Guild Wars 2

I’m playing a Thief and using pistol in my off-hand a lot. Pistol’s No 5 “black powder” puts an AOE circle on the ground and it blinds nearby foes. Do they have to stand in this circle for blind to affect them or is them being near the circle enough for the blind? The circle is quite small and I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation where 5 of my enemies were all standing in it.
What are those “pulses” or “interval” that are mentioned in skill tip for “black powder”?
I tried wiki, but I have to admit I can’t really understand what that description means.

They have to be in the AoE circle for it to take effect.. Quite logical, no?
The pulses means that the blind is re-applied on every pulse.. So if an enemy stands in the AoE, the blind will make his first attack miss, but afterwards the blind is gone.. So the reapplying of the blindness with the smoke field blinds him again..

playing sword and pistol for a 4-5 months i learned this: yes enemy has to stand in aoe in order to get blinded. The longer it stands in it the longer the effect aka if you look at the enemy health bar you will see the blind renew itself aka pulsing as long as it aoe is active and the enemy stands on it.

Tribio.8531:

They have to be in the AoE circle for it to take effect.. Quite logical, no?
The pulses means that the blind is re-applied on every pulse.. So if an enemy stands in the AoE, the blind will make his first attack miss, but afterwards the blind is gone.. So the reapplying of the blindness with the smoke field blinds him again..

Thank you.
Yes, it is logical, but like I said, the circle is very small and I have yet to see myself in a situation where 5 of my enemies are all standing in it. I usually get 2 or 3 of them to all be in it. So, I assumed my “logic” might not be GW2’ “logic”.

So, first pulse is activated at the start of the skill, the second one at 2nd second and the third at 4th second?

So if you have an enemy that attacks 1x per second, he will miss 5 times (because there are 5 pulses, 1 each second, that blind him).

If there is an enemy that is kinda slow and only attacks 1x in 5 seconds, he will only miss 1 time (or maybe two times) because he first gets a few pulses blindness and removes all blindness with his attack.

If there is an enemy that attacks twice a second, he’ll miss once each second and hit you once each second, because blindness gets renewed only once a second.

PS: 5 enemies is the max amount. If you only have 2-3 in it, it’s fine too, isn’kitten
But usually, if you have many mobs, you should use something like dagger/dagger. Pistols are more useful for a single heavy mob.

Just to add that ring it puts around you is also a smoke field. If you then do heartseeker you will be put into stealth.

Unless you’re strictly playing range then you should get fair use out of the black powder

Thanathos.2063:

So if you have an enemy that attacks 1x per second, he will miss 5 times (because there are 5 pulses, 1 each second, that blind him).

If there is an enemy that is kinda slow and only attacks 1x in 5 seconds, he will only miss 1 time (or maybe two times) because he first gets a few pulses blindness and removes all blindness with his attack.

If there is an enemy that attacks twice a second, he’ll miss once each second and hit you once each second, because blindness gets renewed only once a second.

PS: 5 enemies is the max amount. If you only have 2-3 in it, it’s fine too, isn’kitten
But usually, if you have many mobs, you should use something like dagger/dagger. Pistols are more useful for a single heavy mob.

Slight correction: Black Powder Pulses every other second in addition to the first pulse. Meaning 1 Blind on Creation, 1 on the 2nd Second the field is up and 1 on the Fourth. The field lasts a total of 4s.

Also, Sword/Pistol is the best set for fighting against Large Mobs of Enemies on a Thief, due to Pistol Whip and Black Powder. Shortbow if you need to kite, due to Cluster Bomb and Disabling Shot. Dagger/Dagger is for stronger, single targets.

If you are standing in the field, and shoot out of it (like with pistol 4), your attacks apply Blind as well — so do your friends if they are in it. So you can drop it on your own party and everyone can shoot blinds at ranged foes.

symke.3105:

Tribio.8531:

They have to be in the AoE circle for it to take effect.. Quite logical, no?
The pulses means that the blind is re-applied on every pulse.. So if an enemy stands in the AoE, the blind will make his first attack miss, but afterwards the blind is gone.. So the reapplying of the blindness with the smoke field blinds him again..

Thank you.
Yes, it is logical, but like I said, the circle is very small and I have yet to see myself in a situation where 5 of my enemies are all standing in it. I usually get 2 or 3 of them to all be in it. So, I assumed my “logic” might not be GW2’ “logic”.

So, first pulse is activated at the start of the skill, the second one at 2nd second and the third at 4th second?

In many dungeon encounters you will find stacking in a corner to be the popular strategy. In these cases you will find it more common to get 5 mobs into your small circle.