Guild Wars 2

So with warhorn being confirmed, it’s more important than ever that the issue of Scepter’s clunkiness be fixed.

I’m not going to waste time speculating on whether or not warhorn will have amazing skills. What I will say:

1) In PvE, if warhorn is to be viable, D/W or S/W needs to offer more than be on par with Staff.
2) In PvP, this combination needs to offer more than be on par with D/x

Mainhand dagger is in a very good spot.

Scepter, however, is NOT.

-Autoattacks are beyond clunky. They all need reductions in cast time and/or aftercast delay. Ice Shards and Arc Lightning‘s damage is pathetic, especially considering those skills don’t apply any additional effects. Stone Shards seriously needs to have its flight arc reduced, and/or needs a projectile speed increase, as it’s very easy to dodge it with just Swiftness.
-Shatterstone needs to either have its cast time dramatically reduced, or do something while charging up, like pulse an AoE Chill. It’s way too easy to walk out of this skill.
-The weapon in general is trying to do too much. Is it a burst weapon? Is it a condi weapon? Personally, I feel that it can, and should, fill EITHER of these roles, but not both. As in, we should be able to use the Scepter as a burst weapon with Fresh Air/Marauder/Zerker amulet, or a condi weapon with Rabid amulet. D/x already provides us with a very good hybrid/Celestial spec.

Of course, there is the possibility that the warhorn skills, in addition to the datamined Singularities, will singlehandedly overcome Scepter’s weaknesses, but I doubt this will happen.

TL;DR: Make Scepter less clunky pls.

Really need to decide if they want it to be a burst weapon or a condition weapon and then update abilities accordingly.

Scepter is by far better at a ranged burst playstyle, opposed to condi. You do way more than spamming earth autos for bleed stacks. Condi DD is even better because you actually attune to fire in melee to burn. Burn AA on scepter could be adjusted, along with fire 2 for ground targeting. Also the air AA actually does increased damage the longer you channel. I’ve seen a few run bunker scepter as well. But overall, the longer cast times and epic animations is awesome for roleplay xD

Sceptre does feel little clunky but it is a pretty good burst weapon, fa (fresh air) can hit very hard but it is VERY ANNOYING that net said they were going to remove the icd (internal cool down) on fa in the update but it has still not been fixed!!!!! Since we lost bolt to the heart, having no icd on fa like anet said they were going to remove, would definitely help the flow of combat and help make up for little of the lost dmg. PLEASE FIX THIS!!!!!!! REMOVE THE ICD LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD!!!! Thanks

Same list as always:

-Buff all scepter auto-attacks, they are pretty much all horrible (Ice Shards is the least horrible)
- Make Dragon’s Tooth ground-targeted or decrease the casting time and/or the time it takes to drop.
-Make Shatterstone a useful skill. Add something like a chill, an ice field, or simply more damage and/or vuln stacks.

The auto-attacks are the most important IMO. Scepter eles do close to nothing when their cooldowns have been used, and that needs to change. Sure, a burst weapon should not have insane sustained DPS, but right now it is just far too low.

Does scepter need a rework now? Of course..

Will it get such a change… nope.

Scepter is just a weapon that is powered appropriately for the game at-release, not the power inflated mess we have now. This is coming from someone whose favorite weapon is scepter.

Autos all do WAY too little damage, even air if you full-channel. Further, the action of the air auto works counter to the mechanics of SoR – the only viable heal. There is no reason to have such a large wind-up penalty before it starts even doing anything. The “worthless” skills like shatterstone really weight it down, and Dragon’s tooth should really be ground-targeted as its primary value is for getting might on blasting a fire field – not actually hitting an enemy.

Even on fresh-air, scepter just can’t keep up. Fresh air ele used to be approximately on-par with shatter mesmer, with a tradeoff of a little bit of escapability/map control for better ability to handle conditions. With recent changes, mes has way more cleanse, more burst, more range…more everything. Now, I know mesmer is OP and pushing a lot of things out of the meta, but it is worth demonstrating just how obsolete scepter really is.

Scepter was never a good weapon, even at launch. In nearly 3 years of play the only good thing anyone has been able to do with it is melee burst with phoenix and lightning flash. It’s a fake ranged weapon and needs to be fixed.

If they can rework mortar for engineer they can rework scepter.

Coldtart.4785:

Scepter was never a good weapon, even at launch. In nearly 3 years of play the only good thing anyone has been able to do with it is melee burst with phoenix and lightning flash. It’s a fake ranged weapon and needs to be fixed.

Actually, there was a time, before they buffed MH dagger (when LW wasn’t that good, no blast on water 3, no evade on burning speed), pre-RTL nerf that 0/20/0/20/30 valks ele with s/d were better than d/d eles (condis weren’t dominant, but were a thing, and many d/d eles were running aurashare b/c they thought it was good). The pace was much slower then, so that the extra heals meant more, the air-swap burst and phoenix were substantial in teamfights, and the sustain was strong enough to hold almost any 1v1 for a long time. That pretty much died with RtL nerfs along with reductions in evasive arcana heals.

I think that they just need to enhance Air autoattack to do something else, given the crappy damage, and make Dragon’s Tooth a targeted skill, because is utterly annoying to use right now.

Eath auto has targeting issues. I think it would be easy to make the projectiles fly faster and more direct to fix that. I realy like it but i hate those obstructed, out of range when the target is nearly in front of me, or someone speedy evading it by running.
When they hit a bit faster and more reliable it woudl be great.

1) In PvE, if warhorn is to be viable, D/W or S/W needs to offer more than Staff.

Not more, just be on par, with alternative playstyle even. Currently scepter is just tiers below staff in terms of usage in PvE.

drkn.3429:

1) In PvE, if warhorn is to be viable, D/W or S/W needs to offer more than Staff.

Not more, just be on par, with alternative playstyle even. Currently scepter is just tiers below staff in terms of usage in PvE.

This guy gets it. Scepter/Dagger mainhand with Warhorn offhand doesn’t have to be better, just on par with staff.

Makes me sad everyone talking in a pve perspective, I play s/f fresh air regularly, you might call me a 1 trick pony but I like the playstyle… and it wasent too long ago lightning hammer s/f ele had a place in dungeons too

lightning hammer s/f ele had a place in dungeons too

lightning hammer

I run a d/d ele in PvP, sometimes switch for s/d or s/f just to refresh my game, and dabble into staff in premade teams; i still prefer either d/d or staff, even for PvP/WvW.

drkn.3429:

1) In PvE, if warhorn is to be viable, D/W or S/W needs to offer more than Staff.

Not more, just be on par, with alternative playstyle even. Currently scepter is just tiers below staff in terms of usage in PvE.

Agreed! Power creep isn’t what we need, diversity is.

Rock Barrier is Scepter 2 Earth: my rework suggestion: make those 5 stones that make that rock barier targetable with its own hp andthat enemy’s bounces will prioritize it. Make apply rock barrier to your elementals whenever you embrace it on yourself. Ofc w/o hurl for them. Secundo you hurl amount of Stones that remain if enemy destroyed all, you don’t hurl and it goes on cd.

Stone Shards is Scepter 1 Earth: my rework suggestion: make them fly faster and a bit larger.

Shatterstone is Scepter 2 Water: my rework suggestion: make it blow twice: at cast and after 2s // only second blow will apply those 4stack of vulnerability or split them per 2stacks ea, but don’t dare to split dmg ;x //.

Flamestrike is Scepter 1 Fire: my rework suggestion: make it ignore line of sight.

Blinding Flash is Scepter 3 Air: my rework suggestion: blind foe and foes around you in radious 180.

I personaly like Dragon’s Tooth Scepter 2 as it is now, so don’t change it.

If something is worse by even 0,01% it’s branded as suboptimal. And suboptimal means a kick in an instanced activity.

rotten.9753:

If something is worse by even 0,01% it’s branded as suboptimal. And suboptimal means a kick in an instanced activity.

That’s an exaggeration, especially for ele. Pre-specialization patch plenty of people ran F/A d/f builds and they were not as strong as staff or s/x lh builds. But they were close and brought good utility. Now that they have lost somewhere around 30% of their damage while staff got buffed it d/f builds just aren’t close enough to be a realistic choice anymore.
As for buffing scepter I am all for that in every way. I personally think buffing its autos to a point where they aren’t complete trash, but some where around guardian scepter’s auto effectiveness would be ideal for a pvp solution.
For pve i’d just like to see them change conjures into a kit functionality, eliminating the risks that makes them pretty pointless to take in all game modes outside of FB 4 and 5. That would put s/x lh builds into roughly the same spot old d/f builds held, with better dps too.

I really hope scepter will have some rework but please dont make it a condi weapon.
Air 1 dont need a buff for me, because the fact it is already a good skill vs stealthed enemy thank by that it channeling stealthed enemy and with fire sigil can make u see where the enemy are. And, in a fresh air build, buff the air autoattack will make it op and brainless for me. Totally agree for a buff to the other autoattack. Water is close to fine, earth need a speed buff and fire need much work on.
Dragoon thoot for me is fine because is really strong for cleave downed enemies and u can noscope it on u for punish people who want to attack u. It promote smart e skilled gameplay. But yes maybe make it ground targetting can help a lot.
Phoenix, lighing strike and water trident are really good and dont need buff.
Devik dust can have his speed buffed.
Blinding flash can be aoe but it will require the CD incresed and im not sure it will be a good trade.
Rock barrier for me is fine, u can use it to stack burning on enemies.
Shatterstone need a totally rework, it really need to be replaced with something new and usefull. Maybe a knock back or a boon removal.
I really love scepter and always played it over dagger. But idk, i think until it relies on a single trait to be usefull, (and it is the only case in the whole game) daggar main hand will be always more efficent. So sad because i really love scepter more.

I also love scepter over staff and dagger but its weak for condi weapon and for sustained damage. I would just shorten casting time for fire auto to 1s and make earth auto flying faster and more direct so the relaiability (targeting issues) goes up and the attack rate comes close to the 1,5 s casting time.
And a condi weapon would be the missing option for eles. The scepter could be burst and a bit condi in fire, good condi in earth and sutained damage in air. Ah kitten is that direction just the fire/earth autos are too weak :-).

biggest improvement to scepter would be ground targetted dragon’s tooth but with it and shatterstone being delayed hits they’ll still largely be inferior to other weapons.

In regards to scepter auto attacks.

Change air #1 to a three hit channel that starts casting instantly and takes 3/4 seconds finish to casting, the first hit is weakest and the last is strongest. I feel like scepter needs better synergy with the healing signet and this change would help. Rework dmg accordingly.

Rework fire #1 auto attack. Allow this to be cast in 360 degrees.

Rework earth #1 into a 1/2 cast timer, rework dps and dmg accordingly. Like I said earlier this is in regards to the healing signet.

Three out four of the scepter #2 skills are extremely lack luster. Here is what I believe needs to happen to them.

Fire #2 becomes a ground target skill. The cast time is instant, the dragon tooth it self takes 1 second to land.

Water #2 becomes an instant skill. Revamp this ability to provide an ice wall like telegraph on the floor which is summoned directly infront of the user upon casting. Opponents who walk accross this suffer from a reoccuring chill until they leave the wall, which should have a realatively wide length but short width.

Earth #2 cast time becomes instant and instead of providing toughness, blocks 10% of incoming physical damage. When the secondary is used it drops the defensive effect and fires at the opponent like is does now but also applies a short cripple duration on each hit.

Now theres a good weapon, all hail the balance god.

If attunement camping and PBAoE are the focus of the tempest, like some have suggested. Scepter is in bad shape. I just hope this is only one trait and not the new mechanic.

Scepter’s niche was always been fast attunement swapping. Either for FA or blasting fire fields. Not because FA or blasting fields is OP, but because the AA hits like a wet noodle. My guess would be not to hold your breath. The best we could hope for would be a different synergy with Scepter than with Dagger. Otherwise D/WH will be the only choice.

Adding a bit more utilitly to say water for scepter i think is needed but the other 3 seem to fill the roll well. Water 1 needs to be more water 2 needs to have a bigger hit or some type of hard/soft cc water 3 needs to have a build in remove condition. All or air hits hard and has a nice blind to boot fire has realty good burn and 2 blast all be it one harder to hit then the other earth has soso bleeds (i guess that needs a buff) a realty good armor up effect and a soso aoe blind (bigger aoe would be nice).

I have a feeling scepter/warhorn is going to be a good mid to long ranges caster build once the specialization comes out and the older builds s/d the all in dmg and s/f the def caster should still work.

Even anet devs on tenton interview forgot about scepter as ele weapon. LOL

TheFamster.7806:

Even anet devs on tenton interview forgot about scepter as ele weapon. LOL

So sad

Why even have a Scepter as a weapon if they’re not going to bother to even try and support it?

I really like how even Anets like, yeah we made the warhorn for the dagger in the TTH interview.

Xae Isareth.1364:

I really like how even Anets like, yeah we made the warhorn for the dagger in the TTH interview.

Well let’s be honest here, Scepter/Warhorn would be potentially amazing for WvW if scepter was reworked. But, that doesn’t mean that Dagger/Warhorn cannot be epic in PvP or roaming.

If horn is as control focused as was suggested in that interview, then scepter/horn has potential. But that potential won’t be realised with scepter sucking as hard as it currently does.

It’s ironic because when warhorn was datamined (instead of sword) some people were relieved they won’t have to play close range spec because it’s no longer a sword wielding character.

My ideal scepter rework (I used some of other’s thougths because they have some pretty good points)

Fire:
-Flamestrike – Decrease casting time to 1s, make it available while retreating
-Dragon’s Tooth – Make it ground targeted, decrease landing time to 3/4s, decrease casting time to 1/2 sec
-Phoenix – It’s OK
Water:
-Ice shards – Each hit heals you a bit
-Shatterstone – Make it ice field while creating, incerase vulnerability to 5 stacks, deals damage with each pulse while creating, incerase final damage, incerase cd to 3 sec
-Water trident – incerase radius to 240
Air:
-Arc Lightning – Incerase base damage
-Lightning strike – It’s OK
-Blinding flash – Make it affecting target + 2 nearby foes
Earth:
-Stone Shards – Decrease casting time to 1 sec
-Rock Barrier – Instead of incerasing toughness, reduce all incoming dmg by 10% (this is a good idea)
-Hurl – Each strike now inflict cripple
-Dust Devil – It’s OK

Avador.8934:

-Arc Lightning – Incerase base damage

decrease channeltime instead and remove the rampup on the first two phases of the skill.

Scepter clearly need a rework, but with this (imo kittenED) singularity mechanics, forcing you to use a lot of AA, dagger need helps too …..

I switched to a Fresh Air build(PvE) recently. I’ve been having so much fun, I cant believe I didn’t switch sooner. Burst, burst, and more burst.

But I have concerns. Is Scepter being pigeon holed in FA? Might stacking isn’t as important as it once was(see phalanx). Will Warhorn be of any value to Scepter? And will it even be worth speccing into Tempest for the overload? You’ll lose some good damage modifiers if we do. As far as the Scepter itself, i would only improve the AA of Fire and Air. The rest are good skills and rewarding when properly played.

Flame Strike: Too slow. Break it into three quick projectiles. More procs and places it in line with the other Scepter AAs.

Arc Lightning: Remove pierces targets in a line. Make it arc to two nearby foes. Reduce full cast time to 3 seconds instead of 4. We could use more reliable cleave on our “damage” AA. Reduced cast time would also help it from carrying it over when you swap, so you might actually have to use a skill in another attunement to get back to Air.

I play S/F (gave up staff, it did´t fit my playstyle …). The earth auto also need improvemet in flight speed and arc to hit a bit faster and more reliable.
I realy like the range. I don´t need to jump into close combat and i like my blinding control with blinding ashes, blind and dust devil. I usually don´t use water exept in teamfights when giving support fire.

just a PSA: Air auto DOES NOT gain damage over time, that’s just the weird channeled ability UI.

I knew it, no scepter rework. Looks like they even don’t know that ele scepter exists

Yah. Scepter needs more love. Or at least dont make it air in this storm.

I use it as it is right now but skills like fire auto, dragon tooth and arc lightning have to get some improvement for it to shine.

Why oh why, do people dislike the scepter. It’s such a good weapon I don’t understand all the hate it’s receiving.

Supertramp.5430:

Why oh why, do people dislike the scepter. It’s such a good weapon I don’t understand all the hate it’s receiving.

It’s mainly the extremely subpar dps on the auto-attacks, even though the scepter’s burst is very strong. If you fail to kill your target with your burst (very common against veteran or higher mobs) or have your burst on cooldown, suddenly your damage slows down to a crawl.

Just a quick, imperfect comparison, all done with Berserker amulets and Hoelbrak Runes on a heavy target golem (22000 health) in Heart of the Mists. I used only the strongest auto-attack of every weapon, no other skills, and compared the time it took to kill the golem:

Ice Shards (scepter water AA) kills after approx. 32 seconds.
Lightning Whip (dagger air AA) kills after approx. 15 seconds.
Fireball (staff fire AA) kills after approx. 23 seconds.

Ice Shards is about twice as weak as Lightning Whip, while the latter has only 300 less range (600 vs. 900). Even worse, Ice Shards deals about 25% less damage than Fireball, while Fireball has 1200 range and is AoE.

TL:DR version: the auto-attacks of the scepter are not just kinda bad. They’re really, REALLY bad.

Supertramp.5430:

Why oh why, do people dislike the scepter. It’s such a good weapon I don’t understand all the hate it’s receiving.

I LOVE the scepter, and i like it so much more of dagger or staff. And i always play SD or SF in pvp. But to be honest, scepter as is it now lack a lot of things. If u fail Phoenix burst you will doing a really low damage with all the others skills…. If the scepter is good, why we all need to take fresh air trait to make it semi viable?
Its sadly that scepter is the only weapon in game that relies on a trait…

Just want to remember this topic