Guild Wars 2

I figured I’d make a topic on this once since I love the scepter. It is my favorite weapon to use. But the issue is that Other than some condition duration increase I haven’t given much thought into how it could be improved. I’m so used to running it the thought that it could be much much better never dawned on me.

So Why not pool suggestions together in one Topic post? I’ve got a few ideas floating around in my head, though I haven’t given the scepter nearly as much thought as I have the axe or Death shroud’s current state. So hearing what other people have to say would be nice.

Currently, the scepter as a bleed heavy weapon seems like the right direction for it. I feel that change the bleeds to torment isn’t a good direction for the weapon. Sticking to its bleeding guns is probably its best bet.

So we should look at traits as well as the weapon itself because its a major part of the build process.

For starters I think its hard to argue that Lingering Curse’s Condition duration should mostly be rolled into the base duration of the scepter. I don’t think that’s really disputable. Second, feast of corruption shouldn’t get a damage bonus but apply more conditions based on the number already on them. What condition it should apply has been tossed around a bit. Some say torment, I wouldn’t mind Vulnerability. But anything would be good really. Even if it was just more bleeds I’d be happy.

An interesting idea I had was turning the skill grasping dead into a 3 second aoe field that would apply 2 bleeds and crippling each second. And perhaps be a combo dark field as well. An interesting idea, but I’ll let you guys decide.

For traits, Lingering curse should have a flat 30% condition duration boost to all conditions while wielding a scepter. This duration should also apply while in Death shroud along with its 150 condition damage. Added to that, a skill recharge reduction would be nice but its not needed.

What are your guys’s thoughts?

Bare minimum, Putrid Curse needs to go to 2 stacks of Poison, instead of 1.

Scepter is such a lonely weapon. There is nothing to switch to and maintain any sort of bleed stack. T_T

Edit: the 900 range dps penalty and lack of sub-300 range condi-weapon continues to hamper build variety giving natural advantage to power builds.

Very first is bringing 50% of Lingering Curse duration baseline,#3 needs to drop to 10 sec and give more LF,not sure if there is a rule saying only 1 skill per weapon can give LF but LF on Putrid Curse would help a lot,just make #2 a short duration dark field it’s extremely unreliable,Lingering Curse could give an AoE condition damage buff I doubt it doesn’t compete with Weakening Shroud. If we have to stick to scepter only that’s all.

Sagat.3285:

Very first is bringing 50% of Lingering Curse duration baseline,#3 needs to drop to 10 sec and give more LF,not sure if there is a rule saying only 1 skill per weapon can give LF but LF on Putrid Curse would help a lot,just make #2 a short duration dark field it’s extremely unreliable,Lingering Curse could give an AoE condition damage buff I doubt it doesn’t compete with Weakening Shroud. If we have to stick to scepter only that’s all.

It seems to only be a rule on one handed weapons. The issue with the Scepter’s life force is not that it has bad Life force generation, its that its usually offhand pair, dagger doesn’t have any life force generation. Which by all rights it should.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Bare minimum, Putrid Curse needs to go to 2 stacks of Poison, instead of 1.

I agree. :O

Lily.1935:

Sagat.3285:

Very first is bringing 50% of Lingering Curse duration baseline,#3 needs to drop to 10 sec and give more LF,not sure if there is a rule saying only 1 skill per weapon can give LF but LF on Putrid Curse would help a lot,just make #2 a short duration dark field it’s extremely unreliable,Lingering Curse could give an AoE condition damage buff I doubt it doesn’t compete with Weakening Shroud. If we have to stick to scepter only that’s all.

It seems to only be a rule on one handed weapons. The issue with the Scepter’s life force is not that it has bad Life force generation, its that its usually offhand pair, dagger doesn’t have any life force generation. Which by all rights it should.

GS only has 1 LF gain skill or I missed something because it’s so bad staff only has it on all because of a trait another reason why it’s our best hated third wheel. Yes LF gain on dagger would be good probably per condition transferred on #4 and btw conditions specs cough cough bleed have issues but that’s another topic.

People could come up with a lot of interesting ideas to fix or revamp it all new together but at the end of the day it is all depend on how far Anet willing to change.

If they are willing to change it as little as possible, I would say AA is the first thing to look at. Adding 1% LF to all 3 AA chain and makes Lingering Curse improves it by another 50%. So a full chain AA with Lingering Curse with net you 4.5% LF. (as Drarnor mentioned, 2 stacks of poison for Putrid Curse seems reasonable given this is the third and final attack of the chain.)

And if they are willing to change more, then Feast of Corruption is next in the line. To test the water out I would try adding Torment to the skill.
1 Stack of Torment for 2 sec if target has at least 1 condition on them.
2 Stacks of Torment for 2 sec if target has at least 3 conditions on them.
3 Stacks of Torment for 2 sec if target has at least 5 conditions on them.
with the maximum of 3 stacks of Torment.

Sagat.3285:

Lily.1935:

Sagat.3285:

Very first is bringing 50% of Lingering Curse duration baseline,#3 needs to drop to 10 sec and give more LF,not sure if there is a rule saying only 1 skill per weapon can give LF but LF on Putrid Curse would help a lot,just make #2 a short duration dark field it’s extremely unreliable,Lingering Curse could give an AoE condition damage buff I doubt it doesn’t compete with Weakening Shroud. If we have to stick to scepter only that’s all.

It seems to only be a rule on one handed weapons. The issue with the Scepter’s life force is not that it has bad Life force generation, its that its usually offhand pair, dagger doesn’t have any life force generation. Which by all rights it should.

GS only has 1 LF gain skill or I missed something because it’s so bad staff only has it on all because of a trait another reason why it’s our best hated third wheel. Yes LF gain on dagger would be good probably per condition transferred on #4 and btw conditions specs cough cough bleed have issues but that’s another topic.

GS3 and 5 both generate life force.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Sagat.3285:

Lily.1935:

Sagat.3285:

Very first is bringing 50% of Lingering Curse duration baseline,#3 needs to drop to 10 sec and give more LF,not sure if there is a rule saying only 1 skill per weapon can give LF but LF on Putrid Curse would help a lot,just make #2 a short duration dark field it’s extremely unreliable,Lingering Curse could give an AoE condition damage buff I doubt it doesn’t compete with Weakening Shroud. If we have to stick to scepter only that’s all.

It seems to only be a rule on one handed weapons. The issue with the Scepter’s life force is not that it has bad Life force generation, its that its usually offhand pair, dagger doesn’t have any life force generation. Which by all rights it should.

GS only has 1 LF gain skill or I missed something because it’s so bad staff only has it on all because of a trait another reason why it’s our best hated third wheel. Yes LF gain on dagger would be good probably per condition transferred on #4 and btw conditions specs cough cough bleed have issues but that’s another topic.

GS3 and 5 both generate life force.

I stand corrected then.

Sagat.3285:

Lily.1935:

Sagat.3285:

Very first is bringing 50% of Lingering Curse duration baseline,#3 needs to drop to 10 sec and give more LF,not sure if there is a rule saying only 1 skill per weapon can give LF but LF on Putrid Curse would help a lot,just make #2 a short duration dark field it’s extremely unreliable,Lingering Curse could give an AoE condition damage buff I doubt it doesn’t compete with Weakening Shroud. If we have to stick to scepter only that’s all.

It seems to only be a rule on one handed weapons. The issue with the Scepter’s life force is not that it has bad Life force generation, its that its usually offhand pair, dagger doesn’t have any life force generation. Which by all rights it should.

GS only has 1 LF gain skill or I missed something because it’s so bad staff only has it on all because of a trait another reason why it’s our best hated third wheel. Yes LF gain on dagger would be good probably per condition transferred on #4 and btw conditions specs cough cough bleed have issues but that’s another topic.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Grasping_Darkness
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Death_Spiral

These two skills.

Siva Mira.3546:

People could come up with a lot of interesting ideas to fix or revamp it all new together but at the end of the day it is all depend on how far Anet willing to change.

If they are willing to change it as little as possible, I would say AA is the first thing to look at. Adding 1% LF to all 3 AA chain and makes Lingering Curse improves it by another 50%. So a full chain AA with Lingering Curse with net you 4.5% LF. (as Drarnor mentioned, 2 stacks of poison for Putrid Curse seems reasonable given this is the third and final attack of the chain.)

And if they are willing to change more, then Feast of Corruption is next in the line. To test the water out I would try adding Torment to the skill.
1 Stack of Torment for 2 sec if target has at least 1 condition on them.
2 Stacks of Torment for 2 sec if target has at least 3 conditions on them.
3 Stacks of Torment for 2 sec if target has at least 5 conditions on them.
with the maximum of 3 stacks of Torment.

I’d say go full Ham on it. 1 for 1. 1 stack of torment for each condition. But that’s just me.

my suggestion were
1)scepter aa
blood curse no change
putrid curse increase poison duration to 5
*note only a two attack chain
2) scepter 3
apply torment. apply additional torment for each other unique condition on the target. Gain life force for each unique condition on the target.

I really like scepter, but it needs some work.

I feel like the auto attack could use a little spicing up. The 1b/1b/1p chain is a bit dull. Either backload it a bit more with a double poison stack (1b/1b/2p); make some build up of conditions (1b/1p/1t) so we get gradually stronger conditions as the chain lasts; or maybe shorten the chain down to 2 swings (1b/1p) and speed it up a bit to make us stack it a bit faster.

The number 2 skill of scepter is actually amazing. I really like what it does and how it works. I might like it more if the skill was a bit more “bursty” with like 5 bleed stacks or a combination of conditions, but I think the #1 and #3 need more work. I think #2 is one of the better skills we have.

Skill #3 feels very misplaced on a condition weapon. It’s a power-move. It needs to be overhauled so that it fits the conditionmancer build more. Power users don’t need to dip in on scepter. And even though a Carrion/Sinister setup works for condimancer, it shouldn’t be a necessity to make your weapon work.
I like the suggestions of putting torment on it.

Since we don’t really have easy access to burn outside of Dhuumfire; we need to be compensated by having longer and more access to other damaging conditions. Other bleed classes (e.g. engineer) are much more proficient at applying such conditions. I think we should be able to have more available conditions; stack conditions higher and stack them faster.

Also fixing scepter is but one part of the puzzle for a well rounded condimancer build.

Here’s my suggestion.

change the bleeding stacks on grasping dead to torment.

change the functionality of feast of corruption to the following:

“Remove 2 (two) stacks of bleeding, poison, and torment from target foe. Deal the condition damage they would have taken to them instantly. Gain (x%) life force for each condition removed.”

Note that this would be considered condition damage, not physical. This way necros would have a form of “condi-burst” like many other condi-classes have at the moment. But instead of simply dumping 999 stacks of burning on a foe, you strategically apply conditions, then rip them off all at once, or at least that’s the idea.

Blue Jinjo.2603:

Here’s my suggestion.

change the bleeding stacks on grasping dead to torment.

change the functionality of feast of corruption to the following:

“Remove 2 (two) stacks of bleeding, poison, and torment from target foe. Deal the condition damage they would have taken to them instantly. Gain (x%) life force for each condition removed.”

Note that this would be considered condition damage, not physical. This way necros would have a form of “condi-burst” like many other condi-classes have at the moment. But instead of simply dumping 999 stacks of burning on a foe, you strategically apply conditions, then rip them off all at once, or at least that’s the idea.

As similar as reaper’s shroud is, we are not dervishes.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/2-Feast-of-Corruption-Worthwhile

That’s pre-patch discussion about FoC^.

I plan on continuing the series in near future.

Considering Robert Gee has already said that he has changes for Scepter, I believe it’s already done, but I’ll give some feedback:

1. It seems like our only good weapons are good mostly because they have easiest ways to gain Life Force – I hate to say that – least “skillful”. Game after the patch can be…too quick for most cast times or one-hit abilities.

Consider doing something like Devs have done in the past with Warrior’s MH Sword – moving third part of AA and #3 with some changes.

What I mean by that is making our Scepter AA generate Life Force instead of #3 and changing #3.

2. Overall changes – durations of conditions applied by Scepter without Lingering Curse have to be increased baseline. Make them DoTs, not 800-1200 damage from one skill…

3. Grasping Dead – Make this skill important. In current game, single Cripple is almost useless and doesn’t justify low damage, same as skill affecting 5 targets.

4. Now this may be controversial.
I’d say that Scepter should be the condition weapon and be balanced around condition Necro’s needs. By that I mean having added utility.

That includes punishment for cleansing conditions, healing or added defense.

5. We should also talk about OH Dagger and general uselessnes of Enfeebling Blood on #5 skill now. But that’s another topic.

What i would change:

1- I’d increase scepter skill’s duration in 30~40%. Seems like things goes off just too fast. And lingering curses is not an optimal choice unless you are doing pve.

2- The Auto attacks are fine, slow but fine. 900 range seems acceptable since its a 1 handed weapon.

3- Grasping dead needs a big reward for hitting it, since its a ground target. Maybe increase the bleed stacks on it. Mesmer scepter #2 apply 5 torment stacks.

4- Feast of Corruption is the worst scepter skill! It really need to get reworked. Maybe increase the life force % and apply some sort of condition. Why we would want a power scaling skill damaging in a condtion weapon? Maybe put like that: if you use it on a target that has more than 4 condition apply torment ? We don’t have a source of torment other than DS#5.

1. Autoattack chain should apply 1 Bleed / 2 Bleeds / 2 Bleeds + 1 Poison. These should all have their baseline durations increased.

2. Grasping Dead is fine. Maybe increase the Crippled duration by .25 seconds per Bleed stack already on the target.

3. Feast of Corruption should also apply 2 stacks of Torment + 1 stack for every X Bleeds (maybe 3) on the target, and the Life Force generation should go up (10% base + 4% per condition, maybe).

Then, change the Scepter trait to the following: +150 Condition damage, and striking a foe with a Scepter ability increases the duration of all Bleed, Poison, and Torment stacks by .25 seconds.

First of all, sorry for my English. It is my second language.
Scepter #3 should give 3 stacks for 7 sec of torment and gain life force
OH dagger swarm should increase projectile speed and OH #5 should also give poison stacks at least 2

Btw necro should be able to turn their conditions to a big chunk of damage to give an alternative damage instead of let it tick and w8 to be cleanse by other players

Last thing why the … Necro need to corrupt himself just to apply more condition on enemy lol

I think looking at the revenant mace is a good idea for comparison. Torment is about as strong as bleeding (stronger if enemy moving, weaker if not).

mace AA: damage: 1.35, 2 torment (4s), 1 poison (3s); 1.25s tooltip cast time
scepter AA: damage: 1.2, 2 bleedings (5s), 1 poison (4s); 1.5s tooltip cast time (2.4s real)

mace 2: damage 0.25 × 4, 1 burning (4s) x4 (4 pulses)
scepter 2: damage 0.7, 3 bleedings (7s)

mace 3: damage 1.0, 3 torment (6s)
scepter 3: damage 1.0 + 8% per condi

So overall, AA is fairly identical. But the 3 bleedings are less than each pulse of burning for nr2, and the 3 has conditions also. So yes, we need more burst on our 2 and 3, but nothing wrong with having a bit more damage on AA too.

Although I still say we change axe to the condition weapon and scepter to power, why not just make scepter auto apply: Bleed -> Torment -> Poison.

That would be good.

Scepter 2 is too “balanced” for it’s own good for this game. There are too many broken skills in this game to have a skill just apply bleed and cripple. Make scepter 2 apply a pulsing grasping dead field (240 radius), instead, that applies pulsing bleed, cripple, blind and is a dark field.

I have no idea what to do to scepter 3. It hardly even has an animation anyway. Just overhaul it. Maybe use that one animation that the undead things use in orr that’s like a pulsing feast of corruption thing. Make scepter 3 a channelled ability that channels for a duration dependant on the amount of conditions on the foe, striking that foe once per condition on them. Damage is increased per condition on the foe.

Idk. It’s an idea.

Lingering curse should not exist as a trait. Some, perhaps even all, of the condition duration increase should be baseline.

What use is a grand master trait that affects only two skills?

It should be replaced by either (1) something interesting, or (2) a flat or variable condition damage increase (lingering curse already does this part just not well enough).

The condition damage increase ought to be enough to bring scepter bleeds up to the damage that they were doing pre condition damage rebalance.

Zefrost.3425:

I have no idea what to do to scepter 3. It hardly even has an animation anyway. Just overhaul it.

This is exactly why I made my suggestion posted earlier. Skill 3 on scepter really doesnt synergize at all with the rest of the scepter skills OR traits.

By allowing it to rip off conditions and deal their damage immediately it means that you can set up a condi-spike by simply using the auto attack once + scepter2. Or combine your efforts with an ally who can load bleed\poison\torment on a target for you to rip off for them. It also rewards traiting\gearing for condition duration (lingering curse) since the longer a condition is the more total damage it will deal, which you can use scepter3 to cash in on those long duration conditions instantly.

Scepter 1: First attack, 2 stacks of bleed. Second attack, 2 stacks of poison. Third attack, convert a boon to a condition (increase cast time to 3/4).

Scepter 2: This is fine. If we really want to improve it, perhaps attach bleed or torment to it as well.

Feast of Corruption: For each unique boon on the target, your opponent receives 1 stack of torment. You gain 5% life force for every stack of torment applied to your foe.

I would not change scepter at all. Instead, I want a short range condition damage weapon with more direct damage to swap to when not kiting.

A more indirect buff to the scepter would be to reintroduce reaper’s precision by merging it with furious demise. One of the scepter’s greatest weaknesses is it’s lf regen, but with this, it is possible to not only give the scepter an okay way to regenerate life force, but also make it more viable in builds outside pure condi.

I think Lingering Curse should be changed because it feels like a “use scepter or else” trait, not a “hey my scepter is better” trait. It wants to keep me out of Shroud, stick to one weapon, and all it gives me is average condi damage.

Scepter 3 should apply conditions somehow, poison per x bleed stacks maybe, increase condi duration on target, bite twice to go through aegis, I don’t know. It could bite several times which can crit so you get bleeds from Barbed Precision. Doesn’t make sense as a power skill though

Knaifhogg.5964:

I think Lingering Curse should be changed because it feels like a “use scepter or else” trait, not a “hey my scepter is better” trait. It wants to keep me out of Shroud, stick to one weapon, and all it gives me is average condi damage.

Scepter 3 should apply conditions somehow, poison per x bleed stacks maybe, increase condi duration on target, bite twice to go through aegis, I don’t know. It could bite several times which can crit so you get bleeds from Barbed Precision. Doesn’t make sense as a power skill though

Scepter’s base condition duration needs to be raised to around the level that Lingering curse provides. One of the issues is that overall, the necromancer has lots 30% condition duration from the change. And having a trait that provides that is sorely needed for a condimancer set for PvE. Lingering curse is the perfect canidate for that. But havinging 70% of the duration from Lingering curse put into the scepter would at least strip much of the focus from this trait in all game modes. And a universal 30% while wielding a scepter would greatly improve everything else around the scepter. Or at least bring it close to par with what it used to be.

Another issue is terror competing with path of corruption. And the issues with trait placement in Soul Reaping. But people have been saying that for months now. And although it doesn’t directly effect the scepter itself, it has a major impact on the condimancer.

Some things need to change for Condimancer in my opinion. Such as they should have a trait to increase bleed damage as well as a trait that increases poison duration in an Adept slot. Dhuumfire also needs to last longer or have its burning trigger on other skills beside the auto.

Here’s an idea. I keep rolling it around in my head so here it goes.

Lingering Curse : Outgoing conditions while wielding a scepter last 30% longer. Scepter skills recharge 20% faster. You and nearby allies gain 150 condition damage. 600 radius.

Something I feel the necromancer should have. Guardians give toughness, warriors give power, Rangers give Precision, Revenant’s ferocity . Necros granting condition damage would be nice if a condition team becomes a thing.

Skill 1 – Increase Poison duration on 3rd attack.

Skill 2 – Replace Bleeding with Torment.

Skill 3 – Scrap the whole thing. Send out a green skull that nomnom’s on each of your enemy’s conditions. For every condition your enemy has the skull takes a bite out of your enemy, nom intervals are every 1/2 second. Each nom causes direct damage and 1 stack of bleeding on your target. Each nom grants you 2% Life Force. This skill behaves in a similar way to Ranger’s “Hunter’s Call” and is not a channel skill.

Blood Curse: increase bleed duration to 7 seconds
Rending Curse: change to torment for 5 seconds
Putrid Curse: Increase poison duration to 7 seconds
Grasping Dead: Make it 2-3 stacks of torment and cripple for 7 seconds
Feast of Corruption: Applies a 4 second bleed and gains 3% lf per condition on the foe.

I would also change dagger offhand 5 enfeebling blood to give 4% lf per target hit. Then swap the scepter trait with terror, make terror deal 50% more damage, and make the scepter trait a 20% duration increase on all condis while wielding scepter as well as 150 conditions damage. I like the idea of it being an aoe buff as well, maybe 20% condition duration to all allies.

I think the third attack in the scepter auto attack chain (Putrid Curse) should apply 2 bleeds + poison instead of just poison. Bleed, Bleed, Bleed x2 + Poison.

Making Grasping Dead a field is a really nice idea. I think a 3 – 5 second duration that causes Cripple and Bleed every second someone remains in the field would be nice, with the base durations that it already has. As in; when you hit someone with it it still functions the same way that it currently does but the AOE lingers and stacks the longer you stand in it.

As much as I love Feast Of Corruption with power builds it’s still very out of place. Removing the effect it currently has and converting it to something like, gain Life Force and apply conditions for every condition on your target. Say those conditions are Bleed and Torment. Bleeds for all non-damaging conditions and Torment for all damaging conditions.
Eg. My target has; Blindness, Vulnerability, Crippled and Chilled on them. I hit them with Feast Of Corruption, gain 12% Life Force (3% per condition as it currently is) and apply 4stacks of Bleed.
Eg #2. My target has; Bleed, Poison, Burning and Torment. I hit them with Feast Of Corruption, gain 12% Life Force and apply 4stacks of Torment.

Lily.1935:

Knaifhogg.5964:

I think Lingering Curse should be changed because it feels like a “use scepter or else” trait, not a “hey my scepter is better” trait. It wants to keep me out of Shroud, stick to one weapon, and all it gives me is average condi damage.

Scepter 3 should apply conditions somehow, poison per x bleed stacks maybe, increase condi duration on target, bite twice to go through aegis, I don’t know. It could bite several times which can crit so you get bleeds from Barbed Precision. Doesn’t make sense as a power skill though

Scepter’s base condition duration needs to be raised to around the level that Lingering curse provides. One of the issues is that overall, the necromancer has lots 30% condition duration from the change. And having a trait that provides that is sorely needed for a condimancer set for PvE. Lingering curse is the perfect canidate for that. But havinging 70% of the duration from Lingering curse put into the scepter would at least strip much of the focus from this trait in all game modes. And a universal 30% while wielding a scepter would greatly improve everything else around the scepter. Or at least bring it close to par with what it used to be.

Another issue is terror competing with path of corruption. And the issues with trait placement in Soul Reaping. But people have been saying that for months now. And although it doesn’t directly effect the scepter itself, it has a major impact on the condimancer.

Some things need to change for Condimancer in my opinion. Such as they should have a trait to increase bleed damage as well as a trait that increases poison duration in an Adept slot. Dhuumfire also needs to last longer or have its burning trigger on other skills beside the auto.

I agree with most of this. And I like your idea for Lingering Curse (a few posts up).

I think as far as traits go though. It’s really hard to make a line of traits that where each of the options feel equally strong in their own right and yet don’t compete enough on the same level to make you feel kitten by not having either.
Buffing Lingering Curse is a nice idea and it probably won’t affect Weakening Shroud too much, as that trait is mostly aimed for non-condi build dipping into curse.
The other talent, Parasitic Contagion however would see no play whatsoever after the lingering curse change. So it’d need buffing too, or it needs to swap with another trait somewhere in the curse line.

Spite has a similar issue, where Spiteful Spirit simply doesn’t hold up to the other 2 GM traits. (Which may change if they handle axe correctly).
Death Magic on the other hand I feel is really well balanced with its GM traits. You have an option for stability, which is really strong as we lack that generally and opens up a lot of interesting tactics (e.g. DS stomp/rez)
You have +50% crit, which is really really strong. But can also be overkill and only available in DS limiting it’s uses for certain builds.
And you have dhuumfire, which atm isn’t seeing much play; but I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it becoming a good build with a condi-reaper playstyle.

I think it’s really hard to get every traitline at that level. But I do think it’s something to keep in mind.
A super strong lingering curse is great. But it pidgeonholes us into that trait, it’ll make condi necro very 1 dimensional.

i feel that scepters are good where they are now.
except maybe buff the bleed on the autos by a bit.
dont forget its a 900 range weapon with a pretty fast auto attack that bleeds and poisons.
the other 2 skills are more situational but still useful.

EremiteAngel.9765:

i feel that scepters are good where they are now.
except maybe buff the bleed on the autos by a bit.
dont forget its a 900 range weapon with a pretty fast auto attack that bleeds and poisons.
the other 2 skills are more situational but still useful.

I disagree.

As a condition applying weapon it falls far short of what other professions are capable of. Keep in mind that we don’t have easy access to burning, which is what a lot of other condi-classes have access to.
To compensate that, the bleeds and poison we apply need to be sufficient, which it currently arguably isn’t.

The duration on our #1 conditions are rather short. And the auto attack really isn’t all that fast. The entire chain takes 2.4 seconds.
I mean the elementalist scepter fire auto deals a stack of burning every 1.5 seconds, that’s almost as strong as our entire chain 2.4 second chain.

Scepter skill #2 is practically fine. It applies a good set of bleeds and cripples so we can keep distance. The cooldown feels pretty solid too; but the skill is nothing special other than just being solid.

Scepter skill #3 however is a complete disconnect from the rest of the weapon. It’s a power-move on a condition weapon. I’m not saying it’s useless, you can make it work with Sinister or Carrion gear, but it simply doesn’t feel right.

Even though the type and amount of conditions we apply is arguably weak. We mostly apply bleeds (probably the weakest damaging condition) and we don’t get all that much of it (Scepter #2 and dagger #5 only besides AA).
That is somewhat offset by our ability to corrupt and transfer condis. But I’d still say we fall short in the condition department, which for being (one of) the prime condition specialist in GW1 is remarkable at the least.

just as an idea..
what if the scepter auto attack was as fast as it is supposed to be? so the whole chain would be done in 1.5 seconds? instead of 2.4s as it is right now and nobody knows why?
and make it 2 stacks of poison on the 3rd part
that would allow us to permanently stack 6-7 bleeds and 4-6 poison stacks without any condition duration increase..

then a 4 second pulsating dark field (5pulses) on #2 wich applies cripple (3 seconds) and torment (1-2 stacks @ 4-6 seconds) to punish ppl for walking out of it

and on #3 simply reducing the cast time to 0.25 seconds so you can almost keep rolling auto attack and still have an almost instant 1000+ dmg burst

lingering curse could be used effectively in pve (and maybe pvp/wvw) to apply perma bleed, poison, aoe torment and cripple..

Scepter 3, beside what is doing now, corrupts 1 boon into condi and gives you basic life force even if no condi on enemy. Shorter cooldown?

Scepter 2 needs shorter casting time (and cooldown?).

Scepter 1, when applies the poison, it also transfers 1 condi from you (if no condi on you than it gives also bleed, as basic auto attacks do) and has better power scaling/base dmg (more hybryd friendly for those that chooses).

And all ranged targeted autoattacks (not just necro scepter, also naxe or other proffesion weapons that doesnt have projectile) need to do dmg in front of you if you spam them with no target, since they are at huge dissadvantage vs stealth targets.