Guild Wars 2

Offhand sword is currently the least viable offhand outside of PvE boss fights. It received some love with the specialization patch, and is definitely better than it was before but I feel it’s still extremely hard to justify taking it over other options.

It’s not that the weapon skills are bad. They’re really not, its that the weapon does not offer anything that another offhand can’t offer.

• Phantasm is strong, but only single-target and doesn’t live as long as iDuelist.
• Daze is good, but cast time takes too long to be exactly reliable and is not useful for … anything beyond proccing interrupt traits.
• Counter leaves you wide open during animation, making it more often a liability than not.

SUGGESTIONS

Illusionary Reposte – The damage aspec of this skill is great, but isn’t much of a payoff when you’re so kitten vulnerable to getting hit. I’d suggest either add a .5 second evade inbetween the block and counter or make the counterattack a small (Mantra of Pain-sized) AoE centered on the triggering target.

Sword is currently the only offhand who’s non-phantasm skill is rather lackluster. It pales in comparison to Temporal Curtain, Magic Bullet, Prestige, and Tides of Time.

(While we’re at it, can we change the placeholder animation for when the Mesmer counters to look like something that isn’t a phantasm summon?)

Counter Blade – Increase projectile size/ Add damage to projectile / Reduce Cooldown / Increase Cast Speed / Rework.

Right now the second part of the skill just doesn’t work right. The projectile is a flimsy little Winds of Chaos bolt that goes largely ignored, even if it does hit. I’d suggest making the projectile slightly more impactful, atleast enough to make the opponent actually care about dodging it.

• Counter Blade reduces it’s own cooldown by 10s when you interrupt with it.

I’d really love this, would make the sword/sword style more fast paced, skill-based, and competitive against other offhands.

• Counter Blade projectile increased in both size and velocity. Increased casting speed.

While less interesting, this attack is supposed to be a piercing projectile, but it is currently too small and slow to make a difference.

• Counter Blade inflicts damage/cripple/weakness/taunt OR steals a boon/transfers a condi on hit.

I don’t mean inflicts ALL those condis, but one of the above would be a nice addition. Stealing a boon or transfering off a condition would also make the weapon more of a tempting choice.

• Counter Blade teleports you to your target / Counter Blade inflicts 2s daze and teleports your target to you.

Sword is a weapon that features good mobility, why not expand on this?

• Counter Blade inflicts “Hex of Frustration” for 3 seconds, skills opponents use while hexed time inflict 2x confusion on them.

Hex-based mechanics will probably be a new Elite spec, but still.. would love!

• Counter Blade inflicts 2s daze and 2s cripple

Simple and easy, though less effective than the other options.. the anet way?

• Counter Blade creates 1 sword clone on hit, 2 sword clones on interrupt

Anet plz!

Whatever the case, something needs to be done. Offhand sword struggles to stay relevant versus so many strong options. Even the torch, largely taken for only one skill, sees far more play than sword.

if i may offer a few more

Firing off the projectile retains the damage of Counter, causes daze. This is more risky but offers a choice to hold or risk not blocking for similar rewards.

Counter blade causes Stealth after damage is applied. Kinda steps on torch but it couples well with the new clone causing auto targeting confusion and frustration.

Counter blade can block up to X (lets say 3) incomming attacks. Damage is sent back to sources. Reduce base damage to avoid 8k Spikes on stupid players that hit you all three times.

Counter blade disables (excluding auto attacks) blocked attack skill for an extra amount of time. Maybe 5 seconds or something. Throws of timing and rotations for burst based classes.

Sc/Sw is pretty fun with Fencer’s Fitness, Malicious Sorcery, Furious Interruption and Power Block.

I agree with you thought, OP. I like Swish idea that it keeps the Counter damage when we use it as a projectile, like the guardian torch Zealot’s Fire, but then it would be pretty OP with Power Block…

Projectile size and speed need to be increased, for sure, and I really hate the block open wide animation.

With Chronomancer coming soon and the shield that gives free Quickness, stun and damage, the Offhand sword needs to be more competitive.

I’ve been playing a lot with scepter / sword lately. I would be totally happy with just getting a fix to sword #4 creating a clone on a successful block while you have scepter in main hand.

The skill works correctly if you have a sword in main hand, but fails to create a clone on block if you have scepter in main hand.

Hm, I can’t say I agree with #4 being weak, I love that with /Sword. I adore the ability to queue up the Daze before throwing it relatively close to my target and I feel it’s better than say Pistol’s #5 for interrupting, which to me often feels clunky with that slight delay before firing (making it harder to do split second interrupts with it, on reaction, something I feel I can do with relative ease whilst using /Sword). The added option of using it as a offensive/defensive damage/block is rather nice too, and plays well into the duality that I love about a lot of our Mesmer tools. I dunno, I actually like #4.

Absconditus.6804:

Hm, I can’t say I agree with #4 being weak, I love that with /Sword. I adore the ability to queue up the Daze before throwing it relatively close to my target and I feel it’s better than say Pistol’s #5 for interrupting, which to me often feels clunky with that slight delay before firing (making it harder to do split second interrupts with it, on reaction, something I feel I can do with relative ease whilst using /Sword). The added option of using it as a offensive/defensive damage/block is rather nice too, and plays well into the duality that I love about a lot of our Mesmer tools. I dunno, I actually like #4.

Pistol 5 beats sword 4 in cast time, cast animation, range, projectile speed, AND effect (bounce > line effect). Projectile animation is also kind of misleading as it doesn’t appear to go the full 900, which leads the user to naturally cast it closer than he needs to.

I think letting Counterblade (and Counterspell) keep the block damage (and Torment) is a great idea.

I suggest that they add a 1s evade after the sword block procs—simple and simply synergetic with traits! Squeak!

I agree 100% with you. I also wouldn’t say that it’s op to have invuln after the block until the riposte. Same goes for scepter 2#. Also counterblades attack and projectile speed are indeed awful.

Ross Biddle.2367:

Absconditus.6804:

Hm, I can’t say I agree with #4 being weak, I love that with /Sword. I adore the ability to queue up the Daze before throwing it relatively close to my target and I feel it’s better than say Pistol’s #5 for interrupting, which to me often feels clunky with that slight delay before firing (making it harder to do split second interrupts with it, on reaction, something I feel I can do with relative ease whilst using /Sword). The added option of using it as a offensive/defensive damage/block is rather nice too, and plays well into the duality that I love about a lot of our Mesmer tools. I dunno, I actually like #4.

Pistol 5 beats sword 4 in cast time, cast animation, range, projectile speed, AND effect (bounce > line effect). Projectile animation is also kind of misleading as it doesn’t appear to go the full 900, which leads the user to naturally cast it closer than he needs to.

I don’t play Mesmer at range with /Sword though, that feels counter-intuitive when I would normally pair it up with Sword/. For that matter with Scepter I tend to play fairly close as well, to have the projectiles travel shorter distances. The only Mesmer weapon I would honestly try to use at some range, is the Greatsword, and even then I will normally try to get relatively close at some point for the #5.

Thing is, I feel there’s far more of a delay to Pistol’s #5 over using /Sword’s #4 twice in quick succession (though that may be just because I find it clunky in its execution), or if you’ve queued it up (blocking), and then tap it again—to interrupt an anticipated move. Since I am pretty close (e.g., point blank) when I normally would be using it, I can’t say that I really notice the projectile speed effect between the two, though, yes, the Pistol’s shot is “instant” once it fires and is as such faster. There’s also the added benefit of it bouncing, though you can use positioning to hit multiple targets with /Sword as well, it just takes a bit of practice and depends on the situation. However, for Pistol, I really dislike getting rooted and how easy it can be to self-interrupt it through movement, when all your instincts wants to keep moving. That part of #5 feels clunky to me. The attack cone on it, is also rather small, at least imo.

To me, for interrupts, /Sword just feels more responsive. I can move around freely, there’s no need to stand still to fire it. And it also has the added benefit of not being as easy to predict on when the actual interrupt comes towards its target, especially when queued, unlike with the Pistol, for which it is very obvious with the arm being held straight out. But hey, I wouldn’t complain about buffs to /Sword. By all means, if ArenaNet want to take a look at it and alter it for the better, you won’t see me complaining about it. I already like using it, even though I currently run Pistol, because of the Bleeds and arguably better Phantasm. Soon enough I’ll likely be on Shield anyways.

I’m all for a short Blurr-frame when blocking an attack with #4. Making the following attack a small area effect would be awesome. I’m afraid though that ANet wants OH-Sword to be more single target.

For Counter Blade I just feel it has to be easier to hit with it. Basically all other non-random interrupts are more reliable in their own way (faster, instant, better range). Making the projectile faster might be a bandaid. However, I personally would love having Counter Blade sending out a shockwave (s. Guardian Shield, Berserker skill) instead of a projectile. The cone wouldn’t have to be super-huge. But it would make the skill way more reliable.

Boon removal on Counter Blade would be appretiated but I don’t know if it’s needed.

Absconditus.6804:

Ross Biddle.2367:

Absconditus.6804:

Hm, I can’t say I agree with #4 being weak, I love that with /Sword. I adore the ability to queue up the Daze before throwing it relatively close to my target and I feel it’s better than say Pistol’s #5 for interrupting, which to me often feels clunky with that slight delay before firing (making it harder to do split second interrupts with it, on reaction, something I feel I can do with relative ease whilst using /Sword). The added option of using it as a offensive/defensive damage/block is rather nice too, and plays well into the duality that I love about a lot of our Mesmer tools. I dunno, I actually like #4.

Pistol 5 beats sword 4 in cast time, cast animation, range, projectile speed, AND effect (bounce > line effect). Projectile animation is also kind of misleading as it doesn’t appear to go the full 900, which leads the user to naturally cast it closer than he needs to.

I don’t play Mesmer at range with /Sword though, that feels counter-intuitive when I would normally pair it up with Sword/. For that matter with Scepter I tend to play fairly close as well, to have the projectiles travel shorter distances. The only Mesmer weapon I would honestly try to use at some range, is the Greatsword, and even then I will normally try to get relatively close at some point for the #5.

Thing is, I feel there’s far more of a delay to Pistol’s #5 over using /Sword’s #4 twice in quick succession (though that may be just because I find it clunky in its execution), or if you’ve queued it up (blocking), and then tap it again—to interrupt an anticipated move. Since I am pretty close (e.g., point blank) when I normally would be using it, I can’t say that I really notice the projectile speed effect between the two, though, yes, the Pistol’s shot is “instant” once it fires and is as such faster. There’s also the added benefit of it bouncing, though you can use positioning to hit multiple targets with /Sword as well, it just takes a bit of practice and depends on the situation. However, for Pistol, I really dislike getting rooted and how easy it can be to self-interrupt it through movement, when all your instincts wants to keep moving. That part of #5 feels clunky to me. The attack cone on it, is also rather small, at least imo.

To me, for interrupts, /Sword just feels more responsive. I can move around freely, there’s no need to stand still to fire it. And it also has the added benefit of not being as easy to predict on when the actual interrupt comes towards its target, especially when queued, unlike with the Pistol, for which it is very obvious with the arm being held straight out. But hey, I wouldn’t complain about buffs to /Sword. By all means, if ArenaNet want to take a look at it and alter it for the better, you won’t see me complaining about it. I already like using it, even though I currently run Pistol, because of the Bleeds and arguably better Phantasm. Soon enough I’ll likely be on Shield anyways.

• Despite your feelings, the objective reality is that pistol is faster and more responsive than OH sword.

• Yes you play Sw/Sw, even Sc/Sw etc at mid (to close) range since they’re mid range weapons, and the devs have stated that mes is a mid range duelist. Still that doesnt change facts like attempting to engage an enemy from range in a timely fashion to turn some fateful event, such as a stomp interrupt, or a counter to a ranged caster watching you coming from off point. Blocking outside of the 900 range even fails its damage + clone summon -_-u.

• Pistol 5 doesnt root. Only GS 3 and Sword 2 root for Mesmer.

• I ran scepter/pistol sw/sw extensively before patch, I’m not a hater, but I understand the reality of the weapon.

OH Sword 4 would be awesome with 0.25-0.5-1s of “Distortion” so you can trigger Inspiring Distortion trait with it on block

Bubi.5237:

OH Sword 4 would be awesome with 0.25-0.5-1s of “Distortion” so you can trigger Inspiring Distortion trait with it on block

Exactly what I also would suggest. ;-)

Distortion will prevent conditions and direct damage to be applied (invulnerability) and with minor trait from Illusionary Retribution there would be a 3 sec confusion. Something that could reduce incoming conditions for a short time span will be needed considering how much AoE there is in WvW during some fights and to counter Wells from enemy Chronomancer.

½ second block during the animation on iRiposte and Counter Blade to work like necro’s scepter #1, but instead of the blood spill on the target there would be a small butterfly explosion.

One can dream.

Ross Biddle.2367:

• Yes you play Sw/Sw, even Sc/Sw etc at mid (to close) range since they’re mid range weapons, and the devs have stated that mes is a mid range duelist.

How in the world do you play to Sword/‘s strengths at mid range though? You have one single attack that will connect from that distance, and that is to get close. Mesmer is in most cases far more effective, the closer it is to the target (not counting the Greatsword auto-attacks damage scaling). Our shatters are faster and far more difficult to avoid if the target is close to the illusions, they travel less distance and blow up faster (at the risk of being blown up before you’ve created three of them granted). Projectile speeds as well, while they can be annoying at a distance, is less of a factor if you play up close and personal, as projectiles that are sent out at barely a few Asura feet’s distance from a target, has pretty much no travel time. They will bounce more predictably too, hitting you back for their buffs. Most of us know how effective Mirror Blade on Greatsword is, when thrown at point blank (unless we want it to bounce to more targets). That’s not to say you always want things to be up close, or that you will always be up close (Phase Retreat sort of forces you out at range for a moment, and/or sometimes you want to Blink to that ledge to get away from damage and recuperate), but you are typically more effective up close nonetheless.

On the note of Pistol’s Magic Bullet; it used to have an annoyingly narrow cone of attack, which is why I said it roots me, I didn’t actually notice they have patched that before now, so my bad—Magic Bullet is above and beyond better these days, when compared to how it used to be. It used to be that it felt like for in order to make sure I never interrupted it through my movement, or that the target moved out of the tiny little front-facing cone, I had to let go of my movement keys, taking control away from me for a brief moment, effectively rooting me. This is something I’ve never felt was the case with Counter Blade, which is also rather good for interrupting attempted resurrects I might add, typically hitting a cluster of enemies just fine. I have never been in a situation where I wasn’t able to throw that out to interrupt one or more enemies (target the one furthest away) from trying to get one of their own back up on their feet, after our team has put them on the ground. Additionally, Counter Blade will come out pretty fast by double tapping, where as the Magic Bullet is tap, wait briefly, shoot (though that is just placebo feelings from the animations). All in all, I guess they feel rather similar in terms of execution, and with Magic Bullet’s cone being a very generous 180°, that is actually better now. I have been rooting myself without the need to do so for a few months.. durp. Old habits.

Edit: Wow.. durp with an e is actually a censored word? Seriously, ArenaNet? . . .

I’m with Ross on that SwSw is mid to close range set. I tend to chill at mid range and go for some AAs/BF when I see fit. Most of the times a zerker mesmer can’t stay in melee range for too long.

Absconditus.6804:

Ross Biddle.2367:

• Yes you play Sw/Sw, even Sc/Sw etc at mid (to close) range since they’re mid range weapons, and the devs have stated that mes is a mid range duelist.

How in the world do you play to Sword/‘s strengths at mid range though? You have one single attack that will connect from that distance, and that is to get close. Mesmer is in most cases far more effective, the closer it is to the target (not counting the Greatsword auto-attacks damage scaling). Our shatters are faster and far more difficult to avoid if the target is close to the illusions, they travel less distance and blow up faster (at the risk of being blown up before you’ve created three of them granted). Projectile speeds as well, while they can be annoying at a distance, is less of a factor if you play up close and personal, as projectiles that are sent out at barely a few Asura feet’s distance from a target, has pretty much no travel time. They will bounce more predictably too, hitting you back for their buffs. Most of us know how effective Mirror Blade on Greatsword is, when thrown at point blank (unless we want it to bounce to more targets). That’s not to say you always want things to be up close, or that you will always be up close (Phase Retreat sort of forces you out at range for a moment, and/or sometimes you want to Blink to that ledge to get away from damage and recuperate), but you are typically more effective up close nonetheless.

On the note of Pistol’s Magic Bullet; it used to have an annoyingly narrow cone of attack, which is why I said it roots me, I didn’t actually notice they have patched that before now, so my bad—Magic Bullet is above and beyond better these days, when compared to how it used to be. It used to be that it felt like for in order to make sure I never interrupted it through my movement, or that the target moved out of the tiny little front-facing cone, I had to let go of my movement keys, taking control away from me for a brief moment, effectively rooting me. This is something I’ve never felt was the case with Counter Blade, which is also rather good for interrupting attempted resurrects I might add, typically hitting a cluster of enemies just fine. I have never been in a situation where I wasn’t able to throw that out to interrupt one or more enemies (target the one furthest away) from trying to get one of their own back up on their feet, after our team has put them on the ground. Additionally, Counter Blade will come out pretty fast by double tapping, where as the Magic Bullet is tap, wait briefly, shoot (though that is just placebo feelings from the animations). All in all, I guess they feel rather similar in terms of execution, and with Magic Bullet’s cone being a very generous 180°, that is actually better now. I have been rooting myself without the need to do so for a few months.. durp. Old habits.

Edit: Wow.. durp with an e is actually a censored word? Seriously, ArenaNet? . . .

Oh right, I’d forgotten, thanks for that. Not only does OH sword 4’s projectile have an objectively longer cast time, it also requires two button pushes which extends that time further, which can be shorter or longer depending on the particular users physical ability and hardware setup (keyboard key press vs Raza Naga epic thumb double tap).

You’re correct that Mesmers do their best applying their damage at point blank range, however the amount of time Mesmers spend at point blank range is only a tiny fraction of the time they spend fighting, build depending of course. Sword/sword offers a ranged phantasm summon, a 900 range block for damage + clone summon, a 900 range Leap used to set up for burst combo’s usually, blurred frenzy to for various situations (great to counter punish an incoming melee assault before kiting away), and of course the line daze/interrupt on sword 4 which, when traited with Power Block nets you great Halting Strike damage on zerk builds. Mesmer also has all his shatter skills which are still cast at range, and can take things like Mantra of Pain or better yet, MoD to further dominate duels at mid to close range.

Mesmers AA’ing at close range with MH sword is situational at best. There are the odd opportunities, but they’re rare. If you’re doing it on a bunk build, well, you’re not doing damage anyway.

Ross Biddle.2367:

a 900 range Leap

How I wish this was the case. But no what we have is a 600 range fake-leap that’s buggy and unreliable.

Although some of the suggestions made are cool and could provide for some interesting play options, I tend to side with simple obvious fixes to better ensure you’re improving the balance of the game.

I think it’s pretty plain that Torch is not used for it’s awesome Phantams, or the damage that it brings to the table. It mainly provides Stealth, which can be used both offensive and defensively. So people are quite willing to sacrifice a terribad Phantasm just to get the #4 skill.

What Sowrd #4 needs is for the block to be a real block, a full 2s of blocking attacks. That’s still at least 50% shorter than many/most other blocks on other classes. The counter attack is really nice, but yes it needs to execute faster to make it both harder to avoid and eat less damage yourself while doing it. As I said before, you should be able to simply cancel your block and perform your counter-attack/summon at any time during the channel. You’d perform the attack on your target and only if you blocked anything, otherwise you launch the Daze projectile attack.

So it’s basically the same as now, only more fluid, reliable, and most of all getting real defense out of this skill. It’s the defense that is needed to make it competitive with Torch IMO.

Lots of people would love to take OH Sword over Torch, as it wouldn’t interfere with decapping, but generally speaking a Mesmer simply can’t afford to lose the defense.

This may seem like a weird use. But sw/sw+St with chaotic dampening gives you Perma protection. It’s not all bad.

Daniel Handler.4816:

This may seem like a weird use. But sw/sw+St with chaotic dampening gives you Perma protection. It’s not all bad.

That’s only IF you take a second ethereal field, but yeah. Sw/sw looooves staff (which is also more melee-oriented)

I feel like our blocks should block all attacks for 2 seconds. If you block an attack during that period, you simply gain its secondary effect in which you have 5s to cast instantly onto any target. Whether this is a daze+damage on Sword or a torment/blind on Scepter.

I’d feel much better about both blocks in this situation.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Daniel Handler.4816:

This may seem like a weird use. But sw/sw+St with chaotic dampening gives you Perma protection. It’s not all bad.

That’s only IF you take a second ethereal field, but yeah. Sw/sw looooves staff (which is also more melee-oriented)

I forget because I’ve recently been going around with 75% base boon duration.