Guild Wars 2

Hi there,

I was wondering if you guys did already find a viable use for the torch.

To me, the only (and pretty obvious) one would be in PvP, if you are playing a burning-based build. A build with GS + Scepter/Torch for instance. However, it seems even with this build, people prefer Shield over Torch. As for PvE, no idea…

Does anyone of you play with this weapon ? If yes, why, if no, why not ?

Thank you

pretty useless imo! low damage and crap utility. a proposed change:

allow the #5 skill to be channeled alongside other abilities – e.g., continue your sword #1 autoattack chain while channeling #5. (I actually doubt the tech exists to do this since there are no examples of it already, so in theory only…)

The Torch is pretty bad.

Only skill 4 is worth using, either as a PbAoE long duration burn or for the ranged mini nuke.

Skill 5 is terrible. It does worse DPS than autoattack, doesn’t clear any conditions on yourself and the multi-hit low damage nature is just going to mean you take 2k damage against 1 person with Retaliation, or 10k against a team / Mesmer >.<

Not really.

Its not bad, but if you are taking a dps offhand, you may aswell go gs or hammer.

I go 1h+off hand for the survival boost from focus or shield.

Actually torch is pretty boss…not sure why y’all are saying it’s bad. The initial action on #4 can be used while other moves are channeling, like a shout that auto-burns enemies around you for 3 seconds (the burning amount on this is crazy strong even with no condition damage as well). The 2nd part to it has 1,200 range, splits the total damage from the 1st half of the skill into direct damage and a burning effect. Purging Flames (#5) is a really good channeled frontal ae that can hit through walls, can’t be reflected, and cures conditions on allies passing through it.

If you want to talk about numbers just using the 2nd part to torch #4 I’ve hit people upwards of 9k with just the direct damage part of it, and the burning damage from the skill deals 2k-ish damage after that. If you have the trait Fiery Wrath under the Zeal tree this offhand weapon is great for keeping an enemy consistently on fire if virtue of justice is on cooldown or hasn’t procced yet. Plus the natural cooldowns on the torch are pretty low, which is a big plus.

As for weapon combos with it I use a scepter with it and using the immobilize on a target, then immediately using smite + purging flames + activating the 1st part of #4 towards the middle-end of the channel of purging flames so I can throw it using the 2nd part of #4 once the channel for purging flames ends. It is a crazy sick combo of multiple damage sources hitting 1 or more targets all at once. Keep in mind every hit of purging flames and smite have their own crit chances, so even with my 30% crit chance some serious numbers can add up (highest purging flames I can remember off hand has been 6k.)

TL;DR – torch is awesome for both straight up damage, and consistent burning damage. I use it in both pve (used scepter / torch combo as my ranged backup weapon set since lvl 7) and pvp and never have an issue with it. Only negative I can say is that the 2nd half of torch #4 is that it follows the ground, so stuff like the harpies in fractals tend to not get hit by it very often.

I use it’s #4 skill only when range attacking something with a scepter, and shield is not needed. This happens very rarely.

If #4 skill would set off Inner Fire trait (When you are set on fire, you gain fury) I might use it more often.

Also #5 skill could use a small buff.

I go with Scepter and Torch in the Jade Maw fractal.

I did used to use Torch.

Back before the nerf to Life Siphon on crit food I made a highly damaging Sword/Torch build that used the rapid attacks from Sword #1, Sword #3 and Torch #5 to proc the siphons from food (With Torch #4 being used for nice AoE burning)

This build allowed me to go full-zerker whilst still having good survivability.

Now though, the 1 second cooldown on the food means that all these multi-hits (Sword #1 with the 3 hits on the third chain, Sword #3 with the 2.6 attacks per second and Torch 5 with AoE 2.35 attacks per second) aren’t as good with the food since they won’t proc more often and don’t do as much raw damage as something like Greatsword or Hammer.

That said, Torch #4 is still amazing and I miss it from my Sword/Focus weapon set I’m using (For defence and mobility; Blind and Shadowstep (Lightstep as Guardian?) on Sword #2, Projectile absorb on Sword #3, Blind and Regen from Focus #4 and 3 blocks on Focus #5)

I ran some quick, semi-scientific tests in Cursed Shore the other day against some Risen Pirates. According to my repeated tests, the DPS of the focus actually just about matches the DPS of the torch if the shield isn’t broken (triggering the explosion). Maybe I’m just doing it wrong, but when the focus skills put out similar amounts of damage and provides a heck of a lot more utility—via an instant-trigger 3-block shield (even while disabled) that can easily crit for 6.5k and a bouncing blind/regen beam that deals a fair bit of damage itself—I can’t really justify the use of the torch. The number of times I’ve been able to res allies in completely impossible situations thanks to the extra 3 blocks on the focus is too high to ignore.

I’ve rolled glass cannon 10/30/30/0/0 with meditations using scepter focus and sword torch and you can definitely put on some pressure to melee. I had some difficulties with a mesmer. He dropped me fast the first time but I put up a better fight the second until his zerg came and rolled me.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/guardian/?3.4|c.1g.h19.f.1g.h1j|b.1g.h17.d.1g.h1j|1c.a7.1c.a7.1c.a7.1c.a7.1c.a7.1c.a7|1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.1g.67.8c.67|a2.u000.u15c.0.0|39.1|v.15.12.13.1i|e

if torch 5 removed conditions from yourself also during the channel it would at least be worth considering.

I wish our Torch was like the Ranger Torch.

So much better with the #5 Fire Field.

Purging Flames is a pretty bad Utility alone, make it the new Skill 5 on Torch.

Give us a new Consecration.

Or make Cleansing Flame able to channel while using other skills like Auto Attack, that would at least make up for its mediocre damage.

Here you go. The devs made a special point of stating that they believed that (in a sPvP context) burning is viable. Whether this means torch or not, I am uncertain.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/guardian/Official-Burning-is-Viable/first#post1697550

This fellow wraps up the topic quite nicely:

Bottom line is that you can’t get enough burning damage/duration AND bunkering in the same build to support the claim that you can do significant and constant burning on an opponent to kill them without significant risk to yourself, provided your opponent isn’t completely devoid of any PVP skills or PVP focused build. Even if you can (or your opponent is stupid enough) to burn constantly, the 320 DPS you get is not much when you consider other damage-specific builds make up for that with crits and higher power and STILL get some amount of burning as well.

When you launch #4 I have hit for 8.8k, mostly 3k or 4k though. #5 can just just as hard, but only really viable in large group where some people are not expecting it, 1v1 they just dodge and keep distance usually.

Great in PVE though. Give it a try.