October 2024

Condition Mechanist

Condition Spear Mechanist is a damage build that provides consistent melee damage. This build can also optionally use Pistol/Pistol, with both a 1-kit and 2-kit variation – these variants can be found at the top of the page. For the kit-less low intensity version of this build, check the alternatives section at the bottom. Spear has a mechanic called Focused. It is a debuff applied to enemies when using Conduit Surge and makes your Spear skills inflict additional conditions or have alternate effects. It is very important to always keep the debuff on the target you are fighting, and you can refresh the duration by finishing an autoattack chain or using Conduit Surge again. You can track your Focused buff with Focusing on your buff bar, but you will have to pay attention to which target you are hitting. If…

Power Quickness Scrapper

Power Quickness Scrapper is not only a great source of and DPS, but it provides high utility and CC with skills such as Elite Mortar Kit, Thunderclap, Medic Gyro, and more. In addition, due to the trait Impact Savant, as long as you are doing damage to something you will almost NEVER die! Scrapper also has great access to and applies a large amount of . Power Quickness Scrapper generates quickness for your subgroup by blasting or leaping through combo fields! Your key combo finishers are Rocket Charge, Throw Mine and Function Gyro! Function Gyro creates and blasts its own combo field but for your other key abilities make sure to use them in a combo field or you won’t generate any quickness! Fortunately, there will usually be a large spam of combo fields during a squad encounter so this…

Power Sword Holosmith

Power Sword Holosmith offers high damage output, self sustain and high encounter adaptability through Heat management. Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit is the defining trait of this build. It increases the maximum Heat capacity to 150 which increases the damage modifier from Laser's Edge by 7.5% to 22.5%. It also drains Heat while not being engaged in Photon Forge. Your goal is to keep your Heat high (99-150%) while not Overheating. A huge advantage of Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit is the adaptability you gain through managing your Heat: being able to let your Heat drop to use Holographic Shockwave before a CC happens or resetting your burst during downtime. Cast your Toolbelt skills inside Photon Forge or use them off-cooldown if they are instant cast like Surprise Shot. Optimally you want to use Blade Burst above 100% Heat and if there…

Power Quickness Catalyst

Power Quickness Catalyst is a fast-paced support providing , as well as a lot of other boons such as , , and a lot of . This build can be seen as an aggressive boon build with limited supportive utilities compared to Power Quickness Chronomancer or Power Quickness Scrapper. NOTE: Elemental Empowerment will grant you bonus stats, including Toughness, which can make you the tank with up to 100 extra Toughness. Each Sphere will grant a different set of boons, but all of them apply thanks to Spectacular Sphere. Deploy Jade Sphere grants . Deploy Jade Sphere grants . Deploy Jade Sphere grants . Deploy Jade Sphere grants . The first thing to do when entering any Attunement is to use Hammer 3 and Deploy Jade Sphere. You should use Grand Finale with all the orbs at the end of the…

Power Catalyst

Condition Alacrity Specter

Condition Alacrity Specter is a strong offensive support that provides permanent  and some , , and . This Build also provides , healing, and great Crowd Control (CC) from the off-hand Pistol. This Build plays similarly to DPS Condition Specter. Provide to allies by using skills in Enter Shadow Shroud. Then spend Initiative on Twilight Combo on Scepter/Dagger for damage off-cooldown and fill with Auto-attack chains. Swap to Scepter/Pistol if you need CC from Head Shot. Use Spider Venom and Skale Venom off-cooldown as long as there are allies nearby to scale your damage. When you are ready to Enter Shadow Shroud, make sure your initiative is as low as possible. Remember that you trigger Superior Sigil of Doom and Quick Pockets when entering and exiting Shadow Shroud due to it being considered a Weapon Swap. Remain in Shadow Shroud until…

Condition Harbinger

Condition Harbinger is a strong -based DPS build. Unlike Death Shroud, Harbinger Shroud does not protect the Harbinger’s health pool while it is active. Harbinger benefits from self-inflicted stacks by utilizing Shroud skills that consume in exchange for more damage. This build uses a Jade Bot Core: Tier 10 to gain extra Expertise via Dark Gunslinger. If you are not using a Jade Bot Core: Tier 10, you will see a small DPS loss. Use Harbinger Shroud, Elixir of Promise and Elixir of Anguish to gain stacks of . You gain 2 stacks of every second while in Harbinger Shroud. To utilize your stacks, use Voracious Arc and Devouring Cut in Harbinger Shroud. If you have more than 5 stacks of , these skills will consume that to apply extra . Use Deathly Swarm to transfer the self-inflicted conditions from Blood Is…

Condition Quickness Harbinger

Condition Quickness Harbinger is a strong Offensive Support build. While this build doesn’t provide as many boons or as much utility as some other builds, its damage output is unmatched in the category. Unlike Death Shroud, Harbinger Shroud does not protect the Harbinger’s health pool while it is active. Harbinger profits off of self-inflicted stacks by utilizing shroud skills that consume the in exchange for more damage. This build uses a Jade Bot Core: Tier 10 to gain extra Concentration via Twisted Medicine. You will still be able to upkeep 100% quickness without it, but the Jade Bot Core: Tier 10 is recommended. Condition Quickness Harbinger plays extremely similarly to its full DPS counterpart. This Build provides permanent and via the passive pulsing in Harbinger Shroud thanks to Deathly Haste. Additional is generated by Elixir of Anguish and Elixir of Ambition.…

Power Vindicator

Vindicator’s Invocation variant is the go-to Revenant damage build. It’s a conventional roamer and can easily outnumber fights and also enjoys being in team-fights. It uses full DPS trait lines for maximum burst but less sustain. Your goal is to generate as many kills as possible. You want to be where the action is and burst vulnerable targets with your team. With Vindicator, your dodge now deals significant damage and gives you a damage increase via Forerunner of Death. You also get access to excellent sustain skills in Legendary Alliance Stance, such as Tree Song Selfless Spirit and Selfish Spirit. This means you have quite a lot of damage uptime and resustainability. Use it to stick to keep the pressure up on key targets. Your mobile nature allows you to get to a side node to outnumber a 1v1 if…

Power Virtuoso

Power Virtuoso is a powerful ranged DPS with high burst potential. This build is recommended for new players due to defensive skills Distortion and Illusionary Riposte. When mastered, the player can provide great damage and support your team with an arsenal of CC, boonstrip, and other utility skills. Upkeep Deadly Blades to increase your damage by using Bladesongs. PrioritizeBladesong Harmony, Bladesong Sorrow, and Bladeturn Requiem once 5 blades are ready. Then use the other Bladesongs as fill to maintain Deadly Blades uptime. When in Dagger/Sword use Phantasmal Swordsman at the beginning and just before Weapon Swap. This increases your damage via Fencer's Finesse. Relic of Fireworks can be maintained by using Bladesongs skills except Bladesong Harmony, since its lower cooldown won’t trigger the Relic. Use Bladesongs whenever possible once you have 5 blades available. Due to Infinite Forge, you will get back 2 blades once you use…

Support Guardian

Build offers good sustain for allies and self with lots of application and good revive capabilities, while having decent mobility. Your main role as a support is to heal, sustain and revive your allies, either in team fights or when a sidenoder is under pressure. During fights, avoid standing in the center of the fight or on the node, as you are rather squishy. Try to stand at ~600 range and heal from a safe distance. Both your weapon sets offer a good amount of healing, Holy Strike and Empower in staff, and Shield of Absorption > Shield of Absorption on the shield can be used to heal, but all of those can have more situational uses (Holy Strike is blast finisher, Empower can be used to stack while helping maintain pressure, and finally Shield of Absorption can push the…

Fire Weaver

This bruiser build offers a good balance of sustain vs damage. Gameplay of fire weaver revolves around fire traitline which offers some sustain from condition cleanse and good damage increase through burning applications and extra power stat. Every time you get a you cleanse conditions on yourself. This applies to any source of Fire Aura, like Fire Shield or attuning to Fire Attunement. Your healing mainly comes from using blast finishers in your water field from Riptide and dodging in Water Attunement or Earth Attunement thanks to Evasive Arcana (dodging in Water Attunement will also cleanse a condition). There are many different ways to blast your water field but the main way is to: Start in Water Attunement/Earth Attunement Riptide Magnetic Wave Swap to Earth Attunement Earthen Vortex You can also use a leap out of a Water field (Flame…

Handkite Herald

Handkite Herald is one of the simpler builds to kite “hands” mechanic during a final boss fight in Wing 4: Deimos allowing you to fully outheal and partially block and mitigate Hands damage. This build does not see play anywhere outside Deimos’ encounter. Deimos Select difficulty The last and hardest boss in Wing 4, Deimos requires a toughness tank and one special role, the Handkite. Mind Crush: Always remember to have Crystal Hibernation to protect yourself from Mind Crush. Alternatively, you can use Warding Rift or Facet of Light->Infuse Light. With Warding Rift  you can block every other stack of hands. Because Hands are spawning in groups of 5 with a longer break between them, you should use Warding Rift after 2nd hands spawn and block 3 subsequent ticks. If your Warding Rift is on cooldown you can keep stacking…

Condition Renegade

Condition Renegade is a flexible high DPS build with a slow ramp-up and the ability to provide team support as needed. Charged Mists grants you 25 extra Energy when you swap Legends. Use this to be able to use more skills on each Legend. If you mess up your Energy management, guarantee that you are under 10 Energy to proc Charged Mists by using either Heroic Command or Orders from Above. This also provides or to your subgroup. To maximize DPS, use Mace/Axe on Kalla and Shortbow on Mallyx. Use Searing Fissure and Bloodbane Path off-cooldown. Make sure to place Razorclaw's Rage on top of allies, or it will be wasted. Always be in range of Embrace the Darkness, or you will lose significant DPS. Auto-Attack between Shortbow skills to maximize the damage of  pulses from Embrace the Darkness To manage adds,…

Power Dragonhunter

Power Dragonhunter is still a great option for providing damage in World vs World. This Guardian elite specialization turns their virtues into extremely powerful tools that provide sustain, mobility and crowd control. Your Guardian Virtues have new powers: Spear of Justice Tether to enemies, apply and . Once tethered, Hunter's Verdict becomes available and can be used to pull the target towards you. If the target moves past the maximum range, the tether breaks. Wings of Resolve Heal yourself and allies, cleanse conditions and remove . Shield of Courage Grants personal periodically. Activating this skill will give and Shield of Courage to you and nearby allies while also creating a conal shield effect, blocking all attacks that hit you and your allies from the front. Good usage of your Virtues along with good timing on your skills to burst enemies…

Power Reaper

Power Reaper is a powerful and resilient DPS Build with high cleave damage and abundant Crowd Control. While in Reaper's Shroud, the Reaper can give itself permanent and even when auto-attacking. Power Reaper is a very good open world build with excellent access to cleave AoEs. For a more in-depth guide, see: Power ReaperRecommended Damage Select difficulty Greatsword Dagger & Sword February 2025 Enter and exit Reaper's Shroud regularly to increase damage via Soul Barbs. While in Reaper's Shroud, avoid incoming damage to keep your Life Force as high as possible; this ensures a smooth, continuous rotation. Deal damage with Greatsword and Staff. Before entering Reaper's Shroud always place Nightfall, Well of Darkness, and Well of Suffering, to maximize burst damage. Prioritize using Gravedigger against foes below 50% health, as striking a foe with low health instantly recharges this skill. The last…

Condition Scourge

Condition Scourge is a flexible and durable ranged DPS build with a large amount of built-in, passive utility, including a lot of and . This Build is fairly easy for new players to pick up, as both main-hand weapons share similar rotation concepts, and all other cooldowns are visible at a glance. For a more in-depth guide, see: Condition ScourgeRecommendedWeapon Mastery Damage Select difficulty Scepter & Torch Pistol February 2025 Maintain at least one Manifest Sand Shade up at all times to gain Expertise (via Sand Sage) and Damage Reduction (via Blood as Sand). Near the end of Blood Is Power cast time, use Desert Shroud to transfer the self-inflicted conditions onto your enemy thanks to Plague Sending. Always use Grasping Dead and Devouring Darkness together off-cooldown, as they will always be ready at the same time. Oppressive Collapse Vile Blast…

Support Scrapper

Heal Scrapper is an excellent choice for anyone looking to sustain their squad in large-scale WvW fights. As condition-focused builds grow in popularity in the WvW zerg meta, you stand between your allies and a most terrible fate of having nearly every condition in the game on their buff bars, rendering them helpless as they watch their health fall with inevitability down to zero. Power damage, conditions, siege, you name it, Scrapper is one of the strongest builds to help people sustain through it. While Scrapper falls short of Ventari Vindicator for raw healing output, it excels in other ways with a strong, consistent output of condition cleanses, , and boon coverage including , , , , and . This build has a lot of room for skill expression due to the high number of skills, combinations and different effects…

Power Weaver

Power Weaver is a very fast-paced, high-burst melee DPS build with good mobility at the cost of being very fragile. Fully attuning to any Element provides you with Elements of Rage. To maximize the duration of the Weave Self buffs, swap between Air, Fire, and Earth Attunements to use all of the strong damage skills. Then only go into Water when the Weave Self buff is about to end to extend it and gain Perfect Weave. Elementalist can change Attunements in the middle of channeling skills without interrupting them. To make sure you are not late to gain Perfect Weave, change Attunements as soon as they are available. Always use Primordial Stance and Arcane Blast in either Fire-Air or Fire-Fire to gain extra stats from Elemental Polyphony. When Wildfire or Lightning Orb are not available, you can use Cyclone to…

Support Chronomancer

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. 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. 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.…