Guild Wars 2

Suggestion : Have it pulse stability every few seconds in shroud mode as well in addition to the initial stun break.

Why would you need Reaper skill #3 then? Just increase the stability duration of it up to 7s – gives you 1 reliable stability throughout the duration of your shroud when you pop it.

For more stability, especially in Spvp where they love to just CC the crap out of you when you go into shroud mode. Infusing Terror just doesn’t quite cut it on it’s own, plus there’s the AoE fear that it’s (barely) used for.

Foot in the Grave is already obscenely powerful, giving us an excellent stunbreak up to once every 7 seconds without having to spend a Utility skill on it. While I would like better access to Stability outside of Reaper, I don’t see buffing Foot in the Grave as a good way to do that.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Foot in the Grave is already obscenely powerful, giving us an excellent stunbreak up to once every 7 seconds without having to spend a Utility skill on it. While I would like better access to Stability outside of Reaper, I don’t see buffing Foot in the Grave as a good way to do that.

It’s really not that much stability in today’s game.

Caine.8204:

Blaine Tog.8304:

Foot in the Grave is already obscenely powerful, giving us an excellent stunbreak up to once every 7 seconds without having to spend a Utility skill on it. While I would like better access to Stability outside of Reaper, I don’t see buffing Foot in the Grave as a good way to do that.

It’s really not that much stability in today’s game.

Nor does it need to be. The stunbreaker alone is very strong, considering it’s on a mechanic we will almost always have available and generally want to use while under fire anyway. As far as I’m concerned, the stack of Stability is just gravy.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Caine.8204:

Blaine Tog.8304:

Foot in the Grave is already obscenely powerful, giving us an excellent stunbreak up to once every 7 seconds without having to spend a Utility skill on it. While I would like better access to Stability outside of Reaper, I don’t see buffing Foot in the Grave as a good way to do that.

It’s really not that much stability in today’s game.

Nor does it need to be. The stunbreaker alone is very strong, considering it’s on a mechanic we will almost always have available and generally want to use while under fire anyway. As far as I’m concerned, the stack of Stability is just gravy.

It’s still meh and greatly pales to Death Perception or Dhummfire if you are a reaper only change I would ask for is making it proc when exiting shroud.

Blaine Tog.8304:

Foot in the Grave is already obscenely powerful, giving us an excellent stunbreak up to once every 7 seconds without having to spend a Utility skill on it. While I would like better access to Stability outside of Reaper, I don’t see buffing Foot in the Grave as a good way to do that.

No, no it isn’t. It’s a joke compared to the other two Grandmaster traits we’ve access to in that line. Also, it’s only once every seven seconds if you traited for the reduced recharge first, which isn’t worth taking over the one for staff marks, unless you don’t use staff…

And, if you think buffing it isn’t a good way, then do you have a better suggestion then?

Sagat.3285:

It’s still meh and greatly pales to Death Perception or Dhummfire if you are a reaper only change I would ask for is making it proc when exiting shroud.

I simply disagree. I really, really enjoy such easy and frequent access to stunbreaking. I realize Death Perception and Dhuumfire are more damage, but RS has less damage than Greatsword so I generally prefer to camp it as little as possible.

Nilkemia.8507:

No, no it isn’t. It’s a joke compared to the other two Grandmaster traits we’ve access to in that line. Also, it’s only once every seven seconds if you traited for the reduced recharge first, which isn’t worth taking over the one for staff marks, unless you don’t use staff…

If it’s a joke, then I’m not laughing. A 7- or even 10-second Stunbreak is really, really powerful. It basically means I never spend time on the ground, even if I miss a dodge, and I can afford to intentionally not dodge just to keep up the assault.

And yes, I don’t use Staff, though I wouldn’t use Soul Marks much even when I do. Our Power builds generate an excessive amount of Life Force even without it.

Nilkemia.8507:

And, if you think buffing it isn’t a good way, then do you have a better suggestion then?

For better Stability access? Spectral Armor could do with a buff. Maybe some pulsing Stability on it would be a good way to go.

Honestly the curret Foot in the Grave is so powerful i run it on my condi reaper ignoring dhuumfire totally. Cause cc’d reaper does no damage.

ZeftheWicked.3076:

Honestly the curret Foot in the Grave is so powerful i run it on my condi reaper ignoring dhuumfire totally. Cause cc’d reaper does no damage.

I don’t see why you’d need it on reaper when you can #3 to apply stability every couple of seconds.

Because there is lot of very crucial situations where it’s a stunbreak you need (reaper’s shroud #3 is not one) or just a quick, small stab on short cooldown to finish a crucial task without being forced to stay in shroud for prolonged time.

Example – you just downed a warrior, his buddy is coming. You can use Foot to quickly stomp him and save the shroud #3 for the newcomer, including the fear. And if you have Foot then at most 10s later you will have insta stunbreak + stab to secure your heal goes through. Crucial in pvp is you ask me.

People arguing with Blaine Tog need to read his signature.

“Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.”

Foot in the Grave gives you more stun breaking than filling your entire utility bar with stun breaks, in what nonsensical world is that weak? The only reason some don’t favor it over the other two is because Necromancer’s role in literally everything is dealing damage, so more damage (especially Death Perception, which increases our DPS in our highest DPS state for PvP) is nice. But on Condi, Dhuumfire is extremely situational, it only deals meaningful DPS when you’re a Reaper, and if you’re Reaper that means it only deals damage while melee, so any non-melee fight FitG > Dumbfire.

Anyway, FitG is absolutely fine as is. It is just not super common because of the meta Necro builds.

@Blaine Tog Your example is a perfect case scenario you will barely get out shroud risking death to proc it at least to an interval close to 7 seconds which already doesn’t make sense since you will be using shroud skills.

Faster ways to die exist other than putting this trait to full potential unless we are talking vanilla PvE or attempting bunker.

Sagat.3285:

@Blaine Tog Your example is a perfect case scenario you will barely get out shroud risking death to proc it at least to an interval close to 7 seconds which already doesn’t make sense since you will be using shroud skills.

Faster ways to die exist other than putting this trait to full potential unless we are talking vanilla PvE or attempting bunker.

First of all, I’m talking PvE. It’s right there in my signature.

More importantly, though, the strength of Foot in the Ground is not dependent on flashing Shroud. You may well need to stay in Shroud for a bit after stunbreaking, but even with that time added to Foot in the Grave’s effective cooldown, it’s still one of the most accessible Stunbreakers in the game. Revenants can Spec a stunbreaker on aspect swapping with IIRC a 16 second cooldown, but they may have to pay a significant opportunity cost: they may need their current aspect’s skills.

Conversely, a Necromancer in need of a stunbreaker probably wants to be in Shroud anyway to block whatever burst the stun was intended to set up. The other two grandmaster traits in Soul Reaping force you to stay in Shroud to access them, and even with them your damage is doing to be inferior to staying outside of Shroud. FitG allows you to turn a bad situation into a favorable one, eating your opponent’s CC and stymieing their burst. Dhuumfire and Death Perception just turn an unfavorable situation into a slightly less unfavorable situation, and you have to alter you play in an unfavorable direction to access them at all.

That’s why I prefer FitG, and why I don’t think it needs a buff.

Why would you need FitG in PvE though when not skipping?

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Why would you need FitG in PvE though when not skipping?

Are you seriously asking me to justify the value of stunbreakers?

Blaine Tog.8304:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Why would you need FitG in PvE though when not skipping?

Are you seriously asking me to justify the value of stunbreakers?

No, I’m just asking where in PvE, besides when trying to get past mobs, having a stunbreak like FitG is such a better choice than taking other traits/another line. Can’t exactly see the major advantage that would make me take it in PvE combat situations most of the time because most stuns are telegraphed well or you can just use RS#3 in advance.

“Playing base necro” is one such scenario.

I’ve been playing necro for years and I’ve always found FitG practically useless, especially in PvP, which I mostly play. In PvE I just always found it unnecessary. In PvP that stability is gone so quick, and I do rely on all stun breakers for my utility slots—-spectral armor/walk and plague signet. When those are traited for cooldowns and duration I can stay on my feet most of the time and fill lifeforce in a matter of seconds and pop shroud, where I find death perception much more useful than FiTG.

I think foot in the grave is fine in what it does. However I also think it does not have the support for the playstyle in which it would shine: a style wherein a player stays in shroud as little as possible (I don’t say flash because you can never ignore the utility or damage absorbtion of the shroud). So either we need some traits to support that style or we need an elite spec around a shorter shroud duration.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Blaine Tog.8304:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Why would you need FitG in PvE though when not skipping?

Are you seriously asking me to justify the value of stunbreakers?

No, I’m just asking where in PvE, besides when trying to get past mobs, having a stunbreak like FitG is such a better choice than taking other traits/another line. Can’t exactly see the major advantage that would make me take it in PvE combat situations most of the time because most stuns are telegraphed well or you can just use RS#3 in advance.

So you’re asking me to justify the value of stunbreakers. That’s what you’re doing right now.

Stunbreakers are very useful in the HoT maps where numerous enemies will stun or knock you down (often in the middle of a hectic fight), not to mention the Silverwastes (some of those Mordrem really like to chain-CC you if you can’t get out of the way quickly) and various dungeon paths and fractals with bosses who stun. I also like to use FitG in cases where I’m winding up for another Gravedigger but realize that I likely won’t have enough time to dodge an incoming attack after it lands; I could dodge mid-Gravedigger, but then it goes on cooldown, whereas instead I can land it, take the hit, then RS2 back into the enemy’s face before continuing the onslaught. That exact situation crops up more than you might think when you’re fighting a bunch of HoT mobs.

If you’re in a fight that doesn’t require stunbreakers, then chances are good you’ll blow through it without having to make much use of DS/RS which means Dhuumfire and Death Perception wouldn’t see much use there anyway.

kyotee.5682:

I’ve been playing necro for years and I’ve always found FitG practically useless, especially in PvP, which I mostly play. In PvE I just always found it unnecessary. In PvP that stability is gone so quick, and I do rely on all stun breakers for my utility slots—-spectral armor/walk and plague signet. When those are traited for cooldowns and duration I can stay on my feet most of the time and fill lifeforce in a matter of seconds and pop shroud, where I find death perception much more useful than FiTG.

If your playstyle involves multiple utilities that stunbreak, then it really isn’t a surprise that FitG wouldn’t be the right choice for you.

its already been improved
its not going to be improved again
it doesnt need to be improved
no.

I don´t think “Foot in the Grave” needs a buff. It´s a 10 or 7 seconds cooldown stunbreaker! I´ll take it over the other grandmaster traits in Soul Reaping all the time.
Yes, it´s only 3 seconds of stability, but you can isntantly cast “Infusing Terror” in Reaper’s Shroud to stay on your feet after the stunbreak.
They should rather buff Spectral armor and let it pulse some stability to give Necros and even Reapers a way of getting that boon out of shroud. Yes, there is the well.. but that one is crap.

Stand The Wall.6987:

its already been improved
its not going to be improved again
it doesnt need to be improved
no.

When was it improved? Do you mean when stability became stacking and they left the trait at 1 stack?

@Blaine Tog I didn’t notice this was about fighting AI but still PvE shouldn’t get in the way of PvP nor WvW.

Sagat.3285:

@Blaine Tog I didn’t notice this was about fighting AI but still PvE shouldn’t get in the way of PvP nor WvW.

To be clear, I’m not necessarily agreeing that FitG is underpowered in PvP. I typically decline to comment on PvP due to my limited experience with it as a game mode. FitG may well be insufficiently powerful in PvP, or maybe it’s great there too. My point is, don’t take my qualification of my opinion to imply anything about PvP.

That said, PvP and PvE clearly need more skill splits than ANet have been willing to dole out. They dragged their feet about it for GW1 as well, and that benefitted no one. In principle, you are correct that the two game modes shouldn’t impact one another.

However, and maybe this is my bias as a PvE player speaking, but however, if ANet isn’t going to split skills and traits between game modes, I believe that they should almost always preference PvE. PvE is the more popular game mode, by a fair margin IIRC, and it makes no sense to cater to the smaller set of players if you’re forced to choose which to please. It probably makes better business sense to priotize PvE as well since I seriously doubt PvP players spend as much on gem store items as PvE players.

Again, ANet is doing us all a disservice if they allow any game mode to remain unbalanced, but the baffling decision to keep skill splits so rare necessarily means they need to keep the game as balanced as possible for as many players as possible, even if that means unbalancing the section with a lower population. That’s not a good option, but it is the least bad option.

No comments on separated balance but they are really pushing for Esports though. It wouldn’t get nerfed or change in use so I don’t see the point of debating from a PvE point of view if anything you shouldn’t care.

ha ha ha ha ha it doesn’t need buffing even in spvp

all classes don’t need to be good at everything ever. foot in the grace gives you more opportunity to turn the fight to your favour, that’s it. if that’s not for you, then take death perception or dhuumfire. it’s sufficiently powerful enough as it is.