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Is Chrono really that bad?


Patkus.9178

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I came back to gw2 some time ago, think it was a few days after the big February 2020 patch/rework. Since then I kept seeing stuff on reddit and the forums that chronomancer is useless or at least bad and that I'm better off playing ele.When I came back I played weaver for some time, tried chrono and didn't like the changes at first but slowly got used to them and I don't really see that much difference now (except the merging of f4 and f5). On snowcrows and metabattle power chrono even has one of the highest DPS so I really don't get it... Is it just me or is chrono fine? Just wish there was a WvW build for it.

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Eh, it used to be better, but for PvE one can make it work. I run mine to spam clones/shatters to keep pretty much 100% alacrity / quickness for those nearby while enjoying a ton of boons and being nearly invincible while rocking dual swords. For general PvE it works pretty well.

The main drawback is people not seeing my wells and moving out, for the most part. In competitive modes it seems to be fare much worse since it can't reliably pull off defensive shatters as clones don't last.

For WvW, specifically, chronomancer and pretty much all of mesmer hardly works in zergs since clones don't last enough to make shatters usable, and wells have very limited use because people move so much. So it can only work on small scale, though I have no idea how well it works against other roaming classes.

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@Skotlex.7580 said:

The main drawback is people not seeing my wells and moving out, for the most part. In competitive modes it seems to be fare much worse since it can't reliably pull off defensive shatters as clones don't last.

For WvW, specifically, chronomancer and pretty much all of mesmer hardly works in zergs since clones don't last enough to make shatters usable, and wells have very limited use because people move so much. So it can only work on small scale, though I have no idea how well it works against other roaming classes.

This is why the old version of Signet of Inspiration was so helpful. It wasn't optimal and by no means overpowered as you could achieve the same result by simply running wells. But back then, all you had to do was pre-cast shield 5, CS right as Shield 5 is finishing then hit all your shatters as quickly as possible while casting SoI then repeat as SoI wears off. It's not 100% uptime, but it was much better than no uptime at all because someone went full Kirito and forgot they were in a group. And wells weren't mandatory to run a boon build despite being optimal to do so so you could get creative with your boon Chrono.

Honestly, they should just rollback Mesmer as a whole back to what it was in Summer 2018 and then nerf Mirage and leave chrono alone because clearly someone at anet who's handling Chrono and Mesmer as a whole barely has any feel for the class if any and balances it as a part of keeping the game balanced with no compunction about keeping it fun and enjoyable for those who appreciated the class not because it was powerful but because it was fun and engaging and unique. Chrono then was overpowered, yes. But it was overpowered in the right hands and not just anyone could pick it up and have it carry them. Not that many people played it especially not nearly as some specs cough cough Mirage. And they didn't play it for a reason, because they couldn't, so they complained about it which led us to where we are today. Ranting on the forums once or twice a month about a change that killed the game for a lot of Chronos and then some.

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@Vincenzo.3145 said:

The main drawback is people not seeing my wells and moving out, for the most part. In competitive modes it seems to be fare much worse since it can't reliably pull off defensive shatters as clones don't last.

For WvW, specifically, chronomancer and pretty much all of mesmer hardly works in zergs since clones don't last enough to make shatters usable, and wells have very limited use because people move so much. So it can only work on small scale, though I have no idea how well it works against other roaming classes.

This is why the old version of Signet of Inspiration was so helpful. It wasn't optimal and by no means overpowered as you could achieve the same result by simply running wells. But back then, all you had to do was pre-cast shield 5, CS right as Shield 5 is finishing then hit all your shatters as quickly as possible while casting SoI then repeat as SoI wears off. It's not 100% uptime, but it was much better than no uptime at all because someone went full Kirito and forgot they were in a group. And wells weren't mandatory to run a boon build despite being optimal to do so so you could get creative with your boon Chrono.

Honestly, they should just rollback Mesmer as a whole back to what it was in Summer 2018 and then nerf Mirage and leave chrono alone because clearly someone at anet who's handling Chrono and Mesmer as a whole barely has any feel for the class if any and balances it as a part of keeping the game balanced with no compunction about keeping it fun and enjoyable for those who appreciated the class not because it was powerful but because it was fun and engaging and unique. Chrono then was overpowered, yes. But it was overpowered in the right hands and not just anyone could pick it up and have it carry them. Not that many people played it especially not nearly as some specs
cough cough
Mirage. And they didn't play it for a reason, because they couldn't, so they complained about it which led us to where we are today. Ranting on the forums once or twice a month about a change that killed the game for a lot of Chronos and then some.

It was more raids (PvE) that affected Chrono more for PvP/WvW - this same thing was done to druid competitively. One can still make them work, especially if you've played Mesmer pre-hot.. but yes they are both sub par in the current state of the game. Ranting on the forums almost daily affected both these classes on all other specs.

On the brightside I'm glad soulbeast still works granted its either you go glass cannon power or have to run condi - and I've been able to make mirage work through using signet of illusions/dueling with deceptive evasion and the reflect on dodge I found are necessary/40% endurance food (only tried it on power builds so far) and of course infinite horizon. The use of SOI just barely fills the gap of when you need the extra dodge and the reflect is to deal with ranged channel skills which are a major issue - definitely need the dueling like for mirage to work competitively. Greatsword/sword torch - and I run a mix of berserkers/diviners with pack runes and am able to keep up decent damage while having good survivability through stealth and high uptime on protection (remember you need protection to last almost long enough to reach your next dodge at the minimum for my build to work). If I were to go condi, I'd run scepter torch/sword pistol or axe torch/ sword pistol with possibly tormenting runes if I needed extra sustain (try them on condi Mesmer with illusions, even your torment applied through your clones on scepter heals you with no ICD).

With that being said I've found the worst offender to Mesmer right now being that it's become boring. I used to enjoy chronomancer which was the only reason I liked Mesmer. Until they make the class overall more fun I'm probably going to be putting my interested towards elementalist next. Ranger is my main by the way - it soon seems it will be becoming as stale as Mesmer is if people keep crying as they do on the PvP forums which the most destructive nerfs get applied to WvW (which is real PvP).

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Don’t play it in PvP. It does not work.

PvE, it is the most powerful Mesmer power build. So.. not much In terms of options here. If you like sword or GS, you should use chrono. I like core, but if you take illusions/domination/dueling you will have sustainability issues. Dropping illusions for chrono works best.

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