Background picture
  • April 21, 2024
  • 7.91 min to read
Overview
Up-to-date

updated for the 4/16/2024 patch

Template Code
[&DQcYHQEdQjsjDwAAgwEAAIEBAACCAQAA7RIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADLwAxAFoAAA==]
Conditions
Role
  • Condi Damage
Synergy average
DPS high
Independence high
Acquiring basicsvery easy
Achieving masteryaverage
The Condi Virtuoso is a strong condition-based build for Mesmer in fractals, mainly focusing on Bleeding.
It offers great sustained DPS with a very simple rotation. On top of that, it also has a high range and great sustain due to
. At the same time it is quite an independent class with great boon generation, being able to upkeep a good amount of self Fury and Might and if traited Quickness from traits in the Dueling and Illusions trait lines. On top of this Mesmer can also help provide a significant amount of Vulnerability from
.
The Mesmer also provides an optimal skipping toolset for T4 fractals which should be utilized.
Equipment
This build has very high sustain and therefore you can usually use
.
There are many different gear setups that work very similarly on Condi Virtuoso. If you want to change the food/utility or sigils, check out the gear optimizer for more variants.
This is the default setup when using
. If you would like to optimize the build more you can use a combination of
,
, and
.
Check out the gear optimizer for more variants.
  • Rampager
  • Sinister
  • Rampager
  • Sinister
  • Viper
  • Sinister
  • Sinister
  • Sinister
  • Empty
  • Sinister

Any item with the same stats may be used!

Virtuoso
Heal
Utilities
Elite
Rampager
Rampager
Sinister
Sinister
Sinister
Sinister
Food
Utility
Relic
Build
Traits
  • Illusions
  • Dueling
  • Virtuoso
Situational Traits
If you're playing with Pistol, take this over
.
  • Mirage
Utilize Mirage for skips!
,
and
along with the typical Mesmer toolset makes it really good for mobility and skips.
  • Chronomancer
Situationally used for
, which can be useful when stealthing your group with
or any utility you want to use twice. Additionally allows for shield to be equipped giving you a very strong block with
and
. In niche cases can be used for some self Alacrity through
and
.
Defiance Bar Damage
SkillDamage
50 damage (per Blade)
200 damage
150 damage
600 damage
250 damage
Slow50 damage per second
Extra Weapons
  • Pistol instead of Sword for short phases/extra CC
  • Torch for stealth, blasting, and precasting
  • Staff for precasting at certain bosses.
  • Shield for blocks if you are skipping with Chronomancer
  • Sword (in main-hand) for a 600 leap on Virtuoso or skips on Mirage
Situational Skills
A nice source of party-wide Stability.
For prestacking blades before the fight
For precasting
at bosses, and for double casting
for skips.
When you have issues with boons on the boss (should only be used in extreme cases).
Mainly for Artsariiv to reflect Taw Shot.
Can be used instead of
if no CC is needed.
Skips
A 600 leap (only availible as Virtuoso)
Useable after
to return to your original location
For skipping sections of the fractal for your party.
1200 range blink, use it for skips!
For stealthing your party for skips, can be combined with
and
for 18 seconds of stealth.
Situational uses such as the Underground Facility door.
600 range leap, can be cancelled mid-air for slightly more range.
450 range blink, 3 charges.
1200-2400(1500 activation) range targeted teleport. This skill is tricky because of its random nature but allows for some skips.
Rotation / Skill usage
Golem rotations out of the raid builds are generally suboptimal in fractals due to Exposed and phases being much shorter compared to raids. The raid rotations are optimized for sustained DPS while in fractals a player needs the ability to adapt a rotation to the amount of time a group needs to finish a phase.
It's important to note that phantasms do not benefit from most modifiers unless it is stated to be the case.
They do however benefit from Exposed.
Skill Priority
If you lose yourself in the exact rotation, follow this priority list.
  1. Use Bladesong skills to keep up the damage buff from
    . Make sure to delay
    as little as possible and always use it with 5 Blades.
  2. Use Phantasms (
    and
    ) whenever ready.
  3. Use
    to reset
    .
  4. Use
    to reset your Bladesongs.
  5. Use
    and
    off-cooldown. You can also weave them in between other attacks, even ones with higher priority.
  6. Auto-attack on Dagger.
Remember that your personal damage skills are faster than phantasms, but that they deal more damage over time, this means that direct damaging skills such as Bladecall and auto-attacks get higher priority if the boss is close to phasing.
Utilize
for CC, but also remember to not use too much CC on the break bar and space out your big CC cooldowns like Signet of Humility so they don't overlap with other powerful CC skills.
Apart from doing DPS, you'll also have access to a wide range of utilities which can all be used for skips, blocks, and damage mitigation. Make sure to read what they do and don't be afraid to swap to them situationally, especially in T4s.
Golem Opener
There is a basic opener used on the golem for sustained DPS, you will need to adapt this depending on the boss and cooldowns.
  • Start on Dagger/Sword (or Pistol)
  1. Weapon Swap
Important Traits
  • will give you a large amount of sustain and makes your Blade skills inflict Bleeding. Namely, those are your Dagger attacks as well as your Bladesongs.
  • gives you a 5% damage modifier after using a Bladesong. You'll want to keep up this buff as much as you can.
  • stocks extra blades when you inflict enough Bleeding and will make sure that you are always at 5 Blades for your Bladesongs as long as you keep attacking.
  • makes your Phantasms inflict Bleeding on critical hits, making multi-hit Phantasms stronger.
    combined with the gear choices will ensure critical hits of your Phantasms.
Precasting
At the Mistlock Singularity
  • Make sure to start with 5 Blades. If you need use
    to replenish them.
  1. Blast fire fields with
    .
  2. Extend boons with
    if you have time.
  3. Precast
    and take the singularity when your group is done pre-buffing.
  4. Additionally you can precast a
    on the boss and take the singularity as well on bosses like Skorvald, or any boss if you use portals.
At the boss (spawnable bosses)
  1. You can cast
    and then swap back to another utility skill. Skip this step if you did not use
    at the singularity.
  2. You can precast
    and
    to squeeze out a little more burst, if your group coordinates.
  3. Start casting
    if the boss starts with a break bar.
At the boss (pre spawned bosses)
  • You can also precast
    .
Rotation Guide
by Ascers