Guild Wars 2

Many of you have probably had the dilemma of having to choose between Merciless Hammer (MH) and Burst Mastery. Not being able to have both is what I believe is keeping Hambow from making any sort of comeback. Having both would be unlikely to make any sort of Hammer build OP. The problem is, how do you change this?

The simple solution would be to swap MH and Inspiring Battle Standard (IBS). However, IBS isn’t actually that amazing of a Trait. That being said, if it WAS a good trait…why that might be a totally different story. A strong IBS would potentially make up for the nerf to Shouts.

Here’s my idea:

• Bring back the Banner CD reduction…why was it even removed in the first place?

• When IBS is equipped, all of your summoned Banners follow you. You could also have them stick to the Warrior’s back and have them stick out at different angles if you have multiple, although I don’t see players ever using more than 2 (one being the Elite).

• Summoning a Banner replaces that skill with a “Pick up Banner” skill. Pressing this will bring that Banner forward and allow you to use the skills on that Banner. The actual skills on there aren’t that terrible, it’s just that no one in their right mind would stop to pick it up. Because pressing the same utility skill would “stow” the Banner skill 5 could keep the same animation and just be a nice little Blast Finisher.

Changes like these would allow the Warrior to make up some of the team utility it has lost in PvP/WvW. I like being a Warrior, but in those modes it’s generally good to bring team support, even Teef and Mes do atm.

It would also open a ton of doors in terms of skill cap. Having the ability to have a “kit” of sorts would be VERY interesting. The tradeoff would be losing the ranged revive ability of Battle Standard, but I think having the be mobile is a fine tradeoff.

Yes, this is just another one of my silly ideas that will probably never be seen by a dev, but the idea itself is super appealing. Even if you go for a power build, you would have the option of being able to bring some sort of support to the team outside of shouts. Hey, if you wanted you could go 2(3 if you bring the heal) shouts and 2 Banners and be a great support character that is a bit more labor intensive than boring old Shoutbow.

Not sure of moving merciless hammer, but for banner yeah it should at least have cd time decrease since it is in master trait, while warhorn lost condition conversion since it comes to adept level of trait.

Best Regard =)

just integrate it into the banner trait. merciless hammer is good where it is. adrenaline is easy to get.

It’s funny because everyone takes Heightened Focus in PvP.

Of all the proposals on where to move MH and what to swap for it, yours is the best, imo. It also better bifurcates the role of support warrior and control warrior. I’m also ok with where MH is now, but admit I haven’t been using hammer much since the patch for different reasons.

The proposed changes to the banner trait seem a little strange though. I mean, the utility is obvious (it’s a lot like how Ritualists could move their spirits around in GW1), but it might be too much and it would look awkward too, fwiw.

Why not just give the CD reduction (as you suggested) and add the radius boost that banners had before?

Choppy.4183:

Of all the proposals on where to move MH and what to swap for it, yours is the best, imo. It also better bifurcates the role of support warrior and control warrior. I’m also ok with where MH is now, but admit I haven’t been using hammer much since the patch for different reasons.

The proposed changes to the banner trait seem a little strange though. I mean, the utility is obvious (it’s a lot like how Ritualists could move their spirits around in GW1), but it might be too much and it would look awkward too, fwiw.

Why not just give the CD reduction (as you suggested) and add the radius boost that banners had before?

I’d be OK with just the CD reduction and radius boost, but the other suggestions are mostly from a WvW perspective. I’ve tried to ferry my Banner around while in a group…but it’s just too awkward to do. Picking up the Banner itself can sometimes be a challenge.

If ANet were to do something like I suggested I wouldn’t be mad if they didn’t make them attach to your back, just making them have some sort of magical glow at the base and having them follow like Spirit Weapons would be fine. Warriors already use magical tools in the form of Signets, so having magically enchanted Banners isn’t all that theme-breaking imo.

@Larynx.2453 You don’t really want Quickness when using Hammer, the whole point is to keep them locked down. Also, the benefit of Burst Mastery on Hambow is that you drop the Combustive Shot then use Arcing Arrow followed by the 1 bar burst on Hammer to hopefully stun/damage but also give AoE Might to your party.

Currently though, if you take MH the timing on that combo is much more clunky to pull off.

A while back, I wrote a neat post on banners as a future Warrior specialization!

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/Banners-and-Specialization/