Spellbreaker - Defense Hammerbreaker

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

Focused on: Direct damageControl and Boon removal

Designed for: PvP Conquest

Difficulty:
TBD
This build was last updated on November 26, 2022 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.


Overview

A Spellbreaker PvP build which offers a strong mix of damage and CC, made to teamfight.


Skill Bar

Hammer
Greatsword
Utility


Skill Variants

Utility

For the optional slot:

  • - mobility, CC, even an evade frame for sustain.
  • - extra sustain and some group support.


Elite

  • - more group support.


Template Code

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Specializations

Variants

  • makes the build even more tanky but gives up Immobilize Immobilize which is a valuable combo piece that could set up CC chains or bursts.


Equipment

Hammer
Sigil
Sigil
Greatsword
Sigil
Sigil
Rune
Amulet


Usage

Elite specialization basics

  • (FC) recharges your Burst skills and . Always try to use it when you can refresh their duration, except if you're under heavy pressure in which case you can use FC purely for defensive means.
  • Always try to make sure Full Counter goes off: briefly move into hostile AoE spells, tank Mesmer clones or Ranger pets, etc.
  • FC is both one of the best defensive and offensive skill in the build as it blocks, evades, grants Stability Stability, and performs an unblockable AoE CC attack when triggered.
  • Full Counter costs adrenaline just like any other Burst skill.


General

  • Settings: disable auto targeting, otherwise it'd be impossible to use skills like for disengaging.
  • reduces the CD of weapon swapping to 5 seconds, which keeps gameplay rather fast paced with minimal downtime. As a result you won't be auto attacking much unless you're cleaving a downed enemy.
  • Despite its range, is best used in melee to make it harder to react to.
  • CCing a target removes a boon and deals damage/grants adrenaline via .
  • grants you half a bar of adrenaline on weapon swap. This might not seem like a lot, but it's quite useful especially in situations where you're under pressure and don't have the adrenaline to activate . Instead of scrambling to build some a adrenaline a simple weapon swap could get you there.
  • All movement skills remove the Immobilized condition - list of movement skills in the build:
    • Greatsword: and . These two skills also provide excellent mobility both in and out of combat.
    • Hammer:
    • Rampage: , , and .
    • Utility:


Damage

  • Both sets are capable of doing a lot of damage, but Hammer needs a little more setup than Greatsword as most of its damage is in .
  • On GS your best attack skills are and . They are both quick skills on short CD.
  • is more of a filler skill. It's good if you don't want to get into melee (low on health for example) or if you want to remove Aegis Aegis before going in. If it doesn't get blocked the blade will boomerang its way back to you, try to position yourself in a way that it hits the target on its way back too. This could even be used as a source of minor ranged burst damage if the target is just far enough for the blade to pass them right before it starts to return, hitting them twice in 1 second.
  • is mostly just a mobility tool, the damage on it isn't bad but the pathing of the skill is (not to mention it has a very obvious tell).
  • is rather hard to land against moving targets and isn't really a priority. It's good for cleaving downed enemies who are being revived or vs targets sitting in a CC, but Arcing Slice should take priority even then. If the target's getting out of the CC soon it's usually better to land a Whirlwind Attack (or Arcing Slice) on them while you still can rather than getting another strike of HB off.
  • The 3 best skills to benefit from are , and . Fierce Blow hits harder if the target is CC'd, so if you use your skills in this order Earthshaker already sets it up perfectly. Of course any other CC works, even .
    • is the only true ranged skill on this set (not counting Earthshaker which is a melee leap). The Cripple makes it easier to catch up to fleeing targets so it has some value other than just doing great damage.
  • procs an Immobilize Immobilize whenever you stun or daze a target. This is more relevant on the daze, as dazed targets could still move freely if it wasn't for this trait.
    • No Escape turns into a great setup tool for burst chains, allowing you to immediately go on the offense even if you were being pressured. and are both great followups for the short immob.
  • is the best CC in the build. It also lasts longer against targets with Weakness Weakness and recharges . Fierce Blow itself inflicts Weakness, so going FB BB FB is the dream scenario, but sometimes you may want to go straight to BB after an Earthshaker to prevent your enemy from avoiding your Backbreaker as it has quite an obvious and long cast time.
    • Thanks to Earthshaker also applies Weakness, making it an even better combo piece for it.

Burst combo examples

Hammer to GS:

  1. to proc the Immob from traits
  2. Weapon swap to GS

GS to Hammer:

  1. Weapon swap, now makes your next 3 attacks crit


Conditon cleansing & general survival

  • and the empowered will be used to manage condition levels before resorting to mass cleanses.
  • cleanses 5 conditions and should be used pretty much on CD, assuming you're missing a large chunk of health or need to deal with conditions.
  • (SIO) is both a stun break and a source of condition removal for you and your team.
  • is great if you want to run away from pressure as it can build quite the gap while providing an evade frame.
  • is the best defensive skill you could have against direct damage but it has to be used preemptively (unless you used it to break stun). Keep in mind that you're still vulnerable to condition damage, CC, and even life steal from skills such as !
  • Even could be used defensively as a ground targeted escape tool. A mobility skill is never a bad thing to have for kiting, and with this you could even jump over gaps in the terrain, forcing some specs to go around or blow CDs.
  • can be used as a substitue for dodging if you're out of endurance or want to keep the target pressured while evading their attacks. It's also a mobility skill, so you could even try to Whirlwind your way behind a pillar if you suddenly need to get defensive.


Rampage

  • is what you use when you quickly want to burst/CC a target, or desperately need mobility to either chase down someone, or run away from a fight.
  • CC skills barely do any damage anymore, most of the damage in this form comes from autoattacks and .
  • is a popular opener, allowing you to CC targets from range and then either follow up with for burst damage or to keep the CC chain rolling.


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Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 3 votes.
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5 stars
Tana Everstar gave this build 5 stars • November 2022
Stun lock is always very fun, though this may be a tad op it's a pretty good build i think
5 stars
Hanz gave this build 5 stars • October 2022
One of the strongest builds to come out of this patch, really solid combination of damage + CC with plenty of sustain and mobility to complete the kit.
4 stars
Rhubarbpie gave this build 4 stars • October 2022
Good solid build. Can't decide if it's worth trading spellbreaker for strength for aggressive onslaught. I would say this version has more survivability. Really good damage if you can land bull charge - > hammer 2 - > hammer 5 - > hammer 2 -> swap gs arcing slice

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