Guild Wars 2

Buran.3796:

Unwavering Avoidance isn’t a reliable source of stability: you can’t get stability if you don’t evade an attack and is particulary useless when you need to finish a downed enemy.

Just move the tablet for blind if you want to safe stomp.

Buran.3796:

Is also one of the reasons I usually don’t try to stomp with Revs, going always for straight cleave damage against downeds.

I agree, I think cleaving is still a good idea with mender’s or sages because you can spam healing for anyone that expects rev to normally do that

you could also build for roaming, its super easy to build 100% crit with invocation and you have really good mobility with shiro.

Buran.3796:

The build (the class) lacks any reliable access to stability, so… what’s the point?

Rev has 70% uptime on stab, on an 8s CD. And like messiah said, being CC’d means nothing to ventari.

Buran.3796:

There’s classes as Tempest with so much access to stability

Um, what?

Buran.3796:

damage reduction, AoE cleansing and healing

Ventari/Mallyx is superior to ele and guard at all three of those.

Since legend swap procs weapon sigils it’s a waste to use two of the same kind on different weps on rev. My thought process for int was for a quick sword 2 on 1 target but I’m not hard set on any of them besides the staff set really, I’ve also tried purity + generosity to aim for more condi clear but I don’t think there’s any really best option there for rev :/
Hydromancy would definitely be an improvement over int though

So with the last patch to ventari, I’ve been playing a bunker rev that has been just tons of fun and very effective so far, usually with 300k healing min up to 7-800k depending on time spent bunkering solo vs. teamfights.

The main problem I’ve had (and I’m sure you guys have had) trying to build a successful sustainable rev was dealing with condi pressure, but I think I’ve mostly found the solution: mallyx over glint + revenant runes.

Give up infuse light, you say? I can hear the scoffing, but 3s of invuln is only so great when combined with more active defense (shiro, OH sword) and a playstyle revolving around blowing up +1 teamfights as quickly as possible. Glint is pretty much useless for a bunker beyond that heal anyway (as ventari has lots of protection too), and jalis is still only useful for…. anything but pvp.

So here’s the build
Besides the strong healing output, the main strengths of this build are AOE prot, blind spam, and ~30% resistance uptime (yes, in the centaur stance) from Bolster Fortifications, Blinding Truths, and the rune choice. From these traits alone you can pretty much ignore any single melee opponent. Keep in mind these procs are centered on you and not the tablet. I find Eluding Nullification to be pretty kittenty, as immob prevents you from dodging to proc the cleanse and wasting a dodge isn’t a very convenient way to try to cleanse. Going with the staff trait makes up for the lack of boons from glint too. Natural Abundance is preferable to the other GMs as the medkit basically doubles the heal from Ventari’s Will and affects yourself as well.
Manipulating the tablet is a bit wonky at first, but with a little practice it is pretty straightforward and the range it has is phenomenal; I recommend action camera to help you aim it though.

The most underrated and fun aspect of the stance as a whole is the elite; a moderate energy cost (the same as Pain Absorption, to be exact) AOE knockback that drops 5(!!) medkits. Since the change to the cost of Project Tranquility and Ventari’s Will, it’s quite spammable; after a few seconds of combat you can use it 2-3 times in a row at 900 range, making this build an incredible decapper (not to mention the healing it drops).
Over-relying on the projectile hate and cleanse skills can drain your energy very fast, but the light field buff does give you some better combo options (e.g. you can hit Solace right before Energy Expulsion for a free AOE cleanse now).

When low on energy or facing heavy condition pressure/enemy boon spam, swap to mallyx. Pain Absorption will make you a god to your squishier teammates so you should try to save your energy and Facet of Nature uptime for it. Sure, Banish Enchantment does kitten damage but try not to snicker as you delete a guard’s stab or war’s res to help melt them in a teamfight. The rest of the mallyx utilities are pretty medicore; the heal synergizes well with a bunker though, and the leap gives you great mobility (especially OOC) and soft CC. If you have nothing better to do than to dps someone (a downed target? idk) the elite can help you there.

I’ve also tried to make this work with condi using sage amulet + mace over sword, but it was not so hot. Most of the ventari healing coefficients are mediocre and the strength of your heals come from quantity more than quality, so the HP loss isn’t bad at all but trading the sword 3 evade for the range of mace 3 just is not worth the drop in your already low damage. Swapping retribution to corruption and using torment runes or the like really just gimps your ability to bunker as well. I guess a condi bunker build is too much to ask for, huh..

I hope you guys give this spec a shot or improve on my ideas, it is by far the most fun bunker I’ve ever used in the game. I’m not saying it’s plat viable, but I enjoy it more than other rev builds. Maybe my success is just due to the bearbow-tier offseason pvp crowd though. :p