Guild Wars 2

this ability only blocks 3 attacks , deals mediocre damage and only blocks 3 attacks with a 75s cooldown without trait , while there are other utilities that are way better with similar/lower cooldown ,. any toughts on this ability please btw did i say it only blocks 3 attacks?

It’s like the guardian focus skill ‘Shield of Wrath’ except worse in just about every way.

mug, cloak and dagger, backstab
3 attacks. sounds good to me

but thiefs cooldowns are way lower than 75 seconds why cant it be on par with all the other arcane traits like 40-45s cd?

Budg.3064:

It’s like the guardian focus skill ‘Shield of Wrath’ except worse in just about every way.

Well

Shield of Wrath: 45s cd, 756 damage + Blast Finisher, blocks next 3 attacks, 4 seconds
Arcane Shield: 75s cd, 365 damage, blocks next 3 attacks, 5 seconds

The difference is that AS explodes when all 3 attacks are blocked while SoW explodes if there are still charges after the duration. Also, SoW is a weapon skill, while AS is a utility. But more importantly AS is an Elementalist skill while SoW is a Guardian skill, can’t compare two skills of different professions directly

maybe the explosion needs a blast finisher ?:D

You can boost it with Elemental Surge, making it a lot stronger.

On the one hand I think it’s a great utility skill.
On the other I don’t use it.

The only reason I don’t use it is that I am traited to get more benefit from Cantrips (regen and vigor).
For pure save-my kitten survival WvW I would slot Mistform, Lightning Flash, and Arcane Shield. But I use Armor of Earth in place of Arcane Shield because Armor of Earth gives me four boons (regen, vigor, protection, and stability), that combined with the 25 point Water trait Bountiful Power — deal 2% more damage for each boon on you — gives me a lot of survival PLUS an 8% damage boost.

ThiBash.5634:

You can boost it with Elemental Surge, making it a lot stronger.

except that elemental surge doesn’t work on arcane shield ^^’ (it didn’t worked the last time I checked it and didn’t see any fix for it so I assume it still doesn’t work)… and anyway arcane surge is worth a GM trait only in combination with arcane power (that apply the surge effect to the next five attack… sometime…)

it is a good skill , but it lacks something im not sure ,. cd reduction more dmg or longer/more blocking

Comaetilico.3645:

except that elemental surge doesn’t work on arcane shield ^^’ (it didn’t worked the last time I checked it and didn’t see any fix for it so I assume it still doesn’t work)

It does in the Mists, even though it can be hard to test.

… and anyway arcane surge is worth a GM trait only in combination with arcane power (that apply the surge effect to the next five attack… sometime…)

You still have 2 spare slots you can use for Arcane Shield. In fact, if you’re gonna go for an Arcane build then you might as well. However, the main reason that I posted my comment is to have all the variables in before a decision is made. Not to claim that every build should run an AS/ES combo. Quite the opposite in fact.

ThiBash.5634:

Comaetilico.3645:

except that elemental surge doesn’t work on arcane shield ^^’ (it didn’t worked the last time I checked it and didn’t see any fix for it so I assume it still doesn’t work)

It does in the Mists, even though it can be hard to test.

ok I’ll test it again tomorrow (I suppose it proc on the blast after 3 hit are blocked… right?)

ThiBash.5634:

… and anyway arcane surge is worth a GM trait only in combination with arcane power (that apply the surge effect to the next five attack… sometime…)

You still have 2 spare slots you can use for Arcane Shield. In fact, if you’re gonna go for an Arcane build then you might as well. However, the main reason that I posted my comment is to have all the variables in before a decision is made. Not to claim that every build should run an AS/ES combo. Quite the opposite in fact.

no problem it was only a remark to show that arcane surge is worth only if u decide to dedicate more utility slot to it’s use other than AS… lot of player use cantrip rather than arcane (to compensate for ele’s lack of hp/defense) or signet to proc aura (auramancer bunker) so it will probably be a dedicated build… and this is what I don’t see as a right thing… a GM trait sould not be good only in a specific build… it should at lest be usefull with various build/situation… but this is a personal opinion and as nothing to relate with the orginal argument so I’ll drop it here ^^’

after all this… personally I still think that AS is a nice skill… but there are only a few situation where it shine bettere than armor of earth… (in WvW/pvp 1 shot skill are not the standard… exception for backstabber thief that are slowly dieing away as a trend) also if u take a look to trait related to arcane skill they seem to work good with short cd skill like blast and wave… (25% endurance regen or short condition is something that u expect to use with a good frequency) and a 45 second AS will probably take more use out of them