Guild Wars 2

How is spinal shivers supposed to interact with aegis? Should spinal shivers first strip the aegis since it’s a boon and then hit the target for damage and chill, or should the aegis block the spinal shivers since it’s an attack resulting in no damage? As a necro that uses focus quite a bit, I can say that I have seen it happen both ways seemingly randomly and it can be annoying when you expect to chill someone and it gets blocked instead. Would be nice to know how it’s intended to work and possibly have a fix to ensure it always works that way.

it removes aegis and i have never seen it do otherwise (atleast in quite some time) but oc it gets blocked by any other block.

My guess, which I have not yet confirmed, is that it is like so:

If Aegis is on deck to be removed based on priority/order/what-have-you, Aegis will be stripped and Spinal Shivers will land.

If Aegis is buried beneath other boons and is not up for removal, then Spinal Shivers will be Blocked and no boons will be stripped (besides Aegis being removed).

That’s my understanding that I have been meaning to test for weeks now but keep forgetting. Think of it like how Condi Removal works, which I believe is a Stack structure (First In Last Out), only with Boons.

Anyone who can confirm would be appreciated.

So basicaly aegis can totaly block focus #5 if theres aegis +3 boons on target, but the trait proc chill of death, will result in block and then just proccing on next hit.

Focus 5, and any skill that strips boons, will always prioritize aegis first. Like Flumek said though, boon strips like Chill of Death will simply not happen until the next hit.

And then things like Path of Corruption are tied to unblockable skills, and so ignore it completely I believe.

Forum ate my post.. I’ll cut it short.
I’ve seen sometimes it’kittens and works sometimes aegis blocks,
If I want the chill I open with focus 4 then 5 and proceed to kill.

Got tired of this issue, so I made a quick video demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihREwc4DkyM&feature=youtu.be

Here is a summary of the clips:

1. Aegis only – blocked
2. Aegis only – stripped
3. Aegis + 3 other boons – blocked
4. Aegis + 1 other boon – stripped
5. Aegis + 2 other boons – stripped
6. Aegis only – blocked

Would be nice to get a dev comment since the player provided information so far doesn’t seem to be correct.

I have a hypothesis I want to test:

If the Aegis is from the Guardian’s virtue with infinite duration, then it Blocks Spinal Shivers.

If the Aegis is just an Aegis that has an actual duration from another source, then it gets stripped by Spinal Shivers.

I haven’t double-checked it necessarily with the vid, but I was generally thinking about the inconsistency, and I know that SS is Blocked very consistently if you lead into it on a Guardian who has their class Aegis up and running.

Cogbyrn.7283:

I have a hypothesis I want to test:

If the Aegis is from the Guardian’s virtue with infinite duration, then it Blocks Spinal Shivers.

If the Aegis is just an Aegis that has an actual duration from another source, then it gets stripped by Spinal Shivers.

I haven’t double-checked it necessarily with the vid, but I was generally thinking about the inconsistency, and I know that SS is Blocked very consistently if you lead into it on a Guardian who has their class Aegis up and running.

I tested this in spvp with a guildie and had him use both the passive and active aegis with no other boons, they were both stripped by SS.

Cogbyrn.7283:

I have a hypothesis I want to test:

If the Aegis is from the Guardian’s virtue with infinite duration, then it Blocks Spinal Shivers.

If the Aegis is just an Aegis that has an actual duration from another source, then it gets stripped by Spinal Shivers.

I haven’t double-checked it necessarily with the vid, but I was generally thinking about the inconsistency, and I know that SS is Blocked very consistently if you lead into it on a Guardian who has their class Aegis up and running.

This is what it looks like in the video that was provided a few posts above.

When they have the aegis from their virtue, it seems to block. But if they apply aegis from another source, even when they already have their aegis from virtue of courage, it seems to get stripped.

It also seems to depend on whether its the guardian or not.

For instance, the second clip shows the guardian in a transformation, which seems to consider that they are not the “guardian” and thus strips the aegis. Similarly, the warrior who receives an aegis in the fifth clip has it stripped because they are not the “guardian”.

In contrast, the guardians in the first, third, and sixth clip all block spinal shivers because they have their virtue of courage version of aegis up, they are a guardian, and they aren’t in a transformed state.

The fourth clip is interesting. It looks like the guardian has used retreat, but because this applies aegis on top of their virtue of courage aegis, it strips it instead of blocking it like the first, third, and sixth clip did.

One experiment that could be done is see if casting retreat, then waiting for it to wear off (i.e. the 20s duration expires as indicated by the swiftness), and then seeing if spinal shivers strips or blocks.

EDIT: Making a post for this in the bug forum

Waffler.1257:

Cogbyrn.7283:

I have a hypothesis I want to test:

If the Aegis is from the Guardian’s virtue with infinite duration, then it Blocks Spinal Shivers.

If the Aegis is just an Aegis that has an actual duration from another source, then it gets stripped by Spinal Shivers.

I haven’t double-checked it necessarily with the vid, but I was generally thinking about the inconsistency, and I know that SS is Blocked very consistently if you lead into it on a Guardian who has their class Aegis up and running.

I tested this in spvp with a guildie and had him use both the passive and active aegis with no other boons, they were both stripped by SS.

Maybe sPvP acts differently than WvW? That’s a pretty thin argument, but I can’t think of any other reason.

Thanks for testing though.

It seems to me like it’s linked to the guardian’s “Retreat!” ability.

If you look at the fourth and fifth clips in the video above, both aegis boons are stripped and both seem to have been applied by the retreat ability (as evidenced by the swiftness).

The first, third, and sixth clips all feature aegis boons applied by virtue of courage (both passive and active), all of which result in blocks.

I’m still not sure about the second clip though, other than that the transformation state maybe affected it.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Waffler.1257:

Cogbyrn.7283:

I have a hypothesis I want to test:

If the Aegis is from the Guardian’s virtue with infinite duration, then it Blocks Spinal Shivers.

If the Aegis is just an Aegis that has an actual duration from another source, then it gets stripped by Spinal Shivers.

I haven’t double-checked it necessarily with the vid, but I was generally thinking about the inconsistency, and I know that SS is Blocked very consistently if you lead into it on a Guardian who has their class Aegis up and running.

I tested this in spvp with a guildie and had him use both the passive and active aegis with no other boons, they were both stripped by SS.

Maybe sPvP acts differently than WvW? That’s a pretty thin argument, but I can’t think of any other reason.

Thanks for testing though.

This is quite plausible. Certain abilities demonstrate odd functional and behavioural differences between the two modes (i.e. certain bugs are present in one mode and not the other). Perhaps it will work one way in sPvP and one way in WvW.

Great job with that vid OP. If someone can link to the bug forum thread so we can upvote it?

Video is difficult to see clearly. But im just going to point out what i think maybe happening. When it blocks with less than 3 boons its because of either shelter or some other non aegis block. Spinal shivers is not unblockable so it seems it will only strip if aegis is one of the boons that is to be stripped. So with 4+ boons you will get a block most of the time. With less than 3 boons it should strip all of them unless another type of block is active.

Further testing should be done in a controlled environment to be certain though.

Edit: Just looked at the video again. Clip 2 strips because it actually strips 2 boons. So it seems the bug is that when theres only aegis it gets blocked. But if they have any other boon it will strip all unless they have more than 3 boons. But this could be intended as the skill is not unblockable.

Debatable. Seems like the vigor has expired in clip2. Can’t be sure though. Needs testing, and in wvw. If anyone’s in Baruch Bay or Abbadons and has a guardian I’d be willing to meet up in BL this week to try it.

I wouldnt trust icons. Swiftness usually lasts a bit longer than the icon does. And another boon may have been applied in that split second. Lag could also be a factor. Best thing would to be test in a controlled environment (private pvp server would be best).

I was under the impression it should remove Aegis always no matter how many boons are there (by having aegis as the #1 priority), but be blockable by non-boon blocks.

Now, whether it actually does that…