Guild Wars 2

This isn’t really true. Did they fix everything we wanted? No, but they did listen to some of our ideas.

1) Didn’t move renewing stamina
2) Redesigned soothing wave
3) Made windborne dagger work OOC
4) Moved blasting staff to adept
5) Allowed FGS to cast while moving
6) Buffed earth 5 point
7) Reduced CD on tempest defense
8) Moved conjurer to adept

If you switch food to curry butternut squash soup (Prec, Crit dmg) and utility to sharpening stone you will sacrifice 3% crit, bringing you down to exactly 50%, and gain 1 power and 10% crit dmg. With this change your could also switch either your assassin axe or dagger to valk and maintain the 50% crit and gain a bit more HP(I know ascended are expensive but you could if you want and/or have the cash).

While I admit I have only picked up the Necro recently, you may want to consider switching chilling darkness to weakening shroud or banshee’s wail. You only have two abilities which apply blind, well of darkness and plague, both on long cooldowns. While chilling darkness is a good trait, weakening shroud might be a bit better as your build seems to be fairly DS-centric.

I also agree with Zikory about swapping Vital Persistence to Near to Death. While my perspective also comes from T1 play, imo, in GW2 in general shorter CDs > longer durations. As such more frequent use of DS would probably be better than being able to stay in DS for a bit longer.

Final build might look something like:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fQAQNBmODbkRrSPTTUjfPhApYXqlIFDzxQ9ocQnPE-jUDB4fwoiBisAiABgIAO5RZN9RQsSqIasqFYKXAaXLq2eDwbATIgRjBA-w

The last factor is damage reduction which is a bit tricky as I don’t know how gw2skills calculated their damage values. I will assume the website does it how the game ui does it, using an armor value of 2600. 600 armor value would then be about a factor of ~23%.

=> Crit combo /w 50% dmg vs 2k armor
w/o AW =16,679 1.23 = 20,380 & /w AW = 22,8341.23 = 27,900
=> Crit combo /w 50% dmg vs 3.2k armor
w/o AW =16,679 .77 = 12,758 & /w AW = 22,834.77 = 17,466
=> Crit combo /w 80% dmg (Scholar + below 33% hp) vs 2k armor
w/o AW =19,993 1.23 = 24,456 & /w AW = 27,3701.23 = 33,481
=> Crit combo /w 80% dmg (Scholar + below 33% hp) vs 3.2k armor
w/o AW =19,993 .77 = 15,309 & /w AW = 27,370.77 = 20,959

I don’t know if protection is additive or multiplicative but it would be stronger if it’s additive so best case scenario you get something like:

=> Crit combo /w 50% dmg vs 2k armor + protection
w/o AW =16,679 (1.23-.33) = 15,011 & /w AW = 22,834(1.23-.33) = 20,551
=> Crit combo /w 50% dmg vs 3.2k armor + protection
w/o AW =16,679 (.77-.33) = 7,339 & /w AW = 22,834(.77-.33) = 10,047
=> Crit combo /w 80% dmg (Scholar + below 33% hp) vs 2k armor + protection
w/o AW =19,993 (1.23-.33) = 17,994 & /w AW = 27,370(1.23-.33) = 24,633
=> Crit combo /w 80% dmg (Scholar + below 33% hp) vs 3.2k armor + protection
w/o AW =19,993 (.77-.33) = 8797 & /w AW = 27,370(.77-.33) = 12,043

If you add in full might or vuln stacks the numbers just get more and more ridiculous. 25 might stacks increases base dmg about 30% and 24 more vuln stacks would increase dmg by 24%. Put those together and while over 90% hp with 25 might stacks you get the 4 attack combo hitting a target with 2k armor, sub 33%, 25 vuln stacks for more than 51k dmg every 24 seconds. Add lightning flash dmg to the combo and you add about 20% base dmg and it’s not really that unbelievable to hit 4 zero cast time attacks in 2-3 seconds.

Tl:dr 30% dmg might not feel like that much but if you make a build to abuse it, it adds up pretty quick especially when you add in crits, might stacks, bloodlust stacks, vunerability, etc.

While I like the idea behind allowing all attunement related bonuses to carry over they would have to limit the % damage bonuses or some pretty crazy burst builds would abuse them by doing something like:

Attunement shifting burster: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fEQQJArYhEmIblx5gjFAkCpEKQwoQHSGW4Q9QMA-jUyAYfhQCCCZBkKAk8KiGbxtIas6aMlLRUt9uIa1SBExYA-w

Notable aspects of the build:
10% dmg for fire and air attune
20% dmg for water attune + 1 vuln stack on target (1% dmg)
10% dmg within 600 range
11.5 sec attune cd, 16 sec Arcane blast (other utils for extra burst but honestly could be w/e)
20% dmg when target sub 33% hp
Scholar runes & force/fire sigil
Full ascended zerker gear with S/D – 113% crit dmg, 51% crit, ~2500 power w/o bloodlust (2700 /w bloodlust)

The burst: 1) Start in fire/water attune 2) swap to water/fire 3) Optional: Use some ability with less that 1.25 sec cast 3) Swap to air, trigger electric discharge 4) combo lightning strike & arcane blast (& arcane blast if you’re feeling saucy) 5) Pat yourself on the back, you just did about 20k-35k dmg (or downed pretty much anyone w/o 25k hp & 3k armor)

This burst is easy, non-telegraphed, and can be repeated every 16 seconds. There are a few variables: Scholar runes, 600 range, and 1 vuln stack on target. So its possible that one of your damage % boosters won’t be active but unlikely that all will be inactive. It is also fairly easy for all of them to be active, particularly in PvE but while less likely for all to be active in WvW it is still possible especially in a group setting. For WvW I would modify the build a bit; S/F and earth shield + FGS for survival while burst is on CD.

A bit of simple math to show that this combo can do obscene damage
Just pulling dmg from gw2skills (which factors in force sigil + 25 bloodlust stacks) & estimating ED base damage gives us:
ED ~ 1200, LS ~1450, AB ~1550, AW ~1550; total = 4200 w/o AW or 5750 /w AW

=> Add attune % dmg, 1 vuln stack on target, 600 range = 51% dmg increase
Total w/o AW = 4200*1.51 = 6342 & Total w/ AW = 5750*1.51 = 8682
=> Add all % dmg buffs = 80% dmg increase vs sub 33% hp target
Total w/o AW = 4200*1.81 = 7602 & Total w/ AW = 5750*1.81 = 10,407

Based on the 51% crit chance (71% /w fury) there is a 26% chance ED & LS crit w/o fury and 50% chance they both crit /w fury. Because of the cooldowns on attunement swaps the burst window is about 2-3 seconds long so fury will most likely be active for the whole combo. The tooltips say AB & AW crit so i’m going to assume that’s true although I feel like I have seen one or both not crit so for the sake of thoroughness I’ll add that the chance for 3 crits /w fury is 35% and 4 crits /w fury is 25%.

=> Add in crits for all attacks /w 50% dmg
Total w/o AW = 6342*(1.5+1.13) = 16,679 & Total /w AW = 8682*(1.5+1.13) = 22,834
=> Add in crits for all attacks /w 80% dmg increase vs sub 33% hp target
Total w/o AW = 7602*(1.5+1.13) = 19,993 & Total /w AW = 10,407*(1.5+1.13) = 27,370

I tried the new ZD build out last night in a small ops group and it worked quite well. I was surprised by how strong the burst healing could be. Conditions weren’t bad with the hoelbrak runes + lemongrass and smite conditions. Didn’t even have much trouble with conditions at a few zerg fights at Bay.

Moreover, I found MI to be great for our small group running around the ruins; it saved me when I got caught a few times, sometimes with hilarious results. Leap of Faith => Flashing Blade => MI on teammate is a lot of distance. I would distract the enemies allowing our group to disengage from a fight and, using this combo, I would still be able to escape myself. I also discovered that if you are at one of the ruins controlled by your server, MI will port you up to the cannon build site if there is no one else around; this saved me from a zerg invading NW ruins and left most of the zerg running in circles trying to find me.

The biggest downside to the build I found was the lack of swiftness. I would swap in staff when I knew I wasn’t going to get attacked but I didn’t want to run with it too much just in case I got jumped. Running with guild-mates mostly negated this but running back to the ruins after a death or running to reinforce Bay on my own was slow.

Overall it was quite fun for small ops and roaming. Might not be great for bigger groups but I’ll probably play it this weekend for our guild WvW night to see how it performs.

1. Sword 3, Staff 4, Hammer 5 → Able to cast while moving
2. Move either Purity, Strength in Numbers or Retributive armor to a different tier 1 tree
3. Torch 5 cleanses the guardian as well as allies
4. Mace attack range increased to match Sword (150 from 130 I believe)
5. Torch 4 activates Inner fire trait
6. Rework spirit weapons

Spirit Weapons suggestion:

Spirit weapons have no HP, are immune to all damage and follow the guardian.

Sword of Justice: Cooldown kitten , Duration 10s
Upon weapon skill activation, Sword of Justice attacks the guardian’s target once for Moderate damage (based on attack value). The sword will only attack the closest enemy hit. Sword of Justice will fail to attack if the guardian’s attack fails to damage an enemy. Retaliation damage from Sword of Justice’s attack will hit the guardian.
Command(Sword): Cooldown 3 seconds
Commands the Sword to explode in a 240 radius dealing damage and applying 5 stacks of vunerability for 5 seconds. This destroys the Sword.

Hammer of Wisdom: Cooldown 60s, Duration 5s
Upon weapon skill activation, Hammer of Wisdom attacks the guardian’s target once for Minor damage and applies 1 second of daze. The hammer will only attack the closest enemy hit. Hammer of Wisdom will fail to attack if the guardian’s attack fails to damage an enemy. Retaliation damage from Hammer of Wisdom’s attack will hit the guardian.
Command(Hammer): Cooldown 5s
Commands the Hammer to explode in a small radius dealing damage and knocking back enemies in the effected area. This destroys the Hammer.

Bow of Truth: Cooldown 60s, Duration 10s
Upon weapon skill activation, Bow of Truth heals the guardian (based on healing power). The bow will heal for an additional 10-25% depending on the number of enemies beyond the first hit. Bow of Truth will fail to heal the the guardian if the guardian’s attack fails to damage an enemy.
Command(Bow): Cooldown 5s
Commands the Bow to cleanse 2 conditions on the guardian and up to 4 allies in a 240 radius around the guardian. This destroys the Bow.

Shield of the Avenger: Cooldown 60s, Duration 5s
Upon weapon skill activation, Shield of the Avenger will block the next attack that would hit the guardian. Shield of the Avenger will not block an attack if the guardian’s attack fails to damage the target.
Command(Shield): Cooldown 3s
Commands the shield to create a ring of absorption around the guardian in a 120 radius. Ring will absorb all projectiles which enter it. This destroys the Shield.

The basic concept here is that successful attacks from the guardian will cause the spirit weapon to do something. The cooldowns, damage/heal amounts, and durations would be adjusted for balancing purposes. The weapon’s activation being conditional on an attack hitting allows for counter play. It also gives a risk/reward for using a fast single target attack vs an aoe or multi-hit attack. Fast single target = more procs; aoe = more chance of activation.

I toyed with the idea of having the hammer apply control conditions, ie chill/cripple/imob, but I decided that a daze/knockback was more hammer like.

Why fire’s embrace instead of ember’s might? If you can maintain burning then it seems like 5% damage would be better then 3 sec of fire shield every 30 seconds.

Started playing the build this week and I’m enjoying it a lot. One thing to note, however, is that Glyph of Elemental power does not give 100% uptime on the conditions; it gives “a chance to apply a condition based on your attunement.”

Name: Vilma Lucilia Espin
Profession: Guardian
Gear: Exotic Mixed Berserker/Knight/Soldier
Experience: Just story
Times: Around most weekdays in the evening
Other: Just lookin to learn the paths mostly, maybe pickup a cool skin or two from the tokens