Good day folks! I’d like to bring to discussion today the differences in cast times for the #2 downed state skills amongst the professions. Namely, we have the following cast times:
- Necro: Fear – 1 1/4s (1.25s)
- Warrior: Hammer Toss – 1s
- Ranger: Thunderclap – 1/2s
- Guardian: Wave of Light – 1/2s
- Mesmer: Deception – 1/2s
- Engineer: Grappling Line – 1/2s
- Elementalist: Vapor Form – 0s
- Thief: Shadow Escape – 0s
When ANet removed the need for “energy/mana” to cast skills, they stated that skills will be balance by cast time and recharge. Stronger and more impacting skills tend to have a longer cast/recharge time. If we choose to follow this logic, then Fear is regarded by ANet as one of the most impacting #2 Downed Skills. I doubt ANet really feels this way about Fear, but this begs the question of whether or note Fear “deserves” a 1.25s cast time.
If I may share my opinion, I think Fear is one of the most versatile #2 Downed State skills as it can target any foe within 900 range and takes them out of combat for 2+ seconds (minus stun-break). This allows the Necro to be supportive even at the cost of its own life. But I don’t think this warrants a 1.25s cast time. In fact, this “additional” cast time hurts our odds of staying alive when downed for multiple reasons:
- Less time to react when being stomped/focused. This is a problem as a foe can begin stomping before your downed state skills appear. So rather than having ~1.75s to react to being stomped (3s to stomp – 1.25s to cast Fear), we really only have about .75s to react and choose our target (after adjusting to our super-close camera angle and such)
- Less likelihood to be able to use Fear twice. This isn’t a super-big issue, in my opinion, but it does warrant a statement. It’s sort of annoying being stomped while queuing up your second Fear.
On a different, but sort of related note:
- Fear does not “synergize” with Fetid Ground. I personally really don’t care for Fetid Ground in the first place, but Fear and Fetid Ground really don’t work well together. This is usually how things go for me:
Fear -> Foe runs away -> If Fetid Ground is ready, I have to wait for my foe to get into stomping range to maximize the poison effect. Thus to use #3 generally means I’ve already accepted defeat and am just being spiteful post-death.
So what do you guys think? Is the cast time too long? Just right?
As always, thank you for your time and have a great day!
PS: I think Fear is an incredibly good skill, and I’m certainly not bashing it. I just don’t like the cast time
PPS: Does anyone else have times where Fear seems to fail for no reason? Or that it casts on the foes your Leech Life was attacking even after you’ve selected a different foe? It may just be me as I’m not a super-good player