Guild Wars 2

Brandish
This spec is based on weapons, on summoning an entire armory made of shadows. It uses an OH Sword as its new weapon, summons single-use weapons for its utility tree, but it’s core feature is that it allows you to equip three weapon sets at a time. How does it do this?

1. It removes the “bundle” element from Stealing, but the other effects of Steal remain in place.

2. F2 becomes the new “Shadow Armory” ability. Clicking it swaps your weapon to whichever shadow weapon you have equipped. This is very flexible, as you have your two normal equipped weapon combinations, and can swap between those using tilde or the swap button, or use f2 to swap from either of those to the shadow weapon. Hitting F2 a second time reverts to the weapon you’d just been using, hitting the weapon swap key switches to the “real” weapon you weren’t using. Sounds complicated, but it’d be easy to pick up.

3. The Shadow Weapons function exactly like normal weapons, appear to be a single weapon model for each type (ie every Sword would look identical for every Thief), and with a perfectly matte black texture, no variation. Ideally also a black mist effect to them, but that might be a bit much. They deal Ascended damage, similar to Engi weapons, but carry the stats and Sigils of the weapons you have equipped (meaning if you only have Exotic Zerker weapons, you’ll still only have Exotic-tier +Power).

4. You’d be able to choose what combination your second weapon takes in a special UI based off the Ranger Pet UI, basically just a small pop-up screen from which you can select from available 2H/MH/OH combinations. You can only change these outside of combat.

5. The added cost of weapon swapping is that each Shadow swap costs one Dodge worth of Energy, and swapping has its own CD of 10 seconds, so while you can swap twice within two seconds, you can’t just keep swapping non-stop.

The skills are designed around a more “stand-up” play style, intended to stay in the enemy’s face, rather than dodging around or running away. It’s made to build up the Thief’s ability to facetank damage as an optional playstyle. The traits would include a stacking toughness buff each time you weapon swap, but that gets cleared when you enter Stealth.

(all damage numbers below are based on numbers listed in the wiki, and subject to balancing)
Weapon skills:
OH Sword #4 Blade Fan: twirl your blade in an arc, reflecting incoming projectiles. Using this ability converts it to Riposte.
Damage: 130
Number of Targets: 3 (cleave)
Channel time: 2
Range: 130
Ini: 3

OH Sword #4 Riposte (alternate): Lunge forward, dealing damage. Deals double damage if Blade Fan reflected a projectile.
Damage: 250
Number of Targets: 3 (cleave)
Range: 600
Ini: 3
Leap Finisher

OH Sword #5 Breaker Sword: A strong vertical swing. If it interrupts, it causes Daze
Stun 1/4s
Daze 3s (on interrupt)
Weakness 5s
Damage: 200
Range: 300
Ini: 5

Sword/Sword #3
Thousand Blades: Repeatedly strike using both swords.
Damage (16x): 800
Number of Targets: 5 (cleave)
Range: 130
Channel time: 3
Intitiative: 6

Dagger/Sword #3
Feint Strike: Slash high with the Dagger, and then spin and slash low with the sword.
The second stike is unblockable.
Damage: 100 then 200
Targets: 3 (cleave)
Range: 130
Ini: 4
Whirl finisher

Pistol/Sword #3
Bullet’s Shadow: Fire a shot with your pistol, if it hits, your sword appears in their chest. Lunge forward in it’s wake to retrieve it. (moves to target using a leap)
Damage: 180 pistol, 600 sword strike
Targets: 1
Range: 900
Ini: 5

Utilities (Armory):

Shadow Armor:
Summon heavy armor to defend and restore you. Gain Protection and heal 3000 HP, with an additional 2000HP over five seconds, applies Cripple and Reveal to yourself for the duration. (the visual would be relatively minor, not a full armor overhaul) Relatively high uptime.

Karmic Daggers:
Breaks Stuns. Cure up to three conditions. For each condition cured, a dagger is summoned and thrown at the selected target for moderate damage. Medium CD.

Tenebrous Bulwark:
Summons a large shield from the shadows. For 3 seconds, it blocks all damage coming from in front of you, equivalent to Shield of Courage, except it’s not mobile. You can move while it’s active but it only defends you if you’re behind it and close. Long CD.
(A roughly norn-sized heavy sheild would rise from the ground and sit in front of the character)

Guillotine:
Summon a Greastsword from the shadows. This is a 180 arc attack that cleaves and deals heavy damage in a single melee hit. ~20-25s CD
(Summons a Norn-scale Greatsword that swings in a single arc in front of the player, then vanishes)

Shadow Vault:
Pull a shadow upwards to fly through the air. Ground targeted, 900 range, launches the player to the target location and deals moderate damage when he lands. (Summons the same Rock Pillar Tempests ride on, but just long enough to launch the player).

Doppelganger (Elite):
Summon a copy of yourself to fight by your side. The clone deals half your damage but makes the exact same attacks you do, aimed at the same targets if aimed. You are Revealed for the duration. Lasts about ten seconds, long CD.
(Unlike Mesmer Clones or Thieves Guild, these are not AI pets. This version is more of a weapon, it’s core node is locked 1:1 to your core, placed slightly to the side of you, and moves exactly as you move, no independent thought or action. This means it can theoretically hang over cliffs or through walls. Ideally he could spawn to the left or right at random, to confuse people further).

If you add some styling (bolding, italics, bullet points for things like “900 range, ground targeted”) I promise I’ll read it.

So, any really questions, concerns? Is it just too boring? Too OP? Too UP? Confusing? Not Confusing enough? I’d love to see some feedback.