Showing Posts For Heller Highwater.4967:
Allow me to echo Smid’s sentiments: thanks to everyone on GoM who fought alongside us! I know there were a few of you that always seemed to have my back on our home BL this last week in particular. Thanks and good luck!
Yeah, you’re coming to a lot of the same conclusions I am. :-)
I tend not to worry -too- much about perma-stealth (although obviously more stealth uptime is good), because with full Nomad’s I’m pretty tanky, although it does make things a bit tricky at times. Occasionally it does become necessary to lead the enemies on a bit of a wild goose chase for a bit in order to let things come off cooldown. That said, SB 5 and BP/HS (especially double HS) can do a pretty good job of keeping you a few steps ahead of your pursuers.
To anyone else reading this: if you still think a combat medic sounds fun, I -absolutely- encourage you to give it a whirl. I maintain it’s the most fun build I’ve ever played in GW2 (and I’ve gotten every class to 80 at least once), and probably the most fun build I’ve played in any MMO.
If you do want to give it a try, I recommend heading to one of the forts in the Silverwastes and just trying to get/keep people up as much as possible, both players and NPCs. It makes for some surprisingly good practice, and is actually how I learned the ropes before hopping into WvW as a medic.
Shortbow is all about the mobility. It lets me get in to a patient quickly, or out just as fast if things go bad. It’s also my biggest source of damage, although the phrase “hits like a wet noodle” would be rather appropriate. I rarely do SB blasts for stealth/condi cleanse, although it does see a lot of use on water fields (especially my own; recall that Avatar of Melandru’s 4-skill drops a water field).
Shadowstep is used mostly for stunbreaks and mobility (in the same way as the shortbow). I trust in my cleanse on stealth to take care of most conditions, or sometimes I just rely on the innate tankiness of a medic build to power through them. The one big exception is that I will use it to break an immob. if my escape is starting to look suspect.
Descent into Shadows is all about the stealth. If you check Noble Soul’s videos, you’ll see him run up stairs and then jump off a -lot-, especially when he’s at inner Bay. It’s a great technique for misleading and confusing the enemy.
With regards to Smoke Screen, yes it’s a smoke field, but as I mentioned earlier, my own play style doesn’t use many smoke blasts for stealth. Plus, BP is an absolutely fantastic tool for finishing a rez. Dropping it as soon as you finish getting someone up gives them a precious few seconds to get back to friendly forces, and lets you get away to go after your next patient.
Kageseigi.2150Just wondering… with Shadow Protector supposedly stacking with no cooldown, will that make Shadow’s Rejuvenation less of a necessity?
It’s hard to say at the moment, honestly. While the build I run does have Shadow’s Rejuvenation currently, Assassin’s Reward in Acrobatics also helps with to keep the health up. Certainly, Shadow Protector not having an ICD would help, but I think it’s too early to call for me at least, until I see everything in practice.
As far as a link, I know there’s something on metabattle, but I prefer Noble Soul’s Guardian Angel setup. The video description also links to the actual build.
A couple of general comments: Pumpkin Oil is a fantastic food item, rather than sharpening stones. Also yes, Avatar of Melandru is amazing as an elite. The stability and extra HP (not to mention the water field from the 4-skill) can be an absolute lifesaver, especially when standing in Shadow Refuge in the middle of a dozen enemies. :-D
Yeah, SoS seems to be brimming with medics. (I’m on SoS, too; watching Noble Soul in action is what spurred me to build my thief that way.) I know I’ve been in a healing party 3 or even 4 deep, and it was completely awesome.
I’ve never run a ninja nurse build, but from what I see, you’ve got…
[snip]
True, but we now have to take the condi-cleanse over the 20% CDR on deceptions (which can make a difference). Also, if I want Shadow’s Rejuvenation, I can’t take Cloaked in Shadows. While this seems pretty silly on its face, in practice intentionally taking fall damage to gain stealth is a pretty important part of how I play if I’m in the middle of a hostile zerg. It’s one of the first things I learned from watching Noble Soul’s gameplay videos (as mentioned by the OP).
Kury.8210Questions on future Merciful Ambush: Anyone know if the entire 3 seconds of stealth is applied immediately, or if it halts when no longer reviving? Also, is there an internal cool down on it?
I don’t know about the future version, but the current version gives the stealth even if you stop rezzing. I sometimes trigger this intentionally. The downside is that it also means that an unwary revive-ee can give themselves Revealed if they attack a target.
Relatively new, so question about reviving dead (not downed) players. Can they be stealthed? Can they get the regen buff? Would the 10% faster reviving apply (or only when reviving “downed” players)?
Dead (“Defeated”) players can’t be stealthed or given buffs, but they can be revived faster (currently, from Mercy Runes), since AFAIK that effect applies to me doing the razzing, not the person being rezzed.
First things first: combat medic is an absolute blast to run. (I use Noble Soul’s Guardian Angel build, personally.)
That said, I think there’s gonna’ be some challenges for us medics with the upcoming changes. Some of the key traits are being moved around in ways that are going to force some tough choices about which one to take, for example. That’s without even considering the changes to other classes (like the engie reveal).
Still, I’m sure there’ll be ways to adapt. We’ll still all be out there, healing from the shadows one way or another. :-D
I play a full nomad medic thief in WvW right now, and honestly it’s the most fun build I’ve ever tried in an MMO for any class or role, as far as I’m concerned. It’s surprisingly effective at getting the dead back on their feet and back into the battle; you do have to be very much on the ball, though, to do it in the middle of a 25-man zerg. Trust me, you never really get a feeling of uselessness. (I don’t at least.)
I’m still trying to figure out how the HoT changes will alter the build I use; there’ll be some buffs, I think, as well as some nerfs, so it remains to be seen how it’ll all play out.