Guild Wars 2

Hey there my glorious purple comrades,

I’ve been running Sword/Focus and Staff for ever and I’ve gotten curious about using scepter instead but I find it’s skills awkward and odd. Like the skill that blinds folks in a line? Can’t seem to get beyond the block to get that blind. Nevertheless, I bought a scepter and tried it out a bit. I love the fact that it’s underused. With my condition build it has some interesting potential but I’m still trying to master it on the field. Would love any combo or technique advice / guidance from veteran scepter users! Thanks!

It’s underused because it’s bad.

At any rate, the autoattack chain advances if you swing it at air, so use that to get an instant clone before attacking. The line block is clunky, but it does a lot of damage in a power setup, and will apply confusion if you have the confusion on blind trait. Confusing images is slow and clunky. The best way to make sure it hits is to stand completely still and not move your character at all so that it auto faces.

That’s about it. It’s slow, not great at applying confusion, and has no access to conditions other than confusion. It desperately needs a rework.

Check out this post

My response

How I use the Scepter (WvW, PvE applies as well)
-Spam 1 as you come to your target, this gets rid of the first two balls, hit your target with the 3rd = quick clone
-For the block, if you are running away use it, if your are fighting (preferably up close) press again for the blind (easy to miss so make sure to have good LoS)
-3 skill, make sure to be in range to get full damage/confusion
-Closer you are to your target the faster the balls are and produce clones (I like to run circles around my opponent)

Can’t seem to get beyond the block to get that blind.

When you hit #2, you will start the block. The block will stay active for ~2 seconds OR until your receive a hit that gets blocked. If you hit #2 a second time BEFORE the timer or the hit, you will send out a bolt that blinds.

So to block: hit #2 once. To blind: hit #2 twice. (you don’t get both, one or the other)

If you use sword offhand, the block-interrupt works the same way (#4 skill).

Combining it with a torch and the prestige makes confusing images quite funny. Scepter’s also a source of clones for me as I don’t have deceptive evasion traited and don’t use mirror images most of the time. It really needs some work though, auto attack is completely broken in that it doesn’t hit moving targets and doesn’t apply confusion as the tooltip still states.

I used to use sword/x (condi build with staff)- tried scepter found i missed sword#2 too much (esp with stealth attacks by thieves) for solo/small scale. BUT for Zergs its completely different story
AND Yes the #1 attack is as broken as guardian scepter- you can dodge by mini strafing. This is the main reason i stopped using it- against skilled players it is worthless

Scepter is lacking a lot but that’s the chain im using in a 1v1 (if running condi build and bother with scepter). Decoy, iDuelist (won’t break stealth), Confusion Images, Counterspell if you’re speced with Blinding Defuddlement, (keep magic bullet for 2nd rotation unless your confusion stacks were removed), swap to staff blah blah blah.

The biggest problem with the scepter (imho) is that it’s 1/2 power and 1/2 condition based. If they restored confusion to the auto attack I would use it in a heartbeat.

The above posters pretty much have it right, but there are several things you can do to make the scepter work for some builds despite its flaws. The auto chain is severely flawed, but #3 has a place in a confusion build, and both #2 and #3 can be devastating in the right power/hybrid builds. Enough to make up for the abysmal auto with enough practice.

For specific tips, and how I found ways to make it work, check out the build link in my sig. It has a weapon guild that includes strategies for using scepter with stealth.

Considering all the whining about confusion, they probably won’t, unless they nerf it which would make it useless.

Thanks all! I’ve been running the scepter with your guidance in mind and honestly I love it. I actually prefer it to sword. Yes, it’s awkward at times, but the extra clones, the blind ability, and skill 3 are great for my build. Often with sword, I’m just not close enough to use 1 or 2. iLeap is cool if you pull it off, but I find I’m mostly hitting sword 2 as a panic button or to kill downed players. Scepter feels more useful in WvW for now.