Whats the correct gear for a Support Chronomaster?

I keep getting conflicting information, is it Berserker, Minstrel or Commander?

Your goal is 100% boon duration. To do that you pick runes and sigil (concentration is the best option) and use either minstrel or commander stats. But you dont want to have more then 100% boon duration because that would be wasting stats so you swap some commander pieces for berserker or minstrel for nomad to get at exactly 100 percent

Thank you. Do you happen to have a link to a build? The Metabattle site only has DPS chronos

The above three builds work because they fit different playstyles and needs. Berserker/Commander mix are arguably for the more experienced players who want to push group DPS up marginally, while Minstrel and Commander sets are to give your chronomancer a larger Toughness margin for raid tanking.

If you can only afford one set, Minstrel is probably the best choice since you have a little more flexibility with your rotations, and will have easier time setting yourself as the raid tank.

I disagree. I think that berserker/commander mix with leadership runes and sigil of concentration and domination/inspiration traitline is best for begginersCheck snowcrows website for builds

If you don't raid with a static that usually runs a very high toughness chrono tank anyway, I'd probably agree with Butcher. Going full minstrel may create some problems when you don't want to tank and the other chrono can't compete with your toughness.

So overview if the 3 builds.Commander/berserker mix + leadership runes has the best dps and with domination enormous amount of active defense. With domination it is easiest to keep quickness and alacrity

Full comander: because of additional boon duration you can chose diferent runes. But to get 100 boon duration you either need at least some boon duration from runes (and since leadership runes provide great stats it is nit worth) or run chaos. Chaos is significantly more dificult to play well because you need to calculate some cooldowns in head and you need to press more buttons. With this build you lose dps and active defense for ability to keep 10 permanent boons on allies (inclueding around 18 might).

Minstrel sacrifice dps for defense and healing. Problem is that when those things are not needed (and that is most of the time). Also in raids you will be always a tank and that is not goid for beginer

https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/8pvvv1/how_to_support_chronomancer_in_raids_a/

This raid trainer explains what they think is important (and why) and leaves it up to you to choose.

there we go, variations of builds https://snowcrows.com/raids/mesmer/chronomancer/support/

Minstrels all the way.

In a good group, minstrels is irrelevant, but in a bad group, its all the difference in the world.

Simple rules for Chrono gear to follow:

1.) am I hitting 100% boon duration?No - increase gear which gives concentrationYes - move on

2.) am I overcapping boon duration?YES - reduce gear which gives concentrationNo - move on

3.) am I tanking and require top toughness in squad?Yes - make sure you have as much toughness as needed and you feel comfortable withNo - make sure you have LESS toughness than the tank

4.) am I in a static group where I have to maximize my performance?Yes - go berserker and commander gear as neededNo - move on

5.) am I in a PUG group which would benefit from mesmer off healing and will my druid not get affected negatively?YES - get as much minstrel gear as you see fit

I have no idea what a Chronomaster is.

Chronomaster is the proper term for the mesmer's elite spec chronomancer, since it is the master of boons and group utility ;)

You keep getting conflicting information because it is a conflicting issue. People that enjoy minmaxing and speedclearing will tell you to fit in as much berserker gear as possible and use the commander set for concentration because you can keep dishing more damage. Insufferable pugs that like to think their usual pug is as much efficient as any static are also going to recommend that. Others will do sensible thing (Snow Crows suggest it on their page themselves) and tell you that you should have as much toughness as needed to stay alive and not be a burden to your healer (specially in pugs). Minstrel is never optimal which is why people will talk you against that, but on the other hand it basically makes you immortal and also able to heal on your own. A Minstrel Chrono with a good team of DPS classes can probably do the whole CMs+T4 routine in fractals without a druid and break no sweat for it.

In sum, all these options are strictly correct because all of them allow you to perform your rotation and grant 100% alacrity+quickness and a ton of other boons to your group, and the particular choice you make is up to you. If you still want a personal opinion from others anyway, I'd say go with the [sC] advice and get as much toughness as you need to survive and don't be afraid to have that minstrel set saved up for pugs. If they believe they have to count on your personal DPS to succeed any raid/fractal their own DPS is bad to begin with.

Personally I use all Zerkers with a few Harrier pieces when I'm off-chrono'ing raids... A lot of people will tell you Zerker/Commander is the way to go (most because it's what snow crows says, which is enough for them), but hear me out on this reasoning.

First off, with Harrier's you can wear a few extra pieces of zerker than you can with cmdr's, which is slightly more power and a good chunk more ferocity...

But beyond that, if you're an off chrono, any toughness you have is mostly wasted stat weight. Yes, there are some uses for it: standing in damage while power rezzing, and being able to take over boss agro if your tank dies are the big two that come to mind for me. But we don't really build our lives around our tank dying every pull.

Now compare that to packing some healing power, which is always useful, since it scales up with all's well that ends well and your heal mantra/well, which adds to scholar uptime, which adds to total group dps.

But ya, as other's have said, if you're pugging, you can't go wrong with Minstrels--especially in fractal CM's... You can just literally stand in whatever deathtrap is out there to rez the poor puggarino who went down to it, and you can cover slack if your Pug-face McDruidpants has terrible healing output. Generally, I look at a group and think about how hard of a carry I think they need, and then I pack that much Minstrel.

@narcx.3570 said:Personally I use all Zerkers with a few Harrier pieces when I'm off-chrono'ing raids... A lot of people will tell you Zerker/Commander is the way to go (most because it's what snow crows says, which is enough for them), but hear me out on this reasoning.

First off, with Harrier's you can wear a few extra pieces of zerker than you can with cmdr's, which is slightly more power and a good chunk more ferocity...

But beyond that, if you're an off chrono, any toughness you have is mostly wasted stat weight. Yes, there are some uses for it: standing in damage while power rezzing, and being able to take over boss agro if your tank dies are the big two that come to mind for me. But we don't really build our lives around our tank dying every pull.

Now compare that to packing some healing power, which is always useful, since it scales up with all's well that ends well and your heal mantra/well, which adds to scholar uptime, which adds to total group dps.

---

But ya, as other's have said, if you're pugging, you can't go wrong with Minstrels--especially in fractal CM's... You can just literally stand in whatever deathtrap is out there to rez the poor puggarino who went down to it, and you can cover slack if your Pug-face McDruidpants has terrible healing output. Generally, I look at a group and think about how hard of a carry I think they need, and then I pack that much Minstrel.

Some minor corrections/notes:

• the total net gain of harrier versus commander is not that big even if you factor toughness out (because of the stat bonus 4-stat items have versus 3-stat). Breastplate ends up offering 34 more stats on harrier without toughness factored, -33 with toughness factored.

• what you gain in useful healing power you lose on precision mostly on all pieces switched from commander to harrier. Granted that is not that big of a deal if you run Chaos support chrono on all bosses

• healing power can be useless if your group has sufficient healing (one of the reasons SC and other static groups do not run this stat often). It is useful in PUG groups or less experienced groups

• excess healing will mess with your druids ability to generate astral force.

• as first setup Commander makes more sense since it allows for people to easily switch between tank and off chrono. On legendary items, trinkets or subsequent sets splashing harrier can be of value depending on personal preference (that is not factoring for bosses which require 2 tanks like Soulless Horror)

Personally I'd rather see Harrier as replacement to Minstrel rather than Commander, but I can see its benefits depending on which type of group you run with. Good call.

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/8pvvv1/how_to_support_chronomancer_in_raids_a/

This raid trainer explains what they think is important (and why) and leaves it up to you to choose.

Wow, the explanation on rotations is great! Bookmarked!

I use commanders

Hello guys. Through my days of pugging fractals for CMs+T4+Recs i've seen exceptional chronos and...well holy hell bad chronos. And i started to get bored playing core war/holo. Now i've looked at both snow crows/dT sites and i have seen both of builds, aka : Minstrel and Zerk+Comm. Now, why is i want some help from you guys...? Because a lot of ppls told me "pick this" others "no no no pick this one" aka "Choose Minstrel if you are pugging CM,because you'll be pretty much immortal and you'll drag your pugs (if they are bad or the druid is bad". Others told me "don't go minstrel because its overkill for CMs+T4 and you'll diminish druid's role" and so so on...My idea was to make a boon sharing chrono with inspi/domi build and since i have boxes for 1 full set ascended, i want some advices about building my items around of of those builds (minstrel or zerk+comm).Thank you.

Go minstrel when assuming pugs where your dps deal less than 10k, druid heals over there before the boss does its big attack, and you're unfamiliar as to how you get your quickness and alac out permanently.

Zerk+some commander is only efficient if you absutely trust the group you're in to do a minimum of 10k as a dps while getting healed properly by your druid while you yourself are positioning properly and keeping perma boons.

@"SidewayS.3789" said:Hello guys. Through my days of pugging fractals for CMs+T4+Recs i've seen exceptional chronos and...well holy hell bad chronos. And i started to get bored playing core war/holo. Now i've looked at both snow crows/dT sites and i have seen both of builds, aka : Minstrel and Zerk+Comm. Now, why is i want some help from you guys...? Because a lot of ppls told me "pick this" others "no no no pick this one" aka "Choose Minstrel if you are pugging CM,because you'll be pretty much immortal and you'll drag your pugs (if they are bad or the druid is bad". Others told me "don't go minstrel because its overkill for CMs+T4 and you'll diminish druid's role" and so so on...My idea was to make a boon sharing chrono with inspi/domi build and since i have boxes for 1 full set ascended, i want some advices about building my items around of of those builds (minstrel or zerk+comm).Thank you.

The Healing Variant can be used if your party has trouble surviving without a dedicated healer.

• https://discretize.eu/builds/mesmer/boon-chronomancer

I don't think Snowcrows has updated their fractal guides, at least I wasn't able to find any. Carrying in fractals on Minstrel is iffy. On a bad group you will help with healing while at the same time making astral force collection for your druid harder. If your druid is running viper and not a heal build, you are essentially running without a healer which would kill many PUG groups since your healing is not sufficient for that level of bad play. In a good group, you would not run minstrel.

Minstrel in fractals gives up a ton of damage (versus berserker/commander), thus making encounters longer. Yes, you might be able to support slightly better in normal T4s but in CMs you will not be able to compensate for bad play enough (on top of messing with your dedicated healer).

My personal recommendation:Go minstrel on trinkets at most, getting those via LWS3 should be easy enough, but stick to Berserker/Commander for your armor and weapons. This is purely for fractals, raids is a different issue (I'd still recommend the same but due to different reasons).

@"SidewayS.3789" said:Hello guys. Through my days of pugging fractals for CMs+T4+Recs i've seen exceptional chronos and...well holy hell bad chronos. And i started to get bored playing core war/holo. Now i've looked at both snow crows/dT sites and i have seen both of builds, aka : Minstrel and Zerk+Comm. Now, why is i want some help from you guys...? Because a lot of ppls told me "pick this" others "no no no pick this one" aka "Choose Minstrel if you are pugging CM,because you'll be pretty much immortal and you'll drag your pugs (if they are bad or the druid is bad". Others told me "don't go minstrel because its overkill for CMs+T4 and you'll diminish druid's role" and so so on...My idea was to make a boon sharing chrono with inspi/domi build and since i have boxes for 1 full set ascended, i want some advices about building my items around of of those builds (minstrel or zerk+comm).Thank you.

If you're only going to have one set, go Minstrels... You can always swap in zerker trinkets as needed since they are basically free and your six trinkets carry a lot more stat weight than your six armor slots do anyways. (Plus you already have them with AR from your holo.)

I say this because, if you only have one option, it's probably better to go the safe route... I'd rather be dipping my dps and overhealing a good group (saying that you starve the druid of ca is a controllable situation for you... If your druid is good, you can always just NOT trait Alls Well That Ends Well, and your regen shouldn't be overwriting theirs if only your armor is minstrel) than be stuck in a group that is constantly downing and not being able to power rez/help carry healing because half zerk/cmdr is my only gearing option. Also, unless you're super picky and patient about sitting in LFG and screening for great players, you will definitely be in a lot more groups that need your Minstrel input than you will be in awesome ones where you don't.

The only real time your terrible Minstrel dps will make you feel bad is during the split on Siax CM.

If I only had one set, I would go Minstrel Armor, Commander's Weapons, and Minstrel/Zerker trinkets to mix and match.

@narcx.3570 said:

@"SidewayS.3789" said:Hello guys. Through my days of pugging fractals for CMs+T4+Recs i've seen exceptional chronos and...well holy hell bad chronos. And i started to get bored playing core war/holo. Now i've looked at both snow crows/dT sites and i have seen both of builds, aka : Minstrel and Zerk+Comm. Now, why is i want some help from you guys...? Because a lot of ppls told me "pick this" others "no no no pick this one" aka "Choose Minstrel if you are pugging CM,because you'll be pretty much immortal and you'll drag your pugs (if they are bad or the druid is bad". Others told me "don't go minstrel because its overkill for CMs+T4 and you'll diminish druid's role" and so so on...My idea was to make a boon sharing chrono with inspi/domi build and since i have boxes for 1 full set ascended, i want some advices about building my items around of of those builds (minstrel or zerk+comm).Thank you.

I agree; but I value minstrel more in raids than in fractals. In fractals losing your damage is more of a loss (your personal DPS is often a larger portion of total group DPS than in raids). In low raid pugs, your DPS still need to do damage and they usually WILL do damage. Your best shot is to heal and carry them this way.

In T4 fractals, there's plenty of DPS with less damage than support chronos in zerk / commanders. Your best shot to carry them is to let them die and do both your job and theirs.

If you plan on doing raids with ONE SET, i'd also recommend minstrel. Especially if you're new to raids / fractals. If you only want to do fractals / T4's, I'd probably go for the zerk mix.

There's also extra builds (fractal vs raid builds) because fractal builds get extra concentration from the potions. Just to spice things up. I make my builds for raids and don't bother optimizing fractals but I rarely do them anyways. Most players just swap some trinkets around. Keep this into account before you finish teh build.

Thank you kindly, guys for your answers.If the biggest part are the trinkets, i have over 6k pristines, and I can pretty much buy the full set, and can use that item to change the stats. So , safe option : minstrel set and a bit more dps+support is commander/zerk set. The thing is, I'm always pugging the fractals ( i didnt tried to do raids yet) so i guess the safe option is the way ...?

If you go minstrels you're gonna be the tank by default on most bosses in raids. If you want to raid and not be the tank, go zerk commander