Guild Wars 2

I just did some roaming and realized that CB and PS does not need facing to proc successfully!

I corrupted an ele’s boon while running away from him and transferred immobilize on a ranger while he was behind me without looking at him.

I believe in the past you needed to face/look at your target but it seems like you do not need to now.

it is AWESOME

Dark Pact too, it’s awesome for those surprise bursts

Flow said one time that after beginning the cast of life siphon (dagger 2), while facing, it doesn’t require facing after that. Handy to know while escaping…

Same for ds3 fear and epidemic.

If PS=Plague Signet I tested it by having a guardian mate immobilise me and stand behind me recently. It does NOT work. There’s a whole other thread of people arguing about this. What’s happening is some skills that ordinarily require facing are a little bit “flexible” about letting you cast them while you’re moving. I’ve noticed this a lot with ground-targeted aoe skills, maybe PS is the same. But if you’re immobilised and can’t turn around to face your target they don’t work.

Haven’t tested corrupt boon in similarly controlled conditions, but I’ve often seen it go into 5" cd because my target dodged through me and ended up behind me, so I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work either.
Life Siphon DOES keep channeling without facing. As long as you have facing when you first cast it you can turn around and run away from them and you’ll complete the channel! It’s pretty great!

Seems like many people have different experience with some skills in regards to the need of facing the target.

As far as I remember Plague Signet never needed facing. I’ve just tested the immobilized thing, transfer works for me every time.
Same for Corrupt Boon. I remember people complaining that CB requires facing even two years ago, but personally I could always cast it backwards.
Which btw is not just good for the pure usability in that way, but actually I sometimes turn away from my opponent just to cast CB, this way they are less likely to dodge when they see my big charr hand waving green smoke in their face.

Holl.3109:

Dark Pact too, it’s awesome for those surprise bursts

Flow said one time that after beginning the cast of life siphon (dagger 2), while facing, it doesn’t require facing after that. Handy to know while escaping…

That probably wasn’t me but it’s true. The only moment you need to face your target is when you press the button, you can even turn away during the precast time.

Strangely enough though, Dark Pact doesn’t work for me when I don’t face my target.
In fact, both Dark Pact and Life Siphon go on full cooldown without hitting at all if I face away. Bug?

It’s not impossible that some skills work differently for different people, but it would be VERY VERY surprising!

If you just run and cast CB it will work.

If you want to quickly cast it and turn back, it fails and goes on full cd.

Rym.1469:

If you want to quickly cast it and turn back, it fails and goes on full cd.

You mean the fact that you are changing direction causes it to fail? That can’t be right…

flow.6043:

Seems like many people have different experience with some skills in regards to the need of facing the target.

As far as I remember Plague Signet never needed facing. I’ve just tested the immobilized thing, transfer works for me every time.
Same for Corrupt Boon. I remember people complaining that CB requires facing even two years ago, but personally I could always cast it backwards.
Which btw is not just good for the pure usability in that way, but actually I sometimes turn away from my opponent just to cast CB, this way they are less likely to dodge when they see my big charr hand waving green smoke in their face.

Holl.3109:

Dark Pact too, it’s awesome for those surprise bursts

Flow said one time that after beginning the cast of life siphon (dagger 2), while facing, it doesn’t require facing after that. Handy to know while escaping…

That probably wasn’t me but it’s true. The only moment you need to face your target is when you press the button, you can even turn away during the precast time.

Strangely enough though, Dark Pact doesn’t work for me when I don’t face my target.
In fact, both Dark Pact and Life Siphon go on full cooldown without hitting at all if I face away. Bug?

You might not have been the one that discovered it, but I saw one of your posts which included that info. And I might be wrong about dark pact, it can start the cast while facing away, but I’m not 100% if it requires facing at the end of the cast.
I usually start the cast, turn around, hit DarkPact, drop that WoSuffering, some dagger AA for a nice teef steak

Holl.3109:

Dark Pact too, it’s awesome for those surprise bursts

Flow said one time that after beginning the cast of life siphon (dagger 2), while facing, it doesn’t require facing after that. Handy to know while escaping…

This is misinformation.

Dark Pact requires facing by the end of the cast in order for it to connect.

Next patch All skills listed on this thread will now require facing.

You guys are just tipping anet off lol you already know they don’t play necro, stop snitching on yourselves =)

borrok.9267:

Next patch All skills listed on this thread will now require facing.

You guys are just tipping anet off lol you already know they don’t play necro, stop snitching on yourselves =)

This so +9999

Guys, there’s no such thing as skills that need facing “at the beginning” and skills that only require facing “at the end” of the cast in this game. If you cast a skill that requires facing, your character will turn to face your target DURING THE CAST. If for any reason you’re not able to turn, the skill will go on 5" cd. There’s only one kind of facing.

Rym.1469:

If you just run and cast CB it will work.

If you want to quickly cast it and turn back, it fails and goes on full cd.

You telling me that you can run directly away from your target and cast CB WHILE RUNNING and it will hit?

manveruppd.7601:

You telling me that you can run directly away from your target and cast CB WHILE RUNNING and it will hit?

Yes!

manveruppd.7601:

Guys, there’s no such thing as skills that need facing “at the beginning” and skills that only require facing “at the end” of the cast in this game. If you cast a skill that requires facing, your character will turn to face your target DURING THE CAST. If for any reason you’re not able to turn, the skill will go on 5" cd. There’s only one kind of facing.

Just try a dagger on a training golem. Life Siphon needs facing at the start, Dark Pact at the end of the cast. If you miss those two moments the skills go on full cd without doing anything.

zone.1073:

Holl.3109:

Dark Pact too, it’s awesome for those surprise bursts

Flow said one time that after beginning the cast of life siphon (dagger 2), while facing, it doesn’t require facing after that. Handy to know while escaping…

This is misinformation.

Dark Pact requires facing by the end of the cast in order for it to connect.

Yup, I corrected it above your reply, was only thinking about start of the cast.
Which makes me think: Why can’t all skills at least start the channel while facing away?

You would have to turn around at the end of the cast, but this could help necro a lot since with all our long cast times. Being able to start that cast while running away for example could help a lot…

Holl.3109:

Which makes me think: Why can’t all skills at least start the channel while facing away?

If you are refering to an actual channeled skill then it depends. Life Siphon, Life Transfer and Ghastly Claws all behave differently in regards to facing requirements during the channel.

If you are talking about the precast time, like Dark Pact, then that is actually how all skills work anyway. It’s the actual hit that counts.
So with Life Siphon you can actually face away at first, then quickly turn to your target for the first hit of the channel to land and then you can run away again.
Or Wail of Doom, if you run away from someone chasing you, activate the skill, make a 180 turn just short of half a sec later and the daze cone will go the other way.

flow.6043:

manveruppd.7601:

You telling me that you can run directly away from your target and cast CB WHILE RUNNING and it will hit?

Yes!

manveruppd.7601:

Guys, there’s no such thing as skills that need facing “at the beginning” and skills that only require facing “at the end” of the cast in this game. If you cast a skill that requires facing, your character will turn to face your target DURING THE CAST. If for any reason you’re not able to turn, the skill will go on 5" cd. There’s only one kind of facing.

Just try a dagger on a training golem. Life Siphon needs facing at the start, Dark Pact at the end of the cast. If you miss those two moments the skills go on full cd without doing anything.

This is consistent with my experience too. I’m pretty sure dark pact can be casted out of range, and as long as you’re in range when it finishes casting, it can still hit.