Support Spellbreaker

December 2022

Spellbreaker can play an important role in WvW, however it functions best in easier fights. It’s recommended to play Scourge or Chronomancer instead, due to them being easier to be effective in the current ranged meta. In the right situation this build does provide large amounts of boon removal, small amounts of burst healing/cleanse and soft/hard crowd control.  The large amounts of boon rip come from the use of Winds of Disenchantment and Break Enchantments combined with Enchantment Collapse.  Support Spellbreaker has the ability to chain crowd control and Immobilize enemy players, locking them down for your team to finish off!.

Build Fundamentals

This build utilizes powerful synergies between crowd control weapon skills, Spellbreaker traits and utilities in addition to sigils to produce excellent boon removal, crowd conttrol and survivability.  Rotate "Shake It Off!" and your Warhorn skills to support your party when needed. Use Break Enchantments when in range of the enemy to remove boons, this will also help you set-up your burst skills by gaining adrenaline. On offensive pushes, drop your Winds of Disenchantment on top of the enemy group to remove a large amount of boons in an area, and reduce incoming boon duration on players caught inside the effect. Try not to overlap your Winds of Disenchantment with other spellbreakers in your group, unless your commander specifically calls for it. Immobilize enemy players with Flurry and Hammer Shock. Keep in mind that all of your dazes and stuns will inflict Immobilize.  To play this build well you have to be super aggressive, so time your pushes correctly only when you have the tools ready to survive.  Make sure you set up a bubble rotation with other warriors, and let the dps warriors bubble first.

If you wish to bubble offensively, you can do this by using your sword mobility Savage Leap skill. Balanced Stance  may help you bubble without any interruption, so pop this if needed.  Your commander may wish to use stealth, so definitely use this to your advantage if you can.

Due to the current meta with unblockable traps and wells being placed, you tend to use the bubble defensively as the enemy pushes into your squad. However you may find this is very hard to achieve, so adapt if you can and reroll to a scourge or chronomancer.

Your other key boon removal will be from Break Enchantments and activating Enchantment Collapse. You should use Break Enchantments off cooldown when in range of enemy players, and before any soft/hard CC.

This build has great access to soft and hard crowd control:

Knockbacks & Knockdowns:

• Staggering Blow
• Backbreaker

Stuns & Dazes:

• Earthshaker
• Full Counter

Soft Crowd Control:

• Hamstring, your 3rd hit in the swords auto attack chain
• Hammer Shock
• Savage Leap
• Flurry
• Full Counter

Whilst good on their own, these abilities are significantly empowered thanks to spellbreaker traits! No Escape causes all stuns and dazes to also immobilize targets for 1 second, due to gear choices you will have 50% condition duration making it last even longer! Enchantment Collapse causes all hard crowd control skills to remove a boon, which in turn will activate Loss Aversion and Enchantment Collapse for even more boon removal! This turns full counter into a powerful offensive tool as well as a defensive one especially as it will reset the cooldown on your burst skills because of Attacker's Insight

This build relies on being in the melee range of the enemy most of the fight, If you are playing with a group that relies more on ranged play, this build will not be effective.

Correct rotation and timing of skills is very important (read your skills!) and if you get it wrong, your boon strip and effectiveness will suffer.

Main Priorities

Staying alive is the most important priority.  This can be achieved by dodging, blocking, using your heal and positioning.  You will also rely on your party to assist you with this, be it receiving superspeed, heals and cleanses.

Outside of survival your priorities are as follows:

1. Boon removal
2. Crowd control
3. Support

The order of these priorities can vary of course but this is the preferred order!

Weapon Skills

Many of your weapon skills have strong utility and have relatively short cool downs. Timing is key when to use them and understanding how to use them effectively will help you.  Here are a few examples,

Hammer Shock   High damage wave that cripples 5 targets, perfect to slow and damage enemies while racking up that adrenaline from 600 range!.  Will also immobilize enemies thanks to the trait Leg Specialist

Staggering Blow   Push back enemies and knock them down whilst removing boons, Not the best skill to use in bombs as you don’t want to knock them out of damage.

Fierce Blow   Should be used after crowd control for maximum damage and is one of your main damage skills on hammer, due to the small 150 range and cast time it may be hard to land.

Savage Leap  Leap at your foe and strike them with your sword crippling them.  Will also immobilize enemies thanks to the trait Leg Specialist

Healing And Cleansing

Support will come from the usage of the following warhorn skills and shouts.

"To the Limit!"  Use your heal to gain a huge burst heal thanks to Vigorous Shouts.  It also will give yourself and allies endurance. Try to use your heal when your team need that extra dodge!!  You also will gain adrenaline when used meaning this is a very flexible ability and has a lot of value outside of just regaining health!

"Shake It Off!"   cleanses 4 conditions on yourself and nearby allies within 600 radius! It is also your own personal stun break.  Use it wisely as the cooldown is extremely high, 75 seconds if you burn  both charges.  This skill is great to use when you are wielding hammer as you wont have access to warhorn cleanses.

Charge   Grant yourself and allies boons within 600 radius, however its main value when used is due to its removal of immobilize! Use wisely

Call of Valor   Remove’s 3 conditions in a 600 radius from both yourself and allies, whilst also providing barrier!

 

Burst Skills

Earthshaker is your hammer burst skill which can stun enemies, immobilize them thanks to No Escape and remove boons thanks to Dispelling Force and Enchantment Collapse. The skill is also a 600 range movement skill which will remove Immobilize because of Warrior’s Sprint and a blast finisher as a final bonus.

Flurry  is your sword burst skill which Immobilize your foes with a flurry of bleeding strikes. Effect increases with adrenaline level.  If used at max 2 bars of adrenaline you will lock them down for 4.5 seconds thanks to your condition duration.  Tip!!! The immobilize will occur on the first hit of the flurry cast, so you may cancel the full duration via weapon stow or simply press W A S D.

Full Counter not only refreshes the cooldown of your currently equipped weapon burst skill but also absorbs the next attack against you. You will then counterattack foes whilst evading with an unblockable daze.  Enemies struck will also be immobilized due to No Escape and have a boon removed; this means you will be more likely to land your follow up skills.

Alternatives

Defiant Stance over "To the Limit!" if you’re having trouble surviving.  DEFENCE trait line may also be an option and can be swapped in instead of DISCIPLINE.