NOT MINE: Condi (Alac) Specter benchmarks/build for June 27 Patch: 39.3k DPS, 38.1k alacDPS

This post is the work of /u/DarkstarChimera on Reddit, not me.

https://youtu.be/RIvWB6qfs3w

What has ANet done?

Build/Gear

Builds: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PagAsilJwOYIMK2IO2WfxCA-zRJYmRDfZEZCkbB49BIQNwDA-e

DPS: Strength of Shadows grandmaster trait, +100 condi / +70 expertise food, master tuning crystal or tuning icicle

Alac: Shadestep grandmaster trait, +15% poison / +70 condi food, toxic focusing crystal (use tuning for 2 less condi)

Rotation

DPS https://dps.report/X4Cl-20230627-195822_golem

Alac https://dps.report/HlyP-20230627-191453_golem

Rotation: basically identical, base off the existing DPS rotation.

For Alac you need to go into shroud immediately to start pumping Alacrity. As a result, you trigger Quick Pockets and Doom early and waste the Initiative. To fix this, I manually weapon swap outside shroud in between the first and second shroud.

• Exit shroud

• Twilight Combo
• Siphon
• Twilight Combo x4
• Shadow Bolt, Double Bolt
• Weapon swap

After this, manually weapon swap off cooldown. If you're too slow, or you start doing shorter shrouds (to "catch" the cooldowns of your utility skills), then your enter-shroud will align with this manual weapon swap. In such case, stop weapon swapping and just let Enter-shroud trigger QP and Doom.

I will experiment with Shroud 3 casts for the Alac build to provide more barrier to allies, but it should be a DPS loss on golem. If you interrupt the target you'll get a modest DPS increase.

Ally-targeted autos aren't worth it for DPS, because we now have a 1-second cooldown on giving allies Rotwallow Venom. You can still share 1 stack to 4 allies at once via Consume Shadows or Scepter autos, which is nice, but it's not optimal for DPS. I like that—targeting allies for optimal DPS leaves a bitter taste in my mouth since this game really isn't designed for such a thing. It also means the build applies less "free" barrier, which reigns in the power creep.

I advise you not run Consume Shadows. That trait nukes your Shadow Force every loop, preventing you from building up a healthy force meter. You will provide healing (and barrier if you push shroud 3) to your allies via Shadestep and Shadow Shroud skills.

If you do want to run Consume Shadows then I suggest you just run full Ritualist gear, to increase your Vitality for a stronger Shroud and larger Consume heals.

The Alacrity build has 120% uptime with 0% boon duration. You might want to use some Ritualist gear in certain encounters with high incoming damage, which might kick you out of Shadow Shroud, but this should generally be unnecessary with good play.

DPS Losses

I'll bench the DPS loss of using a pistol in the offhand, preventing manual weapon swaps. Probably around -1,000

Thieves Guild is worth about 1,000 DPS.

Misc.

I'm benching with 5 accounts because Thieves Guild has boon priority above allied mesmer clones—if the summoned Guild Specter gets Alacrity from me, there's a chance it will cast Well of Sorrow twice, inflating the skill's DPS contribution.

If you have any questions leave them in the comments or join the Snow Crows Help Desk Discord server: https://discord.gg/qTs63YH

Nerf ideas

Any of these. Don't take em too seriously.

• Cut the base alac duration of Shadestep, requiring the same boon duration overload gear as last patch
• Move the Torment damage modifier out of Larcenous Torment and into Strength of Shadows
• Cut the base alac duration a lot, or make autos not trigger it, and put alacrity onto Well of Bounty to stop us from running 3 very strong DPS utility skills
• Make Shadestep reduce your initiative further lol
• Saving this one for the end of this bulleted catalyst, put a % damage penalty onto Shadestep lol imagine that