Guild Wars 2

I remember seeing the “leaked” version of this skill where it behaved like venoms should. No cast time, per hit heal, adding some sustain. What we got instead was basically the equivalent of healing breeze (or atleast the soon to be revamped healing breeze).

A flat heal on a 1 second cast time? Thief is about quick decisions, and if casting is on the table I’d want to be stealth or protected afterwards. I suggest, make this like normal venoms (except BV).

1. Remove the flat heal.
2. Up the number of attacks (perhaps 10?)
3. adjust the healing per attack to accommodate for the loss of the flat heal.
4. Remove cast time.

This would be a great way to deal with heavy incoming burst dmg as well as stun locking. The second you break free (say your stun breaker was on cooldown) you can start healing instead of trying to cast it for a small heal which almost anybody will try to just stun you oncemore. ATM with skelk venom when I get locked down, its usually over. I’ve tried many times to get that small heal off and start healing back up and I couldn’t activate it before I either died or was interrupted. The heal values are good, its the application of it that is a burden as well as the long term sustain from a long cooldown. Thoughts?

Your suggestion fixes nothing, because venoms need to be entirely redesigned rather than simply patched.

I agree the final idea of this venom is terrible. All venoms are supposed to be precasted to compensate their absurdly long cooldowns, but precasting skelk venom is pointless. It is also balanced all around a single trait, which is venom share, what makes it underpowered in every other aspect of this game… Not to mention venoms are so bad it is not even worth traiting into venom share, so the circle is closed.

Well the base mechanics of venoms are good, its the results they put out that arnt appealing. For example, we have DV which immobilizes for 2s or ice drake to chill for 1 sec, i think people with half a brain would still choose DV. Not all the venom affects are acceptable and the traits for them are single effects vs duo affects like most traits are for other professions.

I also thought a global cooldown reduction to 40 seconds(base) would make it more on-par with the quick playstyle vs waiting for an effect that has a signifcqntly longer cooldown with similar affects as other profession utility skills (for example, War bolas vs devourer, or corrosive cloud vs spider.

DV is better than ice drake because it stacks duration now.
Don’t forget, chill is not only about slowing their movement speed, it affects recharge too.
I actually think ice drake used to be better than DV, but not anymore.

As much as I’d like all venoms to be instant, an instant healing skill would be detrimental to the game no matter how balanced it would be.

Venom share is powerful though. Giving everyone lifesteal can change the course of a fight. Using the summon thief trap with it is also fun. The problem is that it uses all utilities, and thief relies on certain utilities.

We already have withdraw which is instant. Its all about quick thinking, especially if it were on a 45 second cooldown, you need to know when its best to use it. The heal per hit would likely change very little if the #of hits rose and the flat heal was removed. I see no reason to use any venom (except maybe dv and bv) unless using some variation of venom share, it just takes away too much with little in return. Since thief lacks stability and overall sturdiness, trying to use venom share in a small squad in wvw is difficult because of the cast time. Often I can’t risk 1 second without dodging or porting out rq.

If anything, a .5 second cast time would greatly help but still feel out of place. What if they changed venoms to be some sort of preparation? Say a 2-3 secod cast time, then click the skill once more(instant) to start consuming the charges. The time between prepping the venoms and consuming them could still be 30 seconds but atleast you’d be able to set yourself up an if things go south, start up SV. This would atleast make the initial engagements of wvw and even pvp fights more reliable but require careful positioning for longer fights due to the longer prep time.