Guild Wars 2

I think this spirit deserves some attention. The rest of the spirits is absolute garbage imo, so is the grandmaster trait but Sun Spirit has some very interesting interactions going on that not everybody might know. Also the way its conditions are applied are very convenient since they can even hit stuff that is permanently dodging and only allows for small windows to apply damage. It is especially interesting with staff autoattack, a skill that is almost always able to connect. Further more not having any condition damage on its own, staff greatly benefits from sun spirit.

Here are some interesting facts I stumbled across during testing:

• the buff gives a 75% chance to apply 2 stacks of burn on an 8 second ICD pet source which means it will pretty much proc every 8 seconds
• the spirit itself has a 20 second cooldown but the buff will almost have a permanent uptime because even after the spirit dies its body will remain visible and still refresh the buff, there are only about 5 seconds before Sun Spirit is out of cooldown again in which you wont get the buff
• because of the fact mentioned above even almost permanently triggering the spirit after cast is a viable strategy, it also means there is almost no counterplay for the enemy because destroying it does very little
• the more sources for the buff you can generate (you, your pet, your new pet after you swap pets, obiously allied player) the more burn you can generate on a target but the sources should have decent condition damage

But the most interesting thing I found is:

• Entangling Roots count as an individual instance, this means even in a 1v1 situation you can generate a ton of burn stacks

Did anyone play around with Sun Spirit recently? I consider it rather strong in the build I am currently running. Can share if anyone is interested.

I did, with great success.
I wanted to share it later when the site’s updated with Amulets and stuff.

Have been doing for ages ever since the Spirit trait changes.

its still good to use people vastly underestimate spirits in controlled fights.

Now we just need a pocket raptor pet to spread around those burns

But yea, I’ve always liked using the fire spirit, in PvP the fights are mostly limited to points so the static spirits are not really an issue and 1000 range means you can tuck it in a corner out of the way of all the AoEs.

Dojo.1867:

But the most interesting thing I found is:

• Entangling Roots count as an individual instance, this means even in a 1v1 situation you can generate a ton of burn stacks

This is pretty nice indeed, but I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a bug? But hey, I’m not complaining!

OGDeadHead.8326:

Dojo.1867:

But the most interesting thing I found is:

• Entangling Roots count as an individual instance, this means even in a 1v1 situation you can generate a ton of burn stacks

This is pretty nice indeed, but I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t a bug? But hey, I’m not complaining!

Well since roots are neither the ranger nor his pet they are a new source of damage so it kind of makes sense. If it should be like that is a different question. I think the mechanic is clunky and outdated with stuff like resistance anyway.

Btw many people say spirits should move via trait again but that imo completely misses the point. Strategic placement is what spirits are about and those that are weak are not weak because they don’t move. I would rather make the whole thing more consistent. Why only 75% chance if we have an ICD anyway? That does not make sense.

And the trait giving boons was a bad choice. Boons are so common anyway and if I need them for my build I already try to include them anyway. I would rather let spirits give a passive stat buff via trait (sun condi dmg, earth toughness, water healing power, storm precision, frost power, elite condition duration reduction).

This would make the trait pretty good already. I also liked when they autoprocced their active on death.

Roots are mechanically a summoned ally and either every single thief I’ve fought pre HoT has dodged my Entangle (post-HoT I’ve a few out of shadow refuge with Glyph of Tides) or they target the unit they were summoned on with a bleeding/immob attack every second. So it makes perfect sense that they could be buffed with Sun Spirit and apply their own burning, I can’t believe I didn’t know this sooner.

One interesting build I’m considering is Rune of the Grove Nature’s Vengeance Druid.
Rune of the Grove, Nature’s Vengeance, Stone Spirit and Lingering magic grant you a theoretical 100% protection uptime.
(3*1.5)/10 + (1*1.5)/3 + (4*1.5)/30 = 115% protection uptime maximum
Stone Spirit + NV + Grove Rune
(The real value will be lower since buffs won’t refresh the instant they’re off cooldown and the RNG may just decide to screw you over)

I’m gonna test Sun Spirit proper when I get home today, but right now I’ll theorycraft a build.

RIP spirits 08/2012 – 09/2013
All is vain.

Veteran Oakheart.4035:

RIP spirits 08/2012 – 09/2013
All is vain.

Most spirits are more powerful than they’ve ever been, though some are weaker. Sunny is incredible since the condition stacking change and has only been getting more awesome as spirits get more buffs. Frosty is basically the same as it’s always been, one of PvE’s best damage boosts. Stone with just Nature’s Vengeance is up to 76% teamwide protection uptime, which is far more useful than the paltry <30% that it could hope for a few years ago. Nature scales with healing power now and can be traited to pulse stability, but can’t be moved onto corpses or use multiple renewals across a teamfight so it’s better in some ways worse in others.

Storm is just trying to do too many things we don’t need or want in that form, it does more than it did originally but being immobile itself makes it very difficult to use its daze and swiftness. The vulnerability simply doesn’t justify the utility slot (I’d take it before frost in PvP though). Storm is the only spirit that you could call dead.