This was a run that was finally a big challenge! Soo Won 2 went to absolute shit sadly, it was very panicked to command without having a clue what everyone's HP was or the status of champions!
Primordus Too Hard
Log: https://dps.report/e8f1-20231024-212426_void
This was a run that was finally a big challenge! Soo Won 2 went to absolute shit sadly, it was very panicked to command without having a clue what everyone's HP was or the status of champions!
This was a run that was finally a big challenge! Soo Won 2 went to absolute shit sadly, it was very panicked to command without having a clue what everyone's HP was or the status of champions!
updated 2 years ago
This was a run that was finally a big challenge! Soo Won 2 went to absolute shit sadly, it was very panicked to command without having a clue what everyone's HP was or the status of champions!
Just some PoVs to showcase the commonly played pug strat, but with one player who went missing. Some small optimisations are included, like Heralds taking some portals back for some additional dps and the Heal Scourge changing a few bits and pieces to trade some healing for dps. These small optimisations make LCM 9man possible with still a bit of leeway.
For Chrono optimisations, some portals are deliberately placed at max 1200 range during Rages, to allow Virts to still be within attack range. Always be clear with your group if you do this, as they will need to take a step out of Rage to not be hit by it.
For very fast CC, run Moa, save a Rifle 4, and have 3 clones ready for F3. This can allow you to hit up to 1700 defiance damage per bar if you run paralysation sigil (instead of concentration), since we run with heralds the drop in boon duration isn't as important, as might is upkept with ease.
cVirt PoV: youtube.com/watch?v=gwe65k0E5RU
cVirt PoV: youtube.com/watch?v=o2dioFp6NgM
celeScg PoV: youtube.com/watch?v=sE7bTJ14GwI
Rangers have a pretty stacked toolkit and power creep has also shown its face in the meantime, most notably with how strong Maces are offensive and defensively. The plethora of available dps allowed us to run a few stance-share Soulbeasts (3 in total), who brought Dolyak and Bear Stance for additional Stability, damage reduction and condition cleanse. Druid also brings lots of boons and was also stealthing by blasting the Smoke field from the Smokescale pet. All used Ranger builds perform decent in HT CM already as well, so we didn't need to make a lot of adaptations. We of course missed Portals, but this simply meant more movement that cost some dps. It was honestly not really a challenge compared to previous stacking runs, because of how much the game and the tools you have available have advanced.
Total wipes: 37 (two sub 1% wipes)
Log: https://dps.report/O8Pb-20240523-224839_cerus
I'm a little sad that we killed it with a bugged 50% phase, we had some pretty cool orb collections here where the scourge and I would delete the majority, we had a few times having only 1-2 stacks go through to Cerus.
However, we did counter this with a scourge not portalling out with a malice and AFKing inside a rage. Let's call it even.
It was very fun playing with mimic portal, and honestly quite chill. The lack of barrier was definitely felt sub 10%, it was pretty hard to survive with 7+ stacks and so I avoided collecting during P3 where possible. It feels weird to be one of the squishiest people in the squad as the healer!
Log: https://dps.report/yMZ9-20240419-233843_cerus
Sorry for the weird cut at 10% - wanted to show how the sub 10% healing is still easily doable after the patch on Tuesday nerfing Restorative Mantras but the rest didn't showcase everything, so I merged two PoVs together xd
Log: https://dps.report/o9u2-20240406-214906_cerus
The CS portal for the overlapping Rage/Gluttony in P3 wasn't shown that cleanly and ended up not being necessary here, but it can be an incredibly valuable portal if the orbs spawn behind the boss!
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAQt7lZwCZLsL2Ie0TqtPA-DSRYjR9VPSIFlR1ZQ6lluXECSo83S7bWQFA-e
I ran a slightly different build with Monk runes instead of Water runes (90% bd) because I thought the healing would add more value and the Herald covers a lot of boons. Dagger mainhand doesn't really offer any major benefit, sceptre would probably be better and allow you more clone generation when swapping to shield for swiftness.
Portals:
Phase 1
1. Triangle Marker (edge), after the wall. Place on stack, blink, and open when Malice spawns.
Phase 2
1. Triangle Marker (edge), after the wall. Place on stack, blink, and open when Malice spawns.
2. Swirly Marker (edge), after the double wall. Place on stack, blink, and open when Malice spawns.
Phase 3
1. Triangle Marker (on marker). Run there to place the entrance portal after the wall mechanic, open when Malice spawns.
2. X Marker (edge), place after Scourge portal out. Open it during Gluttony.
3. Enter Continuum Split, place portal and blink to the edge of Rage and open it, exit CS. If you cannot do this portal inside CS, it's better for people to run out of Rage, as it will mean you can't preplace your portal in the 10% phase.
Phase 4
1. Place this after dodging out of the first Despair drops, open when Malices and second Despair spawn.
Also, I am allergic to CS.
Build Notes:
- You can take any elite, Rampage can be good for CC, but I like the run saving potential of Warbanner
- 3rd Utility: Shake It Off (bu stunbreak & healing), Banner of Defense (barrier, aegis), Bull's Charge (CC)
- RELIC OF FEBE is very important! You cannot give Swiftness without it at all using Staff!
Why Staff though?
Well, it's an awesome weapon and has a ton of healing which sword/warhorn lacks. The Vigor from WH5 is random application, so it's not something you miss out on, and the Swiftness is easily provided by Relic of Febe. It also gives you more CC, so you don't rely solely on Gunsaber 3.
Very strong kiter, but a higher skill ceiling than some other classes due to the resource management.
This is not perfect Druid gameplay as I don't play it too often, but it was a wonderfully scuffed kill that allowed me to show more mechanics than a typical kill run.
I tried this challenge at first with Tempest but found it a little too easy, with all of the tools to mitigate damage - namely Rebound and Jalis Elite. Dropping trinkets on Tempest would've just made giving alacrity too difficult (and I didn't want to troll groups with terrible boon uptime), without adding much challenge to survivability.
Cue... Bladesworn! The perfect kiter to run with only weapons equipped and not troll my group. A single tick of red would down me, but I could still survive fears with Defiant Stance. The lack of boon duration was noticeable with other boons, but Alacrity was still pretty easy to keep at 100%.
Log: https://dps.report/jyic-20240301-235702_void
What changed?
Rifle is amazing! Now Chrono has insane healing, access to resistance and barrier, and higher might output!
You can run any elite, and you can swap Precog for any other utility skill depending on the needs of your group.
Chrono has huge access to stability, loads of self survivability (blocks, distortion, stunbreak and blink).
Build: same as before, just shove a scepter in
Tips:
- Set a keybind for "set personal target" and "call personal target"
- Target a DPS player in your subgroup that will be on stack the majority of the time
- Let Scepter 3 full channel for might, try and use it off CD
- Blast road with staff 4 & open bubble repeatedly to stack swiftness
- Easily get 5 stacks of Kalla's Fervor by using Sw4 on a target
- Use F2 off cooldown with 5 stacks of KF
This video is split into sections as I had to splice several runs together to show everything that I wanted to due to unfortunate wipes and fuckups.
For the build, visit discord.gg/VoidLounge
Purification 1 00:00
Jormag 00:43
Primordus 01:58
Kralkatorrik 03:42
Purification 2 04:57
Mordremoth 05:47
Zhaitan 07:03
Purification 3 08:29
Soo Won 1 09:15
Purification 4 11:01
Soo Won 2 11:59
The most fun thing for me to learn was exactly how the Orb 4 momentum worked - it does not slow down over time, so we were able to hold it in an exact position on the other side of the arena by doing the same number of hits as it took to push it out :)
Log: https://dps.report/wh80-20240124-183201_void
Squad PoVs:
Multi-PoV: youtu.be/43Nr5tQqZ1g
(Scr) Asterius: youtu.be/6MnpuckhVBg
(Scr) Hmod: youtu.be/Jpyk69Zjhy8
(Scr) Minas: youtu.be/rOUHaYx7Lsw
(Vin) Airen: youtu.be/KDAP4lQG4sk
(Chr) Lottie: youtu.be/VmihoULjXP0
(Scg) Silver: youtu.be/MCvB5ThQroQ
Death Compilation: youtu.be/pxsL3h573D0
For everything HTCM related:
Join us at discord.gg/voidlounge
Orb1: 15
Jormag: 37
Prim: 42
Kralk: 9
Orb2: 17
Mordre: 15
Zhaitan: 36
Orb3: 10
SW1: 5
Orb4: 4
SW2: 14
Total: 204
Log: https://dps.report/wkps-20231220-192120_void
Can you play it? Yeah!
Should you? Probably not!
Chronomancer is generally a stronger mesmer kite pick, it provides a ton more boons and utility, and doesn't suffer from the same shortcomings.
There's a few builds you can run - you can drop Jaunt for Moa for example, but since you need to use your dodges for alacrity I found it really annoying to survive without having Jaunt to get out of reds or wasting dodges without giving Alacirty.
Sadly Mirage can't benefit from Ego Restoration if you want to give resistance (which I chose to do), you can run this instead and have way more clones for shattering (more might/vigor). Generally you want to spam dodges, and shatter each time you can get 3 clones back before your next dodge.
You can also run relic of resistance + jaunt, but then you have super limited swiftness generation (limited to RNG from chaos field), which is also not ideal.
Mirage is a class full of compromises and excelling at nothing.
Why run this build?
Purely if you want to give permanent vigor, for example if you have a lot of vindi players in your group.
A lesser version can be run with just latent stamina with this rotation for a lower uptime, but retaining the stability on overload.
It's still a great rotation for boon uptime regardless, as you constantly proc Elemental Attunement and retain very high Soothing Mist uptime.
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAYt7lZwCZWsL2Ie0TqtPA-DSRYjRNVPSIFlR1lQ6ZguLIhye4t0+mFUB-e (Relic of Febe)
Is it worth running? Probably not...
Is it fun? HELL YEAH!
Hotel? Trivago.
Ice Cream? Vanilla
Very versatile Kiter with good boons, CC and utility in general.
Key information:
* Relic: Febe. Use Heal skill for easy Swiftness.
* Can choose to give **either** quickness or alacrity, with the same rotation.
* Alac is given by using Phantasm skills and shattering. Shatter with more clones is more Alac/Quick.
* Might is given by F1, Well of Action and Shield 5. F2 provides Vigor, F3 Fury, F4 Stability.
* Stability is applied with Mantra and F4. Be aware that the initial charging time provides a lot of Stability, but has a long cast time, so plan accordingly.
* General loop is rotation through Shield 5 and 2x Staff 3. On Staff, place Staff 5 and use Staff 2 as leap finisher to provide Chaos Aura.
* Continuum Split can be used to burst a lot of boons.
* Zhaitan Fear: 1) Prepare 3 clones, after Red appears, Shatter once to provide enough Protection. Run out, place Red, blink to stack, use Shatters after Fear hits to cleanse/heal and use Heal Mantra to heal. 2) Place Red, blink back, use 1x shatter skill immediately for Prot, use other Shatters after Fear hits to cleanse/heal and use Heal Mantra to heal.
Log: https://dps.report/T2fw-20231210-222011_void
A versatile Kiter with varying Utility options. Can provide almost every necessary boon independently and brings a ton of CC, good mobility and Stability.
Key information:
- Reistance for Resistance, trigger it with opening Mortar Kit.
- Your Alac is provided with giving Barrier: F2, F3, Mace 2 and Barrier Signet. Make sure to be within 360 radius of your Mech when using F-skills (otherwise they will get a longer cooldown and the stats your Mech inherits is lowered by 50%).
- Use Medkit 5 for Swiftness and other boons.
- Recall your Mech before Soo-Won Swipes, else it will die. (If it dies and bugs out, jump while spamming recall to un-bug it.)
- Zhaitan Fear: Open Mortar Kit for Resistance after Red spawns (10 seconds of Resistance) or after blinking back to the stack. After placing Red, Shift Signet back to stack, use Shield 4 for Protection, use Medkit 3 for backup cleanse, wait for Fear to hit and use F2 to Stunbreak. If you give Resistance after blinking back, it lasts for the entire Fear.
- Elixir S can be played instead of Mine if you don't need the boonstrip/CC, but due to cooldown nerfs it will never be up for both greens in Soo Won and is hence not recommended (if you use it, save it for the second Green, since that is usually harder/more stressful).
The buffs to heal mesmer are really nice and allowed for a much easier chrono stack.
This was a beta character purely for ease of setting up infusions, this build can be run on the live game with no differences! It's great for role compression, but it then requires a DPS to cover the quickness green.
Log: https://dps.report/Dm4M-20231129-191928_void
A really strong alacrity kiter that gives permanent Might, Swiftness, Protection and Regeneration, and some Vigor, Stability and Aegis. It is unable to give Fury without taking the more offensive Air traitline (drop Arcana).
What changed this patch?
* Relic of Resistance allows you to give Resistance for Zhaitan once again.
* You may as well take boonstrip sigils for extra strips, as you easily reach 100% boon duration and drown in healing.
I'm running out of challenges, help.
I did toggle run back on for Giants/Goliath to not completely grief the run (since they copy player movement speed). Maybe Bladesworn was cheating a little with all the mobility, but it was actually very fun and felt challenging.
I only wiped us once - I didn't make it into a Zhaitan green. Oops :3
My biggest takeaway is that I would actually recommend jumping into the second SW2 green instead of dodging, as you're way more likely to land in a safe place and not take damage from the previous reds (maybe this is a personal skill issue, but I usually end up touching them).
Hopefully it's useful to show how to deal with some mechanics when you don't have a dodge available :)
Log: https://dps.report/NuK4-20230922-204215_void
Tempest was used for the superior pushing power, leading to extremely fast orb phases to help push our time.
We had insane dragon phases here thanks to powercreep - we were able to phase Mordemoth with no shockwaves after, and Soo Won 1 without the breath attack, letting us immediately start Orb 4. Our Purification 4 was only 15 seconds!
For pushing I had Air Warhorn 5 (up to 12 hits), Air Overload (up to 14 hits), Lightning Storm (up to 36 hits) and Water auto/Water Dagger 2. Air Overload can be precasted, and followed with WH/Storms, then Water attacks for a super fast push.
Glyph of Elementals was taken as the Elite as FGS was causing issues with food swap and conjures are ass to use. I used it for Water Elemental during Zhaitan for a more instant heal, it can't be used earlier in the fight as it would cause issues with stealth, and having adds stacked well is important to maximise boss damage.
Other Squad PoVs:
-
Build: [&DQkJLwwdRT/cEQAA1BEAAAYSAAArEgAAyhEAAAYDAADUEQYSKxIAAAAAAAADNQBaAFkAAA==] with Ren/Herald heal kite gear ;D
Why? Because I wanted to get a kill on Vindicator and thought that this would be a funny meme.
Log: https://dps.report/ThWp-20230916-190615_void
A really strong alacrity kiter that gives permanent Might, Swiftness, Protection and Regeneration, and some Vigor, Stability and Aegis. It is unable to give Fury outside of your Elite shout without taking the more offensive Air traitline (drop Arcana).
What changed this patch?
* The number of hits on Air 5 went from 24 to 12, this reduces your pushing power a bit, but it is still very strong. It also no longer hits the Dragonvoid because ??
* You no longer have Durability runes (and therefore no resistance), so you must do the Zhaitan stunbreak a bit different and activate Water Overload after the fear hits rather than precasting it.
Log: https://dps.report/4CFB-20230908-221848_void
An absolutely terrible kiter that you should probably never play, but... it's fun!
Log: https://dps.report/Mfg4-20230904-174727_void
Speed Relic gives you the mobility you need for safe play, and it has the highest Stab output of any build, as well as taking care of the bubble mechanic.
To use it on Zhaitan, you need to Shift Signet first and then Barrier Signet. If you do this the other way around, the resistance will proc before you reach the group and not affect your squad.
Log: https://dps.report/kFxW-20230902-141732_void
Changes since last pach:
* Greatsword is used over Sword/Sword as it is a DPS increase.
* You can run Shortbow or Staff for CC/stacks in offhand, do not run Hammer - it is bad and you are trolling. Shortbow has less CC, but allows for better ranged pushing.
Log: https://dps.report/uNpr-20230828-151615_void
This build provides: 20 avg might, permanent protection, swiftness, fury, regeneration, as well as some aegis, resistance and resolution. It has arguably the best boonstrip available since it has 3 different sources as well as working from range.
Options:
* Sword instead of Axe for more mobility
* Relic: Monk, Flock or Speed
* Any skill instead of Stone Spirit (you give prot on beast skills and staff ambush), you may want Signet of Renewal for an easier stunbreak
* Zhaitan Fear: Staff 3 back to group, use Frost Spirit, then healing spring and staff ambush after damage. You can Bear F2 (unmerged) for an extra condi cleanse.
* Boonstrip using Unleased Pet F2 or any skill after using an ambush attack.
* CC using WH5 and pet
* Use quickdraw ideally on Wh5 or Staff 3 (also target allies with it for even further reduced cd)
* Pets - literally anything you want
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAkyZllQKMKyiNRXsKCjFSisBqglszVzC-zRRYjh7BJ6QwnR1qgcmCa8gEK7h3S7bWQFA-e
It's strong, innit.
You can run Invocation (mostly for more energy on legend swap) or Retribution to be tankier and have an additional bubble when using a heal skill - both have great uses, personally I prefer Invocation as I find I can spam more resistance/stab and have more energy for Puri 4.
Retribution can allow much safer Zhaitan greens if you manage the cooldown of it well with your heal skill, as the dome will block the poison on you from spawning.
My personal gameplay is a little bit scuffed and messy, as I had very short notice to learn it, but the pushing was big stonks.
Log: https://dps.report/PigT-20230719-224313_void
Honestly it's pretty poggies, does SO much stability, it can cover bubble, has HUGE CC, and it has enough healing that it could solo heal. It plays very similar to heal renegade kite, just without the alac 8).
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAwyZlxQKMPyi1RXMOCjRSiMCqgJ7lazC-zRRYBRH33cQgFSwhQFJQGVgtHkwYP8aowyGoC-e
So... how do you boonstrip? Consuming the F2 in Shiro! It rips 3 boons (or 2 without the Core Value trait) and the cooldown lines up super nicely with the boon application timing (every 20s).
It has some downsides - the build gives 0 stability (which is typical of a qDPS, but can be covered by your kiter or a dps vindi), and the F2 has a lovely "bug" where it can sometimes instantly consume when you press it.
Tl;dr: Open on Shiro and F2 to instantly strip. Only swap to Glint if it is available right after you strip, otherwise stay in Shiro until you can strip again, and then swap.
Even with this you can still do 21-22k as quickness.
You can now run full berserker and have almost 40% boon duration.
You very easily cap to 30s quick duration, in fact the quick in the other sub here died and it was almost enough to keep up quickness in both subs.
It allows you to hold in a legend to give Jalis Elite/Road, so overall pretty damn nice.
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAwyJlpQMMLyjdRdMMijJSksCigJ7lazG-zRRYBRH33cQgFSwhQFJQGVgtHkwYP8aowyGoC-e
One of my favourite DPS classes, despite it not being one of the top. The DPS would not have been as high if the Bsw didn't die, but I still feel like the class is capable of 27k and has a fairly simple rotation. It also brings a fuck ton of CC, and generates a decent amount of boons for the group (fury/prot/swift/might).
Build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PGwEgEmpMCWDjh5xKx0+qqpC-zRRYjhHJ6izoalQ6yANeICwe4t0+mFUB-e
An incredibly strong alac kiter at the moment, permanent 25 might, fury, swiftness and protection. It also extends all other boons, including quickness, with Earth wh 4.
It has a huge amount of healing inside the kit, including burst and sustained with Soothing Mist and Regeneration.
Mobility is strong with Lightning Flash, and dashes on Fire + Earth skill 3. You also have access to superspeed with Eye of the Storm.
"Aftershock!" is taken for protection supplement, blast for extra might and most importantly aegis - EotS is your only source of group stability, so it gives a small extra safety layer. It is the first utility I would recommend swapping out if you wanted to run something else, but unless you run Staff I would keep it.
-coming soon-
Basically you just drop every signet except for Domination to run portal/blink. It is inferior in nearly every way to power Virtuoso, other than you can push the orbs faster.
It has zero boonstrip capability, but that's okay, Minas loves HAM.
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PekAk6lNwaZbMXWKe6TrRVA-zRRYjB9hENdgnR1Sg0VAa8gIasyGwWafzCqA-e
In the last patch they made it so that if you cast your Mech skills (F2/F3) more than 360 range away from your mech, they have a 50% increased cooldown. This means you must be close to your mech when using them to prevent it.
The mace auto attack chain no longer gives barrier on the final attack, but instead mace 2 now gives barrier. Use this off cooldown for boons.
For this run we stacked Warriors and used every Elite as well as Core specialization. Bladesworn and Berserker for DPS, Spellbreaker for the Boonstrip, and a core Warrior + Bladesworn as Heal Quickness Kites. Warrior generally has access to a lot of tools to handle the various mechanics of HT CM and even without Alac and all of the other utility in normal runs (Portals, Invis, ..), the damage was still more than enough to beat it.
More details can be found in the accompanied Reddit post:
TBD
Squad
Power Berserker Asterius youtu.be/nT_FtPpur0M
Power Bladesworn Airen youtu.be/GGzF1Dr9Q2c
Power Bladesworn Blast youtu.be/7f1_xEwxCTA
Power Bladesworn Noisi
Power Bladesworn Penta youtu.be/gflOKzXwpHI
Power Bladesworn Rickz
Power Bladesworn Silver
Power Spellbreaker Minas youtu.be/bqrk8Bowm54
Heal Quickness Bladesworn Bear
Heal Quickness Core Warrior Lottie
Primordus wipes: 24 xD
Timecaster was an obstacle for the first time, it was quite difficult to manage as warriors, and we wiped 17 times there too.
It has CC! It has boonstrip! It has... Resistance for Zhaitan fear! It.... has... 3.5k DPS!
I should've committed to full DPS kite with DPS traits, but I started off pretending to be a healer ;D
Despite lacking a condi cleanse, I still rank it above core ele, since the boonstrip is nice (even if we had 2 mechs with throw mine here), and it also has really damn nice pushing power, and enough DPS to cleave adds (with the benefit of not needing to be near stack because you're worthless and give no boons) :3
How to not take damage during Zhaitan:
- Don't stand near wurms or dodge their attacks
- Avoid Poison AoEs, you can use your shield 5 as a channeled block, or dodge through them, or just walk around them. This includes the ones over the greens, and the close one to the stack.
- For green 3, you want to shield 5 inside the green to block the poison, and either dodge through to the portal, or blink to the portal (if you will phase it before needing to drop red away from stack).
Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKDFwEW6UZBMMmH7jRiH9k7yG-zRIYY8fItIEqWVluEQjHkQp3S7bWQFA-e
Oh yeah baby, that's right, M A C E S.
Hammer vs Mace: Maces have better and faster CC, access to vuln and a block, Hammer has more mobility. Maces are superior.
Memes aside, feels great to play. Likely worse than Bladesworn overall (mostly due to Defense being a worthless traitline, and having no ranged option (gunsaber)), but it's pretty fun, and the CC is nice and fast.
You can mitigate a lot of damage with barrier (Banner of Defense and Wh 5), such that your healing is more than adequate. Permanent resistance is pretty great, and you can give a lot of might.
Shake It Off can be swapped out for For Great Justice if more might is required, then you must use Wh 5 as cleanse (and not for barrier before scream).
Solo banner can be played, run Shake It Off and For Great Justice in such a case. Also swap utility to Magnanimous Maintenance Oil to reach BD cap. Note that if you do this, you can't hold your banner for the Superspeed effect.
Why? Memes.
It's not terrible though, permanent quickness, good might uptime, possibility of cool game changing warbanners that res half the squad when the commander makes a bad call.
It's very fun, this is far from optimal gameplay.


