Guild Wars 2 - SC’s Chronomancer “Guide”/ What you should know for raids! by Axias

Introduction

Hello, I'm Axias and I’m from Snow Crows. I’ve been playing “Chronomancer” since HoT came out. It’s my favorite profession and practiced it a lot in raids to get better at it. So with the help of few friends I started making a “guide” about a month ago. So this guide was made for players who are not completely sure about certain things, want to know more about Chronomancer in raids or maybe you just want to learn! (even then, there isn’t everything). I might be repeating myself, so I'm sorry for that. I tried my best to make the post as readable as possible (my first reddit post).

Glossary

Continuum Split (F5) : Continuum Split Shift
SoI: Signet of Inspiration
SoI T: Illusionary Inspiration (trait)
WoE: Well of Eternity
WoA: Well of Action
WoR: Well of Recall
ToT: Tides of Time (Shield skill 5)
Avenger: Phantasmal Avenger (Shield skill 4)
Warden: Phantasmal Warden (Focus skill 5)
Swordsman: Phantasmal Swordsman (Sword skill 5)
Warlock: Phantasmal Warlock (Staff skill 3)

Subgroups

C-Squad (4-2-4) : 2 Berserkers, 2 Druids, 1 Revenant, 1 Chronomancer, 4 DPS Professions
F-Squad (7-2-1) : 1 Berserker, 6 DPS Professions, 1 Revenant, 1 Chronomancer, 1 Druid
Mirror Comp (5-5) : 2 Berserkers, 2 Druids, 2 Chronomancer, 4 DPS Professions
Commander Chronomancer (5-1-4) : 2 Berserkers, 2 Druids, 1 Commander Chronomancer, 5 DPS Professions

C-Squad
Pros:

• Perma Prot from Revenant
• More CC since Revenant
• Chronomancer and Revenant will get Banners, Might, etc.
• More reliable fury access due to revenant

Cons:

• Less DPS than 5-1-4 since you have 1 DPS Profession less
• Less Alacrity uptime than 5-5 since you only have 1 Chronomancer

Recommended Bosses: Matthias/Full Wing 2

F-Squad
Pros:

• Easier to organize
• Perma Prot from Revenant
• More CC since Revenant
• More reliable fury access due to revenant

Cons:

• No Boons on 2nd and 3rd Subgroup
• Less DPS than other Team Compositions

Mirror Comp
Pros:

• High Alacrity uptime since 2 Chronomancers
• Boons covered on all party members

Cons:

• 1DPS Profession less (Chronomancers instead of Revenant/DPS Profession)
• No Protection
• Less CC

Recommended Bosses: Slothasor
Note: If you play mirror comp on a boss where you don’t need wardens, you change Inspiration into Domination for more DPS

Commander Chronomancer
Pros:

• 1 More DPS Profession - > most DPS

Cons:

• Can cause survivability problems on high pressure bosses (Vale Guardian, Matthias & Xera) due to low protection uptime
• Less CC
• Nearly no boons for Chronomancer
• You will most likely have to tank, since you are having toughness (reaper can tank by gettin higher toughness with corrupter's Fevor) but I'm not really sure, it can also be a pros

Recommended Bosses: Wing1, Wing 3

Trait Line

Chronomancer

• for Continuum Split/Wells/Shield skills/Alacrity & to roleplay as the master of time

Inspiration

• Illusionary Inspiration is needed for quickness uptime on 10 people (if you are the only Chronomancer)
• Can be useful for reflect

Domination or Illusion ?

Domination

Pros:

• Distortion on every signet of inspiration, can be handy on some bosses

Cons:

• Don’t have the phantasm CD reduced (Illusionist’s Celerity this trait can save you if you mess up your rotation).
• The skills CDs difference (35 30 24 30 without alacrity) kind of forces you to not wait for Well of Recall so you give less quickness per Signet of Inspiration but you share more often. Resulting in a messy rotation..
• You have a waiting time between your last quickness rotation and when your Continuum Split is about to get off CD (Slightly less alacrity due to this waiting time)
• Continuum Split CD, which helps you recover more easily if you mess up one of your quickness rotation.
• Slightly less alacrity due of the Continuum Split CD (Continuum Split more often with Illusion > Gets the extra alacrity from Continuum Split more often)

Domination rotation

Illusion

Pros :

• Slightly more quickness
• Slightly more alacrity (even more when avenger gets unbugged HYPE)
• Rotation is straightforward and feels smoother
• CD reduced on Continuum Split and all phantasms
• Almost no waiting time between the last quickness rotation and when your Continuum Split is about to get off CD
• While reflecting with a focus, you have higher uptime of reflect warden due of phantasmal haste
  

• IF YOU CARE: With perfect rotation on both setup it’s approximately between 200 and 2k DPS more difference for Illusion (#1). With 2 Swordsmen Illusion is better, but if you use 2 Avengers Domination gets better (post patch fix)

Cons :

• TBD :> (F5 almost match with Matthias sacrifice, so...It can get annoying)

Illusion rotation (2 avengers 1 swordsman)
Illusion rotation (2 swordsmen 1 avengers)
Rotation / Text Version

What I think & Conclusion:
I would say the Domination trait line is really good for lowman (distortion on SoI). On the two setups you normally have quickness all the time. The CDs on illusion make the rotation smoother/easier (and more forgiving) and distribute more alacrity. The DPS is slightly higher on Illusions but your role is mainly keeping up quickness and alacrity (while tanking if needed) .

Which Phantasm I use

When you have a Revenant:

• Always at least 1 Avenger
• Rotating between 2 Avengers (and 1 Swordsman) and 2 Swordsman (and 1 Avenger)
• Warden if you need reflects/block projectiles

When you don’t have a Revenant and that you are the only Chronomancer (Commander setup):

• If you don’t need reflects, you can go triple Avenger (your damage is so insignificant, that it’s much better to have more Avengers for higher alacrity uptime)

Food & Gear

All my setups use:

• Sigil of Concentration on my main hand and Sigil of Force on the offhand
• 6 Superior Rune of the Chronomancer

With a Revenant (50 % boon duration) :
You want to reach 100 %, for that you have 50 % from your Revenant 20 % from your nourishment/gear and 33 % from your sigil of concentration whenever you weapon swap.
What gear is the “best” gear when you have a Revenant in your squad (by that I mean in the same subgroup)?

1st Option: The go to go build

• Berserker Weapon/Trinkets and Assassin armor

Food

• Spring Rolls can stack up to 8 min swiftness
• Loaf of Candy Cactus Cornbread If you plan to tank or you need extra toughness.
• Bowl of Nopalitos Sauté twice longer than Loaf of Candy Cactus Cornbread but doesn't give sugar rush.
• Fried Golden Dumplings
• Chocalate Omnomberry Creams Cheapest

Utility

• 100 power (I mean Superior Sharpening Stones or Tin of Fruitcake )
• Bountiful Maintenance Oil

2nd Option (Nico’s try hard build)
You don't have to use 20 % boon duration food, since you can get 18 % boon duration if you use exotic trinkets (platinum doubloons) + 10 % Boon duration Utility.

• Berserker Weapon/Trinkets and Assassin armor
• Berserker Weapon/Armor and Assassin/Berserker Trinkets

Food & Utility

• Bountiful Sharpening Stone
• Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup
• Bountiful Maintenance Oil
• Bowl of Sweet and Spicy Butternut Squash Soup

If you want to tank (toughness tanking: Vale Guardian, Gorseval, Keep Contruct or Xera) you can use a +5 toughnes infusion, Loaf of Candy Cactus Cornbread or get a cavalier trinket (1,2 or 3 depend how much toughness you want)

Without a Revenant :
Without a Revenant you want to reach 67 % boon duration (100 % with the sigil of concentration ).

• Exotic trinket setup with platinum doubloons is the most optimal if you don’t have a Revenant

This setup with exotic trinkets and platinum doubloons gives more effective power than the ascended Commander setup and while also being much cheaper. (Even more with Zerk Armor, if you feel like doing a 2nd set for the damage "increase"

Food

• Spring Rolls can stack up to 8 min swiftness
• Loaf of Candy Cactus Cornbread If you plan to tank or you need extra toughness.
• Bowl of Nopalitos Sauté twice longer than Loaf of Candy Cactus Cornbread but doesn't give sugar rush.
• Fried Golden Dumplings
• Chocalate Omnomberry Creams Cheapest

Utility

• Bountiful Sharpening Stone
• Bountiful Maintenance Oil

Just so you know the Commander’s recipe names are bugged, those are the right ones

Should I shatter or not ?

Shattering (mind wrack) is a dps loss and will mess up your Chronophastama order.
How does Chronophantasma work:
When you summon a phantasm it gets this buff & the phantasm will be re summoned the first time you shatter them (F1 to Continuum Split)
How does the order work if you replace a phantasm by another:
So basically the last phantasm summoned will be the last one to be replace if you don’t shatter. If you shatter your phantasm, the order will be decided by the distance between the phantasm and their target(First one to reach the target will be the first one to get replace if you summon a new phantasm).
Example: you have a phantasmal warlock (from precasting), swordsman and an avenger up so if you shatter the order is going to be n°1 Avenger, n°2 Swordsman & n°3 Warlock

Theorycraft Stuff

I’ve done the calculation for the alacrity/DPS, also one for the quickness which I deleted (not relevant) so I took Tobi’s sheets for the structure and changed with my numbers.

• Alacrity & Quickness
• Since theory and reality is always different I decided to not really care about the damage but I’ve done it. Depends of what you do, it can be either Domination better or Illusions.

For the gear, I checked the effective power with gw2power.com.
What you should know!

• Things I did and didn’t use in my calculations:
• That the builds are X/Inspi/Chronomancer
• The waiting time between the last rotation and the F5
• The time in F5
• Quickness/Alacrity on others (not me)
• Before your last rotation and when the F5 get off CD, there is a waiting time on both build (higher on domi) This is what causes a huge difference “with the F5 CD” between Domination and Illusion
• Tides of Time “always” has 30 s, only does if it comes back to you
• For the alacrity I calculated only wells and not with avenger (s) (since both attack rates are the same atm, FIX HYPE)

Useful Tips

Signet of Inspiration

• If you don’t have to stand still (tanking) you can run around and spread quickness equally Cancel casting can be useful to trigger Illusionary Inspiration without having to change any of your phantasm if you don’t want to

Precasting (out of combat) a phantasm
Precasting is good because it allow you to use your first Continuum Split faster (get quickness and alacrity faster)

• If you play with swordsman, precast a warlock.
• If you play with warden, precast a swordsman.
• If you feel like try harding, you can precast 3 phantasm without getting in combat (warlock, duelist then swordsman/warden)

Boss Specific Changes

• On Matthias you should run Domination instead of Illusion (if you run feedback) because the quickness difference is much bigger because you have only two wells. The distortion on SoI can help a bit, giving you ”and your team” a higher sustain.
• In a Pug Scenario when you lack quickness on Slothasor you can go Domination instead of Illusion because you only have two wells. Taking Feedback over WoR makes you lose the additional Spins of your Wardens so if you lack a lot of reflects you should keep Illusion (and stay with Feedback).

Portals

• Wing 1
• Wing 3

CC’s/Breakbar

Cancel casting

• When you are on shield, your F5 is ready. You are about to use F5 and weapon swap (for concentration sigil), do your F5 rotation then before it ends, start casting swordsman/warden (in F5) and interrupt it with stow weapon. This will trigger SoI T without getting on CD after F5. Pretty much gives you an extra SoI proc.

Using F4(Distortion) on Slothasor

• You can absorb the shake attack of Slothasor by standing in middle of his hitbox and jumping, it can save some people (or the group) that can’t/don't dodge this attack.

Useful Links

Written guide:

• Metabattle - Chronomancer Utility DPS(R)
• Sanderinoa’s Mesmer PvE guide

Youtube’s :

• My Youtube
• Nico (Van Gherwen) SC
• Tobi (Nexus SC)
• Yui (Kirasia) SC/vC (͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
• Subi qT
• Deathly qT
• Fennec qT

Credits

• Nico & Yui for their constant help
• Tobi (The master blaster guy) for structure on some calculations and the help
• Andy/Subi & Casual for checking what I’ve done, and correcting the mistakes
• Thanks to Deathly & Fennec, for letting me use their PoV

If you have any question feel free to write down below or whisper/mail one of us in game
Axias / Shattered Orion - OrionXnAsh.3064 (English / French)
Nico (Lynn Van Gherwen) - Habataku.5214 (English / German)
Tobi (Mareika) - MasterBlaster.6827 (English / German)
Yui (Phantasmal Yui) - BlackDragon.3752 (English / German)

Snow Crows

SOURCE

Guild Wars 2 - Beginner Raid Guide by Brodernot2

This is an update to my previous raid guide found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4gunlx/guide_how_to_start_raiding_as_a_beginner/

Preface

Not long after the release of raids, I set up a raid mentoring guild with many other raid mentors. Through working with many new raiders (and recently from this sub) I've decided to rewrite my guide. This guide contains some major changes to my old guide based on community feedback, feedback from other raid mentors, and experience mentoring new mentees (specifically those who found me through reddit). Do note that whereas my old guide was targeted to friends and guildies, this one is moreso targeted at subscribers to this subreddit. I learned a lot working with you guys and discovered that you are a LOT different from the people I normally play with.

Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to provide an efficient way for players new to raids (beginners*) to begin raiding and develop the skills necessary to succeed while preventing the formation of bad habits that will hurt players in the long-term.
*Note: Raids are the end-game of PvE, and, as a result, are also the most challenging content (even with easier bosses like sloth and VG). Raid beginners are not the same as "normal" beginners. They should already have a thorough understanding of the game and all professions--not just the professions they wish to play. In order to simplify the guide, beginner will refer to raid beginners.

Prerequisites

Being the most difficult end-game content, beginners should acquire certain equipment and skills before attempting raids. Everything suggested here is only a guideline, but it is what we believe are the minimum requirements for a beginner to efficiently and effectively learn raids without developing bad habits.

• Exotic or higher armor
• Exotic or higher back piece
• Ascended weapons
• Ascended trinkets
• Best available food and consumables
• Complete elite specialization*
• Solid understanding of the game and each profession
• Willingness to take personal responsibility for your growth

*Even though not all elite specialization skills are always required, completing your elite specialization is a good way to demonstrate competence in your chosen profession and allows more flexibility.

Suggested Classes

Through working with countless beginners, other dedicated mentors and I have created a tier list for which professions are best to learn raids with. We strongly recommend beginning with classes higher up on the tier list. The list is based primarily on success of previous mentees. Other factors we consider are:

• complexity of rotation (too complicated and too simple are bad)
• ease of survival (too easy or too hard are bad)
• ease of obtaining proper gear (easier is better)
• usefulness across raids (useful across many bosses is good).

The list is as follows:

1. Warrior, Revenant
2. Elementalist
3. Druid, Necromancer
4. Guardian, Thief, Mesmer
5. Engineer

Finding a Group

Once you have completed the prerequisites and chosen a class, it's time to find a group. For the purposes outlined in this guide, we strongly recommend finding either a dedicated raid teaching guild or a dedicated raid team comprising 3-5 experienced raid mentors and 5-7 beginners. So many beginners are recommended as having too many experienced players may lead to getting carried which will prevent you from learning many skills critical to raids. Teaching raid guilds can be found on the official forums or in the guild recruitment subreddit. The LFG system should NOT be used to find a group for a beginner unless it is advertised as a practice or teaching run*.
/* Note: The authors run their own dedicated teaching guild. To receive an invite, send a PM with your in-game name and server (EU or NA) to the author.
/**Note: Groups formed using the LFG system are not conducive to learning encounters as they are often unwilling to teach, are likely to fail, or will carry the beginner.

Suggested Bosses

As with classes, we have developed a tier list to rank bosses for beginners. The tier list is primarily based on previous beginner success in learning raid mechanics and beginner satisfaction, but other factors are taken into account including:

• Raid mastery requirement
• Ease of access
• Potential to getting carried
• Difficulty of encounter
• Number and variety of mechanics
• Similarity to other bosses
• Tightness of DPS check

The list is as follows:

1. VG, Sloth
2. Gorseval
3. Sabetha, Mathias
4. Bandit Trio

Note VG and sloth are strongly preferred over other bosses for beginners.

Learning Raids

Once you have chosen a class, found a team, and chosen a boss, it's time to start learning the encounter. We have found that using a 3-stage method keeps our beginners engaged, results in efficient training runs, and gives our beginners the time required to fully develop and master all required mechanics. The method breaks down into 3 stages. The first stage involves reading a guide about the boss--the guide should be detailed enough that it covers all major mechanics and all of the boss's attacks. Dulfy guides are a good source. In the second stage, we have trainees watch video guides in order to see the mechanics they read about in action. YouTube is a great source for these. Finally, in the third stage, the beginner tackles the boss with other beginners under the guidance of several more experienced players. Beginners should be asking more experienced players for feedback and if needed, the more experienced players should proactively correct mistakes from beginners.

Future Direction

Upon clearing your first boss, your options open up. As a follow up, we recommend you begin working on another boss further down the tier list. In addition, you should feel free to join LFG groups (assuming you meet their requirements) for the defeated boss in order to further hone your skills. However these topics are beyond the scope of this guide.
Remember, just because you've cleared a boss once does not mean you are suddenly an expert. The encounters are all very forgiving and so constant practice and refinement and critical to smooth, hassle-free runs in the future. Further, a lot of skills are transferable from boss to boss, meaning that by getting better at a boss like sloth will make you better at all other bosses.
Special thanks to those who helped write this guide and the members of [Nox].
Thanks for reading and have fun! Leave a comment if you have any questions, I'll stick around and answer them for a bit.

SOURCE

Guild Wars 2 Guide - [BWE3] Raid Guide by Kaelran

The first area consists of three miniboss "trash mobs" and one boss at the end. All of these pulse minor AOE damage while you are within 1500m of them.

Blue Guardian
Invulnerability Boon - The blue guardian is invulnerable to damage and conditions unless you remove this boon with a boon-removing skill. Thieves, Mesmers, Necromancers, Revenants and Engineers can all do this.

Big AOE - An orange circle will appear on the ground with the bright orange contracting to the center as a timer for the explosion. Everyone needs to stack inside the circle before the explosion or take high damage. This damage cannot be dodged but can be blocked. The pulsing AOE can remove aegis so you want to use it as late as possible if you plant on blocking the damage with it.

Floaty Blue Balls - There are blue balls that fly around. If they hit you you will take some damage. If they hit the Guardian he will gain the Invulnerability Boon again so try to body block any that would. You can jump over them to avoid them if you need to.

Green Guardian
Teleport AOE - The guardian will spawn circles on the ground. If you do not move out of them quickly you will take damage and be teleported away.

Red Guardian
Physical Immunity - The red guardian can only take condition damage.

Seekers - The red guardian will spawn enemies called "Seekers" that look like red lightning elementals. The seekers will damage you if you stand in the AOE circle around them. They can be knocked back or kited.

Unconfirmed - Killing a seeker next to the guardian will damage him. Although when we killed the red guardian it looked like the Seekers take no damage.

Vale Guardian
Finally the boss of the area. It seems like it has the big AOE from Blue, the teleport AOEs from Green and the seekers from Red. It may also have the immunity boon from blue but fighting it caused everyone in our squad to DC. At 50% HP it splits into the three miniboss guardians who each spawn in front of their respective pillar.

SOURCE