Guild Wars 2

So I have been picking my mesmer up alot more lately over the last few weeks. One thing I am noticing in most shatter builds lately, is they give up mental torment for halting strike. Is the damage from halting strike that much better now? What are the average numbers that people are seeing on a halting strike lately.

It’s very powerful, it crits and thus procs air and fire sigils, and you will on average proc halting strike more often for a better pay-off.

Honestly… halting is awesome. In zerk ammy it crits for rougly 2.5k, can trigger air+fire and has no icd. Can be a brutal spike with a strung out diversion.

Highest halting I’ve managed was almost 4k, with might stacks on a squishy…… it can seriously be deadly.

In WvW…

4k Crit vs Hitter Role
3k Crit vs Bruiser Role
2k Crit vs Protection Buff

My Best Halting Strike damage was 6,5k Crit vs L Armor without Might…. Not sure… Maybe my target was hungry.

Yea it’s worth it:http://imgur.com/7wUsg9R

And yes, this is in PvP.

For those who have run the numbers, halting strike ends up winning out only if you get frequent AND successful interrupts. It also largely depends on the weapons you use and interrupt sources. I’ll just quote from supcutie’s guide:

“Do I pick Halting Strike or Mental Torment?
The math turns out to be something like you need 2.5 interrupts per 11 seconds for Halting Strike to break even with Mental Torment based on average-ish Shatter damage. This is actually very hard to do, so it seems like Mental Torment would be better?
Mental Torment is more consistent damage and has more downed body cleave.
Halting Strike however means you’re not “putting all your eggs in one basket” so to speak, and you have other sources of damage. I strongly prefer Halting Strike. If you miss your Mind Wrack or the clones end up not dealing the damage you want, Halting Strike gives you another opportunity.
Halting Strike also makes it so your Chaos Storm is a force to be reckoned with, and actually zones people a lot more effectively.”

Link to entire guide: http://bit.ly/SupcutieGuide

I’ll just take a quick moment to plug that guide. It has many little nuggets even for the most polished and veteran mesmers. It’s a really great read especially if you primarily play shatter, plus there are quite a few tips when playing CI lockdown and tips on fighting all other professions.

It hits like a truck, I half suspect the tool tip is wrong. If mantra of distraction had a shorter cool down it would make this a must trait .

I ran a classic 44006 gs/sw+p with Halting Strike yesterday just to try it out and I gotta say I really like it. Was a bit skeptical about the concept but it can really hit hard. F3 now suddenly can do damage as well as GS5 and P5. It’s a keeper.

jenzie.4083:

I ran a classic 44006 gs/sw+p with Halting Strike yesterday just to try it out and I gotta say I really like it. Was a bit skeptical about the concept but it can really hit hard. F3 now suddenly can do damage as well as GS5 and P5. It’s a keeper.

GS5 interrupt does so much damage , I sometimes run halting strike in unranked just for fun. You can kill a whole clump of ppl on a pt in no time , it’s pretty funny.

Yeah, especially with fire and air procs thrown in the mix. Saved a guard from being stomped (downed skill was already used) by using that knockback and blinking in just in time, instantly downing the thief and mes who had gotten her. Easy res after that.

Definitely helps against a lot of thieves too, as they tend to attack in rapid succession, making a strung out Diversion pretty effective. Not going to help against every Thief, but a whole bunch of them blow themselves up when interrupted. I’d say Masterful Reflection is another oft overlooked trait as well, that can actually help a whole lot in PvP.

Absconditus.6804:

Definitely helps against a lot of thieves too, as they tend to attack in rapid succession, making a strung out Diversion pretty effective. Not going to help against every Thief, but a whole bunch of them blow themselves up when interrupted. I’d say Masterful Reflection is another oft overlooked trait as well, that can actually help a whole lot in PvP.

Masterful reflection is my favorite trait (outside of iPersona/DE of course). Nothing better than having a LB rapid fire ranger blow himself up. Then hate whisper you for playing something cheesy.

jportell.2197:

Absconditus.6804:

Definitely helps against a lot of thieves too, as they tend to attack in rapid succession, making a strung out Diversion pretty effective. Not going to help against every Thief, but a whole bunch of them blow themselves up when interrupted. I’d say Masterful Reflection is another oft overlooked trait as well, that can actually help a whole lot in PvP.

Masterful reflection is my favorite trait (outside of iPersona/DE of course). Nothing better than having a LB rapid fire ranger blow himself up. Then hate whisper you for playing something cheesy.

L.O.L.
LB rangers complaining about masterful reflection.

jportell.2197:

Absconditus.6804:

Definitely helps against a lot of thieves too, as they tend to attack in rapid succession, making a strung out Diversion pretty effective. Not going to help against every Thief, but a whole bunch of them blow themselves up when interrupted. I’d say Masterful Reflection is another oft overlooked trait as well, that can actually help a whole lot in PvP.

Masterful reflection is my favorite trait (outside of iPersona/DE of course). Nothing better than having a LB rapid fire ranger blow himself up. Then hate whisper you for playing something cheesy.

I know, right? It’s also hilarious to cause Longbow Warriors to Immobilize themselves, D/P Thieves to Blind themselves when they try using a Shadow Shot to get close to you, Necromancers to hit a whole bunch of their skills back at themselves. The list goes on. It’s a really fun and useful trait in PvP. I also like how it’s very visually distinct that you have traited it, so the enemy can counter play on it when they see it activated. Pretty sure the sound effect is slightly changed too.

Absconditus.6804:

jportell.2197:

Absconditus.6804:

Definitely helps against a lot of thieves too, as they tend to attack in rapid succession, making a strung out Diversion pretty effective. Not going to help against every Thief, but a whole bunch of them blow themselves up when interrupted. I’d say Masterful Reflection is another oft overlooked trait as well, that can actually help a whole lot in PvP.

Masterful reflection is my favorite trait (outside of iPersona/DE of course). Nothing better than having a LB rapid fire ranger blow himself up. Then hate whisper you for playing something cheesy.

I know, right? It’s also hilarious to cause Longbow Warriors to Immobilize themselves, D/P Thieves to Blind themselves when they try using a Shadow Shot to get close to you, Necromancers to hit a whole bunch of their skills back at themselves. The list goes on. It’s a really fun and useful trait in PvP. I also like how it’s very visually distinct that you have traited it, so the enemy can counter play on it when they see it activated. Pretty sure the sound effect is slightly changed too.

LOVE masterful reflection but condi necro specifically does not have many projectiles contrary to popular belief

Only staff auto attack is a projectile the marks are not and the auto attack aint killing anybody

all of the scepter attacks are not projectiles only dagger#4 is but that doesn’t really stack condis on you its a blind/transfer

lifeblast on condi spec does nothing and dark path is unblockable – does it get reflected?

Narkodx.1472:

Absconditus.6804:

jportell.2197:

Absconditus.6804:

Definitely helps against a lot of thieves too, as they tend to attack in rapid succession, making a strung out Diversion pretty effective. Not going to help against every Thief, but a whole bunch of them blow themselves up when interrupted. I’d say Masterful Reflection is another oft overlooked trait as well, that can actually help a whole lot in PvP.

Masterful reflection is my favorite trait (outside of iPersona/DE of course). Nothing better than having a LB rapid fire ranger blow himself up. Then hate whisper you for playing something cheesy.

I know, right? It’s also hilarious to cause Longbow Warriors to Immobilize themselves, D/P Thieves to Blind themselves when they try using a Shadow Shot to get close to you, Necromancers to hit a whole bunch of their skills back at themselves. The list goes on. It’s a really fun and useful trait in PvP. I also like how it’s very visually distinct that you have traited it, so the enemy can counter play on it when they see it activated. Pretty sure the sound effect is slightly changed too.

LOVE masterful reflection but condi necro specifically does not have many projectiles contrary to popular belief

Only staff auto attack is a projectile the marks are not and the auto attack aint killing anybody

all of the scepter attacks are not projectiles only dagger#4 is but that doesn’t really stack condis on you its a blind/transfer

lifeblast on condi spec does nothing and dark path is unblockable – does it get reflected?

yes it does. I have been teleported into the middle of enemy zergs in wvw because a necro’s dark path went off into my feedback.