Guild Wars 2

I started a spectral mancer and the success rate on SG feels like maybe 60 percent. When I say “success” I mean it pulls the target all the way to you and they drop at your feet like a sack of soft wood logs. Other times it just knocks them down, or drags them a random distance toward me. This is in standard PvE. Anyone else used this as one of their main utility skills? How about using it in WvW and PvP? One idea I had for WvW was to lay down all staff marks on my location, then lay Spectral Wall on top of that, and see if I could drag a player to me so they hit everything (I’ll be traited with Terror as well, so SW will damage).

It’s much better for yanking defenders off the walls in WvW than any sort of combo play. If you’re not assaulting an objective, don’t bother with it.

I love spectral grasp, it pulls off people attempting to rez (in PvP), and off points if capping. It’s chill is ALWAYS useful as well. Its great with the dagger immobilize and then Flesh Golem’s charge (or well of suffering) .

Spectral grasp is the only spectral move on my bar however, I just made this new build (theory crafted) and my win rate is like 75-80%. I’ve gone into 1v1’s that turned into 2v1’s and still won (if the timing is right).

I run d/f + a/d so it always pulls em into my range, and the chill is just great!

Krude.7495:

I love spectral grasp, it pulls off people attempting to rez (in PvP), and off points if capping. It’s chill is ALWAYS useful as well. Its great with the dagger immobilize and then Flesh Golem’s charge (or well of suffering) .

Spectral grasp is the only spectral move on my bar however, I just made this new build (theory crafted) and my win rate is like 75-80%. I’ve gone into 1v1’s that turned into 2v1’s and still won (if the timing is right).

I run d/f + a/d so it always pulls em into my range, and the chill is just great!

I agree that the chill is always useful, even if it does not always successfully pull the target. Once traited, the chill lasts a long, long time assuming no cleanse. In general it seems like there are not many pull skills in the game (thief Scorpion Wire/Get over here! is the only other one I am aware of) and while SG is kind of a funky skill, it can really catch people off guard.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

It’s much better for yanking defenders off the walls in WvW than any sort of combo play. If you’re not assaulting an objective, don’t bother with it.

Not even, about 80% of the time you actually manage to pull them down from the wall the game glitches and they just port right back up on the wall. Then again, about 5% of the time the game glitches and they port back up on the wall, the game decides to glitch a second time and they port back down to you so you can stomp them. Pretty good programming.

Spectral Grasp is great, the life force gain is absurd. 15% or 20% in like 1.5 seconds is way faster than anything else.

I’m using it on regular basis in Tpvp power build and roaming WvW. That’s said, I run pretty complicated build and it may not work for everyone. In general, it works great on dagger builds and as a “combo-interrupter”. Works best <800 range.

zapv.8051:

Spectral Grasp is great, the life force gain is absurd. 15% or 20% in like 1.5 seconds is way faster than anything else.

Only if it hits…

In fact SG is buggy with spectral attunment. The 5% LF should be gained even if SG misses.

SG is very buggy. It usually doesn’t gets the target all the way to my feet but halfway…

Giving spectral grasp dmg would be great.

that baby stealing dingo.7216:

In general it seems like there are not many pull skills in the game (thief Scorpion Wire/Get over here! is the only other one I am aware of) and while SG is kind of a funky skill, it can really catch people off guard.

Actually there are quite a lot of pulls for how strong (and buggy) the effect is, guardian GS5, Mesmer temporal curtain active, path of scars (ranger offhand axe), ele magnetic shield, Engie toolkit magnet and their downed 2 skill.
Funny enough tho, temporal, magnet and GS5 ignore typical rules and scorp wire is like 40 times stronger (as in it pulls over way bigger things) than grasp.

As for personal hit rate id say around 70%, but thats because i mostly use it as a melee knockdown…

It’s severely underpowered compared to Mesmer focus pull and guardian GS 5. It also seems to have an aftercast which limits what you can o with it.

Spectral grasp is buggy as hell. I often use it at around 900 range and as it reaches the enemy it bugs out saying “out of range”. Most of the times opponents won’t get pulled to me but get stuck somewhere in the middle. When opponents are in front, but close to a wall of a tower in wvw it says “out of sight” which is beyond any logic. Every little edge in the ground will also cause it to fail. Overall, this skill fails quite often due to badly designed game mechanics and is therefore not reliable.

It pulls the target like a fat projectile. That is, if you pull someone and there is a hill between you and the target they will get caught on the hill. You can see this best when you try to pull something behind a low fence or a player behind the ramparts on a wvw tower (when you can’t see their feet). If they are standing on the ramparts (you can see their feet) they’ll get pulled although they won’t arc down, just fly over top of you and quickly come down. Their trajectory is likely a bug although you can cast dark pact on them the entire time they’re traveling so it doesn’t matter. Grasp then pact and they’ll appear immobilized, at your feet, in a second.

Short pulls are the result of a minor increase then decrease in grade between you and the target. They get caught on the slight increase even though it’s rarely perceivable from your vantage point.

I’d like to see the target get pulled with a slight arc to deal with the “fat projectile” issue since this adds an almost un-learnable level of skill to using the ability. It looks buggy, so players won’t try to figure out why it isn’t working and get better at using it, they’ll simply assume it’s a bug and not use it at all.

Additionally, it also doesn’t pull dolyaks in wvw, but I think that’s an intentional issue with dolyaks to prevent CCing off route to deny supply.

It’s one of my favorite skills due to it’s short cooldown, high LF gain, interrupt, fast cast, and ability to pull people out of position.

I use it on WvW, always.

The skill is simply the best for necros, see that naive ranger on top of the wall flinging arrows at you?

Well not today!! Pull them back to your feet and collect the tears!! I haven’t personally seen it bug on me, it always pulls them on my character.

Tried it for a week never kittening pulls people all the way to me if it even hits at all too many pebbles in the way.

nekretaal.6485:

It’s severely underpowered compared to Mesmer focus pull and guardian GS 5. It also seems to have an aftercast which limits what you can o with it.

That mesmer pull has silly proximity range. Sometimes I’ll see it 40 ft to my left and think “way too far to get me.” And sure enough, I’ll get pulled out of the lords room, down the ramp, weaved through the wall crenellations, over a cactus(j/k), and onto the ground. /le sigh

But yeah, SG is buggy for me too. It’s always a gamble.

Muchacho.2390:

zapv.8051:

Spectral Grasp is great, the life force gain is absurd. 15% or 20% in like 1.5 seconds is way faster than anything else.

Only if it hits…

In fact SG is buggy with spectral attunment. The 5% LF should be gained even if SG misses.

I try to only use it at less than 600 range to ensure it will hit, or at least increase the chances significantly. For me it’s less about the pull and more about the life force.

It’s very useful once you get the feeling of it, but, oh irony, it doesn’t work as a ranged pull, but as a mid-range/melee interrupt

Ah and it’s brilliant on Skyhammer or EotM

Really strong when it works.

Except it works so rarely that it isn’t worth using in my opinion.

I rock dat Spectral Grasp the occasional flukes are tolerable, and it’s the greatest combo-initiating move on my utility bar. I’ve gotten a little impatient with it in WvW because I like having more mobility there, but it is definitely my favorite skill concerning PvP and for 1v1’s

i’ve had some funny experiences with it. IE pulling an attacker in wvw TO me when i’m defending a keep or tower and seeing them fly 50 feet in the air and just dropping back down.

:O I just had an idea, what if spectral grasp turned into a Spectral Throw/Smack-down?? – Meaning, that it’d still pull, but after pulling, it throws the target down to the ground (adding another second to their inability to respond – that is if they don’t have a stability or stun-break to pop)!! <- it’d add damage and be even more satisfying to use

^- I like spectral grasp as is, but that would be… just fantastic

its bugged, sometimes it pulls, sometimes it does not. sometimes pulls half way or one step forward for me as well. dont have this problem underwater though, if so its not noticeable

hmm my experience… I think this sums it up (evade) yep that’s about it unless I am point blank other then that I don’t get to use it because im rping as the communal beach ball for the ham guards and warriors because stability isn’t an attrition classes thing apparantly

I stopped using it on my Necro once I noticed that it’s as wonky as the other “pathed” grab/gap-closer skills. Unfortunate, really … especially since I could see it slotting in well with my Superior Grenth-specced condi build.
Honestly, I might slot the bastid more often, and simply use it from closer range.

WvW is awesome for pulling mobs off of walls etc – if angled right.
And in Fractals – ascalon. it’s great to stack up and pull the mobs with it.

Infact I use S.Grasp. Epidemic and signet of spite on the mobs… boom.. pulled.. conditioned… DEAD

Ozzy Toxin.3074:

hmm my experience… I think this sums it up (evade) yep that’s about it unless I am point blank other then that I don’t get to use it because im rping as the communal beach ball for the ham guards and warriors because stability isn’t an attrition classes thing apparantly

There’s definitely some skill/strategy involved in order to efficiently use spectral grasp, I usually force my opponent to use his dodges first, before I spectral grasp. And hey, even if they do dodge, that gives you time to start your next move (i.e. an aoe attack of some sort, or an immobilize after the dodge). It’s a very aggressive move, that doesn’t mean it has to be the initial move.

Also, for classes with stability, they may see the move coming and laugh. But they forget we Necros need that life force (which they just gave us) and the chill sets in to give us a kiting advantage – go from there however you like (according to your build).

Spectral grasp is awsome when i Works which is like 30% of the time.
Not only does it fail due to bad pathing of the projectile but most of the times it doesnt pull the target when he is in the mid of some animations while fighting.

It needs to be made 100% reliable , aside from blockin,blinds, ect and the cd need to be way lower if we are too keep our snail speed.