Guild Wars 2

I was bored, so I made a thing. I probably forgot some pieces here and there, and I didn’t do any serious balance, just copy/pasted from other skills and did a quick damage pass. Anyway, I thought it would be fun and it was.

Specialization: Justicar

Weapon: Main Hand Axe
[Skill 1]: Chain Whip (¾s cast)
Whip your Axe around on a chain, inflicting Bleeding on foes. (2x 231 (.63), 5s bleed, 300u, 3 targets)
[Skill 2a]: Axe Toss (½s cast, 10s recharge)
Throw your Axe, Bleeding and dealing damage to foes it passes through. (127 (.33) 2x 5s Bleed)
[Skill 2b]: Leap of Devotion
Leap to your target, dealing heavy damage upon arrival. (462 (1.26), 240u, 5 targets)
[Skill 3:] Symbol of Fury (¾s cast, 15s recharge)
Grant Fury (2s) to allies in the area. (3x 346 (.9), 3s duration, 180u, 5 targets)

New Mechanic: Virtue of Patience
Virtue of Patience allows you to gain Willpower. Activating Virtue of Patience spends all Willpower
Passive: Gain 1 Willpower per second.
Active: Cure yourself of Cripple, Chill, and Immobilize. Inflict Immobilize on your target (2s). Recharge is halved if Willpower is full. (40s recharge)
Inspired Virtues grants Swiftness

Utility: Word
Invoke a Word. Word upkeep costs Willpower (-1 upkeep costs 1 Willpower per second)

[Heal]: Word of Replenishment ( -1 upkeep, 20s recharge) Heal a small amount per incoming condition (51+(.04) per condition, 240u)
[Heal b]: Absolute Resistance
Heal yourself and grant Resistance to nearby allies (4,620 (0.4) 4s Resistance, 240u)
[Utility 1a]: Word of Wrath (-2 upkeep, 15s recharge)
Periodically deal damage and Burn foes (192 (.33) 1x Burning (6s), 3s icd, 240u, 5 targets)
[Utility 1b] Vicious Wrath
Damage and burn foes in the area (577 (1.5) 3x Burning (3s), 5 targets, 240u)
[Utility 2a]: Word of Meekness (-1 upkeep, 15s recharge)
Inflict Vulnerability on enemies (x3 Vulnerability, 6s duration, 3s icd, 5 targets, 240u)
[Utility 2b]: Weaken Knees
Inflict Weakness to nearby enemies (4s duration, 5 targets, 240u)
[Utility 3a]: Word of Binding(-2 upkeep, 20s recharge)
Periodically Cripple nearby foes (1s duration, 3s icd, 5 targets, 240u)
[Utility 3b]: Binding Chains
Immobilize foes around you (2s duration, 240u)
[Utility 4a]: Word of Punctuality (-1 upkeep, 30s recharge, 240u)
+25% movement speed
[Utility 4b]: Punctual Arrival
Teleport to target foe (1200u)
[Elite a]: Word of Defiance(-3 upkeep, kitten recharge)
Periodically grant Stability to nearby allies (1 stack, 3s duration, 240u)
[Elite b]: Defiant Presence
Break Stuns for allies and Taunt Foes
(2s duration, 5 targets, 240u)

Traits:
[Minor 1]: The Inquisition
Gain access to Axes, Word skills, and Virtue of Patience.
[Adept 1]: The Judge
Immobilize deals damage (.33 Condition Damage +160). Gain extra Willpower when you strike an Immobilized foe. (1 Willpower)
[Adept 2]: Precise Retribution
Gain 150 Precision while under the effects of Retaliation.
[Adept 3]: Shielding Determination
Gain Aegis when you break out of a stun. (5s duration)

[Minor 2]: Just Agony
Virtue of Justice inflicts Torment instead of Burning.
[Master 1]: The Jury
When afflicted by [A Control Effect], gain Willpower and grant Might to nearby allies (1 Willpower, 5s duration).
[Master 2]: Retaliatory Axe
Critical Hits while wielding an Axe grant have a chance to grant Retaliation. (25% chance, 3s duration, 10s icd)
[Master 3]: Empowering Presence
Active Words grant Might (1x Might 3s duration)

[Minor 3]: Torment of Justice
Deal + 10% damage to foes inflicted with Torment.
[GM 1]: The Executioner
Incoming movement-impeding conditions have their durations reduced. (-25%). Gain + 5% damage for each of these conditions that don’t affect you.
[GM 2]: Barbed Retribution
Being struck while under the effects of Retaliation inflicts Bleeding (1x Bleeding, 5s duration)
[GM 3]: Steadfast Beacon
Take 3% less damage for each active Word

Extra Details: Borrowing aspects from the Berserker, Reaper, and Herald, the Justicar relentlessly pursues its foes. It becomes unstoppable in its pursuit of Justice, tormenting foes with the guilt of their misdeeds. The mere presence of a Justicar can compel evil to stand trial or burn.

Any thoughts or ideas? Surely I can’t have designed something universally liked.

I think they’re solid suggestions. However, the idea of mantras on Guardian’s just doesn’t fly. Unlike Mesmers, Guardian’s have little-to-no disengage to keep those mantras charged. Good effort though.

I don’t understand what the overall concept is. Like a chanting monk idea?

The idea was to combine the two themes of Berserker and Reaper into one. You’ve got the unstoppable nature from stability, stun breaks, and movement impeding condition reduction, and then Torment to punish kiting. You don’t have the mobility that the daredevil is built around, but you can shrug off attempts to hinder your movement. Bleeding, Torment, and Burning provide an interesting condition option, more so than just Burning might offer. Mantras were, in my opinion, the best current mechanic to represent Paragon skills like echos, refrains, ect. Originally I thought about having quick charging, but longer recharge Mantras, but instead opted for more recognizable skills. Virtue of Persistence was borrowed from Revenant Legend swapping, allowing you to change from an offensive and defensive style of play.

I built the spec with Rabid armor in mind, with many potential armors also benefiting. I left distinct weaknesses and holes in synergy to be filled by other lines. Just like Revenants, it’s weak to damaging conditions. There’s no real symbol or block/Aegis synergy because that can be covered by other lines, especially in relation to defensive traits.

For traits, Line 1 is built around being dangerous and unstoppable. Extra damage, aoe might when controlled, and reduced duration for cc conditions. Line 2 is about passive stat increases and improved condition application. Line 3 is all about Mantras, providing lots of support. Axe is built to be both a condition weapon (lots of Bleeding and aoe for VoJ Torment application) and a physical weapon (skills 2b and 3). Mantras are built around multiple use support options (Resistance on heal to ignore conditions, stun break, teleports, cc, ect). The weaknesses of Mantra play should be made up by the other two lines.

I just realized, I didn’t give Axe a symbol, even though I want every weapon set to have symbol access. I cannot believe this oversight. Changed Axe 3 to Symbol of Fury – Create a Symbol of Fury at your location. Grant Fury to nearby allies. Bleeding foes are blinded. Similar damage, 3s duration.

I like the idea; it’s very unique and would bring a LOT of diversity to guardian. I like the idea of changing out burn for torment. A few criticisms:

-Too many traits affecting mantras, and you are unable to take all of them. This stresses the use of mantras far too much in my opinion. A master and GM trait should suffice. You could combine the two GM traits into one.

-Blocks/aegis? I think one of the utilities should give a selfish block. Perhaps the elite mantra could apply a mini shelter (1 second block dura).

-Torment is great, but we should still be able to inflict some burning without having to take PF and JI. Perhaps the active effect of justice, or switching aspects will still give decent access to burn? Perhaps axe attacks could additionally inflict burning when striking multiple foes?

-What exactly is the theme/lore behind the Justicar? Is it a “judge” of sorts who is meant to pursue the wicked in the name of justice? Is it something more along the lines of a crusader? Consider this theme when designing traits and skills! The cripple, chill, and torment indicate that you want this to be more of a pursuer-type class, so the class mechanic should reflect that. Perhaps the f1 could pull targeted downed-foes to you, and you could have traits with dual nature (granting stability/swiftness to allies, cripple/immob/torment to foes).

Arken.3725:

I think they’re solid suggestions. However, the idea of mantras on Guardian’s just doesn’t fly. Unlike Mesmers, Guardian’s have little-to-no disengage to keep those mantras charged. Good effort though.

This ^

Mantra’s work on mesmers because they can disengage so easily.
On a guardian it would just be begging to get locked down.

If you were to have a completely new mechanic however like chants that could work.

Chant: Grant yourself and nearby allies a continuous effect as long as the ability is toggled on. (kind of like herald’s abilities)
Once toggled off it then does a special effect & goes on CD.

It would need something to balance it however. Like increased CD on weapon swapping or a resource mechanic. (seeing as how rangers got a completely new resource mechanic with druid adding one to guardian via an E spec is not out of the question)

Arcaedus.7290:

-Too many traits affecting mantras

You’re right. I learned early on that I wouldn’t be able to put full 100% effort into this, so I made a lot of compromises. Now that I’ve had some feedback and gotten the idea out there, it’s time for summer major changes.

-Blocks/aegis?

Originally I didn’t want to add much as I felt that could be handled by existing Guardian abilities. You’ll see some changes in this regard with the overhaul

-Torment is great, but…

Again, existing Guardian abilities should make up for Burning, like Torch, Amplified Wrath, Symbols+Zeal. With what Guardians are able to do now with Burn stacking, merely adding Torment instead of replacing some Burning would be too much.

-What exactly is the theme/lore behind the Justicar?

It’s designed to be an unstoppable force, inflicting dread in the hearts of its enemies as the weight of Justice envelops them. Originally it was designed to switch from unstoppable offensively (Aspect of Focus) and defensively (Aspect of Wisdom), but now you’ll see a different style of that same theme.

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Snip

I didn’t want to create brand new things so quickly with my first run, but now there’s opportunity.

Alright, sent through and did some big edits. I decided to move away from the Paragon so that a more pure Paragon could still have a spot. I’ve got a pretty interesting idea that I might share later. Otherwise, there’s a better focus on theme, especially with traits and utility skills. They were designed to synergize with lesser used traits in core lines, particularly with Radiance.