Pain Inverter in WvW
I think it just gives retaliation. You are still gonna get hurt, but so will they.
The concept of the ability is “What pain you feel, so do the enemies around you.” You stack 3 confusion on the foes around you which cause condition damage to them every time they use an action (includes clicking abilities or dodge rolling) and you gain retaliation which does damage to anyone that attacks you.
Here’s some educational viewing of Xsorus’s Asura Ranger in WvW utilizing this deadly skill
The skill is working as intended, just as Tuck and Leo G stated above.
I also use it a lot in WvW with my elementalist, together with Radiation Field (playing a balanced build that has quite good condition dmg).
Confusion and Poison are two effects most people don’t expect from an ele, so the surprise effect is very nice. Most Thiefs only notice the confusion on them when they already nuked their own HP by repeatedly spamming Heart Seeker or even worse: Dagger Storm.
The video above shows very well, how to utilize that skill as a ranger, even though some of the enemies shown in it seem to be incapable of using control effects and removing conditions…
I feel sorry for the upscaled Staff ele… ;(