Guild Wars 2

So, most thought this trait would be pretty bad pre-patch. Personally, I love it. It seems Winter’s bite with this trait is able to interrupt, can anyone confirm?

What wasn’t mentioned in the patch notes is that this trait reduces cd of axe skills as well, and yes, that includes offhand axe.

Good stuff imho.

Hopefully Anet looks into the range of most of our Offhands. I was expecting most radii and range coefficients to be tweaked and baselined once Offhand Training was liquidated… I miss the old large Whirling Defense radius when traited with Offhand Training.

In any case, it’s hard to take Honed Axes and opt out of taking Beastly Warden or Zephyr’s Speed. Taunt has way too many PvP applications, and Quickness w/ Might is great for general bursts.

Yeah for pvp, it’s hard not to pick Beastly Warden. Still, that aoe chill on such a short cd is pretty kitten sweet for axe builds.

hmmmm this is interesting. I totally dismissed this trait, but the range on the chill is huuuge. looks very satisfying too. the GM also reduces OH axe recharge.

I think for this GM to be competitive they need to at least double the ferocity bonus, say 300-350. because BW is just too good. Richochet needs to hit harder. maybe, 1500 on crit.

the problem with both axes in general is they don’t provide us with a survivable toolset. no evades, no practical stuns, no escapes, kitten poor mobility. each toolset must have some of these, or at least one. look at warriors – all their weapons, except for rifle, have many of these. our GS has it. Lb has it. this is why we’re pigeon-holed into GS/LB on all power builds. do you guys think they will ever understand these concepts?

They should make the ferocity bonus equivalent to Warriors’: 150 PER AXE

300 Ferocity if dual wielding or
150 ferocity if you one hand axe or off hand axe (yummy with Sword/Axe)

Also, all off hands’ mechanics should be revised.

• Torch
  In a previous major patch, they BUFFED the bonfire radius, now its nerfed, I really suspect someone simply forgot.

• Dagger
  I think this one is pretty good as it is right now, in terms of range, radius and utility.

• Warhorn
  Love the extra regen on Call of the Wild when traited (great synergy with Clarion Bond), though I still feel
  ’Hunter’s Call’ needs…something else. The total DPS is VERY low for a 25/20s cooldown. I understand it’s a power weapon, I feel it needs some utility. Blind is an often suggested effect (3s on skill use + 1s every 2s or something)

• Off-Hand Axe
  Path of Scars feels alright, though they should really fix how the thrown axe behaves; trying to pull someone in a gap standing between player and target doesn’t work as the axe ‘falls’ in the gap (and doesn’t come back).
  It’s also been suggested a few times to add an effect on the outgoing axe to up the chances to have a successful return such as a short 2s cripple or 1s knockdown.
  Maybe add synergy with main axe? 1s knockdown if the foe is Chilled (from Axe 3’s Winter’s Bite) or is Weakened (again from Axe 3’s Pet Effect – next pet attack inflicts weakness)
  Whirling Defense
  The radius should not necessarily be as HUGE as old traited WD, but a bit bigger than it currently is would be nice. Also, given its big cooldown and the fact that you’re rooted the entire skill duration, I’d love to see a damage increase; some people suggested comparing it to Warrior’s Hundred Blades: You really wanna get out of the way or else you’re in trouble. Retaliation is nice, the vuln stack is nice, maybe work on the vuln stacking to make them land more appropriately? An interesting change could be to lower the duration, but triple the damage and double the vulnerability stacks, so for half the hits, you gain the same amount of vuln and a bit more damage.

Alternate Reimagining of

Whirling Defense 28s CD

Reflect projectiles and evade attacks while damaging nearby foes.

• Damage Damage (10x): 1380 (3.75 dmg coefficient for total hits)
• 10 Vulnerability: 10 s
• Number of Targets: 3
• Duration: 2.5 s
• Evade Duration: 2s
• Attack Radius: 210
• Reflection Radius: 110
• Combo Finisher: Whirl

Compared to old WD,

• Damage goes from 3.0 coefficient to 3.75 coefficient (in comparison, Warrior’s Hundred Blade is a 4.20 coefficient on 8 hits in 3s on a 8s cooldown)
• We go from 12 hits to 10 hits
• Duration goes from 5s to 2.5s
• Attack radius is changed from 180 to 210
• Reflection Radius is changed from 90 to 110
• Bring back the whirl finisher, seems to be bugged
• Remove retaliation, but grant 2s of evade
• Lasts half as long but stacks 1 vuln per hit for a total of 10 vuln stacks instead of 12
• Cooldown slightly augmented to 28s compared to 25s, traitable to approx 22s

It would add a lot of utility (being able to evade attacks and reflect and vuln) and satisfying damage if you can land it fully. The fact that you are rooted really messes with this skill’s efficiency