Guild Wars 2

Unless you have specific modifiers (like when you use Afflicted runes), your duration is whatever the generic condition duration is (55.13%). If you kept the Nightmare runes, but added a Sigil of Venom, you’d have a tooltip for Poison read 75.13%.

In-game hovering over you’re condition duration will show the actual duration for each condition. In the skill builders, you have to add them up yourself (total duration plus specific duration). Choosing a rune will depend on determining where you most of your damage comes from. If it’s almost exclusively poison, or if you have high poison uptime, them Thorns is really nice for the extra condition damage. If your damage comes from having multiple conditions on the target, then improving generic condition duration will benefit you more.

Tomes being revived as Virtue replacements would be acceptable also. It would drastically change guardian gameplay while introducing an engi/ele/rev form dancing element. Having two weapon swaps, plus 10 durations and 40s cooldowns on each Tome of [Virtue] would bring something rather unique to Guardian.

Dawdler.8521:

Fun fact:

Golems are affected by superspeed and a single gyro scrapper have ~75% uptime of superspeed on 4 of them.

So they bring the most powerfull mobile siege engines in WvW, yet are rarely seen because nobody like them.

I was going to mention that, but I’ve seen very little golem play for the past while. However, the more golems are used the more useful this becomes .

I didn’t
Posted
Read the OP
We confirmed each other’s point

Leveling is for experimenting and becoming familiar with the entirety of the class. Get a bunch of new gear? test it out. Get a brand new weapon that you haven’t used before? try it. Find a new pet? Learn what it can do.

If you do all of that, then by the time you’ve reached max level and obtained exotic armor you should be able to manage most everything else on your own. Past that (like for wvw, raids, etc) then there’s other well-known resources available. But until then, spend that valuable time leveling to learn the profession.

No leveling builds exist because they don’t matter.

You cannot strip more than one stack of Stability per .75 seconds, so such a change wouldn’t affect much. You’d have to open a whole new can of worms to get that effect.

I’d take these with a Dead Sea worth of salt.

I remember seeing threads about Warrior’s “SpellBreaker” with D/D, Guardian’s “Purifier” with Axe, and Necro’s “Scourge” with Torch and Sand Shroud. Then there’s those two reddit posts contradicting each other.

Engineers aren’t designed to replace anyone. They’re (so far) designed to supplement. Implying they bring nothing is demonstrably false. Moral of the story, if you want to be the most helpful you can in a zerg, bring elixirs and/or superspeed until we know what relevant things we get in the next elite spec (if anything)

Those sound like user problems, because I have both a superspeed engi and an elixir engi and I don’t have trouble with any of your listed issues.

What’s nice about Elixir R toolbelt is that when fully traited it revives for 207% on a ~60s cd. Unlike Banner it can punch through poison, though it does suffer from taking time as mentioned. This makes it unique compared to Banner, with different strengths and weaknesses. B’s stab should be used on yourself, but its aoe on a 16s cd. Your positioning is important. U’s projectile defense is a toss up between destruction and reflection, but the defense is the important point. You’re always guaranteed to get a rather long lasting projectile wall with either effect. It might take a bit more effort to get all you can out of Elixirs, but you’re combining the versatility of Guardian and Warrior into one class, shoring up two aspects at once.

As far as superspeed goes, its use is for zerg positioning. It can save your back or frontline by helping them get around certain areas. Sometimes all you need is the few seconds of superspeed and you can get out of harms way without using up your defensive skills. Its effectiveness all depends on your placement/positioning. All things being equal, the zerg with superspeed will outposition the zerg without. Its a comparatively rarer buff that engis have the best source of for aoe application.

Engineers won’t have a monopoly on a niche, but you can have great versatility in shoring up and supplementing multiple roles. Until the next Espec gives more options, the engineer will provide a strong, flexible, supplemental role to the main needs

Scrapper gives a lot of access to superspeed which can be a unique and powerful niche in zerg fights. Likewise, Elixirs’ toolbelt skills provide aoe stab, projectile defense, revives, aoe stealth, and more. Any combination of superspeed and Elixirs are very valuable to a zerg.

These are all opinions so there’s no right or wrong, but it’s a whole lot harder for somebody to defend headcanon than otherwise.

That being said, Harnel and I are definitely on the same wavelengths.

If you have Berserker (which I’m sure you do), you could have a lot of fun using Axe/Axe + Axe/Torch and swapping between the two.

Here it is
Because you’ve got Frostfang, I made the build thematic with both Fire and Ice. Elementalist Runes and Ghost Pepper Poppers feed into that idea. You have lots of Power and Condition damage and your crits will fuel your adrenaline bar. You should be running at around 85% crit chance mid fight. You can weapon swap on cooldown to get all those extra effects and to pull off your burst combo. Start in Torch and use Torch 5. Use Axe 2, Axe 3, and Torch 4 in succession, then weapon swap to Axe/Axe and use Axe 4 and then Axe 5. You’ll get a disgustingly high amount of Burn stacks, and honestly, Flames of War into Whirling Axe is just too much fun not to do. You can Shattering Blow on cooldown (It should sync with King of Fires) for more condition damage while your axe itself is still doing respectable power damage. Berserk at will for those delicious boons and for Always Angry. If you don’t want the chill then you can replace Ele Runes with Flame Legion and the Pepper Poppers with another On-crit food like one of the Allspice Cakes. You won’t need two mainhand weapons. Just use one MH Axe and your OH Axe and Torch.

Is this the best build there could ever be? Not at all. But its fun and unique, and that’s what matters. You’ll have competitive damage for anything you want to do until you hit things like Raids or higher fractals where builds truly matter. If you don’t like this idea then tweaking the GS+A/Sh build would probably be fine too.

Similar functionality to Guardian’s “Save Yourselves!”.
Similar problems in those game modes.

Unholy Martyr works a bit better

You the player count as an illusion when shattering

Harnel.6810:

thoughts

the question was supposed to be directed elsewhere, so that’s my fault for it not being clear. However, you strengthened an important point. Ele Staff is at the top of the leaderboards in terms of aoe. The average weapon won’t compete with Ele Staff.

Djahlat.9610:

Really?
Elementalists are Pyromancers, Hydromancers, Geomancers, Aeromancers, and Arcane Mages, in the same way that Rangers are Skirmishers, Wilderness Survivalists, Beastmasters, Marskmen, and Nature Mages. They use nature magic, well that makes them Mages of Nature. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Nature_Magic

Nah, you got it backwards.

All users of Nature Magic are Rangers, but not all Rangers use Nature Magic. Ranger is the broader term, “Nature Mage” the more specific.

Harnel.6810:

Actually, cones in this game are AoEs, which aren’t considered projectiles. The best example of this is Blunderbuss, the engineer #3 rifle skill. I’ll grant you that it wouldn’t keep up with ele AoE, but that’s a pretty kitten high bar to set.

Blunderbuss is always the skill that comes to mind when I think of Shotgun Rifle. Other cones in the game: Wave of Wrath, Flame Jet, Shattering Blow. All are skills that could be useful in designing a cone-based weapon.

And for curiosity, what do you consider able to keep up with Ele Staff?

Djahlat.9610:

Rangers are Nature mages.

[citation needed]

It’s a ranged projectile-based weapon that offers little to no AoE potential, which we already have 3 of (Longbow, Shortbow, and Mainhand Axe)

That’s short sighted of you. Who’s to say a Rifle couldn’t be a conal Shotgun with <600u range? Such a weapon would be the low end of midrange to melee and aoe. Add in a bayonet charge styled skill and you’ve got a lot to work around. Even Pistols could be designed in such a way that they’re aoe focused. You don’t even have to buck normal conventions like Mesmer GS or Rev Hammer do, sufficient concepts exist in life, ripe for the inspiration.

Rifle. Blunderbuss and Jump Shot both have good scaling and the rifle certainly isn’t a condi weapon. Blunderbuss’s Bleeding helps it synergize with Firearms, but wouldn’t be a focus of a build.

A lot of stuff that’s been mentioned isn’t canon, which makes it moot.

So this is something similar to a Guardian I run for fun in zergs. Aegis is pretty fun to build around, and this build features a lot of it. Damage mitigation plus lots of healing for your allies.

If you want to go tankier then Nomad armor and probably Monk runes would be good for even more support. If you ever don’t want to worry about support but still love the aegis spam, then swap Honor for Zeal, take Shattered Aegis, and swap your clerics/hpow for Soldiers and more power. They’re both really fun to play while bringing some of the zerg essentials.

You can’t just bump a days old thread and tell us how to think, you aren’t our mom

Scrapper have us a second 2H option in Hammer, and we have OH Pistol and Shield. We’re missing a 1H melee, power based option. Mace is the obvious choice for that (especially with the wrench skin), but Axe and Dagger could also fit in.

Torch would be a decent option thematically, but we aren’t lacking in burning, and it would still leave is with just Pistol.

Here we go. Another Espec contest.

Design Goals:
1. Increase Raid style dps without disrupting other game modes
2. Use existing mechanics in new ways
3. Callback to GW1
4. Create synergy among multiple traitlines

The Manipulator

Weapon:
MH Pistol

Dazzling Shot(Weapon Skill 1): Fire an incendiary bullet that bounces to foes behind your target [103 (0.5), 3/4s activation , 2 Bounces, 900u range]
Flash Powder(Weapon Skill 2): Fire a incandescent shot at your foe generating a Clone and granting Stealth and if it hits. [89 (0.2) , 1/2s activation, 3s Stealth, 15s cd, 900u range]
Ether Bomb(Weapon Skill 3): Plant a bomb at your location. After 1 second, it ignites [636 (0.65) , 1/4s activation, Launch 240u, 15s cd, 240u radius]

Utility Skills:
Stances

Inspired Stance(Heal):Heal yourself every second [1711 (0.35), 1/4s activation, 4s Duration, 30s cd]
Calculated Stance(Utility 1): Gain Quickness every second and deal 1% more damage each time you damage a foe [Quickness 1s, 15 Max Stacks , 4s stance duration, 5s stack duration, 40s cd]
Fevered Stance(Utility 2): Copy all incoming conditions to nearby foes [ 5 Targets, 240u, 4s Duration, 40s cd]
Persistent Stance(Utility 3): Remove Cripple, Chill, and Immobilize every second [4s Duration, 30s cd]
Prideful Stance(Utility 4): Foes that attack you are Taunted [Taunt 1s, 4s Duration, 40s cd]
Inspired Stance(Elite): Gain Protection, Resistance, and Aegis each second [Boon durations 1s, 4s Duration, 60s cd]

Traits:
Adept:
Gunslinger(Minor): You gain the use of Main Hand Pistol and Stances.
Wandering Eye(Major 1): Blind your foe when struck [Blind 3s, 15s cd]
Illusion of Haste(Major 2): Clones have Quickness when created [5s Quickness (unaffected by Boon duration)]
Drain Enchantment(Major 3): Steal a boon from your foe when you’re Disabled [1 Boon, 10s cd]

Master:
Residual Powder(Minor): Striking a blinded foe causes Burning [Burning 3s]
Revealing Hex(Major 1): Reveal nearby foes when you’re critically struck [6s Reveal, 30s cd]
Resolute Posture(Major 2): Stances last longer and grant Stability on use [2s more duration, Stability x1 6s]
Painful Shame(Major 3): Blind foes you interrupt and deal more Damage to Blinded foes [Blind 4s, 10% more damage]

Grandmaster:
Panic(Minor): Disabling an enemy deals damage to target foe and foes near your target after 1 second [308 (0.33) damage, 120u, 3 Targets]
Sum of All Fears(Major 1): Fear nearby foes when struck below 25% Health [Fear 2s, 240u, 60s cd]
Hypochondria(Major 2): Phantasms take conditions from you periodically [1 condition 10s cd per Phantasm]
Aneurysm(Major 3): Disabling an enemy causes Bleeding [Bleeding 2x 8s]

The idea behind Panic is that it should still work through a defiance bar (even if that might not exactly be the case currently). I don’t expect it would get too crazy with the current Mesmer offerings, as its designed to pair with specific traitlines for specific styles of build. I didn’t add an F5 or mess with the F1-4 because not every Espec will necessarily affect those (and I just didn’t want to try to shoehorn something in). I looked at the damage of skills under Berserker and Viper settings and the overall DPS looked alright, but I didn’t try to speculate how it would fit within more complicated parameters like full Raid buffs, wvw zergs, etc. Designing Especs is fun, and I’m glad there’s another contest like this.

Firearms and Bows existed with each other for centuries on the battlefield. In fact, firearms were the main reason plate-style armor became prominent. Likewise, A modern bullet-resistant vest will protect you from most firearm projectiles while it will do nothing against an arrow.

Grenadiers have existed in Europe since the 1600s, and in China possibly much earlier. Both the Chinese and Koreans tossed rockets onto arrays of arrows within those time periods. Firearms were first used in China in the 1100s, while first used by a European nation (England) in the 1300s. They became much more popular in the 1500s and have grown since. Plate armor wasn’t popular until the 1400-1500s and didn’t decline until the 1700s. The famous English Longbow featured its largest popularity during the 1300-1500s. During the American Revolution (1770s), there was support in giving the American militia Bows instead of Firearms because they were still considered the superior weapon (faster fire rate and more accurate over distance). The time period GW2 best relates to can easily fit within the intersection of Bows and Firearms being prominent weapons on the battlefield.

So after all that, yes. Engineers and Rangers can play nice.

ToF is literally a physical version of Purging Flames. You get the instant damage/condi application, and damage/application each time you cross while active. Likewise, ToF grants protection (against physical damage) while PF removes conditions and reduces condi duration. Their traits both grant reduced cooldown. Traps are given a small daze while Consecrations get to last longer.

There isn’t really an issue. Even if the main complaint is the instant damage, Smite Condition functions the same in that aspect and no one is complaining about that skill. There’s no reason skills can’t be/have certain things.

Deniara Devious.3948:

Guardian has always been TOP tier profession in WvWvW. Guardian has been WvWvW meta since Autumn 2012. Sometimes half of some zergs have been guardians. Don’t you think there should be place for a bit more diversity?

There is a point where its not your job to tell people how to play (specifically referring to balance changes).

This is not one of those points.

I only want Sword. Its all I care about. We’ll get the other interesting weapons soon enough, but I needs it now.

Neither Rifles nor Pistols have to be projectile slinging weapons. They could all be shotgun style cones.

Lahmia has it correct. They aren’t projectiles, therefore they don’t get absorbed.

They probably didn’t have them for reasons, but with the advent of elite specs, They’ll get them eventually. Perhaps even soon™.

The Targeting Shadow is game wide and a non issue. It’s not as if it literally changes the skill’s area. Even someone brand new to the game should be using the skills often enough that they can visualize their proper area of effect even if the game hasn’t updated the shadow yet

Tragic Positive.9356:

DPS drop vs 1H Sword is roughly 15% which makes no difference since Ranger DPS sucks regardless. You are there for buffs, not personal DPS.
(It is worth mentioning that the more damage you deal – the less damage all of you take and more time all of you save. So yes, GS is viable but S/A would end up being more viable in like 75% situations)

Isn’t the DPS difference even less because of Sword’s animation change? I remember hearing it dropped Sword’s dps by a somewhat significant amount which would bringthe two weapons even closer.

Using it just for boonstorm isn’t actually the intended design, and yet, that’s what got it knocked in pvp in the first place.

So here’s an even better solution:

Chop the boon duration down to 3s for everything.
Gain 3s Resistance on skill use
Pure of Voice and Trooper Runes then activate, clearing/converting conditions on allies
Then pull all conditions from allies to yourself and grant boons
Increase boon duration by 1s for every unique condition you transfer.

I can’t recall off the top of my head how increased boon duration would affect the “increase boon duration by 1s” clause, but there’s some room for more fine tuning. Perhaps the boons could all be 5s base, but increase by 0.5s per condition transferred. The idea of course, is that it becomes better by performing its primary function.

It was an odd trait in the way it functioned. It was most commonly seen with Unload and Sneak Attack, but it still functioned with other skills. Head Shot might daze one person, or it might interrupt 4 (and then there’s the interrupt traits created during this whole change). Using D/P meant you ran a Russian Roulette each time you teleported, while Ricochet didn’t function with P/D’s #3. Ricochet also didn’t bounce to a previously hit foe, meaning you only got the benefit by fighting 2+ targets in range. In addition, sometimes you wouldn’t want Ricochet to activate (like when pulling certain mobs from a group) or when using venoms near a targetable object (you’d just lose stacks that could otherwise be put on an actual target).

Which brings me to the next major point: Pistol was overlapping on Shortbow. During the massive trait change that removed Ricochet; traitlines, weapons, and other aspects became more specialized. In the case of Pistol, it was designated as the “single target burst” weapon, while Shortbow had a more visible role as the “aoe ranged utility” weapon. With their new and improved designations, both Pistol and Shortbow could be given changes that would matter to each of them, and also prepare them for HoT (which was in development at the time). Nigh zero pistol skills could be properly addressed while Ricochet was still around because of how it affected the skill functionality. Shortbow was kinda just doing the same things Pistols were doing to differing levels of effectiveness between them. With Pistol and Shortbow mechanically separated, they can more easily be tuned to their specific jobs and needs.

Anet gave an official reason that included the phrase, “preserving the purity of Pistol”, but it only served to get people more upset when they didn’t understand what was meant. P/P was considered a trash set when Ricochet was around, but now its pretty decent. P/D has kind of disappeared even though its effectiveness hasn’t dropped, and x/P doesn’t really need any help. Overall I’d say its been a net gain to remove Ricochet, even if it was fun.

Why would it feel scummy though? Even the old turret build for engis wasn’t bad in that way. It’s up to you as the player to not put yourself in situations where you’re severely disadvantaged. If you’re strolling along and someone says, “you’ve activated my trap card”, well gee whiz that’s how they skill is supposed to work.

People who call any build “cheese” or “brain-dead” can go suck a cactus. Don’t get kitteny when people aren’t following your phantom honor code.

It might be worth saying, with full Clerics, Instinctive Reaction , and Passion Fruit Tapioca Pudding , you can still have a healthy amount of Power (2213 in Exotics, no runes). Full Zealots will net you 2.5k Power in exotics while even Apothecary is going to give you 313 Power just from the conversion. 23% Hpow into Power is a pretty good gig.

Ooh nice, I’m liking how everything looks so far. What I like the most, is between Condi Longbow and the thematic ranger builds I’m most interested in, they basically share the same equipment with minor changes. Thanks to you both with your ideas.

So here’s something y’all can do to pass the time.

I’ve recently made my 3rd ranger (I’m in between having 2 or 3 of every profession atm) and I don’t exactly know what kind of build I want to run. The thing is, I both like trying new things, and I don’t like doing something I already have, so I want Ranger 3 to be unique compared to my others. Ranger 1 is already the condi raid/fractal meta build with axe and torch, and Ranger 2 is a wvw commander with Minstrel (GS+Sw/Wh, Marks/Nature/Beast).

I want to try a bunch of things that don’t necessarily fit together, so I’m asking y’all here in the Ranger forum to flex your theorycrafting muscles and come up with some builds I could try. The winner might even get a smidgen of a prize, depending on how my bank is looking (feeding 23 children characters is a tad expensive, and more are on the way).

Here’s what I’d like to try:
Longbow would be cool
I don’t have anything focused on really utilizing Druid
Traps are nifty
I also have a set of Runes of the Thorn (i.e. Poison focus) laying around that I can’t put on a Thief or Necro for reasons
I have condi glass and super tanky minstrel, so armor should be further away from those extremes.
I’d plan on using it mainly for messing around in wvw or open world pve

Lets see what y’all can come up with. It doesn’t even have to follow any of the above suggestions so long as its interesting enough.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some nominal damage on the wells, but the lifesteal is still there.

The boon duration/heal on heal are the two best aspects of the rune. I’m not sure why they’d be running it outside of that.

If you stack Might you can have some decent Bleed/Burning from Firearms and go mostly Power the rest of the way. Flame Legion runes work well with FT, and you should be able to get enough burning uptime for Rifle to take advantage of it.

I prefer Rifle over Bow in general, but I recently had two Warriors that heavily featured both ranged weapons. I’ve lost my Scorched Earth midliner and changed Killshot to hybrid Gunflame. Each weapon has some pretty good qualities.

Sifu.9745:

…i just can’t get used to that combination of heavy armor gear + Rifle. A knight using rifle … a bit weird even in fantasy game …

The time in real history when knights were wearing plate armor was the same time firearms were prevalent. Knights with Rifles (muskets really) are more historically accurate than not.

The dome would be the command skill, so you’d have more control when it’s active. The AI is probably fine. I’m sure it tells the weapons to get in range for their auto attack, but since Shield and Bow have none they sit in melee. With ranged autos they’ll likely start attacking at 900-1200 range just like Bone Fiend and Flesh Wurm.

Future elite specs will give Revs their needed options. For the moment we can work with what we have.

People invariably complained that GW2 Mes wasn’t GW1 Mes.

Anything else was secondary.

Azoqu.8917:

Nike,

[I’d] love to see what someone who plays more than 2 classes thinks.

You almost insult me, but Nike is a good option.

emkelly.2371:

I’ve actually explained this in great detail. do a forum search for my posts before you decide to say something like that. but here, for the hundred-thousandths time here is what is wrong with first Elite Specializations, then DH.

The Explanation

You should know better than to suggest a forum search. The guy in charge of it was probably sacked? years ago. But thank you for indulging me.

So it sounds like there’s a lot of conjecture, and a blinded view to the future of the game. I hear a lot of complaints about DH traps but nothing about Ranger or Thief traps specifically. They’re both equally effective at fulfilling their design. I also hear a bit about not being able to fight off point. Every class has methods to deal with off-point fighting. Neither Anet nor I are responsible for players refusing to use the tools they’ve been given. Its not like DH is universally dominating all forms of pvp interaction. This game is all about bringing the tools you need. Some are, and some don’t.

There are exactly 2 traps that are instant. Fragments of Faith and Test of Faith. Test of Faith’s initial cast damage is almost unavoidable, that’s true, but the threshold crossing damage is absolutely avoidable. If you get pushed or pulled into it, then you are outplayed. Being outplayed once doesn’t mean the fight is over.

Best case scenario, SoC grants you 19.4% block uptime. Add that to best case scenario 10 blocks per 36s from Fragments of Faith (which are mutually exclusive) and you don’t really gain a lot more block uptime than you had before, especially not with the large holes in your skill uses.

Sounds like you’re just upset at the skills Guardians were offered, many of which aren’t even related to DH. Not every class is going to have the same skills. That’s why Guardians have Renewed Focus and Warriors have all their stances. Guardians have Altruistic Healing, and Warriors have Adrenal Health. They might serve similar purposes, but they’re going to be different, and that’s how games are supposed to run. None of it is indicative of bad design. For curiosity’s sake, I’d love to hear your explanation of how poorly Berserker is designed.

So after thinking for a bit, here’s what I’d want from Spirit Weapons:

• They no longer die after their time limit is up. Between their casttime, recharge, and command skills, they act far closer to Necrominions than Gyros. This is the most impactful change while turning the least knobs.

• Sword has no changes

• Hammer auto-attack Stuns for 1s instead of Knockback. Command cooldown adjusted to 30s from new lifespan.

• Shield swaps auto-attack and Command skills. It will now bounce around granting Aegis to allies and Weakness to enemies. Command will be a ground targeted deployment of its absorption shield and retains its Stun Breaker. Shield Command now at 20s recharge because of new lifespan.

• Bow now fires a piercing attack at the targeted enemy (damage equal to Shield). Any allies that are hit are cleansed. Bow Command at 30s recharge due to new lifespan.

• Expeditious Spirit keeps its Spirit Weapon cooldown reduction and burn on attack, but loses its Command skill recharge reduction. Instead, Spirit Weapons drop a Fire Field (4s, 180u radius) that can cause burning (2s) when crossing the boundary.

There were some things I didn’t take into account, but for what I did look into, these are the mechanical changes I’d like to see from Spirit Weapons as they currently stand. I can already imagine the number of builds that could come out of these changes, and none of them should get out of hand.

There are situations where DH virtues perform better, but they’re not universally better like the rhetoric states.