Guild Wars 2

Out of all the Revenant core traits, the Ferocious Strikes trait is probably the most underwhelming. Assassin’s Presence is superior in every way AND it’s an adept tier trait, unlike Ferocious Strikes that is a master tier trait. And unlike what it says, Ferocious Strikes benefits only 1 type of dual-wielding, instead of being beneficial to all dual-wielding types.

So my suggestion is as follows(in 2 steps):

1. Switch between Assassin’s Presence and Ferocious Strikes(to make Assassin’s Presence trait tier coincide with other classes party wide stat buffs so all of them will be Master tier).

2. Change the bonus of Ferocious Strikes to the following: While dual-wielding, you have a 33% chance on critical hit to steal 200 life(number is a placeholder as anet makes the decision of balancing) from foes(with an ICD of either 1 or 2 or even 3 seconds so as to not make this trait op by being able to get lucky with procs and spam life steal like crazy). This will make it fit the Life Steal aspect of the Devastation line.

By doing the above change, Ferocious Strikes will become a viable choice for all Dual-wielding options(as it is currently it only benefits swords since they are a burst damage weapon, whilst mace/axe benefit much less from it since they are condi based), all the while it will also make Assassin’s Presence a real choice between the other traits and making it coincide with the other classes trait tier of same type of trait.

The reason I ask for this type of change for Ferocious Strikes is because it is weak compared to a lower tier trait in every way, an because it benefits only 1 type of dual-wielding while other types don’t have much of a reason to take it(in which case this trait could have been made purposefully for swords only and not generally for all dual-wielding types).

im with you for suggestion #1 – the both traits definitively need to switch places
This was asked many times before and it is totally obvious imho

Loex.5104:

im with you for suggestion #1 – the both traits definitively need to switch places
This was asked many times before and it is totally obvious imho

Problem is even if those traits are switched, people will take the Vicious Lacerations trait since it is by far more superior to Ferocious Strikes. That’s why I proposed the above trait change to make it a more viable choice, not just for swords but for the other weapons as well(as it is currently, only swords will benefit from it and in this case Vicious Lacerations is a much better choice). To add to that my suggestion also fits the life steal aspect of the devastation line.

The order is okay, although I find having two +150 ferocity traits in the same line dull and uninspired, I’d rather keep the aura one and scrap it for something new, specially considering assassin’s presence is objectively better than ferocious strikes in literaly every possible way.
Also, about dual weilding: I think vicious lacerations should affect any weapon, although now that they’re changing the attack speed to simply flat damage, which mace doesn’t benefit much from, I think lifestealing would be better in the sense that you can do flat damage on a condi weapon (I dont think flat damage is reduced by armor or protection, same way as condis). On the other hand devastation already has a couple of really solid lifesteal traits (and the actual reason I take this line in any build, even condis) that give healing signet like sustain with added damage, maybe adding even more lifesteal to the line is overkill. But yeah I think this trait should be looked at too.