Condition Virtuoso

February 2023

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.

• Bladesong Dissonance
• Illusionary Riposte (Sword offhand)
• Temporal Curtain (Focus offhand)
• Phantasmal Mage (Torch offhand)

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.

• Sword: for block and CC from Illusionary Riposte
• Focus: for 900 range pull with Temporal Curtain
• Pistol: for bouncing CC from Magic Bullet
• Torch: if you need Stealth, condition cleanse, or blast finisher from The Prestige with a small CC from Phantasmal Mage

Skills

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

• Blink or Portal Entre for extra mobility
• Feedback for reflects
• Mantra of Concentration if your group is lacking Stability
• If you need extra CC, replace your elite skill Thousand Cuts with Signet of Humility