Where do Chrono Quick and Alac builds actually work?

[mungozen.2379]

Just reviewed the new (Nov 29) patch notes.  It's cool to see Powser Chrono getting some buffs, but I am still looking at the Quick and Alac builds for Support Chrono as not being well implemented and not fun to play.  Am I wrong?  Are there some secret builds not on MetaBattle or Snowcrows or Discretize that unlock Quick or Alac Chrono builds?

Or is it as I expect, that Quick and Alac support builds are really not viable at this time.

Edited November 11, 2022 by Mungo Zen.9364

[Infusion.7149]

Usually you see StM chrono on Vale Guardian or Keep Construct since both have +35% power DPS modifiers. Since scrapper has been buffed and is easier to maintain quickness in PUGs you are more likely to see scrapper.

I have actually never seen alac chronos which is understandable since it is janky to play. You have multiple power alac options such as mechanist, renegade, and tempest to an extent. Willbender suffers the same sort of problems.

[Levetty.1279]

Nowhere since, on top of other problems, it can't provide boons outside of quickness/alacrity.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

10 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

Nowhere since, on top of other problems, it can't provide boons outside of quickness/alacrity.

But it does.  It also gives out fury and might.  This is on top of all of the other useful things that chrono brings.  

[Markus.6415]

15 hours ago, Mungo Zen.9364 said:

Just reviewed the new (Nov 29) patch notes.  It's cool to see Powser Chrono getting some buffs, but I am still looking at the Quick and Alac builds for Support Chrono as not being well implemented and not fun to play.  Am I wrong?  Are there some secret builds not on MetaBattle or Snowcrows or Discretize that unlock Quick or Alac Chrono builds?

Or is it as I expect, that Quick and Alac support builds are really not viable at this time.

The only reason you don't see those is exactly that. It's not listed on those sites, and rarely anyone plays something that's not on those sites. Power alac/quick chrono in my opinion is totally viable, i have both builds, but prefer to play the alac version since i like to actually see some well effects. You gotta take a shield and you won't even need concentration to cap on the boons, have very good CC and maybe some encounter specific flex like portal or pulls.

The same happened at the herald and ventari redesign months ago. Quickheal-Herald is an amazing heal spec, but barely anyone plays it since the meta-defining websites aren't listing them. They listed quickdps-Herald and you see a lot of them running around suddenly.

[Varis.5467]

6 hours ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

But it does.  It also gives out fury and might.  This is on top of all of the other useful things that chrono brings.  

Yes, except other classed do all of the above better while bringing much more on top of it all. 

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

2 hours ago, xxXLightningXxx.8476 said:

Yes, except other classed do all of the above better while bringing much more on top of it all. 

What "much more?"  Mesmers have the widest toolbox in the game.  

[mungozen.2379]

5 hours ago, Markus.6415 said:

The only reason you don't see those is exactly that. It's not listed on those sites, and rarely anyone plays something that's not on those sites. Power alac/quick chrono in my opinion is totally viable, i have both builds, but prefer to play the alac version since i like to actually see some well effects. You gotta take a shield and you won't even need concentration to cap on the boons, have very good CC and maybe some encounter specific flex like portal or pulls.

Can you provide a build for each from GW2Skills to showcase what you are running?  Where are you playing this as well, Fractals/Raids or OW?

And given that most eSpecs have one or more viable or meta builds in multiple game modes which appear on these sites, isn't it somewhat damning that none of the people who curate these sites haven't included Quick or Alac Chrono builds yet?  Well okay, SnowCrows has this build under the 'viable' tier, but that is it, one of the lowest DPS support roles that appears only to buff Quick and Fury. 

Support Chrono isn't likely to change for another 3 months, this is what we get.

If it is truly viable, then sharing what you are running will help uplift this segment of the community.

Edited November 12, 2022 by Mungo Zen.9364

[Markus.6415]

Power-Alac
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAw6FlVwYYLsNWJOyKdNPA-zRZYBRHH5WQZwBJUGRUBVkC2OLRMDAA-e

Power-Quick

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAw6FlVwYYTsN2JOyKdNXA-zRZYBRHH5WQZwBJUGRUBVkC2OLRMDAA-e

That's what I'm using. Not anything special really, I hope those skins work. I've never used that website 😛
And I use it in Raids and Strikes mostly.

[mungozen.2379]

52 minutes ago, Markus.6415 said:

Power-Alac
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAw6FlVwYYLsNWJOyKdNPA-zRZYBRHH5WQZwBJUGRUBVkC2OLRMDAA-e

Power-Quick

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAw6FlVwYYTsN2JOyKdNXA-zRZYBRHH5WQZwBJUGRUBVkC2OLRMDAA-e

That's what I'm using. Not anything special really, I hope those skins work. I've never used that website 😛
And I use it in Raids and Strikes mostly.

Thanks for posting these.  One is a copy of the Snowcrows build I linked, the other has a trait and a couple utilities changed.  I can assume that with the sword AA changes that there will be a slight DPS increase for these builds.  Still, these are just uninspired variations of Power DPS Chrono.  Viable, sure, why not, but enjoyable, not in my eyes.  Being a bottom feeder in the Support pool with uninspired gameplay really doesn't engage me to using Chrono again.

And that isn't an indictment on the experience or builds you have here, it is my view on what the developers have given us.  Virtuoso, for all the disdain it has received, does offer some varied build design options using each of the Core trees in different ways while still offering competitive DPS and Survivability.  Chrono doesn't have that, it's Dueling/Domination all day every day or you are screwing your build over.  Mirage also uses a lot of Dueling and Domination or Chaos for the same reason.

Do note, I am aware that in PvP there are a wider variety of viable builds for Chrono and Mirage that do use different Core trees than just Dom/Duel.  The concern here is that PvE doesn't get that nice variety of builds even though 'any build works' in PvE.  They obviously don't or we would see a wider variety of builds not just from Mesmer but all professions.

I mean, we have all the parts to make a Heal Alac Chrono yet, no one is building or playing it right?

 

[Varis.5467]

5 hours ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

What "much more?"  Mesmers have the widest toolbox in the game.  

We are utility bots for a few skips in a handful of encounters; and then we are obsolete in all other aspects in the same encounters. 

 

Just take a look at condi virt, it is a meta build purely for the ease to play and DoT, ergo not their widest toolbox. 

Edited November 12, 2022 by xxXLightningXxx.8476

[Varis.5467]

3 hours ago, Mungo Zen.9364 said:

Thanks for posting these.  One is a copy of the Snowcrows build I linked, the other has a trait and a couple utilities changed.  I can assume that with the sword AA changes that there will be a slight DPS increase for these builds.  Still, these are just uninspired variations of Power DPS Chrono.  Viable, sure, why not, but enjoyable, not in my eyes.  Being a bottom feeder in the Support pool with uninspired gameplay really doesn't engage me to using Chrono again.

And that isn't an indictment on the experience or builds you have here, it is my view on what the developers have given us.  Virtuoso, for all the disdain it has received, does offer some varied build design options using each of the Core trees in different ways while still offering competitive DPS and Survivability.  Chrono doesn't have that, it's Dueling/Domination all day every day or you are screwing your build over.  Mirage also uses a lot of Dueling and Domination or Chaos for the same reason.

Do note, I am aware that in PvP there are a wider variety of viable builds for Chrono and Mirage that do use different Core trees than just Dom/Duel.  The concern here is that PvE doesn't get that nice variety of builds even though 'any build works' in PvE.  They obviously don't or we would see a wider variety of builds not just from Mesmer but all professions.

I mean, we have all the parts to make a Heal Alac Chrono yet, no one is building or playing it right?

 

You would see the "Heal Alac Chrono" as the off tag Chrono in WvW. Even then its existence is entirely a a by-product of having no better minor traits to choose from other than "all wells that ends well". So in essence, it really is just a utility chrono that happens to have very inconsistent heals. 

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

2 hours ago, xxXLightningXxx.8476 said:

We are utility bots for a few skips in a handful of encounters; and then we are obsolete in all other aspects in the same encounters. 

 

Just take a look at condi virt, it is a meta build purely for the ease to play and DoT, ergo not their widest toolbox. 

That's just portal.  There's far more mesmer can do.

[Varis.5467]

2 hours ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

That's just portal.  There's far more mesmer can do.

Doesn't change the fact our class hardly has a presence outside of utilities. All thanks to the relentless nerfs we have recieved through the years; since launch. 

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

3 hours ago, xxXLightningXxx.8476 said:

Doesn't change the fact our class hardly has a presence outside of utilities. All thanks to the relentless nerfs we have recieved through the years; since launch. 

Now I know you're just joshing me.  Virts are everywhere without their utilities as you said above, and now you're saying that mesmers don't have a presence outside of their utilities.  

Edited November 13, 2022 by Blood Red Arachnid.2493

[Varis.5467]

16 minutes ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

Now I know you're just joshing me.  Virts are everywhere without their utilities as you said above, and now you're saying that mesmers don't have a presence outside of their utilities.  

Well I do find it quite harlious to even consider the Virts part of the mesmer family, as it may as well just be a core LB ranger stripped of its sustain capability. 

 

Seriously, Virt is a spec so far removed from the core principles of the mesmer, the fact that it is the only meta 'mesmer' spec speaks volume about how far the other two sepcs has fallen and their roles replaced by other classes. 

 

 

 

 

[Levetty.1279]

On 11/12/2022 at 8:28 AM, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

But it does.  It also gives out fury and might.  This is on top of all of the other useful things that chrono brings.  

Nobody wants a support that provides 3 stacks of might.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

1 minute ago, Levetty.1279 said:

Nobody wants a support that provides 3 stacks of might.

1. Its not job of a support DPS to bring 25 stacks of Might, only fill in what the healer lacks. (They do usually need to provide Fury though, as some healers have poor access to it.)

2. I guess Aegis and Stability, which Chrono also brings, are completely useless boons too.

[Levetty.1279]

I swear most of you don't even play the game.

[Varis.5467]

37 minutes ago, Levetty.1279 said:

I swear most of you don't even play the game.

I know right? 

 

It's not that hard to understand why X class is better than Y class because it provides everything Y does and better in every way.

 

At that point, it is simply illogical to run Y class. 

[Alsandar.7420]

In WvW I switch to an alac build to speed up siege. That’s it.

 

Once we’re inside I switch back to boonstrip support, which is painful because boonstrip just keeps getting nerfed.

 

In my massive WvW guild (we play 3 hours 6 days/week) there are 1-3 chronos. I’m the only chrono main, meaning it’s all I play.

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

8 hours ago, Levetty.1279 said:

Nobody wants a support that provides 3 stacks of might.

It brings 10 on shield, not 3.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

Just so you know, we can tell when you're replying with multiple accounts as the typing style remains the same and everything but your main have low post counts and all lack icons/signatures/etc.

 

As for not playing the game, I have 22,345 hours of playtime. Your concerns are L2P issues. Mesmer is, and always has been one of the most powerful classes in all game modes (except Mirage dodge in PvP). Chrono was really in a bad place for a while but its okay again now. Its about on par with my Druid and my Tempest--although still not as good as Firebrand or Machinist.

 

It brings some of the strongest support in the game, including all the rarest boons, and utility that can't be replicated by any other class, along with good DPS on every subclass (very good on Virtuoso).

 

OP's question was answered in the first few posts, the rest is irrelevant.

Edited November 13, 2022 by Mariyuuna.6508

[Incurve Giidis.7829]

you may be forced to play support chrono on qadim1 for portal and focus4 pulls 😌

[Varis.5467]

2 hours ago, Mariyuuna.6508 said:

Just so you know, we can tell when you're replying with multiple accounts as the typing style remains the same and everything but your main have low post counts and all lack icons/signatures/etc.

 

As for not playing the game, I have 22,345 hours of playtime. Your concerns are L2P issues. Mesmer is, and always has been one of the most powerful classes in all game modes (except Mirage dodge in PvP). Chrono was really in a bad place for a while but its okay again now. Its about on par with my Druid and my Tempest--although still not as good as Firebrand or Machinist.

 

It brings some of the strongest support in the game, including all the rarest boons, and utility that can't be replicated by any other class, along with good DPS on every subclass (very good on Virtuoso).

 

OP's question was answered in the first few posts, the rest is irrelevant.

Bringing up writing styles, 20k play time and L2P? OK, we have truly digressed.