Guild Wars 2

Yes, the roll at the end makes up the extra distance on ground but not in the air. However it used to do it in the air too. The roll came right after the leap even mid air, but now there is a delay in between the two animations which completely stops you and then the roll doesn’t throw you much farther like it used to.

Both engineer leap skills, Acid Bomb and Rocket Boots, have drastically lost leaping distance in comparison to other professions’ leaping skills which I believe must’ve happened unintentionally.

This video shows exactly what I mean: https://streamable.com/m79n
And yes, this jump used to be possible with either engineer skill and if I remember correctly even without any swiftness. (When movement skills were still affected by swiftness)

Surely, Rocket Boots should take you farther than a Leap of Faith (Guardian greatsword), right?

I know this change doesn’t have any implications on balance and maybe that’s why no one has noticed or cared about it. But it does take away a great deal of fun for players like me who love to mess around with movement.

Just trying and hoping to get anyone to notice and do something about this..

Xyonon.3987:

You should face forward with rocket boots, not down, that’ll remove the break in mid air Or even better, just don’t hold your right mouse button after you’ve chosen the direction, tab left right on keys, wich adjusts the character targeting to be faced straight forward and then jump.

Getting really close with the right camera angle, it makes a big difference. But it’s still not enough.
For acid bomb, the angle doesn’t affect it at all.

Anet can’t seriously think it would be fair that a greatsword guardian can leap farther than an engy with rocket boots. But apparently noone there gives a crap about movement mechanics anymore =(

It seems like both, Acid Bomb and Rocket Boots have been changed. Perhaps unintentionally.

Here’s a video to show what I’m talking about: https://streamable.com/m79n

This jump used to be easily possible with both skills, even after the patch when they made swiftness not affect leaps anymore. So I’m not sure when these skills got messed up or what exactly happened.

It’s not a huge deal for most people and certainly not at all in ‘normal’ gameplay, however I see this trend of interesting movement mechanics getting deleted from the game.

- It all started with the blink mechanic changes that no longer allowed targeting blinks to places without a valid path.
While this is an improvement for most blink skills, it also removed interesting/fun mechanics for Infiltrator’s Arrow and Flesh Wurm. This along with the Spectral Walk change that no longer allowed it to be cast mid-air, completely removed my favorite thing to do in the game. See a video here.

- Then they changed leap skills to not be affected by swiftness, super speed, cripple or chill anymore. This time actually a balance change. I don’t agree with it but at least this time there’s been a clear reasoning provided by the devs. I remember this one caused quite a little bit of an uproar but a week later it was forgotten.

- Finally, they changed Ride the Lightning to no longer be castable mid-air. This was probably a result of the same change being made to the :at that time new druid skill Ancestral Grace, which could be exploited to break into Ogrewatch tower in WvW. Instead of simply adjusting the map, they removed another fun movement mechanic after it’s been in the game for over 3 years.

These are just the most noteable examples off the top of my head. These weren’t gamebreaking mechanics, especially not for competitive gamemodes. They were fun, unique and interesting. Things like that were what kept me in GW2.

Imagine they removed strafejumping from quake 3 before it ever became a thing. Or rocketjumping. These things make games unique. Is it only going to be a matter of time until they remove dodge-jumping and animation canceling?

On a related note: Shouldn’t ’giver’s weapons’ use ‘expertise’ instead of a flat 10% condition duration now?

Other places of power still work, but the Krait Obelisk Shard in my home instance won’t give me the option to transform my Quartz Crystals.

With the release of HoT, all consumable food with condition duration increase or decrease has been toned down to 20% (down from 40% in most cases).
But one item has been forgotten in the process: Sweet Bean Bun

Now, this food was already way above all others with a total of 65% conditon duration change, and it did not get toned down along all the other food consumables, but remains unchanged.

‘tl;dr: all condi duration food was nerfed except for ’sweet bean bun’. please adjust it to bring it in line with the other consumables.

1: The Spike Trap does a 1s knockdown but it won’t enable the effects from the Ancient Seeds trait when striking the knocked down target. However, if the knockdown is applied for example by a Juvenile Wolf pet, the entange procs after hitting the knocked down target. -> Ancient Seeds seems to work but the knockdown from Spike Trap won’t trigger it.

2: Solar Beam (staff #1) can be cast on foes that are way out of range similar to Mesmer GS autoattack. While it won’t damage the out of range foe, it actually heals any allies in the path.
This might not seem like a big issue but could potentially be exploited in spvp by healing across the half map, and that bug (on mesmer GS) has been in the game for so long already.

3: Ancestral Grace is castable mid air. Maybe this is intended but if it isn’t, i would prefer this to be fixed rather sooner than later to prevent more heartbreaks like what happened with spectral walk and flesh wurm.

All i want is to be able to place my flesh wurm wherever i want again.
I mean, i can place it somewhere and then run to a place that doesnt have a valid path to my wurm and still blink towards it, but i couldn’t stand there and place my wurm in that same spot since there’s no valid path to target.
That sucks big time. In WvW, wurm is most times used to blink towards it, not as much to blink into it, so please just let us place the wurm like we used to.

When taking the ‘Inspiration’ specialisation with mesmer, most ‘on heal’ procs will be doubled.

E.g. Rune of the Air now gives 10s of swifness instead of 5s of swiftness. Rune of Adventure gains 100% endurance instead of 50%. Rune of Balthazar inflict 2 stacks of burning instead of 1. …..

This does not work with the mantra heal skill but it works with all other mesmer heal skills. It might be some weird interaction with ’Mender’s Purity’?

When taking the ‘Inspiration’ specialisation with mesmer, most ‘on heal’ procs will be doubled.

E.g. Rune of the Air now gives 10s of swifness instead of 5s of swiftness. Rune of Adventure gains 100% endurance instead of 50%. Rune of Balthazar inflict 2 stacks of burning instead of 1. …..

This does not work with the mantra heal skill but it works with all other mesmer heal skills. It might be some weird interaction with ’Mender’s Purity’?

Another Healing Spring bug:
You can have upt to 4 healing spring traps up at the same time, while other traps disappear the moment you set a 2nd trap of the same type.

HGH elixir cd reduce does not aply to Elixir Shell (mortar kit). It works for elixir gun elixir skills tho.

- Streamlined Kits triggers infinitely with mortar kit without going on cooldown
- Rocket Boots: Movement-speed adjustments STILL affect the intended travel distance. (same for acid bomb. intended?) EDIT: swiftness and super speed at least. didn’t try with chill/cripple

TyPin.9860:

What makes you think you always see it?

Why would i not see it? When i use f5, im not gonna run away from it while an enemy is trying to destroy it. I will either always have an eye on it while an enemy is near, or i won’t have to because no enemy is near. simple as that.

TyPin.9860:

What makes you think you always have F4 available?

because i will obviously keep my f4 for when i f5. or keep my f5 for when i need f4.
see, currently when you’re being bursted, you pop f4 to evade all the damage. as chronomancer you pop f5 and be guaranteed to return with the HP you had when you cast it
→ f4 keeps your HP of cast point (minus condition damage), f5 resets your HP to cast point HP.
now if you use f4, that will be on cooldown and you now have the potential problem you mentioned before. but if you use f5 instead, you don’t, and you still have your f4 cd up afterwards even if you still f4 before returning. so basicly you have more distortion uptime that way if you need it.

it shouldn’t be harder than switching pets on ranger before it dies really, unless you have bad keybinds… what makes you believe that it would be so hard to anticipate? it’s not like youre gonna be out of sight of the shard, especially when your foe is attacking it.

TyPin.9860:

The difference being, that the destruction of the shard/rift might not be anticipated by the Mesmer.

If you’re not completely horrible at the game, you will see it and f4 before that happens. Bad players should never be an argument for balance.

TyPin.9860:

According to your argument, after HoT releases, all Mesmers (with expansion) will become Chornomancers, because they got more.

No. By that logic, everyone would already play good builds. But that’s not the case, many people have horrible builds, the patch won’t change that. The f5 will also higher the mesmers skillcap so not too many players will be comfortable with it and not utilize it optimaly. Those players will shy away from it pretty soon and go for an easier to play build.

Something being overpowered doesn’t mean that everyone will use it. If that was the case, every engy would run perplexity runes, every thief would would run venomshare,… There are two possible reasons why they don’t:
1: misinformed / no knowledge
2: other purpose of build / other prefered playstyle.
And thats another reason why not all mesmers will be chronomancers

@TyPin: as chronomancer, you will ALWAYS pop f4 before returning since it’s cd will be reset afterwards and there is no reason to pop f4 any earlier since youre gonna reset your HP, it doesn’t matter how much you lose in the f5 duration. So there’s not much counterplay really.

Any decent mesmer will also pop f4 before using a portal when they know there is some enemy on the other side who couldve dropped aoe on it. Especially when it is a necro.

There is very limited counterplay to continuum split at a decent skill level, that’s part of why it’s so strong.

to answer your first queston: once the trap has been placed, there is a 0,5sec delay until the trap can trigger.

about throwable traps: i think it makes sense to not be able to throw traps. It’s a much needed nerf IMO since trapper ranger was awfully strong in WvW roaming! One of the more cheesy builds for sure. You could always keep your range, kiting, and still hit traps very easily by throwing them.
Another nerf would be frost trap now pulsing damage → reveals stealth

That being said, trapper ranger also got a few really nice buffs:
- bigger trigger radius and effect radius
- healing spring is now a trap skill (!!!!!), this gives us active condi removal so we don’t rely on passive removal from traits anymore → more build variety!
- overall buffs on traps damage and condition durations

I think that those changes will make the trapper ranger less cheesy but it will still be strong and fun to play.
The only one thing that i really strongly dislike is that the super speed from trapper runes will not affect our movement skills (GS #3, sword #2,…) anymore. That might be the biggest nerf of all.

@ Exciton.8942 as i said before, this has absolutely nothing to do with engy f5. please think and read before you make redundant posts.

@TyPin.9860 there is very little counterplay to continuum shift. even in the worst case scenario where you acomplish nothin while in continuum shift because your enemy blocks/evades/stuns you or whatever, you still lured those cooldowns out of them which you couldn’t have done without the f5. Either way, the f5 is a flat buff upgrade, be it super strong or only somewhat strong doesn’t matter. The point is them getting a flat upgrade instead of a replace like the other elite specialisations.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

but the tradeoff we do have (sacrificing a traitline for the Chronomancer tree) is still significant

that’s the same tradeoff every other elite specialisation has too. Chronomancer has less tradeoffs than any other elite specialisation by keeping f1-4 and getting f5 additionaly.

Also, this new traitline gives something useful for most builds and the f5 is useful for every build, maybe stronger in some than in others, but in any case it’s very very strong.

I would go as far as saying that continuum split is THE most valuable skill in the game simply because it allows you do double cast any other skill (and even multiple skills) you want to, and in addition to that resets your HP back to the initial cast point.

So yes, i think the tradeoff you have to make in order to get access to continuum split is IMO way too low for most builds and even non-existant for some builds. While all other elite specialisations (so far) always have a clear tradeoff. The amount of new weapon skills we get is completely unrelevant for this.

I think you misunderstand. I dont mean that f5 wouldn’t be enough of compensation. I mean that seeing f5 as being a compensation is wrong, because there is nothing that has to be compensated for.
I’m not complaining that mesmer gets less than other classes. It’s the other way around, i think mesmer got more than other classes which seems unfair.
Basicly, the chronomancer is a mesmer but it gets the f5 on top of the existing mesmer mechanics. Other classes only get skill mechanics (f-skills) replaced, not added. So chronomancer is a BUFF to mesmer, while let’s say reaper is an ALTERNATIVE to necromancer. Or dragonhunter, also is an ALTERNATIVE to guardian. Chronomancer is not an alternative like the others but just a flat out buff, and that’s a fact.

New Spite master trait:

• Unholy Fervor: Reduces recharge of axe skills by 20% and deal 10% more damage to vulnerable foes.

How exactly will the 10% dmg bonus only apply?

- on axe skills to vulnerable foes
- or while wielding an axe so also to offhand weapon and possibly shroud vs vulnerable foes
- or always and to all skills while the foe is vulnerable

Guys…. F5 is NOT a compensation for only getting a offhand weapon.
This would imply that every new elite specialisation weapon skill is better than the old weapon skills and therefore you need compensation because only getting 2 new OP skills leaves you with 3 old bad weapon skills on your skillbar.

That’s not how it works. Getting less NEW things, does not justify getting more POWERFUL things. this only works in an equation where ‘new = more powerful’.

also, for those comparing it to engy f5: engy gets a fix to its class mechanic, not a buff to its elite specialisation. its not related at all just because both skills standard keybind is f5…

FJSAMA.2867:

Im just wondering what will happen with traited mass invis…
If u have incoming projectiles when you pop it, u will reflect and end up insta revealed?

yea, that one seems silly…

This has probably been brought up before, but i’ve been wondering what the reasoning is behind giving the chronomancer an additional class mechanic (f5), while other elite specialisations only get their class mechanics replaced (e.g. dragonhunter gets f1-3 replaced, reaper gets f1 replaced,..)

I would think it made way more sense to replace the mesmers f4 skill when opting for chronomancer since it’s just a flat out buff as opped to an alternative playstyle. It seems a little unfair IMO.

Any thoughts?

Fay.2357:

Haven’t watched it, but are you sure he wasn’t referring to the trait?

oooh yes i guess i completely misunderstood that then. It’s not 100% clear but yes, i’m pretty sure you’re right now!

Robert Gee mentioned in t he ready up episode that ‘Mirror’ will now apply the reflection effect after the heal has been cast. Previously, the reflection duration would start right the moment you start casting your heal.

This is a pretty big deal since you can’t actively react to let’s say a rangers rapid fire anymore. Is there anything being done to counter this, like for example reducing the cast time of mirror heal?

I was always a huge fan of the mirror heal and would prefer it over any othe heals most of the time, but this seems like a big nerf.

These are the skills i found that are not mentioned in the patchnotes. Will those still be affected by movement speed modifiers or did you just forget to mention those in the patch notes? Especially curious about Acid Bomb.

Engineer

- [Acid Bomb](http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Acid_Bomb)

Ranger

- [Hilt Bash](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Hilt_Bash)
- [Quick Shot](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Quick_Shot)

Thief

- [Death Blossom](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Death_Blossom)

Elementalist

- [Lightning Leap](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lightning_Leap)
- [Updraft](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Updraft)

Warrior

- [Shield Bash](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Shield_Bash)

Bhawb.7408:

Because it was used to break intended use of maps. Fun? Sure, but it was used to overcome an intended mechanic of the game, just like leaps + swiftness could break out of maps.

If that’s the whole reasoning behind it, i definitely think they should fix the map instead of drasticly changing the way some movement skills work after having us get used to them for nearly 3 years.
It’s just the lazy way to go about the issue =/
On top of that i don’t even see what’s so bad about a few people breaking out of PvE maps every now and then. Hurts noone.

WHY?

WHY did they have to take away the ONE last thing from us that made necro mobility unique?

This game used to have such a unique big focus on movement but it seems to be all gone now:
- Swiftness/cripple/chill dont affect leaps anymore.
- You can’t use blinks (flesh wurm too) without ‘valid path’ anymore.
- You can’t use spectral walk mid air anymore,…

These mechanics were FUN but instead of balancing around them, they just remove them entirely. After nearly 3 years of playing with those fun mechanics, i seriously take it as an insolence to everyone who played and loved the game for what it was. It just isn’t that anymore, and it’s so so wrong!

Those mechanics barely affected competitive PvP if even at all, but it’s the dead for WvW roaming as we knew it!
Yet they leave in mechanics that are truly OP for WvW roaming but do not affect competitive PvP at all, like perplexity runes, dire gear and condi duration foods.

Please think about it, seriously!

using a VPN sometimes can help a ton. worth a try at least.

This change nerfs and buffs movement skills at the same time. I think the whole intention here from anet is to simplify the game more. It’s been an ongoing trend for them lately. (blink changes, thief f2, limiting trait system)

Not all of these changes are flat out bad but they seem to forget, that they come at cost of player creativity, skillcap and most importantly FUN. It’s more fun to pop swiftness and then use your movement skill, or do it with super speed in combat. It keeps a higher skillcap if you have to learn where you can and where you can’t blink at. It requires more thought and preparation when you don’t have a f2 on thief. There are more fun/silly builds to explore with the current trait system.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m fine with the new trait changes, it has it’s pros too. But drasticly changing the way movement skill works in a heavily movement dependant game? Calling them ‘unintended’ after 3 years??? That definitely crosses the line!

It’s an insolence towards the whole community who has played and loved the game for its unique and amazing movement mechanics!

It might not seem like such a big deal to some people, but this along with the blink changes might make me quit the game. Because if this change goes in, i lost all hope.

Please let your voices be heard, make a thread, mail them, call them,…
We took perplexity runes, we took celestial and dire gear, we took the blink changes. PUT A STOP TO IT! PLEASE!

I was quite excited for the patch. Now i don’t want it anymore.

This change is probably the worst thing they ever did. First they screw with the blink skills, now this. Whats next? Remove dodge-jumping from the game?

I think pretty much noone in the community wants this change. It feels almost like what ID did to quake live a while ago. The worst.

other deathshroud skill were always like that, channels stop when dropping out of deathshroud. however, projectiles still fly and apply their effects and also the #5 skill keeps doing its thing if the cast was completed before leavin deathshroud.

BUG: Life transfer: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Bug-or-Nerf-Life-Transfer-change/first#post4912191

Loads of suggestions about Signets, Signet Mastery, Spite traitline master and grandmaster: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Feedback-Spite-Signet-Mastery-Grandmaster/

Noone seems to care about this one but it’s very important to me: Flesh wurm mechanic changes: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Why-include-Flesh-Wurm-in-the-blink-changes/

Thanks for reading!

Seems to be a bug: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Bug-or-Nerf-Life-Transfer-change/

Seems anet dont care

That would be amazing! Increase range to 900 when taking axe training, put it into grandmaster, put signet mastery back into master. All problems fixed.

Another suggestion i could think about:

Signet Mastery as a grandmaster trait now upgrades all signets for some kind of area effect:
Signet of the Locust: Heals yourself and allies in a 600radius for the same amount
Plague Signet: pull 1 condi from each ally in a 600 radius before sending your condition to a foe
Signet of Spite: Give 3 stacks of might to allies in a 600 radius
Signet of Undeath: Heal allies in a 600 radius

In addition to that, the might from using a signet also is applied to nearby allies.

On a different note, lets compare other grandmaster signet traits to necros signet mastery:

1: most noticeable, elementalists ‘Written in Stone’: Maintain the passive effects of signets when you activate them.
This is a build changing trait, definitively worthy of being a grandmaster

2: guardians ‘perfect inscriptions’: Gain light aura when activating a signet. Signets recharge 20% faster. Signets have improved passive effects (20%).
I dont know if signet guardy is thing at all, but this seems to be a good buff for the way guardy signet passives work.

3: not in the game anymore, but i beliefe ranger had a grandmaster trait for signets that would apply signet effects not only to their pet but also themselfes. Before this was made baseline, it was as well a build changing trait worthy of its grandmaster position.

I think this makes clear that the current necro ‘Signet Mastery’ with or without the additional SoL proc definitely feels more like a master trait and not nearly as effective as any of the other grandmaster signet traits.

Bhawb.7408:

It is a free AoE heal on 24s CD when under 50% HP

Well yes, i agree that’s pretty nice, you got a point there.
The thing is, at least with the current numbers i feel like its not quite up there with other grandmaster traits tho. I mean just looking at other passive healing traits like backpack regenerator or whatever else doesn’t make this look like a grandmaster. Let’s hope the upcoming skill changes reveal it to be more effective than it seems now.

EDIT:
suggestions:
- Signet of Locust blinds in an area around you and is a stunbreaker (basicly make it like signet of air or signet of shadows)
- Activating a signet grants 10% lifeforce
- Activating a signet grants 3 seconds of spectral armor
- Signet Mastery activates a weaker version of Signet of Vampirism instead of Locust

What: In my current build i use ‘Spiteful Talisman’, ‘Signet Mastery’ and ‘Close to Death’. The new system in its current state (stream preview) would not allow this anymore.
Why: Yes, ‘Signet Mastery’ gets a buff by activating ‘Signet of the Locust’ when struck below 50% HP, but that won’t do much in alot of situations as its range is only 480. It is a buff but i don’t see it big enough to make it a grandmaster trait.
Suggestions: I would like to see ‘Signet Mastery’ switch places with ‘Death Shiver’ or ‘Axe Training’, remove the little buff from it and give a more meaningful buff to the new grandmaster trait.

Alternatively, make ‘Signet Mastery’ worthy of being a grandmaster trait and give it an actualy significant buff that justifies it being at this position.

Issue:
In my current build i use ‘Spiteful Talisman’, ‘Signet Mastery’ and ‘Close to Death’. The new system in its current state (stream preview) would not allow this anymore.

Reasoning:
Yes, ‘Signet Mastery’ gets a buff by activating ‘Signet of the Locust’ when struck below 50% HP, but that won’t do much in alot of situations as its range is only 480. It is a buff but i don’t see it big enough to make it a grandmaster trait.

Solution:
I would like to see ‘Signet Mastery’ switch places with ‘Death Shiver’ or ‘Axe Training’, remove the little buff from it and give a more meaningful buff to the new grandmaster trait.

Alternatively, make ‘Signet Mastery’ worthy of being a grandmaster trait and give it an actualy significant buff that justifies it being at this position.

183 \o/
that eeaster poster is awesome =D

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

spoj.9672:

Oh i was think of when you get knocked out of DS by taking damage and it continues to life transfer. Yes if it drains naturally it will cancel. That was an intended change from over a year ago.

No, they reverted that.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/updates/Game-Update-Notes-November-4-2014/first#post4537308

Death Shroud: Reverted a change that caused this effect to incorrectly cancel abilities (such as stomping) when the necromancer’s death shroud runs out.

If it’s back, it’s a bug. Life Transfer should not be cancelling just because you ran out of life force. If you manually left death shroud, it should cancel.

That said, I just did it a couple times yesterday. Didn’t have an issue.

EDIT: Today, on the other hand, it is definitely cancelling. Bug report time!

I hope you’re right! gonna report bug ingame. however, stomping doesn’t cancel whenn runing out of LF so thats not connected.

Flumek.9043:

“life force runs out, but if u get 10% lf before next 10s you can already jump back into DS”

what??

I don’t know when this change happened, but i just noticed, so it has to be fairly recent.

Previously, when you would channel Life Transfer (deathshroud #4 skill) just before running out of lifeforce, it would still complete the whole channel after running out of lifeforce and therefore dropping out of deathshroud.
But now, the Life Transfer cancels when dropping out of deathshroud.

Was this an intended change or is it a bug?
I really miss being able to do that because it synergized very well with siphon!

even if it was only 120HP/s, thats still better than engineers backpack regenerator at the same trait point cost. and on top of that, it does not only heal but also damage, and the amounts double when hitting two targets instead of one. count in the sigil of blood for another ~100hp/s and life siphon ~400hp/s and your consume conditions heal ~200hp/s and youre well above a warriors hp/s even without using your consume conditions. it does add up alot and makes for very good self sustain. because the siphon has no internal cooldown, you can burst heal alot.

Drarnor Kunoram.5180:

Really? An average of 120 health/second lets you trade blows with a Zerker warrior? I doubt it.

Siphoning skills are pretty good. Siphoning traits are horridly ineffective.

The total HPS is much higher than 120. The warrior only has the healing signet and maybe some regeneration boon. Necro has a big heal (consume conditions), regeneration and lifesteal.

I’m not saying you can outheal the warriors damage, but you gain enough healing throughout the fight that you can keep up your DPS and bring the warrior down before you go down. It’s all about the actual DPS uptime in the fight, not about big hits or DPS on a target golem. And lifesteal helps a ton with DPS uptime. Just like warriors Healing signet helps with their DPS uptime while other classes have to pause DPS to heal or stealth or whatever.

Shiki.7148:

Necro Lifesteal is absolute crap.

Necro lifesteal is the most underrated thing in this game. You can siphon on every single hit with no cooldown (which adds up alot with warhorn #5 + focus #4 + dagger auto combo for example) and more than double the siphon on every crit without cooldown. Dagger #2 heals you for an average healing skill worth of HP on a super low CD while still putting out decent dmg. Throw sigil of blood in there as well and you got yourself some considerable self sustain. Just because it’s not meta, people think its kitten. Do the math or try it, you would be surprised how much self healing you can get. People also seem to forget that lifesteal doesnt only heal you but also damage the enemy at the same time.

A lifesteal necro can often outheal a zerker warrior just by trading hits. A mesmer has to hit mad burst while being very vulnerable to a zerker war.

Shiki.7148:

Easy equation :
Mesmer DMG > Necro DMG
Mesmer CC > Necro CC
Mesmer Survivability > Necro survivability
Mesmer Monbility > Necro Mobility.

Mesmer burst > necro burst
necro sustained dmg > mesmer sustained dmg
mesmer cc (f3 daze) ~= necro cc (warhorn)
mesmer immob < necro immob+cripple
necro survivability (DS sustain, lifesteal, big HP, heal) > mesmer survivability (evades, low HP, low heal)
necro mobility (wurm no LoS, spectral walk) ~situational= mesmer mobility (1 LoS blink, stealth)