Guild Wars 2

I only made one other post about Dragon hunter and that was on the first day so I wanted to make a more consolidated final post as some of my opinions have changed.

Priority system
A = Required change/Full Rework
B = Recommended change
C = Ok even without change/needs bug fix/needs clarification
D = Change based on testing if overpowered

Virtues
1. Spear of Justice: Slightly underwhelming unless traited but I assume it isn’t meant to do much in the first place. Needs to work correctly with wrath of justice and blind needs to be applied on spear if traited with Justice is Blind. – C

2. Wings of Resolve: Good damage when traited. Overall I would like a range increase to 900 range (could be incorporated into a trait). On further use the healing and condi removal from wings of resolve needs to be applied at the start of the leap as currently it is possible to die mid air and get no healing or damage. – B

3. Shield of Courage: Awkwardly worded. It seems to only block ranged attacks or attacks that were initiated out of range like Warrior Rush or Whirlwind attack. Needs to block all ranged attacks in 360 degrees OR properly block melee and ranged attacks as well as close range channels. I was eating drake’s breath all day. Currently this feels like a false sense of protection.- B

Longbow
1. The auto attack speed is too slow and is still strafe-able just like scepter was. – A

2. Deflecting Shot and Symbol of Energy need functionality so we can shoot it from behind, none of the warrior ground targeted skills on longbow are limited by this. – A

3. Deflecting Shot is interesting but feels gimmicky. The idea behind the skill is nice but in practice rarely does anything get deflected due to the mobile nature of guild wars 2 combat. I use it more for the blind but even that feels unrewarding. Needs a bigger deflect radius or something :/ . -B

4. I would like to see if Hunter’s Ward could have more damage over the duration and less backloaded with the end effect. Suggestion: Add a trait that allows us to gain some armor or protection during this long cast. Ranger longbow does not have an incentive to use it for the full duration so many rangers stop after about a second. We, however, want to get the full cast off (since of the effect and long cooldown) but we cannot use the new virtues during it nor do we have any tankiness if used in medi guard. (Rangers have signet of stone, entangle and stealth to help set up) -B

BUG It appears sometimes Hunter’s Ward does not deal the damage over the duration. It only applies the end damage and effect.

Utilities
1. Purification: Decent Heal but again hopelessly outmatched by shelter. If there was a more useful trap trait like “When traps trigger you gain fury and protection” or something it might see play. I dunno. -C

2. Fragments of Faith: Solid skill. The aegis pieces are very useful in 1v1s. Cooldown is slightly too long. I do not intend to use it either way but maybe it can fit into some builds. -C

3. Test of Faith: After more testing this is still incredibly weak in 1v1 scenarios and mediocre in team fights. Although the damage is nice the ability to proc the damage multiple times is very low. -B

4. Procession of Blades: VERY weak, the damage on it is quite low, it is not a whirl finisher, and its not even good enough if you just wanted it to proc your Justice passive. -B

5. Light’s Judgement: Bad in PvP but I can’t really recommend a change because I can see how this might be good in PvE. 20 Vunerability with multiple guardians might be good. -C

6. Dragon’s Maw: Good elite. Deals good damage and great on downed bodies to make sure teammates do not rez. Would still like some pulsing damage. -D

Traits
1.Piercing Light: Awful, condi traps are not a thing. Bleed is also the weakest condition applicable and is only used as a cover condition via geomancy. Even in condi guard, you would be sacrificing a 3 stack burn skill or condi removal in order to run this and traps are far less reliable than the other utilities. Needs entire rework. -A

2. Zealous Aggression: Damage modifier can be increased as it is conditional on cripple and the cripple on auto is already conditional. Also if the justification is that there are two other traits that facilitate the cripple effect then you realize you are forcing guardians to take a certain set of traits just to make this one work. -B

3. Soaring Devastation: Fine as is. -C

4. Hunter’s Determination: No strong opinion because I never even used it the entire time. The idea behind it is awkward because while almost perma stability is nice, but it is conditional and only really needed during stomps. This does not even really synergize with stomping because longbow is ranged so you would have to walk up, use true shot, and then stomp. In that amount of time it would have been better to just cleave the body out. -C
UPDATE: after some testing this trait is fine might even be too strong.

5. Bulwark: Not bad but underwhelming. -C

6. Dulled Senses: This is the trait that is part of the pigeonhole effect. This needs to be good on its own and it is not. If you are just using longbow it has no inherent knockback so wtf is the point? You guys merged all the medi traits into 1 since everyone needed to take them in order to be viable at dps and yet here you are doing the same thing all over again. This trait relies on Heavy Light and that is not a good thing. For the record the combo with Heavy Light is good but a combo shouldn’t be necessary for this to be a good trait. -A

7.Hunter’s Fortification: Haven’t used it but seems useful in non-longbow dragon hunter builds. Extra access to protection in melee dragon hunters seems pretty good. -C

8. Heavy Light: Good on its own, highly dislike the fact two other traits rely on you taking this. Would prefer slightly increased knockback range, it feels more like a short daze then a knockback currently. -D

9. Big Game Hunter: No strong opinions, seems fine. -C

Overall Feel
Dragonhunter is fun to play. The longbow is strong sustained damage and will probably see play. The utilities all seem weak outside the elite. Some traits need reworking or else they will never be used. Current iteration 7-8/10

Great feedback! I agree with everything you have written, in particular:

Deflecting Shot is interesting but feels gimmicky.

I like what they were trying to do with this skill but it doesn’t work with GW2 combat, i completely agree with you. We have access to blinds in far better ways already. I would like to see this skill redesigned.

I agree with what you said about Traits too, for me Dragon Hunter traits are the biggest problem with this elite spec currently.
I completely agree with what you said about ‘Heavy Light’, ‘Dulled Senses’ and ’Zealot’s Aggression’, i think they should be combined into one grandmaster trait.

You guys merged all the medi traits into 1 since everyone needed to take them in order to be viable at dps and yet here you are doing the same thing all over again.

Exactly! I remember watching the livestream when DH was announced thinking exactly what you just wrote!

What do you think about the minor traits ’Defender’s Dogma’ and ‘Pure of Sight’?

I think ‘Defen. Dog.’ is in the wrong trait line, feels like it belongs in Valor traitline.
I am not a fan of ‘Pure Sight’ either, even with LongBow guardians are largely going to be in melee, weapon swaping once the enemy is close. Plus isn’t this trait a copy paste from Rangers?

6. Dulled Senses: This is the trait that is part of the pigeonhole effect. This needs to be good on its own and it is not. If you are just using longbow it has no inherent knockback so wtf is the point? You guys merged all the medi traits into 1 since everyone needed to take them in order to be viable at dps and yet here you are doing the same thing all over again. This trait relies on Heavy Light and that is not a good thing. -A

This trait works with wards too. (staff #5, hammer #5, longbow #5 and sanctuary)

This is a repost i made in another thread. These are my tought se

LB- could use some improvement.
1- auto atack is to slow.
2- skills 2 and 3 dont respect autoatack range.
3- skill 2 shouldnt root you.
4- you should be able to atack behind you with every skill.
TRAPS- not so bad.
1- cast time is to long, if cast time stays the same then make them ground targeted.
2- there should be condi removal and stun breaker built in traps.
3- heal trap is kinda lackluster considering the risk, initial heal should be higher.
4- lights judgement should have a knock down, only 10 invul is not enough.
5- other traps are generaly fine, fragments of faith is my favorite cause it has great synergy with shattered aegis and brings support.
VIRTUES- they absolutely need to be instant.
1- i like the general idea and i think they bring very interesting gameplay but they seriously need some improvements.
1- by not being instant their synergy with virtue line is terrible.
2- spear of justice is awesome in concept but it needs to either deal more dmg or create an imobilize at the end, i often find myself wanting to repress F1 whenever i see the chains going, it would be awesome if it had another effect by repressing F1 but increasing its cd if u use it. (I know of many friends who feel this way).
In order to make this skill instant it should apply a 2 sec window in which every thing you hit gets tethered and limit the max amount of tethered targets to 3 or 5. And increase range to 1200 so it works with LB.
3- spear of justice is not giving might when activating it. Blind, might and retal effects should be applied instantly upon activation.
4- wings of resolve are also a good idea but the leap is to short, it should be 900 range at least and due to the active gameplay it offers it should have a lower cd.
5- wings of resolve effects (condi cleanse, regen, retal and heal) should be instant upon activation and give a 5 sec window to use the leap if you want to.
6- shield of courage is nice but as the other virtues, basic effects including aegis, protection, stability, retal and stunbreak should be instant.
7- it would be awsome if there was a trait to cause shield of courage to deal knock back on activation to synergize with the trait That cripples.
8- shield of courage cd should be lowered.
TRAITS- some of them should be more generalized to work a long with other specs and builds including full melee.
1- piercing light needs some added effect like reducing trap cd or make them remove condis.
2- defenders dogma is lackluster.
3- Bulwark should apply knockback.
4- pure of sight needs to go as it does nothing at all if you are going melee, it should be a 25% movement increase trait.
5- hunters fortification would work so much better with instant virtues and it should give 1 added bonus besides protection or make it last 1 sec longer.
6- heavy light should bring bow 20% cd reduction and a bigger knockback
7- big game hunter is the best trait this line has, i really like it.
That is mainly what i think really needs to be changed but overall i belive DH could have a los of potential if our basic requirements are met. Cheers!!

Arnath.2319:

Great feedback! I agree with everything you have written, in particular:

Deflecting Shot is interesting but feels gimmicky.

I like what they were trying to do with this skill but it doesn’t work with GW2 combat, i completely agree with you. We have access to blinds in far better ways already. I would like to see this skill redesigned.

I agree with what you said about Traits too, for me Dragon Hunter traits are the biggest problem with this elite spec currently.
I completely agree with what you said about ‘Heavy Light’, ‘Dulled Senses’ and ’Zealot’s Aggression’, i think they should be combined into one grandmaster trait.

You guys merged all the medi traits into 1 since everyone needed to take them in order to be viable at dps and yet here you are doing the same thing all over again.

Exactly! I remember watching the livestream when DH was announced thinking exactly what you just wrote!

What do you think about the minor traits ’Defender’s Dogma’ and ‘Pure of Sight’?

I think ‘Defen. Dog.’ is in the wrong trait line, feels like it belongs in Valor traitline.
I am not a fan of ‘Pure Sight’ either, even with LongBow guardians are largely going to be in melee, weapon swaping once the enemy is close. Plus isn’t this trait a copy paste from Rangers?

Thanks I’m glad you took the time to read it! Defender’s Dogma is lackluster only because it interacts with one virtues. If some kind of bonus effect was applied to all virtues when you blocked something (small heal from resolve if you block, aegis cooldown gets reduced if you block from courage) it would be better.

I do not have much of an issue with Pure of Sight. The range thing is just kind of catered to longbow which is the point of the spec. If anything I would appreciate if we got a visible buff on our bar to let us know when this trait would be active.

guildabd.6529:

This trait works with wards too. (staff #5, hammer #5, longbow #5 and sanctuary)

I didn’t realize that. If the cripple effect is strong enough then perhaps hammer guard got some of the stickiness it needed. Nonetheless most of the trait line is geared toward longbow and it really feels like they just expected people to take the three traits in Dragonhunter to facilitate the whole cripple damage thing.

I personally would have a tough time taking sanctuary or staff with dragonhunter and then taking this trait as the Dragon hunter virtues are not conducive to a tanky melee playstyle that those weapons/utilities usually support. As for longbow #5, it is harder to land the end effect in PvP and taking the shield duration increase is more reasonable for consistency.

guildabd.6529:

6. Dulled Senses: This is the trait that is part of the pigeonhole effect. This needs to be good on its own and it is not. If you are just using longbow it has no inherent knockback so wtf is the point? You guys merged all the medi traits into 1 since everyone needed to take them in order to be viable at dps and yet here you are doing the same thing all over again. This trait relies on Heavy Light and that is not a good thing. -A

This trait works with wards too. (staff #5, hammer #5, longbow #5 and sanctuary)

I just want to add that it doesn’t work with the down state #2. In fact, a lot of F1 abilities doesn’t work well in the downed state either… not sure if it’s a glitch or what.

Heavy Light needs replaced/reworked. It seems fine for the DH, but it’s terrible for the health of PvP because it’s an unpredictable CC. You never know if the arrow will knock you back.

Tie it to another skill like #2 and make it 100%.

Very good feedback. Just to pick out one piece of it to underscore, after playing with DH this weekend I found myself becoming highly annoyed by the cast times on the virtues. It made my whole cadence of combat feel clunky. I agree with everyone who has posted that the DH virtues really need to be instant.

My biggest concern with DH is the longbow’s auto attack. The reason why I looked forward to LB was because of how bad scepter is as a ranged weapon. Enemies literally shimmy in place to nullify the weapon. If LB has the same problem, then there’s not much point to going DH.

One question: did u ever try the full trap guardian in PVP?

Dragons maw is very strong for attacks on capture points in combination with the other traps the enemy is easely stuned and drawn right in the middle of the traps so he is unable to defend himself against multiple trap damage that also proc burning multiple times if right equipped. best in combination with different signs.

Orion Templar.4589:

Very good feedback. Just to pick out one piece of it to underscore, after playing with DH this weekend I found myself becoming highly annoyed by the cast times on the virtues. It made my whole cadence of combat feel clunky. I agree with everyone who has posted that the DH virtues really need to be instant.

DH is supposed to feel different from your base Guardian. You guys just need to get used to that in order to play effectively.

>Piercing Light: Awful, condi traps are not a thing. Bleed is also the weakest condition applicable and is only used as a cover condition via geomancy. Even in condi guard, you would be sacrificing a 3 stack burn skill or condi removal in order to run this and traps are far less reliable than the other utilities. Needs entire rework. -A

Procession of Blades is a 3-stack burn skill with Supreme Justice, while also doing significant damage and applying up to 10 stacks of bleed. Can’t say I love all of the traps, but this one works for me.

Defenders Dogma works well with mace #3, shattered aegis, VoC and shelter+Symbols and adept zeal scepter trait. That is quite some synergy but none of them are tied to a meta build which makes it a niche trait that you have to take. However it does not hurt. Basically this trait causes you first attack after being engaged to burn which is important to take advantage of damage and precision modifiers.

all These effects are not flashy but that does not make the Minor trait lackluster.

You are Spot on for the Rest. We Need some tweaking.

There are huge synergy issues with the cast times of Dragonhunter Virtues and regular traited Virtues with effects that need to instantly happen on cast.

For example Blind on F1, using it to quickly react to an incoming attack and Blind it, or to secure a stomp, both are impossible with the casting version of F1.

F2 and its condition removal is ruined by the cast time; got caught in an immobilize and some condi damage? You used to be able to instantly cleanse and keep going, now you need to ground target, cast and wait for the leap, then cleanse. This is terrible when you are stuck in immobilize, instead of the synergy of cleansing and leaping away for a heal we jump on the spot and then attempt to cleanse, but most likely just get cleaved down while trapped.
Plus it’s not even a leap finisher! For its long cool-down it should drop a water field.

F3 and its Stability, the stun-break works instantly at least but the Stability and Protection are not instant, again this has huge issues when securing stomps and trying not to waste precious Stability stacks or quickly reacting to CC.

Plus all the cast times mean you can’t use the Virtues while channeling any attack or Renewed Focus.

Hoshinohi.1896:

One question: did u ever try the full trap guardian in PVP?

Dragons maw is very strong for attacks on capture points in combination with the other traps the enemy is easely stuned and drawn right in the middle of the traps so he is unable to defend himself against multiple trap damage that also proc burning multiple times if right equipped. best in combination with different signs.

Running full traps is neither good for group play or solo play in pvp. Yes the stun from dragons maw is powerful to combo with traps but you sacrifice all group support and solo survivability to pull off a gimmick every 45-60 seconds. This is far too long to go without any utilities. Furthermore Dragon’s maw can be blocked, evaded, and you can miss it if you are blinded so your main “pull” no longer is effective for another minute.

Misguided.5139:

>Piercing Light: Awful, condi traps are not a thing. Bleed is also the weakest condition applicable and is only used as a cover condition via geomancy. Even in condi guard, you would be sacrificing a 3 stack burn skill or condi removal in order to run this and traps are far less reliable than the other utilities. Needs entire rework. -A

Procession of Blades is a 3-stack burn skill with Supreme Justice, while also doing significant damage and applying up to 10 stacks of bleed. Can’t say I love all of the traps, but this one works for me.

Requiring supreme justice for this to work is just plain bad. Compared to normal condi guard which utility are you ok with sacrificing? Judge’s intervention is 3 stack burn with no real condition and provides a useful shadow step. Contemplation of Purity removes ALL conditions from you which is rather powerful now that condition removal has some rng on it. It is also a stunbreak.

So this leaves taking Procession over Purging Flames. Procession is highly telegraphed, needs Supreme justice to apply 3 stacks of burning (which doesn’t allow you to take absolute resolution), and the enemy player would have to be CCed to eat the full duration. Purging Flames provides instant 3 stacks of burn with no prerequisite except that you land it, can apply even more burning if the target runs through the ring, removes condis on impact, reduces condi duration while inside ring. Sorry but Procession does not stack up against what the current build has at all.

Updated with changes to Wings of Resolve, Shield of Courage, Hunter’s Ward, and Hunter’s Determination.

Dirame.8521:

Orion Templar.4589:

Very good feedback. Just to pick out one piece of it to underscore, after playing with DH this weekend I found myself becoming highly annoyed by the cast times on the virtues. It made my whole cadence of combat feel clunky. I agree with everyone who has posted that the DH virtues really need to be instant.

DH is supposed to feel different from your base Guardian. You guys just need to get used to that in order to play effectively.

You’re right it does feel different – I just meant it feels different in an annoying way and I don’t think it needs to be that way. Ezrael has some good points about the virtue cast times above too.