Power Holosmith - GW2 | Discretize [dT]

The Power Holosmith is a flexible build that can do well in a variety of different group compositions. It offers:

High burst and good sustained damage
Good crowd control
Good utility through Vulnerability and access to some Blinded, Crippled and Immobile
The ability to boonstrip with Detonate Mine Field when running Throw Mine
An incredible skill set for various skips in Tier 4 fractals due to access to Stealth, as well as Superspeed and a targeted leap with Jump Shot
Some self-generation of Might, Quickness and Fury

The build benefits from slaying potions such as Powerful Potion of Slaying Scarlet's Armies and Superior Sigil of Impact .

There are 2 different versions of Power Holosmith which perform similarly, namely Sword ECSU, and Hammer PBM. They are named after:

The weapon they are holding, Sword+Shield vs Hammer.
The Grandmaster Holosmith Trait they use, Enhanced Capacity Storage Unit (ECSU) vs Photonic Blasting Module (PBM).

Equipment

Pick a gear variant

Berserker
Scholar
Berserker
Scholar
Berserker
Scholar
Berserker
Scholar
Berserker
Scholar
Berserker
Scholar

Berserker
Force
Berserker
Impact

Heal

Utilities

Elite

Berserker

Food

Utility

Relic

Create your own build in case you already own different gear.

1. Select template

2. Select gear you already own

arrow_drop_downHelm

arrow_drop_downShoulders

arrow_drop_downCoat

arrow_drop_downGloves

arrow_drop_downLeggings

arrow_drop_downBoots

arrow_drop_downAmulet

arrow_drop_downRing 1

arrow_drop_downRing 2

arrow_drop_downAccessory 1

arrow_drop_downAccessory 2

arrow_drop_downBack Item

arrow_drop_downWeapon 1

arrow_drop_downWeapon 2

Build

Traits

Firearms

Explosives

Holosmith

Situational Traits

	When running the Hammer PBM build.
	If you are already crit capped without High Caliber and struggle with Might uptime.

Tools

If your Quickness uptime is low, you can swap out the Firearms trait line with Tools and replace Grenade Kit with Photon Wall .

Scrapper

For many skips in Tier 4 fractals, you can swap to Scrapper for more Stealth and Superspeed. Stealth can be provided through Sneak Gyro . Superspeed is provided through Gyros with a delay due to Gyroscopic Acceleration . Medic Gyro also provides some instant Superspeed on top. Bulwark Gyro and Purge Gyro can be used without drawing aggro from enemies. Bypass Coating can provide some instant Superspeed as well.

Additional Skills

Toolbelt

Situational Skills

	An alternative heal skill if condition cleanse is needed. You can cast it AFTER (cause of water field) a fire field to blast might.
	A (group) block that also reflects projectiles if heat is above 50.
	Can be helpful to provide a smoke field through Smoke Bomb or fire field through Fire Bomb .
	Can provide a fire field and a blast finisher. You can pre-cast the toolbelt skill Incendiary Ammo for some extra damage.

CC Skills

Skill	Damage
Static Shock	200 damage
Magnetic Inversion	150 damage
Throw Shield	100 damage
Prime Light Beam	232 damage
Holographic Shockwave	232 damage
Thunderclap	100 damage

Rotation/Skill Usage

Sword ECSU Rotation Explanation

The idea of the opening is to stack as many damage modifiers as possible with your biggest skills. By entering Forge at the start, you will trigger Solar Focusing Lens . Due to being in Forge, you will also gain the extra damage from Laser's Edge . Grenade Barrage will help with stacking Explosive Temper .
You want to always use your big damaging skills like Laser Disk and Prime Light Beam in Forge when possible. Only use them outside of Forge if the boss will die/phase before you can go back into Forge to use them there.
In Forge, your high damage weapon skills are Corona Burst and Photon Blitz , as well as auto-attack chains. Try to not interrupt your Forge auto-attack chain. Your goal is to Deactivate Photon Forge at exactly 149 Heat. This can be achieved by using auto-attack chains until around 140 Heat (as seen in step 8), then using Corona Burst and Deactivate Photon Forge . Corona Burst will keep building up some Heat, however you cannot Holoforge Overheated if you already left Forge directly after its cast.
Out of Forge, your basic rotation can be seen in steps 15-17. The main goal is to use Refraction Cutter above 100 Heat 3 times. If you are slow, you might want to skip some extra skills like Poison Grenade and Freeze Grenade and prioritize Engage Photon Forge at 90 Heat.

Extra notes:

Use Blade Burst off-cooldown. This skill can be used inside the hitbox when multiple enemies are around to hit the boss multiple times. If this can be done, for example on Ensolyss, you can delay this skill for that.
Flash Grenade can be used to mitigate damage in add heavy fights.
When running off-hand Pistol, Blowtorch is used instead of Freeze Grenade in step 20.
When running off-hand Pistol, Glue Shot can help in controlling the movement of enemies without break bar.
Try to manage your Heat in split phases. Ideally, you always want to be back at 90 Heat when starting to burst into a new phase.
Poison Grenade will not always be up at the same step as its cooldown is higher than the duration of your loop. The general idea of using 2 extra damaging skills while cooling down still applies.

Sword ECSU Rotation

Preheat to 90
Laser Disk
Engage Photon Forge
Prime Light Beam (To help with CCing)
Grenade Barrage
Corona Burst
Photon Blitz
2x Light Strike -> Bright Slash -> Flash Cutter
Corona Burst
Deactivate Photon Forge
Refraction Cutter
Shrapnel Grenade
Poison Grenade
2x Sun Edge -> Sun Ripper -> Gleam Saber
Refraction Cutter
Shrapnel Grenade
2x Sun Edge -> Sun Ripper -> Gleam Saber
Refraction Cutter
Shrapnel Grenade
Freeze Grenade
Engage Photon Forge (your heat should be around 90)
Repeat from step 6

Pre-Casting

Make sure that you will start the fight on your desired Heat (usually 90).
You want to make sure to always at least pre-cast Laser Disk before taking the singularity.
You can either swap utility skills manually or via a template. Make sure to have the same traits in both templates selected if you choose the template route.
If this is taken care of, you can do the following extra pre-casts:
1. Equip Thumper Turret , Bomb Kit and Flamethrower .
2. Place Big Ol' Bomb .
3. Use Fire Bomb or Napalm to provide a fire field.
4. Use Rumble , Flame Blast and Magnetic Inversion to blast.
5. Use Incendiary Ammo .
6. Swap to your regular utilities and use Laser Disk .
7. Take the singularity.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can keep the Flamethrower equipped and use Incendiary Ammo again and place Napalm on the boss spawn location before swapping it out.
Holographic Shockwave provides yet another blast finisher if it works with your Heat management.

Hammer PBM Rotation Explanation

Due to Photonic Blasting Module , you will still receive the bonus from Laser's Edge after you overheat, so the idea of the opener in this build is to overheat quickly and then use your strongest skills while you cooldown.
In Forge, your high damage weapon skills are Corona Burst and Photon Blitz , as well as auto-attack chains. Try to not interrupt your Forge auto-attack chain.
Out of Forge, you want to finish your hammer auto-attack chains while keeping Electro-whirl and Shrapnel Grenade off cooldown. Add Thunderclap and grenades4/5 when available for more damage and fireworks proc.
Both Laser Disk and Prime Light Beam can be delayed until you are over 50% heat.
Do not delay Minefield and Throw Mine (unless you need it for boonstripping during No Pain No Gain).

Extra notes:

Use Blade Burst off-cooldown. This skill can be used inside the hitbox when multiple enemies are around to hit the boss multiple times. If this can be done, for example on Ensolyss, you can delay this skill for that.
Flash Grenade can be used to mitigate damage in add heavy fights.
Try to manage your Heat in split phases. Ideally, you always want to be back at 75 Heat when starting to burst into a new phase.

Hammer PBM Opener

Proceed with auto-attack chains while using other skills off cooldown until you can re-enter Photon Forge.

Pre-Casting

Make sure that you will start the fight on your desired Heat, which is usually 75.
You want to make sure to always at least pre-cast Laser Disk before taking the mistlock singularity.
You can either swap utility skills manually or via a template. Make sure to have the same traits in both templates selected if you choose the template route.
If this is taken care of, you can do the following extra pre-casts:
1. Equip Thumper Turret , Bomb Kit and Flamethrower .
2. Place Big Ol' Bomb .
3. Use Fire Bomb or Napalm to provide a fire field.
4. Use Rumble , Flame Blast and Magnetic Inversion to blast.
5. Use Incendiary Ammo .
6. Swap to your regular utilities and use Laser Disk .
7. Take the singularity.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can keep the Flamethrower equipped and use Incendiary Ammo again and place Napalm on the boss spawn location before swapping it out.
Holographic Shockwave provides yet another blast finisher if it works with your Heat management.