It is frustrating how many times I find myself auto attacking from range simply because going into melee is a death sentence against so many bosses, especially the ones with the horribly overused “spin in a circle and kill all the melee players” gimmick.
Axemaster & Blademaster: spin in a circle
Justicar Hablion: spin in a circle
Cairn the Queenslayer: spin in a circle
Jade guys in Bloodstone: spin in a circle
Bloodstone guys in Lake Doric: spin in a circle
Dodge mechanic is a thing. Letting them spin gives you a chance to heal or renew buffs.
What Leo said.
If Revenant being a heavy armor class bothers you, there is always the option of snagging an outfit from the gem store like the Monk robes.
Likewise, Soulbeast might be an option for fun play if you enjoy collecting pets for your unified skills and such, but I sort of think Scourge is the closest thing to old Ritualistic we have, especially my old Rt/N.
I’ve never really had a problem in PvE running a melee build. Sword/Shield, Sword/Sword was probably my favorite way to play Chronomancer for a solid year after HoT came out because it brought a good balance of damage and survival. Greatsword with offhand Sword/Focus became an even better Guardian spec after Dragonhunter came out, because it gave another gap closer to the setup.
I’m planning on going Radiance/Honor over Radiance/Zeal, Thereon, for the added healing, dodge, and choice between oversized healing symbols that heal and reduced recharge on Shouts. It seems to offer more in the long run to me.
Seriously why is it that Guardians constantly get crappy Elite Spec names?
“Dragonhunter” was the worst name of all the 1st Elites, as it really sounds stupid due to the fact everyone “hunts dragons” regardless of their profession.Now worst name of 2nd Elites is probably “Weaver” as first thing you think of when you hear it is someone who makes fabrics. But “Firebrand” comes in 2nd place, I mean what does it even mean? It makes me think of a brand on a cow made with a heated iron.
And how does it even relate to the tomes? “Dragonhunter” at least does relate to the traps, as trappers are a type of hunters.
You would think “Sage” would sound much more appropriate or “Scholar”, but I know it can’t be used as the light classes are called scholar.I mean there are plenty good names for Guardian elites – “Paladin”, “Paragon”, “Knight”, “Templar”, “Zealot”.
So why do they constantly get such abhorrent names?
Dragonhunters gained large, Magic-based traps along with their magic-utilizing longbows and big, flashy virtue actives which serve to deal damage and protect allies at range. The spec is uniquely, aesthetically made to look like its purpose is hunting dragons and other large enemies.
Firebrands are guardians entrusted with knowledge that gives them a strong purpose in liberating embattled Elona from Palawa Joko. Their faith in the histories in their care empowers them, as well as their allies. A Firebrand is a name for a person who inspires others and incites change, which is fitting for a faith-Magic support spec.
I think GW2 went with their own names for classes because they wanted to take into consideration game lore as well. A charr will never be a paladin because charr don’t pray to the gods. Likewise literally any non-human race. The other names you mentioned were sort of a grab bag of D&D Cleric/Pally analogues. I suspect Anet wanted to Step outside that box.
I still don’t see the problem with the spec other than needing an increased buff radius and some number fiddling for the tomes. You can run with nearly permanent quickness, recharge your Tome of Justice whenever Renewed Justice procs, and pop Renewed Focus every 90 seconds to bring up all three tomes. I also like the new mantras, the heal in particular. Tome of Resolve only seems a tiny bit weak considering the build is support-based rather than purely healing-based like the Druid, and Tome of Courage’s long recharge time doesn’t seem overly awful because it’s use is situational.
I…Always just sustained illusions when I needed them sustained and shatters them when I wanted to shatter, since it isn’t hard to put up clones to fill the set while waiting for phantasms to recharge. I never got the sense of contradiction people are discussing. Dueling and Illusions feel like a natural pairing with Mirage for a power build, giving it extra Illusions and increased melee damage alongside nearly permanent vigor from pairing Critical Infusion with Nomad’s endurance. Maintaining Illusions and Phantasms is fairly simple with their reduced recharge, making shatters less worrisome and giving more ready access to interrupts/stuns. I’ve never really been good at coming up with Condition builds, but it seems like the Staff and Axe/Pistol or Torch would work pretty well for weaving a lot of conditions and buffs into place while taking advantage of Mirage Mirrors.
To me, Mirage feels a lot like how sneak attack thieves play, only with a different kind of stealth mechanic and a duration short enough to force you to keep pressure high. The raw numbers need some tweaking, it seems, but I’m frankly looking forward to the spec.
I thought the point to Scourge was to apply Might, rip boons from baddies, convert conditions on allies, and reduce incoming damage via barriers. Looks like it’ll have more luck dealing Condition damage, but my point of worry formthe spec stems from its playstyle not really meshing with the “Go go go Zerg Zerg Zerg fast fast fast or you’re kicked” WvW meta.
What kind of gameplay is Necromancer behind in? I’ve never really had trouble muscling through PvE content on my Reaper, though sustained DPS was often heavily reliant on Shroud until enemies were below 50% for Gravedigger spam. In WvW I always went Dagger/Horn and Staff with wells and lifedrain to help keep up with zergs where speed and range are important. I never bothered with Raids due to lack of friends wanting to try and not wanting to rely on the friendliness of any meta community I’ve ever seen.
I’ve run pure ranged and pure melee builds before, but I typically prefer a mix of melee and range. My Guard always has a scepter or DS longbow on the offhand, and my Necro’s Greatsword is nearly always paired with a staff.
I actually like pure ranged Druid, Revenant, and Engineer.
My Druid uses Longbow and Staff to snipe away at enemies, teleport out of melee, block their projectiles, heal its pet, and then snipe again. Celestial Avatar on command for emergency burst heals.
My Rev uses twin Hammers, swapping between them for Sigil of Intelligence procs. Shiro gives really nice Ability Spam, while Glint offers helpful passive buffs, and Ventari gives near-constant healing and projectile protection. I alternate between the three depending on what I need at the time, and it works pretty well.
My Rifle Engie just has a bunch of utility and belt skills for blasting faces at range, traits to boost damage/give swiftness/boost survival, and when mobs get up close I have Rifle 2, 3, 4, and 5 along with all my ranged skills to destroy things. I think my utilities are currently Heal Turret, Grenade Kit, Bomb Gyro, Rifle Turret, and either Mortar or Supply Crate depending on my mood.
Pure ranged isn’t hard to do.
Between Ranger, Necro, and Revenant you really can’t go wrong. All three classes are extremely solo-friendly and fun to play.
Necromancers have a huge of health, so they’re surprisingly sturdy for a light armor class. Add in Blood Magic traits and you’re looking at a highly survivable class that works well in Power or Condition specs. In HoT, the Necro’s elite specialization, the Reaper, was considered a very selfish class that offered little to a team in the way of support in exchange for outrageous durability and solo potential. Scourge, the newest spec, is going a bit in the other direction by granting a number of ways to give allies damage-soaking barriers and boons, which would pair nicely with Blood Magic healing traits for an interesting support build. Weaknesses include a shortage of sustained Swiftness/Teleportation and only a few truly long-range skills of note, meaning the Necromancer’s durability is tested while closing the gap with more nimble enemies. I would pick Necro if you like a build with a sinister, shadowy aesthetic and strong close/medium range stopping power, but if you love to play at range all the time, you’ll have more options with the Ranger.
The Ranger is awesome because of its pet, and at the same time people absolutely hate the Ranger because of its pet. A Ranger’s pet choice matters, so if you really want to play a Ranger, you better like pets, even as a Druid or Soulbeast (And especially for the Soulbeast). Rangers has excellent ranged attack potential and scrappy survivability, but in my experience its ability to outlive other classes comes at the price of damage potential. In PvE, I loved running HoT as a Druid with a Longbow, a Staff, and Brown Bear/Juvenile Smokescale pets for an all-rounder build that can snipe, support its pets/allies, and travel the Jungle at high speeds. Rangers are fun and versatile, with good Power AND Condi choices at long and short ranges, but I cannot stress enough that you won’t enjoy the class as much if you don’t like pet management.
Revenant is an odd duck. It has impressive damage potential, can spread boons to support its team, and has high survivability with its ready access to heals. To balance the strengths of the class, the Rev has a resource management component other classes in the game lack. I would definitely try this one out with your level 80 promotion before nixing it, but balancing resource management while also keeping in mind weapon swapping and bouncing between Aspects can be a bit much for some players. Herald is a nice Support/Survival spec that gives a shield and Boon craziness, while Renegage looks to be a class that balances managing Condition damage, team support and Mesmer-Phantasm-Like spectral warband allies.
For the first time through the game, I would honestly recommend the Ranger or Necro. The Necromancer is POWERFUL despite its movement and range drawbacks, which means it fares extremely well in PvE and can bum rush through content. The Ranger lacks the Necromancer’s killing muscle, but in exchange gains a less reckless playstyle and the drive to explore every nook and cranny of the map to find a new juvenile animal to shove into your backpack. 5
I kind of like tomes the way they are. Renewed Justice from Radiance seems like an easy pairing with the Tome of Justice. It’s a Minor skill that ought to auto-recharge the tome if you drop it before something dies from all the fire you throw out. Renewed Focus should help with Tome upkeep also. Are they perfect? No, but I’d like a little more time to play with them before writing them off.
The bomb kit is purely a melee thing, but with the right traits, you end up having bombs with short recharge/detonation times, with increased damage, that cause vulnerability, and also proc bleed/cripple. They also supply Fire and Smoke combo fields (which are great for bursting for might and stealth). They work very well for bunker builds where you know enemies are going to want to crowd you.
In PvE, I tend to overworld with the Bomb Kit, Tool Kit, and as many burst finishers as I can cram in. Using Bomb/Box of Nails cripples and bleeds help keep enemies where you want them while you alternate between bombs and wrenching things in the face. It’s a fun alternative to the Hammer when I’m bored.
As a former Guardian main, I agree with a whole, whole lot of the OP’s assessment. I believe the differences stem from separate viewpoints. I’ve always seen the Guardian as the Last Man Standing rather than pure support, with its passive buffs being an advantage alongside its sturdiness rather than the class’s focus as the aptly described “lumbering turtle”. I rather liked the novelty of being able to pick up a Bow in HoT and engage from long range and keep a Greatsword in my back pocket as a catch-all melee weapon that can draw enemies into placed traps, particularly with Guardian durability maintained. I’m excited for Firebrand due to the condition damage and ability to give myself quickness. Support in GW2 has always seemed primarily to translate to “how much faster can we make everything fall down?” and giving a healthy amount of AoE condition damage on top of the new buffs the class was lacking allows it to focus on a melee-oriented damage dealer who can sub heals after the Druid has shot its CA bullet.
I suspect I would agree more were I a more hardcore player, but I’m just not. I’m fine with being a jack of all trades, and I see Raid mechanics as obnoxious that keep my potato internet connection from letting me keep up.
So OP is right. Guards aren’t the best support. I just like what they DO have and still enjoy playing them.
I dunno. Mines are already a pretty effective control skill when used correctly, and it’s recharge time is extremely low. If you turn it into a boon stripping device then it’s recharge time would need to go up to compensate, wouldn’kitten
Eh. I’m good with what I have. There is no point in limiting builds to one set of utilities outside of a theme or something.
I don’t solely use the healing turret, but I do it often.
If you aren’t sure then just try them all until you see which one works for you in most circumstances. Each and every one of them but the AED. That thing is only good if you’re in a party, somehow manage not to have the most healing, and get adorably kittened up by a group of enemies.
Right now Me scrapper is running around HoT’s open world with the heal Gyro, Blast Gyro Tag, Oil Slick, Bulwark Gyro, and the Mortar. It’s a fun little hammer build. Ever since I learned what you could do to a group of mobs with the Oil Slick in melee I’ve been having a lot of fun. If I ever need more offense or ranged damage, I either swap to Rifle or switch out Bulwark for Grenades.
or you could run power dagger warhorn and get all movespeed. My necro didn’t really need much aside from that trusty dagger anyway. But then I get most of my levels from pvp and only pve to continue the story so idk q_q
Necro Dagger is pretty dang nice, I agree. A little repetitive, but nice.
That’s cute. You copy/pasted something sad from another post because you thought it was compelling. It’s nice to think things.
Actually i like the fact that they are nerfing all goods skills in revenant and don’t buffing stances like Jalis, Ventari or traitlines. Very nice way of balance. Revenant is only good coz of glint/shield and they are going to nerf it. Splendid!
I have a dream, a dream in a word when before nerfing things with a scissor devs actually fix the bugs of the class and balance it overhaul. But it’s only a dream. I’m actually a bit tired of the game coz revenant is just kittening stuck in Shiro/Glint, full of glitches (like vengefull hammers, phase travel, UA…) and they just don’t seems to care in nothing. It’s boring to play a beta class.
Wow. You adapted the I Have a Dream speech, one of the hallmarks of the civil rights era, to complain about how you don’t like how a class in your video game plays.
That is the single most spoiled, whiny, entitled thing I’ve seen on these forums. You actually managed to be so disgustingly self-centered that I got offended, and I don’t offend easily.
Good job, I guess. You really raised the bar for being a child.
Why are you trying to take a healing spec into PvP?
And why are you so outraged that Ventari isn’t a bang-face-on-keyboard-and-live-through-the-apocalypse survival setup like the others?
Ventari has a very strong control component you seem to just entirely brush off because…Reasons? An AoE blind strong enough to affect an entire party of opponents in PvP every two seconds is nothing to ignore, and while Ventari might well be weaker on self-healing than some other classes, I’m here to let you know what you apparently skipped in the help notes:
You can swap legends and use your alt legend’s heal in a pinch. Amazing, no?
So whiny.
I’m sorry but right now I’m getting the same feeling from people in this thread that I do from the Guardian forums when they whine about how weak and non-survivable their own class has gotten.
You have access to double heals. If you hate the Glint heal so much, don’t use Glint and branch out a little. If you can’t think of another legend to play or the loss of a single skill ruins the entire game for you, then go outside and get a little perspective.
This is a game. The meta evolves on purpose to keep the game interesting, if you want to stagnate be my guest. Be miserable about a minor change while the rest of the world absolutely does not care.
I leveled all the way to 80 with staff and Ventari. I thought it worked well, though the damage was a little low. You just have to manage your energy carefully.
you try it in PvP?
Why the adorable baby kittens would I take a healing spec into PvP in this game? That would not be a very smart plan at all.
The only thing I could think to do with it is use it as a bunker or for bunker support. If you really use everything it has, you might get more out of it for blasting people out of capture points or annoying sniping/mortar positions with Energy Expulsion. By that point, though, I would definitely trait it out as more of a support tool with Nourishung Roots and Momentary Pacification. I mean, people wouldn’t EXPECT it?
Normally I just assume that not all skills and builds are made solely for PvP.
Revenant might lose a little of that “New-Class-Is-A-Little-OP” feeling as the developers balance it. I have a feeling they decided to prefer to err on the side of stronger with Revenant on initial release. It would make sense to do so for HoT reviews and such, especially when considering how challenging the new content is compared to the old endgame.
The overall concept of Revs is going to be the same, though, and it’s a good one.
Jalis for tankier stuff.
Mallyx for conditions and boon stripping.
Ventari for a unique healing and support setup, as well as projectile blocking, blind spam, and knockdown.
Shiro for fast, agile combat.
Glint for boons, AoE skills, and the pink spotlight of destiny.
Swords for fast hits and agile combat.
Mace for condi and might spam.
Axe for teleports and soft positioning.
Hammer for heavy ranged damage and projectile blocking.
Staff for defensive/healing play and breaking the cute, ever-fluffing, adorable baby kittens out of defiance bars.
Shields for support/survival.
I personally go for the Flameseeker Prophecies on my Herald.
Simply because it’s a profession based on channeling the echoes of historical beings.
It just seemed the most fitting to have the old prophecies that (I dare say) have attained a legendary status as addition to a Herald.
Not to mention the fact that it was Glint who MADE the Flameseeker Prophecies. They were based on her glimpses into the future.
Personally, though, I would go for the Hammer. It’s the only ranged weapon Revs have right now, and I find myself using it a lot.
I leveled all the way to 80 with staff and Ventari. I thought it worked well, though the damage was a little low. You just have to manage your energy carefully.
Hahaha there are a lot of ways you can go. Here is mine:
Start by unlocking Signet of the Locust so you can run faster. Shoot for Signet of Spite next for a damage increase.
For your trait line, first choose Blood Magic if you like the Dagger. It gives you health drain traits which work solo as well as on your minions and later your party members. It also gives you enhanced Wells if you want additional spike damage. Lastly, it’s second adept skill gives you perma swift as long as you’re using a dagger in your main hand.
Eventually I would also get your Death Magic and Spite specs trained, as well as your minion and well utility skills.
A very good build is simply using Dagger/Warhorn with a Blood Fiend for your heal, Signet of Spite, two damaging Well Skills, and the Flesh Golem. Blood magic, Death Magic, and Spite traits. Use a staff or Axe/Focus for ranged. This gives you good damage and sustain as well as some party support from Vampiric Aura.
Take the same build into Reaper spec by replacing Dea Magic with Reaper and using the greatsword as your alt weapon. Easy peasy.
Gear-wise, you can definitely swing Berserker, but Soldier’s Gear makes Necros seriously tanky.
My thoughts:
It’s probably overly ambitious, but I’d really like to see the revenant getting a condition-based midrange mainhand weapon that’s not tied to an elite specialisation. Professions should have more than one ranged option as core, in my opinion, and now that the revenant has a weaponswap, it’s a problem that they only have one weapon that’s really condition-based.
More generally:
I think part of the reason we have a Mallyx legend is that ArenaNet wanted something closely associated with Abaddon, without actually having a god as a legend. Gods, elder dragons, and beings of that category feel like they may be too powerful to have as legends, so Mallyx allows that Abaddonesque feel without breaking that rule.
Khilbron I’m not sure about – he’s sufficiently distinct from Mallyx, but it feels like a Khilbron legend would be a little too close to pretending to be a necromancer. For similar reasons, I’d be leery about introducing any legend whose expected playstyle would be a copy of an existing profession.
The way these legends are situated, I’d honestly expect the next legend to be Massive HoT Spoilers here, be warnedTrehearne. After all, he helped revitalize a fallen, currupted continent, then also coordinated and led an army that killed an Elder Dragon, which is something both Glint and Jalis became legends for TRYING EPICALLY to do, but ultimately failing. At the end, he then gave his life to ensure the brain death of a SECOND Elder Dragon. From a lore standpoint, he died as one of the single most influential heroes in Tyria's entire history, if not THE most influential. He was literally instrumental in finally breaking a cycle of destruction and recreation lasting longer than anyone knows. That...Is pretty legendary, and with his time using Caladbolg, Imwould assume you would get a greatsword. Also, I'm reasonably sure Braham burned Ehr's body. She's gone forever. This is the biggest spoiler my lord.
I like this idea, albeit partly for the epic wailing it would result in.
I doubt they will make legends out of people still in the game. that would throw off role players that play Revenant.
Yo. I roleplay.
I can’t speak for every single roleplayer in the world, but typically the way RP works in an MMO is that the personal/living story is not the canonical story for your character, since there can really only be one single Pact Commander. Instead, roleplay characters operate under their own stories in more or less the same timeframe as the main plot (with a few weeks given for people to get caught up on the new story content in-game so as to let people play it through without spoiler).
Many roleplay characters in this game, particularly, tend not to have the full power and build flexibility of a level 80 character anyway. If you stop to think on it, by level 80 you are shockingly strong, the master of multiple weapons and forms of magic. Usually folks limit their characters in certain ways, like a Necromancer who is great with Spectral magics and has a powerful Death Shroud, but who doesn’t have much talent with death magic and curses. Another example would be an engineer who is great with her self-made pistols and modified equipment, but who avoids building dangerous weapons like flamethrowers or explosives due to her personal beliefs against using her talents for wholesale slaughter.
I don’t personally see roleplay Revenants having a problem with that thing I suggested a long time ago.
Revenants can tank pretty well. They’re can get good toughness stats via Hardening Persistance, and they also have strong defensive/survival skills for soaking and negating damage. Retribution traits a plus.
(edited by Mercurias.1826)
As a roleplayer, I actually took the hand-glow to be something my revs aren’t able to turn off and a sign that they’re still learning their magic. I also figured different Revenants would prefer different legends, so I made my dyes to match the hand glow colors of their “primary” legends as possible, gold for my Sylvari who mainly uses Ventari and purple for my ultra-pragmatic ex-Ebon Vanguard who typically reaches out to Mallyx first.
It actually makes the shift in Legends that much more jarring in RP due to how noticeable the colors stand out.
If I stop and think hard on the subject, I think the next weapon that would fit the Revenant “theme” should probably be a shortbow in order to give them a middle-ranged weapon, but as a heavy class I don’t know if that is on the table. Maybe some kind of oddball thing like a scepter.
If what you’re doing is working for you, then more power to you.
For a couple of different perspectives, I actually leveled up two Revs with different builds (RP reasons).
My with my first Revenant, I pretty much immediately fell in love with the Mallyx Mace/Axe Incredible Hulk playstyle, but after a while I found myself gravitating towards Sword/Axe so I could keep the mobility of the Axe secondary while having a power build. I found Jalis to be too tanky when what I wanted was to bum rush around and stomp things to death, so I mostly ran Mallyx/Shiro, specializing originally in Invocation, then Restribution, and finally in Devastation. Post-80, I went Herald with full Zerk specs and kept Glint Full-time whilst running either Shiro or Mallyx depending on the situation. His final specs are Devastation, Invocation, and Herald with emphasis on heavy crit damage and survival with incidental buffs to allies. The hammer is the off-hand and used extremely often. It’s a pretty standard build which builds up buffs while in Glint and then swaps to Shiro to abuse Quickness and attack spamming or Mallyx for a proper heal, a big stomp, and Embrace the Darkness.
My second Rev’s concept was as a Sylvari Paladin type who eats up damage without caring and can pump out heals and support. It was slow, but I leveled him with his main weapon being the Staff, and Hammer for the off-hand. The legends were Jalis (for soaking damage, hammer damage to enemies, and a strong self-heal) and Ventari (for nonstop smaller healing, AoE blind spam, and lots of crowd control/reflection). Build and weapons being what they were, I would usually open in Ventari, summon the tablet, hit Hammer 5 > Hammer 2, swap to Staff, bounce into melee with Staff 5, and beat the snot out of enemies up close with the staff AA while spamming Ventari 6 to keep the blinds and heal pellets coming. Burst damage was supplied via Hammer skills and Staff 5, and added damage (as well as a huge heal) were supplied by Jalis when things God hairy. It was extremely survivable, fun, and versatile, but the damage was easily outclassed by almost anything else in the game. I maxed Salvation first, then Retribution, and finally Salvation. Post-Herald, I normally use Salvation, Retribution, And Herald with Cleric’s gear and emphasis on heals, support, and survival. The build is a total blast and fun to play both solo and in teams, but still a touch impractical.
I run a Scrapper based on mobility, some quick burst dps, and whole lot of kiting with the rifle: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFAUnUUBdehtoCmYBsehF2iKcpuoXDME3gAgO4P+kH-TBSBwAo0B84CAMc/BEm/up+TElgFV+B4BAQKA9UGB-e
Bunker Down does pretty well when you kite enemies. Lots of little heals and little added damage pops.
When enemies get too close you have slick shoes, jump shot, overcharged shot, net shot, blast gyro tag, AND supply crate for a nice little grab bag of control options. You also have eight seconds of super speed for when it’s time to run away screaming.
When supposed top-tier super elite PvPers start to throw a fit over an overpowered skill being tweaked, that’s when you know all of their tough talk is just that, talk.
Get over it and play something else if the changes make Rev unplayable for you. The devs didn’t destroy the whole game, and neither did they forcibly give you a salami colononoscopy. They aren’t trying to take away your fun. Stop being drama queens.
I would personally tweak Arimas’s build to aim it more towards close-range play like so: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASnUUBtbhVYBGpC0ehFDjSMd6vNgexf8KPMAuv8D-TFiEABAY+bG1fS4CAQiOASVCKkyPm2fo9HAApA8bvF-w
Strong healing from multiple water fields and blast finishers, Elixer R and Function Gyro to turn you into an emergency Rez monster, and hammer/bulwark for reflect and survival.
I still use them some in PvE and for RP/Concept builds. The turrets themselves could use a little work, but their toolbelt skills sometimes come in handy. Overall, they aren’t super powerful. I wouldn’t say they’re wholly useless, though.
Personally I would go Norn. I prefer their racial skills, and in terms of lore they would be more accepting of a magical class than the Charr, who are culturally distrustful of magic. While there ARE Charr casters, they’re fairly rare.
I LIKE Glint’s voice. It sounds like how I figure an inhuman creature who learned to think like humans, lived for thousands of years, and could see into the future.
If anything, I would make Shiro sound more like a snarly creep than his current Chinese-American-Professor-Snape-After-A-Prostate-Exam voice.
“I demand that you release me!”
Basic build for straight DPS and control, as well as bonus healing support from Blood Magic’s Vampiric traits. It works well in most fractals. Like any build, you can switch traits and utilities about based on the situation. I often find myself running shouts in trash mobs.
In solo PvE, I usually run with this configuration: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vREQNBhQD7khGocTsdTwbTg9GsgLYxXxu4YkqL0GiWQDgAQLA-TRSBQBA4iK8gnUwNU/hG7PEBlgRU5HCMf5ATIoQ3DpAiYZE-e
It’s a touch more survivable in tight corners when solo, I’ve found. You get a lot of might built up without ever needing to try for it, so the added condi damage from both chills and burns add up wonderfully.
I hope these help!
I like both, but I have a preference for the greatsword. I think it could do with a slight gently bigger hit range for as slow as it is, but I like its utility and life force generation.
For a while, I ran with both, but now I alternate depending on what I need at any given moment.
I paid about $70 for the base game when it came out and never spent a dime on a subscription fee. I thing that was in 2012. From that time on, the game has released content, taken most of it back, realized that might not be the best idea, left some of the new stuff in, incorporated some of the withdrawn content into the game permanently, and they did it all without forcing me to pay a dime in the gem store.
Heck, the gem store isn’t even CLOSE to the pay to win type stores in a lot of other mmos. It’s mostly cosmetics or convenience.
So I figured that it was a good investment to sink $70 in, since I was playing the game again.
Is it even close at launch to all the content FFXIV had in their expansion? Nope. FFXIV is a subscription game, though, with bigger income and a different type of gameplay.
Guild Wars is still Guild Wars. If you didn’t like it before the expansion, then you won’t like it now. If you enjoyed it, but we’re bored? Well now there is more grinding to do, more achievements to unlock, more world events to work on, some raiding to play, new specializations and weapons for every class, a whole new class, and guild halls to work on for just way too freaking long.
l2p nothing wrong with siphoning ability of necros
I would feel more comfortable if it healed more on less targets hit.
If it healed any more then it would be ludicrously overpowered. For a while, I wondered if it would benefit from better number scaling with gear, but it would run into the same problem.
Honestly, traps are cheesy and easy to avoid. They’re good for killing newbies and the unaware, and that’s about it.
But most of what goes on with Guardian builds is cheesy. They’re a cheddar class.
I saw someone mention thieves, and in reference to that when it comes to DH, I would honestly just tackle them from ranged to draw them away from their traps. Most all of them that I’ve seen so far are awful when it comes to positional awareness, so it’s easy to trick one into kittening after you to try to get into attack range, where they’ll promptly dump traps again and then start to cry when you shadow step away and pop them with a couple of ranged attacks.
I love trap DH players. It’s like playing keep-away with toddlers.
I’d say to go with dagger/horn and the staff for your weapons. The dagger is your best dps weapon, the warhorn gives you burst damage/an AoE daze, and the staff is a good general purpose ranged weapon.
For traits, work on Blood Magic or Death Magic first, depending on your preferences. Blood magic can boost your movement speed when you use the dagger and gives you vampiric traits to assist with your sustain, and it also can greatly boost your wells for burst DPS. Death magic is great for Minions, who can greatly enhance your survivability in PvE and lend you a sustained boost to your DPS as well as a burst when they die and you have Death Nova traited (makes a poison field and makes an AoE when a minion drops).
Second trait: If you started with Blood Magic, grab Spite for a raw DPS increase. If you went Death Magic, get Blood Magic. Blood Magic and Death Magic work well together
Third trait: Curses for added DPS if you went Blood/Spite, which will complete your vampire well-o-mancer build and turn you into a monstrous melee assassin. Spite for your Death/Blood Minion Master and make you nearly unstoppable in open world PvE.
When you hit Reaper, it’s acceptable to drop the staff, pick up a greatsword, and trade Spite on the MM Necro for the Reaper trait line. Get Rise! As soon as you can and enjoy being a PvE monster on the cheap. While you gear for your Condi Viper Reaper, anyway.
Gear: Buy blues if you just absolutely need to buy gear while leveling. Green weapons at most until 70 or so. Save your money up for when you hit 80 and want to get a full gear set. Stat focus should be on Power/Precision/Ferocity. Necromancers are naturally beefy, and thus don’t need a whole lot of emphasis on vit/toughness when leveling.
You CAN level with conditions, but honestly they always felt slow to me until you were 80 and you could stack them like a fiend. This is why I outlined leveling with power.
Hopefully this helps some.
I’ve found some niche uses for it. Like Staff 5, it’s great for getting enemies away from trebuchet or capture points, as well as hauling them off of someone they’re about to stomp. Yanked someone out of the AoEs fields they tried to trap me in, also.
It’s a decent tool for positioning control, and people don’t expect it. Not amazing, but useful.
I’ve beaten a couple simply by being better at the game, but yes. Necroreapers are probably next to the nerf block.
Still, I love that Revenants can have the audacity to call any other class cheesy.
I love these Ventari “improvement” threads.
6. This would mean you could effectively shadowstep and CoRuin all over any battlefield area. Even with the shorter range on Ventari’s tablet compared to other port skills, this is a level of mobility that is frankly insane.
7. This effectively makes you invulnerable for far longer than any ranged block if you do it right, and it still somehow manages to be worse than the real one because of the lack of being able to direct it separately from yourself if you want.
8. Ventari was designed to be a steady healing skill set, and this small pulse is as strong as it needs to be. It can be rapid fired to heal respectable numbers at the cost of a lot of energy. Cutting out the cost and shortening the animation time would just make you a wannabe Druid.
9. An AoE condi cleanse which knocks three conditions at once is powerful and SHOULD cost a lot of energy.
10. Worse than the original other than the reduced energy costs.
You just…You don’t know how to use Ventari at all, do you? Bless your heart.
I’m told Reaper feels a little bit like Death Knight from WoW and Dark Knight from FFXIV, but to me it mostly feels like they “Fixed” shroud to be what I’d always envisioned it to be in my head.
I still especially love Blighter’s/Chilling Victory builds, just for the way they give a symbiotic vibe to the interaction between shroud and normal mode. The healing is really noticeable in shroud now, and you can build up life energy so darn fast with the greatsword, staff, and shouts that there are times in big PvE events when my shroud has gone from zero to full before my reduced recharge time has come back (bless GS 3, GS 4, GS 2, and a full spam of shouts on the right side of the bar. Bless them).