Chronomancer - Power Chrono

The printable version is no longer supported and may have rendering errors. Please update your browser bookmarks and please use the default browser print function instead.

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

Focused on: Strike damage and Defense

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns builds

Difficulty:
Hard
This build was last updated on March 24, 2024 and is up to date for the November 28, 2023 patch.

Overview

Power Chronomancer is a powerful solo build with great boon uptime and damage. It has access to plentiful utility, including invulnerability and pulls, making it a great solo build. This build has a high skill floor, which can be off-putting for some, but investing time into learning it can be very rewarding as its potential is some of the highest in the game.

This build revolves around spamming Phantasm skills to both do damage and gain boons. Namely, permanent Fury Fury, Quickness Quickness, and 24~ Might Might, with 0 boon duration, thanks to the Illusions trait line.

Additionally, this build can sacrifice some of its damage to provide its party with permanent Quickness Quickness from or permanent Alacrity Alacrity from by making little changes.

Template Code

[&DQcBHRgaKD4jDyMPjwGPAWUBawFpAWkBsxLtEgAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADLwAxAFoAAA==]
Copy Template Code

Skill Bar

Dagger/Sword
X/Focus
Utility


Weapon Variants

You can replace the focus with other weapons:

  • Greatsword Greatsword - range and tagging potential with about the same damage as focus. But you lose access to the extremely helpful pull of focus' .
  • Shield Shield - low damage but great CC and allows you to block, twice if you do block at least one attack.
  • Pistol Pistol - deals its damage faster than focus, but less damage overall. Useful in very short fights. Stun instead of pull.

Skill Variants

Heal skill

is an integral part of this build and you should almost never replace it.

  • - in extremely rare situations where you'd like to trade damage for extra healing, use Ether Feast.

Utility skill

is a good source of damage and boons. Never replace it.
is a generic stunbreak and movement skill, can be replaced if needed.
is a generic damage skill, can be replaced if needed.

  • - good AoE damage.
  • - very strong defensive utility that provides Aegis Aegis per pulse and stunbreaks on cast.
  • - more Might Might and Fury Fury for yourself and allies, good option for groups.
  • - condition cleanse for yourself and nearby allies.
  • - projectile reflection.
  • - personal stunbreak and AoE stability.
  • - niche defensive option with some CC.

Elite skill

provides good damage and great CC, you will almost never replace it.

  • - slightly less cc than Gravity Well but it happens immediately if you need to break a defiance bar really fast.


Specializations

  • - extremely minor dps loss (Time Catches Up only affects the first hit of Split Second, so it's actually a 5% increase) and your clones will take longer to reach their target to shatter without Superspeed Superspeed, but the Slow Slow of Delayed Reactions can help a lot with breaking defiance bars.
  • - can be used when soloing for some utility, but it's a minor dps loss to not use which you enable thanks to , creating good windows of opportunity. Always use Improved Alacrity when playing in a group giving you alacrity.

Domination

Domination can be taken over Illusions if you are playing in a group providing you permanent Quickness Quickness and Might Might.

  • - for higher clone generation if using greatsword

Boon support

Click to Expand Toggle

When playing in groups, you can drop and take the trait to provide yourself and nearby allies with Quickness Quickness. If the group already has quickness, you can instead provide Alacrity Alacrity through .

When doing this, make the following changes.

  1. Replace the Illusions Illusions traitline with Domination Domination.
  2. Use a greatsword greatsword. On the other weapon set either use dagger-sword for damage, or dagger-focus for the pull of .
  3. Change your utility skills to , , and .

Feel free to change Mantra of Pain to whatever other skill you might need, like a stun break.

[&DQcBHQoZKC0jDyMPzxKPAQQTawFpAWkBsxK8AQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACWgAyAAA=]
Copy Template Code
Dagger/Sword
Greatsword
Utility
  • to provide Quickness Quickness.
  • to provide Alacrity Alacrity.
  • You can use any of the three adept traits: for minor healing since you run 3 wells anyway, or for a little bit more CC, or for an extremely minimal damage gain.

Do not play these boon support builds when soloing, the strength of these boon support builds comes from providing your party with either quickness or alacrity. However, when playing solo, you already have permanent self-quickness from the Illusions traitline, and giving only yourself alacrity is never worth losing the extremely strong .


Equipment

This build uses the same gear as Build:Chronomancer_-_Power_DPS for raids for ease of gearing. Infusions are completely optional.

Head
Berserker
Shoulders
Assassin
Chest
Berserker
Hands
Berserker
Legs
Assassin
Feet
Berserker
Backpiece
Berserker
Accessory
Assassin
Accessory
Berserker
Amulet
Assassin
Ring
Assassin
Ring
Berserker
Dagger
Berserker
Sword
Berserker
Sigil
Sigil
Focus
Berserker
Sigil
Rune
x6
Infusion
x18
Relic
  • If you don't have access to Weaponmaster Training with the Secrets of the Obscure expansion, use sword sword instead of dagger.
  • This set provides 100% critical chance with Fury Fury and food. Or 96.71% without food.
  • As for the boon variants, you don't need any boon duration. With 0% boon duration, you provide about 140% uptime of quickness/alacrity. Just use greatsword on your second weapon set.
  • Other relics include , , or .
  • For defense, equip the highest tier Jade Core you can afford. Use defensive food, traits, or skills if required. If necessary, use Knight Knight trinkets.


Consumables

Budget consumables are acceptable for use in open world.

DPS

  • Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
  • /
  • /

Defense

Farming

  • Prioritize Steak Ascended food.
  • /
  • (and variants)


Usage

Continuum Split

is the profession mechanic of the chronomancer specialization that allows them to "rewind" time. Specifically, it tracks the chronomancer's position, health, endurance, and skill recharges, and returns the chronomancer to that point at the end of the split. As this is a Shatter, it will consume active clones, with the duration of the split increasing with each clone shattered.

This extremely powerful skill is used to spam your Phantasms four times in a row.

  1. Generate 2 or 3 clones.
  2. Cast your phantasm skills while entering Continuum Split.
  3. Reset your Phantasm skills with .
  4. Cast your Phantasm skills again.
  5. Continuum Split ends.
  6. Cast your Phantasm skills.
  7. Reset your Phantasm skills with Signet of the Ether
  8. Cast your Phantasm skills again.

Use your elite skill inside Continuum Split. Due to its low cooldown, you can use it again after the Split and it will be ready for the next Split, or you can save it for CC.

Damage

The following is a general priority of which skill to use.

  1. when you have 2 charges of Power Spike. You can use the 2nd charge if the enemy is about to die.
  2. with 3 clones.
  3. Fill with auto-attacks.

Rotation

DPS variant

The majority of your damage comes from casting your phantasms then using to reset their cooldown and casting them again.

Opening rotation

Against durable enemies like meta event bosses, try to start the fight with this opener: Start on Dagger/Focus.

  1. Weapon swap Weapon swap
  2. (spawns a clone)
  3. Auto attack a few times to give Phantasmal Disenchanter time to become a clone.
  4. With two clones, use and enter near the end of the cast of this skill.
  5. and ends.
  6. and with 3 clones.
  7. Weapon swap Weapon swap
  8. with 3 clones.
  9. and auto attacks
  10. with 3 clones.
  11. Proceed to Loop rotation

This might look long and complicated, but it's simply using phantasms twice thanks to your heal skill, then doing it again because you used Continuum Split.

You can use for damage once every important skill is on cooldown, or you can save it in case you will need the crowd control.

Loop rotation

The loop is very simple and revolves around your phantasm skills. Fill the gaps with , , and auto attacks.

  1. Dagger skills and until Phantasmal Swordsman is available again.
  2. Weapon swap Weapon swap

Repeat.

  • The idea is to use three times in the sword weapon set.
  • is used in both sets once.
  • is used once per loop.
  • and have higher priority than and .
  • Mastery of this skill priority will provide you with permanent Quickness Quickness, permanent Fury Fury, an average of 24 stacks of Might Might, and about 35% of Alacrity Alacrity uptime.

Boon variant

Click to Expand Toggle

Since the boon variant build has to sacrifice , Phantasms become significantly weaker. For this reason, the opening instead focuses on wells. Fill the gaps with auto attacks.

  1. weapon swap weapon swap
  2. /
  3. and
  4. /
  5. and
  6. weapon swap weapon swap

From here, use your wells off cooldown. When you swap to greatsword, cast , then continue with whatever is off cooldown, and cast a third before swapping to dagger. On your dagger weapon set, if using dagger-sword you can cast twice; but if using dagger-focus you will only be able to cast once.

Defense

  • You're a fully ranged build, use that to your advantage. Never stop moving, get out of enemy attacks or dodge them.
  • When using sword, dodges incoming attacks for 1 second. Use this to avoid attacks instead of dodging.
  • is a block.
  • If you need condition cleanse, slot .
  • Let your clones and phantasms tank for you when needed.

Crowd Control


Video examples

Phantasmal Defender is completely unnecessary, I just wanted to do a 6-phantasms-Contiuum-Split. Thanks to our blocks, evades, and Distortion, we should be pretty safe from this boss. Should have saved the second Gravity Well to break the boss' defiance bar instead of using it for dps.

Feedback makes the two archers shoot themselves to death, and the boss too. When the boss switches to daggers, I stand back and let my illusions tank his deadly combo. If you get hit, like I did, use Distortion to survive it.

Used an Adrenaline Mushroom to reset my cooldowns. The Avatar hits like a truck so I used Well of Precognition to block some hits. This fight is really a race to see who bursts who first. Breaking his defiance bar close to 50% stops the oneshot attack he tries to do.


Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 3 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
5 stars
Warming Hearth gave this build 5 stars • June 2022
The best chronomancer build for open world. With great damage, utility, crowd control, and boon generation. Definitely not easy to learn, but very rewarding once mastered. Most of its damage comes from Phantasms, which are mostly single target, so it needs to pack enemies together with focus before bursting. Its weaknesses are having its survivability tied to its evades and blocks that must be timed, and the skill required to successfully play this build mainly since the heal skill is an integral part of the DPS rotation.
5 stars
Linera gave this build 5 stars • January 2021
An incredibly fun and satisfying build to play. This build is capable of summoning an army of illusions so large, that your minimap will start to resemble the night sky. If running a full glass cannon, and if you survive long enough to carry out a full rotation, even champion health bars will crumble before you. Shield provides very good damage mitigation, and traits make sure that you almost always have a source of quickness available. 5/5
5 stars
Onlywrin gave this build 5 stars • November 2020
An extremely fun roaming build capable of soloing most content in the game, provided your timing is good. While it has low burst, its DPS is very high. A very high skill ceiling is the only thing keeping this build from being top tier.

Comments

Get MetaBattle Premium
Enjoy an ad-free experience & support the website, for less than $1 per month! Upgrade to Premium