Guild Wars 2

Airship was nerfed previously, but not enough.

Cloaking waters needs a much longer cooldown on the cloak once it is up IMO. You shouldn’t be able to reuse it again and again after going back into SMC.

@MasterElements.5023
Blighters Boon works with Spite’s minor trait that gives you might per hit , along with Infusing Terror.

It also synergizes with Sigil of Strength.

I don’t find shatter to be that great in WvW because of ascended stats and food/utility plus the amount of AoEs that pop the illusions. The amount of HP / armor a person has in WvW is more than in PvP so if you use Empowered Illusions, a Phantasmal Berserker + Mind Wrack follow up is only 11K or so unless it is an exceptionally glassy person.

Mind Wrack ~5K damage vs 2600 armor ; ~ 6K vs the standard 2200 armor ; ~7.6K if you run Mental Anguish (so +1.6K damage)

I think instead you want to play off Gravity Well as much as possible since if you run Power Block it’s another 1K or so damage, plus vulnerability from the interrupt. Without the Chaos line, mass invis and decoy aren’t as strong.

Chrono: Time Catches up , Illusionary Reversion , Seize the Moment
Domination: Empowered Illusions , Shattered Concentration, Mental Anguish (or Power Block)
Dueling (for clone generation & fury): Desperate Decoy , Blinding Dissipation, Deceptive Evasion

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vhAQNAR8ensICNqhlpBGpBEgiFVjqcCOutpuZj2slMAKgiD-TRSBQBNZ/hsoE7BXBgEq+TGVGAgHCQ+0NcGlgXRpxmBBgJEB8//3kkEpAKSrF-e

Staff or D/P Daredevil or Hammer Scrapper w/ Stealth gyro + PU condi chrono … because power + condi damage is much harder to deal with than just power/condi

Disregarding stealth tactics, likely something along the lines of a D/W Tempest and Druid.

I find DH to be poor for roaming because few skills that are meant for 5 allies work with 1 and Hunter’s Ward/True Shot is much weaker in a small group situation due to the animations. The same goes for Hammer Heralds.

Reaper is a good roaming profession for more than 2 people but it doesn’t have many ways to escape if things go south ; the lack of stability means it is easy to get locked down.

I still hide on my chrono even with the revealed debuff. It takes much more effort though.

Hammer rev

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQJAWin3gWNSuQrJRbo/ksP0gS4I6QJ4EdrkFNFiNMppNtFIANwugJshA-TlSBAB0s/glqrAwTAgSVKe4QAglyP81BgnmAKuAALqEkUARsMC-w

Dave.6819:

yeah.. i wanted to ask same question actually. well i run the same build like in pvp. herald/retri/devast. sword+shield / staff. but im having problems in wvw i just dont understand. i run almost full zerker. just abit of vitality bonuses. and outcome is totally different then in pvp. i get killed so quickly. and against someone like condi mesmer or condi revenant i dont have a chance in 1v1s. wuts the problem maybe anyone has an idea? isit because im not fully ascended? nor im really pushing the stats on top foods? or maybe i should try sword/shield + hammer? staff never really looked fun to me but so far staff really offers some extra survivability. in PvP with equivalent builds/ similar stats im quite okey. but in WvW its totally different story. any suggestions? what may be the problem?

You shouldn’t be running full zerker unless spamming hammer bolt + CoR

I agree wholeheartedly.

If a team takes a keep and “cba” to quick sweep it, they deserve to lose it to mesmers.

Mind Stab is a ranged skill on a low cooldown & AoE, so I don’t feel it needs to remove more boons. Maybe it could do 50% more damage if no boons are removed similar to Mind Spike.

If it removes more boons, it should only remove an extra one boon that it nonessential , such as swiftness or vigor and not protection/stability. Remember, it is a weapon skill not a utility skill. The only comparable skills are Unholy feast or Enfeebling blood.

i.e. remove one boon + swiftness

The ring is basically what would be a downstate

Anchoku.8142:

Yes, the new corruptions on scepter and dagger look like they are intended to punish players running too many passive or automatic boon generation.

Many condition and boon sources require no skill at all. I think Arenanet is trying to promote more strategy, tactics, and active play by penalizing boon spamming.

Actually scepter encourages MORE boon spamming because then you get cover boons. If your only boon is stability/protection then it is more likely that scepter auto will get it off.

OP:
Gravity Well —-- the most broken CC in WvW besides Hunter’s Ward , even more broken with Power Block or Mistrust trait
Chaotic Dampening —- protection on chaos armor wasn’t impressive, until every well became ethereal + Chaos Storm + Tides of Time + Feedback + Null Field , this ought to be hit with a higher ICD

Slightly OP:
(Inspiration trait) Restorative Illusions – this really should not heal with 0 illusions , I feel

UP:
Rending Shatter – it’s 1 vulnerability per illusion , so about 3 stacks every time you have a full shatter
Duelist’s Discipline : interrupting with a Pistol offhand is like playing russian roulette , so you’re looking at 25% recharge reduced with one interrupt
Shattered Strength: 1 stack of might is underwhelming unless you have scepter’s illusion spam
Ineptitude : not enough ways to blind without Blinding Dissipation for it to be useful
Phantasmal Swordsman: it makes a swordsman. wow.
All’s Well That Ends Well : nerf to alacrity, but this was never adjusted by 50-100%
Lost Time : it slows but you need to wail on someone and crit 5 times ; Chronophantasma and Seize the Moment are far superior almost all the time
Chaos armor (the skill): the recharge should be dropped by 5-10s after a Chaotic Dampening Adjustment
Mirror Images: Decoy is far better in almost every situation
Well of Action : 3 ticks of slow and mediocre damage , should have a recharge adjustment or some damage added
Well of Precognition: nerfed to the ground basically, Mantra of Concentration tends to be better due to mobility , recharge, more stability, and large radius
Mantra of Pain: is if for some odd reason you’re running power build and running a staff and need mediocre auto attack damage

Usability:
Evasive Mirror – breaks stealth
Fencer’s Finesse – duration of the ferocity stacks should be more than 6s
Master of Fragmentation – the cry of frustration shatter could use a tweak
Staff 1 / Winds of Chaos – improve speed of projectile
Phantasmal Disenchanter – needs to remove the boons/conditions once it casts and not take its sweet time doing it

Slightly OP:
Reaper’s Shroud 5 / Executioner’s Scythe – it’s a an ice field, giving frost aura w/ leap & blast finishers when normally necro doesn’t have it
Soul Spiral – the sheer amount of poison stacks on top of damage scaling & 300 AoE
Scepter auto’s putrid curse – was buffed a bit too heavily IMO
Path of Corruption (trait) – only when used with reaper
Lingering curse (trait) – duration and/or condi damage could use a cut
Augury of Death (trait) – could use a cut to recharge reduction per foe hit (as far as WvW)
Shivers of Dread trait – could use a cut in chill duration
Deathly chill – could lower base damage and move it to the scaling
Gravedigger – health threshhold

Underpowered:
Death shroud 4 / Life Transfer
Putrid Defense
Vampiric Presence – scaling wise
Spiteful spirit

Usability:
Death shroud 2 /Dark Path
Death shroud 5 / Tainted shackles
Dagger mainhand – should cleave (hit 3 targets) as it is melee
Plague signet – implode when passive effect is used in WvW.
Unholy martyr – no way to condi clear in shroud
Lich – show all utility cooldowns
Plague – show all utility cooldowns
Master of Corruption trait – Plague’s self Poison

Slightly OP:
Geomancer’s training
Soothing Ice when used with Powerful aura
Hardy Conduit
Elemental Bastion & Elemental Shielding with multiple aura sources (blasting/leaping is easy)
Sand Squall , when multiple eles use it
Static field – people claim it is OP in WvW due to lack of a target limit , duration, & unblockable
“Wash the Pain Away!” – the larger AoE heal with 600 radius ought to be reduced

Underpowered:
Rebound! – only used for proccing elemental bastion
Tempest’s Latent stamina
Scepter autos … should do less DPS than dagger but at the very least more than staff
Dragon’s tooth – the delay kills it
Fire traitline : One with Fire
Signets – should be 180 AoE in PvE
Tornado – noone uses it after it doesn’t affect Meteor shower

C’mon people, BDO is a farce until they change the cap on “grind mindless mobs” to upgrade items or make enchanting stat gains taper off sharply. If someone is higher geared due to grinding more hours, they can instagib multiple people at once in GvG. Overseas the enchant system goes to +20 already ; its PvP will die once they lose influx of players because of gear imbalance.

That is why I have always felt ascended items should have been normalized in WvW , btw. The weapons give +5% damage over exotics , for one.

^ Shadow arts is used in WvW for venomshare (Venomous Aura)

To start it off a bit…

UnderPowered traits I can think of
(Acrobatics) Vigorous Recovery – compared to the other traits you can pick it’s in need of help
(Trickery) Flanking Strikes – I feel the recharge is a bit hefty
(Acrobatics) Swindler’s equilibrium: 1% recharge reduction, really? So three dodges is 3% , this should be 5-10% per evade

Underpowered skills:
Smoke Screen – because Black Powder exists & this blocks (so many anti-block right now)
Dagger Storm – nobody seems to use this anymore, possibly due to 8s of not being able to do anything else
Surprise Shot – damage is really poor , maybe double damage below 600 range, triple damage if you are below 300 range
Unload – I’d like to see some burning at the end of it since Pistol does condi damage

Slightly OP:
(Daredevil) Unhindered Combatant – simply a nightmare to play against in WvW ; one trait just about replaces Acrobatics (a swiftness reduction would probably be fair as far as Expeditious Dodger)
(Daredevil) Pulmonary Impact – this makes Pistol offhand and sword mainhand much stronger , Hook Strike, Bandit’s Defense/Fist Flurry/Distracting Daggers also …. it’s only kept in check because it cannot crit

Core engineer or scrapper?

O.P. traits:
(Inventions) Bunker Down
(Alchemy) Protection Injection —- 5 cooldown makes it strong in WvW
(Scrapper) Adaptive Armor —- -20% condition damage when it also has up to +300 armor

slightly O.P. skills:
(Scrapper) Stealth gyro … up to 30 seconds uptime out of 40 second recharge
(Scrapper) Medic gyro … no cast time or prep time
(Scrapper) Thunderclap … stun and damage + range
(Scrapper) Rocket charge …. triple leap finisher
(Scrapper) Impact Savant

slightly U.P. skills:
Med Kit – give it some water fields… compare Health Insurance + Med Kit with an Ele water blast , Throw Accelerant should remove chill every time
Thumper Turret
Rocket Turret
Net Turret
Rifle Turret
Utility goggles’ toolbelt skill (analyze)
Battering ram/mine (see blast gyro)
A.E.D. toolbelt skill – give it shock aura.

U.P. traits:
Thermobaric Detonation
Stimulant Supplier

Usability-wise:
Elixir U – toolbelt skill randomness
Streamlined Kits – spells sharing the same cooldown
Mortar kit (hand health of using 1 skill)
Grenade kit (not damage or anything, just the hand health of using skill and having to target every time)

I understand that turret engineer was nerfed for PvP, but for PvE/WvW mobility is more important , turrets should be packable probably.

It’s only absurdly strong in WvW, not even PvP because blocking isn’t that constant and you don’t really run hammer in PvP. The amount of aegis flying around in WvW is MUCH higher than anywhere else.

This means Malicious Reprisal + Cruel Repercussions becomes ridiculous.

Maybe run apothecary with 1000+ condi damage? Making a power build will kitten you badly as you can’t afford to invest in ferocity too much (cleric/shaman/magi) and staff bleeds / mark of blood won’t do nearly as much.

condi , 1700+ heal power: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7dn0IC10g90AG3A83gDchimGtR0OH7yuKgDQAsAA-TFTFABBpEzTlgSp8Q9HAgdaGM4gAAgJufvAAyo+TS7PQnOgePCAkCwv5WA-w

condi (reaper) with 1k heal power: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW7dn0IC10g90AG3A0biFxBb6hFxCAUVgMQfKuAmAfgA-TVSEABBfFAE+gA4+DAwKlfKoE0l9HuX9HAMBhnuBSBsoYL-w

power: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAW3dn0IC10gt0AG3Ac4gDchieGtxzCHgAoFmjdZXFA-TVTBQBnSzgqUitKlGhzEHAV/BjKD03DAQQ6AswBB4ZXAAAcEAqgSQot/ApA8bqF-w

I don’t advise trying to run healing though.

I can explain how it is possible, but whether it is reasonable is up for debate.

If you had 3K armor it likely means you had vulnerability & they had full might stacks or Cruel Repercussions due to Aegis.

Cruel Repercussions = + 50% damage <—- needs nerf
Assassin’s Presence = + 10% critical damage ( + 150 ferocity)
Ferocious Aggression = + 7% with fury up
Targeted destruction = + 7% damage vs vulnerable target
Swift Termination =+ 20% vs <50% HP
Elder’s Force = +2% damage per boon (easily +10%)

Sigil of Force = +5%

It has a 2.4K-ish tooltip with 2600 Power ; 3K tooltip at 3100 power or so. You can easily get 200-220% crit.

Without swift termination:

2.4K * 1.07*1.07*1.5*1.1*1.05*2.2 ~10.5K vs 2600 armor or 9K vs 3000 armor

3K * 1.07*1.07*1.5*1.1*1.05*2.2 ~13K vs 2600 armor or 11K vs 3000 armor <—- with 20 might stacks (not 25)

It is affected by terrain though

The question is : why?

Arenanet already nerfed Elementalist visual effects

I am against having elementalists with boon strip

1. Revitalize stability and downgrade the amount of AoE CC effects on stability. i.e. Gravity Well/Hunter’s Ward , MAYBE Phase Smash (huge animation though)
1a. Hallowed Ground — 40-60s recharge (see well of precog …. which is a weaker skill than before , also fragments of faith)
1b. Balanced Stance --- reduced recharge to below 35s
1c. Inspiring Reinforcement —- reduced delay , reduce weakness duration, reduce energy cost

2. Reduce damage on <1 second cast piercing 1200 range skills on heavy classes (Revenant/Warrior/Guardian) to make melee worthwhile , give revenant a condi weapon with 900 range (shortbow/scepter?) since condi doesn’t have any interaction with ferocity

3. Tone down herald : Cruel repercussions, Roiling Mists (+20% crit chance is equal to 420 precision … maybe have a range limit of 600 for the double fury effectiveness so that it is only maximum crit chance for melee/close range OR have it only when not upkeeping a Facet/Impossible Odds), Fury application interval, etc

4. Improve warrior condition removal/resistance to help revitalize the frontine (i.e. “Shrug it off” trait should remove on 2 conditions , dogged march should give Health directly instead of regeneration , Fatal Frenzy should give superspeed for 1-2seconds). Scrapper has more damage-condition resistance than warrior, plus a water field and triple leap finisher ; Protection Injection + Perfectly Weighted + Mecha Legs is stronger than warrior’s Last Stand + Dogged March when there is THIS much CC.

• https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/warrior/sustain-outside-of-healing-needed

5. nerf elite specs across the board to core spec levels (Reaper, Scrapper, DH, Daredevil, Chrono, Druid/Tempest survivability-wise, etc) … the sales proposition for HoT has come back when the living story comes back

• for example wings of Resolve vs Virtue of Resolve…

6. Buffs to Revenant Ventari / Salvation line so that speccing into a support rev does more

7. Buff some skills that could be useful in WvW that are rather mediocre: Retreat for example could use a cooldown cut

8. Buff core necro Death shroud (except auto)

Arenanet doesn’t play WvW, right?

If you don’t want the trenchcoat look, look at the Glorious chestpiece , T1 human cultural (scout’s … http://gw2style.com/look.php?id=5364), or Duelist (see http://gw2style.com/look.php?id=3779) , and the ever common Illustrious (ascended). Then mix it with the numerous pants/gloves/shoes/etc.

Highlighted for emphasis on words:

Nerf Backstab? Meh, prefer S/D anyway, so much fun~ wait…

…If backstab gets nerfed, it’ll make thieves weaker. More classes will beat them. People will carry the idea in more fights. And a dagger mainhand isn’t one I often play anyway. It’s a nerf that doesn’t affect me. Meaning people will fight me thinking I’m nerfed but rage when I’m not. And the rage will be glorious.

So…

Yes. Nerf backstab please. >;D

No. Just because YOU don’t use it, isn’t a good reason to nerf one of the strongest weaponsets for thieves. (D/P)

That is terrible logic.

RedBaron.6058:

If you run fractals daily you get loads of ascended gear.

If you run WvW daily you get nothing.

WvW dailies are easier unless you’re on T1.

I’d be happy even if it was a once a week or once a month thing that you get ascended from WvW for badge of tribute/proofs/memories of battle in place of badges + gold.

A full set of exotic WvW armor , 5 Gold coin 44 Silver coin and 950 Badge of Honor.

I used to scout EVERY Night on Alpine BL. Desert BLs killed scouting:
1. by the time defenders come to the south half of the map on home BL, it’s gone.
2. when on a mesmer and it flips, you get marked for 5 minutes ; sentries give away your ninja squads sometimes
3. if you take a sentry and hold it, it eliminates most “surprises”

Now I only scout keeps when I see dots / swords if it’s not completely dead on Desert BLs.

I think this is a bug documented on the wiki

1. Bring invigorating flow in the Invocation line , hardening persistence in the herald line. Use staff instead of sword if you want more sustain.
2. Upkeep and energy cost are not the same, you can pop the upkeep skill before 2 seconds and use close to no energy. I typically pop Facet of Elements for Elemental Blast and Facet of Strength for Burst of Strength. You can also pop Facet of Nature for One With Nature.

Is this for PvE, WvW, or PvE?

Simonoly.4352:

WvW is all about instantly killing each other now. A Gunflame Warrior or a Staff/Sword Revenant could do the same damage in a similar time frame. You could be moving across a part of the map with no enemies but get instantly downed by a stack of DH traps. There’s no interesting fights to be had in WvW anymore. I recommend not playing it.

It isn’t about instakills. It’s just that these HoT-introduced piercing attacks such as Gunflame and CoR with Cruel Repercussions+Roiling Mists are over the top , which makes meleeing less apealing on heavy classes when you can play sniper-like roles with few disadvantages. DH have a similar thing in True Shot but there are significant disadvantages to running True Shot on a glassier DH (Marauder is more compromise) compared to a Herald or Berserker.

When a Herald can hit 3-5K on glassy necros with hammer bolt auto, you better believe that there’s going to be ranged spam everywhere.

^ Chrono has AoE quickness not AoE swiftness (other than focus Tempoeral Curtain + Signet of inspiration).

If you run reaper in WvW, I feel as though you want some condi damage.

Condi reaper is very strong with well of corruption/Nothing can save you, since you can spam conditions with staff/scepter as well. If you run Deathly Chill (Reaper) & Chilling Darkness (Curses) you can spam chill damage with Well of Darkness (as a substitute for power-based Well of Suffering). If you run Soul Reaping you get Dhuumfire on Shroud 1.

Chronomancer has been taken for veil, portal, Null field (when well of corruption is not there , also substitutes for well of power), Feedback, but most importantly : Gravity well (which is greatly amplified by Power Block).

Loosmaster.8263:

DeWolfe.2174:

psizone.8437:

Shield Generators shouldn’t be locked behind buying HoT, that was a stupid decision by Anet and one I hope they change.

Umm…. how are they “locked”? Can’t anyone buy them off the TP? Aren’t they available from the Siege Master for Badges or silver?

If I’m not mistaken, it’s a trait line that’s hidden.

IIRC if you don’t own HoT you can’t even get on a shield gen.

1. Fix Hunter’s Ward/Gravity well CCs so they don’t strip absurd amounts of stability.
2. Tweak 1200+ ranged skills with high damage and low cast +recharge time such as Gun flame, CoR (Cruel Repercussions,Roiling Mists), and True Shot

Yes ascended armor is time consuming if you hate PvE farming. If you want to gear out more than 3 characters of different weights (heavy, light, medium) prepare for a long process or a large premium on timegated materials.

The change after HoT makes me feel bad for anyone trying to make ascended armor. Damask patches require leather.

Ascended armor & weapons should have been given exotic stats but with the agony resistance slots instead of +5 stats IMO

Also ascended weapons/armor should have been normalized to exotic in WvW ; the alternative is to have them available t the WvW vendor for badges+gold.

Too many players use ascended as a crutch.

vesica tempestas.1563:

Carambola.1273:

vesica tempestas.1563:

I play wvw when I want to pvp and gather ranks, I play other content when I want to gather gold. Sorted.

Yes…I feel obliged to run fractals, meta events, sw, etc to have enough money to sustain my fun on WvW. This is not fair.

why? you don’t need gold for wvw.

Hahahahaha.

Gold for consumables (food, wrench)
Gold for ascended equipment (or exotics if you aren’t able to)
Gold for siege (alleviated by proof of heroics , but if you use more than a few catapults, good luck)
THOUSANDS of gold for guild upgrades
Gold for the OP dragon banners/airship/cloaking waters

Before the changes, you needed gold for repairs & upgrades too.

The biggest problem after heart of thorns is there is no way to earn new stat ascended trinkets other than story mode & raids. The story mode only gives one configurable amulet , the rest are maruader stats (power+precision , vitality/ferocity minor stat).

If only Vial of Salt could give those other stats (viper/trailblazer’s/commander’s/vigilant/etc).

The mesmer didn’t kill you in one hit, … what are you complaining about again?

The only OP Mesmer skill in WvW is Gravity Well , because of the amount of stability it removes.

Portal, Veil, Time Warp, Null Field, Feedback require proper use and situation.

Swagger.1459:

I’m all for those achievements to offer something, but in the time a player accomplishes just one of those, someone else could be fully geared out in ascended.

There should be a way to purchase all ascended gear. Also the devs should make special looking legendary armors and backpieces and weapons… just for the pvp side of the game.

You need to salvage ascended items for legendary armor though.

Also it is common for WVwers to have ascended weapons but not multiple ascended armor for every class. Weapons tend to be more transferrable than armor , mainly since everyone runs similar setups per weapontype but the armor runs the full spectrum of setups. For example, Berserker’s Greatsword or Viper’s Scepter/Torch can be used on multiple classes.

RedBaron.6058:

Compare WvW rewards with fractals rewards and you will cry in desbelief…

My brother played PvE and only does WvW for land claimer/camp capture/warg and in a few months got a legendary precursor and the resources for every ascended weapon.

Better WvW rewards should be not dependent on killing wargs or harpies (or oasis), plus more should have been given to those with WvW titles.

For example , change the Battle Historian and WvW tournament claim tickets to “WvW claim tickets”:

Fixer Upper = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian for 250 badges + 250 proof of heroics + 250 memories of battle

Yakslapper = 1 ascended weaponchest available at the Battle Historian for 250 proof of heroics + 250 memories of battle

Immovable Object = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian

Leader of the Yak = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian

Camp Counselor = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian

Keep Guard = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian

Tower Guard = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian

Royal Guard = 1 ascended armorchest available at the Battle Historian

Kingmaker = 1 ascended weaponchest available at the Battle Historian

Tower Toppler = 1 ascended weaponchest available at the Battle Historian

Plays for Keeps = 1 ascended weaponchest available at the Battle Historian

Unhappy camper = 1 ascended weaponchest available at the Battle Historian

Unstoppable Force = 1 ascended weaponchest available at the Battle Historian

Ultimate Dominator = 2 ascended weaponchests available at the Battle Historian (the requirement had not been changed from the original)

Compare it to PvE:

Ascended Armor Chest — completing the Ambrite Weapon Collection achievement
Ascended Armor Chest — completing the Bioluminescence achievement
Ascended Armor Chest — completing the Leystone Armor achievement
Ascended Weapon Chest — completing the Machined Weapons achievement

Even if you farmed the WvW achievements during OCX/SEA time , it would still take much more time than just PvEing raids/fractals or even Silverwastes (ascended wepaon is around 70g-100g ; ascended armor is around 50-100g).

OP, be glad you don’t have to pay to repair your armor or to upgrade structures.

It does but it really shouldn’t given how much chill there is now.

I would think having it affect overload only would be fairer. It would keep elite specs in line with core. You don’t want to buff elite specs IMO

IMO Complaining about a melee range glass thief when you didn’t instadie , is year 2014 complaints. Even more so when backstab is a 2.4 multiplier in comparison to newer OP skills.

We have more pressing issues like instakills from 1200 range that don’t require positioning.

energy, because it was nerfed in PvP but not Wvw.

Bonus points if you run evasive arcana, but most people use tempest so they don’t usually run arcane as much.

Cruel Repercussions + Assassin’s Presence + Roiling Mists.

You might also have had vulnerability

PvP rewards get colluded every single day with daily rooms, to a FAR greater extent than WvW rewards ever were/will be.

Uncommon WvW builds:
Engineer / Scrapper not using Hammer
Mesmer non Chrono
Warrior w/o banners
Ranger not druid
Necromancer w/o wells or Reaper
Thief not daredevil
Revenant not Herald

…

IMO Herald is the best if you aren’t using utilities. You can just spam CoR and keep fury up.

EoTM is faster if you just want to get lvl 14 WvW rank

Without herald spec I’d suggest going on a HoT hero point train. You not only lose out on glint , but also on boon duration, hardening persistence (very strong with vengeful hammer when front-lining), shared empowerment (very strong with impossible odds), elder’s force.

You’d probably be best with Shiro+Dwarf , Staff+Hammer or sword+sword, provided you have a source of fury /might/swiftness. Mallyx is for condi so you wouldn’t make full use of it since there’s nothing to swap to from mace+axe.

I think that the shield trait could use some tweaks instead of adding block to shield 5. Shield 4 is already a block (via aegis).

Shield 5 ought to mitigate damage from conditions (burn/bleed/torment/confusion/poison) by 15-30% or something while up, resistance is just another boon to get corrupted. Blocking projectiles is only going to help stop incoming damage that isn’t conditions applied so rather than as a condi clear it can be a brief respite from condi damage too.

Having it act as a personal block turns it from projectile/ranged damage avoidance to melee hate as well.

Silberfederling.9302:

Infusion.7149:

This is a bumped thread from months ago…

morrolan.9608:

Armor needs to be at least 3000 for frontline.

^ still holds true

---

That said I would take Stealth gyro over mortar kit for a frontline (preference), you can take over warrior duty for ressing as needed & also disrupt enemy veil pushes. I’d also go with Elixir B for the stability on the toolbelt skill.

@ RudyTjhia.7250 , with the amount of CCs flying around, Projection Injection is VERY strong. I’d take that over Invigorating Speed and use Adrenal Implant instead of Gadgeteer

So i would really like to see you ressing 5 downs covered in heavy CC and rangebombs. You know, 5 at once not 5 guys that tried to safe their butts by breaking out of line. Take 5 guys at once out of harm’s way and please make a vid. Warrior is down but trust me the day you guys replace warrior in it’s entirety is when i sit on klovans wall dropping my heavy armor and wait for a slow death by trebuchet.

II don’t know if you’re trying to be facetious.

If you need to res one downed player and aren’t getting focused, function gyro gets the job done (i.e. stacking for water or reforming up) and stealth gyro can help with getting people up without instantly imploding when you aren’t in an AoE bomb. I’ve seen people call for banner when only one guy goes down because they’re out of formation.

If you have 5 downs you should be using warrior banner because your group probably ate a ton of AoE. Given enough AoE poison even warrior banner isn’t going to help.

Scrapper offers protection, stealth, stability, regen, ranged ressing by gyro, lightning+water fields, etc. It can take the spot of an extra warrior , guardian, or rev when you aren’t playing in megablob environments.

Jski.6180:

This is how i see it ele is no longer a jack of all trades class at any point in the game you can at best only build one way all in support for pvp/wvw and all in dmg for pve/wvw. I am not sure why ele was pushed to this but most other classes seem to be able to do good if not great dmg and support very well and tank well too.
I think eng/scraper is a good point of what a jack of all trades class should look like. Ele as a class lacks major tools that eng has stealth or evasion skill more then 2 types of condition dmg and the abitly to give others and them self powerful boons.
Yes ele is very viable as highly specialized builds but that not the ideal behind ele and it seems that not the way its been buffed / nerfed. Ele is no longer a jack of all tirades class and to try to play as if it is your going to be a “trash” tier set up.

It’s a symptom of being responsible for points. Elementalists and thieves generally need to stay mobile due to low base HP pools.

Also celestial amulet is gone.

I think scrappers (and elite specs in general, such as reaper, DH , druid , and to a lesser extent daredevil and chrono) are slightly overtuned but that’s a separate topic.

But in no way are eles “trash tier” unlike the sensationalist thread title would have you believe.

Mainhand:
Scepter is the one weapon I’ve never bothered with. It’s meant to be spikey, but the spike isn’t easy to pull off IMO. The auto is terrible on every element unless you’re running condition damage but if you go full condi with no ferocity, air is ridiculously weak & so are phoenix, lightning strike, hurl. Dragon’s tooth & shatterstone have delays too.

Staff is my favorite because of static field, 2 water fields (plus a small heal with auto) with eruption to blast it, pretty much permanent fire field with lava font , meteor shower on large groups of trash mobs (the cast time is minimal with quickness) , gust knockback, windborne speed chill/immob removal. It was sad when they nerfed fireball visually into more of a flare.

Dagger has more DPS while auto-ing on air (lightning whip) but also respectable damage from fire (dragon’s breath, burning speed also) as well as water’s cone of cold. It’s a faster weapon with more chances to get auras since you can go d/w,d/f, or d/d. Condi damage amplifies damage but is not a requirement for decent damage.

Offhand:
Warhorn : standout skills are heat sync & sand squall , has water field
Focus: obsidian flesh & magnetic wave ; small AoE daze & projectile hate
dagger: fire + earth attunements for damage , air for mobility/launch, water for condi clear/aura

Laraley, you’re confusing viable with optimal

Eh, which ranged AoE skills did you have in mind?

DH Long bow 5 / Hunter’s Ward … 360 radius barricades
Ranger barrage (DPS + cripple, not spikey, 2+ activation) … 360 radius

DH Longbow 4 / Symbol of Energy
Revenant Hammer 3 / Phase Smash …. 240 radius with chill
Revenant Hammer 5 / Drop the Hammer – not that high damage and huge animation … 240 radius
Chrono Gravity Well … broken CC , 240 radius
Chrono well of calamity = 240 radius
Necro Well of Suffering = 240 radius
Necro Well of Corruption = 240 radius
Necro Well of Darkness (no damage unless you run Reaper Chill damage trait and Chill on blind) = 240 radius
Necro Marks (mostly condi , all 240 radius)
Necro scepter 2 Grasping dead (240 radius)
Necro dagger 5 Enfeebling blood (240 radius) … boon corrupt
Necro Lich form 2 / Marked for death (360 radius)
Mesmer Null field – 240 radius
Mesmer feedback – 240 radius
Mesmer time warp – 360 radius
Ele Fireball (180 radius)
Ele Ice Spike (300 radius, very slow delayed attack)
Ele Frozen ground 300 radius
Ele Lava Font (180 radius, it’s DPS over 4 seconds not spikey)
Ele Meteor Shower (360 radius, it’s 2+ activation, 20 recharge, not that spikey, and obvious animation)
Ele Eruption (300 radius, delayed attack)
Ele Dragon’s Tooth (180 radius, stupidly slow, obvious animation) … lol.
Ele Phoenix (240 radius , very flashy)
Ele Shatterstone (180 radius)
Ele cyclone (240 radius)
Ele wildfire (180 radius)
Ele arcane wave (360 radius)
Mesmer mind stab (240 radius)
Mesmer chaos storm (240 radius)
Guardian Symbol of Swiftness (it’s DPS not spikey)
Scrapper Hammer 5 Thunderclap – 240 radius
Warrior Longbow 3 Arcing Arrow – 240 radius
Engineer mortar kit – 240 radius ; 360 radius orbital strike
Engineer grenade kit – 120 radius each grenade (unreliable)
Engineer mine – 240 radius
Engineer rocket turret toolbelt skill – 240 radius
Scrapper purge gyro (toolbelt poison cloud)- 300 radius
Scrapper Blast gyro – 240 radius
Ranger & DH traps – 180 radius, 240 effective …. edit for clarification : when precasted in stacks
Ranger muddy terrain (utility) = 240 radius
Thief Shortbow 2 Cluster Bomb = 240 radius
Thief Shortbow 4 Choking gas = 240 radius poison 4 pulses
Guardian scepter 2 Smite = 200 radius

…. might have missed some stuff but you get the point.

edit: also I think the 1200 range line attacks with piercing that do not have red circles are far worse , due to hitting backliner and frontline at once:
Herald CoR w/ Cruel Repercussions + Facet of Darkness + Assassin’s Presence + Roiling Mists
Berserker Gunflame
DH True Shot when running less tanky
not as extreme : Warrior Fan of Fire, Warrior Volley (kept in check by the cast time), Ranger Poison Volley