Guild Wars 2

I haven’t had a good enough chance to properly tested it yet, and outside heart of the mists or boss fights, there’s no real way to test it(that I know of – RIP Lion’s Arch Training Dummies). I was wondering how strong or weak it is?

ticks almost as much as 2-3 burning stacks.
does not stack in intensity.

If you are the only reaper around, good for you, but other ppl can overwrite your chill.

Arantheal.7396:

ticks almost as much as 2-3 burning stacks.
does not stack in intensity.

If you are the only reaper around, good for you, but other ppl can overwrite your chill.

Really? That sounds like its kind of broken when compared to the other conditions.. :/

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Really? That sounds like its kind of broken when compared to the other conditions.. :/

It is! It really needs to be changed so that Chill adds a second damaging condition that can stack and behave like other modern conditions.

Dristig.9678:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Really? That sounds like its kind of broken when compared to the other conditions.. :/

It is! It really needs to be changed so that Chill adds a second damaging condition that can stack and behave like other modern conditions.

I really don’t see any problem making it function like Poison.

meow one twenty.4376:

Dristig.9678:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Really? That sounds like its kind of broken when compared to the other conditions.. :/

It is! It really needs to be changed so that Chill adds a second damaging condition that can stack and behave like other modern conditions.

I really don’t see any problem making it function like Poison.

it would be optimal imo if deathly chill made chilling a target also apply x stacks of poison instead of what it does currently

The simple way to do it:

‘The damage your conditions do on Chilled targets is increased by X%.’

No stacking issues, works well in large groups.

Maxzero.4032:

The simple way to do it:

‘The damage your conditions do on Chilled targets is increased by X%.’

No stacking issues, works well in large groups.

That sort of defeats the idea Anet had for it though. Not entirely, but sort of.
Not only that, but it also plays more into the direct damage meta hand of things that they are trying to break away from.

I like the idea of having a new condition for it.
Change Chill from Reapers with the trait to something like Frostbite or Cold or some other name with a new icon that stacks like Burning or Poison.

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Maxzero.4032:

The simple way to do it:

‘The damage your conditions do on Chilled targets is increased by X%.’

No stacking issues, works well in large groups.

That sort of defeats the idea Anet had for it though. Not entirely, but sort of.
Not only that, but it also plays more into the direct damage meta hand of things that they are trying to break away from.

I like the idea of having a new condition for it.
Change Chill from Reapers with the trait to something like Frostbite or Cold or some other name with a new icon that stacks like Burning or Poison.

It only affects condition damage how would it support the DD meta?

The idea for Deathly Chill was to provide more damage for Conditions builds. My change would still do that while not affecting inter-class balance.

Maxzero.4032:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Maxzero.4032:

The simple way to do it:

‘The damage your conditions do on Chilled targets is increased by X%.’

No stacking issues, works well in large groups.

That sort of defeats the idea Anet had for it though. Not entirely, but sort of.
Not only that, but it also plays more into the direct damage meta hand of things that they are trying to break away from.

I like the idea of having a new condition for it.
Change Chill from Reapers with the trait to something like Frostbite or Cold or some other name with a new icon that stacks like Burning or Poison.

It only affects condition damage how would it support the DD meta?

The idea for Deathly Chill was to provide more damage for Conditions builds. My change would still do that while not affecting inter-class balance.

My bad, I’m not really that awake and misread your comment lol.
That wouldn’t be too bad actually. Would support Dhuumfire a lot more tbh.

I have been wonder if the 5 stack cap for Chill is intentional or just an oversight.

Anyway, IF in a raid or any small pre-made team, your Chill Necro is the sole Chill contributor, I suppose choosing a Chill major would be a benefit. Otherwise, IF there is a real chance that your Chill will be overwritten, choose Dhuumfire instead.

Oh My God.8423:

I have been wonder if the 5 stack cap for Chill is intentional or just an oversight.

Anyway, IF in a raid or any small pre-made team, your Chill Necro is the sole Chill contributor, I suppose choosing a Chill major would be a benefit. Otherwise, IF there is a real chance that your Chill will be overwritten, choose Dhuumfire instead.

But Chill and Dhuumfire are in different specializations, and you have to take Reaper to be a Reaper? I don’t understand.

It is extremely strong, I fully expect it to get nerfed or changed next patch. With chilling darkness now, fear chaining is absolutely ridiculous. Condi reapers have endless ways to apply chill and they can do it without even trying. Around 700 damage per second, add that on to the cooldown recharge and movement impairing, it’s really strong.
I can’t lie though, I’m having tons of fun with it

Sabre.8627:

It is extremely strong, I fully expect it to get nerfed or changed next patch. With chilling darkness now, fear chaining is absolutely ridiculous. Condi reapers have endless ways to apply chill and they can do it without even trying. Around 700 damage per second, add that on to the cooldown recharge and movement impairing, it’s really strong.
I can’t lie though, I’m having tons of fun with it

700? Is that low? I can’t tell. I’ve only ever played with this one build:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR4Ync0AF1gN2AWbC0biliBLuHOEXiUNhpwtKKA8tKAA-ThBBABA8kCcZ/hqV+5suHpV/RNlgkCAilVA-e

I’ve managed to get my burning with Dhuumfire upwards of 5k with no buffed food with the above build(basically). Idk how many stacks that was, but I usually don’t see double digits and Idk how it compares to that 700 number.

Would that be 700 per stack(feels like a dumb question lol)? If so, and if what others are saying(chill stack cap at 5) then wouldn’t that mean it has a maximum of only 3500? I guess that does sound good, but how does it compare to Burning damage?

Is it truly worth trying to build around if others can overwrite your chill stacks?

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Sabre.8627:

It is extremely strong, I fully expect it to get nerfed or changed next patch. With chilling darkness now, fear chaining is absolutely ridiculous. Condi reapers have endless ways to apply chill and they can do it without even trying. Around 700 damage per second, add that on to the cooldown recharge and movement impairing, it’s really strong.
I can’t lie though, I’m having tons of fun with it

700? Is that low? I can’t tell. I’ve only ever played with this one build:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR4Ync0AF1gN2AWbC0biliBLuHOEXiUNhpwtKKA8tKAA-ThBBABA8kCcZ/hqV+5suHpV/RNlgkCAilVA-e

I’ve managed to get my burning with Dhuumfire upwards of 5k with no buffed food with the above build(basically). Idk how many stacks that was, but I usually don’t see double digits and Idk how it compares to that 700 number.

Would that be 700 per stack(feels like a dumb question lol)? If so, and if what others are saying(chill stack cap at 5) then wouldn’t that mean it has a maximum of only 3500? I guess that does sound good, but how does it compare to Burning damage?

Is it truly worth trying to build around if others can overwrite your chill stacks?

Sorry I should have specified, my opinion is solely based on PvP experience. I’ve never used a condition build in PvE so I couldn’t help you there. 700 per second doesn’t seem like much at all in PvE, I couldn’t imagine anyone centering a build around it. Burns, bleeds, and poison have no limits and would start to out-damage it very quickly.

the thing with deathly chill is you shouldn’t build around it like you do for burning/bleeding/poison

deathly chill is just something that should compliment your main form of DPS

Azazel.1540:

the thing with deathly chill is you shouldn’t build around it like you do for burning/bleeding/poison

deathly chill is just something that should compliment your main form of DPS

Truthfully, I don’t see a place for it to compliment anything. The 5 stack cap, plus the damage itself versus the damage – both condition and direct – that can be applied simply by choosing Reaper’s Onslaught is enough to not use it. I could build around bleeding, burning or poison and the deathly chill trait would still not cut it.

In the case that I wasn’t building around burning, Dhuumfire would still take the place of what chill could do, and Reaper’s Onslaught compliments that extremely well. The use of both RO and Dhuumfire doesn’t work out too well either. For either to be effective, you need to build around them, but you can’t build around Chill because of the stack cap and the fact that it can be overwritten. Which is too bad because Chill is an awesome condition outside of damage. Maybe that’s why..

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Sabre.8627:

It is extremely strong, I fully expect it to get nerfed or changed next patch. With chilling darkness now, fear chaining is absolutely ridiculous. Condi reapers have endless ways to apply chill and they can do it without even trying. Around 700 damage per second, add that on to the cooldown recharge and movement impairing, it’s really strong.
I can’t lie though, I’m having tons of fun with it

700? Is that low? I can’t tell. I’ve only ever played with this one build:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAR4Ync0AF1gN2AWbC0biliBLuHOEXiUNhpwtKKA8tKAA-ThBBABA8kCcZ/hqV+5suHpV/RNlgkCAilVA-e

I’ve managed to get my burning with Dhuumfire upwards of 5k with no buffed food with the above build(basically). Idk how many stacks that was, but I usually don’t see double digits and Idk how it compares to that 700 number.

Would that be 700 per stack(feels like a dumb question lol)? If so, and if what others are saying(chill stack cap at 5) then wouldn’t that mean it has a maximum of only 3500? I guess that does sound good, but how does it compare to Burning damage?

Is it truly worth trying to build around if others can overwrite your chill stacks?

Chill stacks only in duration, so if you do 700 damage per tick with one stack you only do 700 damage per tick with 5 stacks. Overwriting Chill stacks is a large oversight for big scale fights, but in smaller fights and PvP it makes some good damage.

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

Chill stacks in duration, but you can only stack it 5 times.

- So if me and a pall, apply 3 stacks off chill each, with a 1 sec duration pr. stack on the same mob (at the same time), then the mob will get 5 sec of chill on it. Since 5 times 1 sec = 5 sec total. The last 1 stack of chill do not get applyed or it will replace the first stack that was applyed.

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

It stacks in in duration but each application of chill is still stored individually on the target. This storage has a cap of 5.

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

It stacks in duration up to five times. Since it stacks in duration instead of power if it doesn’t get a stacking number. Here are some examples:

5 people stack 1 second of Chill all at the same time. That will look like 1 stack for 5 seconds. 1+1+1+1+1=5

4 people stack 1 second Chill for 1 second, 1 person stacks 12 seconds at the same time. That would look like 1+1+1+1+12=16 seconds of one stack of Chill.

1 person stacks 12 seconds, 5 people stack 1 second immediately after the first person. The 12 second duration gets overwritten (5 stack limit). 1+1+1+1+1=5 seconds duration of one stack, even though someone stacked 12 seconds it only keeps track of the most recent 5 stacks.

No matter which one you choose it will only have 1 stack of potency, for various amounts of time. This becomes even worse when you add damage to the Chill. It’s just a mess.

they rly need to do something about the chill trait for pvp, it reks everything atm.
cant stand on point as a druid when there is reaper shroud guy on it and thief almost have no cleanse for it. it was just a bad idea from the beginning and they should definetly take it back as it was (that it made less dmg over a certain threshold) also revenant cant deal with it cause everyone with low condi cleanse can get 15 sec chill on them and they cant do anything about it, if it ticks for almost 1k every second thats the whole hp pole for many builds out there

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

People say it because that’s the case. Check the wiki out. As well as the patch notes the wiki points to. They changed it in July for some reason. I think.

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

People say it because that’s the case. Check the wiki out. As well as the patch notes the wiki points to. They changed it in July for some reason. I think.

I think he was just confused about intensity stacking versus duration stacking.

denkadoll.1405:

they rly need to do something about the chill trait for pvp, it reks everything atm.
cant stand on point as a druid when there is reaper shroud guy on it and thief almost have no cleanse for it. it was just a bad idea from the beginning and they should definetly take it back as it was (that it made less dmg over a certain threshold) also revenant cant deal with it cause everyone with low condi cleanse can get 15 sec chill on them and they cant do anything about it, if it ticks for almost 1k every second thats the whole hp pole for many builds out there

I never knew how strong it was in PvP. That strength doesn’t carry over in PvE well sadly. 1k per tick is nothing in PvE. To be honest, it sounds like it needs a nerf, but in PvP only. But then again, I don’t think is should be. That sounds like its a hard counter to some other profession’s builds. If that can’t be dealt with as a Druid or Thief, then you need something else to counter it.

meow one twenty.4376:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

People say it because that’s the case. Check the wiki out. As well as the patch notes the wiki points to. They changed it in July for some reason. I think.

I think he was just confused about intensity stacking versus duration stacking.

Exactly that. I thought people were claiming to see a little 5 in the corner on some game modes.

Maxzero.4032:

The simple way to do it:

‘The damage your conditions do on Chilled targets is increased by X%.’

No stacking issues, works well in large groups.

That doesn’t fix it. One of the strongest points of Deathly Chill (and burning pre-stacking) is that they provide a very high “base” level of damage for condition builds that can’t be matched otherwise. Each tick of chill always hits hard, whereas other conditions need to be stacked up, at least a bit, to mirror this. So that change wouldn’t at all fix it, it would still have the same issues as normal condi builds; being worthless if you can’t keep decent stacks on the enemy.

Bhawb.7408:

Maxzero.4032:

The simple way to do it:

‘The damage your conditions do on Chilled targets is increased by X%.’

No stacking issues, works well in large groups.

That doesn’t fix it. One of the strongest points of Deathly Chill (and burning pre-stacking) is that they provide a very high “base” level of damage for condition builds that can’t be matched otherwise. Each tick of chill always hits hard, whereas other conditions need to be stacked up, at least a bit, to mirror this. So that change wouldn’t at all fix it, it would still have the same issues as normal condi builds; being worthless if you can’t keep decent stacks on the enemy.

So, either be powerful or worthless is where we are at.

I guess I don’t see what’s wrong with a DoT ability requiring multiple stacks to be powerful (on a 100% uptime ability), but that clearly comes down to personal opinions.

meow one twenty.4376:

So, either be powerful or worthless is where we are at.

I guess I don’t see what’s wrong with a DoT ability requiring multiple stacks to be powerful (on a 100% uptime ability), but that clearly comes down to personal opinions.

You’re just trading one bad design for another. The change would make it useful in PvE group fights, but significantly worse in any situation with decent cleansing. You go from worthless one place and good another to good one place and worthless another, no real change.

Dristig.9678:

meow one twenty.4376:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

People say it because that’s the case. Check the wiki out. As well as the patch notes the wiki points to. They changed it in July for some reason. I think.

I think he was just confused about intensity stacking versus duration stacking.

Exactly that. I thought people were claiming to see a little 5 in the corner on some game modes.

From the wiki:

“This condition was limited to a maximum of 5 stacks on July 7, 2015. When capped, new longer stacks will replace shorter ones.”

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chilled

I was replying to the “Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration?” question. It technically stacks in both, we just don’t see the number. Unlike with Burning where the only difference now between the two is that burning now shows stack numbers.

The regular effect of chill is stacked in duration, but the damage effect of chill is stacked in intensity – like burning – but capped at 5 stacks – unlike burning or any other intensity stacking condition(Bleeding, Confusion and Poison). This is what I was getting at, and why I suggested the wiki. Chilled does both, technically.

Deathly Chill feels really good. It’s a consistent source of damage that requires Active Gameplay to upkeep. The fact that chill damage does not stack means that chill application requires strategy; it’s not brainless spamming of a condition like Mesmer’s confusion or Guardian’s burn.

Overall Deathly Chill should be kept the way it is. It feels strong but not imbalanced. It encourages Active Gameplay and strategy to use effectively.

zone.1073:

Deathly Chill feels really good. It’s a consistent source of damage that requires Active Gameplay to upkeep. The fact that chill damage does not stack means that chill application requires strategy; it’s not brainless spamming of a condition like Mesmer’s confusion or Guardian’s burn.

Overall Deathly Chill should be kept the way it is. It feels strong but not imbalanced. It encourages Active Gameplay and strategy to use effectively.

But the problems with it!!
*Stacks at 5 stacks
*Shorter durations get overwritten with new, longer ones.
*New, longer duration, non-damaging stacks overwrite stacks that do damage but have less duration left.

How does that feel? That can’t feel good. That supports playing solo rather than with other people for fear of them killing your DPS – or just not focusing on chill as a damage source.

A.K.A: The entire problem Bleeding had pre-Bleeding 25 stack cap removal.

How does that feel? Quite literally; Chill is in the same position Bleeding was months ago. How is that good?

It’s PvE vs. PvP debate.

ArtemusHunter.9521:

How does that feel? Quite literally; Chill is in the same position Bleeding was months ago. How is that good?

I don’t support the idea that multiple sources of chill should all independently damage targets. Chill as a single stack dealing a single tick of damage is the way it should be. However, I do agree that non-damaging chill overriding damaging chill feels awful and anti-fun. Priority should be given to chills that are causing damage.

By the way, my opinions are strictly about PvP.

I’ve never seen any other profession stack chill like we can so more often than not it’s me overwriting everyone else’s Chill. Also, I guess I’m confused on the stacking of intensity because when I cast staff 3 it’ll tick for 500 dmg first then every time I crit inside that field it’s increasing the chill damage up to having seen 1,011 today.

Bhawb.7408:

meow one twenty.4376:

So, either be powerful or worthless is where we are at.

I guess I don’t see what’s wrong with a DoT ability requiring multiple stacks to be powerful (on a 100% uptime ability), but that clearly comes down to personal opinions.

You’re just trading one bad design for another. The change would make it useful in PvE group fights, but significantly worse in any situation with decent cleansing. You go from worthless one place and good another to good one place and worthless another, no real change.

It’s almost like…

meow one twenty.4376:

So, either be powerful or worthless is where we are at.

Dristig.9678:

meow one twenty.4376:

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Dristig.9678:

Why do some people say that Chill has a 5 stack cap and others say it has only duration? Is it split in each gamemode? I’ve never seen it stack at all so I’m sort of confused.

People say it because that’s the case. Check the wiki out. As well as the patch notes the wiki points to. They changed it in July for some reason. I think.

I think he was just confused about intensity stacking versus duration stacking.

Exactly that. I thought people were claiming to see a little 5 in the corner on some game modes.

It looks like you are Reaping the downsides of asking a question on the Internet. Sorry about all the responses.

Quells.2498:

I’ve never seen any other profession stack chill like we can so more often than not it’s me overwriting everyone else’s Chill. Also, I guess I’m confused on the stacking of intensity because when I cast staff 3 it’ll tick for 500 dmg first then every time I crit inside that field it’s increasing the chill damage up to having seen 1,011 today.

Are you sure the extra damage didn’t come from might stacks or other sources increasing condi damage?

When I did testing on Deathly Chill it didn’t matter how many stacks of duration were applied. As long as one of the max. five stacks ticking at a time was applied by me, it was ticking for damage. Having other people also applying stacks at the same time (I was testing how the overwrite works) did not change the amount of damage, unless they overwrote my stacks completely of course.

Edit: Just for clarification, when I say “damage”, I mean damage per condi-tick, the number that shows up on screen in the condition floater and in your combat log. Having more of your duration stacks applied to a target will of course increase the total damage dealt over time and caps at the point you keep a target perma-chilled (unless your stacks get overwritten).

Skoigoth.9238:

Quells.2498:

I’ve never seen any other profession stack chill like we can so more often than not it’s me overwriting everyone else’s Chill. Also, I guess I’m confused on the stacking of intensity because when I cast staff 3 it’ll tick for 500 dmg first then every time I crit inside that field it’s increasing the chill damage up to having seen 1,011 today.

Are you sure the extra damage didn’t come from might stacks or other sources increasing condi damage?

When I did testing on Deathly Chill it didn’t matter how many stacks of duration were applied. As long as one of the max. five stacks ticking at a time was applied by me, it was ticking for damage. Having other people also applying stacks at the same time (I was testing how the overwrite works) did not change the amount of damage, unless they overwrote my stacks completely of course.

Edit: Just for clarification, when I say “damage”, I mean damage per condi-tick, the number that shows up on screen in the condition floater and in your combat log. Having more of your duration stacks applied to a target will of course increase the total damage dealt over time and caps at the point you keep a target perma-chilled (unless your stacks get overwritten).

I do not quite understand…

For example: a target has received 5 stacks of Deathly-Chill Chill from me, and (for the sake of argument) 5 stacks only, that target will take 5 stacks of Chill damage from me for the duration of those Chills.

Now, what if I apply a 6th Deathly-Chill Chill to the same target BEFORE the first 5 stacks have run for their full duration? Would:
a) the 6th Chill join the queue until one of the previous Chill expires; or
b) the 6th Chill overwrites one of the previous Chill and starts its damage immediately?

Now, what if an Engineer join the fight. My Necro has already applied 5 stacks of Deathly-Chill Chill onto the target; and 5 only. The 5 stacks are still ticking. Before any of those 5 stacks expire, the Engineer apply a Chill. Would:
a) his non-damaging Chill overwrites one of my previous Chill; or
b) his non-damaging Chill queues up until one of my previous Chill expires?

Now, what if an Engineer has already put 5 stacks of non-damaging Chill on a target before my Necro arrives. Those 5 non-damaging Chill are still running for the length of their duration. Would:
a) my next Deathly-Chill Chill overwrites one of his previous non-damaging Chill; or
b) my next Deathly-Chill Chill queues up until one of his previous non-damaging Chill expires?

Thanks!

Chill stacking is bad, because the – speed and especially the – recharge time is way more useful then the damage. Besides which nobody but necro mains want to see another stacking damage condition tick away for thousands per second.

@Oh My God, disclaimer: I tested this with an Ele buddy in BW3, so my information might or might not be outdated. From what we’ve gathered back then, it seems to work like this…

Oh My God.8423:

For example: a target has received 5 stacks of Deathly-Chill Chill from me, and (for the sake of argument) 5 stacks only, that target will take 5 stacks of Chill damage from me for the duration of those Chills.

For the sake of simplicity, let’s assume you currently have 4 stacks of 3s duration Chills and 1 stack of 1s duration Chill applied to a target, resulting in a total duration of 13s of Chill on the target. The next time your Chill ticks for damage you deal 600 damage to the target. When after 1s your 1s duration Chill expires, you only have 4 duration stacks left on the target, but Chill would still tick for 600 damage every time the condi tick occurs, until all of your stacks have expired. Having more of your duration stacks applied to the same target will not increase the damage per tick.

I’m not exactly sure how the game handles multiple stacks with the same duration when it comes to expiring, but I would assume that stacks that get applied first are also the ones to expire first (I could be wrong on that though).

Oh My God.8423:

Now, what if I apply a 6th Deathly-Chill Chill to the same target BEFORE the first 5 stacks have run for their full duration? Would:
a) the 6th Chill join the queue until one of the previous Chill expires; or
b) the 6th Chill overwrites one of the previous Chill and starts its damage immediately

I think every time you try to apply a stack of Chill to a target that already has the full 5 stacks of duration applied to them, the game checks if the duration stack cap has already been reached and if that is true, which in this case it is, your latest Chill is essentially wasted. It simply will not be applied. As long as a condition on a target is capped at the stacking limit, no further sources of that condition can be applied to the target until at least one of the currently applied stacks expires.

Oh My God.8423:

Now, what if an Engineer join the fight. My Necro has already applied 5 stacks of Deathly-Chill Chill onto the target; and 5 only. The 5 stacks are still ticking. Before any of those 5 stacks expire, the Engineer apply a Chill. Would:
a) his non-damaging Chill overwrites one of my previous Chill; or
b) his non-damaging Chill queues up until one of my previous Chill expires?

Same as above, the Chill stack the Engi tries to apply should not get applied as long as the target is capped at the stacking limit of 5 stacks.

Oh My God.8423:

Now, what if an Engineer has already put 5 stacks of non-damaging Chill on a target before my Necro arrives. Those 5 non-damaging Chill are still running for the length of their duration. Would:
a) my next Deathly-Chill Chill overwrites one of his previous non-damaging Chill; or
b) my next Deathly-Chill Chill queues up until one of his previous non-damaging Chill expires?

Same as above, your Chill should not get applied as long as the target has the maximum of 5 stacks of duration applied to it.

Oh My God.8423:

Thanks!

You are welcome!

Just to clarify one more thing, when people say “your Chills get overwritten”, I think what they mean, or at least what I mean, is that the game “overwrites” aka simply not applies the Chills you try to apply to a target that already is at the cap. Not the other way round.

I hope that this makes it a bit clearer as to why it is so hard to see our Chills tick for damage consistently in big open world zerg fights. Everything happens very fast, everyone is spamming their skills like mad and it basically comes down to luck whether or not you hit the exact time window in which the Chill on the boss is not at the stacking limit.

As always, please correct me if I’m wrong about something and if someone has more in-depth, better or more recent information on this, please share it with us! =)

Edit: Lots of typos and grammar X)

While I do think Anet needs to address the issues around deathly chill and stacks being overwritten, especially in PvE/WvW, I think the overwritten stacks of chill probably do not matter much in PvP. Really, the only time older stacks are overwritten is when the duration of the new stack is longer. Reaper is really the only class with access to skills that apply long stacks of chill. Most of my reaper skills apply 4 seconds or more of chill, and very few classes can beat or even match that (ranger frost trap or ele signet of water are the only skills that apply at least 4 seconds and neither of those is used very often in PvP).

The only place where I can really see this being an issue is when you have multiple reapers, and some are running deathly chill and some are not, or if their condi damage is vastly different due to their build or might stacking.

Basically, what I’m saying is that Anet should address this issue by increasing the cap of chill stacks or by having the most damaging chills take precedence over the ones that do not cause damage. Implementing both of those solutions would be best.

At the same time, I agree that deathly chill can be extremely strong in PvP situations, so either a reduction in base damage or a reduction in its condi damage coefficient (the amount of damage chill causes for each point of condi damage you have) is probably necessary. And/or revert chill to the way it was before the change, where chill only deals a lot of damage on targets with lower health.

I am leaning more towards a coefficient reduction than an overall damage reduction, because I think where chill starts to be OP is when condi damage is greater than 1k. It is already effective enough for condi builds without doing a ton of damage per second. Chill makes cleansing and avoiding attacks more difficult, while also masking more damaging conditions. Therefore, the damage it does should reflect those benefits, while at the same time making the trait competitive. We shouldn’t forget, after all, that it IS a grandmaster trait, and thus should be somewhat build-defining.

I think terror is pretty well balanced, so I have faith that Anet will do the right thing and find a happy medium for chill damage as well.

Skoigoth.9238:

Just to clarify one more thing, when people say “your Chills get overwritten”, I think what they mean, or at least what I mean, is that the game “overwrites” aka simply not applies the Chills you try to apply to a target that already is at the cap. Not the other way round.

I hope that this makes it a bit clearer as to why it is so hard to see our Chills tick for damage consistently in big open world zerg fights. Everything happens very fast, everyone is spamming their skills like mad and it basically comes down to luck whether or not you hit the exact time window in which the Chill on the boss is not at the stacking limit.

As always, please correct me if I’m wrong about something and if someone has more in-depth, better or more recent information on this, please share it with us! =)

Just FYI, this isn’t how it works. Taking the same situations you described before, where 1 stack of 1s and 4 stacks of 3s each (13 seconds total) are already on the target:

Let’s say you apply another stack of chill with a duration of 4 seconds:
First, the game checks if the target already has 5 stacks: Yes
Next, the game checks to see if the duration of the chill you are applying is longer than the duration of one of the stacks already on the target: Yes

What happens then, is that the new, longer duration stack replaces one of the old, shorter duration stacks —→ this is what the term “overwrite” means, that the old stack disappears and the new stack replaces it.

What is not clear to me is whether the oldest stack or the stack with the shortest duration is the one that is overwritten.

Anyway, here’s my point. Since necro is the only class that can apply chill in 4 second increments or greater (with the exception of 2 utility skills that are seldom used by ele and ranger), another profession cannot usually overwrite the chill of a reaper, especially when you consider that ALL reapers have a minor trait (Cold Shoulder) that increases chill duration by 20%. Even base necros will not be able to overwrite reaper chills unless they are using a sigil of chilling to match or exceed the reaper’s increased chill duration. I think there are a few runes that also increase chill duration, but I don’t think many people use them.

Basically, a reaper doesn’t really have to worry about their chill being overwritten, except by other reapers. Which is only an issue in PvE and WvW, and then really only matters for reapers with very different amounts of condi damage, or if some are running deathly chill and some are not.

Stand The Wall.6987:

Chill stacking is bad, because the – speed and especially the – recharge time is way more useful then the damage. Besides which nobody but necro mains want to see another stacking damage condition tick away for thousands per second.

Agreed, with the amount of damage that chill currently does, modifying chill to stack intensity rather than duration would be a huge buff to condi reapers, and one that they definitely DO NOT need.

Not only that, but it would be a huge nerf to all other classes, since none of them can do damage with chill and thus do not care about stacks; they just want to keep chill on their target for as long as possible.

Even if reaper chill was changed to a different icon and the other profession’s chills worked the same way they always have, condi reapers do not need a buff!

For the original question: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Condition_Damage

So one tick of chill is worth 5-6 ticks of poison.

If you’re a condi Reaper using gs, staff, or focus, it’s the best grandmaster. Otherwise, go for one of the other two.

hotcarl.8621:

Just FYI, this isn’t how it works. Taking the same situations you described before, where 1 stack of 1s and 4 stacks of 3s each (13 seconds total) are already on the target:

Let’s say you apply another stack of chill with a duration of 4 seconds:
First, the game checks if the target already has 5 stacks: Yes
Next, the game checks to see if the duration of the chill you are applying is longer than the duration of one of the stacks already on the target: Yes

What happens then, is that the new, longer duration stack replaces one of the old, shorter duration stacks —-> this is what the term “overwrite” means, that the old stack disappears and the new stack replaces it.

Thanks for clearing that up. Funnily enough, this is how I and my test partner originally thought it works before we did the testing X) Looking back on it now, our method of testing was severely flawed, which is why we came to the conclusion that there might not be any actual overwriting going on. What we should have done for testing is using two Reapers (one with Deathly Chill, one without) and not just one Reaper and an Ele to compare against.
The fact that I see my chills occasionally tick for damage even in zergy boss fights certainly makes a lot more sense if duration is in fact the determining factor in this.

hotcarl.8621:

What is not clear to me is whether the oldest stack or the stack with the shortest duration is the one that is overwritten.

Yeah, that’s an important point too I think. It would make the most sense to have the stack with the shortest duration overall being overwritten first, but it could also be possible that the game only looks at e.g. the stack that is currently active or “ticking down”. Also, it would be interesting to know how the game handles e.g. multiple stacks with the same duration when it comes to overwriting (Is it “random”? Is the oldest/newest stack being removed first? Does condi damage play a role in this at all? etc. etc.).

I would be really happy if we could maybe get an official statement from a dev on all of this =/