Chronomancer - Power Shatter Chrono Roamer

The community gave this build a rating, making it second-tier: Good

Focused on: Strike damage and Control

Designed for: WvW Roaming

Difficulty:

Normal

This build was last updated on October 19, 2023 and is up to date for the March 19, 2024 patch.

Overview

A burst focused Power Chronomancer build for WvW roaming. High damage, low survivability.

Skill Bar

Greatsword

Sword/Shield

Utility

Skill Variants

Weapons

• Torch over Shield - defensive weapon which offers more condition removal and adds Stealth access to the build. Of course the stealth could also be used to sneak up on targets and burst them.

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Equipment

Head
Marauder

Shoulders
Marauder

Chest
Marauder

Hands
Marauder

Legs
Marauder

Feet
Marauder

Backpiece
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Accessory
Marauder

Amulet
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Ring
Marauder

Greatsword
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Sword
Marauder

Shield
Marauder

Sigil

Sigil

Rune
x6

Infusion
x18

Relic

Equipment Variants

Sigils

Greatsword

• Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing over Vision - better defense against conditions, less consistency on your main burst combo.

Relics

• Relic of Isgarren - potentially higher uptime of a slightly better damage boost, but you have less control over this one.

Consumables

Food

• - great offensive stats and some direct damage mitigation.
  • - a bit more defensive but equally viable option.

• - highest damage option, no damage mitigation but the life steal procs still provide some sustain.

• - this food provides some defense against condition damage without sacrificing damage.

• - active damage mitigation via more frequent access to dodging, and the Might generation has synergy with various traits.
  • Budget version:

• or - cheap precision bump and armor ignoring damage procs that also heal you.

Utility

• or .

Usage

Elite specialization basics

• Chronomancers gain access to Continuum Split (CS) in the F5 slot, a new shatter skill. CS only last a couple of seconds, extended by the clones shattered by its activation. Once it ends, your cooldowns and HP will reset back to what they were the moment you've entered Continuum Split. CS is usually used right before costly burst combos as it allows you to do an entire rotation and then repeat it once Continuum Split ends and your CDs reset.

• While your HP reverts back after CS (just like your CDs), any conditions or boons applied to you while CS was active is still going to be on you and your active Wells won't disappear either.

• Your regular shatter skills are replaced by new Chronomancer ones. These are very similar to old shatters in terms of functionality - for example the F1 still hits the hardest and F3 still Dazes.

General

• Signet of the Ether offers some nice passive healing but its true strength lies in the active. Being able to reduce the CD on Phantasmal Berserker for ranged damage or Echo of Memory for added sustain via blocking lets you adapt to various situations on top of getting healed.

• Blink is great in just about any sitaution from disengaging from a fight to teleporting in for a quick melee burst.

• Every Signet skill grants Distortion. Signet of Midnight is your panic button: break stuns, applies Stealth + Distortion and cleanses 5 conditions thanks to Blurred Inscriptions. SoM is the only mass condition cleanse in the build, keep that in mind when facing condition specs. Correcting mistakes or recovering from bursts becomes harder while this is on CD.

• Sometimes you might want to consider using Signet of Midnight offensively: this could instantly cleanse Weakness and Blind from you while providing a small window of invulnerability which allows you to facetank enemy burst and counterpressure them freely. The brief Stealth could even make it harder for enemies to avoid your attacks.
  • It's a risky move unless you can secure a kill or have a backup Distortion or Blink ready in case you get focused.

• Signet of Illusions is taken for its active. With this skill you to be a bit more reckless with your CD management and spam your shatter more which allows you to keep the pressure up longer. As far as defense goes being able to reset Distortion is a huge bump to your survivability.

Damage

• The following burst combo is the backbone of the entire build: Mirror Blade ⇒ Split Second ⇒ Mind Stab

• This is best used in melee range in order to make Mirror Blade (MB) harder to anticipate and to benefit from the Might from the bounces.

• The first bounce of MB creates a clone, you should use Split Second (for maximum damage) or Rewinder (if Split Second is on CD) to shatter it for burst damage.

• Follow up with Mind Stab as soon as you can.

• This combo can be extended and improved by many other skills in the build, including:
  • Rooting people with Sword/Shield's Swap or Tides of Time before the combo is highly recommended as it makes the combo harder to avoid even if they see it coming. Gravity Well works well too.
  • Phantasmal Berserker before the combo could soften up targets, force a dodge, or just in general provide 2 extra clones for shatters once the Phantasms expire.
  • Mirror Images between Mirror Blade and before you shatter instantly adds 2 extra clones for higher burst.
  • Using Continuum Split right before the combo lets you repeat your burst in case the target survived the first one.
  • Illusionary Wave could be used to interrupt the enemy if they're trying to heal, or knock away teammates who are coming in to rez them.

• Sword/Shield is more of a defensive set, but it does have decent clone generation and some CC to set up shatters if you want to.

• Rewinder is your filler shatter. The damage isn't great but it's better than nothing, and the boonrip from Shattered Concentration could soften up targets for your main burst (or just get rid of Stability if you need to interrupt something}.

• Split Second is an ammo skill with 2 charges. With the help of Mirror Images you could do 2 back-to-back shatter combos as it immediately grants you 2 clones which you can shatter using the 2nd Split Second.

Gravity Well combo example:

1. Optional: Start this combo on Sword/Shield so you can make use of the Sigil of Superior Sigil of Vision proc later
2. Gravity Well
3. Continuum Split right before you finish casting Gravity Well (to get the most out of Continuum Split's short duration)
4. Optional: swap to GS for sigil proc if you were on Sword/Shield
5. Mirror Blade
6. Split Second
7. Mind Stab
8. Phantasmal Berserker
9. Exit CS, repeat from Gravity Well

Sustain

• Survivability is somewhat low, the best you can do is not get hit. Luckily the build has plenty of ways to avoid damage, from blocks to Distortion.

• Keep your distance between burst combos as much as possible, but getting into melee range is inevitable as that's where your combos are the deadliest.

• Use Distortion, Echo of Memory and Blurred Frenzy to survive pressure. CC can buy you a couple of seconds too and Blink works wonders against less mobile enemies.

• If you absolutely have to, even Continuum Split could be used defensively. It reverts your HP back once it ends, so if you can activate it right before taking damage then it acts like a healing skill with a delay. You'll also be returned to your original position, allowing you to pull off things like using CS before jumping off a wall and teleporting back with Continuum Shift once the enemies jumped after you. This however is a bit predictable and could even backfire, as you're inevitably going to return to your starting position in a few seconds so they could just wait it out and burst you when CS ends.

• The build has several tools for dealing with conditions:
  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Cleansing when swapping to Sword
  • Distortion's damage prevention.
  • Every shatter skill removes at least 1 condition. Signet of Midnight cleanses 5 and Signet of Illusions could reset all of your shatters.
  • Phantasms take 1 condition from you when summoned.

• You can speed up the recharge of the shield block with the active of Signet of the Ether in case you really need it.

• The best defense is often a good offense. Let's say a Revenant is about to jump you with Phase Traversal, simply drop a Gravity Well under your feet and capitalize on the CC with a GS burst combo.

• Or a Thief just opened on you from Stealth and you need to react quickly, do a Blurred Frenzy to mitigate the initial burst followed by a Time Sink to prevent them from attacking you after Blurred Frenzy as you're already casting Illusionary Leap + Swap on them, quickly followed by a GS burst combo. Consider throwing in a Distortion or Signet of Midnight as you're about to do the GS combo to avoid being interrupted by Steal.