Guild Wars 2

My main questions are…
1) Is the full shut down intended?
2) If not intended is this due to reaching deadlock or something else? I’m aware of the warning of making the system unstable given when killing the Mutant application, but I’m not sure if this is the exact reason for this behavior. I’m not opposed to accepting it to be the reason – I’ve just never noted this behavior in any other application before.
3) Is there a way to possibly prevent this from happening?
4) How could I further investigate exactly what the cause of this is?
5) Will these methods of investigation work if the computer is just directly and instantly shutting off entirely and not going through a shut down or crash procedure?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I will restate this once more for emphasis…

If I have unknowingly done something wrong please inform me or point me to a post I may have missed indicating that I should not be doing this. To the best of my knowledge I am following the rules and not doing anything wrong. If I am doing something wrong I will immediately stop after being informed by any Arenanet Official to do so as it is not my intent to break the rules. This post is merely an inquiry to strange behaviors identified by using an official Arenanet command line argument.

I’m going to begin by prefacing necessary information sources and documentation…

—————————————DISCLAIMERS———————————————-
1) https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments
2) http://forums.ttsgamers.com/topic/2313-multiboxing-guild-wars-2/
3) http://dulfy.net/2013/01/25/gaile-gray-clarifies-arenanet-stance-on-dualmulti-boxing/
4) https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/2dinom/dual_accounts/

From the official site (1) we can note a line dedicated to -shareArchive.
Description: Opens the Gw2.dat file in shared mode so that it can be accessed from other processes while the game is running.

From an unofficial site (2) a procedure is mentioned on how to properly utilize the -shareArchive command line argument to allow multi-boxing. The posts (3) and (4) indicate quotes from devs stating the CoC and perspective of multi-boxing. Provided the player actively plays on each account and that each key stroke and mouse click interfaces with only a single window per action (meaning the player can only interface with a single game instance at a time) – then this is allowed.

If I have unknowingly done something wrong please inform me or point me to a post I may have missed indicating that I should not be doing this. To the best of my knowledge I am following the rules and not doing anything wrong. If I am doing something wrong I will immediately stop after being informed by any Arenanet Official to do so as it is not my intent to break the rules. This post is merely an inquiry to strange behaviors identified by using an official Arenanet command line argument.

———————————END DISCLAIMERS————————————-

Now to begin.

Possibly important things to know – can elaborate if needed:
1) I have a computer that I built myself with relatively decent components in it in my opinion. The processor runs at 4.0GHz. I have 16GB of RAM. I currently use an overclocked GTX 960 graphics card. GPU/CPU temps never rise above 70 degrees Celsius. Programs are stored on a 256GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD (which is ~25% capacity atm).
2) Power supply is a Corsair HX850i.
3) My internet source is often from tethering my 4G LTE mobile device to my PC which maintains a consistent 20Mbps down minimum and ping near 50ms.
4) I use a dual monitor system – a 24" computer monitor and a 32" 720p TV which is under-scanning ~85% of the image (normally 1920×1080) to fit the screen.
5) I can comfortably use 4 Gw2 account windows by having 2 windows per screen.
6) All in-game settings are maxed out.
7) I re-name each account window (with an AHK script) sometimes to indicate “Account 1”, “Account 2”, etc for recording in OBS by window name (though this is not often).
8) I often wait a good few seconds before closing each account window. This is due to noting that shutting down multiple windows in quick succession often resulted in a crash.

What I’ve noticed:
1) Game play is often smooth and uninhibited unless I have massive amounts of background programs up. However, map transitions apparently spike my CPU usage enough to cause a short stutter sometimes (usually takes 2+ accounts mapping to cause a problem for me).
2) CPU per game ranges between 20%-25% (not sure if this is normal – would another graphics card using SLI reduce these numbers?)
3) Clients may sometimes lose connection when changing maps or going to character select, but never when already on a map (might be my method of internet connection – haven’t tried hard lining yet – not too concerned about this part at the moment).

The Problem:
After closing the last window that was used in multi-boxing there are a finite set of events that can occur afterwards…
1) The computer will instantly shut off – meaning no shut down screen – just straight to 100% off – no power
2) If the game is re-opened from a regular exe (no extra command line arguments) or the custom type exe (with command line arguments) within too short of a time – the computer will instantly shut off
3) Assuming (1) did not happen and a sufficient amount of time has occurred (near at least 1-2 min idle time) and the game is re-opened – it will often boot up normally.

My procedure is similar if not identical to the resource (#2) listed in the disclaimer for how I go about attempting to multi-box…
1) Update
2) Launch + Log into Client 1
3) Kill “AN-Mutex-Window-Guild”
4) Rename Client 1
5) Repeat steps 2 – 4 for Client “n”

This write-up assumes a few things.
1) The 50/50 (win/lose) ratio is intended.
*2) The system can be “gamed” if the first assumption is true.

Let’s start fresh:
A new player walks into the PvP Lobby and has…
0 Games Played
0 Games Won
0 Games Lost

We start off kindly and let the player win.
1 Game Played
1 Game Won
0 Games Lost

The 50/50 ratio kicks in.
2 Games Played
1 Game Won
1 Game Lost

We again are kind and say they win the next round.
3 Games Played
2 Games Won
1 Game Lost

The 50/50 ratio kicks in again.
4 Games Played
2 Games Won
2 Games Lost.

Obviously this isn’t exactly what happens, but it can seem like that at times.
However – let’s take it a step further.

The same player from above has now played 100 matches:
We might expect something like…
100 Games Played
42 Games Won
58 Games Lost

However, let’s now assume that the player caught on to the 50/50 rule. The player decided to skew the games over and over by not trying very hard or just trying to be a thief who constantly stealths and waits for the enemy player to leave the point so they can decap. The player doesn’t care if they win or lose the match.

This might result in something like this…
100 Games Played
10 Games Won
90 Games Lost

Why would someone do this?

The MMR system takes into account your character’s “skill” based on how you contribute in fights, cap/decap points, and overall “how well you played the game” (or at least that’s what they are trying to measure). The system then looks at your characters rank and how many games you’ve won. It then makes decisions based on these factors and a few others.

What we’ve effectively done in this scenario is created a player with a horrible metric. By default the system should now start making the effort to match this player with better players on their teams to help that player become more likely to win that round.

This is bad.

Reason:
Being as we are now at 10% in our win/lose ratio we we’ll have this state of the game trying to “help us” for quite awhile. Realize that this is not as simple as it looks. If we now assume that the player starts trying they will have this “help” for awhile….

Old Score:
100 Games Played
10 Games Won
90 Games Lost
Ratio = 1:9 (10%) -> Goal = 1:1 (50%)

+50 Games:
150 Games Played
50 Games Won
100 Games Lost
Ratio = 1:2 (33%) -> Goal = 1:1 (50%)

Note that we’re still not at that 50/50 ratio, but we’re closing in.

However, the more interesting point to make is what just happened to this players pips/rank. In the worst case we’d try to evenly space out the losses to make this player have the shortest possible win streaks. This would mean we have 4 wins -> 1 loss. Expanding that throughout the 50 points we’d have a minimum gain of 25 pips within those 50 games. The best case would be 10 losses right at the start and then 40 wins to follow – giving a total gain of 79 pips (1st win = 2 pips from losing streak, 2nd win = 1 pip, 3rd win and up = 2 pips from win streak -> you get 39(2) + 1(1) = 79). The average would sit between the two at 52 pips gained.

This is not including for possible times where you get a loss when you actually can’t lose a pip. This is also only taking into account ~100-150 games with rather significant arbitrary values to make number crunching a bit simpler (albeit slightly less realistic – yet not entirely impossible either). However, imagine expanding this out to 200 games, 500, 1000 – the time in which you’ll be playing “catch-up” gets extended significantly if you keep your wins to a minimum.

Here lies a major flaw of the MMR system.

I’m running into an issue as well.
An issue – i might add – that has always been there since the 64-bit client was made.

For me, when I want to play the game I MUST patch using the 32-bit client. Why? I’m not sure. But, my 64-bit client will stall up, not patch fully, crash constantly, or just outright make my screens (multi-monitor) go black – which can’t be restored without reboot. IF I patch using the 32-bit client first then it will patch normally – I can then patch the 64-bit client normally afterwards (which there will be a patch to download oddly enough).

With this latest update I was constantly getting black screen after black screen – so I kept rebooting. I then got on here to find that my 32-bit client was automatically shifting to the 64-bit client when it was trying to patch. Funnily enough…adding the -32 switch in the target line of the .exe made everything work again on the first try.

I’d like to know a procedure to identify what causes this so I can correct it.

I have theories as to why it happens: a corrupt/not perfect transfer/install from Win7 to Win10 being top of the list in my case, but I’ve fixed the majority of those problems myself.

I’m a fairly well educated individual when it comes to technology (Comp. Sci. + Cyber Ops + Software Engineering student near the end of their Bachelor’s) so feel free to be as specific and technical as needed.

I’ve been a Guild Leader since the 3-day head start, but as my guild has grown and the options available for each rank increases I find myself wanting to organize my guild a bit more than I have in the past.

I work with several other guilds to accomplish guild missions and events – and thus I have many of their members in my guild. To not assimilate them into my own ranks I have assigned an “Allies” rank to them. This works – until I start wanting to keep the different Allied Guilds separated in the roster.

Additionally, we have members who have secondary accounts or are very inactive – so I have ranks for those.

My Leader rank also takes up a spot in the listings – this makes at least 4/10 of the ranks used by default. If I wanted to give some players ranks that had WvW rights for various things I’d need more ranks set aside. The further I try to organize – the less I actually have for meaningful ranks within the guild.

Does anyone else share my views?

It’d be nice if there was a way to fix this.

I personally do not agree with this price and I honestly don’t find these slots worth it.

However, that said, I purchased them only because I assumed the forums would be full of people ripping Anet and their CS group a new one – hopefully leading to some sort of changes.

I’d like to add a hopefully simple QoL adjustment idea to the list of the many that (to me) makes sense. I have all 8 bag slots on every character and every character has 20 slot bags in those slots. I don’t use the “Show Bags” option because I can leave my inventory in a 8 × 20 grid thereby making each row 1 bag.

That said, with the addition of these new Shared Inventory Slots I noticed right away that they just pushed the bags in the upper left corner of my inventory – effectively throwing off my grid system. I’d like to request that those Shared Inventory Slots reside on their own line at the top. This will just make organizing easier.

Thank you

Same here…All my characters have 100% map completion in central tyria too

Well i’ve been told there are items that are important from those completions that come from that chest. All of my characters have 100% map completion – I’d like to know if there is a remedy or a way to retroactively provide me with the reward i’m due?

Map completion…

I have 100% map completion and was never awarded anything

I’m mostly looking for confirmation of locations and that it’s functioning correctly still because I’d rather not waste my time looking for him if it’s broken :/

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skritt_Burglar/locations
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3qz9xw/verdant_brink_achievement_guide/

I got a report from some other guild members that they recalled seeing it spawn near the pact encampment location as well, but I’ve still not seen it yet :/

Been looking for hours in the spot listed on Reddit and Wiki…is it bugged or does it just have a horrible respawn timer?

I still haven’t seen this “Husk” anywhere…

Can’t seem to patch in from this last update on the 64-bit client

Can patch and play just fine on the 32-bit client

Is this auto-patched into systems that are 64-bit or is there a location to download from?

I’ve gotten 100% as well and not received credit for it. I’m trying to get the Guardian Cache for Ygdalir

Some color blind folks may appreciate that too depending on which color blindness they have.

I request having the ability to reorder the guilds we can represent.

Currently I have no /g1 guild or /g5 guild, but I do have /g2, /g3, and /g4 guilds. I’d rather make it simple and have just /g1, /g2, /g3 and in the order of my choosing to remember them more easily.

Could this be a thing later?

At the end of the Mad King Says event we all get teleported into the cauldron – which has caused me to BSOD twice now…

Spec Info:

OS Name – Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version – 10.0.10240 Build 10240
OS Manufacturer – Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer – Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Type – x64-based PC
Processor – AMD FX™-8350 Eight-Core Processor, 4000 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date – American Megatrends Inc. FB, 1/23/2013
SMBIOS Version – 2.7
Embedded Controller Version – 255.255
BIOS Mode – Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer – Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Platform Role – Desktop
Hardware Abstraction Layer – Version = “10.0.10240.16392”
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) – 16.0 GB
Total Physical Memory – 16.0 GB
Available Physical Memory – 10.3 GB
Total Virtual Memory – 32.0 GB
Available Virtual Memory – 25.2 GB
Page File Space – 16.0 GB
Hyper-V – VM Monitor Mode Extensions – Yes
Hyper-V – Second Level Address Translation Extensions – Yes
Hyper-V – Virtualization Enabled in Firmware – Yes
Hyper-V – Data Execution Protection – Yes

Let me know if there are other things I can provide besides my basic system specs.

Had friends playing all last night – no one has seen it yet…

Still haven’t seen it…

Been in the same map for over an hour now and haven’t seen it spawn. Anyone else having this issue?

Been searching for hours – haven’t seen him. Had friends on different maps, no one saw him. Is he bugged and not spawning atm?

ekkue.3754:

Have you checked they didn’t move to an empty slot in your bank?

There’s an odd bug at the moment that frequently causes the kits to move to your bank if you salvage with the bank panel open. It was introduced with the patch that gave the ability to keep salvaging rares without reactivating the kit.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/bugs/Salvage-o-Matic-Moving

It seems I fell victim to this bug. I checked the bank for the salvage kits and found them. That is a very bizarre bug

Not saying this is a “fix” or that it will work for everyone, but this is how I handle it.

If I am reviving a player and need to move I will simply tap my “move backwards” button (or ‘s’ in my case) one time and that cancels the reviving action. I can then move, dodge, attack, w/e easily.

I just made some Mystic Salvage Kits today and deposited them in my bank to be used on other characters. I extracted it from the bank with a different character in the PvP Lobby and upon use the kit disappeared entirely. I noted on the next one that I extracted from the bank that the salvage count was explicitly listed as 250 (new) prior to use and it too disappeared after one use.

I lost 2 (new) mystic salvage kits today due to this bug. If I could have them replaced that’d be great (not expecting it though).

Please fix the bug

Svarty.8019:

Are there any leaps? Escapes? Stability? Stealth?

People say it’s strong, but it seems they’re pretty weak when trying to not be killed, but then I play WvW a lot, so vanilla necro seems to be lots of damage in a big AoE, but no way to not be killed if any enemy decides to focus on you.

Yes on the first 3 – no on stealth.

And yes, there are great options available for sustain and DPS

Jzaku.9765:

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

Cygnus.6903:

That’s the problem right there, it is impossible to look at the Elite spec in a vacuum, because it does not exist in one.

Yet at the same time when you level a character from 1 -> 80 you gain one specialization at a time and for that brief period where you have only one specialization that is essentially equivalent to being in a vacuum.

We all look at specializations in a “vacuum” without realizing it.

If I asked you what Specialization you would use when considering only the Core Specializations for condition damage builds – you would likely analyze all the options available, condense their total functions to a general concept, and then tell me that “Arms” is the best choice due to offering multiple condition oriented options. You would then look for compliments to your build – which is where you ask yourself “What will make this better?”.

I’m starting with the beginning steps – total functionality within the specialization and generalizing its concepts into easy to understand comments.

It is your job afterwards to figure out how to compliment this specialization with the core specialization options.

OP thats not what “Review” means

This is your “first impressions”.

Also yes you clearly don’t have any depth of understanding of the class at all please stop pretending you’re some kind of guru that’s leaving the learning up to us.

It’s not what your definition of a review is.
A review is a simple re-covering of a topic with no specific level of depth. Period.

And you’re clearly a derogatory individual who has no shred of tact and chooses to disrespect and degrade others to make yourself feel superior.

I have plenty of understanding about the class – been in this game since the 3-day head start and memorized most if not all of wiki in terms of game mechanics. Don’t act like you know anything about my level of understanding because I choose to withhold my full opinion on a given topic.

Dadnir.5038:

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

Dadnir.5038:

PvE Usefulness
Entirely useful. This class can now match the DPS of other Berserker speed run classes with higher sustain. The more this class gets surrounded – the stronger it becomes.

Sadly, Organized PvE content is more about what you bring to the party outside of your DPS than just DPS. Dagger auto attack have always been pretty good. I think the reaper/necromancer need more support (It’s always been the case), today it’s still stand in the same place as it always have : Just a DPS.

There is certainly a fair amount of support options available depending on perspective. I might suggest looking into Trooper (Soldier) Runes and Shouts or how well you can Blind foes, transform boons into condi’s or condi’s into boons, provide leeching for your party, etc.

Do you even PvE? (since I clearly comment on PvE)

Did you tried the raid? None of the boss/trash applied any condi. The only boon to remove was a prot stack, leeching provided to your party amount to a 2 digit number to take down something that probably have million life point. Blind soft condition does nothing.
The only usefull support you provide is well of blood every 34 second.

The necromancer have tools that are well tune for PvP situation but these tools fall short as soon as you enter into PvE situation.

PvP si full of boon/conditions, foes don’t have gigantic health pool, damage are balanced between each profession and player aren’t immune to soft condition. And the necromancer’s tools take full advantage of that. The necromancer is balanced around the fact that he can send back condition or corrupt boons.

PvE is the exact opposite. The necromancer’s support face against monstruous health pool, it’s support via condition is negated by the mobs, mobs don’t survive thanks to boons nor do they apply enough condition to waste some utility/weapon to send them back.

The necromancer in PvE is like a thirsty man in the desert and it’s been like this since ages.

Well first i’m going to say that you have a very limited and unfair scope for PvE and the Necromancer in general.

I’m first going to explain why you’re wrong when considering the Reaper.

The whole thing about the Reaper is that it offers great melee options. I’m not going to say what gear type is incredibly powerful because that is somewhat subjective, but I will say that if you truly understand what each stat in the game does – the math behind their functions – you will see some glaringly obvious exploits available to the Reaper. Adding in the Runes of the Trooper (Soldier) + Shouts for condi-cleansing is not entirely designed for support of the party, but can be your main source of cond-cleansing if you so choose to make it that way.

Also, “support” is anything that “helps” your party. Blind can be very strong support. Protection can be very strong support. Might can be very strong support. All of these and more are things that the Necromancer can provide depending on how you spec.

In regards to your PvE statements.

I understand that you are a Berserker Speed Runner because you just used the term “trash mobs”, but here is where you’re sorely mistaken. The Reaper has amazing tank and spank options where every slash of their auto-attack in Reaper Shroud is 3k-5k+. This is in some cases exceeding normal Berserker builds on a hit-to-hit perspective. In terms of total DoT, due to your attack speed, you match or surpass some Berserker builds just with the auto-attack. As soon as you get a foe below 50% HP Gravedigger becomes stupid powerful. There are just too many extremely powerful options to list here in regards to the Reaper. As long as you have Soul Reaping and trait to make your Shroud degen slower – you’ll be able to keep up your DPS at almost all times. If you run out of LF you can simply use your shouts and Death Spiral to rush back to 100% pretty quickly.

I love speed running and I loved using the Reaper for speed running. Therefore I think you have a large misconception on how the Reaper can work in PvE.

Cygnus.6903:

That’s the problem right there, it is impossible to look at the Elite spec in a vacuum, because it does not exist in one.

Yet at the same time when you level a character from 1 → 80 you gain one specialization at a time and for that brief period where you have only one specialization that is essentially equivalent to being in a vacuum.

We all look at specializations in a “vacuum” without realizing it.

If I asked you what Specialization you would use when considering only the Core Specializations for condition damage builds – you would likely analyze all the options available, condense their total functions to a general concept, and then tell me that “Arms” is the best choice due to offering multiple condition oriented options. You would then look for compliments to your build – which is where you ask yourself “What will make this better?”.

I’m starting with the beginning steps – total functionality within the specialization and generalizing its concepts into easy to understand comments.

It is your job afterwards to figure out how to compliment this specialization with the core specialization options.

Bhawb.7408:

Did you have Chilling Force equipped? It could proc off Soul Spiral.

No, I was using decimate defenses.

I was, however, using Blighter’s Boon – which could be causing me some confusion based on my other traits I had on, but I still remain fairly certain of watching my Life Force meter rise significantly during Soul Spiral.

I’m now genuinely curious and want to go back and test! xD

entropythreee.8152:

In its current iteration, Chronomancer is extremely valueable in PvE for its ability to provide party wide Alacrity. With the right initial skill rotation you can give your party around 25 secs of Alacrity and give yourself around 35 secs, which is totally game changing. With all that alacrity you can keep up that rotation too, not to mention the ridiculous evade and block uptime that comes with reduced cooldowns.

I was on the fence about mentioning that and here’s why.

Yes, you can provide a lot of Alacrity, but you must specifically build for that purpose and select specific skills to accomplish that. This means you’re isolating yourself to a specific job and (from my experience) sacrificing a rather large amount of damage on your end to accomplish that. I also didn’t find a way to make the rotation 100% continuous making it hard to chain it back-to-back. I was typically waiting for 1-2 long recharge skills to recharge before I did the rotation again.

Being as it wasn’t 100% maintainable the overall DoT increase was hard to measure when factoring in the DPS loss you incurred by using a build specifically geared to that one purpose (Keep in mind i’m not looking at short-term DoT, but long-term DoT). It appeared to me when analyzing long-term DoT that there was little change in overall team performances, but in short-term DoT measurements you would certainly see a somewhat noticeable increase in performance. This is a pseudo increase in performance because when you extend it out long-term accounting for the reset of your skill combos and your overall DPS hit that you have within that DoT you actually level out to being about the same (from my experience).

insanemaniac.2456:

post 6/23 with the addition of a 10sec icd to dodge bombs, its not as great… but the builds that it was good with are more or less unchanged with respect to energy adding much needed mitigation. its still a go-to.

My only qualm with that statement is that the 10s ICD is not really “visible” on the Engineer. Other classes with weapon swap will see the 10s ICD based on their weapon swap recharge (or a Warrior in Discipline just needing to count 2 weapon swaps). But, with kits you get a 1s ICD before it’s able to be used again. This makes it a bit more complicated to know exactly when the sigil’s ICD is ready which makes it a bit less reliable for someone who really isn’t good at monitoring these invisible ICD’s to accurately know when that option is now available to them.

We’ve recently seen some interesting QoL changes for other class traits so I’ll be interested in seeing if we get some QoL changes to our sigils too.

Small side note:
I was also omitting Energy because I felt the Hammer was almost too powerful to switch off of in its current state due to its low recharges. However, I’ll note that the Bomb kit does make for some very good combo options. I’m just not sure that Energy would be more useful in a situation where you’re trying for combos left and right unless you’re in Explosives and traited for your evasive blast finisher with Bomb kit and even then I’d almost feel like Battle or Renewal (depending on offense or defense) may have a better pay off. However, that is my opinion until someone can provide me with a strong counter-example. ^^;

Atticus.7194:

Edit 2: Don’t do that, don’t try to pretend you’re some sort of all knowing guru who has chosen to only disclose certain tidbits of information to cover the glaring holes in your “review”, it’s incredibly transparent and frankly insulting. You didn’t omit these things because you didn’t want to deny us a “chance to learn” you did it because you have zero understanding of the intricacies of these classes. So please do us all a favor and either take the time to actually understand an elite spec enough that you can offer something substantial to the dialogue or just don’t even try to tell anyone what’s up. If you do take the time to do that your review is welcome, otherwise well, thanks but no thanks.

Well you started off seeming like you were trying to not be insulting, but then you tried to define my level of understanding and accuse me of trying to “cover” things up because I didn’t provide you with a multitude of options and insight? That’s not okay.

First off – you miss the entire point of the post. My goal was to focus on The Elite Specialization not the class. I also made no attempt to tell you how to use the Elite Specialization in conjunction with the Core Specializations because that is essentially providing “builds” which I said I wasn’t doing.

There are numerous reasons why I stay away from providing builds.

1) I’m not here to give you a build that I took the time to make. Why? Because if I make a “good build” and share it – and if it’s widely accepted to being a “good build” – then it becomes “meta” and the Devs will likely nerf some aspect of it that made it strong. This is a penalty to me for sharing my own creation that got over used and abused that I don’t want to deal with so I stay to keeping my builds to myself.
2) From what I’ve seen – every “Elitist Player” is STRONGLY opinionated. This means if I make a suggestion that takes away 10% of your overall DPS I’ll get drawn and quartered for it – even if it actually enhances your total DoT because you live longer. So I stay away from making tweaks for “sustain” or “general practicality”.
3) The CDPS vs DPS debate is still going strong. Can CDPS out perform pure DPS? Yes if you’re dealing with something with crazy armor and no condi-cleanse. No if you’re dealing with something with condi-cleanse. Yes if you can lay multitudes of condi-stacks down. No if you have powerful bursts on fast recharge. Etc. I could say that for a short period of time the Burning burst that you can output from the Berserker can easily trump the standard DPS bursts you could get from things like Rampage. You may believe me and you may not – though unless you’re truly open minded and willing to test it out you’ll likely just call me a noob, put your troll face on and not care about finding out for yourself. Yet you’ll complain about it anytime someone destroys you with conditions. There are far too many factors involved to say which type of build is the best, but if you bring up condi-war in the Warrior forums you typically get laughed at and pointed to the door – which is exactly what the Berserker was intended to be.

Also, I shouldn’t need to hold your hand – point to everything – pat you on the head – and tell you “good job” for copying my work.

You should know something about the Warrior before even looking at the Elite Specializations. Those were the types of people that were my target audience. Therefore I assumed anyone reading this knew all the Core Specializations individually, understood their functionalities, and knew how to create synergy between them. If you weren’t at that level of understanding you’re likely in the wrong place. I used similar logic when explaining Gear Options – I don’t tell you what each type of gear has for individual stats or what each Rune does because I expect you to know what they do – that or I’ve helped you limit your research time by telling you what will likely benefit you. I do however give you their general focus – their primary stat – so if you say “I want a Condition Build” you can start looking at my suggestions for “Condition” gear. From there it’s all on you.

This isn’t class time for the Warrior who wants to become a Berserker.

This is an overview of what the Berserker is, what it does, and some basic highlighting of notable skills, traits, and features that will lead to decent synergy to the rest of the class if you do the work to figure out how. Nothing more.

Bhawb.7408:

Dragon Ruler X.8512:

Reaper’s Onslaught is a Grandmaster trait and certainly useful, but it was noted that the +15% attack speed was still broken making it less impressive to use last I read the bug listings.

Also Soul Spiral does actually generate LF along with Healing if using Transfusion.

Soul Spiral: “Spiral and damage nearby foes, dealing high damage. This skill inherits traits from Life Transfer.”

Life Transfer: “Damage nearby foes and steal their life force.”

Sorry not Reaper’s Onslaught, Relentless Pursuit. 100% our strongest Adept trait.

And no, Soul Spiral doesn’t. Transfusion allows you to heal allies only while in Shroud using the 4 skill. Life Transfer gets the life force baseline, not as a trait. So all Soul Spiral inherits is the healing.

Relentless Pursuit is a bit circumstantial in my opinion. It’s something I’d turn on if I knew I needed it, but I’d otherwise default to Augury of Death

Also, I believe both of us will have to go and re-verify that Life Force point at a later date because I recall quite clearly being able to recover my Life Force bar using Soul Spiral while in Reaper Shroud – otherwise I’d not have written that in my review and have just said you were right ^^;

Sold Out.7625:

• You point out positives just fine! I enjoy that! That said, you are keeping all your points very very short, and oftenstick to the things that we already know.

• For positives, don’t be shy about pointing out some of the negatives too! Heck, check what your peers in the actual Scrapper Beta Feedback threads are giving.

• Some points I’m not so sure if you tested them out in detail before you wrote this: Sneak Gyro honestly is a less than helpful change for WvW. The thing is slooow. It’s always visible. Its hardcap is a max stealthed number of five people. Similar story for hammer, it is actually not very good at keeping up with zergs or chasing people as the #3 chain is less than someone running with swiftness.

• I liked that you listed Rune and Sigil synergies, but the list is a bit explanation-less, and I personally don’t see how these are much more helpful than the runes and sigils Base Engineer already uses. Plus, there’s at least one you forgot: Energy. A regular extra dodge together with the hammer’s tankiness would allow some great sustain.

Thanks for your polite response – I’ll explain a bit more as to why my style of review was structured in this manner.

If you took the link at the beginning of the post you would have seen this statement in bold…

“NOTE: I will not be covering complete builds simply because I found it more educational for me to create my own builds as I learned more about the class and its overall synergy options that suited my personal play-style. I will be providing subtle suggestions for where to focus your attention within each specialization and may point a finger here and there to give you ideas for the basics of a complete build.”

I came in with a few assumptions. The first assumption was that before or after reading this thread you will have likely gone to the Scrapper Beta Feedback thread and seen everything else I didn’t cover. The second part was that when referring to Gearing Options in general I assumed a slightly higher level of understanding from the reader than may have been immediately present. I provided the break down on Gear and Runes based on their primary stat, but the selections were based on a 5/6 or 6/6 set of Runes that I deemed useful for any type of build you could come up with. Being as I wasn’t covering total builds I chose to opt out of full explanations, but instead provide you with which options would be best to look at. You could look at the gear line and say “I want a Power build” and then have your scope limited to the ones present. Then you could look at the Runes and say “I want Toughness” and see my suggestions for Toughness runes. The sigils is where it got a little more generic since these are things meant to tweak builds – not define them – so I just provided which ones would be worth looking at regardless of your build choices to help limit your researching.

Also, I left out Energy because I didn’t see it having a drastic impact on the overall performance of the Scrapper due to the lack of major “dodge” mechanics in the Engineer Traits in general. Energy can be an option, but I find adding a kit just for that sigil not to be worth it. That is not saying that adding kits in general is a bad thing – because almost all non-turret/elixir engi’s use them. I’d just rather gain an advantage that seems a bit more impactful on the overall fight by choosing something that provides me with health or damages/debilitates my foe. The Engineer comes with a few mechanisms that can be used to cover for the lack of that sigil in my opinion (shield off-hand, gear shield, hammer #4, elixir s and trait duplicate, etc).

As to having tested things. I did do a bit of testing in every game mode. The Sneak Gyro is slow – yes – but, there is a work around for that. It requires 2 Engineers to work – simply have 1 Engineer “lead” the group and the others follow a little behind. The lead Engineer will have to start and stop every so often, but the stealth field will always be in front of your team allowing for easier stealthing. Also as for the 5-target rule – you can break that. Ally targeting is dictated based on a few things, but the first of which is those in your Party and then those near you. Therefore, if you have multiple Engineers in different parties you can divvy up how that stealth is being applied to those who are in the Zerg more easily. Leaving 1-2 open slots in a party will allow for accidental additions like a party members pet or a few minions to come in too without being detected.

I didn’t go into much detail for the class due to not wanting to influence people based on my opinion of it. I also wrote up all 9 Elite Specialization Reviews in 12 hours before the beta ended so I had to pick and choose what I wanted to focus on. ^^;

Kicast.1459:

So what is good then ?

The Dragonhunter is a much harder class for me to praise being a Guardian primary player and knowing so much about how Guardians worked in general prior to the Dragonhunter’s release.

However, despite all that the Dragonhunter has the potential to enhance some features of the Guardian that can make them deal out more damage or take less damage more effectively. The main issue that you’ll run into with the Dragonhunter for all three game modes is how to approach building it because there is no way to really make a “general” build for all three game modes effectively at this time unless you’re focusing on Shouts only – which really isn’t what the Dragonhunter is all about.

The play style required to be effective with the LB and/or Traps is drastically different from the normal front-line play style that the Guardian had before. You have to really pay attention to your surroundings, plan ahead, and work on keeping your distance to maximize use of the LB – which can be very hard. Alternatively you can attempt to front-line right on top of your Traps to deal heavy damage and possibly remove condi’s and tank harder in the process based on Traits, but you will have forfeited at least some of your standard utilities that help keep you alive to do so – making it slightly more taxing on you if you have limited mobility and/or snare skills.

For PvE this can be fine because monsters are predictable, but you may run into Trap activation issues if dealing with things like world bosses or laying them right on top of spawn points – causing the Traps not to activate as planned. Other than that you can be very effective in PvE based on how well you form your Trait lines to gain maximum synergy.

For PvP you run into what appears to be a rather heated debate topic with Traps in general. As I somewhat eluded to – once everyone knows your a Trapper your game play dynamic must change constantly to make what would normally be predictable behavior unpredictable. However, you’ll also still have the occasional benefit of catching people off guard in mass team fights every so often – quickly tipping the scales in your favor for awhile. This point must be provided a lot of slack due to the constant push and pull nature that is is PvP.

For WvW you certainly run into issue since the Traps aren’t ground target-able. This will make Zerg fighting or Defending hard unless you’re coordinating things with others. An effective strategy would be to have Dragonhunters stay back-line and lay Traps down while other front-liners draw attention off you – then have everyone fall back over your Traps to lure the opposing side onto them. As a Roamer you can use that to your advantage using Trapper Runes allowing you to quickly move around placing traps while under stealth and then controlling your targets to your Traps causing massive damage.

Therefore, I realize I didn’t directly praise the Dragonhunter for any of its qualities, but I can assure you there are methods that can make the Dragonhunter shine based on what you’re trying to do.

Dadnir.5038:

PvE Usefulness
Entirely useful. This class can now match the DPS of other Berserker speed run classes with higher sustain. The more this class gets surrounded – the stronger it becomes.

Sadly, Organized PvE content is more about what you bring to the party outside of your DPS than just DPS. Dagger auto attack have always been pretty good. I think the reaper/necromancer need more support (It’s always been the case), today it’s still stand in the same place as it always have : Just a DPS.

There is certainly a fair amount of support options available depending on perspective. I might suggest looking into Trooper (Soldier) Runes and Shouts or how well you can Blind foes, transform boons into condi’s or condi’s into boons, provide leeching for your party, etc.

Bhawb.7408:

As a note, Reaper’s Onslaught is easily the strongest and most widely useful adept trait in PvP/WvW, and Soul Spiral generates no LF.

Reaper’s Onslaught is a Grandmaster trait and certainly useful, but it was noted that the +15% attack speed was still broken making it less impressive to use last I read the bug listings.

Also Soul Spiral does actually generate LF along with Healing if using Transfusion.

Soul Spiral: “Spiral and damage nearby foes, dealing high damage. This skill inherits traits from Life Transfer.”

Life Transfer: “Damage nearby foes and steal their life force.”

Valento.9852:

I’ve run across situations where I had to decide if I should move to earth to anticipate a huge damage from mobs so protection could be paramount, or attune to water for healing ripple+water globe blasts.

The rest of your comment was summarized by the fellow who got here before me ^^;

I just wanted to point out something here in your first statement.

A fantastic option that can work really well depending on execution is to anticipate that damage, but not to mitigate it. Instead use “Rebound!” as it has been reworked to allow players to negate death and receive suitable healing for doing so. You can then follow up with entering earth to get your protection, using your heal skill, and spamming additional auras if running auramancer specs.

nicknamenick.2437:

Sorry for saying this but i find this a pretty bad review

all you say is: fire fire fire mooore fire! ….

Then you try to give feedback on skills but you dont give any decent feedback about the total picture, all skills look somewhat cool on there own but do they bring enough for a warrior in pvp/pve? can they replace a build? what are the cost if warriors do go for berserker traitline? how did you felt going in and out of berserkmode? did you feel much diffrence or did you feel just the same warrior but with some fancy new animations?

Well first I’m going to point out that the fire comments were intended for humor which didn’t seem to fly well with you – to each their own. However, if you took the link at the beginning of the post you would have seen this statement in bold…

“NOTE: I will not be covering complete builds simply because I found it more educational for me to create my own builds as I learned more about the class and its overall synergy options that suited my personal play-style. I will be providing subtle suggestions for where to focus your attention within each specialization and may point a finger here and there to give you ideas for the basics of a complete build.”

My purpose here was not to provide you with deep insight to the class nor to provide you with builds. I was giving you a big hint that if you’re going to play this Elite Spec you’ll likely want to consider condition damage as there is an immense amount of Burning available to the class. Of course there are other options for this Elite Spec, but I tell you what does and doesn’t have good synergy with the remainder of the Core Specs. I just don’t tell you specifically which ones because that is, again, an opportunity for you to learn more about the class as a whole when you go out looking for it. I don’t want to influence people in these reviews – I want them to understand the core concept and functionality that these Elite Specs bring to the table and let them decide what to do with it knowing where the strengths of the Elite Spec lies.

I apologize if this is not your preferred style, but I worked on 9 Elite Specialization Reviews simultaneously for 12 hours straight as the Beta was closing – so I had to pick and choose what information I wanted to share and comment on.

Phloww.1048:

Very nice overview of the elite spec with a little touch of (twisted?) humor. One thing that caught my attention is Assassin’s gear not listed in Precision. I personally feel this overview is newbie-friendly to the Chronomancer as well as touching each area nicely.

I omitted Assassin’s gear simply because it is the exact same stat spread as Berserker’s gear, but has Precision as the primary stat instead of Power. Though you can achieve much higher Critical Hit chance with Assassin’s gear naturally you can still cap out at 100% Critical Hit chance by traiting correctly and using Berserker stats (Hint: Slow condition). Since you’d have higher overall DPS with Berserker gear due to the higher Power with a perfect Crit Chance – I chose to opt out of placing Assassin’s gear on the list.

deadinibiza.9605:

In PvP there was ABSOLUTELY NO BALANCE between the classes. As you can suggest, the new classes were A LOT BETTER than a normal good PvP build.

You may be slightly underestimating the Core Specializations or overestimating the new Elite Specializations.

It is true that you can make really good Elite Specialization builds, but it’s also true that the Core Specializations were here first and were designed to have complete synergy within their core group.

Finding powerful Elite Specializations that function in every way required for good PvP is not easy, but will certainly become easier once builds are shared online. However, when you choose to take that Elite Spec. you must forfeit a Core Specialization which can sometimes really break the tight synergy you had in your “normal” build.

Some Core builds can still out perform the Elite Specs. when you limit your focus to a specific goal – or “scope”. For example: A Dragonhunter trying to use Traps will fail at providing good support where as a Guardian focused on Shouts will excel.

Every build has a purpose and a play style that suits the player, therefore it’s a bit difficult to immediately call out that the Elite Specs “made the players better”. In some cases it made things “easier” for them, but it didn’t necessarily make the player any more skilled.

If you’re seeing huge differences between the Elite Specs vs the Core Specs then either you’re a good player who knows how to play that class or you were fighting good players who knew how to play that class because more often than not – adding an Elite Spec will actually make it harder for you if you’re not skilled with the class (some exceptions apply).

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Reaper.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Necromancer – Reaper

General Description
The Reaper is a class that really re-defines how we look at Necromancers. Traditionally Necromancers are viewed as one of three different things…

1) Condi Overlords – dishing out conditions constantly and removing/consuming/transforming/ or transferring them to other players when conditions are applied to them.
2) Power Gods – using Lich Form to boost their Power stat temporarily these Necromancers focus on sheer devastating power to destroy their foes.
3) Minion Masters – summoning many minions to either tank damage, remove/apply conditions, or overwhelm your target with numbers. These Necromancers are the most classic type and used by many beginning players because of the simple learning curve. They provide a decent presence in all game modes and can be very good anywhere there isn’t lots of powerful AoE.

The Reaper can enhance any of these basic types and also make for some interesting hybrid options. The Reaper is primarily designed around being a close-combat style class which is unlike most Necromancer play-styles. However, it provides many defensive and support options to sustain itself in battle. The most notable feature of the Reaper is that it becomes more terrifying the more enemies you have around you. This makes it incredibly useful in all game modes.

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Shroud Knight:
This grants access to Reaper Shroud and the Greatsword
Reaper Shroud is an augmented version of Death Shroud in which all 5 of your skills are changed into Reaper Shroud variants. These will all inherit the mechanical changes that other traits would provide to a standard Death Shroud skill. For example: If a trait says you gain Might by using your Shroud 1 skill – this will apply to either Reaper Shroud’s or Death Shroud’s first skill. Most mechanical features of each Death Shroud skill have been preserved in one way or another in the Reaper Shroud variant.
Shivers of Dread:
Inflicting Fear causes Chill.
Due to Reaper Shroud’s #3 flip-skill having Fear it won’t matter how you build your Necromancer – you’ll always be able to make use of this trait.
Cold Shoulder:
Chill lasts longer and Chilled foes deal -10% damage to you.
This has amazing synergy with the rest of the normal traits and skills of this class.

Adept Traits
Augury of Death:
Shouts siphon health and recharge faster for each foe hit.
Fantastic synergy if using shouts and surrounded by enemies.
Chilling Nova:
Critical hits against Chilled foes cause an explosion that damages and chills
adjacent foes. — 10s ICD
If focusing on maintaining Chill – this can be a great trait.
Relentless Pursuit:
Reduces Immob, Cripple, Chill durations by 33% and 66% while in shroud.
This is more a utility trait and likely not going to be widely used.

Master Traits
Soul Eater:
Reduces recharge on greatsword skills and Gravedigger (GS #3) steals health on hit.
This can be good if you have a lot of high health enemies to spam Gravedigger on or if you just have 4+ Reapers running around you can spam Nightfall for perma-blind.
Chilling Victory:
Striking a Chilled foe grants Might and Life Force. — 1s ICD
With the 1s ICD this skill isn’t as powerful as it may seem at first, but it is still a decent way to add a bit more Might into your build if needed.
Decimate Defenses:
Striking a foe with vulnerability increases your critical hit chance.
This is a very powerful trait if used correctly and can open up a very large array of new possibilities for the Necromancer in general.

Grandmaster Traits
Blighter’s Boon:
Gain Life Force when you gain a Boon. If you are in Reaper’s Shroud, gain health instead.
This trait is very unique allowing for you to heal your own health bar while in Reaper’s Shroud. Many traits can pair very well with this allowing for some amazing recovery methods.
Deathly Chill:
Chill deals damage, with additional damage to foes below 50% health.
With all the Chill options available now this can lead to some very interesting combinations of traits. A good synergy option is to pair this with “Terror” which makes Fear deal damage too.
Reaper’s Onslaught:
Attack faster while in Reaper’s Shroud. Killing a foe in Shroud reduces all Shroud skill recharges by 5 seconds.
Depending on circumstance – this skill can leave you permanently in Reaper’s Shroud – making you unkillable. This is because your #4 skill can regain Life Force as it hits foes. If you hit enough foes and kill a few weaker ones fast enough you can spam Soul Spiral until everything is dead.

New Weapon Analysis
The Reaper gains access to the Greatsword.

Auto-Attack
This attack chain will gain you Life Force and Chill your target upon completion. Depending on your traits you may also gain Might each time you complete the attack chain.
Gravedigger — 8s ICD
This attack is your single most powerful hitting attack when not in Lich Form or Reaper’s Shroud. If any foe hit is below 50% health this instantly recharges.
Death Spiral — 12s ICD
This attack is great for building Vulnerability and Life Force.
Nightfall — 25s ICD
A simple Blind field that grows in size.
Grasping Darkness — 30s ICD
A simple Pull that Chills and grants Life Force.

New Skills Analysis
The Reaper gains access to Shouts.

“Your Soul is Mine!” — 20s ICD
Heal self, damage foes, and gain Life Force per foe struck.
Decent heal and Life Force gain.
“You are all Weaklings!” — 30s ICD
Damages and Weakens foes while granting you Might per struck foe and Breaking Stun.
Great way to start a fight strong.
“Suffer!” — 30s ICD
Damages foes Chilling them and transferring 1 condition from you to each foe struck.
Good way to keep damage down and condi-cleanse.
“Nothing can save you!” — 25s ICD
Damages foes while converting 2 of their boons into Vulnerability. Your attacks become unblockable for a duration based on the number of foes struck.
Powerful in group fights.
“Rise!” — 40s ICD
Damages foes while summoning Shambling Horrors per foe struck + one for using the skill. These minions absorb 50% of the incoming damage to their master as long as they are attacking.
Amazing in group fights. This can have some incredible synergy with Death Magic.
“Chilled to the bone!” — 90s ICD
Damage and stun all enemies around you inflicting Chill and gaining Stability for each foe struck.
Very strong in group fights and has a long Chill application.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Reaper.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Soldier’s, Valkyrie
Precision: Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Cavalier’s, Settler’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Elementalist, Hoelbrak, Mad King, Scholar, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Ranger, Thief
Toughness: Svanir
Vitality: Exuberance, Ice, Lich, Radiance, Trooper (Soldier)
Condition: Adventurer, Aristocracy, Grenth, Krait, Necromancer, Nightmare, Scavenging, Undead
Healing: Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force, Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Chilling, Paralyzation, Peril, Smoldering, Venom
Chance on Hit: Ice, Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Rage, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Momentum
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Hydromancy, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
Entirely useful. This class can now match the DPS of other Berserker speed run classes with higher sustain. The more this class gets surrounded – the stronger it becomes.

PvP Usefulness
Useful in team fights – less so in solo fights.

WvW Usefulness
Much like the PvE note – it is very powerful when involved with a group of players and groups of enemies. But, much like the PvP note – this is not the most ideal for roaming.

Overall Opinion
I personally find the Reaper very easy to play. It has great synergy with many of the other specialization choices and has a multitude of options when it comes to viable builds. This is something I would recommend to any new player just trying out HoT due to the much simpler learning curve involved.

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Chronomancer.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Mesmer – Chronomancer

General Description
Mesmers, the masters of Illusions and irritation. Writing this post brings me great Joy…or is it fear, terror, and dismay? That depends on which side of the fence you’re on. With the Chronomancer you’ll bring your Troll flag to new heights that you never thought possible. Want to use Elite skills twice? No problem. Want to defy death? We got you covered. Want to spam numerous levels of stupid all over the place while sitting back and drinking your tea? Statefarm is there. This class really amplifies the already frustrating qualities of the Mesmer and just makes them even worse. If you’re not comfortable playing a Mesmer the Chronomancer may be a bit difficult to grasp at the start, but once you figure it out you’ll be putting on your very own custom Troll Face for everyone to enjoy.

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Time Splitter
Grants access to Shields, Wells, and Continuum Split/Shift.
Any traits that would alter the effects of all your shatter skills will now have an effect for Continuum Split as well.
Flow of Time
Gain Alacrity for each Illusion you Shatter.
3/4s per Illusion.
Time Marches On
You move 25% faster. Cripple, Chill, and Immob have -25% durations.
Decent way to get around.

Adept Traits
Delayed Reactions
Interrupting a foe slows them for 3s.
This has no ICD.
Time Catches Up
Activating a Shatter gives your Illusions 5s Superspeed.
Great way to do bursts. No ICD.
All’s Well That Ends Well
Wells grant Alacrity to allies when they end.
+2s per Well. No ICD.

Master Traits
Danger Time
Gain +30% Crit Chance against Slowed Enemies.
Combos well with Fury and other traits.
Illusionary Reversion
Shattering at least two Illusions generates a clone.
No ICD.
Improved Alacrity
Alacrity applied to you lasts 50% longer.
No ICD.

Grandmaster Traits
Lost Time
Gain a charge each time you score a Crit. After 5 charges your next hit will Slow for 2s.
1/4s ICD.
*Seize The Moment_*
Gain Quickness for each Illusion you Shatter.
No ICD.
Chronophantasma
Your Phantasms are Resummoned after the first time they are shattered.
Resummoned phantasms have a 1.5s Daze. No ICD.

New Weapon Analysis
The Chronomancer gains access to the Shield.

Echo of Memory — 24s ICD
Block incoming attacks for a short duration. If this skill fully channels, summon a Phantasm that slows enemies and grants Alacrity to allies. If an attack is blocked, Deja Vu is available for 10s.
Great support/sustain skill.
||
Deja Vu
Block incoming attacks for a short duration. If this skill fully channels, summon a Phantasm that slows enemies and grants Alacrity to allies.
Just gets better.

Tides of Time — 40s ICD
Launch a wave that damages and Stuns enemies it passes through and grants Quickness to allies it passes through. The wave then returns to you. Touching the returning wave reduces the recharge of this skill by 10s.
Counts as an Ethereal field and blocks projectiles. Great Support skill.

New Skills Analysis
The Chronomancer gains access to Wells and Continuum Split/Shift.

Continuum Split [F5] — 90s ICD
Destroy all your Illusions and create a rift in time. When it expires you revert back to the point in time when you first activated the skill. All previous Health, Endurance, and Skill Recharges are reset to that point at which you activated the skill. Duration increases per Illusion Shattered.
You can defy death with this too. If the Rift is destroyed you will revert back earlier.
||
Continuum Shift
Revert back to the previous timeline.
You can choose to revert back sooner if you wish.

Well of Eternity — 30s ICD
Create a well that rewinds time, removing conditions from allies. When it expires the well heals allies in the area.
Very low healing, but okay support. Light Field.
Well of Precognition — 45sec ICD
Creates a well that gives allies 1s Blur (Evade all attacks). When this well ends allies within it gain +30 Endurance.
Counts as a Stun Break. Ethereal Field.
Well of Calamity — 20s ICD
Create a well that damages, Weakens, and Cripples foes. The final pulse does massive damage.
Great damage. Ethereal Field.
Well of Recall — 40s ICD
Creates a well that damages and Chills. When it expires it grants 5s of Alacrity.
Good support. Ethereal Field.
Well of Action — 30s ICD
Create a well that damages and Slows enemies. When it expires grant 3s Quickness to allies.
Good support. Ethereal Field.
Gravity Well — 90s ICD
Create a well that KD’s/Pulls/Floats foes caught in it. When it expires foes take heavy damage.
Great control skill. Dark Field.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Chronomancer.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Soldier’s
Precision: Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Brawler, Hoelbrak, Mad King, Mesmer, Ogre, Pack, Scholar, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Ranger, Thief
Toughness: Dolyak, Earth, Forgeman, Guardian, Melandru, Resistance
Vitality: Exuberance, Wurm
Condition: Adventurer, Aristocracy, Krait, Nightmare, Perplexity, Scavenging, Tormenting, Undead
Healing: Altruism, Defender, Grove, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force, Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Paralyzation, Smoldering
Chance on Hit: Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Earth, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Stamina, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Momentum
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Geomancy, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
This class maintains its typical Mesmer utility usefulness, but other than that didn’t gain too many game altering changes other than being able to defy death, move around a bit faster, and the ever so famous Gravity Well + Well of Calamity combo for the critters.

PvP Usefulness
This class is super deadly in PvP already. The Chronomancer just makes things worse. So that’s both good and bad.

WvW Usefulness
This class may have some interesting uses in WvW depending on how it’s played. Zerg fights can benefit from all the Wells popping up here and there, but you’ll likely feel more at home Roaming or Defending Objectives.

Overall Opinion
The Chronomancer is a strange creature. You’ll either love it or hate it or both. Things will make sense yet you’ll be confused. Confusion will seem to make sense. Yet the making of sense will always yield Pi. (Wait wut? – Exactly…). It provides new AoE, Control, and Support to the Mesmer without taking away too much of their core functionality. It’ll take a lot of practice and getting used to – especially if you’re new to Mesmer.

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Tempest.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Elementalist – Tempest

General Description
The Elementalist is the Master of Fire, Water, Air, and Earth. They can deal massive damage or provide incredible support. The Tempest only enhances their abilities so what could go wrong?

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Singularity
Grants access to Warhorn, Shouts, and Overloads.
You must be in an Attunement for 5s to Overload it.
Speedy Conduit
Gain Swiftness when Overloading an Attunement.
Hardy Conduit
Gain Protection when Overloading an Attunement.

Adept Traits
Gale Song
Trigger “Eye of the Storm!” when CC’d. — 45sec ICD
Great support skill.
Latent Stamina
Apply Vigor in a radius when attuning to Water. Granting Vigor to allies also restores 10 Endurance. — 10s ICD
Decent support skill.
Unstable Conduit
Overloading an Attument grants an Aura based on the element you’re attuned to when the ability is completed.
Powerful support skill.

Master Traits
Tempestuous Aria
Allies affected by your Shouts gain Might. Enemies are affected by Weakness.
Amazing support skill.
Earthen Proxy
Enhances Protection to -40% damage reduction.
Good support skill.
Harmonious Conduit
Gain Stability when Overloading. Completing an Overload grants you +10% damage
for 5s.
Decent damage increase.

Grandmaster Traits
Imbued Melodies
While wielding a Warhorn gain +20% boon duration. Use Sand Squall when struck below 90% HP — 10s ICD
Decent support skill.
Lucid Singularity
Remove Immob, Cripple, and Chilled and gain 100% duration reduction against them while Overloading.
Allows for greater mobility when Overloading.
Elemental Bastion
Auras you apply heal allies. Apply a Frost Aura to yourself and nearby allies when struck under 75% HP — 30s ICD.
Amazing support skill.

New Weapon Analysis
The Tempest gains access to the Warhorn.

Fire:
Heat Sync — 30s ICD
Give +3 Might to self and then spread all boons you have to allies.
Fantastic Support.
Wildfire — 30s ICD
Create a Fire Field that slowly extends to 600 range.
Good for combos.

Water:
Tidal Surge — 35s ICD
Send out a tidal wave that grants 8s Regen, Heals allies, and KB’s enemies.
Great heal/control skill.
Water Globe — 35s ICD
Create a moving Water Field that heals allies as it travels.
Great for healing combos if you’re on the move.

Air:
Cyclone — 25s ICD
Blast out a cyclone that Pulls enemies toward its location and grants Swiftness to Allies.
Good control skill.
Lightning Orb — 25s ICD
Launch an orb of lightning that fires projectiles at nearby foes.
Can cause massive Vuln and Damage if target is running away.

Earth:
Sand Squall — 30s ICD
Apply protection to you and your allies, then increase the duration of all boon on you and your allies by 2s. Gain Magnetic Aura.
Amazing support skill and counts as a Blast Finisher.
Dust Storm — 30s ICD
Creates an extending AoE that does +2 10s Bleed and 2s Blind per pulse.
Lasts 5 seconds.

New Skills Analysis
The Tempest gains access to Shouts and Overloads.

NOTE: All Overloads have a 20s ICD and Break Stun

Fire -> Overload Fire
Pulse Burning. Create a Fire Field. Whirl in Fire Field. Leave Fire Field present if you complete Overload.
Great way to spread Burning and combo with allies.
Water -> Overload Water
Pulse Healing, Regen, and Condi-Cleanse. Burst heal upon completion.
Great Support.
Air -> Overload Air
Pulse damage and Vuln in a large area.
Creates Lightning Field. Good Damage.
Earth -> Overload Earth
Gain +3 Stability, pulse 1s Protection to allies, Cripple foes in range, and Blast Finish by leaving behind a Dust Storm.
Good Support.

“Wash the Pain Away!” — 25s ICD
Create a pulsing heal for yourself and allies.
Great support skill.
“Feel the Burn!” — 20s ICD
Burn foes for 4s. Grant Fire Aura to self and allies.
Great support skill.
“Flash-Freeze!” — 25s ICD
Chills foes for 3s. Grant Ice Aura to self and allies.
Great support skill.
“Shock and Aftershock!” — 50s ICD
Cripple and then Immob foes. Grant Magnetic Aura to self and allies.
Great support skill.
“Eye of the Storm!”
Grant Stun Break and Superspeed to allies.
Great support skill.
“Rebound!” — 75s ICD
If an ally would die under the effects of Rebound (5s) they will negate death once and be healed instead. If they would live while under the effects of Rebound they gain an Aura based on your Attunement.
Great support skill.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Tempest.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Zealot’s Soldier’s
Precision: Assassin’s, Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s, Nomad’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s, Shaman’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Baelfire, Brawler, Elementalist, Fire, Flame Legion, Hoelbrak, Ogre, Pack, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Thief
Toughness: Dolyak, Earth, Engineer, Forgeman, Melandru, Resistance
Vitality: Exuberance, Lich, Radiance, Trooper (Soldier), Wurm
Condition: Adventurer, Aristocracy, Balthazar, Krait, Nightmare, Scavenging, Tormenting, Undead
Healing: Altruism, Dwayna, Grove, Monk, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force, Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Smoldering
Chance on Hit: Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Earth, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Stamina, Benevolence, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Life, Momentum, Perception
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Geomancy, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
This is an all around support spec by nature. It will work well anywhere in PvE.

PvP Usefulness
Being primarily support this class can really be effective in PvP group fights. Alone it will seem weaker, but it can certainly hold its own.

WvW Usefulness
Zerg fights is where it’s at. Your support skills will go a long way and provide numerous advantages if used in a well coordinated group. Roaming can also be fun, but you will likely feel that things move a bit slower than you’d prefer if you’re completely alone.

Overall Opinion
The Tempest is an amazing support class and has numerous benefits that it can bring to the table. I mean who doesn’t like to defy death? Well now you too can have your very own “Give death the middle finger at least once until 75 seconds later” card!

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Daredevil.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Thief – Daredevil

General Description
The Thief is notorious for hiding in the shadows. With an slew of Stealth skills these tricksters are always catching people off-guard. When they get into combat they don’t stick around for long because hit-and-run tactics are their best defense. Daredevils somewhat break this mold by providing an incentive to stay in combat and control the battle field a bit more than Thieves are used to. The Staff skill, additional dodge, enhanced dodges, and Physical skills make the Daredevil quite threatening.

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Physical Supremacy
Grants access to Staff, an additional endurance bar, and Physical skills.
NOTE: Any skill that says it “refills endurance” will only refill 100/150 endurance.
Driven Fortitude
Gain health when you successfully evade an attack. — 1s ICD
With a 1s ICD you’ll likely only get this to trigger twice if you’re doing back to back evades.
Endurance Thief
Gain endurance when you successfully steal from an enemy.
Grants 50 endurance or +1 dodge.

Adept Traits
Evasive Empowerment
After dodging, deal +10% damage for 2s.
Decent way to enhance your next strike.
Weakening Strikes
Cause weakness to enemies you critically hit. — 10s ICD
5s Weakness.
Brawler’s Tenacity
Gain +10 endurance when you first activate a physical skill. Physical skills have -20% recharge.
Good way to keep up your endurance for more dodging.

Master Traits
Staff Master
While wielding a Staff, gain endurance for each initiative point spent. Deal +10% damage when your endurance is not full while wielding a Staff.
Good way to keep up your endurance for more dodging.
Escapist’s Absolution
Remove 1 condition when you evade an attack. — 1s ICD
Good natural condi-cleanse.
Impacting Disruption
Enemies you interrupt suffer a Pulmonary Impact.
Powerful non-critcal strike.

Grandmaster Traits
Lotus Training
Your dodge now uses Impaling Lotus which damages, Bleeds, Torments, and Cripples your foe.
Counts as a Whirl Finisher
Unhindered Combatant
Your dodge is replaced with a long-range dash that removes Immob, Cripple, and Chill while granting Swiftness.
Great way to make it so you can never be kept still.
Bounding Dodger
Your dodge is replaced by Bound, dealing damage to the area after you evade.
Powerful landing that counts as a Blast Finisher.

New Weapon Analysis
The Daredevil gains access to the Staff.

Auto-Attack
Damages foes Whirling and causing +4 8s Vuln at the end of the chain.
||
Hook Strike
KD your foe for 2s.
Good way to start your fight combos.

Weakening Charge — 3i
Progress forward Weakening foes.
Causes Whirl Finisher.
Debilitating Arc — 4i
Strike enemies in front of you and roll backward breaking Immob.
Counts as Evade and Cripples foes.
Dust Strike — 4i
Sweep the ground Blinding enemies in front of you.
Standard Blind skill. Can hit 3 targets.
Vault — 5i
Leap toward your destination, damaging foes upon impact.
Heavy damage. Counts as Leap Finisher.

New Skills Analysis
The Daredevil gains access to Physical skills.

Channeled Vigor — 20s ICD
Channel your energy to gain health and 75% of your endurance back. Heal for more if your endurance is full.
Very good way to recharge your dodges.
Bandit’s Defense — 15s ICD
Block incoming attacks for 1s. If block is successful and target is in melee range KD them.
Breaks Stun.

Distracting Daggers — 25s ICD
Equip 3 daggers that can be thrown to interrupt your target and increase their skill CD’s.
Can become a very powerful and deadly tool if mastered.
||
Distracting Dagger
Use one of your equipped daggers.

Impairing Daggers — 25s ICD
Fire 3 damaging daggers each with a given effect: 2s Immob, 4s Slow, and +3 8s Poison.
Great way to start of a fight due to the slow and Immob.

Fist Flurry — 20s ICD
Strike your enemy 5 times. If all attacks hit, gain access to Palm Strike.
Strong melee attack
||
Palm Strike
Deal massive non-critical unblockable damage.

Impact Strike — 40s ICD
Strike your enemy and stun them.
2s Daze
||
Uppercut
Deal a heavy blow launching the enemy vertically.
Keeps them pinned.
||
Finishing Blow
Deal a downward strike on your foe. Downed enemies are “Finished”.
Fancy Finishing move

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Daredevil.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Soldier’s
Precision: Assassin’s, Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Brawler, Hoelbrak, Mad King, Ogre, Pack, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Thief
Toughness: Dolyak, Earth, Forgeman, Melandru, Mercy, Resistance
Vitality: Exuberance, Lich, Wurm
Condition: Adventurer, Afflicted, Aristocracy, Balthazar, Krait, Nightmare, Orr, Scavenging, Perplexity, Tormenting, Trapper, Undead
Healing: Grove, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force, Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Venom
Chance on Hit: Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Earth, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Rage, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Stamina, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Momentum, Perception
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Geomancy, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
With the amount of damage or conditions this class can inflict it can be an amazing addition to almost any team for almost any purpose.

PvP Usefulness
This class can really lay down the pressure in team fights and certainly hold its own in 1v1 fights on capture points without relying on stealth.

WvW Usefulness
Mobility at its finest. Fantastic addition to any team. Can pressure with significant damage or simply spread conditions everywhere.

Overall Opinion
The Daredevil is very interesting. Though some of the skills feel like they take too much Initiative, are a bit short lived, or are just plain hard to use safely – this class has so many options for staying alive that you tend to forget about that while everything slowly falls into place.

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Druid.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Ranger – Druid

General Description
The Ranger has always been seen as a class that is attuned to the forest using bows, skirmishing with wildlife, setting traps, and taming beasts. The Ranger in this game has seen 3 main versions: A Ranged Burster, A Condition Trapper, and A Skirmishing Shouter. With the Druid we take a whole new spin on things. The Druid is all about healing and in more ways than one. You gain incredible mastery over conditions allowing you to apply, remove, and mitigate their effects at will. Or, you can focus on healing your allies as much as possible. There is a lot of CC that comes with the Druid allowing you to create a window to heal your allies or go on the offensive for awhile before going back to playing defense. The Druid will get a lot of slack right now, but perhaps with the new Raids we’ll see why the Devs decided to give us this class.

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Celestial Being
Grants access to Staves, Glyphs, and the Celestial Form.
Your Celestial Form meter is your [F5] and increases based on how much Healing and Damage you do. This will maintain itself out of combat and deplete entirely if you enter and leave at any point – so get your use out of it while you can. It also grants access to the flip skills of your Glyphs and contains some of your most powerful healing and control skills.
Live Vicariously
When you heal an ally, you are also healed.
This healing will seem low, but when you start to see how often you’re “healing allies” you’ll understand why.
Natural Mender
Increases outgoing healing whenever you heal another ally
Can reach up to +20% outgoing healing effectiveness without even trying.

Adept Traits
Druidic Clarity
Entering Celestial Form removes all conditions on you.
This can be a very powerful condi-cleansing option depending on how fast you can recharge your Celestial Form bar.
Cultivated Synergy
Using a heal skill heals allies around you and your pet.
This triggers at both locations and can have good synergy with other traits causing for a pretty massive burst of healing.
Primal Echoes
Reduces staff recharge 20% and causes Daze to nearby foes when you swap
to staff. — 8s ICD
Has many great uses and interestingly has good synergy with Warrior Runes.

Master Traits
Celestial Shadow
Grant Superspeed and Stealth to nearby allies when Celestial Form ends.
This is a good way to get the jump on people and spread out during a fight.
Seed of Life
Reduces Glyph recharge by 20%. Activating a Glyph summons a seed that heals and cleanses nearby allies of conditions when it blooms.
Very powerful synergy with Glyphs.
Natural Stride
Reduces Immob, Cripple, Chill durations by 33%. Increase your movement speed when not affected by those conditions by 33%.
Great alternative to Signet of the Hunt.
~!~ BUG: Doesn’t give the +33% movement speed ~!~

Grandmaster Traits
Grace of the Land
While you are in Celestial Form your allies gain -33% incoming condition damage.
Very good support skill.
Lingering Light
Healing an ally creats a wisp that orbits you and heals allies it touches. -- 6s ICD
The wisp lasts for 5s thereby making it an almost constant addition to your net healing if you are in close range of your allies.
Ancient Seeds
Striking a Stunned, Dazed, KD’d, or KB’d foe summons roots to
entangle them. — 10s ICD
Lasts for 5s and is a good way to spread condi and immob.

New Weapon Analysis
The Druid gains access to the Staff.

Solar Beam
Fire a beam at your target damaging them and healing allies inside the beam.
Positioning is everything to making this skill shine. Quickness doesn’t hurt either.
Astral Wisp — 8s ICD
Send a wisp to attach to your foe. While attached it will circle the foe healing allies it passes through
Great way to heal your allies without having to get in the fray.
Ancestral Grace — 15s ICD
Become a wisp of natural energy, traveling to the target location healing allies nearby target location.
Great gap closer. Fantastic healing. Decent recharge. Blast finisher. Just freaking good.
Vine Surge — 20s ICD
Send forth vines that Immob enemies and cleanse Immob, Cripple, Chill from allies.
The narrow line makes this a bit tricky to use, but it has a very good payoff.
Sublime Conversion — 25s ICD
Create a wall that causes enemy projectiles that pass through it to heal you.
Rather unique, but with such a small wall size and short duration it’s very hard to use against players. Against enemies it’s easier to use if you know their attack patterns and how to manipulate them.

New Skills Analysis
The Druid gains access to Glyphs and Celestial Form.

Celestial Form [F5]:
Cosmic Ray
Heal targeted area.
Just a fast 1/2 cast ground target heal.
Seed of Life — 1s ICD
Summon a seed that heals and cleanses nearby allies of conditions when it blooms.
Powerful healing and condi-cleanse.
Lunar Impact --- 5s ICD
Call down a massive lunar beam to heal allies and daze foes.
Massive Healing. Good Daze. Blast Finisher. The Jesus Beam is real.
Rejuvenating Tides — 8s ICD
Gather tidal force to rapidly heal nearby allies.
Channel is a bit long and since other skills aren’t instant cast may disrupt your healing sequence, but the Water Field and Healing is good.
Natural Convergence — 10s ICD
Channel your celestial powers, pulsing cripple and slow. Once the channel ends, any foes still within its radius will be Immobed.
Decent damage and good control skill.

Glyph of Rejuvenation — 24s ICD
Apply significant healing to yourself and minor healing to your allies.
||
Celestial Version — 24s ICD
Apply significant healing to your allies and minor healing to yourself.

Glyph of Alignment — 20s ICD
Damage and apply Cripple and Weakness to nearby foes.
Weakness duration is rather low, but works for minor damage mitigation.
||
Celestial Version — 20s ICD
Heal and remove conditions from nearby allies
Good support skill.

Glyph of Equality — 30s ICD
Daze nearby foes.
Instant cast = good daze.
||
Celestial Version — 30s ICD
Break Stun for nearby allies.
Also removes 2 conditions.

Glyph of the Tides — 25s ICD
Push nearby enemies away from you.
Great CC.
||
Celestial Version — 25s ICD
Pulls enemies toward you.
Great for team-play damage bursts.

Glyph of Empowerment — 20s ICD
Increases outgoing damage of allies +10%.
Good for bursting.
||
Celestial Version — 20s ICD
Increases outgoing healing of nearby allies +25%.
Good for recovery.

Glyph of Unity — 20s ICD
Tether yourself to nearby foes. Whenever you take damage, deal damage to the foes tethered to you.
Interesting way to dish out additional damage. Especially if you can out-heal it.
||
Celestial Version — 20s ICD
Tether yourself to nearby allies. Whenever you’re healed, heal the tethered allies as well.
Great support skill.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Druid.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Zealot’s, Soldier’s
Precision: Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s, Nomad’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s, Shaman’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigil Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Brawler, Hoelbrak, Mad King, Mesmer, Ogre, Pack, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Ranger, Thief
Toughness: Dolyak, Earth, Forgeman, Melandru
Vitality: Exuberance, Lich, Trooper (Soldier)
Condition: Adventurer, Aristocracy, Krait, Nightmare, Perplexity, Scavenging, Torment, Trapper, Undead
Healing: Dwayna, Grove, Monk, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Malice
Duration Bonus: Agony, Paralyzation, Smoldering, Venom
Chance on Hit: Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Earth, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Rage, Strength, Torment
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Benevolence, Bloodlust, Corruption, Life, Momentum
On Swap: Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Geomancy, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
This class will be useful anywhere that high healing support is required. It will certainly have a place in high level Fractals and Raids.

PvP Usefulness
This class will be a bit bizarre in PvP, but if played well may be the difference of your team wiping your winning a group fight. It will not be the greatest in 1v1 fights, but should be able to hold its own fairly well.

WvW Usefulness
This class will shine in Zerg fights and defending objectives due to being able to heal so well. Roaming may be a bit difficult, but if you’re with a small group you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.

Overall Opinion
I find the Druid a bit strange – yet slightly refreshing. It takes an interesting Hybrid approach to make it useful to the point where you’re not banging your head against a wall killing veteran level or higher creatures solo due to the lack of damage, but it can be done! I think this class will provide a very interesting dynamic in the upcoming content.

I’m doing a full review of each class’s Elite Specializations here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/All-Elite-Specializations-Analysis/first#post5574892

The following is my analysis of the Scrapper.

I’ll be covering the following things in this review…
01) General Descriptions
02) New Traits Analysis
03) New Weapon Analysis
04) New Skills Analysis
05) Gearing Options
06) Rune/Sigil Synergies
07) PvE Usefulness
08) PvP Usefulness
09) WvW Usefulness
10) Overall Opinion

Engineer – Scrapper

General Description
The Scrapper is a class that really re-defines how we look at Engineers. Many Engineers rely on their kits or turrets – along with many other combinations of skills and traits. This class is, along with the Mesmer, considered one of the more complex and difficult classes to learn. Interestingly, the Scrapper elite specialization actually makes the Engineer easier to figure out and play. The Scrapper is primarily a melee spec. The most notable feature of the Scrapper is its mobility and control skills available during combat making it a very agile and powerful addition to almost any team.

New Traits Analysis

Minor Traits
Function Gyro:
Grants access to Gyro Skills, the Hammer, and the Function Gyro interaction skill. — 30s ICD
The Function Gyro is a unique addition to the Scrapper. This allows you to rez players or finish enemies from a distance of up to 750 radius if you have them selected. Activation sends out a Function Gyro that can be destroyed and controlled so it’s not a 100% rez or kill.
Decisive Renown:
When you revive an ally or finish a foe you grant Superspeed and Might
to nearby allies. — 10s ICD
This is a very powerful utility with great synergy with the Function Gyro.
Impact Savant:
Outgoing Stun durations +25%. Incoming Stun durations -25%.
Just a simple trait that makes your life easier and their lives harder.

Adept Traits
Shocking Speed:
Leep/Blast Finishers in a Lightning Field applies Superspeed around you. — 10s ICD
Powerful synergy with other traits and skills along with great team utility.
Stabilization Core
When a Function Gyro is activated, you and the Gyro gain Stability.
Mostly useful in PvP or WvW for rezzing or finishing players.
Recovery Matrix:
Using your heal skill applies Protection.
Very useful for recovering health.

Master Traits
Rapid Regeneration:
Regenerate independent amounts of health if affected by Swiftness, Superspeed, or both.
Has amazing recovery potential.
Expert Examination:
Stunning or Dazing a foe applies Vulnerability and Weakness to them.
Fantastic way to mitigate their damage and increase yours.
Mass Momentum:
Gain Power based on Toughness and Might while you have Stability.
This good synergy in many ways, but the most common use will be with the trait Juggernaut.

Grandmaster Traits
Adaptive Armor:
Gain stacking toughness when struck. Reduce incoming condition damage
by 20%. — 1s ICD
Powerful tanking trait.
Final Salvo:
Gyros grant Superspeed and create Lightning Fields when destroyed.
Great way to maintain constant Lightning Field combos.
Perfectly Weighted:
Increase Hammer damage by 10%. Evading attacks grants Stability.
Typical DPS trait with a little utility.

New Weapon Analysis
The Scrapper gains access to the Hammer.

Auto-Attack
The attack chain will net you 2 stacks of Might and land 2 stacks of Vuln on your target. This chain’s attack speed is a bit slow.
Electro-Whirl — 6s ICD
Decent damage and creates a reflective field around you for 2 seconds.
Rocket Charge — 10s ICD
Amazingly powerful attack. Execute 3 Leap Finishers towards or around your target while Evading attacks.
Shock Shield — 20s ICD
Block attacks for 2 seconds while striking foes in front of you causing 10 stacks of Vuln.
Thunderclap — 24s ICD
Stun ground targeted area creating a Lightning Field and apply 1 stack of Vuln per pulse.

New Skills Analysis
The Scrapper gains access to Gyros. Tool Belt skills will be linked via ‘||’.

Medic Gyro — 30s ICD
Deploy a Medic Gyro to heal nearby allies.
Powerful healing without Healing Power, but scales very well with Healing Power.
||
Reconstruction Field — 25s ICD
Gain pulsing Protection for 5 pulses while creating a Water field.
Great synergy with many things in this class.

Bulwark Gyro — 30s ICD
Deploy a Bulwark Gyro to apply Watchful Eye to nearby allies.
Takes half of the incoming damage from all affected by Watchful Eye. This Gyro will likely die very quickly.
||
Defense Field — 25s ICD
Project a reflective dome around you for 5 seconds.
Great way to keep keep projectiles off you or to cover an ally.

Blast Gyro Tag — 25s ICD
Hurl a tracking dart for your Blast Gyro to seek out and detonate at.
Huge damage and causes KB on impact.
||
Bypass Coating — 30s ICD
Grant Superspeed to nearby allies.
Good run around skill.

Shredder Gyro — 30s ICD
Deploy a Shredder Gyro to WHIRL at target location.
This Gyro combos with a Field 24 times if the field is present for all 12 seconds.
||
Spare Capacitor — 24s ICD
Set down a Lightning Field at your location that causes Daze on the first pulse.
Great skill to use to start off a fight.

Purge Gyro — 30s ICD
Deploy a Purge Gyro to remove conditions on you and allies.
Good way to heal party cleanse condi’s.
||
Chemical Field — 25s ICD
Generate a Poison Field
Decent way to apply area Poison and Weakness.

Sneak Gyro — 30s ICD
Deploy a Sneak Gyro to stealth nearby allies.
This can apply perma-stealth for the duration of 30 seconds, but then goes on recharge. The Gyro itself does not and cannot be stealthed. This is fantastic for Thieves.
||
Detection Pulse — 20s ICD
Remove Stealth from enemies in a 900 radius.
Amazing way to combat stealth users.
~!~ BUG: Will sometimes not remove stealth. ~!~

NOTE: All Gyros have a flip skill that allows you to detonate them causing light damage or other traited effects to occur.

Gearing Options
The following are acceptable gearing types to consider for a Scrapper.

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Power: Berserker’s, Zealot’s, Soldier’s, Valkyrie
Precision: Rampager’s
Toughness: Knight’s, Settler’s
Vitality: Sentinel’s
Condition: Sinister, Carrion, Rabid, Dire
Healing: Cleric’s, Apothecary’s

Rune/Sigl Synergies

NOTE: These are types that can work depending on the overall goal of your build. They are not all equal as some are much better than others.

Superior Rune of (the)…
Power: Baelfire, Brawler, Fire, Flame Legion, Hoelbrak, Mesmer, Ogre, Pack, Strength
Precision: Eagle, Lyssa, Ranger, Theif
Toughness: Dolyak, Earth, Forgeman, Melandru, Mercy
Vitality: Exuberance
Condition: Aristocracy, Balthazar, Orr, Scavenging, Undead
Healing: Defender, Dwayna, Grove, Monk, Water

Superior Sigil of…
Attribute Bonus: Force
Duration Bonus: Debility, Paralyzation, Peril
Chance on Hit: Frailty, Water, Purity
Chance on Crit: Air, Blood, Fire, Generosity, Nullification, Rage, Strength
On Kill: Luck, Restoration, Speed, Benevolence, Bloodlust, Corruption, Cruelty, Life, Momentum, Perception
On Swap: (Must Use Kits) Battle, Cleansing, Doom, Leeching, Renewal

PvE Usefulness
Entirely useful. This class can now match the DPS of other Berserker speed run classes with decent sustain.

PvP Usefulness
Generally good all around.

WvW Usefulness
The Sneak Gyro will make zerging a very interesting experience for you .

Overall Opinion
I personally find the Scrapper very refreshing for the Engineer due to it now feeling a little more intuitive and fluid to play with. This has a lot of support, tanking, and damaging options making it rather versatile and giving it a fair amount of net worth in the community.