The are a target for your which is why we recommend Pistol here unless the from Focus is a necessity.

When you are tanking in the middle, your opening rotation should be this: Pre-cast and swap back to Pistol while the skill is casting. . . This allows you to use inside and right after .

When you are tanking at the edge of the arena, your opening rotation should be this: Pre-cast and swap back to Pistol while the skill is casting. . . . Auto-attack while reaches the outside of the arena. This will help stack up . Start your slightly before he reaches the edge. This allows you to use inside and right after . If done right should become a clone when you are inside , making you able to shatter with three clones.

You can use and to avoid being teleported by .

If some of the are causing you problems, you can use to them, locking them in place temporarily.

If the squad is really struggling with control then you can bring a Focus for at the expense of your DPS.

Your probably won't be up at the start of each phase, so just start the phase on Sword if that's the case. If it's ready, you can start on Pistol.

Make sure to auto-attack the during the split phases to remove its buff - .

Always use at least one per split phase to speed it up significantly.

and will be up for the main phase if you use them at the very start of the split phase with .

You can also use to remove .

Help with the 's and with , and .

Utilize the toolkit to teleport your squad around and make it a breeze!

If there is another or try to coordinate your so that they do not overlap. Make use of the to reset your .

Use to pull in adds so that they can be cleaved and less pressure is applied on the squad.

To significantly improve the rate of portals, you can do: . . . . . This would be recommended if you are the only one placing portals for the squad. Remember that you can spawn clones to give yourself more time in , or alternatively you can take in .

If another is handling the then you can revert to a more damage-centric build, otherwise, it would be faster to portal the squad.

You can make use of with and to your squad for the entire duration of the event.

Make use of the .

On the weapon choice depends on how good the add control is. As a rule of thumb, you should play Pistol if the group is inexperienced but doesn't need the pull to survive, while for experienced groups with good add control you should play Focus.

You can use this as your opener for : Pre-cast and swap back to Focus or Pistol while the skill is casting. or . . This allows you to use inside and right after .

's slam should be handled with or but if lacking you can avoid it with or .

Note that if the rotation lines up in a way that you don't interrupt any important skill you should use for a DPS increase either way.

If you get , you can use as a .

During the you can freely use phantasms but beware of personal skills such as as they hit very fast and you can easily get .

Your probably won't be up at the start of each phase, so just start the phase on Sword if that's the case. If it's ready, you can start on Focus or Pistol.

Don't delay your rotation during the split phase. The faster you kill all the , the faster you're back at .

You should always be slightly ahead of your group to allow your phantasms time to deal damage.

Make sure you CC with: with three clones. or .. . .

The weapon choice here depends on the same variables as . Pistol would be the more consistent option but Focus will pull ahead if add control is good.

Don't waste your , or burst, if is about to go .

Don't skill save for the Champions. The faster they die, the faster returns.

You can stay close to to bait out the mechanic. Use to block it and then use to get back to quickly.

Don't forget that you can use to help control the bandit mobs and improve your 's hit rate.

The off-hand we run here will be Focus due to how important it is to control the so that they can't remove vital boons, and the from is an amazing tool for this purpose.

As you will be facing consistent you should consider if going is better due to shorter cooldowns per phase as well as the uptime that your squad composition brings.

The poisoned ground around can be helpful to us for various reasons: It allows us to summon clones through skills like . It guarantees hits for the if used. Because of this, we have the choice to run or over .

Since you will need to delay your rotation slightly in order to prevent from walking out of your 's we have ample time to pre-cast clones through and , it is important to note that this also helps with not killing the friendly .

An example opener with or would be: . . . . if used. Make sure to place it in the poison. . with two clones. . . . . . if used. . .

You can use as a if you get or .

If you have to run out from the squad to drop , you can use to get back to .

Use your to help the in the .

Make sure you CC with: with three clones. . . if used.

Pistol is the off-hand weapon of choice here as the will target the AoEs on the ground as well as invisible objects in the ceiling.

Feel free to pre-cast a , this will allow you to use inside .

You may be asked to take if this the case replace or if you pre-cast.

If you get the corruption make use of to quickly back after you cleanse yourself.

Use immediately on the sacrifice.

It is advised that you start your rotation when has nine stacks remaining on his , this is essentially a pre-cast and allows us to enter our loop faster.

You can use this as your opener for : Pre-cast and swap back to Focus while the skill is casting. . . This allows you to use inside and right after .

Don't waste your during the burn phase, save it for the main phases. Only use it during the burn phase if your squad has extremely low DPS.

As you aren't using during the burn phase, you should start the phase on Sword.

If you have trust issues with , and happen to be on your Sword set, you can use to block it or . Use for a DPS increase, try to make it so you don't interrupt important skills.

If you do get , you can use as a .

You can help break with , and .

You can help to the orb with .

In the orb collection phase pre-cast clones using for the upcoming phase.

As with other bosses with adds, the weapon choice depends on how good the squad is at cleaving and handling them. Generally, Focus is the safer option as it reduces pressure on the group.

You can help with orbs during the pre-event with .

The first phase is mainly just rotation practise, but remember to contribute to the with , and .

You can use to help control the mob spawns and improve your own DPS.

will pull ahead significantly but is still a decent option.

You can pre-cast clones with and while he's .

You can work around the teleporting circles with and , be vigilant that Cairn doesn't trigger the block before the circle does however.

If you have or other powerful providers feel free to take for slightly more DPS.

Otherwise this is a golem with some additional mechanics, practise that rotation!

As with , you can summon clones by triggering your block on or , before and during the fight. Beware that clones will despawn after six seconds however.

If you have or other powerful providers feel free to take for slightly more DPS.

This is literally DPS practise. Just focus on getting that perfect rotation.

Pistol is a good alternative to Focus here due to having slightly more damage through and you don't need to worry about protecting your from the spears.

As you are taking to help with the , you should consider if you will have enough uptime to make worth it, otherwise the build along with over is recommended for smooth clearing. We can also take over for a minimal DPS loss as it does not affect our phantasms. Remember that speeding up the is equally as important as dealing DPS and we can increase our damage output for a very minimal loss in DPS.

will also help further with due to shorter cooldowns on important skills.

You can use to avoid the from and the from Guldhem.

If you do get , you can use as a .

Delay your rotation if is about to go into his . Any phantasms you summon will do no damage during this phase. Instead, contribute to the and skill save so you can open up with a nice burst.

Use to help control Rigom during the split phase.

You can protect your hits by casting it inside of 's hitbox.

Remember that you can freely use to generate clones during the .

Make sure you CC with: with three clones. . . . .

Pistol is the consistent choice on due to various things stealing hits from the .

Start killing the statues on Sword and swap back to Pistol before getting ported back to .

As explained in the "Phantasms and Clones" section, can be used on targets. This means you can cast this while is still landing on the platform!

If you have trust issues, you can use to block . You can also use .

If the opener is executed fast enough you should be able to use just after exiting with to block .

Don't waste any Phantasms just as you are about to teleport for the split phase. The range is too far and they will instantly die! The same applies to when you are killing Saul and are about to teleport back to .

Other than waiting just before the teleport, you can continue your normal rotation during the split phases. The faster Saul gets to 50%, the faster you're back at .

The longer Saul stays alive, the higher the chance of your squad wiping. If he doesn't move into cleave range, make sure to focus him.

Help with breaking Saul so he doesn't steal your boons or teleport you. If he does manage to steal your boons, you can use to remove them.

For the courageous, you can ignore the bubble and block with . Beware of tears and other things that can steal your block if you do this.

After the , you can continue to cast Phantasms with your back to . Keep running away from the center of the arena and continue to cast. The only skill you won't be able to use, from your utilities, will be .

If you get , you can block one tick of it with . Use to get back to .

You can use and to block . If you do get hit, you can yourself with .

's auto-attacks are slow and predictable try to fit in between your own auto-attacks and skills for more damage and clone generation.

uptime can be very low at Conjured Amalgamate, despite this we can provide for ourselves during crucial moments such as the burst phases with , and .

Save your burst for until the Hand has stacks of the Sword debuff, except for . There's no point in immediately using it and you should save it for the main phase.

During the burn phase, do not stand on the very edge of the platform in front of Conjured Amalgamate. If you use Phantasms here, they may mysteriously vanish into the ether. Step back a few phases and do your rotation, you will still be in range of wells and other buffs so there's no need to worry.

You might not have up for the start of the second burn phase. If this is the case, you should delay it until the third burn phase.

You can block with or , if you don't trust your .

If you do get , you can use as a .

Use to Swords or to break Shields.

uptime can be very low at , you should consider going the build if there are no other providers but typically you will have a that will help you with and .

If you're going feel free to take for slightly more DPS.

is recommended here due to most squads skipping at least one Pyre. This means that will still have boons during the burn phase and your will do less damage.

This applies to as well so it's recommended to take instead.

If your squad is going to kill all three Pyres, then you can take and .

To start your burst without use and inside 's hitbox.

You can use to help control the Greater Magma Elementals. Use this to them away from the .

For all of the creatures, you should help with CC. Make sure you CC with: with three clones. or .

You can use to the damage from . If you aren't standing underneath the impact area, you can use to block .

As a you can easily take a for your team by replacing .

Start mounted and cast once you get dismounted. Make use of to immediately get to .

Avoid having to take a Pillar, you have barely any ranged DPS. If you are, for some reason, forced to do a Pillar then out at the last moment. You can then use . This will allow you to get back to quickly.

You can block the from the Hands during the split phase with or it with . The same applies to the shockwave that occurs at the start of each split phase.

Keep up your rotation during the split phase but delay your on the final two hands. For the first split phase, you shouldn't use .

Use your phantasms on the next Hand while you use personal skills on the one your group is currently on, this way you will make the most out of .

uptime can be low at this encounter. It might be favourable to play with instead, especially if you don't have . You shouldn't have as you would like to hope that the is playing with the instead of the .

You should have up for every phase, unless your squad has very high DPS.

significantly speeds up the at a minimal cost as your phantasms aren't affected by .

Save for .

You can jump over by using . Step away from before using as this will give you more time to avoid .

To avoid teleporting into the Tornado of Death, make sure the distance between you and is exactly the range of or slightly further.

Using to help CC the during the split phase. The faster they are broken, the faster they die!

Keep up with your rotation, especially on the earlier platforms. Don't use if you are nearly the next main phase.

Make sure you CC with: with three clones. . . Special Action Key.

uptime can be very low at , you can ask your to take .

Once the Pylons are broken, this should be your general opening rotation on : . . . to block . Continue with the regular opener. This allows you to skip and you can instead take or for more DPS.

Depending on your group DPS, you probably won't have up for every phase. Save it if it comes off halfway through a burn phase.

Don't forget to or use to block after rushes off to destroy Pylons at 40%, 30% and 20%.

Make use of your skills when is destroying a Pylon, but save for the upcoming phase. Save if your is nearly off .

is a ranged skill and you can use it to help break the . The will definitely appreciate the help!

You have a few skills that summon phantasms:

Phantasms carry out an attack and then will transform into clones. The attack can be completed or interrupted, either will cause the phantasm to become a clone.

Phantasms cannot be shattered and do not count towards your three clone cap.

You have a few skills that summon clones: , this skill can be used on targets that are . , this skill can also be used on targets that are .

Clones will stay around for six seconds without a target, with a target they will persist until they are shattered or until their target is defeated, or until they take too much damage.

, a trait in the , will cause your phantasms to be resummoned when they would become a clone. They will be for 1.5 seconds before they resume their attack pattern.

Shatters are unique to , and . They enable you to destroy your clones with a variety of effects.

When you equip the , your shatters become unique to only .

Let's take a look at your shatter skills: deals increasing damage with each clone that is shattered. deals one stack of for each clone, up to a maximum of three. Reduced by three seconds per clone shattered. deals 100 damage per clone shattered and applies two seconds of per clone. is also a shatter. Check the section below for more information about this skill.

You have a few traits with this build that influence your shatter skills: causes your shatters to deal more damage. grants you whenever you shatter. The duration of increases for each clone that you shatter.

Wells are a unique mechanic to the . They are delayed utility skills that can provide boons, heal, deal damage and cause damage.

The wells you will come across with this build are:

Ok so, where do we begin? is a unique mechanic that is associated with the . Any skills that are used inside the time frame of will be recharged when you leave via , this does not include ! The same applies to your health, endurance and physical location.

last longer as you use more clones for it. A single clone will grant you three seconds, two clones will grant four and a half seconds and three clones will grant six seconds of .

You can use during the aftercast of skills. For example, has a nasty aftercast. You can use just as the skill channel is about to end.

This also applies for when skills will count as used within the time frame of . The aftercast of the skill must have finished before you leave via .

One final note, you can manually end early by simply using .

Don't waste your if a boss is about to phase as this will completely waste your burst. The same applies for , don't waste it if you know that a is coming up.

In an ideal world, you would be able to start every boss phase with . Sadly, that is not the reality and there will be times where this is not the case. This will definitely be the case at and .

In such situations, you have to determine whether it makes sense to use as soon as it comes off or delay it until the next phase. From the second you enter it, takes about 16 seconds to deal the majority of its damage, excluding , and about 22 seconds to deal its full damage.

Rule of thumb: If you aren’t sure whether is going to give you two additional sets of phantasms in that phase, it is usually better to delay it and open the next phase with it instead. If you decided to not use in a phase, simply start on the opposite weapon set you would usually start on and find your way back in the rotation from there.

grants you and your illusions 15% against enemies. Without those modifiers, your Effective Power would decrease by approximately 9% — resulting in a massive loss in damage.

Fortunately, sources of are quite common, even in unorganized groups.

However 's duration cap is ten seconds which mean you need frequent applications of to make sure that the uptime is high.

Slow sources that you will typically come across are: provide ~85 - 90% uptime with . with . with and . through , , , , and . can use and .

Use this table as a rough estimate of what your DPS would be at a specific uptime.

(to be added).

You might have noticed that some people play with a Pistol instead of a Focus on certain bosses. This is because the phantasm randomly targets enemies and certain objects such as , oils at , or invisible objects in the ceilling on .

For this reason, we should consider running Pistol or Greatsword on certain fights.

Mathematically becomes better whenever your lands less than 8.5 hits on average, this can be seen in logs, but the boss guides each have their own weapon recommendation for various situations.

When it comes to the variant we have the choice to also run Greatsword on fights that are bothersome to our , the choice here depends on the phase lengths of certain fights.

Pistol will burst higher than Greatsword but deals slightly less sustained damage so for this reason you would for example run IA Greatsword on fights such as , due to the nature of the fight, if for some reason there are no or other slow providers on .

While on fights such as . The burst from Pistol could be more advantageous depending on the Squad DPS, as the phases are shorter.

From a damage perspective, you always want to shatter with three clones and use spare clones for . However, if there are present during the fight you definitely want to prioritize or even if you need the additional .

Towards the end of a boss phase and during split phases, you always have to consider if it makes sense to spawn a phantasm over performing other actions. After being summoned, every phantasm requires a different amount of time to deal their full damage.

The list below shows the amount of time each phantasm takes to deal their full damage, including : ~ 12 seconds. ~ 6 seconds. ~ 5,5 seconds. ~ 4 seconds. ~ 3 seconds. ~ 8,5 seconds.

Speeding up split phases is objectively as important as dealing damage to the boss, but there is no use in putting a phantasm on if the target will die before it deals its damage. You want to manage your in a way that doesn't leave you with nothing after a split phase is over. The same logic applies if the boss is about to into a or .

is the first part of your auto-attack chain, it is also the fastest of the three, feel free to use this as a filler to better line up before weapon swapping. Be disciplined and only use these as fillers when you really need them, this will take some getting used to but it should be apparent where you might need these once you start stowing attacks.

is the last and by far the strongest part of your auto-attack chain. It removes a boon and deals more damage against foes without boons. You generally want to finish every auto-attack chain you start, unless that means delaying your other abilities further than you usually would.

is a multi-hitting ability that allows you to attacks. Because of that, it cancels any currently casting ability which can be used to cancel aftercasts. This skill can be stowed for a ~ 250ms reduction in cast time, which is a decent DPS increase. This GIF illustrates the earliest point that it be cancelled without losing hits (to be added).

summons a clone. You can re-cast this ability to positions with said clone and the target. You will primarily use this to generate additional clones or for short-ranged teleports.

blocks the next incoming attack, makes you afterward and summon a clone. Its damage is equal to the last part of your auto-attack chain, meaning that it can be a DPS increase if timed well. As long as no attack has been blocked, you can re-cast it to up to five targets in a line.

leaps at your target first and then performs a . You gain when the first attack hits, which is why you usually don’t have to worry about your uptime. It is important to note that you can cancel slightly earlier if need be, this is because it is both a physical strike from the mesmer and a summon, with the summon part occurs around 680 ms while the strike is occurs around 750 ms. It also is a leap finisher.

creates a wall that applies to foes who touch it and to allies that pass it. It can be re-cast to up to five foes within a 600 radius.

creates a bubble that absorbs projectiles and throws axes at nearby targets, which apply . It doesn’t focus your target but everything in range that is targetable. This sadly includes on , inactive statues on , as well as Hands and on . Each axe thrown is a projectile finisher.

is a multi-part skill, first the shoots three bullets that will the target, then shortly after a pistol phantasm will appear and rapidly fire eight bullets in a straight line of fire at the target. Both parts of the attack are projectile finishers.

shoots a bouncing bullet that will apply to each target hit, the first target is for two and a half seconds, the second for two seconds and the third for five seconds.

Outside of its damage it is important to note that this can trigger and for quick rampup at the start of fights or phases. It will also trigger , if traited, for uptime which is why this skill is a really good filler when the target is out of range.

= 200 damage.

= 150 damage.

= 100 damage per clone.

= 600 damage.

= 300 for the first tick, 100 for the second and 150 for the third for a total of 550 damage.

= 250 damage.

= 50 damage per second.

your phantasm abilities, which is why you are able to consecutively summon phantasms during your . You generally want to use it to cast multiple times.

removes boons from foes it hits. This attack is unblockable and bounces up to four times. It deals increased damage against foes without boons.

holds two charges, and every cast of deals damage and applies .

summons two clones and breaks stun. Beware that this ability will displace you.

is a minuscule DPS increase and, if taken, should only be used for .

can be used over on fights where you can pre-cast clones before upcoming phases. It can also be useful on high-pressure encounters to block incoming attacks.

It is a DPS increase, for yourself, on fights where you can guarantee that it gets blocks such as on ,, and . It is also a DPS increase for other since it will trigger due to the phantasm applying .

is a viable replacement over and easier to use than on fights where you can pre-cast clones. The well deals damage in four pulses, each applying and to targets inside of it, the last pulse is significantly more powerful than the other three.

This would be recommended over when there are no other in the squad due to its easy usage.

provides 600 damage immediately upon the cast time finishing, its shorter cast time makes it an appealing choice over .

will be the main utility that you take while playing with . Not only does it provide your entire squad with , but it also inflicts precious on foes inside.

causes your illusions to deal 15% more damage.

causes you to deal 10% more damage to foes with less health than you.

causes you to deal 0.5% more damage per stack of on your target.

causes you and your phantasms to deal 15% more damage to foes without boons.

will cause your phantasms to gain when they are summoned. This will provide them with a fairly large DPS increase.

causes your phantasms to cause on critical hits.

reduces the recharge of your Sword skills by 20% and also provides you with a stacking buff that increases your . You can attain a maximum of 10 stacks, with each stack providing + 15 . You gain stacks by hitting with Sword skills.

increases your damage with critical hits by 15%. This damage will be increased by a further 10% if you strike a foe below 50% health or a disabled foe. This trait does not increase your , instead it is a modifier for damage when you critically strike.

is a basic DPS increase for your shatters, assuming the targets are movement-impaired. As of the current patch, May 11, this trait increases your DPS by about 300-400 DPS on the Golem. This trait only applies to the first strikes of your which means it's just a 5% damage increase for your main damaging shatter rather than 10%.

grants you whenever you shatter. The duration of increases for each clone that you shatter.

causes you to gain 15% more . This trait also applies to Illusions.

will cause your phantasms to be resummoned when they would become a clone, dealing 25% less damage. This is a fairly large DPS increase as your phantasms will use their skills again. Each phantasm can only be resummoned once.

inflicts three seconds of whenever you disable an enemy, you do not need to 'interrupt' an attack with this any of the listed disables will work. This will most likely the trait you will be running if you play the variant as 15% is way more valuable than 10%* damage increase on your shatters.

* See the comment on .

If you are playing the build without then you will want to run the following gear: Full Berserker's Armor, Weapons, and Trinkets, except for an Assassin's Backpiece. . and . and . 18 x .

While if you are playing without then you will want the following gear: Full Berserker's Armor and Weapons. . Assassin's Trinkets except for two Berserker's Rings. 18 x .

If you want to be cheap, you can take without changing any gear, this applies to both build variants.