Guild Wars 2

I have been examining and testing this in combat, and I must say I like how its a divergence from our other healing skills. In situations where you have a lot of active defense and methods to evade/reduce damage, I have noticed I can fight very long times without activating the signets active heal. So I was wondering if anyone has a build that goes along with using signet of the ether, maybe something that has healing power for strongest healing and condition damage for offense? Could be a very interesting build, but I wanted to get a feed if anyone has thought about this(looking at Pyro and Chaos here).

While im not either Pyro or Choas ( obviously) they will probably tell you any build that uses PU can be good with the signet. Your options are wither condie build with torch and then other stealth utilities or the same with more of a focus on phantasms.

While the signet can be good ether feast does offer better healing, however if you play well with a stealth heavy build then the signet can keep you topped off most the time.

Side note just so you know the signet get worse with more people in the fight because illusions don’t last long.

Well, standard PU condie builds don’t use the signet very effectively because you pretty much ignore the active. As just a passive heal, ether feast significantly outperforms it, since you can guarantee a 3 illusion heal with ether feast pretty easily, but it’s hard to keep 3 illusions up for 100% of the time.

In a phantasm build, the signet is definitely competitive. You can pretty much toss it into any phantasm build and have it perform reasonably well. The one issue with it is the long cooldown, and if you’re relying on mender’s purity for condition removal, you’re going to have a rough time.

One thing that you definitely don’t want to do is use the signet with healing power. The reason for this is that the passive heals scale poorly with healing power, and the 1/2 illusion ticks scale very significantly worse than the 3 illusion tick, so every time you don’t tick at 3 illusions, you lose a large amount of potential healing. Ether feast scales at 1-1.3 depending on how many illusions you have up, so as a general rule of thumb, the more healing power you have, the more you want to use ether feast.

Like all of the new heals, it has a very noticeable offensive component, and you need to be able to utilize it to make the most of the Signet. Just the heal, it’s not that strong. At the very least you need to use the flexibility it offers in regards to Defender/Disenchanter.

I like the answers I am getting here, and I appreciate the responses from everyone! As a followup, are there any builds(link) that one would recommend as a base build and what changes specifically might one make to optimize the use of Signet? I figured as well that phantasm build would be strong with this. I thought it interesting that PU saw some differences of opinion with the signet. Aside from straight phantasm, are there any other builds that can use this effectively? If not I will look at any phantasm build out there and see how well it splashes.

The signet active closely followed by timewarp might be strong in some situations and builds.

Also depends where you’re using it. In PvP the signet is a bad idea IMO, regardless of build. I mostly play a PU hybrid and there’s no situation I’ve come up with where I’d rather have the signet than EF — one extra phantasm every 35 seconds is inconsequential, but being without a heal for that long in a match is deadly. Standing around between fights with no ability to heal is not a good feeling. And few builds use signets enough to justify wasting a precious trait slot on shaving 7 seconds off that to a still-too-long 28s.

I can see it being of use in PvE, but there I have a different issue, which is trying to keep my centaur runes activated, so I still use Mirror.

in Pve this signet is the best thing that could happen to mesmer…

Improved drastically both offensive and defensive performance but without being too versatile….(ether feast is still better if you need a total reliable heal)

If only iwarden wasn t bugget it would be even better.

I’ve tried Signet of the Ether quite a bit in PvP, and I can’t find a single build where I would prefer it over Ether Feast or Mantra of Recovery.

Even in PVE, I don’t find it better than Ether Feast.

Find it pretty kitten good in tpvp, passive healing and being able to pump out extra phantasm in key fights.

WvW roaming, not so much. Ether Feast still better in most builds.

I like how you can trait the new signet heal to remove 3 conditions, and have a 20% reduced Cooldown (28sec) if you wanted to. IMHO that feels a little over the top for the other features we get with it (Passive heal, Phantasm refresh)….ect.

For me in WvW: Mirror + Runes of the Centaur + Mender’s Purity

I tried the signet in PvE and it’s ok but meshes poorly with Mender’s Purity.

juno.1840:

For me in WvW: Mirror + Runes of the Centaur + Mender’s Purity

I tried the signet in PvE and it’s ok but meshes poorly with Mender’s Purity.

yea pretty much :-)

The new heal needs to have a base of 30seconds, traited down to 24~, then I think it would be more attractive for WvW/PvP.

here
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fgAQRAsd8cnUEFRbSNC1wWbkwkie77TPiuzXeJF4O2A-TwAA1CnIATBmDMDYSwsgNgYRwWkpIA

i tried a bit in 5v5 for point holding(its not PU based). you can last a long time

main damage source:
-retal (focus 4 + sword 3(x2) + sword 5)
-phantasm

defense:
-signet ether regen
-mantra recovery + increase toughness on casting
-protection from phant regen
-long protection from rune

playstyle:
pop a defender or disenchanter based on the enemy ur facing, then summon the weapons phantasm. spam mantra to heal(ur phantasm will heal to so this synergizes)

I agree with sirsquishy, a 30 second heal time feels about right without being broken. I do feel like pointing out that as a mesmer, we have other options than traiting Mender’s Purity to remove conditions. Remember, we are talking about a nice passive heal here, one that can be combo’d with regeneration from phantasms for better healing. The idea is really to improve one’s offense by keeping your health up consistently for long periods through active dodging and keeping illusions active. iDisenchanter, arcane thievery, and other methods exist to remove conditions for us, I just think we could get creative with builds that revolve around this skill which would encourage different gameplay for the Mesmer. Ultimately that’s where I am going with this, something new to keep our profession fresh and kicking.

I can’t use the Ether Signet for three reasons:

1. I use Centaur runes to give me perma speed. With a 35 second CD, this becomes too dangerous. With Ether feast I can run into someone soon after and the CD is short enough to be up when I need to use it again.

2. I need Mender’s Purity. The signet cuts my condition removal by more than half.

3. I rely on deception. I want as few identifying traits as possible. Not good with a signet sign hanging over my name tag. (also the reason why I don’t use glory boosters)

Not sure I agree on Mender’s Purity. We have quite a bit of condition removal actually, especially because SotE resets pDisenchanter.

bhagwad.4281:

I can’t use the Ether Signet for three reasons:

1. I use Centaur runes to give me perma speed. With a 35 second CD, this becomes too dangerous. With Ether feast I can run into someone soon after and the CD is short enough to be up when I need to use it again.

2. I need Mender’s Purity. The signet cuts my condition removal by more than half.

3. I rely on deception. I want as few identifying traits as possible. Not good with a signet sign hanging over my name tag. (also the reason why I don’t use glory boosters)

You can also use an Eternal Cold Potion (the exotic permanent one) in combo with Centaur runes to get swiftness without using your heal.

Xavi.6591:

bhagwad.4281:

I can’t use the Ether Signet for three reasons:

1. I use Centaur runes to give me perma speed. With a 35 second CD, this becomes too dangerous. With Ether feast I can run into someone soon after and the CD is short enough to be up when I need to use it again.

2. I need Mender’s Purity. The signet cuts my condition removal by more than half.

3. I rely on deception. I want as few identifying traits as possible. Not good with a signet sign hanging over my name tag. (also the reason why I don’t use glory boosters)

You can also use an Eternal Cold Potion (the exotic permanent one) in combo with Centaur runes to get swiftness without using your heal.

I only PvP, but I’ll keep that in mind!

Carighan.6758:

Not sure I agree on Mender’s Purity. We have quite a bit of condition removal actually, especially because SotE resets pDisenchanter.

pDisenchanter only has 2khp. He dies pretty easily, and I don’t think it’s a fair trade-off to have a handicapped Heal that requires a full utility slot to work as effectively as one of the other heals.

eternal cold potion? how to get it? is that the exact name? available in trading post or its smth account bound?:o

ty!

Thedenofsin.7340:

pDisenchanter only has 2khp. He dies pretty easily, and I don’t think it’s a fair trade-off to have a handicapped Heal that requires a full utility slot to work as effectively as one of the other heals.

True, although pDisenchanter is also used to rip boons, so it’s not a waste of a utility slot, and it frees up a trait slot to pick Medic’s Feedback.

I’ve had zero luck with the disenchanter. It usually dies so quickly that the only thing I notice about it is the lack of a slot for something more useful.

bhagwad.4281:

I can’t use the Ether Signet for three reasons:

1. I use Centaur runes to give me perma speed. With a 35 second CD, this becomes too dangerous. With Ether feast I can run into someone soon after and the CD is short enough to be up when I need to use it again.

2. I need Mender’s Purity. The signet cuts my condition removal by more than half.

3. I rely on deception. I want as few identifying traits as possible. Not good with a signet sign hanging over my name tag. (also the reason why I don’t use glory boosters)

I wanted to comment on point 3. Wasn’t there a posting by a developer stating they were removing the signet buffs from view by other players? Not sure, but I swear I heard something about this in discussion.

I’ve been using it for a while in my PU phantasm build. I really like it now.

Sometimes, I still need to remind myself that the active can be used as a heal. I am remembering more and more often to use the active to bring up another phantasm when I need it (for example, it seems like a good trade in a fight with a necro to recast disenchanter quickly if the first one died)

It definitely has taken me a while to get used to the mechanic and the cooldown time

@Freedan:
I recall that being brought up in release notes some time earlier in the year. They were contemplating removing Signet icons from the Info HUD when other players select your character as a target. It would be a rather nice change; PvP would probably be a little more interesting (Maybe spark a bit of a challenge?) Since you wouldn’t be able to just click they character, glance at their nameplate and see the signet active and immediately know the build. Those are just my thoughts however.

I’m currently looking up the Article…

Any luck isolating that article Chromatix? I would like to know that they are going to take that away at some point to make signets more attractive.