Guild Wars 2

Warrior

Strength
+ Minor: Same
+ Falling dmg trait, Physical Training (Physical skills deals more dmg based on Adrenalin level, eg Rampage)
+ Bodyblow (CC causes weakness and bleeding), Forceful Greatsword (grant might on crit, deal more dmg, recharge faster)
+ Berserker’s Power (more dmg on Burst Skills), Distracting Strikes (4 confusion on cc), Axe Mastery

Arms
+ Minor: Unsuspecting Foes (+ 50% crit chance on stunned foe), Attack of Opportunity)
+ Berserker’s Fury (fury when striking foe <25%HP), Signet Master (cast Signet of Might on foe <50% HP), Deep Strike (Fury boosts more condi dmg)
+ Rending Strike (+ Swiftness), Opportunistic, Blade Master (Sword skills, + crit chance)
+ Burst Precision, Furious, Dual Wielding (increase dmg and attack speed)

Defense
+ Minor: Same, Spiked Armor
+ Shield Master (+ gain might when blocking), Dogged March, Armored Attack (Toughness -> Power)
+ Last Stance (gain Blance Stance + Vigor when getting CC), Cull the Weak (5% more dmg on Weakened foe, deal weakness), Cleansing Ire
+ Sundering Mace (Mace skills), ROusing Resilience (Heal when breaking stun)

Tactic
+ Minor: Same first two, outgoing healing increase
+
+ Burnign Arrow (Dual Shot burns, long bow skill recharges faster)
+ Powerful Synergy (leap finisher activates twice), Vigorous Shouts (combined), Phalanx Strength

Discipline
+ Minor: Same first two, swapping gain might
+ Warrior’s Sprint (Movement skills break immobilization), Vengeance (combined)
+ Destruction of the Empowered, Brawler’s Recovery
+ Merciless Hammer, Burst Mastery, Heightened Focus (4s Quickeness when foe is below 50%)

Healing signet: passive healing reduced, active healing grants Resistance 6s (immune to condi)

@Jerus: There will be no traits that allow spirits to move. The dev said that they cull spirit zoo entirely.

Ranger

+ Troll’s Unguent: Survival, Heal As One: Shout
+ Trap has 0.5 sec delay on activation after cast

Markmanship
+ Minors: no change
+ Enlargement (SotW on 25% HP), Predator’s Instinct, Beastmaster’s bond (cast Call of Arms when swapping pet)
+ Beastmaster’s Might (activate signet refreshes Opening strike and grants might, signet cd reduced)
+ Predator’s Onslaught (added Daze and Stun), Remorseless (gain Opening Strike on gaining Fury)
+ Lead the Wind (long bow 3 traits in 1: Recharge, Atk speed, Pierce)

Skirmishing
+ Minor: no change
+ Sharpened Edges (Bleeding on crit), Trapper’s Defense (Spike trap on revive), Most Dangerous Game (gain recurring 6 Might at 50% HP)
+ Primal Reflex (Vigor on evade), Spotter, Trapper’s expertise (longer duration, shorter recharge, bigger area)
+ Quick Draw (Reduce 66% cd time of the next skill after weapon swap), Light on Your feet (Dmg and condition increase while moving, shortbow skills), Strider’s Defense (50% chance to destroy projectiles on melee attack, sword skills)

Survival
+ Bark Skin (50% less damage when HP >90%)
+ Ambidexterity (Condi buff on torch or dagger, torch and dagger skills), Expertise Training (Pet)
+ Oakheart Salve (+ 5% less damage under effect of regen, shorter cd), Shared Anguish, Troll’s unguent
+ Wilderness Knowledge (combined all Survival traits+ casting Sharpening Stone), Poison Master (pet deals 2 stacks of Poison after swapping, poison dmg increase)

+ Lingering Magic (Boon applied last longer)
+ Bountiful Hunter (more dmg per boon), Nature’s Wrath, Healer’s Celerity
+ Evasive, Vigorous Training (gain vigor when swapping pet), Windborne Notes (Call to Arms gains Regen, warhorn recharge),
+ Nature’s Vengeance (skills activated on killed and are larger), Protective Ward (gain Protection and deal Weakness on getting hit, 12s cd)

Beastmaster
+ Minor: Pets move faster, deal more dmg, swapping and pet skills recharge reduced
+ Resounding Timbre (Shouts applies Regen, Swiftness, cd reduced)
+ Two-hand training (Gsword and Spear skills), Nature Healing (pet get regen and heal)
+ Beastly Warden (Pet taunts foe on f2), Zephyr’s Quickness (pet swap grants quickness and might), Honed Axes (Winter’s bite becomes AoE, Axe skills)

Baseline: Spirits no longer move

Necro

+ Death’s Embrace (merge downstate, downstate nerfed), Siphon Power (might on hit when enemy is at 50% HP)
+ Reaper Might, Bitter Chill (+ 5 vuln on chill)
+ Spinal Shiver, Death Shiver, Axe Training (+ 10% dmg on crippled foe, cd reduced based in hit)
+ Signet Master (cast signet of Locust, TBD), Spiteful Spirit (cast Unholy Feast when entering DS)

+ Minor:
+ Barb Prec + Haemophilia merge, Toxic Landing (falling), Chilling Darkness)
+ Banshee’s Wail, Path of Corruption
+ Lingering Curst (condi duration increase), Parasitic Contagion (15% condi dmg heals u), Terror

+ Minor: + Toughness on DS, + 20% DS generation, Beyond the Veil (protection when leaving DS)
+ Putrid Defense (-10% dmg from poisoned foe)
+ Deadly Strength (7% toughness -> Power, 2x amount in DS)
+ Necro Corruption (minions deal more dmg and transfer condi on hit)

+ Minor: Full of life (cd reduce), Vampiric (minions siphon health for u), Blood to Power (healing increases under 75% HP)
+ Mark of Evasion, Bloodthirst
+ Quickening thirst (move faster, cd reduced), Transfusion
+ Vampiric Rituals (3 well traits in 1, ground targeting becomes baseline), Deathly Invigoration (enter DS heals in an AoE)

+ Minors not changed
+ Unyielding Blast, Soul Marks (staff skills), Speed of Shadows (increase movement, reduce recharge)
+ DS skills recharge + decay reduction merge
+ Foot in the Grave (breaks stun), Dhummfire (no icd),

Baseline: Minion recharge reduced, Focus range skils, Burning stacks intensity

Mesmer

Domination
+ Minor: Fragility (+ 10% dmg on vuln foes)
+ Confounding suggestion (100% chance), Empowered Illusion (15%)
+ Shatter (no change), Blurred Inscription (+ Signet cd reduce), Furious Interruption (gain quickness 3s)
+ Gsword Training (+100 power, 2% cd reduce per hit), Mental Torment (25% more dmg, 50% more dmg on foes not using skills), Powerblock (interrupt deal dmg + weakness, enemy skill has increased cd)

Dueling
+ Minor: Vigor on crit, Confusing Combatant (1 Confusion on crit)
+ Phan Fury (10s cd), Desperate Decoy (on getting hit at 50% HP), Duelist trait (33% chance to bleed, dmg + 20%, Interrupting recharge pistol skills)
+ Blind foe on shatter, Evasive Mirror(reflect on evade, 1.5 sec), Blade Training (+ 50 prec)
+ Harmonious Mantra (3 stacks, activating gives 1 stack of ferocity bonus), Mistrust (interrupting creates Confusion AoE on target), Deceptive Evasion

Chaos
+ Gain regen on low HP, Chaotic Persistence (increase 3% boon + condi duration on each boon applied to u)
+ Master of Manipulation (+ activate Mirror 2s after skill used)
+ Chaotic Dampening (+ protection on Chaos Armor, staff cd reduced in Chaos Armor)
+ Chaotic Interruption (immo on foe, might on u, extra condi/boon on pulse), PU (Stealth duration + 100%), Bountiful Disillusionment (shatter gains stab plus a boon)

Inspiration
+ Persisting images (Retal + 20% more HP), Protected Phantasm (Phants gain distortion on creation), Phant Healing (grant regen on allies, Healing +100/Illusion )
+ Medic’s Feedback, Mender’s Purity, Vigorous Revelation
+ Warden’s Feedback, Compounding Celerity (move faster)
+ Shattered Condition, Illusionary Inspiration (cast Signet of inspiration on summon illusion), Temporal Enchanter (Glamour last 2s longer, grants Super Speed on crossing)

Illusions
+ Shattered Strength (grant might per illusion, shatter cd reduced)
+ Persistence of memory (shatter recharge all phantasm skills), The Prestige (torch skills)
+ Sum of Fears (apply Torment on 5 stacks of Confusion), Phant Haste, Malicious Sorcery (scepter skills, Torment deal 50% more dmg)
+ Blinding Befuddlement (Confusion causes Blind, last longer), Master of Fragmentation (shatter skills), Maime of the disillusions

Mass Invi: Manipulation
Time Warp: Glamour

Baseline: Protective Mantra, Illusionary Persona
Retaliation traits removed
Signet of inspiration: guaranteed swiftness + another boon

engi is getting disgustingly buffed x)

Engineer

+ Hobosack changes to handheld bundles. Grenade sac, med wrap
+ Med kit first two skills change, 1st = Healing Breeze, 2nd = a turret which buffs area, 3rd= syringe
+ Mortar kit is an equippable, longer range rifle which shoots 5 aoe fields
+ No fields on grenade skills
+ Engi has 5th Toolbelt skill for elite skill
+ Supply crate = Turret category

Explosives
+ Evasive Powder Keg (dodge bomb), Steel Packed Pwder, Explosive Powder (dmg + 10%)
+ Grenadier (radius and velocity, extra grenade is default), Explosive Rocket Belt (proj on hit 33% chance), TBD
+ Damage vs Target with Vuln, Explosive Descent (Fall dmg), Short Fuse (only Bomb)
+ Mortar Field (last longer + f5 is a barrage, skill 1 on kit is a blast finisher), Shrapnel (+ cripple), Evasive Powder keg (blast finisher on dodge)

Baseline: Accelerant Packed Turrets, Forceful Explosive (+radius), pistol 1 + rifle 5 become explosions.

Firearms
+ Sharpshooter, Target the Weak, Target the Maimed
+ New pistol trait (condi), + Crit change at <600 r, Precise Sights + Infused Precision merge
+ Rifle/Speargun (+ dmg, -cd), Crit to Condi conversion, Robo legs (reduced cripple, immob, chill, + swiftness duration)
+ Modified Ammunition, Juggernaut (pulsing stab, 1 stack/3s), Incendiary Powder + Napalm Specialist merge

Baseline: Rifled Barrels, Coated Bullets

I LOVE THIS DEV. HE MAKES MY LIFE SO MUCH EASIER!!! <3

Gonna verify it with Dulfy’s note later but Earth line seems purely on defense now. Arcana line is very very niche :’(

Engi is next.

Guardian

(Zeal)
+ Symbolic Power
+ Wrathful Spirit,Fiery Wrath,Zealous Scepter (Might on Justice), Blinding Jeopardy (vuln on immo), Zealous Blade, Kindled Zeal
+ Expedious Spirit, Symbolic Avenger(+20% dmg on symbol), Aegis Shatter (aegis deals dmg on removal

+ Renewed Justice, Radiant Power
+ Inner Fire (fury on 3 stacks of Burning), Right-hand Strength (crit chance +15% + sword skill cd reduced),
+ Wrath of Justice (immo on active Justice), Radiant Fire (Zealot’s Flame + Torch cd reduced)
+ Amplified Wraith, Perfect Inscription, Radiant Retaliation (retal scaled on condi)

+ Valorous Defense (aegis at 50% HP), Courageous Return, Might of the Protector
+ Strength of the Fallen, Smiter’s Boon (remove condi on healing), Focus Mastery
+ Monk’s Focus (Medi 2-in-1), Altruistic Healing, Retributive Armor

+ Vigor precision, Selfless Daring, Purity of Body
+ Honorable Staff,
+ Pure of Voice (+cd reduce), Writ of Persistence (3-in-1), Force of Will

+ Concregration ground by default
+ Virtuous Mallet (hammer applies slow on 33% hit, cd reduce)
+ Healing Breeze = Shout

Thief

+ Serpent’s touch, Lotus Strike (Weaken on Poisoned foes)
+ Dagger Training(5% on poisoned foes), Mug, Trap respite
+ Panic Strike, Trap CD reduce by 10 sec, Revealed Training,
+ Potent Poison (poison deals more dmg), Improvisation (use stolen items, not bundles), Executioner

+ Unrelenting Strike, First Strike
+ Side Strike, Signets of Power, Combo Critical Chance
+ Sundering Strikes, Practiced Tolerance, Ankle Shot (pistol dmg increased on crippled foes),
+ Ricochet, Hidden Killer, Invigoration Precision

+ Last Refuge, Resillience of Shadow
+ Merciful Ambush, Concealed Deafeat,
+ Shadow Protector(regen in stealth), Descent of Shadow (steal grant stealth), Leeching Venoms (grant might, + 1 stack and siphon)
+ Cloaked in Shadow, Shadow’s Rejuvenation (+ health/initiative), Venomous Aura (+ recharge reduced)

+ Feline Grace (2 sec of Vigor on evade),
+ GM line: Hard to catch (Break Stun + endrance on disabled), Don’t Stop (random evade projectiles under effect of Swiftness)

+ Steal line: Caltrop, Haste,
+ Trickster, Pressure Striking (Torment on interrupt),
+ Sleight of Hand, Bewildering Ambush (5 Confusion on steal)

Jerus.4350:

Where might one find all this info Zenith? For someone stuck at work and can read but can’t watch stuff.

My crappy note:

Elementalist:

+ Blasting Staff is default, culled from traits

+ Minor: Flame Barrier(fire shield on swap), Sunspot, Burning Rage
+ Major I: Burning Precision, Conjurer, Power Overwhelming (condi-> power)
+ MAjor II: Pyro’s Training, One with Fire, Burning Fire + cantrip grants Might)
+ Major III: Persisting Flame(+ Lava Tomb), Pyro’s Puissance, Blinding Ash

+ Adept: Zephyr’s Speed, Lightning Strike, Weak Spot
+ Zephyr’s Boon, One with Air, Ferocious Winds (Ferocity from Healing)
+ Aeromancer’s Training, Inscription(+ Glyph cd reduce), Tempest Defense
+ Fresh Air, Bolt to the Heart, Lightning Rod

+ Adept: Stone Flesh, Geo’s Defense (less damage at <600r)
+ Earth embrace, Serrated stone, Elemental shielding
+ Diamond skin, Written in stone, Stone Heart
(lost 2 dmg modifiers Stone Splinter, plus GM minor)

+ Water: Bountiful Water 2%

+ Arcane Fury, Lingering Attunement, Arcane Prec(crit applies condi)
+ Arcane Energy (cd reduce + restore endurance), R-Stamina, Abatement
+ Final Shielding, Ele contingency, Arcane Resurrection
+ Elemental Atunement, Evasive Arcana, Elemental Surge

Could miss a lot as they skimped through the line too fast.

Jerus.4350:

It’s 5 stacks as a cap, there is no known timer cap.

If you have 5 Engi’s all do “toss elixir S” you’ll get 5sX5 for theoretically 25s, in my tests it seemed we would get 24s and quickly tick over to 23s in less than a second. So we had time “lost” somewhere. But yeah, you can stack quite high.

Curious, how does SR work? Does it just strait tick on the 5 stacks of stealth? or does it just keep you stealthed while in it, then at the end place a large stack of stealth on top?

And as Iris pointed out, you lose time while blasting, esp if you let a thief blast all of them in smoke screen. So the idea of 5X meld with shadows being 20s is a bit unreasonable unless you have 5 thieves all tossing a blast in at the same time. And with that, as I mentioned on Elixir S it seems you often lose a second for no real reason.

The second that seems “lost” is due to how the game counts stealth to 0th second before you get revealed. In that case, a duration of 5 seconds would start counting from 4th to 0th.

Meld in Shadows doesn’t affect blasting stealth.

Each blast is 3 sec of stealth, but stealth counts to 0. So techinically, the first blast would always appear as 2 sec. 5 blasts yield 15 sec of duration and will appears 14 s on the tooltip.

Traited Blinding Powder will add an extra 4 sec on top
=.="

Zelyhn Lekovitch.2867:

Yeah but necro can’t PvE :>

Ok fine, you win this one

Bleeding love.

Dub.1273:

Iris Ng.9845:

The fun comes after being effective at a certain role in team fight. Pulling one’s own weight is what makes a build viable. In comparison, if the ele isn’t either damage or sustain, they become a liability in the competitive scene. It is much much worse in PvE.

Yeah, poor elementalists only deal about twice as much damage as warriors.

And for the first part, there is always only one optimum. For warrior, when choosing something else, you only lose one foot. The ele loses a whole leg. Makes both unsuited for a running competition, though.

That’s why I said ele is being limited by choice. It’s less forgiving and people tend to go down an easy path, which is meta build. And there is no optimal outside PvE.

The new trait rework may become interesting though. We can see different variance of 6 in Air, then we have 66060 and 66600 both work. If they change Arcana in a meaningful way, any combination of xxxx6 may produce something worth considering. Arcana has never had a damage modifier; if only they could put one there and alleviate the concentration of support and defensive traits…

I choose to believe in Tobi. So yeah, blasting is capped :p

Each blast contributes to 2 sec of stealth, not affected by Meld with Shadow (except for Blinding Powder). Stealth decays so fast that 6 consecutive blasts (Cluster Bomb) will only result in 8 sec of stealth and 13-14 sec with Blinding Powder. So it requires multiple sources of blast to have higher stealth up time.

Hannelore.8153:

Try actually playing an Ele. In most of those roles, they die in one hit.

Don’t get hit

Wethospu.6437:

Fixed those.

Anyways, do someone know how stack limits exactly work? With 25 might, do new might replace the oldest stacks? With duration stacking like stealth or swiftness, are extra stacks ignored while you are capped?

I never see more than 13 s of stealth with blasting alone so I guess extra stacks ignored.

Edit for clarification.

Ryn.6459:

when should I dodge? When he turns or when the arrow is already fired?

• Burning Shot
  Cast time: 3/4 sec
  Cool down: 3 sec
  Aggro range: 0 – 800

• Wing Buffet
  Cast time: 2.5 sec
  Cool down: 15 sec
  Aggro range: 0-300
  Knock back distance: 300
  Affected angle: 360 degree

• Dive
  Cast time: 1.5 sec
  Cool down: 15 sec

• Fire Storm
  Instant cast
  Cool down: 12 sec

Source: Atoi and his magic pocket
http://i.imgur.com/fwJ2J8D.png
http://i.imgur.com/hYfYGMS.png
http://i.imgur.com/ZL21OJ1.png
http://i.imgur.com/ylrmM8e.png

I can see your point there. Hopefully tomorrow’s Ready Up will reveal more information about the trait change.

More deadly spike as in Bolt to the Heart and more frequent spike as in Fresh Air?

The current version uses both Bolt to the Heart and Fresh Air though. In your words, the damage of Fresh Air is traded for the sustain of Water and/or Arcana trait line? If so, I’m a bit worried…

I’m waiting, if you want to join

Edit: I just realize the meaning of the context. So I agree with spoj.

Because they don’t want us to have both Fresh Air and Bolt to the Heart at the same time? And because it’s as “impactful” as it was designed to be?

If you like to hear my answer, we can talk in game or in TS. I prefer not to write another wall of text that is most likely not going to be read.

Wethospu.6437:

The whole thing seems like a slight power creep for me.

Care to share your insights?

Thaddeus.4891:

True, but at the same time they kept Piercing Shards into a adept tier and it’s similarly powerful.

We all know how powerful ele’s water spells are :’(

@Nike: Regarding my (possibly terrible) guess, Weak Spot applies Vuln on Crit, it share similar icon to Vuln (broken shield). The icon with the Tree is imo Fresh Air (Tree -> Oxygen -> Fresh Air= layman’s logic). Fresh Air is way too powerful to be anywhere else but Grand Master tier. It could be improved but still the best of the line. Bountiful Power could be reverted back to its original form +2% per boon – not essentially a buff, to be honest, but at the same time, make D/D cele become too strong… ugh… On the other hand, Tempest Defense (Tornado icon) and Lightning Rod (Lightning with simplified sword icon) are moved to Adept. Swapping Tempest Defense and Bolt to the Heart makes sense to me, as TP is not as powerful as BttH (5 sec + conditioned compared to possibly longer duration).

@Jerus: Bolt to the Heart at the current state is Powerful. It’s like Executioner on thief. The fact that you can stack it easily with other damage modifiers is too OP. Vital Striking is moved to Master tier. I think Stone Splinter will more or less share the same fate.

Element Two.7316:

maha.7902:

in zerg wvw you stick mostly on GS and have sw/f in your off-set to pull people together or off towers or if you need to mitigate damage with blurred frenzy, but you mostly just function as ranged DPS since your whole clone mechanic basically might as well not even exist in WvW

If you’re in an organised zerg then you’ll probably run GS + S/T shatter in the focus party, SF/ + GS melee train mesmer was pretty much only ran by Doiid back in the days of Red Guard if my memory serves me correctly.

Or I could be completely wrong, who knows ¯\(?)/¯

You are correct about the roaming setup. GS + S/T Shatter Zerk is popular among the high burst-great escape group. Then we also have Scepter/Pistol + Gsword or Staff Powerblock as an offensive support in a roaming squad. If limited to solo or small group roaming, you can even see some serious condi cancer. I haven’t seen a dedicated mesmer for melee train recently, but back then War Machine was running with a really tanky mesmer heavily specced to manipulation and glamour.

@Maha: Some of the most notable mesmers are Helseth (TCG), Azani (Made In Meta), Misha (55HP Monk), Supcutie (Dankening, despite rarely playing) at the tourney level. Then there are some really good mesmer mains who aren’t participating in any teams. For example: Malferian (EU streamer), Brain, Countless, StompedByPizza, Elegant (NA). Some good players playing mesmers as alts are Phantaram and maybe Drazeh (wild guess, but HOT did a double mesmer comp in ESL weekly not too long ago). Sword/torch is really strong against thief.

PvE is more Cooperative than Competitive. Maybe Stronghold can satisfy your need for competitive PvE.

Bolt to the Heart and Fresh Air will not be together anymore. Same with Air Training and Weak Spot. A certain build will require some decision making.

Xaylin.1860:

Another thing one might see on the screenshot: Bolt to the Heart = grandmaster trait.

Noticed. It would be a nerf for full DPS build. I also predict Weak Spot to be moved to Major Master tier.

Tornado, Ether Renewal, Meteor Shower will be Channeling, won’t they?

Could be a trait that dedicates to improvement of… Glyphs? I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it >.<

Ryn.6459:

when should I dodge? When he turns or when the arrow is already fired?

It depends on the distance. If you are far enough from him, you can dodge when the arrow is mid way to you. If you’re right under and in front of him, you have to react as soon as he pulls his arm backwards. If you’re right under and behind him, you need to move when he turns 180 degree towards you. The arrow velocity is about as fast as Warrior’s Pin Down, if you really really want to practice.

Painbow.6059:

I think that the change will be very interesting. With the assumed defiance change maybe icebow 5ving bosses wont be a thing anymore, so have an engineer in the party to perma imob everything will be nice, as well as getting sustained vuln it will allow the warrior to run 66060. 66060 is a massive DPS boost over the current PS build, it requires others to bring vulnerability stacking for longer fights which could be achieved with glyph/ranger/engi for longer fights. Elementalist looks like staff will be getting a kick in the kitten seeing as if you want blasting staff you have to put 4 extra points into a fairly useless trait line. But on the other hand dagger focus and scepter are both getting a nice buff, enough to compete with staff and maybe put PS out of the meta or make them good enough to use including the PS warrior. The warrior could bring inspiring banners and empowered but i think for general reliability it would be better just having PS even with a scepter/d/f ele. 66060 for scepter and 666 for d/f look like pretty good options also. But with the warrior change I can’t imagine that you ever take fast hands anymore seeing as you would loose so much. This may shift the meta to something more along the lines of warrior 66060 gs camp, ele 66060 scepter-666 d/f or some staff build idk, engi 66006 rifle, guard on 66006 gs-s/f and one spot free up, maybe thief or ranger, will have to see. Sorry for long reply just a lot of ideas to spill

Having tested on the Hero (Legendary type) in Stronghold, Line of Warding and Ring of Warding take approximately 25-30% the Defiance Bar, while Deep Freeze takes 70% of it. Icebow is confirmed still OP.

My attempt to decipher the new traits of ele from the spoiler image:

Fire line:

• Minor:
  - Flame Barrier
  - Sun Spot
  - Burning Rage

• Major I – can’t really tell the distinction of any of them. They are possibly newly reworked traits
  - Lava Tomb (-,-")
  - Burning Fire
  - Spell Slinger (??? – the explosion icon, or Internal Fire)
• Major II
  - Conjurer (the Hand icon)
  - Pyromancer’s Aclarity
  - Ember’s Might

• Grandmaster:
  - Blind Ash
  - Persisting Flame
  - Pyromancer’s Puissance (??? – possibly NEW)

Air line

• Minor:
  - Zephyr Speed
  - Lightning Strike
  - Arcane Lightning (??? – look like Arcane Power icon, could be NEW)

• Major I
  - Tempest Defense (??? – The tornado icon, possibly NEW)
  - Zephyr’s Boon
  - Lightning Rod (or possibly NEW)

• Major II
  - Air Training
  - Aeromancer’s Aclarity
  - Weak Spot

• Grandmaster
  - Fresh Air
  - Bolt to the Heart
  - Tempest Defense (??? – or possibly NEW)

Water line – confirmed

• Minor:
  - Soothing Mist
  - Healing Ripple
  - Aquatic Benevolence

• Major I
  - Soothing Ice – NEW!
  - Piercing Shards
  - Stop, Drop, and Roll

• Major II
  - Soothing Disruption
  - Cleansing Wave
  - Aquamancer’s Training – NEWly combined

• Grandmaster
  - Cleansing Water
  - Powerful Aura
  - Bountiful Power (???)

If it’s accurate, the current ele meta will be no longer the same.

Also from the same image, we will possibly have 15 trait points (6-5-4) instead of 18. So there won’t be likely a 66060 or 66006.

- Normalized stats and separate them from traits is fair, bringing certain stacked builds down from being too OP.

- Revert the trait unlocking system is in line with demands and expectation

- Culling underused traits (from 13 to 9) and integrating them to skills is a great change. I applaud.

- Assigning family for certain skills so they can benefit from traits and sigils. I totally love it.

- Elite specialization of ele is named Tempest. OMG, HYPE!!! @@

- Don’t use any skill points now if you want to cash in for crafting materials.

- Confused: How many trait point will we have in total? Do we have trait templates (yes, please!)? Can you name all the traits of ele from the spoiler image?

Ryn.6459:

Guys I think I ate all the imbued shaman arrows. Any tips? Tells?

Hmm… I usually watch out for the direction he is facing and prepare for his arm pulling backward. In pugs, I try to max melee him and only go for burst rotation when safeguarded with reflect. If you range him, you can strafe left-right a bit. Which class are you playing?

Card.9704:

Hi Iris, this is the dungeon discussion thread. The pvp forum is right here https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp it seems you may belong there instead.

Gaile told us to keep this on topic so I would kindly like to request you do the same, your female privilege is only good so far. As someone who primarily identifies as a squirrel I believe I can sometimes feel the pain of the other lesser sexes via the pouches in my cheeks. Have a nice day. =)

Aren’t you a little bit too late?

This topic has been talking about:

• Different games
• Family matters
• Pug complaints
• Personal disgust
• Snarky comments on other PHIW
  et cetera

Would you be so kind to join the discussion or look past it rather than brandish me with your anti-feminism belief. By no means I think myself a little more than an individual who plays this game possibly as much as anyone else. I am regrettably not one of your cult so our opinions may differ, but I thrive to give a sound argument within my best knowledge.

Enaretos.8079:

Dear Iris,

To be fair, after trying out all game modes, I can only say I’m amazed at both the diversity and the absence of it. Playing in WvW/PvP allowed me to try out a lot of stuff that are very different from the PvE I do on a daily basis and that was very enjoyable. However, I find that to be really competitive, or to win so to speak, I need to play something that is really set in stone. I need to play something that is a little OP, or I won’t be able to carry anything/anyone.

What I mean is that their is far more diversity and being viable is actually enough, but to win I can’t go full snowflake :’(

Dear Sam,

I’m glad you enjoy the game as much as I do. With a little observation, it’s true that diversity shines at the casual part of the game where it holds most people’s interest. The competitive scene is at the moment, really stagnant and I don’t have much insights to dare say anything about it. Many of my pvp friends in NA are mature, working folks (some with kids) who always tell me that they do not have the time to esports. They’d rather spend time making hundreds of dollars per week then earning 80$ weekly like The Abjured. That perception really dwindles a good number of players who can potentially drive the meta in a different direction.

Now let’s talk about the diversity which we both enjoy profoundly at our level of game play. The PvE part of the game is design with a simple philosophy : Kill or skip to finish an objective. It is very easy to optimized a build for damage and throw in a couple of utilities to finish the job. We don’t need to use even half of the traits/skills/weapons designed for a class. On the other hand, the Competitive part of the game presents us with a variety of roles. We have to choose to whether play objectives or against other players. It opens the opportunity of diversity there. For example, we cannot simply play a 5-DPS comp in Conquest Mode. After many iterations of the game, the 4:1 or 3:2 (bunker: DPS) splits have evolved to the current cele meta. Some classes have really good synergy across the board which allow them to adapt to changes really well, for example warrior and engineer. Some other classes have genuine and interesting traits which allow builds to thrive off creative and skilled players. For example, Sataarcoeny with the modern version of shatter, Hiba with Celerifle and Sizer with S/D-steal thief. Then there are classes which only became flavor of the month after Anet adding new (working) traits and/or reworking their “fixes”, i.e. necro, ranger and ele. Nevertheless, the current state of the game is much better than before and people are happy about it. Yet, it is legitimate to respect the concern about the lacking in diversity in certain places. I’m pretty sure necro is the unhappiest class and ele is at a better place in over all. But ele has not experienced any “evolution” when it comes to competitive plays. For almost three years, d/d Evasive Arcana has come a long way from good to worst then better and is still indispensable as ever. Then we were blessed with Fresh Air which is our (almost) only viable alternative. We have quite a few non-working/bugged traits and a whole trait line left almost unused in all “optimal” builds (PvE, PvP, WvW). I’m sure it’s not intended as parts of the design. I’m sure people who are passionate about the class wouldn’t feel content either. No one would raise a crusade about it, but it remains as an everlasting sore which throbs whenever the nerf hammer comes. That is how I see it as “wound licking” in the Ele sub forum and re-tell it from my side of perception

Regarding “to win”, you need a lot of teamwork, practice and motivation; not restricted to meta. Among the talks in the competitive scene, “why does The Abjured dominate NA?” – Because his team carries Nos so well that he can make necro works in this meta. Necro is a prime example of full special snowflake, if you ask me.

tl;dr: discussing in good spirits because I’m too bored.

J Eberle.9312:

I’d say I’m the actual authority on build diversity as I am an amazing pvper and everyone knows that real skilled play is involved there and trumps all other game modes.

For the record : my experience > anything anyone has to say.

It’s sad (and partly amusing) to see your point If Inha was the person to say it, I would be deeply puzzled and surprised as I consider she’s the most involved in all aspects of the game that her opinions always hold a ring of truth to it.

In my opinion, there are skilled people on both sides of the game. The good ones adapt well and learn to enjoy the game as a whole. The sad ones are cynical about the part that they don’t actively play and generally disregard others’ opinions about it. I hope they still enjoy what they play though.

With respect,

Sword chain makes me weep when fighting against Priest of Grenth or the Archers in the Shield Bubbles in TA :’(

phys.7689:

Iris Ng.9845:

Umm… my original post was talking about the complaints in the ele sub-forum, which are about ele’s build problems in three game modes. I think it’s fair to look at a class in different point of view, and not just PvE dungeons.

Mesmer wise, they have way more builds in WvW and sPvP. I find they are very interesting. Even Sandy does not always use phantasmal builds.

what type of builds do mesmers use for WvW these days?
other than utility types like teleports, reflects, invis?

I don’t do WvW much to have a broad view of mesmer builds there. For zerging, it makes sense to run glamour (Feedback, Null Field, Veil). From my experience against ganking squad, standard shatter and cancerous Powerblock appears frequent. They usually come in a pack of 4 mesmers in a group of 8-10. Their utilities are almost the same in Decoy. Depending on the build, some would take portal, others use signet of domination, midnight or mantra. You can trait reflect on distortion so I don’t see many use feedback for roaming.

Didn’t you also switch to medi to play competitively as well? zzz…

Mesmer: Shatter, Blurred Signet/Powerblock, Phantasm Stunlock, Pure Mantra One-shot, Condi-Shatter, etc to name a few that are actually used in sPvP for various roles. PU is a thing in the past and maybe only used in roaming. The most recent popular shatter build of mesmer uses Sword/Torch as their primary immobilization burst and greatsword/shatter to boon rip and set up their 25 stacks of vuln. Any greatsword camping mesmers are certainly no good at all.

Meanwhile, Ele either has been using Fresh Air-centric build or Evasive Arcana-centric build for years. Some niche builds using Ember Might/Written In Stone or Diamond Skin was once cool when firstly introduced, but is certainly not strong enough to establish its own roaming/duelist role. Lightning Rod while fun and potentially strong has no synergy with any other traits/skills at all.

I think you haven’t played the game (outside PvE) for far too long to actually grasp its current state. Therefore, I can only resort to agree to disagree.

P.S.: Metabattle is a joke. Play the game, not the numbers (or Twitch).

P.S. 2: D/D Evasive Arcana is not powerful. The Celestial Amulet is. The combination of cele ammy and D/D EA is the only build that allows ele to compete in the high tier tourney. Therefore, it is sad. Prior to Cele Ammy, D/D ele did not play any pivotal roles in sPvP

Umm… my original post was talking about the complaints in the ele sub-forum, which are about ele’s build problems in three game modes. I think it’s fair to look at a class in different point of view, and not just PvE dungeons.

Mesmer wise, they have way more builds in WvW and sPvP. I find they are very interesting. Even Sandy does not always use phantasmal builds.

Thieves, Engi, Warrior are good in my eyes. Mesmer has many interesting trait setups, however, I have never played with the class long enough. Guardian has decent variety. All that left is Necro and Ele. Ele’s Earth line is almost never used as it has so little synergy with anything else. Let me repeat myself; Ele only has two roles: Straight Damage, or Sustain, either Air/Fire or Water/Arcana. Necro I don’t know, never play necro enough.

Edit: Some of Ele’s weapon skills are better than most classes’ weapon skills, but at least 3-4 of the other skills never get to see their use. Same can be said for ele’s traits. To sum up, that explains the amount of wound-licking in the ele subforum.

That’s my point. Traits need rework.

deSade.9437:

Once I feel a bit better, I plan on taking my elly’s cele armor (don’t wvw with her anymore), put monk runes in it and rp as a healer.
I suppose the traits are quite obvious, but I’m wondering how much healing’s gonna be lost if I go cele instead of clerics? I doubt it’s relevant because of the kittenty scaling, and anyway the most important thing for a monk is the “outgoing healing” stat.
…
inb4 I facetank everything with a few defensive pieces and casuals whine about zerk… jesus, I’m broken.

Not much healing is lost. Abuse the hell out of Healing Ripple and Soothing Mist, you can out sustain even in 2v1. Be careful of sneaky power ranger though

spoj.9672:

I cant agree with that when eles have traits as game changing as fresh air. If only they had more weapons to work with that. :>

Anyway there was an amusing warrior that entered the necro forums a week ago.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/necromancer/Deathly-Claws-1/first

That war is dumb and probably has never seen Rampage auto attack hits for 7k damage

In PvE (solo and group play), warriors can have pure damage or condi or support (ps/ea). For ele, it’s either 6 in Air or 6 in Fire. Diversity is very limited.

The discussion has been brought out in three game modes, by the ways.

Dub.1273:

Iris Ng.9845:

For ele, you either spec heavily in the first 2 lines or the last 2 lines. That’s where it gets boring – in 3 game modes.

I have yet to figure out how having many different “viable” builds translates into fun.

Not that any profession has more than one viable build per circumstance, though.

Warrior has many fun builds in WvW and sPvP. Part of it owes to the ability to wield so many weapons, but its traits are decently spread and you get access to kitten tanky build to one-shot zerking to condi stun-lock and anything in between (cele shout bow).

The fun comes after being effective at a certain role in team fight. Pulling one’s own weight is what makes a build viable. In comparison, if the ele isn’t either damage or sustain, they become a liability in the competitive scene. It is much much worse in PvE.

In other people’s words, there is a little synergy in ele traits, which results only a few builds actually work and become popular.

Shnicky, you still get farmed by AK every time tho… zzz…