Guild Wars 2

I have been testing my signet condi Necro build and it’s fun! But golly gee willikers Plague Signet is annoying! I’ll be in the middle of a fear mark cast and randomly get blinded! Or when a Ranger Entangles, I’ll be Entangled with my team even though I’m 1200 range away! I hate the passive! That’s all frands!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

Don’t use Plague Signet then…?

Cerbeius.7129:

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

But the active is so good!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

Azure.8670:

Cerbeius.7129:

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

Show some hospitality..

ellesee.8297:

But the active is so good!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

With great power comes great condipullability.

The passive is quite distracting, but at least that blind you got was something you recieved from a teammate, so at least that one will be able to spam his/her attacks without second thoughts…

That said, for the active, I find the drawback to be fair. When traited it becomes even more powerful, and miles more worth over taking any corruption skill (that is my opinion)

However, if you truly dislike the aspect of the passive, which I can understand, you are free to take Well of Power and the passive plague signet instead. It is far less punishing to the enemy, and it has a long(er) cooldown, but it will surely get rid of any blinds.

Again though, I find the drawback to be fair personally

GoogleBrandon.5073:

That said, for the active, I find the drawback to be fair. When traited it becomes even more powerful, and miles more worth over taking any corruption skill (that is my opinion)

I disagree I find the active on it’s own is balanced, because it has counterplay. Nothing can stop contemplation of purity from removing your conditions. Same with shadow return, cleansing fire, signet of water/resolve/renewal , shake it off,… . What about plague signet? Evade, dodge, invulnerability,stealth and similar effects all prevent this skill from removing conditions which is a huge amount of counterplay, in return we transfer the conditions and not remove them.

The passive on the other hand is down right desastrous it procs, you can’t anticipate what is being pulled and it works out of combat. Plague signet is also the only signet in the entire game with a negative passive.

While you are not wrong, I really dislike cross-profession comparisons. A lot of professions got what a Necromancer does not have, and this is no different to a Warrior lacking certain aspects (Z-Axis port being one) compared to other professions, or any profession really.

For Necromancer standards, this is a “low” cooldown stunbreak, which can be traited to remove boons, coming with a transfer (when it hits) out of the box. We can discuss as to how similar, yet different Contemplation of Purity is compared to Plague Signet, as well as this being the only signet with a drawback – but that does not mean that for a Necromancer, this utility skill is not worth taking and arguably fine and balanced.
This is however just my opinion, which you can see in my initial statement. You are free to disagree.

For the love of all that’s unholy, someone GET ME A CATAPULT!

Azure.8670:

Cerbeius.7129:

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

This is what it’s like for an ability to actually have a trade-off. Risk vs. Reward. It’s actually pretty neat, other classes should try it.

Hi Veewee!

I agree it’s annoying, but when you play necro you get used to a lot of things that are annoying/counterable and have risk/reward. I hope you have fun frand.

I also recommend the soldier/cele version of the signet build if you haven’t tried them.

flow.6043:

Azure.8670:

Cerbeius.7129:

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

Show some hospitality..

ellesee.8297:

But the active is so good!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

With great power comes great condipullability.

I’m really jk he’s been an important member of the engi community for 3 years

And that’s why we haven’t been using plague signet for 3 years.

The plague signet passive is worse than having no passive.

nekretaal.6485:

And that’s why we haven’t been using plague signet for 3 years.

The plague signet passive is worse than having no passive.

Speak for yourself, I’ve been using Plague Signet as a WvW roamer for a really long time. Even on a 60 second cooldown, even back when Blind would make it miss (that change made me so happy, by the way). Extraordinarily solid defensive/offensive utility against condi-heavy builds. Even against non-condi builds, passing a key Immob off or having the extra stun break was almost always useful.

Cerbeius.7129:

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

Hello frands! I never said I wanted Plague Signet to be nerfed or buffed! All I said was I think the passive is thuper annoying! And no I won’t play cele! I never play cele which is a shame because I would like to play a hybrid damage build that doesn’t have all those icky defensive stats!

Also I like these Necromancer 4ums! I think I will stay here a little longer!

Wahoo! Bye frands!

I actually love the passive xD its my favourite part, if youve been using it for long enough to get used to watching for random spikes in condis on you so that you don’t kill yourself and as some have said this is great risk and reward along with giving you a lot of ammunition.

My only annoyance is more at team mates in spvp, sometimes youll have a teammate notice his condis are somehow dissappearing so he goes ahead and lets that shortbow ranger shoot him in the back all day so you have to blow the active to stop that ¬¬.

On the subject of teamsupport, it essentially completely nullifies ranger roots. If the timing lines up, the immobilise immediately transfers to you and your allies move out of the position of the roots, and we then can simply use our numerous transfers including the signet itself.

well well if it isnt the frandliest engi in game….

the passive is a pain when it draws movement impairing conditions to add to the slow as hell class

https://youtu.be/Fh2_WxuNUKs?t=170

I see plague signet’s passive as a great skill really. you pull condis passively = you load up on condis faster and then you transfer it totally on an enemy for a massive condi spike that literally sends him to meet his maker.

above link I had a 1 vs 2 condi engrs, get loaded with condi very quickly by them (although not pulling passively from my allies, but the same idea is there. the faster you get loaded with condi, the heavier the spike when you transfer it back).
and boom the engineer dies. his friend dies after.

Yeah, it’s rare that the passive can kill you (though it’s happened to me with a random immobilise), but the problem is it really slows you down. If you’re running past Clocktower to get to one of the side points in Kyhlo, and you pull a cripple from a teammate of yours fighting inside, it feels like the game itself is trolling you. Even a measly 1 stack bleed will seriously slow you down, as it puts you in combat and you move 25% slower.

In effect, the passive is an actual nerf rather than a buff, as it means you have to move 1,200 further from your teammates before you can be out of combat.

Is your personality an act or are you actually as bubbly as bath soap?

And so I don’t get infracted; The passive can be frustrating but it can also be beneficial depending on where you choose to use it. Using it when you don’t have the proper tools to benefit from the conditions, or when you’re not able to handle them, is obviously not a wise decision. I’d say it’s best avoid using Plague Signet in groups unless you’re capable of managing the pressure. In which case you’ll be a significant asset to your team. Think of yourself as the kitten (wow it censors that word, that’s surprising, lol. This) and your party members as the sadists. If you can’t handle the whippings and spankings… Don’t step in to the bondage and lock the mouth-zipper.

No, I’m sorry but its utility to the rest of your team is pretty limited: in a 3v3 fight, the chances that you’ll pull off the right condition to save the guy that’s currently being focussed, and in a large 3" interval when bursting someone down takes half that time, is just miniscule. It’s like playing darts with your eyes closed.

manveruppd.7601:

No, I’m sorry but its utility to the rest of your team is pretty limited: in a 3v3 fight, the chances that you’ll pull off the right condition to save the guy that’s currently being focussed, and in a large 3" interval when bursting someone down takes half that time, is just miniscule. It’s like playing darts with your eyes closed.

With how many people are AOE cleansing on a regular basis, your own form of “cleansing” them via having their conditions transferred to you will only help to improve the groups support.

It is much less effective than say, Purging Flames for example, but it is still helpful with the right people around you (Guardians, Elementalists, etc). You pull conditions, they cleanse, they don’t cleanse, you transfer.

It’s annoying until I pull 20+ stacks of burning and send it to the flippin’ guardian or ele. Then I’m happy to have the passive ;D

Though it’s annoying for all the reasons you all stated, I have to agree with GoogleBrandon that’s it’s a fair tradeoff, especially considering it’s a good extra stunbreak too I guess. I rarely use it myself tbh. But If my mates asked for me to use it cause they’re a say Engi w/very meager condi clear, I wouldn’t revolt.

It’s not actually a good stunbreak in my opinion, because the condition transfer requires facing. When you’re stunned/knocked down/feared/whatever, or even when you’re immobilised, you can’t control your facing, so you have no way to ensure your condis will transfer anywhere. Not to mention that if you get stunned by a thief coming out of stealth you won’t even have them targeted, and pausing to tab-target before breaking stun will get you dead. I literally just had it miss against an immobilised opponent in a match on Temple!
I have to give them credit for changing it to transfer blind instead of missing because of it, but they also need to make it not require facing if it’s to be good.

And while I agree with Pazu that the passive CAN occasionally win you a fight by giving you some fat stacks of damaging condis to transfer, it’s a dice roll: it can just as easily cost you a fight by transferring an immobilise onto you just as you’re trying to escape (and then failing to transfer it with the active cause your target was behind you and you were immobilised!). So 90% of the time it’s simply an annoyance, a nerf to your movement speed and an extra load on you that doesn’t help your opponents. Would have much preferred if it was “+25% outgoing condition duration”, or something more imaginative like “Once every 3 seconds, a condition inflicted on you is also copied to the nearest enemy.”

manveruppd.7601:

It’s not actually a good stunbreak in my opinion, because the condition transfer requires facing.
…
I have to give them credit for changing it to transfer blind instead of missing because of it, but they also need to make it not require facing if it’s to be good.

Good news! The condi transfer doesn’t require facing.

It does man, I tested it many times. I played 8 matches last night with PS and the transfer missed for no apparent reason at least once every match.
If you’re trying to test it on a golem, it’s not enough to just be facing away from it when you cast. If you do that it will work anyway. You need to be stunned or immobilised or otherwise UNABLE TO TURN TO FACE your target for it to fail.

Plague Signet is cool, even if little cheesy against condi specs, though passive could be combat-only

Sagat.3285:

Azure.8670:

Cerbeius.7129:

Noo, stay on Engi-forum!

Noo, stay on engi forum.

manveruppd.7601:

It does man, I tested it many times. I played 8 matches last night with PS and the transfer missed for no apparent reason at least once every match.
If you’re trying to test it on a golem, it’s not enough to just be facing away from it when you cast. If you do that it will work anyway. You need to be stunned or immobilised or otherwise UNABLE TO TURN TO FACE your target for it to fail.

Every time I tried using it with my back turned to the Warrior-bot, after he CC’d me, it transferred conditions even if my back was turned.

I’ll keep playing around with it, but it must be a very specific situation if it’s bugged. Either way, it technically does transfer regardless of the direction you’re facing, so if it doesn’t in a particular scenario, it’s just bugged. It isn’t that it specifically requires facing all the time.

manveruppd.7601:

It does man, I tested it many times. I played 8 matches last night with PS and the transfer missed for no apparent reason at least once every match.
If you’re trying to test it on a golem, it’s not enough to just be facing away from it when you cast. If you do that it will work anyway. You need to be stunned or immobilised or otherwise UNABLE TO TURN TO FACE your target for it to fail.

This again? Provided that you are in range, the only way for plague signet transfer fails is it the target los you, dodge, evade, blocks, or goes invulnerable. It doesn’t matter if you are disabled or not.

Well, it keeps missing for none of those reasons for me, I’ll have to catch it on video for everyone to believe me I guess…