Chronomancer - Boon Support Power DPS

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 and Boon support

Designed for: Raids

Difficulty:

TBD

This build was last updated on April 14, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

This iteration of Support Chrono is a boon support that provides 100% Quickness uptime for its party while dealing high personal DPS. This massively increases the group's damage output due to faster cast times. In addition, it can cheese certain raid mechanics using Feedback, Blink, and Portal Entre.

This iteration of Support Chrono is currently the most commonly used option and is paired with a Renegade or Mirage that provides alacrity. If for some reason you don't have another player providing alacrity, you should use Chronomancer - Utility Boon Support instead.

Skill Bar

Sword/Sword

Greatsword

Utility

Weapon Variants

Greatsword is mandatory but offhand Sword can be replaced if utility is required:

• Focus provides the best pull in the game, which can be massively beneficial on the right encounters.
• Pistol offers more CC.

Skill Variants

Utility

None of the utility skills is absolutely required: Well of Action adds a lot of Quickness, but is unreliable on bosses where the group has to move a lot, you may wish to bring additional boon duration if you swap it out; Mantra of Pain is your highest DPS utility option, so it can be replaced if you need additional utility or your boon uptime is too low; Mirror Images provides extra clones to fuel Seize the Moment, and makes your opening Continuum Split very easy, but experienced players might get more mileage out of other options.

• Phantasmal Disenchanter is a good all-rounder that provides a small amount of extra DPS, an extra clone to fuel Seize the Moment, and can keep bosses boon-free for Vicious Expression.
• Feedback provides a long-duration reflect.
• Signet of Inspiration is very helpful in padding uptimes of all boons in your subgroup, and is a good alternative to Well of Action.
• 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, and for recharging Time Sink.
• 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

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.
• Signet of Humility bigger and faster CC than Gravity Well but on a longer cooldown, which may be more suitable for some encounters.

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Specializations

Trait Variants

• If you have DPS Chronomancers in the group, they want the highest Slow uptime possible. Delayed Reactions can provide a lot if you use your CC proactively.
• If you have high Slow uptime, you can use Danger Time and Rune of Superior Rune of the Scholar (see variant below) for a massive damage boost. Make sure you can still maintain Quickness though!

Inspiration Variant

Sometimes utility is more important than damage. The inspiration traitline can be very powerful on encounters where you specifically need Aegis, such as Deimos, or the distortion from Blurred Inscriptions can be used to cheese certain mechanics, such as Slothasor's shake. Replaces Dueling.

• If the feedback from Medic's Feedback might cause problems (such as as 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.
• When running Inspiration, Signet of Inspiration is very powerful and its short cooldown makes it convenient for dealing with mechanics. If you are struggling with the timing, then Signet of Midnight is instant-cast and still has a relatively low cooldown.

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. The version listed here will in theory work for all fights but if you find that your quickness uptime has gaps, don't be afraid to replace Berserker equipment with Diviner gear for additional boon generation.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Berserker

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Assassin

Accessory
Assassin

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Assassin

Sword
Berserker

Sword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

The Sigil of Superior Sigil of Concentration gives a good amount of extra boon duration without sacrificing much damage (your illusions aren't affected Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact). This enables you to vary utility skills without worrying too much about dropping Quickness. If you are confident in your ability to maintain Quickness without it, you could use:

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Impact for more damage
• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Paralyzation for extra CC. Note that you will need a source of Daze or Stun other than Time Sink, as these always deal a minimum of 100 breakbar damage to a target, so increasing Time Sink's from 0.5s to 0.65s has no effect.

Danger Time Variant

If you have other sources of slow in the group (such as other chronomancers, or condition renegades), then you can switch to Danger Time for a significant damage boost. This lowers your boon uptime, it is still very possible to maintain permanent Quickness. With the exception of the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Concentration this matches the Chronomancer - Power DPS gear.

Head
Berserker

Shoulders
Berserker

Chest
Berserker

Hands
Berserker

Legs
Assassin

Feet
Berserker

Backpiece
Berserker

Accessory
Assassin

Accessory
Assassin

Amulet
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Ring
Berserker

Sword
Berserker

Sword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Greatsword
Berserker

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Consumables

• • is a convenient way of gaining more boon duration, though swapping in Diviner stats gear is more efficient.

Usage

This build generates most of its quickness through shatters thanks to Seize the Moment, therefore it is important to maximize value from each shatter cast but you should also make sure not to waste clones by summoning extras and overriding an existing one.

Opener

Start on Sword/X

1. Offhand Phantasm
2. Illusionary Leap (optional) - if you are not using Mirror Images
3. Weapon Swap
4. Mirror Blade
5. Mirror Images
6. Time Warp - enter Continuum Split during the cast of this skill
7. Mantra of Pain - use again as soon as you can, before Continuum Split ends
8. Phantasmal Berserker
9. Well of Action
10. Signet of the Ether - make sure not to cancel the cast of Well of Action
11. Use your F1-3 shatters, starting with Split Second, as soon as you hit 3 clones
12. Phantasmal Berserker
13. Mind Stab
14. Continuum Shift manually if Continuum Split has not already run out
15. Phantasmal Berserker
16. Well of Action
17. Signet of the Ether
18. Mind Stab
19. Mirror Blade
20. Split Second as soon as you hit 3 clones
21. Phantasmal Berserker
22. Weapon Swap
23. Go to whichever loop below that matches your offhand weapon

Offhand Sword Loop

1. Phantasmal Swordsman - this will be skipped on the first loop
2. Signet of the Ether - this will be skipped on the first loop
3. Phantasmal Swordsman
4. Blurred Frenzy
5. Autoattack until Blurred Frenzy is available
6. Split Second as soon as you hit 3 clones
7. Blurred Frenzy - make sure to finish the final sword auto chain
8. Phantasmal Swordsman
9. Weapon Swap
10. Go to greatsword loop

Offhand Focus or Pistol Loop

1. Offhand Phantasm
2. Blurred Frenzy
3. Autoattack until Blurred Frenzy is available
4. Split Second as soon as you hit 3 clones
5. Blurred Frenzy - make sure to finish the final sword auto chain
6. Weapon Swap as soon as it is available
7. Go to greatsword loop

Greatsword Loop

1. Phantasmal Berserker
2. Mirror Blade
3. Mind Stab
4. Autoattack until Mirror Blade is available
5. Mirror Blade
6. Split Second as soon as you hit 3 clones
7. Autoattack until Mind Stab is available
8. Mind Stab
9. Phantasmal Berserker
10. Mirror Blade
11. Signet of the Ether - if not using offhand sword
12. Phantasmal Berserker - if not using offhand sword
13. Weapon Swap
14. Return to offhand weapon loop

Rotation example with offhand sword

Rotation example with offhand focus

Continuum Split

• Your Continuum Split should come off cooldown while you're on Greatsword. When you swap to Greatsword and Continuum Split is nearly off cooldown, avoid casting Well of Action to ensure you can use it within the CS, and make sure you will have 3 clones available. Otherwise you can just repeat from step 6 in the opener.

Tips

• Use Well of Action off cooldown. Remember to aim it where your group will be in three seconds.
• Try to only use Mantra of Pain while you have 10 stacks of Fencer's Finesse.
• You can use Temporal Curtain → Into the Void to pull adds onto the boss if needed.
• As previously mentioned, Time Warp is not necessary to maintain quickness so feel free to use it outside Continuum Split if needed. After this, it can be cast at any point to cover any quickness gaps that may occur due to fight mechanics or player error.
• Blurred Frenzy and Illusionary Riposte can be used to avoid incoming damage with less of a DPS loss than dodging.

Clone Sources

• Each of your Phantasm skills will create a clone (or two, in the case of Phantasmal Berserker after a short delay, once the phantasm has completed its attack. Keeping track of your phantasms is important to ensure you don't waste any clones.
• Illusionary Leap creates a clone on your target.
• Illusionary Riposte creates a clone on your target, but only if you take damage to trigger the counter.
• Mirror Blade creates a clone on your target when the projectile hits.

Shatter Usage

• Split Second is your primary shatter and does by far the most damage - if you have multiple shatters available this should be your first pick. Use whenever you have 3 clones. It's ok to delay this a little bit if you're only at 2 clones.
• Rewinder should only be cast if you know you'll have 3 clones available again by the time Split Second comes off cooldown.
• 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 (indicated in the rotation).
• Use Mirror Images to quickly generate 2 additional clones for a 3-clone shatter.