Mesmer support build - cheap alternative

So I want to sort my mesmer build out and start off on a cheap alternative to one of these two recommended build from either one of these websites - https://snowcrows.com/raids/builds/mesmer/chronomancer/support/ - or - https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Chronomancer_-_Utility_Boon_Support_(Fractal) - essentially the same build in both websites just ever slight tweaks.Been recommended to do dragon stand and get ley stone armor out of it and choose light armor until I get a set.What else would you recommended for a budget build in line with both of the links.

The stats you need are Berserker and Commander. The stats you get from Leystone armour are all Wanderer. So I would advice against getting Leystone armour, since it will be useless.

First: Berserker. Berserker's gear is very easy to get. You can purchase it with dungeon currency. The Citadel of Flame, the Crucible of Eternity, and the Ruined City of Arah all have berserker armour and weapons that you can purchase with their corresponding currency from the Dungeon Armor and Weapons vendor in LA. I would advice doing the Citadel of Flame dungeon to get the currency. A full set of armour costs 1320 tokens, and the weapon set will cost 810 tokens, together 2130 tokens, or about 21 runs (with 3 runs a day that will take you a week). Be sure to watch a video of every path before doing the dungeon so that you know what to do and expect and where to go, it is very annoying when you have people who don't know what to do and don't read chat...

Second: Commander. You can only get Commander's gear by crafting it, see this page. Note that this is quite expensive. The helm and the pants will cost together some 22 gold.

However this equipment is all exotic, and if you actually want to get into fractals/raids, you will need to get ascended gear. You can only get ascended gear by crafting or drops (which you can stat-change). For crafting you need a lot of gold, for drops you need a lot of luck. My advice would be to get Berserker's exotic gear from the dungeons, and craft Commander's ascended gear, since you will need to get ascended anyhow, so crafting exotic will only waste gold. Exotic Berserker's gear is "free" so you're not wasting gold, and running dungeons will allow you to get some experience with your build.

You can buy ascended trinkets for Guild Commendations in the Guild Hall, or you can buy Mist Trinkets in PvP or WvW (which can have any stat).For a backpack, check this page.

The Leystone armor is doable, not super grindy but... it's rare. I won't suggest you to get an ascended gear, since you asked for a cheap alternative, but I think that you could aim for an exotic set. With Berserker stats, you have several alternatives:

• If you have karma, buy it from the merchant in the Cathedral of Silence
• If you have badges of honor, buy it from the armor master in Eternal Battleground
• If you have tailoring at 400, craft the Exalted set
• If you have 5-6 gold, buy the Zhed set from the Trading Post

@sakura.7961 said:The stats you need are Berserker and Commander. The stats you get from Leystone armour are all Wanderer. So I would advice against getting Leystone armour, since it will be useless.

I wouldn't say useless, you do get an ascended armor box for unlocking all armor skins. But as for the stat on it, yeah. It won't get you to 100% boon duration, and the toughness on it will most likely make you tank unless there's a minstrel chrono (which does tanking better due to toughness being a main stat ontop of havong healing power). Also, note that you do get 1 ascended weapon for free when you finish hot story (choise of either sword, dagger, greatsword, shield, or scepter with any hot or core stat, that you can reset the choice of weapon for 1k unbound magic), and the espec weapon for doing the collection. If you own lws3, you get cheap asc accessories by farming there, specifically bitterfrost (accessory, ring, backpack), ember bay(other accessory), and bloodstone fen (amulet, ring, backpack with stat reset option).

Wanderer is far from useless; an exotic set of it is a great start - it's relatively easy to get and will suffice until you decided you want to upgrade to ascended commanders, or decide the play-style is not for you and do something else. Use it as a foundation in the beginning, it will serve you very well. It is exactly what I used in the beginning for my chronomancer.

@Reverielle.3972 said:Wanderer is far from useless; an exotic set of it is a great start - it's relatively easy to get and will suffice until you decided you want to upgrade to ascended commanders, or decide the play-style is not for you and do something else. Use it as a foundation in the beginning, it will serve you very well. It is exactly what I used in the beginning for my chronomancer.

Exactly. Wanderer isn't much different than commander. You sacrifice Precision for Vitality. It's certainly not as ideal but when you can get an exotic set for free (provided you have the leystone boxes) it's a wonderful place to start so you can get a feel for the playstyle. Auric weapons are also Wanderer's stats so if you're running the HoT story anyway you can pick up a sword or shield if you need them unlocked and have a usable exotic too. Plus you get an ascended armor box for unlocking all 18 Leystone armors, so it's a step in that direction if you haven't already unlocked them.

I would not go cheap for this Chrono Support build because I want the best out of this build. I am too afraid that If I go for alternative, then I change it again, the cost aint cheap, or could be way more expensive and time consuming.

Been Doing WvW to fully unlock Provision Mastery so I can buy commander insignia recipe to do stat swap and superior rune of leadership for my beloved Mesmer. Turn out I enjoy WvW too. Thats my opinion.

if you like pvp, glorious pvp track gives exotics with all available stats (it says skin but it gives exotic gear)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glorious_Reward_Trackand while you are on it (the season just gonna start) you will earn enough ascended shards to get self full set of mist trinkets , where rings come already infused and they have all available stats as wellhttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mist_Talismanhttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mist_Band_(Infused)https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mist_Pendant