Could someone help me with a strong solo Chronomancer build for open world content?

[penguin zombies.9305]

I've looked at metabattle and a few various builds and am still trying to find something that fits what I would want out of a build. Basically, I'd like to run sword/shield + greatsword for range, and then have blink as one of my support skills for mobility. Aside from that, the main thing I am looking for out of the build is something that can solo champions and has great survivability. I would greatly appreciate any help, as I am pretty terrible at making my own builds.

[Nepster.4275]

Full berserker/ or mix some assassins into itIllusions 1/2/1Inspiration 3/2/2Chronomancer 2/3/3Sw/F(for utility as focus 4 pulls) or Sw/SW for more damage and you can use GS or you can use Sw/F+ShieldAs for the skills Signet of Ether(not sure how its called, then one that recharges phantasms), Phantasmal Disenchanter, Mantra of Pain or Calamity Well, Blink, Gravity Well or TW for quickness
Basically what you do is if there is a mob you know will need more damage to kill, then shield4/sword3 switch to GS use skill 2, while casting GS4 use cSplit use disenchanter after that use the signet GS4+disenchanter + the elit skill, end CS GS4+disenchanter, signet,GS4+disenchanter again and after that you can use any skills, just take care to make all you phantasms(namely Phantasmal Berserker and Phantasmal Disenchanter) to go on CD before you use your heal skill, your heal skill has a passive heal on phantams and any kind of illusions so even sword3+ you have the same effect from inspiration xx2 and this works when your phantasms get respawned from your 3rd chrono traitedit: Instead of the mantra or calamity well, you can use precognition well to stunbreak when needed and give yourself aegis for 5 seconds every second

[Crackmonster.2790]

You absolutely must be chronomancer?

I'm gonna share the build i have been playing for a while now, but it's mirage so if that's really a nogo then i guess you can skip reading on. :)

It is a hugely unorthodox build, using many things people have left forgotten and deemed bad but i find they are the best build i can come up with for general ease of play while being very forgiving of mistakes, tanky, fast and still have good damage. I can solo super easily on this, the only thing i ever miss is the raw damage from viper(glass cannon) setup, but hey I can't get it all.

Mixing Plaguedoctor and Trailblazer gear, while using Runes of Speed:

• Axe/torch + Scepter/Focus (Focus for swiftness 100% uptime + aoe pulls great for solo and open world groups)
• 100% uptime on swiftness with double of the normal effect = +66% movement speed constantly, god this is great and safe
• Huge condi damage and strong vitality = around 27.5k health
• medium toughness, concentration, healing power and expertise
• Blink(traited) + Jaunt(not needed for rotation) + 66% movement speed makes you able to avoid most dangers, and recover from mistakes

gw2skills.net/editor/?vhEQRAnf7dn0nBlphFoBeoBMMjlXDDNAkTOC+9vC4B0cFMcqJA-jxyCQBI7EAEk9HowTKogqF0wDIgcV1huKrqoSFUqEEu6fAwBRodACwX71etX71v+1v+rf9rf9rftB41v+1v+1v+1v+1vWKgq0pB-e

I use sigil of charges on kill because i can lasts all maps without dying unless i deserve it in some mega fail that's entirely my fault. You can probably get away with using a bit more Trailblazer than my shown build, since when using focus you can easily keep uptime on swiftness. I keep this because well, i can swap some stuff around and get 100% uptime on swiftness etc in another setup without using focus. I think i will soon look to dump 1 maybe 2 plaguedoctor gears for more trailblazer. Keep dropping until it starts being annoying to have 100% uptime on swiftness, you just want it to be reliable without much effort.

Your damage comes from infinite mirage with many illusions up, shatters and the raw weapon skills. Am not gonna go into detail here with how to use the skills well as that can be a longer discussion. Axe/torch is the burst gear set, scepter/focus is the safe set, and swapping regularly is best for various situations, you wanna use all the skills where possible. Illusions come from weapon skills that always spawn them, from signet of illusions and from using scepter block tactically.

Essentially use dodge when you have 3 illusions for max damage, try to use a 3 illusion cry of frustration on cooldown, and every time you do that follow it up with mind whack to proc vigor and might, i try to get another 3 illusion mind whack in between next cry of frustration if it doesn't gimp my illusion uptime.

There is also a even more tanky staff version, almost done optimizing this unsure how much concentration i want.

en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhEQNAW7fn0nBlphFoBeoBMMjlXDzcFMDqJoBgcyRwv/NAPgA-j1yCQBVUpSQ2fguKrKoaBA4CIAXdPoUJIyOIAyVVHK8kCa4BEodACwW3aatWr1tu1terbdrbdrbtBo1tu1tu1tu1tu1tWKgqUpB-w

[tim.4596]

@"Crackmonster.2790" Build is really good, but if you want the Power version read on :)

I made this post a while ago, it died out but maybe it's useful.

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/75332/what-is-your-open-world-build-mesmer-chrono-mirage#latest

Or you can check those builds below.

First of, though, you should drop shield off hand and go sword/sword instead. Damage mitigation form Shield is less important than damage mitigation from "Protection" buff, which you can easily get from the Chaos spec for solo content. Especially since your block is on a 30s cooldown. Plus Sword off hand helps you get might quickly, you also have a free block on it which does a lot of damage. Might is really strong as you'll kill trash mobs/champions faster and therefore get hit less times.

• Option 1: Chaos/Illu/Chrono with Diviner/Assassin gear (berserker instead of assassin is fine too).http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAscWnsICFqhlpBGoBEgilhjyMAWgGqeTD1RFdFuhSA-jxBBQBGSfQZU+FgzAAgV/BAPAASqEkiHCASBs7YA-e

• Option 2: Or the same, but a more offensive version. You technically run either a mix of Assassin/Berserker or full Berserker. The difference would be that you wouldn't be able to upkeep protection as long, and SoI would be pretty much useless in that scenario. Chaos spec is giving you a lot of damage mitigation + Access to extra buff. So you can kill champions with that build.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAscWnsICFqhlpBGoBEgilhjyMAWgGqeTD1RFdFuhSA-jhRBQBjUJoxeEAFSfAlU/BAnBAyo8jMA6jB-e

• Option 3: Run full commander as it gives access to toughness and really good critical chance. So you do descent damage while having good boon duration, precision and toughness + attack power. You can then either combine it with "Durability" or "Pack" Runes.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAscRnsICFqhlpBGoBEgilhjqeTD1R1MAWgGCdFuhSA-jxRBQBT8JAcRlfEZ/h7pP4gq/AgTBAJVCSGA9xA-e

• Option 4: Run full Harrier with either "Pack" (damage) or "Monk" (healing) runes. That way you're doing damage + heal (however you'll have extremely low crit chance) so your damage might be pretty terrible, but still viable, with Accuracy sigils + Precision food that's 21.29% critical chance + 20% from fury (which you can get by using f3 shatter) so 41.29% on yourself constant. You can also go Thief runes instead of Pack you'd then have 49.62% crit chance on yourself. That's descent.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAscRnsICFqhlpBGoBEgilhjyMAWgGqeTD1RFdFuhSA-jxBBQBnVJIWV/RsK/ky+DU8JAAgTBgT1HQGA9xA-e(Important: make sure you run Accuracy sigils, it's really important as you may have too low critical chances otherwise and won't do any damage for solo content, also go for damage runes, after thoughts Monk runes would be too low damage; If you Run Pack Runes, you'll overcap on boon duration so you can exchange some pieces for Assassin gear).

• Option 5: (Only if you can't have access to option 1-3 or 4) You can run Soldier/Assassin gear with Pack or Eagle or Thief runes. Soldier gear doesn't give precision, so it's important that you mix it with Assassin pieces and not Berserker, as you'll be lacking Critical chances. If you then run "Pack runes" + "Concentration sigil" + "Boon duration food" you can then reach 40% boon duration and 58.67% critical strike. It's not optimal but when you start in fotm (Fractals of the Mist) you'll be able to slowly gear towards more boon duration. You should still be able to upkeep 100% boon duration on short fights with that build in Fotm that is, with full wells. And then you can get Diviner gear. That option is only assuming that you're new new to the game, and have no way of getting early access to the stats from Option 1 - 3. If you're however an experience player and just want a really strong build for open World on Chrono then you can probably go for Commander/Marauder/Crusader and try to fill in with runes that will fill in the gap of what you're missing.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAscRnsICFqhlpBGoBEgilhjqeTD1RFdFuhSwMAWgGC-jBCBQBGSfAAOFAU8JAYJVQ0iyvRp+RR2fANKBJFwuD3A-e

But to be honest, I'm running option 1 that is the boon chrono raid pve setup, but power chrono have no problem either doing champions. Those builds can be found from the SC website. As I said depending on the situation you're better off swapping utilities and builds rather than actually swapping gear.https://snowcrows.com/raids/builds/mesmer/chronomancer/support/

Lastly, there are other gear composition which you could go for, but the option that I listed here will allow you to get into Fractals as a Boon Chrono and even into raids. If I had to rank them. I'd say Option 1 and 3 are the strongest. However option 3 is stronger as you'll have extra toughness. Vitality isn't too important as base Chrono vita is good, 17k roughly + it's only really useful against condition heavy trash mobs, which are extremely rare in PvE. In the event that you're fighting condition heavy champions, you're still better off swapping utilities (healing well) or you can even swap traitline (get Inspiration 1-2-1) for easy dispel on yourself. The only stats that would be really helpful to keeping you alive is Healing Power, but it's too much of a trade off in my opinion (you'll do very little damage). Plus you don't really need it since Chaos Chrono can pretty much give himself all the boons in the game, so you'll have short fights, and will even be able to pull large pack of mobs, without dying.

Might also be useful to note that depending on your play style you might be better off dropping Chrono spec and run Core Mesmer instead. Chrono spec is more damage and allows you to recharge your skills faster. But you should see it as a situational thing. In the event that you're against a condition heavy Champion, it's better to drop Chronomancer spec and take Inspiration instead, or if you need high CC/Debuff you can take Domination traitline. You can drop illusion traitline instead, but then you'll loose a lot of damage, and won't have Quickness on Phantasm spawn.

I hope this helps you getting the right gear option.