Guild Wars 2

Hey all,
With the staff stuff datamined – with the mixed feelings of wanting a rifle and wanting staff, I decided to amalgamate the two
Here is the result

The spec line is a little half baked – feel free to put some additions in there
The idea of the staff is that it is a combo of daggers and pistol with high burst at range as well as filling some condi/range support roles
————-

Steal change:
Light fingered spectre – 1200 range
Steal an artifact that gives periodic boons per x seconds and conditional damages per y attacks – buff lasts 5-10 seconds (can be changed as wished)
- stealing occurs at range: no shadow stepping toward target – artifact is granted/ stolen from range on F2 key

Eg. Guardian
Gain stab every x seconds
Every y attack daze for 1/4 second

This would be for all classes based upon what has been stolen
Anything which interacts with steal is effected by this
———-

Staff: range 900-1200
Attack style: all skills have an ebb and flow to them – akin to that of air and water bending like that of avatar series to keep the martial feel

1. chain
   Fire 1 shadow bolt – vuln
   Fire 2 shadow bolts – vuln
   Fire 3 shadow bolts – cripple

Stealth attack:
Umbral touch – basically a sniper shot taking a long time to cast and hitting like a truck
1200-1500 range
Basically a long range backstab
100% projectile finisher

1. shadows teeth – a long range heart seeker

1. dark pillar – regen/aegis on allies and blind/ poison on foes > AOE – dark field

1. shadows maw – fury/prot on allies and chill/torment on foes > AOE – smoke field

1. living ghost – 4 sec self stealth > next attack does additional damage
   ————-

Utilities:
Mantra’s
Due to how Mesmer’s also have a thing for stealth and playing with boons – I thought they would work well
The aim is to give the shadow Mage a way of long term positioning and harassment at range whilst being able to snipe commanders and support self and allies

Healing:
Mantra of the ghost song – gain distortion: heal x and y% of incoming damage avoided

Utility:
Mantra of umbral wrath – grant fury, stability and might on self and 5 allies

Mantra of living shadow – you and allies gain stealth, regen and protection periodically
(Useful for speed running dungeons/avoiding zergs coming your way)

Mantra of the deep beast – summons spectral creatures to attack your foes – like that of CoW of ranger but small AOE instead of single target

Ult:
Mantra of a bright death
-Gain fury, might and quickness
-Sneak attacks can be performored outside of stealth gaining stealthed benefits for x seconds
- lasts for 3-7 seconds

Spec tree:
Up for debate – if you think of something: if it fits/works well – might be a good add for it
A very rough thought of how this tree works
3 lines (need some names – support/condi/assassin) feel free to get creative with names

Minor
-gain access to staff/mantras
-stealth attacks occur 10-15% quicker/ 25% to blind for 1 second on bases attack (5 second CD)
- damage increase based on distance

Major:
Support
- allies blasting/leaping into your fields gain might
- allies/you gain hp when ini is spent OR fields heal periodically
- gain an extra mantra use/condi cleanse/ CD

Condi
- AOE fields now apply additional torment per tick/last longer
- inflict x stacks of bleed per ini spent
- blinds now inflict burning too

Assassination
- increase cast time by .25-.5 but gain 15 stacks of vuln on target prior to sneak attack
- exposed (I can’t think of the name when you’re forced out of stealth) now lasts 1 second less
- attacks from stealth now do increased damage/pierce with ranged weapons/attack up to 3 targets with melee (sword/dagger)

I hope this sounds okay
I thought of it during a ride around the city in a country I’m doing a short term mission in :P

Feel free to help me flesh out the ideas

Thank you for reading,

-Phyrak

Edit: added style of fighting with staff + combo fields
Edit 2: added extra details to steal change

I think most players wishing for staff are thinking melee turtle ninja style gameplay, not ranged mage :/

Jayden Ennok.3687:

I think most players wishing for staff are thinking melee turtle ninja style gameplay, not ranged mage :/

Mesmer got shield and it was a bit out of left field
It suited Mesmer quite well considering

Thus – the above hopes for staff

Out of left field
Give the class a new way of fighting

Phyrak.7260:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

I think most players wishing for staff are thinking melee turtle ninja style gameplay, not ranged mage :/

Mesmer got shield and it was a bit out of left field
It suited Mesmer quite well considering

Thus – the above hopes for staff

Out of left field
Give the class a new way of fighting

It’s not necessarily the weapon but the abilities which people really care about. For chronomancer they could have given them an axe, dagger or w/e but the actual time mage abilities fits very well with the class. A lot of the community aren;t great fans of making thieves into a ‘mage’ like class otherwise we would have rolled eles.

I like the effort you put in, I could adjust some of your abilities to make them more viable but the tldr version is basically I believe you need alter some of the boons/ buffs to carve out a better support niche for thieves. Instead, rather than create a whole new thread, I’ll post what I would like a staff version thief to look like.

Terra.8571:

Phyrak.7260:

Jayden Ennok.3687:

I think most players wishing for staff are thinking melee turtle ninja style gameplay, not ranged mage :/

Mesmer got shield and it was a bit out of left field
It suited Mesmer quite well considering

Thus – the above hopes for staff

Out of left field
Give the class a new way of fighting

It’s not necessarily the weapon but the abilities which people really care about. For chronomancer they could have given them an axe, dagger or w/e but the actual time mage abilities fits very well with the class. A lot of the community aren;t great fans of making thieves into a ‘mage’ like class otherwise we would have rolled eles.

I like the effort you put in, I could adjust some of your abilities to make them more viable but the tldr version is basically I believe you need alter some of the boons/ buffs to carve out a better support niche for thieves. Instead, rather than create a whole new thread, I’ll post what I would like a staff version thief to look like.

I wasn’t too sure for boons – more or less just a stab in the dark :P

The idea is mainly for high power and burst damage from stealth
Condi’s/ boons are more of a secondary idea

The idea was to assimilate the sniper and staff into an interesting beast :P

The boons and Condi’s were more about adding some group uses to it then keeping thief as a solo roamer to more uses in med-large havoc squad/some Zerg play

Ninja
Weapon: Staff
Role: Damage Mitigation + DPS Support
Special Mechanic: Ninjitsu
Utilities: Kits

Staff 1:
First Strike – You hit your opponent with lightning speed.
Range: 130; Cast: Instant, Damage: Medium; Number of Targets: 3

Swift Strike – You hit your opponent with a fast uppercut and nearby allies gain
vigor.
Range: 130; Cast: Instant, Damage: Medium; Number of Targets: 3; Vigor: 2s for 5 allies

Dark Strike: You hit your opponent with an umbral touch. Convert a boon to
blindness. If your opponent has no boon then inflict additional damage.
Range: 130; Cast 1/2s; Number of Targets: 3; Damage Medium; Blindness: 3s;
Additional Damage: High

Stealth Attack: Need to think about this one

Staff 2:
Daredevil – Leap forward and immobilise your foe.
Range: 600; Number of targets: 3; Damage: Low; Immobilise: 1.5s; Init 4; Combo Finisher: Leap

Staff 3:
Utsusemi – Nearby allies become shadows for 3s (making them evade all attacks) – attacking breaks shadows mode. When they exit the shadows their next attack deals more damage for each second in the shadows.
Cast: 1/2s; Number of Allies: 5; Radius: 180; Damage Increase: 1s=5%, 2s=10%, 3s=15%, Init: 6

Staff 4:
Shadow Whirl – You whirl your staff, damaging nearby foes and reflecting projectiles. (You can move whilst channeling this ability and reflect projectiles in your direction – hence can protect allies behind you).
Cast: 1/4s; Duration: 3s; Dmg: 8x medium damage; Range: 130; Init: 5; Combo Finisher: Whirl

Staff 5:
Shadow Mist – You slam your staff into the ground creating a mist around yourself. Allies in the mist gain increased damage whilst foes damage is reduced.
Radius: 360; Duration: 5s; Number of Targets: 5; Damage Increase: 10%; Damage Decrease: 10%; Combo Field: Dark; Init: 8

Heal – not sure what kit fits this yet

Utilities
Shuriken Kit:
1200 ranged dps kit with appropriate debuffs e.g. vuln, cripple, daze

Kaginawa Kit
High cc (hard and soft) kit e.g. knockback, immob and focuses on preventing enemies leaving/ keeping enemies away along with group support through blinds

Katana Kit
Medium dps kit but focuses on damage reduc, evasion and group vigor and dps boost

Elite
Shinobi – subterfuge kit for survival (can’t have dps kit as then people would only use this all the time) that uses stealth, blinds and has high support skills e.g. regen, protection to protect party

New Mechanic: Ninjutsu
Thieves gain an F3 ability when a kit is equipped. They cast a ninjutsu spell!

Heal Kit = Spell which gives allies resistance for X seconds

Shuriken Kit = Range inc buff spell – 5 allies gain 300 additional range to all attacks for X seconds

Kaginawa Kit = Spell which grants allies stability and protection.

Katana Kit: Spell which grants allies the boon ripper buff – next outgoing attack rips 2 boons.

Shinobi Kit: Spell which grants allies a buff to attack twice before stealth is broken

I’m getting tired now, but I;d like to see something along those lines.

tldr Id like a melee staff ninja like thief with ninjustsu skills and kits please.

Terra.8571:

Ninja
Weapon: Staff
Role: Damage Mitigation + DPS Support
Special Mechanic: Ninjitsu
Utilities: Kits

Staff 1:
First Strike – You hit your opponent with lightning speed.
Range: 130; Cast: Instant, Damage: Medium; Number of Targets: 3

Swift Strike – You hit your opponent with a fast uppercut and nearby allies gain
vigor.
Range: 130; Cast: Instant, Damage: Medium; Number of Targets: 3; Vigor: 2s for 5 allies

Dark Strike: You hit your opponent with an umbral touch. Convert a boon to
blindness. If your opponent has no boon then inflict additional damage.
Range: 130; Cast 1/2s; Number of Targets: 3; Damage Medium; Blindness: 3s;
Additional Damage: High

Stealth Attack: Need to think about this one

Staff 2:
Daredevil – Leap forward and immobilise your foe.
Range: 600; Number of targets: 3; Damage: Low; Immobilise: 1.5s; Init 4; Combo Finisher: Leap

Staff 3:
Utsusemi – Nearby allies become shadows for 3s (making them evade all attacks) – attacking breaks shadows mode. When they exit the shadows their next attack deals more damage for each second in the shadows.
Cast: 1/2s; Number of Allies: 5; Radius: 180; Damage Increase: 1s=5%, 2s=10%, 3s=15%, Init: 6

Staff 4:
Shadow Whirl – You whirl your staff, damaging nearby foes and reflecting projectiles. (You can move whilst channeling this ability and reflect projectiles in your direction – hence can protect allies behind you).
Cast: 1/4s; Duration: 3s; Dmg: 8x medium damage; Range: 130; Init: 5; Combo Finisher: Whirl

Staff 5:
Shadow Mist – You slam your staff into the ground creating a mist around yourself. Allies in the mist gain increased damage whilst foes damage is reduced.
Radius: 360; Duration: 5s; Number of Targets: 5; Damage Increase: 10%; Damage Decrease: 10%; Combo Field: Dark; Init: 8

Heal – not sure what kit fits this yet

Utilities
Shuriken Kit:
1200 ranged dps kit with appropriate debuffs e.g. vuln, cripple, daze

Kaginawa Kit
High cc (hard and soft) kit e.g. knockback, immob and focuses on preventing enemies leaving/ keeping enemies away along with group support through blinds

Katana Kit
Medium dps kit but focuses on damage reduc, evasion and group vigor and dps boost

Elite
Shinobi – subterfuge kit for survival (can’t have dps kit as then people would only use this all the time) that uses stealth, blinds and has high support skills e.g. regen, protection to protect party

New Mechanic: Ninjutsu
Thieves gain an F3 ability when a kit is equipped. They cast a ninjutsu spell!

Heal Kit = Spell which gives allies resistance for X seconds

Shuriken Kit = Range inc buff spell – 5 allies gain 300 additional range to all attacks for X seconds

Kaginawa Kit = Spell which grants allies stability and protection.

Katana Kit: Spell which grants allies the boon ripper buff – next outgoing attack rips 2 boons.

Shinobi Kit: Spell which grants allies a buff to attack twice before stealth is broken

I’m getting tired now, but I;d like to see something along those lines.

tldr Id like a melee staff ninja like thief with ninjustsu skills and kits please.

I dig your ideas

Two things – so far all utilities + weapon nigh on almost match up the class synergetics
Ie. Guardian with longbow + traps from ranger
The exception so far being Mesmer with shield + wells

Though – above could be an interesting combo: would above kits work of ini or cd?

Second thing – ninjitsu staff and my shadow caster staff are two sides of the same coin

Differnt ways of facing the same weapon

Tis a fun way of doing things

I appreciate your ideas

Phyrak.7260:

I dig your ideas

Two things – so far all utilities + weapon nigh on almost match up the class synergetics
Ie. Guardian with longbow + traps from ranger
The exception so far being Mesmer with shield + wells

Though – above could be an interesting combo: would above kits work of ini or cd?

Second thing – ninjitsu staff and my shadow caster staff are two sides of the same coin

Differnt ways of facing the same weapon

Tis a fun way of doing things

I appreciate your ideas

Almost, but my ninjustu is the mechanic for a few spells as oppose to having the staff be the main driver of the magic if you get what I mean. Also the staff is being utilised in a melee capacity (no ranged abilities) which again differs from your shadow mage. Don;t get me wrong, I don;t mind shadow mage but I prefer melee.

Also kits don;t have an icd so you can easily switch between them. The abilities them self would work off init (if possible, only testing would show if its viable, otherwise revert back to plain cds).

Finally with regards to weapon and class utility match up, I’m not so sure we can draw anything from what we;ve seen so far (only 3). What appears to be a bigger driving force in match ups is the concept of the class as oppose to weapons.

Reaper got shouts because it was based off of horror monsters and how the monster would terrorise you – hence shouts. Dragon hunter got traps because they are ‘hunters’ as opposed to the long bow. Mesmer’s got wells because it best fit chronomancer’s time distorting abilities. If thieves get staves it will depend on the direction they go with it – mage types go well with fast spell abilities e.g. ele’s arcanes. Kits imo can potentially fit any type of class as the kits themself can be modified to suit w/e role you are going for. So with your shadow mage you could easily make your deep beast mantra into a kit where each ability summons a different minion?

Anyways, this was juts a bit of fun, hope they reveal elite info soon as I’ve stopped playing gw2 now and only drift through the forums looking for any new info

I’ve heard the arguments that the elite spec is supposed to be something different than what a class currently has but that doesn’t mean it has to be ridiculously different for the sake of being obviously different. We need a specialization that allows us a different approach to an encounter so we have more choices. I’m not going to say your idea is bad because it’s not, it’s really well thought out, but in my own opinion I can’t see a reason to use up a potentially awesome melee weapon for thieves to make a caster class.

A shadow clone type ability would go awesome with a range caster staff and the tech is already in the game with mesmer clones. Would just need to port it over and make the clone do meaningful damage.