skip to content
All builds Elementalist icon Elementalist Engineer icon Engineer Guardian icon Guardian Mesmer icon Mesmer Necromancer icon Necromancer Ranger icon Ranger Revenant icon Revenant Thief icon Thief Warrior icon Warrior

Condition Virtuoso
February 2023

Instanced PvE
Dps
Low intensity icon Low intensityRecommended icon Recommended

Armor

Illustrious Masque icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Viper's HelmSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Epaulets icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's ShouldersSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Doublet icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Viper's ChestSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Wristguards icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's GlovesSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Breeches icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Sinister LegsSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Footwear icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's BootsSuperior Rune of the Krait

Weapons & Sigils

Dagger icon Superior Sigil of Agony icon
Viper's DaggerSuperior Sigil of Agony
Sword icon Superior Sigil of Earth icon
Viper's SwordSuperior Sigil of Earth
Focus icon Superior Sigil of Earth icon
Viper's FocusSuperior Sigil of Earth

Trinkets

Quiver of a Thousand Arrows icon
Rampager's Backpiece
Black Ice Earring icon
Rampager's Accessory
Asgeir's Talisman icon
Rampager's Accessory
Asgeir's Amulet icon
Rampager's Amulet
Black Ice Band icon
Rampager's Ring
Mistborn Band icon
Viper's Ring

Food

Bowl of Fancy Potato and Leek Soup icon Toxic Focusing Crystal icon
Bowl of Fancy Potato and Leek Soup Toxic Focusing Crystal

Infusions

Malign WvW Infusion icon Precise WvW Infusion icon
17xMalign Infusion 2xPrecise Infusion

Utility Skills

copied

Rotation

Rotation of Duelist Virtuoso can be simplified into Phantasms loop, where you will fill your rotation between key Phantasm skills:

  1. Phantasmal Swordsman
  2. Bladesong Harmony
  3. Thousand Cuts
  4. Bladecall
  5. Unstable Bladestorm
  6. Weapon Swap
  7. Phantasmal Warden
  8. Signet of the Ether
  9. Phantasmal Warden
  10. Filler skills:
    1. Bladecall
    2. Unstable Bladestorm
    3. Shatters
  11. Weapon Swap
  12. Phantasmal Swordsman
  13. Filler skills:
    1. Bladecall
    2. Unstable Bladestorm
    3. Shatters

Shatters priority

  1. Bladesong Sorrow
  2. Bladesong Harmony
  3. Bladeturn Requiem
  4. Bladesong Dissonance

Shatter only if you have max blades, prioritize Bladesong Harmony if both charges are up, or soon will be recharged.

Condition Virtuoso is a relatively easy DPS build to pick up which can put up very good numbers. It is one of the few DPS builds that can fully damage from range together with great cleave potential due to piercing attacks. It has access to Temporal Curtain which is a powerful skill to pull small groups of enemies together. The build also has access to powerful core Mesmer utilities such as Portal Entre and Blink. On top of all this, you will have good sustained personal healing thanks to Jagged Mind as long as you keep damaging enemies.

The Dueling variant follows a more complicated rotation with a more hybrid damage profile that results in the best possible DPS. This variant also has access to Master Fencer which can provide significant uptime on Fury to the subgroup.

Chaos variant comes with a way simpler rotation that is great for beginners and can be considered a low-intensity (LI) build due to its low actions-per-minute (APM) count.

Build Fundamentals

Condition Virtuoso is basing its damage around Bleeding applied by skills and by critical hits via Jagged Mind Superior Sigil of Earth and Phantasms.

Dagger doesn’t have Auto-attack chain, which means you can use everything off-cooldown. Keep generating your blades with Bladecall and Unstable Bladestorm, and when available, with Thousand Cuts (and Rain of Swords if you choose it over Signet of Illusions).

Your rotation is based on a simple loop that starts and ends with Phantasmal Swordsman, between using it and Phantasmal Warden, you’ll be filling with Dagger skills and Shatters.

Shatters Timings

Aim to space your Shatters to keep Deadly Blades up at all times. Always prioritize Bladesong Sorrow and Bladesong Harmony. When your shatters are on cooldown, use Signet of Illusions to reset their cooldown.

If your rotation is slow, or the fight requires you to interrupt it often and you won’t be using the active effect of Signet of Illusions, replace it because its passive effect is not why you are using this skill.

Keep in mind that Bladeturn Requiem is used as an offensive tool, but has a long cast time, use it when it won’t interfere with your Dagger skills and other Shatters, and if you need, keep it as a defensive tool if a threatening attack is coming.

Crowd Control

Alternatives

Skills

Signet of Illusions is your weakest signet and can be swapped out for:

Armor

Illustrious Masque icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Viper's HelmSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Epaulets icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's ShouldersSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Doublet icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's ChestSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Wristguards icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's GlovesSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Breeches icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Rampager's LegsSuperior Rune of the Krait
Illustrious Footwear icon Superior Rune of the Krait icon
Viper's BootsSuperior Rune of the Krait

Weapons & Sigils

Dagger icon Superior Sigil of Bursting icon
Viper's DaggerSuperior Sigil of Bursting
Torch icon Superior Sigil of Earth icon
Viper's TorchSuperior Sigil of Earth

Trinkets

Quiver of a Thousand Arrows icon
Sinister Backpiece
Black Ice Earring icon
Sinister Accessory
Asgeir's Talisman icon
Sinister Accessory
Asgeir's Amulet icon
Rampager's Amulet
Black Ice Band icon
Rampager's Ring
Mistborn Band icon
Sinister Ring

Food

Bowl of Fancy Potato and Leek Soup icon Toxic Focusing Crystal icon
Bowl of Fancy Potato and Leek Soup Toxic Focusing Crystal

Infusions

Malign WvW Infusion icon
18xMalign Infusion

Utility Skills

copied

Rotation

Shatters priority

  1. Bladesong Sorrow
  2. Bladesong Harmony
  3. Bladeturn Requiem
  4. Bladesong Dissonance

Shatter only if you have max blades.

Blade generation skills

  1. Bladecall
  2. Unstable Bladestorm
  3. Thousand Cuts
  4. Rain of Swords

This is one of the simplest high damage builds you might encounter, it’s perfect for players struggling with high APM (actions per minute). It’s hard to min-max this build due to the rare combination of precision and bleeding duration, but it’s really not that sensitive to gear shifts. You will perform adequately with full Viper’s as well as with multiple combinations of Sinister/Rampager’s/Viper’s gear.

This variant has some freedom when it comes to trait choices in Chaos traitline which makes it possible to pick Master of Manipulation or Bountiful Disillusionment.

Note: Downside of Chaos variant is the fact it requires Regeneration for highest DPS due to bonuses from Chaotic Persistence and Illusionary Membrane. Make sure you are in a group with a healer with very high uptime of this buff.

Build Fundamentals

Condition Virtuoso is basing its damage around Bleeding applied by skills and by critical hits via Jagged Mind and Superior Sigil of Earth.

The gameplay of the Chaos variant is much easier than its Dueling counterpart, you will be shattering with Bladesong Sorrow and Bladesong Harmony, and if those are on cooldown while you have 5 blades, you should use Bladeturn Requiem (if its long cast won’t interfere with Dagger skills).

Dagger doesn’t have Auto-attack chain, which means you can use everything off-cooldown. Keep generating your blades with Bladecall and Unstable Bladestorm, and when available, with Thousand Cuts and Rain of Swords.

To lower the stress and APM of this build to the minimum, you don’t have to use any offhand skills. But having Focus and Sword will be a good choice for some utility and Crowd-Control skills. As a default though, we recommend Torch for a small DPS increase from The Prestige.

Shatters Timings

Even though this build is simple and built around accessibility for players, you can still min-max your gameplay by timing your shatter skills. First of all, you should aim to space them out to keep Deadly Blades up at all times. A good way to learn how to keep good uptime of Deadly Blades is aligning your shatters with Bladecall, which has the same 5 seconds cooldown.

Keep in mind Bladeturn Requiem is used as offensive tool, but has long cast time, use it when it won’t interfere with your Dagger skills and more important Shatters, and if you need, keep it as defensive tool if threatening attack is coming.

Crowd Control

CC lies in your offhand weapons, we strongly recommend bringing at least Focus as Temporal Curtain also has huge utility potential.

Alternatives

Weapons

Your Phantasms are not improved by any traits and are not worth using. That makes your offhand almost optional, so you should pick whatever benefits you most in the current fight. If you need or want to, you can swap out both offhands, as losing The Prestige won’t affect your dps much.

Skills

Rain of Swords is your weakest skill and can be swapped out for:

Latest video

Latest Hardstuck video

Streams

We use cookies to provide necessary website functionality, improve your experience and analyze our traffic. By using our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our cookies usage.
Got it!