Support Chronomancer

October 2024

Introduction

Chronomancer is an elite specialization for the Mesmer class, bringing some of the best utility, crowd control, boon removal and some condition cleanse for large WvW battles. Chronomancers occupy an important utilitarian role for their squad.

Build Fundamentals

Your role as a Chronomancer will be to bring as much utility as possible for the group, which includes:

• Healing
• Condition Cleanses
• Important Boons (, or , etc.)
• Crowd Control

Optionally, depending on what other squad members bring and specific situations, a Chronomancer can also provide:

• Stealth (Veil)
• Revives (Illusion of Life)
• Boon Removal (Null Field)

It is very important for a Chronomancer to pay attention to their Commander’s requests as they may ask them to bring different utilities.

Primary Utilities

The following skills are the most powerful tools that Chronomancer has access to, ordered by importance. Organize with your group to bring what is necessary.

Utility Skills:

1. Mantra of Concentration
2. Well of Precognition
3. Signet of Illusions
4. Veil
5. Illusion of Life
6. Mimic
7. Feedback
8. Null Field

Elite Skills:

1. Time Warp
2. Gravity Well
3. Mass Invisibility (Niche, for small groups)

Build Specifics

Shatters

Your Shatters have greater effects with more clones – always consider the number of active clones you have. Managing your clones can be difficult against a large group of enemies due to how little health clones have.

Continuum Split is a unique class skill which allows the Chronomancer to utilize their skills in a short time frame and revert back their cooldowns, position and health percentage to their state prior to activation of Continuum Split once the duration ends. It is a tricky skill to master that can be highly impactful. You should aim to make it last long enough to utilize as many skills as possible while keeping in mind how you will be repositioned once it expires as to avoid putting yourself in peril.

Continuum Split is an instant skill that can be used while already casting another skill. This mechanic can be used to grant you more time to use other skills while Continuum Split is active. You should try to start it at the end of the cast time of another skill, such as the end of Time Warp, Gravity Well, Illusion of Life etc. Doing so, will make the casted skill count as inside the Continuum Split duration, resetting its cooldown when Continuum Shift closes.

TIP: If you find yourself in a bad situation during Continuum Split you can close the rift early using Continuum Shift, reverting you back to your original position.

Distortion is used to gain a brief period of invulnerability and is the strongest defensive tool in the game. It’s best to save it for moments where your other defensive skills are on cooldown or could be countered by enemy’s crowd control. It can also assure the casting of crucial skills such as Illusion of Life, though it is important to only do so in desperate situations.

It’s important to know that Distortion is also a group stun-break thanks to Mental Defense, rending this skill even more powerful than before.

Phantasms and Clones

In this build, your Phantasms will provide either or depending on your trait selection. You will be utilizing the following Phantasms:

• Phantasmal Sharpshooter: applies to the enemy target.
• Echo of Memory: applies to enemies and to allies.
• Phantasmal Warden: blocks incoming projectile in a dome radius around itself (available if you use Focus over Shield).

Once a Phantasm dies, it turns into a Clone. You can only have a maximum of 3 clones active at the same time. Additionally, you can use Journey to summon more Clones for your Shatters.

General

Mantras should always be charged before engaging combat. Once all charges have been consumed, recharging them will grant bonus effects to you and your allies so it is not detrimental to use your final charge.

Use Journey to summon clones and heal your allies.

Make sure to always use Inspiring Imagery and detonate Abstraction for healing and cleanses. The healing and cleanses are more important than maintaining the boons generated by Inspiring Imagery.

Use Singularity Shot on your allies to grant and . Do not use Dimensional Aperture unless you actually need the Portal, otherwise you increase Singularity Shot recharge cooldown for no gain.

Save up Blurred Frenzy for survivability, it grants you Blur evading incoming damage.

NOTE: Blur and Distortion share the same icon but are very different! Blur evades, Distortion is immunity.

Use Echo of Memory as your primary defense to block incoming damage. If you block an attack, you gain access to a secondary blocking skill Deja Vu, which is a duplicate of the first skill. Your Illusionary Avenger phantasm will either spawn at the end of Echo of Memory‘s duration or instantly when an enemy skill is blocked.

Tides of Time will targets on impact. It can impact twice, on its way out and when it comes back to the player. The skill’s cooldown can be reduced if the player is touched by the skill’s returning part.

If you run Focus, listen to your Commander and use Temporal Curtain Into the Void to pull enemies. Temporal Curtain can be placed at 600 range from the player, while Into the Void has an additional surrounding radius of 600 units, meaning you can pull targets at a total of 1200 range. Use it to pull enemies towards your squad (or off the walls!), putting them within attack range.

Alternatives

Traits

Seize the Moment will grant while Stretched Time will grant . The composition of your party should determine which trait to bring. Ask your party or Commander if you are uncertain.

Weapons

You can swap your Shield for a Focus. You will lose Echo of Memory and Tides of Time but gain Temporal Curtain Into the Void to pull enemies.

Relics

You can consider equipping Relic of Mercy when using Illusion of Life to increase the health at which your allies are revived to.

Sigils

Superior Sigil of Energy can be swapped for Superior Sigil of Nullification for more boon removal at the cost of some survivability.