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Virtuoso - Condition Virtuoso

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Focused on: Condition damage

Designed for: Open World and Open World General

Expansions required: End of Dragons builds

Difficulty:
Normal
This build was last updated on August 19, 2025 and is up to date for the August 19, 2025 patch.

Overview

Condition virtuoso is a powerful ranged condition dps build for open world. Virtuosos cannot summon clones. Instead, they stock Blades. This has the disadvantage of clones no longer tanking for you, but the advantage of Blades persisting after combat unlike clones which die after the fight.

Condition Dueling virtuoso inflicts enormous amounts of Bleeding Bleeding damage through critical hits thanks to Sharper Images and Quiet Intensity. This large bleeding output also generates lots of Blades thanks to Bloodsong which allows you to use Bladesongs essentially off-cooldown. This means that this build very dependent on having the right gear to achieve high critical chance and bleeding duration.


Template Code

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Skill Bar

Dagger/Sword
X/Focus
Utility


Weapon Variants

  • None. Dagger is a must and cannot be substituted by any other weapon. We advise not to change the offhand weapons either since this build prefers phantasms that attack multiple times, making sword and focus better than the traditional condi offhands torch and pistol.


Skill Variants

Healing skill

We default to Signet of the Ether, an offensive heal whose active effect allows you to do more damage. But if you require more healing, you can instead use:

  • Ether Feast - very large heal, especially when used with maximum stocked blades.

Utility skills

We default to:
Rain of Swords is good for AoE damage.
Signet of Midnight and Signet of Domination provide the highest sustained damage through their passive, so you only use them in emergencies. If you want or need to run other skills, here are some suggestions:

  • Mantra of Resolve - condition cleanse for yourself and nearby allies.
  • Feedback - projectile reflection.
  • Mantra of Concentration - personal stunbreak and AoE stability.
  • Portal Entre - utility.
  • Blink - utility.

Elite skills

We default to Thousand Cuts for its high damage. If necessary, it can be replaced for elites with more utility:

  • Mass Invisibility - stealth for channeling hero points or sneaking past powerful enemies.
  • Signet of Humility - large amount of crowd control.


Specializations

Specializations Variants

  • Persistence of Memory - Boon generation when solo.

Inspiration

Inspiration can replace Illusions when soloing to increase sustain at a large dps loss.


Equipment

The default recommended gear is the same as the condi virtuoso raid build for ease of gearing.

Head
Rampager
Shoulders
Rampager
Chest
Sinister
Hands
Rampager
Legs
Sinister
Feet
Sinister
Backpiece
Rampager
Accessory
Sinister
Accessory
Sinister
Amulet
Sinister
Ring
Rampager
Ring
Rampager
Dagger
Sinister
Sword
Sinister
Sigil
Sigil
Focus
Sinister
Sigil
Rune
x6


Relic

If you are gearing this character from zero, start with exotic quality gear. We suggest starting with a full set Sinister Sinister gear since it is very cheap. For the armor, search for "Norgu" in the trading post and replace the runes. For the weapons, search for "Sinister Scavenged Obsidian". For the amulet and rings search for Sinister, for the accessories search for "Coral Orichalcum", for the backpack search "Lucky Great" and manually chose it attribute combination after buying it.
When possible, switch the requiered pieces to Rampager Rampager, which is more expensive but a worth investment.
Upgrade to ascended gear as soon as you can, prioritising the trinkets. See also: Guide:How to Gear a Character.

  • Sigil of Superior Sigil of Accuracy should not be used because Illusions do not gain the increased critical chance from it.
  • This build loses massive damage from defensive gear; for defense, equip a jade core and use defensive traits instead.
  • Use food that boosts all attributes: or . If you have a character at least 2 years old, the Birthday Blaster cake also works and is free, but only lasts 10 minutes. The same applies to 9 year old characters and the Feast of Delectable Birthday Cake, which lasts 30 minutes.


Consumables

Food

Use food that boosts all attributes:

  • or .

If you have a character at least 2 years old, the Birthday Blaster cake also works and is free, but only lasts 10 minutes. The same applies to 9 year old characters and the Feast of Delectable Birthday Cake, which lasts 30 minutes.

Utility

  • /


Usage

Damage

A key aspect of this build is achieving 100% critical chance, which is why it uses Rampager Rampager and Sinister Sinister gear. Additionally, Fury Fury is greatly improved by Quiet Intensity. The build then converts this high crit chance into Bleeding Bleeding damage through Sharper Images and Jagged Mind. This high bleeding output generates an insane amount of Blades with Bloodsong, which are then consumed on Shatters/Bladesongs to both deal direct damage and increase your damage with Deadly Blades.

Priority
  1. Bladesong Sorrow with 5 Blades
  2. Phantasmal Warden / Phantasmal Swordsman / Signet of the Ether
  3. Unstable Bladestorm
  4. Bladesong Harmony with 5 Blades.
  5. Bladecall
  • When you swap to sword, use Phantasmal Swordsman and use it again when it recharges, then weapon swap. On the focus weapon set, cast Phantasmal Warden twice by using Signet of the Ether.
  • You will generate a lot of Blades, but space your Bladesongs to upkeep the buff from Deadly Blades.


Defense

  • Illusionary Riposte - block.
  • Bladesong Distortion - invulnerability


Sustain

  • Dealing damage heals you thanks to Jagged Mind.
  • When Signet of the Ether is not on cooldown, every Blade you stock will heal you for a small amount.


Crowd control

  • Bladesong Dissonance - daze. Daze duration increases with the number of stocked Blades.
  • Illusionary Riposte⇒Counter Blade - daze.
  • Temporal Curtain⇒Into the Void - pull.
  • Signet of Domination - stun (emergencies only).

Video examples

Retrieved from "https://metabattle.com/wiki/index.php?title=Build:Virtuoso_-_Condition_Virtuoso&oldid=22537"


Ratings

This build has a rating of 5 stars based on 4 votes.
Log in or register to rate this build.
4 stars
BlobTheBob gave this build 4 stars • April 2024
A good build but its lacking in a few areas. Great for group and meta events, weaker when played solo. If you want to play virtuoso its arguably the best option. Self boon generation is pretty poor, so when playing solo you are missing out on might, quickness. It may be worth taking some different traits, or sigils like strength and celerity for some better quickness and might uptime. Its defences are poor outside of your f5 invuln and dodging. Its lacking mitigation without prot/resolution and because of its restrictive stat options. It has some sustain from the Jagged Mind trait but its a relatively small amount. Condi cleanse options are very limited. DPS is good, CC is great, cleave/aoe is good.
4 stars
Literallybad gave this build 4 stars • August 2022
The best open world build if you are looking to play Virtuoso, but this specialization does not excel in this area in the first place. Excellent in single target, zerg environments. The variant set is the one that is both slightly cheaper and keeps you alive for slightly longer. If you are not actively wanting to use this spec in particular, use a different one with better sustain and more relaxed gameplay, but otherwise this is your best set.
5 stars
Yanna gave this build 5 stars • August 2022
This has been a fun build to play with. Painful early on as you're collecting gear, since you're a glass cannon without much of a cannon, but once you get going this gets powerful. You want More Dakka, this has the Dakka to spare. Line up your shots and watch their health bars evaporate. But don't get hit. You must keep firing to keep lifestealing, so knockdowns can kill you fast.
5 stars
Warming Hearth gave this build 5 stars • April 2022
A very fun and easy to play build. While staff-staff mirage remains the best mesmer open world build, condi virtuoso can have a higher damage output when nearby players are providing you boons (since this build lacks self-boon generation). The build can play permanently from 1200 range, although being in melee range will increase your damage. Finally, the innate sustain makes the build forgiving to play.

Comments

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