Guild Wars 2

Unravel Hexes + fresh air + one with air? :I Take twist of fate too

Anyone Else find this trait really lacklustre? Pretty much every skill that stealths you gives you 3s baseline which means you have to wait for a long time to get one condi off of you.
If it was like, remove one or two damaging conditions upon leaving stealth I’d consider it.

Embolism.8106:

I think Self-Deception needs to be less stringent, say requires 1 illusion out and that’s it, no “exactly” bullcrap. I don’t think it needs to reduce Deception CD, rather Deception base CDs should be reduced given how lackluster most of them are.

I thought this was how Renewing Oasis worked to begin with. Granted I haven’t taken a close look at it. It feels lackluster either way however, and I note the tooltip does not include Poison… intended or just a tooltip bug?

Riddle of Sand shouldn’t be in the same tier as Self-Deception IMO. I’d move Self-Deception to Master if it was buffed.

I don’t think Anet wants Vigour to be procced on Mirage Cloak because that would be a mechanic that feeds itself. They’d want you to do something else to feed it, hence Vigour on Shatter. So I think Nomad’s Endurance is fine, though the Vigour duration could be longer and it could give a Power bonus too.

Shards of Glass‘s ICD is too long. I’d bring it down to 10s. 15s if they buff Mirage Mirrors to be worth our time.

Mirage Mantle‘s Protection is short. I’d extend it to 2.5s.

I agree with making Infinite Horizons a minor.

I don’t see much need to shake the rest of the GMs up that much. Since Infinite Horizons is a minor that would make Speed of Sand a major, and I’d buff it by making it extend Mirage Cloak duration by 33% and grant 2s of Superspeed.

My self deception was at least one illusion, so it’s what you want actually. Vigor on Mirage cloak feeding itself was the point, just though internal synergy was good since it basically means that that trait is you can dodge more often period

I was trying out the mirage and started chatting with a stranger about what felt wrong with the traits and what we’d like to see. Had some interesting ideas tossed around and ended up agreeing on a line that would look like this.

Minor Adept: Mirage Cloak
Gain Mirage Cloak instead of dodge rolling. Ambush skills become available for a short time whenever you gain Mirage Cloak. Gain access to Deception skills.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Adept 1: Self Deception
Deception skills have 20% reduced recharge.
Shattering a Mirage Mirror creates a clone of you have at least one illusion.
small buff since topping up clones isn’t really that appealing over Riddle of Sand

Adept 2: Renewing Oasis
Gain regeneration when mirage cloak is active.
Damaging conditions on you expire faster while under the effects of Regeneration.
Since you’re evading while regenerating, you likely won’t get hit with conditions which devalues that part of the trait. This change causes existing damaging condis to fall off faster while Regenerating so it’s more removal than reduction.

Adept 3: Riddle of Sand
When entering combat, your first Ambush skill applies confusion. This ability refreshes when you use a shatter skill. no changes.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Minor Master: Speed of Sand
Gain Superspeed and Vigor when you gain Mirage Cloak.
Superspeed mostly makes up for the lack of rolling so added Vigor for some effect that isn’t just giving back what was lost. Nomad’s Endurance was decent but the condi buff was a niche benefit on a baseline trait for an elite spec. The vigor access was kept as it synergises with the Mirage, but Speed of Sand was put here to free up a slot.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Master 1: Shards of Glkitten
tered Illusions have a chance of becoming Mirage Mirrors.
No changes.

Master 2: Mirage Mantle
Gain Protection when Mirage Cloak ends.
No changes.

Master 3: Mirrored Axes
Reduce recharge of axe skills. Axe skills generate an additional phantasmal axe.
No changes.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Minor Grandmaster: Infinite Horizon
When you gain Mirage Cloak, the trait is applied to all of your illusions.
This trait is very strong, so strong it outclassed other GMs. Mirage Cloak is there to make it harder to pinpoint the Mirage among their clones amongst other reason, but because it doesn’t apply to other clones, which isolates you still. Applying it to clones is something that feels right to be baseline so that Mirage Cloak is a full deception, and because you and your clones ambushing at once is so satisfying.
——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Grandmaster 1: Nomad’s Celerity
Gaining Mirage Cloak grants Quickness and alacrity.
To replace Infinite Horizon the guy I was talking with had this idea. It functions as sort of a buff to Infinite Celerity, letting you and your Illusions ambush quicker and letting your Phantasms benefit too. The alacrity on you helps too.

Grandmaster 2: Elusive Mind
Dodging breaks stun and creates a mirage that forms a Mirage Mirror after a delay.
With Renewing Oasis being a more reliable condi counter, this could be strong in another way, doubling up on dodging. There’s a delay before the mirror forms to prevent perma evasion.

Grandmaster 3: Shifting Sands
Shattering Grants Vigor. Vigor increases condition damage and ferocity.
Could be more interesting, but it preserves the extra vigor access while giving both power and condi builds a boost every time they shatter and gain cloak.

I actually really liked the concept of axe/torch scourge so I did a rework to axe that would make it a hybrid weapon. Basically added a chain the the auto where the first two are the normal aa and the third is a whirl finisher that applies torment to your target and does more damage/more torment to people below 50% health. Unholy Feast becomes a large cone based frontal cleave that strikes twice, crippling, tormenting, and converting a boon into torment with each hit. Also doing more damage to foes below 50% hp.

Barnabus Stinson.1409:

Minor Master

Shivers of Doom – Complete Change -When you apply Chill you also apply Vulnerbility (3), additionally gain increased Vulnerability duration on chilled foes – Fear isnt really commonly used enough to make this trait suer valuable as it is, I see what they were going but found it lackluster.

Spite already has a trait like this, minus the vulnerability duration. Also. I like the siphoning vitality idea on the greatsword.

Brujeria.7536:

All of the utilities really feel underwhelming. They just slapped a boon corrupt on all of them to make the traits work and to create some kind of connecting theme.

Yeah not really a fan of that decision. Skills that are perfectly fine and could be stronger in other ways have to have that boon corrupt into torment and cripple on them which kinda ruins the theme of the skill, or takes from its power budget in some cases. I’m ok with the Scourge being about corrupting boons into cripple and torment, but not on everything just cuz..

Just cuz I like theory-crafting, reimagining in-game stuff, and looking at peoples’ creations when they do the same, I wanted to make a thread where people like me can post their ideas. Necro’s one of the professions I really like getting imaginative with, so I’m looking forward to seeing how people reimagine some if it. So if you wanna rework a weapon, specialization, single trait, or utility skill, put it here with your thought process and as much detail as you want and we can have a little fun. Whether or not it’s balanced / practical doesn’t have to matter, I just wanna see some cool stuff. :p

I’ve always loved the theme of the necro’s axe, but never really found it satisfying to use. With the Scourge coming I’d love to be able to go axe / torch, so I’ve kinda tried to make it seem more fun to wield while fitting the Scourge, but preserving its identity.

Auto attack always got really dull and repetitive for me, so I added a chain to it. Now it’s got a 1-2, 1-2, 1 and 2 rhythm with a different animation at the end to break the usual slash slash. Same range as before.

1. Rending Claws
Slash your foe twice with ghostly claws, applying Vulnerability with each hit.

- Shredding Claws
Slash your foe twice again, applying Vulnerability with each hit.

- Ravaging Claws
Spin and slash your foe twice, applying Torment with each hit.
Deals more damage to foes below 50% hp.
____________________________________________________________________

Only thing I ever disliked about skill 2 was that the axe did all the work. For a skill so meaty I wanted an animation that made you feel more involved and like you were hashing away at the dude in front of you. Only change is the animation. The floaty axe stays, the necro just waves their arms, maybe swiping at the air in front of them with both arms back and forth, manipulating the axe to swipe rapidly back and forth.

2. Ghastly Claws
Unleash a flurry of spectral slashes against your foe, siphoning Life Force with each hit and dealing more damage per stack of Vulnerability they have.
____________________________________________________________________

Skill 3 is useful, I just wanted to get it to fit the ghost claw thing the axe has going on.
Still has the same range and is a wide frontal cleave that creates two phantom claw waves that strike all foes in front of you as they go out.

3. Spiteful Strike
Lash out at foes in front of you, striking them twice with spectral claws that Cripple, Torment, and corrupt a boon into Torment with each hit. Deals more damage to foes below 50% hp.
____________________________________________________________________
Whatcha think?

Wintermute.5408:

vicious.5683:

Wintermute.5408:

Please no. Deathly chill was a mess because it was incompatible with any other chill source. Then it was a mess because they turned it into weak-kitten bleed to fix previous mess. Now it is cancer because to fix previous mess they turned it into 3 bleeds, and suddenly stupidly standing in ice field hoping enemy doesn’t move or your ele won’t override it became a thing. kitten this. Leave damage to damaging condis.

They designed Deathly Chill to compensate necromancer for their stupid useless field combos.

Maybe. Point is, it was an example of non-damaging condition made into damaging one and failing miserably on the level of basic design.

If OP ideas are implemented, what will happen with application when stacks are at 25? Because chances are, somewhere in code it doesn’t count as application – only refresh. I don’ know for sure. But if it is this way, we will get another broken-ass trait.

Even if that’s the case I’m sure it would be possible to code it to proc in that situation too. Just have it read when vulnerability is attempting to be applied, check if the target has more than 10 vuln already, and apply torment if that’s the case. Ignore the next part if buggy was what you meant by broken, but if you meant that this trait would be too strong I wanna know why. A potential 6 stacks of Torment with no expertise for constantly applying Vuln to someone already above 10 doesn’t seem over the top to me.

Lily.1935:

No… I love Demonic lore as is. We don’t need to try and make a weapon designed for power into a condi weapon when we already have an amazing weapon for condi already. Also, Burning is far superior to Torment… Plus it has the 33% Damage bonus on torment as its passive effect. I Want this in my life…

I’m not trying to specifically make axe a condi weapon, but I’d love to take it with the Scourge just because I like it more with the scourge’s theme. Don’t really want to be poisoning people with my scourge so I don’t wanna be made to use a scepter or staff. I just figured that a trait that allowed torment application through more of necro’s already existing skills would be more broadly applicable as a condi boost trait. Current Demonic Lore is sexy, but I just didn’t like how it’s only gonna work reliably (normal boon corrupt into torment being unreliable) because of the new scourge stuff or if you’re wielding scepter.

Lahmia.2193:

See I’m dead against making weapons that are supposed to be one thing, into another. Take Greatsword for instance. Power weapon but it has become a condi weapon because of traits, which disgusts me more than afk engi turret farming. No thanks.

I’m into it cuz I wanna be able to create different fantasies/themes with my characters. Scourge is about burning and torment but necro’s other condi weapons are about bleeding/poison/chill which don’t fit as well. With a trait that allowed for more condi options like the one above, it opens up that window. You could take axe as a torment weapon that fits the scourge somewhat.

This is one trait I’d like to see expanded a little bit in its functionality. With the Scourge Necro’s getting a lot more access to Torment, but still in order to use this trait you’re either going to have to blow a utility/shade skill or use Scepter 3. It’s okay but honestly what I really wanted from Scourge was another ‘non damaging condi to damaging condi’ type trait to open up some more unconventional condi build options. My dream was actually something like this…

Demonic Lore

Applying Vulnerability over the stack threshold applies Torment.
Vulnerability Threshold: 10
Torment x 1 for 6 seconds
1s ICD

Suddenly, BAM, axe becomes a weapon you can go condi with and Necro gets some torment application outside of mostly Scourge skills.

The visual effects for Torch, Shade, and some Punishment skills all have like… bones floating around. I don’t know if other people are in love with it, but I find it unappealing in appearance and unfitting for someone playing with sand, demonic hullabaloo, life force, and fire to have bones of all things flying around whenever they so much as fart : / Sand, fire, and shadowy effects perhaps, but not bones.

Anyone else kinda wish they’d edit that part out?

The Mirage looks alright, but it doesn’t really feel like you’ve changed from a mesmer.
Like taking chronomancer made you feel like an entirely different breed with different powers. The Mirage still kinda feels like what the mesmer already is.

What really bugs me about the spec is the phantom bone effects on everything. Like, it just looks out of place for me for some sort of life force sand mage necrotic energy kinda mage to have bones floating around.

THEMATIC OVERLAP
- You end up with almost necessary thematic overlap, like how skills like Heat Sync and Swirling Winds trespass on Water’s domain of support. So when design betrays my first concern and, say, strays from Water’s dedication to healing, Regen, Vuln, and chill, they devalue another element. Then again of they stay within those criteria you get a dull selection of water skills and a restricted design space. There’s no winning.

ISOLATED TRAITLINES
- Since trait lines are largely tied to specific attunements and their strengths, you can run into situations like trying to build for support, and realizing that other trait lines are very limited in what they can offer to help you. Other professions’ specializations also lend themselves to a certain play style, and I’m not saying that there should be healing options in a line like Domination, but I find that Ele’s specs hold so tightly to their respective focuses that synergy is difficult. The synergies that are there, like the auto cleanse in fire, unfortunately run into thematic overlap. In this case with water’s cleansing and earth’s defensive nature.

UNFRIENDLY TO ADDITION
- Elite specs usually embody one of these core roles (DPS/SUPP/CONTROL/TANK) in some way, and try to give a class access to a niche they can’t currently fill. The Elementalist is so multifaceted it seems that any new spec will find their core role already filled in some manor. Not only that, but they will encounter the difficulties of designing a unique feeling weapon, utility, and trait line amongst the already decided parameters of what a certain element’s skills are expected to do. Whatever trait line that comes out will have to betray its core thematic (like tempest as a support) to cater to the fact that you can’t actually go full support, offense, etc. If you did it would render the elite spec useless in its ability to relate to your core mechanic. Plus you either run into more thematic overlap with every trait leaning in some way to the already existing strengths of an element and it’s spec, if not literally being related to it like Gale Song could have been an air trait. If you don’t include that though then it seems like a random mesh of passives, however synergetic, yet thematically independent they may be with existing traits/elements.

So you see the kind of identity crisis that the Elementalist’s restrictive thematics and mechanics create. You either stick within the core design philosophies of an Attunement and end up with similar weapons and ill-matching specs, also allowing very little new material to be added that can fit thematically, be unique, and work with the base class… Or you betray the core design of the class and end up with something that feels sloppy and out of place. So what can we do about it?

Please point out the shortcomings of my point here, but I’ve held a little observation about the design of the Elementalist as a class for a while now that causes some major problems when it comes to areas like building, weapons, and elite specs.

Below I’m listing the core philosophies of what Attunements are supposed to provide.

Fire = Heavy damage options, damage over time from burning.
Water = Supportive, and healing a abilities.
Earth = Damage over time, defensive abilities, and some CC.
Air = Single target damage, mobility, and CC

The Elementalist is designed around its class mechanic quite heavily. I’d be willing to make a point of saying that out of every class, they’re the most focused on their class mechanic. Unfortunately within my theory of the Elementalist they’re mechanic also hurts them in the ways I mentioned above.

TLDR: Attunements each embodying and providing the ele with one of the core combat philosophies of Damage, Support, CC, and Defense causes numerous issues.

SKILL DESIGN
- An attunement’s skills don’t explore the potential capabilities of that element (eg why can’t water drown you for major damage or fire heal you through some sort of Phoenix renewal?) without moving into the design philosophy of another element. The Elementalist has to attack with Fire/Water/Air/Earth/Arcane, and the properties what those can do seem decided, thus restricting what the Elementalist can do. The contrast would be a class like the Mesmer, where what exactly they do is fairly abstract, which allows for any number of effects to be able to fit comfortably in its thematic boundaries. As long as it’s tricky, it’s basically a go. Their domain is the mind. How much more abstract can you get?

WEAPON NICHES
- Since all ele weapons deliver on all of these philosophies in some way, weapon selection becomes less meaningful when building towards a certain niche. I.E. Unlike other classes, weapons don’t deliver on these niches, your attunements do. This means your weapons all have redundant capabilities, and are kind of forced to try to deliver uniqueness in other ways or by the methods in which they deliver damage/support/CC/defense. No weapon can be designed specifically around one of these ideals, and every weapon has to deliver on all of them. This constricts design space.

Ranger – Kill em wit Kindness
Ranger’s Pet Salamander Drake – Kindness.

I would love a Siren elite spec for the mesmer with terrestrial trident. Make use of some illusory water effects like the purple of the celestial form of glyph of the tides. Add a new “charm” condition/effect that makes people run towards you (daze + taunt). Maybe add traps to play around with charm, pulling people into them. The playstyle would be poke and control based at range, trying to get them to come closer where you turn up the pain. The whole theme would be based around toying with emotions.

Terrestrial trident as part of a Siren elite spec. Ranged. Aoe. Cc. Most of mesmer CC doesn’t come in big green circle form :/

1: Riptide
Cleave your foe twice from range, striking adjacent enemies and inflicting confusion. Inflict vulnerability as well to foes within the range threshold.

2: Phase Surf
Strike foes as you dash in the target direction, evading attacks and leaving a clone that casts Riptide. Reactivate immediately to send a clone dashing forwards instead while you remain behind.

3: Depths of Despair
Create a zone that damages and blinds foes inside. At the end of the effect, enemies still within the zone take additional damage and are immobilized. (Dark field)

4: Illusionary tidecaller
Create a phantasm that unleashes a stream that bounces between foes, applying torment.

5: Ebbing Affections
Release an Illusionary wave, dealing damage to enemies in a cone, crippling them. As the wave returns, enemies hit take damage and are charmed (mixture of taunt and daze, but enemies will always try to run into melee range.)

Get a nice set of trap utilities to go along with this so you can use charm to lure foes to their demise.

I’m playing around with the idea of a ‘Siren’ elite spec. Ranged terrestrial trident, sustained damage and aoe CC, new charm condition, and traps so you can lure foes to their doom. Cuz you know, none of our phantasms use that one trident skin.

Gimme a kitten set of giant snakes. Gimme a panda bear. Gimme a set of Wisp pets for Druids. Gimme a fox and have it appear in both the canine and feline sections. Finally, gimme a goldfish. Also I need a horse.

If Warriors can get a stat set as an elite spec, then I want a Cleric. Druid’s good at being right there with their team with a crap ton of burst healing when it’s needed. Revenant can do quite a bit of sustained healing, so long as they focus entirely on it. I would want Cleric to be a back line, HEAVY heal-over-time kinda class so that you can drop your HoTs and get to fighting from range with heavy burning abilities and party wide buffing without having to worry about how healthy your team is.

1. Send a star to your target to deal damage upon impact and to foes it hits along the way. The star then orbits the target, healing allies it passes through. The same target can have up to three stars orbiting them at any time.

This would be timed so that, under sustained fire, you could stack 3 and the 4th would hit just as the 1st wears off. This way you could always attack the same foe without wasting the orbit effect. I mean, unless you had quickness. I left the beam behind because I didn’t think it was as castery as I had envisioned the druid to be. As more stars are added to one target, they’ll update to be evenly spaced. 2 means they would be on opposite sides, 3 means they’d be spaced 120 degrees apart.

2. Summon a shower of stars on the target area, dealing lowish damage (maybe also a short burn that could stack to 3 max just from this skill) to enemies while healing and cleansing a condition from allies with each pulse.

Astral Wisp was essentially moved to 1, so something new had to be added here. Staff doesn’t really have any big, really powerful looking archemage type spells. It’s also lacking some good old traditional aoe damage, especially now that the continuous beam is gone.

3. Keep it the same. I think it’s basically perfect.

4. Almost the same. Immobilize bumped up a tad to 2 cuz it’s a little short. Now also applies 2s of Weakness. Loses the condition removal factor. I just don’t think that part makes sense, and now you have condi cleanse on 2.

5. Create a barrier that turns hostile projectiles that pass through it into healing orbs which travel a little further and then drop to the ground to be picked up by allies.

The issues with the current sublime conversion are as follows…
The healing projectiles are slow, and can be dodged accidentally simply by moving.
Being targeted while on full health, or just not in immediate need of healing can mean that the effects of this skill can be wasted completely.
Having the skill cause any projectile targeted at anyone to produce a healing pack that can be reliably picked up by anyone who actually needs it fixes these problems. It also makes wounded allies gather behind the wall so that you can Ancestral Grace up to it to blast it and give them an extra dose of heals.

They really need to add an option to the visual options menu that allows you to swap between ‘full’, ‘muted’, ‘adaptive’, and ‘personal.’ meaning skills appear as amazing as they are now (or were in the case of Chrono wells, fireball, and Dragon’s Maw), muted reducing the number of effects or size of the effects of any skills devs find flashy, adaptive swapping between the two based on the number of players currently in the area, and personal muting other players’ effects while leaving yours full.

Other than that, remove the weird light circles that happen whenever anything gets hit by anything and shrink the on hit particle effects of some skills on larger bosses where they sometimes get inflated to a ridiculous point.

… Same.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Bard-Elite-Spec-Concept/first#post5452140

This was my interpretation of the Bard from a while back.

Try taking Longbow with the Burning Arrows trait in Tactics, and both the Smash Brawler and King of Fires traits from Berserker. Enter Berserk mode and enjoy the carnage!

“Hello” – Adele, 2015.

and thanks for taking the time to look at my PvE nonsense build for the Chrono. Not saying it couldn’t be adapted for other game modes though.

I’ve been running this for a while and I’ve got to say it’s been pretty fun. With a fairly simple and malleable play style I’ve been loving the hell out of my chronomancer.

Highlights:

DPS: Constant 5% from sigils. Fury, Ferocity, and the mantra buff from Dueling. Phantasm DPS than usual because of bleeds and very frequent attacks. Crit enhanced Mind Wrack. The confusion from illusions and bleeding from Sharper Images has to count for something. Decent power and alright-ish crit chance, but no base ferocity. I’ve found it be pretty good for my purposes. Not too good at bursting foes down without exchanging a well for Calamity and then spamming everything with Continuum Split. Continuum Split.

Defense: Pretty hilarious evade and block uptime with distortion thrown in more often thanks to alacrity and the shatter redux from Illusions. 2 stun breaks, one being passive and can be used to escape if you’re ready for it. Projectile block and a personal projectile reflect. Pretty beefy star wise, little over 3000 armor rating and about 20,500 health. Mantras can be used as toughness boosters. 3 instant heals on a very low recharge. Resistance to slowing effects and near immunity to cripple. Continuum split can bring you back from the dead.

Support: Number of etherial fields. Projectile block for group. Near permanent aoe alacrity uptime. Some quickness application. Three words. Well of Precognition. Essentially permanent Swiftness for the entire party without doing anything. Can do everything twice though because CONTINUUM SPLIT!

Control: Numerous ways to apply slow and chilled. Aoe dazes and an aoe stun. Knock back on greatsword. Cripple here and there. Boon removal and a short immobilize on sword on a low cooldown. Banana Split.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRn0nB1oh1fC+fCUrhlVjqMCGhAoOZj2pFd6OjrD-TBTBwAbOCA7U/xoyDX7PkUJmCzBp0CwSHAKNBSeAgSQAnCA2m8AA-e

I have to say the best part of this build in my experience is how Echo of Memory is almost always up when you need it. Due to alacrity, Illusionist’s Celerity, Persistence of Memory, and Chronophantasma you can be in your bubble for a while. Permanent Alacrity without too much effort other than staying in melee range is fun too.

I’d love to hear about people trying this out and telling me how they found it!
Thanks for spending your time looking at this old thing.

Varezenem.2813:

When did they speed it up?

Not since release, I’m pretty sure it was in one of the last post BWE updates.

Shouting into the mists here hoping for a dev to respond, are you thinking of making more legends available for underwater use at some point? It’s kind of painful to be specced into a healer build and then getting thrown into the ocean. Every profession with weapon swap should have two underwater weapons and another one in addition to spear focusing on the combat specialties of Ventari, Jalis, and Glint would do well. Melee Trident? 0__o
I’m pretty sure a lot of players wouldn’t object to getting a bit more versatility beneath the waves.

These two traits should have good synergy, but don’t. I think the effects on healing and damage effects Equilibrium should be swapped around so that if you take both this and Shrouding Mists, the healing bonus while over 50% energy will apply to the healing pulse from Equilibrium for being over 50%. Anyone have any reasons why this shouldn’t be?

Anyone else noticing that since they sped up Project Tranquility’s travel time it appears a bit.. stuttery? Before it appeared as a smooth glide and now it looks like it’s doing a bunch of mini blinks. My fps is reliably sat around 63 so I don’t think that’s what’s causing it. Can anybody else share in this observation?

So I know quite a few people find this skill pretty clumsy to use, as I do. I have a little change that could make it a bit smoother while maintaining its purpose.

So the idea is a kind of ground sweep that sends out a cone-shaped mist wave. This wave effects either 5 or 3 depending in whichever one would be a bit more balanced and applies the 1/2s daze immediately. It would also only do the same damage as the first part of the current chain as a payoff for the on demand aoe daze. Enemies who have their skills interrupted are weakened for 3s.

I’d like it if every legend had 4 utility skill options like with normal utility slots and then another option for heals and elites.

So Ventari would always have the summon heal, but you could maybe have a choice between the existing heal sliding and healing in a very long line, and a tablet teleport that heals for slightly less but in an aoe. Then it could have a utility skill that causes daze along with the three existing ones. As for the elite, maybe something like Ventari’s Refuge that creates a pretty long lasting shelter type skill that just doesn’t heal allies and then the tablet goes away after the shelter duration’s up.

For those of you who didn’t know, the Seed of Life spawned by glyphs with the Verdant Etching trait does grant the Grace of the Lands buff. Enjoy adding even more flavor and potency to your glyphs!

I think that guards really need one, just not in this line. When enemies have to run up to you to do damage through all of your cripple and knockbacks, being fast for free seems a little overkilly. Maybe they could tack it on to Zeal as a bonus to the trait ZEALOT’S FRIKKIN SPEED? That’d make sense.

As for the recharge reductions, I disagree. Not sure if they changed it, or if the site’s just lying but Im pretty sure they already made these versions lower recharge to make up for the fact you can miss. That amd they buffed their numbers too. Spear burns for longer, Wings is over a 3k heal base, and Shield can block everything.

Dadnir.5038:

Don’t mind me but, isn’t this something ou already post here?

On another hand, I won’t criticize your idea, I already said that I like the idea of brands but not the idea of brand applied on ennemy due to the fact that it would be op as soon as you are not in 1v1 or totally useless because it wouldn’t stack and that would mean a waste of utility as soon as there is more than 1 “vindicator”.

Somehow, If I had to imagine a necromancer elite spec with a bow, I’d mock the ranger the same way druid mock the necromancer. It would be… hummm…

Name : Contractor
Weapon : Bow (short or long, I don’t give a ****)
Utility : Venom

Mechanism : The necromancer now have a permanent pet with him linked to the LF pool of the necromancer. This pet cannot be damaged but bonus from minion traits apply to him. In flesh realm, the pet do abysmal damage but proc venom. In shroud realm, the pet do large damage while the contractor mostly support it’s pet. Pet’s attribute depend of the necromancer’s attribute.
Added :
F2 : command to the contractor’s pet to attack the target
F3 : command to the contractor’s pet to stop attacking the target
F4 : stow pet (usable in combat)

Contractor’s shroud :

1. Life shot : Shot low damaging bolt of life force.
2. Shivering leap : command your pet to leap on targeted area, chilling foes in it.
3. Frigthening howl : command your pet to howl, fearing foes around him.
4. Black hole : command your pet to transform himself in a black hole, damaging foes in it and blocking projectile.

Venom :
Exemple :
Leeching venom : heal you and then grant you charges that siphon life and grant your pet charges that siphon life force.
Apostate venom : grant you charges that corrupt boon on the foe you hit and grant your pet charge that remove boon on foe it hit.

Weapon : Bow
(well a bow is a bow, just give it a minimum necro taste but make it a pure direct damage weapon)

Traits
Minor :
- Dark Contract : grant you the contractor goodies.
- Dark bond : your pet siphon LF whenever he hit
-

Poison line :
- Your bow skill have a chance to apply poison and recharge 20% faster.
- Whenever you apply poison, you siphon a small amount of life.
- Your poison do more 33% damage, Shroud 1 also apply poison.

Support line :
-
- While in shroud allies around you and your pet are periodically healed
- You share your venoms with up to 5 allies. Venoms recharge faster.

Conclusion :
Well… that just some random idea but I think it’s enough to gain the gist of it.

Yeah, I’ve already posted a less refined version of this here. Pretty much heard that it did way too much so I tried to limit it to condi control, a little mobility, countering defense, and making you likely to survive a burst.

Brands could have some issues yes. They’d have to be a sort of unremovable, stacking condi so multiple could be applied. That or a second application of the brand adds to its timer so you have more of a chance to get the kill bonus, which both you and other Vindicators that also applied it would get. The on-hit ones would also have to only be able to proc a certain number of times per person a second, and have an individual proc cap per second. So like… every person can proc the mark twice a second, but overall it could only apply its effects five times a second. That would allow few people to be effectively utilize their effects while limiting their strength in large groups. The main reason they’re an enemy targeted skill is to support, and create opportunities for coordination. Like, you’d single out some out of place foe with a mark above their head and everybody descends upon them.
Thank you for your feedback!

Elite Spec: The Vindicator

Edited version of the Intransigent for those who remember.

Singleminded and uncompromising, these necromancers have taken in upon themselves to preserve the cycle of life and death, hunting down and delivering swift finality to those who have run from eluded fate for too long. Channeling the power of reclaimed souls and other-worldly forces, they endlessly pursue their marks and deliver them to their final moments without hesitance. Some lives – however – end before their time, and the Vindicator works to preserve those lives until the rightful moment of their passing. Every life must inevitably reach its conclusion. Respect this truth, or you’ll surely meet such a necromancer.

The Vindicator has developed into a spec that challenges old customs. Bursty builds will have a difficult time killing him before he has the chance to strike back. Front-loading your whole combo usually results in wasted skills, a living necromancer, and a very vulnerable you. Glassy builds that rely on survival through stealth or blocking will find that the Vindicator simply doesn’t care about such attempts at cheating death, and will end them all the same. As a ranged spec with options for mobility as well as a number of slowing effects in addition to all of this, a Vindicator’s grip is nigh impossible to escape on your own. However, those out there looking to postpone their passing have a number of ways to do so. Mobility is key. If you can cleanse the movement impairing conditions a Vindicator will have a much harder time hitting you with their many skillshot abilities. Even more so if you have mobility skills accessible! While not always effective, projectile blocks can go a long way as well, and are one of the only active defenses that can still bother one of these guys. If dodging, blocking, and stealthing are out of the question, how do you survive? Actually. Build. Tanky. If you can survive a Vindicator’s initial burst, you’re set to finish them off without too much retaliation. The vindicator will have a much harder time killing you if you read their skills and have passive tankiness or a healer around to be able to easily out attrition them.

Just imagine everything’s balanced. …I really hope you have a good imagination.

New Shroud: Hunter’s Shroud

1. Looming Fate -
Strike your foe with an arrow right to their soul, dealing increased damage to and stealing Life Force based on how injured they are. Inherits traits from shroud 1.

2. Death Row -
Root yourself and release a piercing arrow in the target direction that deals massive damage to enemies it passes through after a brief channel. While winding up the attack, the air in the path of the projectile becomes deathly cold, warning foes of what’s to come and causing foes within the path to repeatedly take damage and become chilled.The projectile portion inherits traits from shroud 2.

3. Distant Dread -
Fire a slow-moving spectral bolt in the target direction that passes through foes, fearing them. Does not deal damage.

- chains to

Imminent Demise -
Teleport to the bolt’s location, destroying it to briefly immobilizing nearby foes upon arrival. Does not deal damage.

4. Ring of Respite -
Root yourself and beginning to channel, creating a zone that anchors allies’ souls to this world. The ring prevents allies at or below 10% of their maximum health – or Life Force for you while you’re in shroud – from taking further damage and grants those protected resistance. Gain Life Force when you or protected allies in the zone are struck. This skill inherits traits from shroud 4._

5. Harrowing Hunt -
Fire a thin spread of arrows in front of you that apply vulnerability to enemies they strike. Summon two menacing soul hounds if you successfully hit a target. Soul hounds sniff out life force, enabling them to locate and attack stealthed enemies Their attacks remove stealth from enemies.

New Weapon: Longbow – ranged skill-shot weapon that supports positioning.

1. Certain Death -
Let fly a spectral arrow that homes in on your target. Inflicting weakness.

2. Tragic Parting -
Phase a short distance away from your target and fire a bolt at them that knocks them back and cripples them. Gain Life Force if the arrow hits.

3. Pierce the Veil -
Fire a fast-moving arrow in the target direction that pierces foes, dealing damage to them. The arrow cuts a rift to the next world in its wake that blocks projectiles.

4 Last Breath -
Become a foreboding wind, evading attacks while traveling forth, lightly damaging and blinding enemies you pass through and applying vulnerability.

5. Relinquish -
Root yourself and spray a mass of soul infused projectiles in a long, narrow cone in the target direction. Each pulse deals unblockable damage to enemies, increasing the more damaged they are.

New Skill Type: Brands – Mark a target for a moderate duration, granting bonus effects upon a certain action from, or interaction with the marked target, and a much greater effect upon them going down state or dying. Mark VFX will appear above the head of a target.

+ Brand of Denial –
Mark an enemy and heal yourself. Killing or downing the marked target heals you further and grants you Resistance.

1.Brand of Anger -
Break stun and mark an enemy. The marked foe gains Torment every half second while moving or attacking. Killing or downing the marked foe burns foes around their location.

2.Brand of Bargaining -
Mark an enemy. Allies striking that foe transfer conditions to them. Killing or downing the marked target gives you a large amount of Life Force.

3.Brand of Depression -
Mark an enemy. Whenever the marked foe gains a boon, they suffer damage and gain chill. If the unit dies or is downed while marked, enemies around their location are dazed and chilled.

4.Brand Of Acceptance –
Mark an enemy. Allies who strike that target apply vulnerability. If the marked foe is killed or downed, allies around them take massive damage and are weakened.

! Brand of Certainty -
Mark an enemy. The marked foe cannot block, evade attacks or be healed while marked. Downing the marked foe or casting this skill on a downed enemy finishes them instantly and grants stability to allies who contributed to the kill.

Traits: mostly focuses on punishing foes that try to escape death and strengthening your capabilities against foes debilitated by these effects. Also aids in general damage dealing, and slightly in avoiding death before you have a chance to react.

Minors:

Macabre Duty -
Gain access to Hunter’s Shroud, the Longbow weapon type, and Brands.

Spiteful Sanction – longish ICD per target
Cripple and weaken foes that negate your attacks.

Sealed Fate –
Your attacks are unblockable against foes with movement hindering conditions.

Adepts:

Approaching Oblivion -
Brands recharge significantly faster if the marked target is downed or killed while it is active. Brands apply vulnerability when placed.

Inescapable Truth -
Cripple lasts longer. Apply Torment when striking a crippled foe.

Deterring Desperation – moderate ICD on stunbreak portion.
Gain Life Force when struck while below the health threshold. Gain Life Force when you break stun.

Masters:

Hunter’s Persistence – moderate – long ICD on hound summon.
Executing a projectile finisher summons a Soul Hound to fight for you and grants both you and your minions Fury. Lower recharge on Longbow skills.

Death’s Gaze – around 8s ICD/foe on both effects. Daze is like 3/4s.
Blind foes you strike while they’re above the health threshold. Foes that miss attacks due to blind you apply are dazed.

Extended Inevitability – 1/2s extend on 1s ICD/target
Striking a foe with an immobilizing condition extends the duration of conditions currently on them.

Grand Masters:

Delaying the Inevitable – Long ICD on ring. Lowish LF and healing value on crits.
When CCd while below the health threshold, break stun and cast Ring of Respite.
Critical hits while in shroud grant you life force and heal you.

Entangling Fate -
Unblockable attacks deal increased damage. Spiteful Sanction now Immobilizes foes below the health threshold instead of crippling them.

Final Pursuit – Balanced endurance siphoning (3/hit?). No ICD on condi cleanse.
Siphon Endurance from weakened targets when you strike them. Dodging removes cripple and chill from you.

Remember when the protection part of this was on a 10 second ICD? It’s tied in with the taunt now, but did they raise the prot ICD to 45 or is it still 10 and the taunt part 45?

Anyone know if this trait works when you grant yourself a boon? Is it just for when you grant other characters boons? Just checking cuz I wanna know if sigils of strength could be a good choice.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAseRn0nB1ohtfC+fCUrhlVjqMCGhAoOZj2pFd6OjrD-TBTBwAbOCA7U/xoyDX7PkUJmCzBp0CwSHAKNBSeAgSQAnCA2m8AA-e

Of tank bruiser build. Enjoy literally no recharge on your block. Alacrity uptime and shatter utility is nice too. Not to mention pretty ridiculous access to CC.

I think we all just need to appreciate how kitten wranglingly beautiful the VFX for mesmer are. Like… Distortion plus master of fragmentation? Tides of Time? Portal? Literally any well? The shardy gloriousness of a Blink and other Mesmerports? Makes me squee every time I press a button.

Kodama.6453:

Why is it called adamant? I see the idea is a “invincible” theme but I don’t think this name is fitting for a necromancer spec (would fit better to elementalist). Maybe there should be a name which is focusing more on the spirit aspect.

And I think you want too many things at the same time. You want to grant many boons to the party, you want to heal, you want to deal spike damage, you want to stunlock….. actually, there isn’t a single thing in this game you don’t want to do with this spec.

Just look at some skills. The 3rd skill of your longbow is dealing damage, healing, dazing, ripping boons and blocking projectiles. That is waaaaaay too much.

And I don’t think there should be so many traits for critical chance. Necromancer and Reaper already are pretty independant of precision, why should we do another one of this?

Dictionary.com defines Adamant as “Utterly unyielding in attitude or opinion in spite of all appeals.” I tried to use it as kind of a description of the spec’s nature. Adamants would hunt down their targets until their purpose is fulfilled, ignoring any hits they may take and begging on the part of the _de_parted. Unless you didn’t catch it, the main theme of the spec’s about the certainty and finality of death. This was just kind on what I found to describe it.

As for doing to much, yeah. It does. Unfortunately, a lot of things fall under the roles I was trying to portray – delivering and preventing death. Mainly it should be good at burst and not at sustain, countering opponents’ defensive measures, mobility, and simply preventing allies from getting that last little sliver of health removed. Maybe not so much healing, but I’m not letting go of Ring of Respite Perhaps it would fit better if it only healed people who got down to 10%?

I’ll do something with the longbow skills and maybe try to make the on crit traits more of an unblockable line. What about Brands? Did those appeal to you? I think they fit pretty well with the theme, mostly countering either death or defensive measures and giving the feeling of hunting a target down. Some could use some changes to be less ridiculous, but do you feel they fit their purpose?

Here’s just a little something I whipped to pass the time until the Reaper
(and Hot I guess) finally launch. Left out specifics, just imagine everything’s balanced.
If any of my descriptions are confusing, be sure to tell me so I can sort them out! I’d love to get some feedback on my little love-child!

Elite Spec: The Adamant

Some necromancers have taken in upon themselves to preserve the cycle of life and death, hunting down and delivering a swift end to those who run from or have eluded death. They channel the power of reclaimed souls and other-worldly force to bring enemies to their final moments and preserve those lives of allies not yet meant to end. Every life must inevitably reach its conclusion. Respect this fact, or you’ll meet such a necromancer.

New Shroud: Hunter’s Shroud, get a fricking ghostly crossbow!

1. Looming Fate
Shoot accumulated life essence at a foe, dealing damage and inflicting slow.

2. Death Row
Fire a piercing projectile that chills foes and pulls them into its wake. Gain Life Force per enemy affected.

3. Foreboding Apparition
Teleport to the target area, fearing foes when you arrive and granting allies Resistance.

4. Reclaim
Root yourself to Initially cripple and drain Life Force from foes in the target direction in the form of piercing projectiles that damage enemies they pass through on their way to you. Gain access to Relinquish if you affect at least one enemy with every pulse.

4- Relinquish
Let loose your reclaimed life force to vault in the target location, evading attacks and firing healing bolts at allies and damaging bolts at enemies while airborne.

5. Ring of Respite
Create a zone at the target location in that prevents allies taking further damage beyond 10% of their maximum health. Allies within are healed when the zone expires.

New Weapon: Longbow, Do you like skillshots?

1. Approaching Oblivion
Fire a spirit arrow at your target, dealing increased damage and applying Vulnerability to foes who suffer from immobilizing or stunning effects.

2. Abandon all Hope
Become intangible, evading attacks while leaping in the target direction. Fire a slew unblockable, piercing bolts at your target while vaulting that steal life force.

3. Pierce the Veil
Let fly a spectral arrow that passes through foes, dealing damage and leaving a window between this world and the next in its wake. Enemies passing through the veil are dazed and have boons removed while allies that cross through it are healed. The wall also blocks hostile projectiles.

4 Last Breath
Become a spectre and pass to the target area, chilling, damaging, and weakening enemies you touch on the way. Heal allies in an area upon arrival.

5. Sorrowful Parting
Fire a volley of arrows that hail down on the target area after a brief delay, rending enemies and applying vulnerability per pulse. The final wave of arrows deals increased damage, immobilizes, and fears foes.

Skill Type: Brands
Mark a target for a moderate duration (10 seconds?) granting bonus effects upon a certain action or interaction with the marked target, and a much greater effect upon them going down or dying. Specialize in turning foes’ defenses upon them and helping allies deal and avoid death. Short ICD limitation on some mark effects; you can probably guess which ones need it. The death effect is procced and the mark removed upon the target entering downed state unless the brand was placed while the target was downed, in which case the effect will occur upon the unit’s actual death.

Brand of Denial – heal
Mark yourself or an ally for a limited time. Marked gain regeneration and retaliation and are healed for a portion of the damage and healing you do. If a marked dies while under its effect, they are revived.

Brand of Anger -
Break stun and mark an enemy for a limited time. Your critical hits against this target inflict cripple and grant you Fury. Your marked target is blinded when they land a critical hit. If a marked unit dies, enemies around their location are taunted towards nothing.

Brand of Bargaining -
Mark yourself or an ally for a limited time. Whenever the marked unit attacks an enemy, they transfer a condition to a foe and take one of their boons. This only occurs if both are present. If the marked unit dies while under its effect, their boons will be copied to nearby allies.

Brand of Depression -
Mark an enemy for a limited time. The marked enemy gains torment while moving and gains chill and suffers damage when they gain a boon. If the unit dies while marked, enemies around their location are dazed and lose boons.

Brand Of Acceptance –
Mark an enemy for a limited time. If that enemy blocks or evades an attack while marked they become immobilized and weakened. If the enemy dies while marked, nearby enemies take damage and are inflicted with vulnerability.

Brand of Certainty – elite
Mark an enemy for a limited time. Allies that strike this target gain might. The marked enemy cannot be healed and cannot block attacks. Killing the marked target will finish them immediately and heal allies who contributed to the kill.

Traits: focus on countering defense, prolonging the lives of allies, and chasing down foes and ending them with impactful crits.

Minors:

Morbid Purpose -
Gain access to Hunter’s Shroud, the Longbow weapon type, and Brands.

Means to an End -
Gain critical damage based on your Life Force percentage. Critical hits reap Life Force from enemies below the health threshold.

Deathly Duty -
You have a higher chance to critically hit foes below the health threshold.
When you gain Life Force, heal yourself for a percentage of the amount gained.

Adepts

Inescapable Fate – ICD = recharge of Brand
Cast Brand of Acceptance when striking a foe that is currently blocking or evading. Brands have substantially reduced recharges if the branded unit dies while under its effect. Additionally, activating a Brand skill grants you resistance.

Delaying the Inevitable – moderate ICD on protection application
Protection you apply has increased effectiveness on low health allies. Grant protection to allies around you when struck below the health threshold.

Harrowing Hunt – short ICD
Critically hitting a foe grants you swiftness and reveals them.

Masters

Piercing Realization -
Applying vulnerability extends the duration of all vulnerability currently on a foe.
Conditions you apply to vulnerable targets have their durations increased per every stack of vulnerability on your foe.

United in Death – short ICD
Killing an enemy heals and grants vigor to allies who contributed to the kill.

Swift Resolution -
Longbow skills have a higher crit chance versus disabled enemies. Reduced recharge on Longbow skills. Abandon all Hope is refreshed when you kill an enemy.

Grandmasters

Undeniable Action -
Hunter’s Shroud skills are unblockable. Increased outgoing healing based on your current Life Force percentage

Preserved Balance – longish, separate ICDs for each effect
Striking a downed enemy pulls them to you and grants you Stability. Break stun for allies and grant them resistance when you are downed.

Closing In – short ICD
Critical hits transfer movement impending conditions to your target. Apply torment when a condition is transferred in this way.

Do what a lot of other people on this thread are doing – unlock all the elite spec stuff for the characters I have at 80, examine any unstated changes and edit my builds accordingly, and buy the necessary gear now that I know changes won’t be coming for a while. Then I just level up elite spec destined characters for the professions I don’t yet have at that point and repeat the process.

In the stream didn’t Irenio say that they were likely going to be adding something to this skill? Did that get scrapped or was it one of the less concrete changes maybe happening, maybe not happening and so was not mentioned in the post BWE3 list? I’d really like to hear about any plans for this skill and about any further changes that have happened to the Druid since like… yesterday. Honestly a post on Wednesday or Thursday next week would be fine.

EDIT: watching it again, wasn’t Tidal Surge also going to get something added? I mean… The whole CA was kinda made less accessible with the cooldown and so far it’s also had its daze duration nerfed for the purposes of one trait. I’d like to see that power added back somewhere.

eldenbri.1059:

I play in very low tier and only play a couple matches per day (think I’m rank 25 or so). So feel free to ignore all the rest of this

This is the condi build I’m playing right now. In matches that my team wins, it’s pretty frequent that I see “highest condition damage” noted for me. There could be lots of causes like bad opponents.

I find that I’m too slow killing one on one with this build in most fights, but it feels like I can help turn the tide in bigger fights.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNArfWlknhy0YFawQNwtGLAH05I+QpNTQoDAaqv4KA-TJRHwAQLDIc/hAnCAAPBAA

We have similar builds, my friend! I just take The Pledge over PoM since it reduces the phantasm recharge anyways and also makes the beautiful prestige come up quicker. I also take the Signet of Inspiration on phantasm summon over the IDefender to cast in stealth and share the sweet PU boons. Ineptitude is nice, but I’ve always had a bit of internal conflict about picking it over the scepter trait. I mean… what applies more condi damage, faster torment stacking from auto and a lower recharge on block and Confuse Ray, or 2 more stacks of confusion?

New Grace of the land is pretty amazing and caters to what many have been asking for for Druid. My only issue is that it should possibly just grant might instead. In it’s current state I think it’ll be found too strong and end up being a must pick for Druids. Might application still fits the empowerment role, but does so in a way that’s limited by boon stacking, and can be countered with boon hate. It also has far better synergy with the boon duration from Nature Magic.

New Lingering Light is very nice, more reliable healing application and a blind at the cost of less AF generation. ICD will decide if this will shine or fade away though.

Ancestral Grace changes are very graceful. Looking forward to any other staff changes! Especially the animations!

Like the new CF changes. Tell me though, does seed of life still look bleh? What happened to the offensive addition to 4?

Glyph of Alignment seemed to loom pretty Autumny before. It was all orange leaves and woody spikes. Weakness and cripple seem perfect conditions to match those wilting visuals. Now the poison application makes me have to think about this effect being toxic. In its current state -visually- I’d prefer to keep it as a decent aoe damage and control spell instead of a condition damage one. We have traps for that.

One other skill I think could use some work visually is Sublime Conversion. The wall looks nice, but the flowery bush below looks like plastic. The mushrooms from Glyph of Alignment in CF could look nice in a line here. Instead of a fairy ring it’s like a fairy line. What happened to the unique effects we say in the livestream? Projectiles shot through the wall turned in to blue glowing arrow where they’re now just water.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Wisp-Pet-Type/first#post5537229

._.

Thanks so much for getting these up. If you’re still around I would love to know if the new Lingering Light has a visual effect to allow you and allies to see that it’s active. Also, do you have an ICD for this trait to give? It has to have an ICD. Perhaps 8 seconds per target? Anyways… everything looks pretty sexy. Except for Seed of Life, I mean. It still looks like a pimple. Speaking of which, does the seed from Verdant Etchings proc the new Grace of the Land trait since it’s technically a CF skill? Cuz that would be amazing synergy.