First thing’s first, the revenant looks like an incredibly fun and unique profession and I cannot wait to try it in the next Beta Weekend Event (sadly I missed out on the first prepurchase wave). Congratulations Roy on making a profession that brings new and exciting mechanics to GW2! That being said, I did notice a few “uninspired” Grandmaster traits that don’t really synergize with what the prior Adept and Master Traits are attempting to accomplish.
In an attempt to solidify the three roles present in the Herald Specialization (Akin to much of the other Elite Specializations; Reaper = Monster/Chiller/Front-liner, Berserker = Physical/Condi/Self Sustain and Stun…etc), I propose the following changes (referencing the livestream notes found at http://dulfy.net/2015/08/14/gw2-revenant-herald-elite-specialization-livestream-notes/):
1. The Stun Breaker
-an active disengage role, focusing on breaking stuns, granting stability, and gaining superspeed (synergizing greatly with the Shiro Legend Stance Skill – Riposting Shadows)
a) Swift Gale
Current: Gain 3 seconds of superspeed when you successfully break a stun.
Change: No change needed, good as is!
b) Harmonize Continuity
Current: When you succesfully break a stun, you also break it for nearby allies (Radius: 600).
Change: No change needed, good as is!
c) Enhanced Bulwark
Current: When stability is applied to you, gain an extra stack. (1 second internal cooldown, 1 stack for 5 seconds)
Change: While you are degenerating energy, grant one stack of stability in an area around you every 3 seconds. Additionally, when stability is applied to you, gain an extra stack. (Radius on Stab Aura = 600, Stab Aura = 1 stack of stability for 3 seconds, Stability Aura Interval=3 seconds, Self Stability Proc = 3 second internal cooldown)
Reasoning: The Herald is all about upkeeping energy and facets to supplement allies with boons. The Stun Break line should thus grant an interesting risk/reward opportunity for players to upkeep higher energy but to grant allies and itself stability. Additionally, it felt like you were forced to bring the Jalis Legend in order to get any source of stability from yourself so I feel like this is an interesting way of providing it to the Glint Legend as well. This trait should thus make energy management and toggling on and off upkeep skills a bit more interesting (do I activate more facets to grant stab to myself and allies on that warrior using Earthshaker…etc).
2. The Bard
-a passive utility role, focusing on providing additional support through the constant upstream of facets and granting additional boons
a) Hardened Persistence
Current: Gain 40 toughness for each point of upkeep you are currently using.
Change: No change needed, good as is!
b) Shared Empowerment
Current: Grant one stack of might to nearby allies whenever you apply a boon to allies. (Duration: 5 seconds, Internal Cooldown: 1 second)
Change: Although this is a great trait, may need to increase the duration to 10 seconds as it takes some time for a Glint user to build up a large amount of might stacks
c) Elder’s Force
Current: Increases your damage by 2% per boon on you.
Change: Increases your damage by 2% per boon on you. Activating One with Nature grants you 5 energy for each point of upkeep you are currently using and extends the duration of existing boons on nearby allies by 4 seconds (Radius: 600).
Reasoning: A boon to damage trait in a Grandmaster spot by itself is very lackluster when you look at the location of identical traits for other classes. With the added clause of activating One with Nature, a “Bard” type Herald Revenant gains an additional tool to maintain a constant stream of boons even when things get rough and you need to pulse multiple facets. The Bard is therefore presented with another interesting choice…do I continue to upkeep Naturalistic Reasonance (-2 energy regen, +50% Boon Duration) with my facets to grant longer lasting boons but risk having them all deactivate and waiting for my energy to replenish OR do I activate One with Nature to grant a burst of boons and to continue pulsing my facets (albit with shorter durations since Naturalistic Reasonance would be disabled)?
3. The Prophet
-an active defensive role, focusing on improving the Herald’s ability to heal and protect allies
a) Radiant Revival
Current: Place infuse light on an ally while you revive them. (Duration: 2 seconds, Recharge: 45 seconds).
Change: Grant infuse light on yourself and on an ally while you revive them.(Duration 2 seconds, Recharge: 30 seconds).
Reasoning: Great concept, just needed a little help to incentive the Revenant to put himself in danger to resurrect an ally. In addition, the cooldown was lowered to match the cooldown of the actual Infuse Light active skill.
b) Bolster Fortifications
Current: Grant protection to nearby allies when using a healing skill (Duration: 2 seconds, Radius: 600).
Change: No change needed, good as is, assuming it works with Ventari’s Will!
c) Soothing Bastion
Current: Activate Crystal Hibernation when you are struck below the health threshold. Using a shield skill increases boon duration by 2 seconds. (Crystal Hibernation Duration: 3 seconds, Crystal Hibernation Cooldown: 30 seconds)
Change: For each point of energy upkeep you are currently using, regenerate health for yourself and nearby allies every 3 seconds. Additionally, when you are struck below the health threshold, your shield skills instantly recharge. (Shield skill recharge reduction cooldown: 60 seconds, Healing every 3 seconds: 70 + (0.05*Healing Power) per point of energy upkeep, Healing Aura Radius: 600)
Reasoning: Removed the boon duration clause as we added that to the Bard’s Elder Force GrandMaster. Also, while it’s always great to have survivability options, I don’t feel that a self-root as a grandmaster is the best way to approach this. I feel like a more elegant solution would be to instantly recharge shield skills when you reach the health threshold. This gives the Revenant time to better position himself and to use the skill when he wants to use it, rather than delaying the inevitable and self-rooting yourself (which could lead to even worse solutions than if you were to just kite). Additionally, wanted to really drive home the whole maintaining energy upkeep concept that we can see present in the other two themes. This again, gives the Herald interesting energy management decisions to make while still being consistent with the theme of supporting and healing allies.
All in all, I really love the idea of having a Bard-like specialization and would love to see it come to fruition in the universe of Guild Wars 2! The Grandmasters just needed a little help so it would be awesome if we could at least create Grandmasters that match the existing themes already present.
EDIT: Grammer. English are hard.
(edited by KinkyPotato.4219)