Dueling vs Chaos vs Inspirations?

[Arlette.9684]

As the title says I’m looking to diversify the game play on my mezz and try new options, I’ve done both the dueling deceptive evasion and chaos PU since PoF release and while I like them both I feel like I don’t benefit much of the increased stealth duration so lately I find myself using it purely for the boon part and breaking my stealths early to keep momentum. I’ve been considering an anti condi build with moa signet, mirage adept condi reduction and maybe condi reduction food. Figured I’d get some feedback.

So what are your observations and ideas based on YOUR experience and tests?

 

Format: Small scale WvW

Build:Cancerous Condi Cheese (Triple C)

Gear: The obvious bunker choice. How do you feel about the PoF gear prefixes?

Open to gear/rune changes for the sake of experimentation.

[OriOri.8724]

If you want a condi cheese mirage build I would go Dueling/Illusions/Mirage

 

Dueling to keep your vigor up along with a few blinds on shatter and clone spam. Mirage for the ambush attacks. And then Illusions for confusion/torment on your shatters.

 

You're general attack strategy in small scale should be to get a lot of clones out, ambush with IH, then shatter. You can shake it up a bit depending on your utilities, like running Axe and using Axe2, MI, Axe3, then dodge for ambush attack, then shatter. Or using illusionary ambush before shattering etc....

[Arlette.9684]

I know the build, I’m trying to make it more diverse, ie introduce a new mechanic to give it an identity.

[OriOri.8724]

Its a cheese build, it doesn't have any identity.

[Curunen.8729]

Depends if core, Chrono or Mirage.

 

For small scale wvw you need to factor in a reliable source of Condi cleanse. Core can go with Inspiration and heal mantra. Chrono has crazy good synergy with Inspiration.

 

Mirage has Elusive Mind and Jaunt, and has barely any synergy with Inspiration - it has much better synergy with Duelling and Chaos (evade access and boon access) for further synergy with Elusive Mind.

 

Passive Condi duration reduction is much better on Chrono - because more importantly Time Marches On reduces cripple/chill/immobilise - so with that plus antitoxin runes plus any -20% food (eg sweet bean buns, saffron bread, etc) you can pretty much ignore cripple/chill/immobilise and save your cleanses for other conditions. I know because I have run this while solo roaming and enjoyed the full benefit of it.

 

Renewing Oasis with additional passive duration reduction is not as good because of the type of conditions it reduces - it only reduces damaging conditions and with antitoxin plus food you'll get -64% passive reduction on damaging conditions but only -44% on cc conditions. The problem is that -64% is not enough for damaging conditions - you'll still have to cleanse them anyway, especially high intensity stacks which you can't afford to let tick even for a few seconds. And on top of that you also have to cleanse all the cc conditions...

 

Therefore with Mirage it is better to focus on active cleanse rather than passive reduction - so instead maximise your endurance access in order to maximise Elusive Mind cleanse. That together with Jaunt, cleansing sigils and torch cleanse is more than enough to survive a burst and reset.

 

In addition due to Chaos synergy, you can trait manipulations and run arcane thievery which actually is pretty damn useful in the current state of the game - you don't need to rely on it for cleanse but it's extremely useful for feeding boons in hybrid play (again synergy with mirage boon benefits and chaotic persistence). This plays into running traited mirror heal with adventurer runes plus double energy sigils.

 

Here is my roaming build for the record:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vhQQNAnfWnsnBlphtpBGoBMMjlZDrMAcbSGmjgVQLxv+1/CgA-jFyHAB7s/wSK/U+UKMu+m5VxJR1DmTJIAPpgAAIAzsMLzZmMn5Mn5ZOzZOzZOz+uMn5Mn5Mn5Mn5Mn5YAqC-w

 

Illusions is unnecessary tbh - damage application from weapons and unmodified shatters is enough when factoring in vigour+might+vuln damage boosts.

 

Signet of Inspiration is actually pretty damn useful for the boon synergy - better that than giving up adventurer runes. While running you can let the passive swiftness proc for just over 5s then dodge for 1s speed boost after that and repeat if you like (don't have to dodge if lazy). Only need one dodge available to save ganks because you can cover cast mirror heal into a second dodge and weapon swap into a third dodge if you get jumped.

 

Reflects kitten all over projectile users and with all the evade access plus traited manipulations it's fun - also a reason for less stealth because reflects+stealth don't work well together. Desperate Decoy is there to save you in a pinch and torch stealth is enough. Phase retreat + jaunts + blink is sufficient to disengage and get out of combat if necessary. Just got to pick and choose fights a bit more than PU core or chrono.

[Arlette.9684]

> @OriOri.8724 said:

> If you want a condi cheese mirage build I would go Dueling/Illusions/Mirage

>

> Dueling to keep your vigor up along with a few blinds on shatter and clone spam. Mirage for the ambush attacks. And then Illusions for confusion/torment on your shatters.

>

> You're general attack strategy in small scale should be to get a lot of clones out, ambush with IH, then shatter. You can shake it up a bit depending on your utilities, like running Axe and using Axe2, MI, Axe3, then dodge for ambush attack, then shatter. Or using illusionary ambush before shattering etc....

 

Thank you for the comprehensive analysis, gave me some ideas for testing.

 

> @OriOri.8724 said:

> Its a cheese build, it doesn't have any identity.

 

You’re not wrong there.