Guild Wars 2

Ross Biddle.2367:

You, Sir, are a scoundrel and a fiend. I demand fisty-cuffs!

Twenty paces at dawn.

The dawn shall be purple.

Our [purple] clones will blot out the sun.

wookie.8934:

Esplen.3940:

SteepledHat.1345:

Hm, I could have sworn it didn’t stack either way. But to be honest, I’ve only really been using the focus intently for about 3 weeks. So I might be mistaken.

You are indeed [mistaken], sir.

Certainly doesn’t stack for me.

Use Temporal Curtain —> get swiftness from Curtain —> get swiftness from other sources.

SteepledHat.1345:

Hm, I could have sworn it didn’t stack either way. But to be honest, I’ve only really been using the focus intently for about 3 weeks. So I might be mistaken.

You are indeed [mistaken], sir.

Karma options will always be rare (with the exception of Temple armor).

If you want to get cheap sets, run dungeons (with rares or better, PLEASE) and use the dungeon reward tokens to upgrade your armor. A good list of what armor you can get from what dungeon is listed here:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats#Dungeons

Wait, you let your feelings be swayed by a bookah? /sigh

That’s probably cobalt with something else.

All those inquest golems are enslaved souls of sentient beings as opposed to enslaved lesser elementals (elementals with less sentience).

Daimerous.9652:

The problem I see is that it doesn’t have a distance limit. I can cast feeback at max range and then run out say really far, and then get ported into the huge group and instakilled. If it had a limit on range, then I would be more ok with it.

That would mean nerfing Feedback, not Dark Path, just saying.

replicacloned.2809:

Esplen.3940:

I tailor all of my armor sets to make my Asura aesthetically appealing to myself when viewed from the front. The back tends to work itself out, even at max range. (I don’t bother finding a dye combination until I find the armor combination, but I do have ~300 dyes unlocked, so…)

When you say tailor, do you mean the crafting skill, or that you mix and match armors to suit your needs? (or both?)

Either way, it’s a good idea.

Both. I use tailoring and I “tailor” my clothes to fit. Unintentional pun right there, in fact I have a set that was 100% crafted looks but I replaced the helm making it 84% crafted.

Tailor Tip: Mixing Winged and Feathers will get you a hawkey look.
Tailor Tip: Don’t use Shadow Helm on Asura, it bugs with a LOT of clothing and, depending on whether you put on your chest or your helm first, may adjust particles, change colors, and even create holes in the textures that will remain until you unequip and re-equip said clothing.

Your build is missing 5 traits, I’m assuming that’s for Dueling to get Deceptive Evasion (clone on dodge)?

No, this class is terrible. They can’t do anything and they’re super bad at what they can do. Clearly, being able to create minions that tank shots and die constantly is bad. You also can’t do anything useful, because 10 seconds of AoE quickness is just terrible. You also suck at being able to reflect projectiles with all those bubbles, I mean, who wants bubbles? And all your skills suck, you can’t help your party or yourself, ughhhhh.

Tallest norn with growth tonic vs tiny progeny.

I did a 20/20/0/0/30 build with dual swords (basically Osi’s shattercat dual sword build). It worked very well, but I sometimes opt for a Focus, especially when I need the reflect or AoE.

You’ve got the right idea. Try pulling the mobs really far away so that you only fight 1-3 guards/scouts without the Guildmaster. Also, kill the scouts first because they blind you which is paiiiinnnnfulll…

Another tip is to get a scout/dolyak/upgradeguy/guard really low then ignoring him and fighting the rest, if you ever down, you switch back and finish them off. (Works better with Quaggans at the camp.)

wads.5730:

Esplen.3940:

wads.5730:

its op as kitten, and so fun to troll random zergs with it. run in the middle of 5 guys and watch them all slowly die.

3 second stealth every 4 seconds, while blinding and doing good damage.

for those that havent figured it out, you can use any skill with a cast time to cancel the cooldown. autoattacking for example, though you have to be careful to not hit anyone, or you get unstealthed.

how is it every 7 seconds? you get a blind every 4 seconds, and a burn every 4 seconds, just those 2 are seperated by 3 seconds of stealth. you still get the effect every 4 seconds.

By definition every 4 seconds means…

every… 4… seconds.

This means that you are casting The Prestige every 4 seconds, not every 4 seconds AFTER it ends. It has a 7 second cooldown or a 4 second DOWNTIME. there is a difference.

i’m casting the skill every 4 seconds. do you know what you’re saying?

i press the skill, wait 4 seconds, then i press skill again, repeat forever.

where are you getting 7 seconds? the 4 second cooldown starts as soon as you activate the skill, NOT after the skill ends.

Right, and if you deal damage with the skill, you get the stealth cooldown…

shimmerless.4560:

Ayanavi.1904:

It takes me about 3-4 matches daily before I stop sucking.

I think sPvP is really a mindset thing – It takes a little time to transition your mindset to it, and once you do, the rest kind of falls into place. Like that feel when you just dodge rolled into someone, then iLeaped to them as they rolled away, dropping a 3 clone mindwrack+Blurred Frenzy on them.

It’s not so much a key set issue, as it is getting the hang of the flow of combat.

I’d agree with this… I also quite like the GS/sword + pistol setup, I find the GS has ironically one of the Mes’ stronger ranged toolkits and people tend to underestimate the damage they’re taking if you can harass from a distance. You also have a decent pushback if you’re in trouble, which sometimes saves you needing to blow one of your stun breakers.

I agree that GS is amazing in PvP (especially since it’s so laid back), but in PvE (and WvW) the Staff is soooooo amazing at disengaging and living. 5 sec blink that has a chance to cripple the enemy? Oh yes.

I did it today, and it was a pain. Not only did the boss constantly bug himself so I would have to get rid of defiant with Chaos Storm (the only skill that would get rid of defiant since he wouldn’t move) between every trap, but the trap system was soooo janky. If more than one person was lifting an ooze, they might not get pulled. If more than one person is pulling an ooze, it might slow the pull down immensely…

I like the idea of having traps that are integrated into the fight, but why not have auto-traps that hit the ground at random areas for a period of time or possibly target the ground then activate when the boss gets near unless it doesn’t get near after X amount of time.

wads.5730:

its op as kitten, and so fun to troll random zergs with it. run in the middle of 5 guys and watch them all slowly die.

3 second stealth every 4 seconds, while blinding and doing good damage.

for those that havent figured it out, you can use any skill with a cast time to cancel the cooldown. autoattacking for example, though you have to be careful to not hit anyone, or you get unstealthed.

how is it every 7 seconds? you get a blind every 4 seconds, and a burn every 4 seconds, just those 2 are seperated by 3 seconds of stealth. you still get the effect every 4 seconds.

By definition every 4 seconds means…

every… 4… seconds.

This means that you are casting The Prestige every 4 seconds, not every 4 seconds AFTER it ends. It has a 7 second cooldown or a 4 second DOWNTIME. there is a difference.

I usually just manually select or have auto-target do it’s work. If it’s a mesmer, I have to manually click them.

That happens if you spawn a clone (with Deceptive Evasion) while holding a Bundle/Environmental Weapon or using a Transformation (that overrides your weapon). They’ll attack with no weapon, but it will be the Scepter auto attack.

ShoeMoney.5249:

I seem to always come back to the GS/sword pistol combo. Mostly cause the phantasms are on the same hotkey which I really like.

I just gotta pick one and dedicate myself to it for a while. Do you practice the combo movies in PVE at all ? Or isnt there some grounds outside the pvp area to practice?

At this point for me I don’t think gear matters or even skill traits for that matter to be honest.

I just gotta get down some basic combos.

One thing did you every have issues targeting? I have tab set on mine and i still have some issues.

I practice in sPvP. You won’t learn the right maneuvers if you practice in PvE or against the target dummies, they’re more for testing DPS.

Just keep playing and you’ll eventually stop dying all the time and start staying up.

Also, for targeting, you shouldn’t have problems unless going against a Mesmer.

Krispera.5087:

Heinel.6548:

DavyMcB.1603:

Esplen.3940:

DavyMcB.1603:

Esplen.3940:

DavyMcB.1603:

Esplen.3940:

Eh, that’s all it really is: Fun.

It doesn’t have THAT much usability.

It’s actually does if you trait for it…. aegis/regen/protection every 4 sec is a lot. Blind lasts 5 seconds with the spam rate of 4 second. 2.3k burn every 4 second. Cure all conditions every 4 second. 2 blast finisher every 4 second. and on top of it all stealth every 4 second — suppose you’re not in combat you’re exposed only for 1 second.

If you’re using it offensively, you have to include stealth cooldown. Have you actually tried doing it every 4 seconds in combat?

Like I said.. there are more than just stealth. Detection debuff lasts for only 3 secs so yes you can do it every 4 second.

Every 7 seconds*

And again, as to everyone who’s saying this is superb, have you tried doing it yet, because we can theorycraft all we want, but our opponents aren’t going to stand still while we nuke them.

I’m doing it every 4 second and I’m doing right now. How did you come up with 7?

Are you in battle?

I can do it while running about and mostly stealthed but there’s no point.

Stealth, Burn, AoE Damage, Blast and if traited with Prismatic and Illusionary Membrane… No point ?

They will fix it, but I hope they will reduce the cooldown and buff iMage.

Of course they will fix it, but assuming you do it right every time it’s off cooldown, you’re only going to get it down every 7 seconds as you’re going for the burns/aoe damage. If you only go for the stealth then you’re relying on clone/phantasm damage while you invis constantly, thereby making Prismatic and iMembrane and the Blast somewhat useless.

DavyMcB.1603:

Esplen.3940:

DavyMcB.1603:

Esplen.3940:

Eh, that’s all it really is: Fun.

It doesn’t have THAT much usability.

It’s actually does if you trait for it…. aegis/regen/protection every 4 sec is a lot. Blind lasts 5 seconds with the spam rate of 4 second. 2.3k burn every 4 second. Cure all conditions every 4 second. 2 blast finisher every 4 second. and on top of it all stealth every 4 second — suppose you’re not in combat you’re exposed only for 1 second.

If you’re using it offensively, you have to include stealth cooldown. Have you actually tried doing it every 4 seconds in combat?

Like I said.. there are more than just stealth. Detection debuff lasts for only 3 secs so yes you can do it every 4 second.

Every 7 seconds*

And again, as to everyone who’s saying this is superb, have you tried doing it yet, because we can theorycraft all we want, but our opponents aren’t going to stand still while we nuke them.

I just sat down with a simple combo build and learned how to combo and improv.
GS/Sword+Pistol is an easy one.

DavyMcB.1603:

Esplen.3940:

Eh, that’s all it really is: Fun.

It doesn’t have THAT much usability.

It’s actually does if you trait for it…. aegis/regen/protection every 4 sec is a lot. Blind lasts 5 seconds with the spam rate of 4 second. 2.3k burn every 4 second. Cure all conditions every 4 second. 2 blast finisher every 4 second. and on top of it all stealth every 4 second — suppose you’re not in combat you’re exposed only for 1 second.

If you’re using it offensively, you have to include stealth cooldown. Have you actually tried doing it every 4 seconds in combat?

Eh, that’s all it really is: Fun.

It doesn’t have THAT much usability.

Jusanden.3897:

Pyroatheist.9031:

Actually, it just became the 2nd most spammable blast finisher in game.

I predict emergency patch fix within 48 hours.

actually wouldn’t it be the most spamable blast finisher in the game? Cluster bomb is limited by intitiative, only allowing you to use one every 4ish seconds at max assuming one point of initiative = 1.67 seconds to regen. iirc, the prestige was a double blast finisher, thus one blast finisher per 2 seconds.

By double blast finisher, you mean when you activate and when it finishes? Because before this patch is only blast finished upon the explosion at the end, not sure about now. I don’t think it is, though.

bettadenu.5483:

I can confirm this bug.

Using the Prestige then double tapping weapon swap to your other weapon will make the Prestige go on ‘’cancel cooldown’’ and recharge in 3-4 seconds. You can spam this all day long granted that you can swap weapons that fast in combat.

There are other methods that let you use it every 4 seconds.

EDIT: Tested, it is a double blast finisher.

It’s not permanent, but you can easily use the invis to spawn clones and/or ease of use shatters/position for BF.

Then again, it’s only going to be really amazing as a 1v1 weapon unless you’re using it defensively or super offensively, it won’t be really good in between.

Pyroatheist.9031:

Jusanden.3897:

The prestige has an effective cd of 4 seconds when interrupted by any skill with a cast time right after it’s cast. The stealth, blind, and aoe burn still apply like normal.

Are you saying you can recast it 4 seconds after stealth drops?

1 second after stealth drops.

Yes, you are correct, that’s a tad… interesting. If you spec into it, you could get 99% uptime. (+1 second stealth, hurrdurr)

EDIT:
Seems that trait doesn’t give +1 second stealth to it. It does give the boon, but not the bonus duration.
TWO BUGS IN ONE!

I’m not going to lie, spamming OOW Kits for 100% invis uptime was just cheese, and this is coming from a Mesmer, meaning I’m there for pretty much every dirty trick in the book.

I tailor all of my armor sets to make my Asura aesthetically appealing to myself when viewed from the front. The back tends to work itself out, even at max range. (I don’t bother finding a dye combination until I find the armor combination, but I do have ~300 dyes unlocked, so…)

Samiell.1259:

You answered your own question. Chaos Armor is probably the best armor buff in game. To stack duration on an already easy to apply skill would be overkill to say the least.

iLeap(9) + Swap(0) + Phase Retreat(6) + Chaos Armor(28)

iLeap + Swap, wait 9 seconds, iLeap + Swap —> Chaos Armor + Phase Retreat + Phase Retreat + iLeap + Swap + iLeap + Swap…

Perma Chaos Armor, heck you’d get 110% uptime with Chaos Armor + Phase Retreat or iLeap + Swap.

I like it. pst2shrt

Pyroatheist.9031:

Harbinger.9645:

The fact that there are any updates/fixes that don’t make it into the notes shows a severe lack of organization and communication. I mean honestly how hard is it to keep track of these things?!

It’s very easy, but there hasn’t been a single (literally not a single one) patch that hasn’t had stealth changes that were not announced in the notes. This is nothing new, but no less disappointing for being a regular occurrence.

Actually, it’s more of a “gets dropped from the list”. I believe each team writes a doc of their changes and then they have a writer write it all together but sometimes they miss a few things while trying to organize them. Look here for some such references as to this method: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Dungeon-Patch-Discussion-2-26

loseridoit.2756:

If you are talking about pvp, then this question is a toss up. Both condition mesmer and gs mesmers are strong

However, Staff is better at PvE, because the gs is pretty bad at PvE. All other mesmer weapons except gs have a active ability to avoid or migrate damage. GS is one of the lowest survivability weapons at an mesmer arsenal.

I wouldn’t say that the GS is bad at PvE, but survivability is SOOOO useful that Staff is much… more pleasant to use. Can you tank Lupicus without taking any damage by using a GS? Can you get a 5second Blink without running Blink on your bar?

When you master Phase Retreat, you’ll find it nice to have that extra utility slot instead of Blink, although it’s fun to run Blink anyways.

By the way, Robert, thanks for updating the Caudecus tip from Monk to Noble, I was panicking on my chair while watching my patcher.

Or for whoever updated it, give them a thanks from me.

Puandro.3245:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

Iruwen.3164:

Puandro.3245:

What is the new internal cooldown to life stealing foods? This change affects many builds that rely on it and it would be nice to know a # instead of just a mystery number you guys like to give out, thanks.

There are builds that rely on food?

Yes, there are. Many of the glass cannon builds rely on the food buffs for lifesteal that is greater than healing. I added a 1 second cooldown after each proc to stop abuse using certain skills that could heal a character from near death to full health due purely to critting with a food item.

Alright 1 second seems fine and i thought they were too good but 1 second leaves them viable while not overly nerfing them to oblivion. 2 seconds or more and i would probably just go back to Mango Pies.

Looking forward to the AC changes as soon as my guild is on later today, any word on changing the current Warrior “meta” for dungeon runs.

This is coming from a guild that runs with at least 1-2 guard and 1 mesmer in dungeon runs with 2-3 warriors.

It basically means you can’t abuse them by doing something like 100b or BF and get all your health back via Omnomghost or what have you. I agree completely with 1 second being just right.

Iruwen.3164:

Funny, I never considered using it. After watching a video now, I’d better have I’m always too late before the nerfs come in

Spy kits have been used en masse for months now. Foods as well.

The Caudecus’s Manor vendor in Lion’s Arch now correctly offers the Major Rune of the Monk.

I hope that’s a typo and is meant to be

now correctly offers the Major Rune of the Noble.

Rilke Cadmus.6829:

I have a solution for your immense dilemma! It is a 250 year old solution that still works! Just ask Oggy’s hologram about Taro Leaves today! http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Oggy

I remember hearing a story from my ancestors about that, but I require no… such… primitive… method to help myself.

Justine.6351:

Arale.4207:

I use all ruby orbs. Though, top damage actually comes from a full scholar set. I have a hard time staying above 90% health though, so Ruby Orbs are the next best thing. What’s your crit damage at? While chance is important, damage is also important.

96% crit dmg (still need a berserker back item). I would roll scholar but i really like keeping my crit chance high. Ranger runes gives 165 precision (7-8%), 8% crit dmg and 5% dmg with a companion.

But how do you get that 5% companion bonus?

eqpablon.9072:

When I run across PVT mesmers in either build I absolutely dominate them while they tickle me with their dmg output.

When I run across you guys wearing zerker specced for phantasms or shattercat, I laugh as we tickle each other for days. I’m not PVT, but my build gives me survivability through boons for days. Unless we go underwater or get a third party to damage, the fights won’t end…

Based on that chart, it’s a 15% (of base, not the large numbers you see) difference in damage. Assuming you have my stats, that means you’re doing 160% or 175% damage depending on which you wear.

Also, the 2000 health is ~15% health, so it’s literally a % health for % damage tradeoff here (again, assuming you’re running full Bers).

Kudu. <3

Oh wait, that name is taken. Uhh, what profession are you thinking about?

If you run Bers weapons and Accessories, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to run Valkyrie armor? It’s ~2000 health for ~10% crit chance. I mean, that’s just preference, but I don’t see the downfall, and you get to hop off the “LOLOMGHIGHDAMAGES” train without giving up the high damage…

With berz accessories and weapons (and the obligatory 20 points in dueling) you’ll have 40% crit chance, not including runes/orbs. If you run full Bers, you get a total of 50% crit chance (not including runes/orbs). I honestly would rather have 2k health as 40% crit chance seems to be enough and the 2k health would bring you to ~16-17k.

Waiting for Mainhand Pistol so I can get The Quip on my Mesmer. Until then, I’m working on getting my armor sets (5 full exotic armor sets each with a different look, stats, and feel).

Although I need to upgrade my staff from Valk —> Berz since I changed my armor from Berz —> Valk.

Zaxares.5419:

nakoda.4213:

Esplen.3940:

nakoda.4213:

Your mother’s IQ is slow low that she doesn’t even know how to crossthread a micronfluxcapacitor multiphasic unit with a simple dimatrix array power inversion unit equipped with a subsonic alpha wave modulation circuit.

I mean, how human do you have to be not to realize that a simple recalibration of the carbohypothermic intake valve release frees up the injection array subprocessing unit so that it can combocalculate the exact reverberation of the magic stream inversion coil.

::eyeroll::

what a dolt.

Why crossthread it when you can simply multicrossthread it. Also the dimatrix array power inversion has been outdated by the new trimatrix array power inversion which has an exponentially better power inversion capacity. You don’t even need the subsonic alpha stream inversion coil at all, in fact it was proven to slow down the process by tenfold with the new trimatrix array.

There is no need to combocalculate, that’s just wasting your iterations. Simply take a quantum nucleic phasitron and adjust it to entwine into the array. You can get rid of the entire coil and intake valve.

Seriously… who taught you this stuff?

Your mother did.

But at least SHE knows that a trimatrix array is incompatible with a decahedron infusion dynamo which is WHY the subsonic alpha stream inversion coil needs to be linked up to the megaflux protocore of the temporal energy capacitors.

Seriously, the quantum nucleic phasitron is untested technology bordering on mere MECHANICS. We covered that in first level progeny class. At least your mother’s IQ isn’t so low as to miss THAT.

You might as well swap the unitron projection processor for introflux capacitration multiplier. We all got taught in second level that combocalculation takes no more than a 0.00003812312432^16 nanosecond longer to iterate the output figures than a intake-less power inversion unit. Why remove something that frees up magic for the thermokenetic hydraulic system?

I wonder what the above two Asura think of the young Asura lady who just wants to move to Lion’s Arch and sell baked goods…

Personally, you would get more business in Divinity’s Reach. That city has bustle. You might also spot me traversing across the tops of roofs.

I wanna run Rampage with Growth Tonic. Too bad they don’t stack.

What level are you? It sounds like you’re pre-40 and running into the generic pre-40 problems even though you already know that they occur pre-40. If you’re 80, you simply need to practice your class. Heart of the Mists is a great place to learn simple strategies. If you’re looking for a guild, look for threads with the words “Guide” or “Build” in them in this section instead of posting.