Guild Wars 2

Yes guys we did it! Foot in the grave is a stunbreak!!!!

Foot in the Grave: This trait will now allow the necromancer to break stuns when entering death shroud.

Yo

Sweet.

For power builds i think the +50% crit chance is just too good.
For condi , there could be an option to switch it for greater marks or reapers protection and having an extra stunbreak -only thing is 0% lf at start -.-
For other weird stuff… seems like a realy nice improvement to the bunker necro for example

Edit:
Im really loving it on condi necro
06206 definetly worth it over greater marks/RP

I called this a long time ago, and everyone said I was crazy… >_> kitten .

HOLY kitten!

I’m so hyped for seemingly no reason! Someone tell me why this isn’t good enough so I can calm down.

Holy crap, they listened! Guys, we did it!

This thing is an enabler so hard for condition builds, holy crap. Master of Terror will still be mandatory, but a ten second cooldown stunbreak is killer strong and totally allows Condition Necromancers to drop a stunbreak in favor of something else. Honestly, given the quick cooldown it may even enable Necromancers to drop all stunbreaks and use DS a bit more defensively.

I can’t wait to give this a try!

Spectral DS necro wohoo !! :P 6 Seconds CD stunbreak lol

This is amazing….YAAASSSS!!!!. But will it be used? you till have to give up deathly perception for it

Watch this get nerfed again. Other professions gonna qq about the stunbreak every 7 seconds

:( still no fear interrupt fix im a sad kuro

Wow if we are getting a ds stun break i guess this means we are going to remain immobile. I still think this trait should be a grandmaster minor, but this is deffinitely an improvement

Rising Dusk.2408:

Holy crap, they listened! Guys, we did it!

This thing is an enabler so hard for condition builds, holy crap. Master of Terror will still be mandatory, but a ten second cooldown stunbreak is killer strong and totally allows Condition Necromancers to drop a stunbreak in favor of something else. Honestly, given the quick cooldown it may even enable Necromancers to drop all stunbreaks and use DS a bit more defensively.

I can’t wait to give this a try!

Im honestly surprised they listened and implemented this so quickly. Its a first for this kind of speedy balance tweak based on feedback.

I actually don’t expect this to get nerfed given that you have to take it or Deathly Perception. If this were slottable in a Power build I do think it’d be horrifically imbalanced, but you have to give up too much; a Power build cannot take this. Meanwhile, a condition build can but has to give up something from Death Magic to get it… Which in itself has its own tradeoffs. I think this is pretty much the perfect solution to the FitG issue we had.

Wow. I was not expecting Anet to listen to the necro community, but they did. Maybe there is still hope for us guys!

Plot twist: This is the april fools joke. They’ll revert it tomorrow.

I don’t see why it’d be broken for a power build, it’s basically a choice with whether to use DS offensively or defensively. If you use DS for life blast spam and offensive fears and dark path chances are in PvP it will not be in practice a 7 sec stunbreak, but something longer.

And quite frankly the class needs these kinds of short cd stunbreaks considering it has no access to stability or vigor.

Either way you can still train a necromancer to the ground, a stun wasn’t really necessary to kill one just put an s/d thief/shoutbow warrior/ele on the necro and he’s still going to die.

Hell mesmers and guardians are still going to be hard matchups. Don’t go all Stockholm, necro community.

Zenith.7301:

I don’t see why it’d be broken for a power build, it’s basically a choice with whether to use DS offensively or defensively.

If you’re referring to my post, I didn’t claim it was broken. I said it’d be broken if there were some way to get both FitG and DP in one build, but since they’re both GM traits it’s fine. I think it’s fairly elegant.

I haven’t used Foot in the Grave recently, but wouldn’t gaining stability stop being stunned anyway? I can’t think of any other skill that is instant cast, gives stability but isn’t a stunbreak. So…DS being an instant cast, is this now really different from a regular stunbreak before this patch?

Prior to this patch, you had to preempt CC with DS in order to use the 1 stack of Stability to block that CC. Now if you get CC’d, you can pop DS in response to the CC and break out of the stun and gain the 1 stack of Stability to prevent a future CC from hitting you.

My Necro loves it.

Of course, not picking Death Perception is quite a price to pay. But what will your crit chance be good for if you are constantly locked down? Literally nothing. I’ll try to compensate through going x/4/x/x/6 plus Pack Runes which will leave me with a almost permanent Fury uptime. Yum.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Zenith.7301:

I don’t see why it’d be broken for a power build, it’s basically a choice with whether to use DS offensively or defensively.

If you’re referring to my post, I didn’t claim it was broken. I said it’d be broken if there were some way to get both FitG and DP in one build, but since they’re both GM traits it’s fine. I think it’s fairly elegant.

All I’m saying is that even coupled with DP it would not be broken. You either pop DS early to spam life blasts or you save it for the stunbreak.

And in WvW little will change, you’ll still be in pinball mode.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a change where a trait is at least made attractive.

But let’s not forget: THIS WAS A CORE FUNCTIONALITY of death shroud in beta that was removed, and only recently returned as a grandmaster trait.

Now, if they would revert the garbage Dark Path to the blink it used to be, it would help the necromancer a lot.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Prior to this patch, you had to preempt CC with DS in order to use the 1 stack of Stability to block that CC. Now if you get CC’d, you can pop DS in response to the CC and break out of the stun and gain the 1 stack of Stability to prevent a future CC from hitting you.

That doesn’t quite answer my question. It was my impression that a trait that gives you stability on an instant cast ability acts 100% like a stunbreak.
Like I said, I haven’t used FitG in ages, but from my experience with gaining stability from other sources mid-stun that stun would be broken by gaining the boon. Like when guardians give you stability, or when you’re feared through Well of Power.

flow.6043:

Rising Dusk.2408:

Prior to this patch, you had to preempt CC with DS in order to use the 1 stack of Stability to block that CC. Now if you get CC’d, you can pop DS in response to the CC and break out of the stun and gain the 1 stack of Stability to prevent a future CC from hitting you.

That doesn’t quite answer my question. It was my impression that a trait that gives you stability on an instant cast ability acts 100% like a stunbreak.
Like I said, I haven’t used FitG in ages, but from my experience with gaining stability from other sources mid-stun that stun would be broken by gaining the boon. Like when guardians give you stability, or when you’re feared through Well of Power.

Nope it never did stunbreak. It only prevented further CC. You would still have your cooldown resets and knockdown animation play even while under the effects of stability. Well of Power only worked because it cleansed the fear and converted it to stability and fear works slightly differently effect wise compared to other CC. It was always something that didnt make sense logically. But they kept it so it didnt stunbreak for balance reasons in the past. There arent really any other instant cast stab skills which dont stunbreak. So it was like the only example of it.

finally finally finally finally finally

Yaaaaaaaaaaaay!

This will definitely help versus stun locking and the improvement was needed now that stability is more easily strippable.

spoj.9672:

flow.6043:

Rising Dusk.2408:

Prior to this patch, you had to preempt CC with DS in order to use the 1 stack of Stability to block that CC. Now if you get CC’d, you can pop DS in response to the CC and break out of the stun and gain the 1 stack of Stability to prevent a future CC from hitting you.

That doesn’t quite answer my question. It was my impression that a trait that gives you stability on an instant cast ability acts 100% like a stunbreak.
Like I said, I haven’t used FitG in ages, but from my experience with gaining stability from other sources mid-stun that stun would be broken by gaining the boon. Like when guardians give you stability, or when you’re feared through Well of Power.

Nope it never did stunbreak. It only prevented further CC. But you would still have ur cooldown resets and knockdown animation play even while under the effects of stability. Well of Power only worked because it cleansed the fear and converted it to stability. It was always something that didnt make sense logically. But they kept it so it didnt stunbreak for balance reasons in the past. There arent really any other instant cast stab skills which dont stunbreak. So it was like the only example of it.

Weird… so with FitG it was actually possible to have both fear and stability on your condi/boon bar at the same time?
I’m getting the feeling that this change was made to get rid this oddity rather than actually buff the necro.

Yeah i imagine it may have actually prevented fear effect. Although i cant think of ever being in a situation where i had both without using a stunbreak to clear the fear. I suppose it never really ended up being an issue due to most necros never using the trait and the limited amount of fear from other classes.

flow.6043:

Rising Dusk.2408:

Prior to this patch, you had to preempt CC with DS in order to use the 1 stack of Stability to block that CC. Now if you get CC’d, you can pop DS in response to the CC and break out of the stun and gain the 1 stack of Stability to prevent a future CC from hitting you.

That doesn’t quite answer my question. It was my impression that a trait that gives you stability on an instant cast ability acts 100% like a stunbreak.
Like I said, I haven’t used FitG in ages, but from my experience with gaining stability from other sources mid-stun that stun would be broken by gaining the boon. Like when guardians give you stability, or when you’re feared through Well of Power.

Traited virtue of courage is a group stun breaker, running through well of power breaking fear is because the condition is converted (therefore removed) not because a stun is being broken by receiving stability.

With the stab change FitG gives one stab stack so its removed by a single CC, before ofc no CC would get through the 3 sec stab, it being a stunbreak now practically ‘protects’ you from 2 CCs.

spoj.9672:

Yeah i imagine it may have actually prevented fear effect. Although i cant think of ever being in a situation where i had both without using a stunbreak to clear the fear. I suppose it never really ended up being an issue due to most necros never using the trait and the limited amount of fear from other classes.

With shout warriors being the current meta, rangers, thieves and of course other necros, fear is actually very common in PvP these days.

Zetsumei.4975:

Traited virtue of courage is a group stun breaker, running through well of power breaking fear is because the condition is converted (therefore removed) not because a stun is being broken by receiving stability.

Perhaps I gave bad examples, but I honestly can’t remember ever getting stability and still be stunned from a previous CC.
Anyway, I initially thought this patchnote was more of a tooltip fix than an actual buff. Apparently not.

It was pretty easy to test before. Be stunned, and have an allied Guardian use Stand Your Ground nearby you. You’d get Stability, but still be stunned.

So does this make a 0/6/2/0/6 condi build viable for roaming? What do you think. Trying to figure out if I would give up pwr and dhuumfire to gain a stunbbreak and stability

That’s it guys, we’re looking at the new and improved ANet response time. I was hoping the sub 24 hour bug fix wasn’t a one time thing, and it seems like they are much more prepared to actually address power issues quickly.

but death perception why can’t we have both!

Welcome back my old friend <3

Also sidenote – it works wonderfully – it actually works with (against) being launched! I love this small but extremely great change!

Its a rather odd time for the change, one random balance addition in an otherwise bugfix and gemstore update. But I’m not complaining. Buffs, yay.

pepper.6179:

but death perception why can’t we have both!

a class with 100% crit chance, and almost on demand stunbreak stability sounds wrong on paper. But in practice may not be as bad given the LF requirement and our lack of escapes.

I’m happy for you guys! I hope to have some good fights in the future! Although part of me is a bit scared because so many of my builds are control based.

In fact, maybe it’s time to wake up my level 80 Necro for some PvP fun time.

Good patch, I’m sure this helps those doing sPvP. Unfortunately losing 50% crit chance is too much for this to be useful for WvW, where our lack of mobility continues to be the core of our problems. That and how immob/snare spam still kills me more than anything else in the world.

BurrTheKing.8571:

I’m happy for you guys! I hope to have some good fights in the future! Although part of me is a bit scared because so many of my builds are control based.

In fact, maybe it’s time to wake up my level 80 Necro for some PvP fun time.

Yea, tripple stunbreak, on which the shortest is (ideally) on a 10s cooldown is quite the counter to Skullcrack :P

I did test the trait live now… Holy crap, it is so good… I got adjusted to Greater Marks (Shelter ain’t got nothing on me) – but this is such a reliable stunbreak, it is unreal…
There were instances where I even forgot to precast my wurm and made it out alive… Loving it <3

This seems like a much needed change for necros, especially since shade was removed. Personally, I think will be a viable trait compared to death perception for power necro, and an almost necessary trait for condi. Im glad that you guys got buffed

Definitely a very good change. Won’t shake up the PvP meta all that much, but it still is a very good change.

I half wonder if the Dev’s debate on adding profession specialists is because when it was brought up at a meeting, one of them said “You know, we really aren’t looking at the profession forums much.”

Or the fact there was an explosion of threads all over the boards lamenting the fact Foot in the Grave became worthless with the Stability change prompted action. Bet their metrics also showed a very sharp decline in that trait’s usage.

Only way I see this could work on power necro is 4/4/0/0/6 haven’t been able to play in a week so I’m a little excited for this.

4/4/0/0/6 power necro would lose out on an insane amount of damage. You not only gut the 50% crit chance in DS, but also 20% damage to enemies under 50%.

Soulraping is such a good trait line , too many good traits…

Bhawb.7408:

4/4/0/0/6 power necro would lose out on an insane amount of damage. You not only gut the 50% crit chance in DS, but also 20% damage to enemies under 50%.

I agree that you really can’t lose CtD, but you could run Pack runes to at least get up to around 66% crit chance in DS without DP and with the Fury proc.

LOL.. we were just saying how this might be a way to make fitg acceptable. Going to fire up my necro tonight I think!

Been on the shelf pretty much since fitg nerf, not in protest, just because I find I cant play necro near as effectively without fitg.

I think this is more practical as 0/6/2/0/6 or 0/4/4/0/6 condi than power. Power spends too much time in DS for dps and so on. For Condi though it’s a very practical cc break.

Bhawb.7408:

That’s it guys, we’re looking at the new and improved ANet response time. I was hoping the sub 24 hour bug fix wasn’t a one time thing, and it seems like they are much more prepared to actually address power issues quickly.

arent you a bit quick to have hope again?

thats been only 2 tiny changes.

Dark FQ.1038:

Soulraping is such a good trait line , too many good traits…

LOL that typo

Unlike a lot of the people here shopping at Hot Topic and painting their nails black, I was never under the impression that hope was lost. The real issue was that ANet was going in the right direction with Necro changes but far too slowly, and yes considering they’ve been giving us a lot of special attention in patches that otherwise don’t include anything big and also have responded to bad effects of their changes incredibly quickly I think it is a good sign of things to come.