Guild Wars 2

Berserker Necro is, IMO, the most fun Necro build that you can play. But the problem I’m finding with Gravedigger is: why would I want to use gravedigger when my opponent is so close to death? I’d rather use a fast hitting attack that’s more likely to hit.

Example: I set up epic esports combo and opponent is now lower than 50% health. HERE COMES THE BIG HIT!!!!! HNGGGG!! 10K PLS!! Annnnnd the opponent blocked or dodged or blinded or whatever.

Makes more sense to switch to axe and use ghastly claws to finish the opponent off.
So… unless combat is going to get a new mechanic where massive hits like gravedigger or eviscerate “OVERKILL” the opponent instantly defeating them without downstate, Gravedigger should change.

Personally, I’d rather have an overkill mechanic introduced to this game. That would be huge. The thief already has one.

Gravedigger instantly finishing off enemies who were previously standing on their feet would be way too strong. If at all, give it some bonus damage against downed targets. Executioner’s scythe should turn into a finisher move; maybe make it so that it’s not affected by Reaper’s Onslaught’s CDR on kill if you finish an opponent this way, though I don’t think it would be all that necessary.
As for not hitting; well, you can set it up; get your blind/cc/etc. out first, you have enough options to increase the chances of your GD hitting, from skills, traits and even your equip.

As bad is winding up GD on someone ~40%, and by the time it hits they already dead thereby wasting the CD. Way too slow animation imo. Would rather have CD reduced on a faster hitting GD as have zero CD on the slower hitter.

I wouldlike if they nerfed dmg by 25-30% but reducecast time to 0,7s .

Blackari.2051:

I wouldlike if they nerfed dmg by 25-30% but reducecast time to 0,7s .

That’s exactly the opposite of the entire point of the skill.

I still don’t see why to even use a greatsword. The dps meter I’ve tried literally show me doing more damage with dagger/focus than gs even below 50%. I only sometimes now play around with greatsword having weapon swap sigil and a sigil of rage, or else it just feels too underwhelming. I feel like it was meant to be use as a hybrid build weapon and not a powerhouse.

Only way i’ve found GD to reliably hit is to use dark pact, swap to Greatsword (Maybe with quickness on swap sigil) and then use GD.

This means no staff tho… Q_Q

Gravedigger is fine, what you dont get it is that ppl wait for heals at 50% or so or thier heal is like on 2 sec cd it is good to land a strong hit in the end to finish off the guy.

for example those sick engies heal with the turret, if engies is at 30% health and does that he will get to 80% health fast.GD is a good counter to that.

I place sigil of inteligence and fire, because they made RS a weapon swap too, and I often get out of shroud in middle and surprise GD on them.Usually I dont miss it.

I dont think that gravedigger is the problem of Greatsword…

In fact i really like that skill, it is just to sad that the tools that gs as a weapon gives you are not good enough to use gs reliable in pvp…

Well… the short answer is yes?
Personally i play a condi build and use the GS as a life force generating weapon, gravedigger hits surprisingly hard and can screw people when they’re not afraid of getting hit by it because you’re running condi stats. For zerker stats that gravedigger if life, and if you don’t hit with it, or don’t crit with it, you’re doomed. (I think a great thing to do would be allow gravedigger to heal you for the amount overkilled if you overkill with it).
IMHO soul spiral is the real MVP (followed by the auto attack cause dat chill, then the blind/cripple field, and then gravedigger might be slightly better than the grab). Even in PvE often times things die before you get to gravedigger them…. I would very much like a trait on an 8 second CD that made your next gravedigger cast 50% (or even 25%) faster for X seconds after you attack an enemy under 50% health with a greatsword. Just to give you a chance to hit smaller mobs before death and players, I’d even be fine with it if the faster gravedigger was somehow less powerful (maybe like 10% less crit damage/chance?) as long as you could actually hit with it and it didn’t take a billion years to come out. Merge it with the soul eater trait IMO.

people are really using gs for pvp?

It’s a high risk, high reward skill. If you don’t need the reward in a particular instance, then yeah, stick with autoattacking to finish off a target with just a sliver of health. Gravedigger is a great skill, but don’t use it if it’s going to be overkill.

shadowshark.7056:

I still don’t see why to even use a greatsword. The dps meter I’ve tried

I don’t know about you but personally, I don’t give any credence to DPS meters. They’re either against the EULA, inaccurate, or both. The calculations I’ve heard from people who’ve done the math say that Gravedigger spam against targets below 50% health beats out anything else we have, so I’m inclined to trust them over a piece of dubious software that we know isn’t perfect accurate.

I think GS has a weird niche place in PvP. It theoretically can be effective, but the cost is you’re shoehorned into a skillset that has currently broken and near useless skills for competitive play. The pull is broken and connects less often than spectral grasp, the blindness field is slow and players walk out of it, the auto is worthless and the drill is telegraphed and near useless for what it’s worth. vulnerability is one of those conditions that are nice to have but not necessary. Gravedigger is the only reason to be running GS for any reason.

and then you’re left with one secondary weapon… which has to be staff. If you’re running PvP without a staff then you are just asking to be focused and for condi builds to walk all over you.

If you’re running any amulet that is high power, crit irrelevant, gravedigger can really put down stupid amounts of damage in an AoE. That means teamfights on caps, chokepoints, etc. you have the potential to shut people down, but at a stupidly high risk.

Bhawb.7408:

Blackari.2051:

I wouldlike if they nerfed dmg by 25-30% but reducecast time to 0,7s .

That’s exactly the opposite of the entire point of the skill.

yeah, i agree with bhawb. gravedigger is slow and powerful for a reason.

I suggested the exact same thing for Eviscerate/Decapitate on the Warrior forums, and people laughed at me. They claimed it would become ridiculously overpowered.

I support “finisher” skills like Gravedigger, Eviscerate, and Decapitate, because they make the high risk, one-shot skills that could get easily block/blinded/dodged, worth the effort.

Super slow, powerful skills like Gravedigger should finish off downed opponents. This would make building for a power-based bruiser Reaper actually worthwhile.