I for one am alright with the speed that Dark Path runs at, it means I can buffer alot of my moves with the long travel time to cast the moment I teleport to them. I would rather they increase it’s range, and homing capability.
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I agree and disagree. Since it’s set in stone that it will never be ground targetted again, I don’t like that it’s so easily avoided. I think the projectile needs a speed increase but not a large one. I agree that it needs better homing as well and less pathing issues. Increased range would be nice but I’m not sure it’s needed. Usually if someone is outside it’s range, we’re in a situation where it would be wise to just let them go or we should LoS them to lure them closer.
I use it the same way you mentioned however in that I prepare my attack bursts for when I teleport to them. The fact that it’s easily avoided can mess up an entire rotation quite quickly just with a simple strafe or dodge.
What I would like as an added feature though would be to have us teleport to the max distance regardless if it doesn’t hit anything OR once it has been cast have a secondary ability come up that allows us to teleport to where ever it is at that point in time, making it’s effect AoE around us. It would be harder to land than a ground target ability but would still be highly useful for nay build. I just don’t see that happening either, sadly.
I had this one time when I fired it at a mesmer. When the projectile was about 1-2 meters close, the mesmer dodged and formed a clone. I guess that time was unique and my dark path projectile was so manly that it just took a sharp turn and followed the mesmer anyway lol.
It has pathing issues yeah and I don’t quite understand it’s interaction with cliffs. At Khylo I can safely stand on the wall or roof and shoot it at people knowing that it’s gonna hit and it won’t be teleporting me which is very convenient. At Niflhel if you fight at keep and shoot it from the edges right above the point you get teleported all the time it seems.
Dark path should guarantee a teleport when it hits a target. Theres no risk of exploitation seeing as the target had to of got there without exploiting themselves. But I do think projectile speed should be increased very slightly. Not too bothered though.
I would be very happy for any combination of the cast time being reduced and the projectile speed being increased, personally. The skill does need some love. Not much, but some. It is required for necros to prevent someone from escaping.
A very limited and situational escape tool if it’s a target spell.
From my point of view in WvW, making it instant cast would be the way to go.
We’re meant to be the proffesion that stops players getting away, yet anyone can outrun Dark path quite easily unless you’re in their face.
Errrr we were talking about the idea of it being an escape tool?
Well apparently the devs do not want necro to be mobile and the situation in sPVP and WWW is very different and I’ve stated it in some thread. The “hard to disengage part” does not currently work from a necro design point of view. It works mostly in sPVP since those modes are objective based and make those words seem somewhat true cause the enemies are interested in objectives so they either need to defend it from you and stay in the fight or attack it while you’re at it but that idea works for every class since it’s a game mode mechanic. The maps in sPVP are rather small as well. Take away the objectives and most of the classes are free to disengage anytime they want lol. Even if you run a warhorn, they would most likely still be able to run away. Even if dark path is instant I don’t think its gonna change the situation drastically. So yeah the class design description is a joke. Even with all this hype that’s building around the dev’s words from SOTG I don’t think they’re gonna fix all the core necro problems heh. PVE WWW and sPVP are all different too and in a game where classes are supposed to perform well in all the modes at the same time balance is never going to be in a proper spot. With the current class design policy necro either needs a redesign or the people behind that incompetent policy need to open up their eyes and wake up to see that it’s flawed.
Single target long range projectile that chills on impact with the projectile being something that the Necro can fire and choose when to teleport to it making the effect an AOE around the necro as a secondary effect. Both are guided by the target since the projectile is homing BUT it offers both a ranged and an ae option as well as serving the purpose of being a gap closer and escape opiton. All without being be ground targeted.
Not to mention it’s easy to avoid and neutralize. Necro coming at you? Dodge the chill effect. Necro trying to escape? Get in front of the projectile and cut him off.
Works perfectly assuming the speed is increased slightly. I could live with the homing bugginess with that type of fix.
Single target long range projectile that chills on imact OR projectile that the Necro can fire and choose when to teleport to it making the effect an AOE around the necro. Both are guided by the target since the projectile is homing BUT it offers both a ranged and an ae option as well as serving the purpose of being a gap closer and escape opiton. All without being be ground targeted.
Not to mention it’s easy to avoid and neutralize. Necro coming at you? Dodge the chill effect. Necro trying to escape? Get in front of the projectile and cut him off.
Works perfectly assuming the speed is increased slightly. I could live with the homing bugginess with that type of fix.
That is a good idea where you have the option to either use it as a gap closer or just a projectile spell. Why do you guys insist on mentioning the escape mechanic though, come on now it’s WAY to situational to be worth mentioning as an escape. Getting in front of the projectile is a funny idea too, you probably gotta either have a supreme perception and reaction or it’s going to be a random lucky situation heh. Keeping the unblockable part for the AOE would also be nice.
Regarding the projectile speed I am actually not sure, I don’t seem to ahve too much trouble with it. I would like a faster cast time though.
Also since I run warhorn sometimes you get this situation where someone is running away from you, you cast locust swarm then dark path and start chasing the enemy. So it’s like this person running away from the necro that is running after them behind and a hand slowly flying form the necro towards the target to eventually catch up like this slow doom coming the way of the person being chased.
The projectile speed doesn’t need a bug speed boost but definitely a minor one due to it’s habit of being easily avoided.
The only reason I meniton using it as an escape tool is because, since it can be fired without a target, it will be used like this regardless if my idea should come into play. It would be silly not too if you actually needed to get away. My main focus is giving it two separate purposes though. Single target ranged or gap closer/PBAoE. If they didn’t want it to be an escape tool, all they would need to do is make it require a target. It would still be highly useful.
I agree and disagree. Since it’s set in stone that it will never be ground targetted again, I don’t like that it’s so easily avoided. I think the projectile needs a speed increase but not a large one. I agree that it needs better homing as well and less pathing issues. Increased range would be nice but I’m not sure it’s needed. Usually if someone is outside it’s range, we’re in a situation where it would be wise to just let them go or we should LoS them to lure them closer.
I use it the same way you mentioned however in that I prepare my attack bursts for when I teleport to them. The fact that it’s easily avoided can mess up an entire rotation quite quickly just with a simple strafe or dodge.
What I would like as an added feature though would be to have us teleport to the max distance regardless if it doesn’t hit anything OR once it has been cast have a secondary ability come up that allows us to teleport to where ever it is at that point in time, making it’s effect AoE around us. It would be harder to land than a ground target ability but would still be highly useful for nay build. I just don’t see that happening either, sadly.
It’s not easily avoided, the fact that it is slow makes it very hard to avoid. Use Deathshroud 3 to buffer it.
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I advocate bringing back the ground targeted teleport. BUT:
-no insta cast = cheap stun break. DS is meant to soak up dmg
-Offense: bleed /chill /gap closer
-Defense: our ONLY extra range gain, for kiting. When on defense, u dont want to go back INFRONT of enemy
-it makes the skill actualy work and being player skill dependant. No excuses,gimmicks……the player must make the decision how and when to since
a) u need DS ready to get to it in 1st place
b) side effect includes a 10s DS cooldown
*cast and CD time should be readjusted, maybe even similar to recent RTL change
DS is our proffesion mechanic. Its skill realy a skill ALL necros could benefit from.
Even if they need to pay XX pt trait for it.
But if the targetable AoE is realy too much to ask ( ) , heres a solid plan B.
Like Chesire.9043 suggested above, and i had exact same idea yesterday before sleep:
Make DS#2 work basicaly same as mesmer sword#3 (illusionary leap)
So after u fire the projectile:
a) u get a new skill, which teleports to current location and chills/bleed around
b) or u need to hit target 1st, then u get the new skill and a time frame, in which u can decide IF u want to teleport to the target
The B case would solve the issue for condi necros losing kiting range, while for power necros u could keep range when in axe, or use the teleport when in daggers.
It’s not easily avoided, the fact that it is slow makes it very hard to avoid. Use Deathshroud 3 to buffer it.
I would have to disagree, but that doesn’t make me right. When I use it as a gap closer it doesn’t hit it’s target nearly enough, so I always use it at close range to bleed/chill targets for the most part. I still attempt to use it as a gap closer but as I said, doesn’t land as often as I feel it should. It has trouble with some hills, easily LoSable and at range can be dodged (in my opinion) almost as easy/easier than a Warrior’s Boa. Although I will admit I have been hit many a time with a Boa.
I have landed it atleast 95% of the time against above average players. I know considerable amounts of people have difficulty using it until I physically explain to them through voice chat whilst showing them ingame how to do it. You’re not the only one, however it’s incredibly strong, and increasing it’s speed would actually nerf it imo.
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Ground targeted Dark Path is a very bad idea, but maybe it could work if it was like warriors “Whirlwind Attack” .
Imagine you have a cone and wherever you aim it, the dark path will get you there.
I am not sure tho, this might be terrible but it looks to me like it has potential.
Natsos, Necromancer
Officer of Spartians GR[SPGR]
Gandara EU
I really do like the concept of this skill, but it’s hard to use. First, you need to double click it (once for death shroud, then #2), and then you still need to wait for it to follow it’s target. When somebody is running away from you, it wastes time. How fast can somebody go DS, 2, and watch it follow target, hoping it will land? As a gap closer it is WAY too freaking slow because by the time you finally activate it, they have run out of reach or have swiftness on and you just wasted DS for it. It’s better used a teleport to use daggers or use it as a teleport then drop a well/marks/Spectral Wall.
) , heres a solid plan B.