-style encounters such as Escort, where an easy source of Stability is useful, or lowering the cooldowns of Blink or Mimic. It could also be used as a quick way to gain extra boon duration if you feel you are lacking and can't quickly regear.

Replaces Domination.

Equipment

There are many variations of gear for Chronomancer and some of them can be difficult to acquire, however they all share a common goal in their stat choices which is to reach enough boon duration to maintain sufficient boons for their group. The required boon duration will depend on the skill of you and your group, as well as whether you're running with builds such as Build:Firebrand_-_Quickness_Support_Power_DPS and Build:Renegade_-_Boon_Support_Power_DPS.

Remember to get a sword, focus, and shield offhand.

Standard Variant

The suggested gear here provides you with enough boon duration to comfortably sustain boons on your group, while allowing you to vary runes, sigils and consumables as necessary.

You can use dT's gear optimizer to decide what combination of gear will be best for you to use.

Head
Diviner

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Diviner

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Diviner

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Diviner

Accessory
Diviner

Amulet
Diviner

Ring
Diviner

Ring
Diviner

Sword
Diviner

Shield
Diviner

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Diviner

Focus
Diviner

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

• With , this build will reach exactly 100% boon duration.

Gear Variants

Sigils

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Paralyzation can be used for 60 extra breakbar damage from Tides of Time, Counter Blade or Magic Bullet. Note that Stuns and Dazes always deal a minimum of 100 breakbar damage, so this sigil has no effect on Time Sink.
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Accuracy is the highest damage sigil option.

DPS Runes

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Eagle can be used for a DPS boost if your group doesn't need the boons from Rune of Superior Rune of the Pack. Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar deals practically the same damage, but the 6th bonus can be lost (especially if you're tanking).
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Thief is the highest DPS rune set available, but pointless if you're tanking.

Tanking Runes

Due to the amount of active defence Chrono has, it won't always need a specific rune set for tanking, but there are some powerful options:

• Rune of Superior Rune of the Defender adds a good amount of bonus healing every time you block an attack. Against some multi-hit boss abilities, this can even proc multiple times off a single shield block.
• Rune of Superior Rune of Durability or Rune of Superior Rune of the Herald both provide 15% boon duration and 175 toughness, while applying a small amount of supplementary Protection to nearby allies.
• Rune of Superior Rune of the Rebirth are cheap and can save you from getting downed once every 90 seconds, making them a good starter option.

Minstrel Variant

Sometimes all you really need to do in an encounter is survive and provide boons. In such a case you can bring tanky gear such as Minstrel stats or Giver stats:

Head
Minstrel

Shoulders
Giver

Chest
Minstrel

Hands
Giver

Legs
Minstrel

Feet
Giver

Backpiece
Minstrel

Accessory
Minstrel

Accessory
Minstrel

Amulet
Giver

Ring
Minstrel

Ring
Giver

Sword
Minstrel

Shield
Minstrel

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Minstrel

Focus
Minstrel

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

• This set is designed to hit 100% boon duration with +100 concentration food and .
• You can swap the runes out for one of the Tanking Runes above, or a more heal-focused set such as Rune of Superior Rune of the Water.
• As you won't be doing any damage, you should run Improved Alacrity and a more support-focused traitline such as Illusions (or Chaos) in place of Domination.

Tanking and Toughness

If you're the tank in an encounter with toughness-based aggro, you will need to add toughness so that you have the highest toughness in your squad. Do a toughness check before pulling the boss and adjust your gear accordingly.

Here are some important toughness thresholds that you may need to take into account when gearing:

• 1000: the baseline toughness of all builds
• 1150: Soulbeasts with Pack Alpha
• 1380: Minimum toughness of a Soulbeast Hand Kiter at Deimos

If you only need a small amount of toughness, you can add one toughness infusion, replace one Berserker stats piece with Knight stats, or use /. If someone has an absurd amount of toughness consider running the Minstrel stats variant or similar. To beat 1150 toughness, you can swap your amulet for a toughness-major stat combo (make sure that your boon duration doesn't go too low).

Consumables

Food:

• or ascended versions

Utility:

• if you don't need extra boon duration

Usage

Rotation

The main role of Support Chronomancer is to provide permanent Quickness to your group. You can provide these boons directly with the following skills:

• Tides of Time
• Well of Action
• Time Warp

The final part of Chronomancer's boon-sharing arsenal is Signet of Inspiration, which extends the duration of boons that have been previously applied to whomever it hits (it will not apply boons that the player didn't already have). This is used to bridge the gap between boon applications from your other skills, and if you're using Blurred Inscriptions it will affect all 10 players in your squad. In some cases you may need Mimic to copy Signet of Inspiration for extra boons.

When all your boon sharing skills are on cooldown, just deal DPS with Blurred Frenzy, phantasms, and autoattack chains until your skills are available again.

Example Rotation Videos

• Double well rotation example

General Tips

• Coordinate with other boon support classes in your group (most likely another chrono or a renegade/firebrand pair) to ensure there aren't any gaps in boon coverage - remember that if traited your Signet of Inspiration will affect everyone in the squad!
• Remember to press Split Second to proc Flow of Time, as well as for the extra free damage.
• Proper well placement is crucial for boon uptime. Make sure you throw your wells where your teammates will be standing, not under your own feet. As a general rule of thumb, you should throw wells at the back of the boss, as this is where the DPS are usually stacking in melee range.
• Well of Action and Well of Recall only provide boons when they expire, 3 seconds after the initial cast. Make sure to keep this in mind if your squad is moving around during the fight.
  • This is especially important to keep in mind when starting a fight or a new phase after boons have expired - don't waste your Signet of Inspiration before boons have been applied to people!
• When possible you should use Continuum Split to increase your boon uptime. See "Continuum Split" below.
• You can delay Signet of Inspiration if you need to Aegis a specific mechanic. This may cause you to briefly drop boons, but it's better than wiping because you didn't do your job.

Continuum Split

• Continuum Split is a very powerful skill for boon uptime. While in Continuum Split, you can cast any of your boon-sharing skills "for free" without expending a cooldown. Use Continuum Split to double up on boonsharing whenever possible.
  • It's worth delaying skills by a few seconds if Continuum Split is coming off cooldown.
  • You should save your clones if you're going to Continuum Split soon so that you can get a longer Continuum Split. Illusionary Leap is helpful for generating clones here.
  • Remember that Continuum Split also makes you teleport to your original location when it ends. Be wary of your positioning when using it. Abort it if it's going to kill you on the return teleport (e.g. teleporting you into spikes on Mursaat Overseer).
• Another use of Continuum Split is to get a shorter cooldown on Time Warp and Signet of Humility. Because these skills have a longer cooldown than Continuum Split, you should only cast these skills inside Continuum Split if possible. This effectively reduces their cooldown to the cooldown of Continuum Split.
• Always activate Continuum Split as late as possible in the cast animation of whatever skill you want to Continuum Split. This is because skills only go on cooldown when their cast animation ends, allowing you to fit more skills inside your Continuum Split.
• If you use Tides of Time as your final skill then immediately cast it again upon exiting Continuum Split, you can catch both walls as they return and reduce the cooldown by 20 seconds instead of 10.

Other Tips

• Unless you will be entering Continuum Split soon you can shatter your clones with Split Second for extra damage. Illusionary Leap is worth using to generate a clone for shattering if you don't have 3 already.
• If possible, use Blurred Frenzy to mitigate damage instead of dodging.
• Illusionary Leap -> Swap can be used on mechanics such as Gorseval's Charged Souls or Deimos' Prides to immobilize them in emergencies.
• Use Into the Void to pull up to 5 enemies and allow your team to cleave them down at the same time.
• You have boon strip on the third skill of your AA chain Mind Spike. You can increase your boon stripping abilities by maintaining sword clones rather than shattering them, which use the sword AA including the boonstrip.
• If you don't need healing make sure to use Signet of the Ether to cast extra phantasms for more damage.

Breakbar

• Easily accessible CCs:
  • Tides of Time (1-2 hits)
  • Time Sink (1-4 hits)
• Other CCs:
  • Into the Void is a weak CC and is better used for pulling mobs into the boss.
  • Counter Blade if running sword.
  • Magic Bullet if running pistol.
  • Gravity Well or Signet of Humility