The Revenant. Fun to play. Too many issues. Other professions outperform and outdamage with simplicity. Compare to other professions and skills. Where are the logistics? I will not cover traits nor bugs.
I will cover Shiro. This logic should apply to other legends. Poor energy management and forced to invoke legends which makes no sense; should stay in a legend because the situation calls for it, not because I need energy. High risk low reward. Poor synergy. One combo finisher but no combo field. Poor condition removal. Healing is silly. Lots of negatives. Cost and cool down…ouch, sure ok but ya need to fix the sloppy mechanics to compensate. On a positive note, Shiro siphons life is his jam (“Need Shiro Revs for event! Boss takes no damage below 25% health!”). Improve that so Revs have a niche. I address these issues below that add to the respective skill:
SHIRO SWORD/SWORD
Preparation Thrust: Gain +1 energy on first hit, gain +1 energy on second hit, gain +3 energy on third hit. Hits have 33% chance on crit to life siphon.
Precision Strike: Gain Fury (5s). Removed Chill. Each dagger has 33% chance on crit to Taunt (1s). Each dagger that hits gives +5 energy. Spend 5 to get 15 = +10 energy profit.
Unrelenting Assault: Applies 10Vulnerability on 5th hit. 5th hit is a Combo Finisher: Blast. Gain +5 energy for each hit. 66% chance on crit to life steal on each hit. If your health is below 50%, recharge is reduced by 50%. Spend 15 to get 25 = +10 energy profit.
Duelist’s Preparation: Gain +5 energy for each block. Shackling Wave is replaced by Leeching Mist, which gives +25 energy and a stackable Shiro leech icon (max 25) that gives a Leeching Aura (radius 250) for 5 seconds and is a tiny mobile Combo Field: Dark (5s). Leeching Mist siphons life from your target. Initializing (flipping the skill with 0 cost) gives +25 energy and 1 leech stack. Blocking, crits, and evading increases the stack. Each block increases stack by 1, each critical hit increases stack by 3, and each evaded attack increases stack by 5. At 25 stacks, F3 activates Leeching Mist but you must have both swords equipped and Shiro legend active to activate it. Emits a jaded shadowy glow when activated and says “Fear my power!” (Shiro quote from GW1 Factions). Spend 10 to get 25 = +15 energy profit.
Grasping Shadow: Reduced cast time (¼s). Increased attack range to 180. Replaced Chill with Immobilize (2s). Pull is upgraded to Yank. The opposite of Launch, Yank can also pull downed enemies (oooh maybe also yank downed/defeated allies, similar to Rebirth in GW1 but this requires melee range to execute. “Rev, yank him out of that aoe so we can rez”).
LEGENDARY ASSASSIN STANCE
Enchanted Daggers: Instant cast. Replaced base heal with siphon life from nearby foes. Add a dagger for total 7. Daggers are Combo Finishers: Projectile. Initial cast sets Combo Field: Dark (5s). Siphon damage/heal is increased. Initial cast gives +20 energy, each dagger attack that hits gives +5 energy. If this skill doesn’t siphon upon initial activation, recharge is reduced by 50%. Spend 5 to get 55 = +50 energy profit. A lot of problems with this skill: small base heal, requires a target, prevented by stealth, block, evade, invuln, reduced, reflect…say what? If reflected, the daggers heal your target…wtf? So yeah, these issues make the heal useless. Other professions heal upon cast without senseless restrictions. My fix provides energy plus I added life steal in other skills to balance Shiro’s healing. I removed base heal which means you need foes to heal. High risk/high reward.
Riposting Shadows: This skill can now evade forward if moving forward. Any other direction and it evades backward. Each evaded attack gives +10 energy and Retaliation (1s).
Phase Traversal: Stuns (½s). Unblockable is increased to 3. Gain 5Might (3s), Fury (3s), Quickness (3s). This costs too much. By the time I reach my target, I’m out of energy. Defeats the purpose. Again, the risk/reward thing.
Impossible Odds: Attacks are double strikes. Transfer a condition on critical hits. Adds Fury (1s/s). Jade Winds can’t hit same target twice.
Jade Winds: Increased range (750). Gain +10 energy for each strike. Inflicts Reveal (3s). Siphons life. Combo Finisher: Blast. Spend 50 to get 50 = 0 energy profit. This costs a whopping 50! Slow cast, can run out of range, interrupted, can be blocked, evaded, stability, etc. You are useless after casting. Too risky. This is the highest risk with little reward of all the skills. This is an elite and needs to act like one. Synergizes with Impossible Odds with a possible profit of +50 energy if hits 10 foes; if hits1 foe, you’re almost broke with 10 energy. Risk/reward!
Synergy, risk/reward, energy return, etc. My approach is to spend energy to get extra energy via skills instead of increasing pip regen rate to +7 via traits. Maybe the fix is not enough, too much, or just right. Gets Anet to say, “Ah ok, I see where you’re going with this. We’ll test and make tweaks. Gj! :)”