[video] Playing around with Blinding Ashes

[video] Playing around with Blinding Ashes

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Hello everyone,

I’ve been messing around with Blinding Ashes lately and I like it a lot more than what I used to run with my hybrid condi build (Diamond Skin). I can still kill classes at the same speed, if not then quicker with the exception of Necromancers; they’re a pain my butt.

The video that I’ve linked below is just me roaming around with the trait activated, but doesn’t show all the classes in-game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTcMVVzsy10

I think I missed out Engineer/Necromancer/Elementalist and maybe a competent Ranger (haven’t faced a good one yet). Fear not, those classes are still killable with BA!

Updated build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fFUQJAodhcMac2zwwBf0ACAGxsQSIcAIBUEL+FGDA-TlyEABppWhI6BoRVAyURgKlKTqCyVKrKQJ4w7PAgJISBAxuK-w

Broski

(edited by Dahir.4158)

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Posted by: Gokil.2543

Gokil.2543

Neat video man! Interesting build as well, you’re pumping out some impressive hybrid damage.

Why the arcane shield though? I’d figure glyph of elemental power would be way better no? CD on shield is insane.

[Walk] Elemelentalist
Youtube

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

I used to use GoEP, but it wasn’t really all that for me. I guess it’s just down to personal preference. I like to keep a survivability skill like Arcane Shield on hand so that when things go south I have something to keep me going for a little bit. The cooldown is not too bad, 60 seconds with Arcane Mastery. Take into consideration Cleansing Fire and Signet of Air have about 30-40 second cooldowns so it isn’t that bad; you just need to time when you to use them all.

Broski

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Posted by: Gorni.1764

Gorni.1764

Hmm, I don’t really see how it’s blinding ashes that won you the fights. I think you’d have just as easily won without the trait. Especially in the last few fights you blinded them like one or max. two times in total?

Rachat – Elementalist (Abbadon’s Mouth)

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Posted by: Yamsandjams.3267

Yamsandjams.3267

Hmm, I don’t really see how it’s blinding ashes that won you the fights. I think you’d have just as easily won without the trait. Especially in the last few fights you blinded them like one or max. two times in total?

It’s a much better trait for sustained skirmishing or dueling since it means your target is likely to miss more abilities on the whole. If the fight is over quickly, it won’t amount to much (meaning opting for more damage may be preferable), and its effect is severely reduced in multi-person encounters due to the internal cooldown (also against minions or clones).

There is an element of skill to it in that you can burn your target if you can read their incoming attacks (i.e. using it on a thief to prevent a CnD), but I think most people just use it as an extra side-benefit to what their burning is doing already.

However, if it even causes one key ability to miss (i.e. pin down, signet of spite, cloak and dagger), then it may actually contribute pretty significantly to a victory. It also allows you to access blinds out of air and earth attunement, meaning you don’t have to swap attunements if you want to blind someone.

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Posted by: ArcticPanzerWolf.7692

ArcticPanzerWolf.7692

I’ve been digging Blinding Ashes. I’m running a 6/2/0/0/6 staff build with Blinding Ashes, Burning Fire, Burning Precision and Elemental Surge with all Arcane Utilities and Arcane Mastery. The Burn/Blind up time is excellent, especially given the passive Burn application from Burning+Arcane Precision, Flame Barrier and Burning Fire. I love the synergy with Elemental Surge, giving me access to two AOE Burn/Blinds on 24 and 20 second cool downs and a single target Burn/Blind on a 16 second cool down.

(edited by ArcticPanzerWolf.7692)

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Hmm, I don’t really see how it’s blinding ashes that won you the fights. I think you’d have just as easily won without the trait. Especially in the last few fights you blinded them like one or max. two times in total?

About the last few fights, I remember looking at my traits to see if I had the right ones on and I noticed I missed out Burning Precision (not sure about name, Fire V).

That would be my reason for probably not blinding as much as I should have been since I couldn’t burn on critical hits (outside of Fire Attunement too).

Broski

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Posted by: phaeris.7604

phaeris.7604

I tried it Broski. I honestly think diamond skin is more useful/fight winning.

I won a fight vs two engineers this weekend, they were both condi builds. They both dropped air supplies on me and I still came out on top. I just don’t think I could have done a 2v1 with blinding ashes spec.

Also necros…diamond skin is like a guaranteed win.

But nice to try new things, specs become stale I agree.

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Posted by: Dub.1273

Dub.1273

Step in lava and blind yourself.

Dub | [rT]
#LoveArrows2013, never forget.

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

I tried it Broski. I honestly think diamond skin is more useful/fight winning.

I won a fight vs two engineers this weekend, they were both condi builds. They both dropped air supplies on me and I still came out on top. I just don’t think I could have done a 2v1 with blinding ashes spec.

Also necros…diamond skin is like a guaranteed win.

But nice to try new things, specs become stale I agree.

I wont argue about DS benefiting you more, but BA has its perks. Which build did you win the 2v1 with? On the first day of testing this build I had a duel with 2 engineers 2v1 as well, and I won easily. The condi clear you get from Earth #4, Cleansing Fire utility and trait is a lot. Sometimes the trait is a bit buggy, it clears one condition on you rather than three.

Without a doubt DS against Necromancers. With BA it is really hard to beat a good one, I’ve tried and failed. Against any other class it’s fine!

Broski

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Posted by: Lynnie.7213

Lynnie.7213

Being testing condi builds variations for past weeks, incluiding yours Broski. And seems Blinding ashes build has the best damage output, because of +30% condi duration boost, while diamond skin is not much useful unless its a 1v1. Because in solo roam you rarely finds 1v1, usually 1v2~3 and with at least 1 player being power based he can get 2~3k down out of your hp and there it goes our diamond skin.

For now, blinding ashes is giving me better results.

D O N E E
Necromancer – Ranger WvW/Spvp/Pve/Build/Guide videos:
http://www.youtube.com/donee

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Posted by: scerevisiae.1972

scerevisiae.1972

I’ve been digging Blinding Ashes. I’m running a 6/2/0/0/6 staff build with Blinding Ashes, Burning Fire, Burning Precision and Elemental Surge with all Arcane Utilities and Arcane Mastery. The Burn/Blind up time is excellent, especially given the passive Burn application from Burning+Arcane Precision, Flame Barrier and Burning Fire. I love the synergy with Elemental Surge, giving me access to two AOE Burn/Blinds on 24 and 20 second cool downs and a single target Burn/Blind on a 16 second cool down.

The blind is on a 10sec global cooldown – you don’t get AOE blinding, even with skills that apply AOE burning. And that is the real problem with the trait – that the blind is not deterministic, it is applied randomly for AOE source of burning.

If blind was applied on all applications of burning (ie: a per-target CD or per-cast CD instead of global CD), then BA would be a good trait.

As a single target blind on a global 10sec CD IMO it is rather crap – eg: guardian has an trait that applies AOE blind on virtue of justice that refreshes on every kill and it’s at the adept level.

→ BA needs a buff.

downed state is bad for PVP

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Posted by: phaeris.7604

phaeris.7604

I beat them with your d/d 0,0,6,4,4 build.

Maybe it was the same 2 engis i fought as they were running round that right side SM together alot.

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Nah, they were from Jade Sea and I fought them while I was on holiday on Gandara xD

Broski

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Posted by: phaeris.7604

phaeris.7604

So that’s what happened. My roaming buddy said you’d ABANDONED Deso, so i assume it was more of a temporary thing.

Anyway, does the extra condi duration make up for the loss in the condi stat total, it’s like a 400 drop.

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

I would never abandon Desolation! I was just there to troll Rox haha.
I don’t really feel any diferrence tbh. I’m so used to the blinds I’m dishing out that the conditions do all the work for me while it’s at 70% duration.

Broski

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Posted by: phaeris.7604

phaeris.7604

Use the toxic focusing crystal, gives you an extra 10 percent duration for a sweet 80 percent duration bonus.

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Posted by: Nimrod.9240

Nimrod.9240

Oh nice, so im not the only one running a BA build. Playing around with S/D lately:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJArYhMMac25wwBf0AEAGpqQ4AQBIIWeN8FKDA

Controlled blinds through BA in fire (1,2, and 4) and cleansing fire, with earth 3, air 2 and evasive arcana in air. And FGS calldown and FGS skill 2 if you want to count that.

Sadly, uncontrolled blinds with the flame barrier and arcane precision traits, but its still somewhat ok. Flame barrier is only while attuned to fire and arcane precision has a 10% proc chance.
Renewing stamina and phoenix gives vigor regen for evades while you have no blind aviable.
Utility options:
- mist form if you need another stunbreak
- air sigil -> stun break, passive movemant speed and another blind!

Observations so far:
- bad vs numbers
- the typical D/D build is still better
- takes some skill, as you need to know the hard hitting attacks of the class your up against to blind/evade them
- you need to manage your blinds on top of your “normal” skill/attunement cooldowns
- the best: seeing enemys who thought an easy kill ele going wtf where do all the blinds come from

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Use the toxic focusing crystal, gives you an extra 10 percent duration for a sweet 80 percent duration bonus.

Condition damage is already low but I’ll try. I’ll drop to 884, is that enough? The amount of might that I get in fights goes up to 7 stacks… maybe a little more.

Broski

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Posted by: phaeris.7604

phaeris.7604

IT’s a tough one to judge, the extra tick or two would probably make up for the slight reduction on condi damage.

Also remember master tuning crystal gets worse the lower your toughness, and dropping those points in earth brings that down.

I should probably run some actual tests on duration vs damage of those crystals.

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Lol, I now have 90% condi duration, wtf. My dmg stays at 850-950 depending on WvW buffs so I’m good. My Torment sigil stacks now (rofl) I was able to get 2 stacks yesterday night so easily when fighting.

Condition duration OP

Broski

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

I have 100% condi duration. what the f#ck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wryZMwD7fqc

Broski

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

This used to be a build I tried out for fun; it wasn’t even my main build, but now it is and it’s pretty much the strongest one I have.

Blinding Ashes with 100% condition duration. Even though some players run around with -36 or -40% food I’m able to stack some conditions together and they do last for a really long time. My armor is a bit low (2300ish), but the blinds every 5 seconds from burn can account for that. If I’m facing a melee heavy class I’d just switch my first utility (Cleansing Fire) to Signet of Earth for more toughness. Whilst doing that I can change the necessary traits to fight with the changed utilities.

Example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OTVfOM4DLY
Roaming/dueling with this build of mine enjoy.

Broski

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Posted by: scerevisiae.1972

scerevisiae.1972

but the blinds every 5 seconds from burn

blind CD is 10sec, not 5.

That and when you factor in the randomness of the application, it’s not a good trait (except perhaps for 1v1 custom arenas).

downed state is bad for PVP

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Blinding_Ashes

Whoever told you it was 10 seconds was lying. I wouldn’t use it if it was 10 secs, that’d be a waste time.

Broski

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Posted by: scerevisiae.1972

scerevisiae.1972

i stand corrected.

i still dislike it cause of how random the blind application is when using AOE burns. Would rather it did an AOE blind and had a longer CD so it could be useful outside of 1v1s.

downed state is bad for PVP

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Posted by: Graendall.4765

Graendall.4765

Love how you place your firefields.Good video you truly show that you know what you are doing with your CDs unlike other youtube heroes.

Zancrow The Red-Elementalist of [ObV]Oblivion-Hardcore WvW guild
http://oblivion-guild.shivtr.com/
Server-Piken Square

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Love how you place your firefields.Good video you truly show that you know what you are doing with your CDs unlike other youtube heroes.

Haha thanks for that man

I uploaded a new video just now, thought I’d post here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAzB3vgsd10

Broski

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Posted by: Swimsasa Stoon.8936

Swimsasa Stoon.8936

I’m using blinding ashes D/F 62006 build with celestial amulet and runes of the Wurm. It gives decent hybrid damage and lots of damage mitigation. Problem is that there’s so much stuff you can do and choose to do that I just get plain confused as to what I should do :p. It also works with Staff but dueling with Staff is a whole lot harder to do.

I do like the combination of constantly applying blinds and the focus inherent defensive features.

(edited by Swimsasa Stoon.8936)

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

@Swimsasa, I might try this in pvp. Not really a fan of it but if there’s nothing to do I guess I could give it a go.

Using staff for the lols
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5qugdFSuso

Broski

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Posted by: Swimsasa Stoon.8936

Swimsasa Stoon.8936

I quite enjoy the music you’ve got on your vid

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Posted by: trooper.2650

trooper.2650

@Swimsasa, I might try this in pvp. Not really a fan of it but if there’s nothing to do I guess I could give it a go.

Using staff for the lols
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5qugdFSuso

I love this. What’s the build please?

(edited by trooper.2650)

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Posted by: Dahir.4158

Dahir.4158

Cheers Swimsasa!

@trooper, same build only with staff. Build is in opening post.

Broski

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Posted by: Rocketmist.5436

Rocketmist.5436

Pretty interesting video. You do a lot of ranger stomping lawl, death to rangers!!! I’m always sceptical of not running ether renewal but it seems like you have a decent amount of condi removal, basically 2 traits and 1 utility with magnetic wave also.

One of the draw backs I see if you don’t have 100% uptime on swiftness or a passive 25% speed boost, which will make it annoying to get around by yourself.

Another is your dedicating a trait to reduce 1 utility skill from 75 seconds to 60 seconds and thats all it does. To me 75s and 60s is a once a fight kinda ordeal anyways probably not worth it, i’d probably rethink this. I understand your needa get to EA ofc but def seems like its missing some trait synergy.

I also personally tested burning fire in wvw a bit and decided I didn’t like it. It is condi removal you don’t have control over and that’s the worst kind of condi removal, it does on the other hand work alright to overcome the 1st steal from a condi thief with the 5s confusion gm trait, and its also not really a reliable source of burn either considering its pbaoe and a lot of condi classes are ranged.

These are minor critiques, I really like how you built in 100% condi duration into the build and got some fury + burning precision to get full 2s burns on, that is the kinda synergy I like seeing. Overall fun build to see.

[TL] Guild Leader, Sea of Sorrows, SoS Council

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Posted by: Swimsasa Stoon.8936

Swimsasa Stoon.8936

I’ve tried out several builds out with blinding ashes and I’d say it can be very very effective but its still quite taxing to play.

here’s what I ran: (went back to my standard build since its not as taxing to play)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fFAQJAodhcMac2zwwBf0AGAW4EQAoHO6GU+MsFCDA-TJxHwADOBAe2fAwDAQZZAA

Also ran it with D/D for a while and it really shines in 2vx fights. The zerker amulet really helps and since you have such low hp anyways healing back up to 100% is quite easy to do.