Synquel

1. Introduction

A Guild Wars enjoyer since Prophecies back in 2005, enjoys buildcrafting, and looking to share their secret off-meta builds before they quit the game ,).

Build: Virtuoso - Confuse You Oh So

A roamer variant of Condi Signet Virt, which trades a lot of its sustain/invulnerability/blocks for spike condi damage and stealth.

Skill Bar

Scepter/Pistol

Axe/Torch

Utility

PvP Equipment

Scepter

Pistol

Sigil

Sigil

Axe

Torch

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Variants

• For the open utility slot, some options could be:
  • Mantra of Resolve for extra cleanse
  • Blade Renewal for distortion and restocking blades
  • Signet of Illusions to recharge bladesongs quicker

• An alternative approach is Relic of Akeem, which could pair well with Rune of Lynx and even Mantra of Distraction or Psychic Force in the open utility slot. But care must be taken with how Relic of Akeem is used. It might be counter-intuitive to disable an opponent that is already inflicted with confusion, as that would negate damage from the confusion they are already inflicted with. It may be better to let the opponent finish casting their skills so that the existing confusion stacks trigger their damage. Instead, Relic of Akeem could be used when the opponent is inflicted with no or few stacks of confusion but five or more stacks of torment. This can be achieved through Bladesong Harmony (which provides torment thanks to Maim the Disillusioned), Lingering Thoughts, Illusionary Counter, or the auto attack chains of either weaponset.

• is another approach that makes the build's condition damage more potent and adds 400 vitality. However, it sacrifices 100 power and 500 precision from the . The precision synergises well with multiple traits, such as Sharper Images and Master Fencer from the Dueling traitline and Jagged Mind and Deadly Blades from the Virtuoso traitline. Furthermore, skills such as Bladesong Harmony, Confusing Images, Illusionary Counter, Axes of Symmetry and Lingering Thoughts have generous power coefficients that can leverage strike damage related stats and prevent this build from being a one-trick condition-only pony.

Usage

• The build’s greatest weapon is Bladesong Sorrow.
  • It inflicts a staggering 20 stacks of confusion. It normally only applies one stack of confusion for each of the five blades but the Illusions trait Cry of Pain inflicts an extra stack per blade and the combination of Dueling traits Blinding Dissipation and Ineptitude inflict two extra stacks per blade. In total that is four stacks of confusion per blade.
  • The Dueling trait Blinding Dissipation, Illusions traits Maim the Disillusioned and Master of Fragmentation, and Virtuoso traits Jagged Mind and Deadly Blades, inflict blind, torment, cripple, bleeding (on a critical hit) and vulnerability (on a critical hit) respectively per blade. Conveniently, many of these are applied after the confusion, so they also serve the role of cover conditions.
  • Dodging triggers the Virtuoso trait Psychic Riposte, which makes Bladesong Sorrow (along with the other bladesongs) unblockable. Dodges are an extremely valuable resource for mitigating damage, so think very carefully before sacrificing them just to make Bladesong Sorrow unblockable. Sometimes it can be worth it, for example, to penetrate blocks, reflects or projectile denial effects at critical times. In other situations you may have already dodged for damage mitigation recently and triggered Psychic Riposte passively, or the opponent has used up their defensive abilities so Bladesong Sorrow does not need to be made unblockable.
  • The Virtuoso trait Sharpening Sorrow grants fury when Bladesong Sorrow is cast and provides bonus expertise to fury. Furthermore, the Virtuoso trait Quiet Intensity provides +10% bonus critical chance to fury.
  • Be wary of when Bladesong Sorrow is used. It can be blocked, reflected, projectile denied, evaded or cleansed so it may be better to bait out the opponent's defences with other abilities first.
  • It shares the same resource as Bladesong Distortion (and the other bladesongs). If Bladesong Sorrow is used, blades will need to be restocked before Bladesong Distortion can be used. For that reason, try to ensure other defensive options are available when using Bladesong Sorrow.

• Bladesong Distortion grants a brief period of invulnerability.
  • It shares the same resource as Bladesong Sorrow (and the other bladesongs). If Bladesong Distortion is used, blades will need to be restocked before Bladesong Sorrow can be used. For that reason, it is generally considered the absolute last resort as a defensive tool when no other defensive options are available.
  • The Illusions trait Master of Fragmentation makes Bladesong Distortion a reflect. It can be used offensively to counter incoming projectiles, especially if those projectiles scale well with condition damage. But it is usually better used defensively to mitigate damage. When used defensively, be wary of reflecting projectiles from stealth as that could reveal you.

• The Scepter + Pistol weaponset
  • The auto attack stocks a blade at the end of its chain, as well as applying a bit of torment.
  • Illusionary Counter is a block that transitions into an evade, while applying torment on the attacker and stocking a blade.
  • The main combo of the weapon set is Phantasmal Duelist -> Magic Bullet -> Confusing Images. Using Magic Bullet after Phantasmal Duelist allows the Dueling trait Duelist's Discipline to reduce the cooldown of both skills. Furthermore, the first packet of damage from Phantasmal Duelist usually hits before Magic Bullet, which can help remove aegis and improve the likelihood of Magic Bullet landing. Magic Bullet is a two second stun, which can help to land Confusing Images while the phantasm from Phantasmal Duelist unloads its attack.

• The Axe + Torch weaponset
  • Lingering Thoughts inflicts cripple, torment, and stocks a blade so try to use it when fewer than five blades are stocked.
  • Axes of Symmetry, if used offensively, applies more stacks of confusion the more blades are stocked and is a 600 range teleport. It can also be used defensively as an evade.
  • The Prestige can be used defensively for its condition cleanse, its stealth to escape pressure, or its blind that is inflicted on nearby opponents, which also triggers the Dueling trait Ineptitude to inflict a couple of stacks of confusion. Meanwhile, the stealth can also be used offensively to setup a burst. Three seconds after it is cast, a flame blast inflicts a stack of burning on nearby opponents that is made more potent by the Illusions trait The Pledge, which adds another two stacks of burning.
  • Phantasmal Mage inflicts a stack of burning on nearby opponents upon cast, which is enhanced by The Pledge, which adds another two stacks of burning. It also generates a phantasm that attacks a few moments later, to inflict more burning, confusion and a small daze.
  • A few of the possible combos are:
    • Phantasmal Mage -> Blink just before Phantasmal Mage completes its cast time
    • The Prestige -> Phantasmal Mage -> Blink just before Phantasmal Mage completes its cast time and just as the flame burst from The Prestige activates
    • Axes of Symmetry -> Phantasmal Mage
    • The Prestige -> Axes of Symmetry -> Phantasmal Mage
    • The Prestige -> Bladesong Sorrow -> Lingering Thoughts x2

• Try to use Ether Feast when fully stocked on blades, as its healing and condition cleanse scale with the number of stocked blades.

• Signet of Midnight passively increases expertise, but its main role is a stun break on activation that also applies blind on nearby opponents, which in turn applies a bit of confusion through the Dueling trait Ineptitude. If stunned and about to be burst by an opponent, an option is to counterattack with the combo Signet of Midnight -> dodge -> Bladesong Sorrow.

• Blink, which also acts as a stun break, is mainly an escape tool but in some situations it can be sacrificed as an offensive gap closer. For example, the combo Mass Invisibility -> Blink can be used to stealth a distant ally and peel for them when they are being chased by opponents.

DRAFT Build: Weaver - P/D BloodWeaver

A condition weaver build using pistol/dagger that relies on weaving in and out of Earth Attunement for sustain and bleeding application.

Skill Bar

Pistol/Dagger

Utility

PvP Equipment

Pistol

Dagger

Sigil

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Variants

• The elite skill is flexible and any of the following could work:
  • Weave Self for either the CC or the modifiers
  • Tornado for more mobility
  • Glyph of Elementals for either healing from the ice elemental or burning from the fire elemental.

• Several alternative traits exist within each traitline that tweak the balance of the build more in favour of condition damage or sustain depending on playstyle and matchup.
  • Earth: Strength of Stone over Rock Solid for more condition damage but sacrificing some stability.
  • Fire: Burning Fire over Burning Precision for passive condition cleanse at the cost of burn duration and a chance to inflict burning on critical hits. Burning Rage can also be taken over Smothering Auras for more condition damage but sacrificing some cleanse.
  • Weaver: Elemental Pursuit and Woven Stride over Master's Fortitude and Invigorating Strikes for more cleanse but sacrificing vitality, vigor and barrier on dodge. Elemental Pursuit can be triggered almost on cooldown with frequent sources of cripple in this build which translates to a passive cleanse of one condition almost every 10 seconds.

• Sigil of Agony's +25% bleed duration, can be sacrificed for:
  • Sigil of Cleansing for more condition cleanse
  • Sigil of Doom for a cover condition
  • Sigil of Courage for might generation, which naturally pairs well with relic of Relic of Mistburn, but even more so considering the additional might generation in fire attunement from Pyromancer's Puissance. It also makes it easier to hit the 10 might threshold of the trait's Flame Expulsion.

• If taking Relic of the Wayfinder for movement speed, Rune of Necromancer and Rune of Trapper could be relevant.

• Alternatively, Rune of Lynx and Rune of Traveler can provide the movement speed boost, opening up the relic slot for:
  • Relic of the Sorcerer could be compatible since there are several sources of cripple in the build: Elemental Explosion, Earthen Blast, Shattering Stone, Enervating Earth, and Churning Earth.
  • Relic of Mistburn for might generation, which as already explained, can pair well with Sigil of Courage and the trait Pyromancer's Puissance.

Relic of Akeem Rune of Lynx Sigil of Courage Mantra of Distraction confusion Sharper Images

Usage

• bleeding is main source of condi damage. Krait + Agony + Earth trait = +65% bleed duration
• some burning too, with fire skills and chance on critical hit
• preload pistol's elemental bullets outside of combat
• during combat, rotate between earth and each other attunement: earth -> fire -> earth -> water -> earth -> air -> earth. this rotation allows you to proc stone heart and stability frequently for sustain, while taking advantage of the bleeding application from earth skills, including the dual skills.
• exact timing depends on situation. eg if you want to unload dps while not targetted, or

if you want to negate damage or CC, time it with swap into earth for stability and stone heart and cripple

• in non earth: using the 2 -> 3 skills.
• in earth: 2-> 4 -> 5

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