Guild Wars 2

UA is an Alpha strike like skill (Master Yi in LoL or juggernaut ult in dota)
All the challenge of such an attack is to use it at the right time.

The + :
Hard hitting (debatable, i feel it a bit low as you do more damages auto-attacking for the same duration)
multi-hit attack
little gap closer

The – :
long animation
Partly dodgeable, blindable, blockable
it’s melee
it puts you next to your target (who didn’t wait a Yi with a stun at the end of an alpha strike?)
locks you in the animation for all the duration

My opinion is something is lacking, may it be evade frames, more damage for the high risk/high reward OR faster execution. Just my opinion though ^^

The problem is there are many solutions to Revenant general problems. And no solution is better than the other, it’s just a matter of taste, so it’s up to A-Net to choose where they want to push the Revenant.
If people have ideas, it could be fun to discuss it

Mallyx :
The best designed legend imo, good theme, using condis, corrupting ennemy boons, clear dedicated boon (resistance). The legend i feel the most confortable with and the only one with a good healing skill, even better with self condis, usefull utilities and a good elite.

Ventari :
I get the idea of Ventari, but the gameplay is extremely clunky and poor. It can’t synergize with any other legends because the tablet does not stay on legend swap, making any related trait automatically useless.
First, the tablet should appear as soon as you channel the legend, not after you use 6.
The heals are low and delayed after table movement or pulse. Purifying Essence is uninspired (simple AoE condi cleanse, nothing fancy).
Only Protective Solace is good like Gardian walls or mesmers bubbles.
Energy Expulsion has the same problem as Jalis elite, too long to cast, the tablet fragments heal is pointless and you must re-activate the tablet after…
The tablet leaves you with absolutly no self protection, in PvP it could be written “kill me” on it…
I guess they wanted to pair it with the staff, but the staff is not enough a self protection and control weapon to allow the use of the tablet especially with some duplicate skills (staff 3/Protective Solace, staff 4/Mix of natural harmony and Puryfying essence)

i guess this wall is already long enough ^^

Legends

My personnal wish would be to have one more utility per legend and choose 3 out of 4 so we can customise a little our playstyle.
With traits we could have passive effects while a legend is active like 25% passive ms for Shiro, retaliation or protection on hit for Jalis etc…

Shiro :
- Nice DPS legend, with good mobility BUT right now energy costs makes it impossible to chain anything and the healing skill is completely useless. Initial heal is weak, the life syphon is low and can be blocked/evaded/blinded, the only usefull part is the precast that activate fury on heal (Fierce infusion) and stacks of might(Nefarious Momentum).
- Impossible odds pumps all your energy in 8 seconds (at 50 base, after legend swap) if you just auto, else it’s even faster. Why is it higher than any of the other upkeep skills is strange. (-10 vs -8 on all other upkeeps)
- Phase traversal(20) can be a death sentence, get stunned right after without Empty Vessel and the ennemy has 3 seconds to destroy you.
- Riposting shadows (35) costs too much especially for an emergency button.
Jade winds is good imo, the wind up is good for a potential 5 man 3sec stun.

Jalis :
Jalis is supposed to be our tanky legend and quite doesn’t feel like it. No protection, no retaliation.
- Soothing stone is good with it’s condi cleanse (yay second cleanse!) but would be even better with something like : no condi on you, higher heal, condis on you, lower heal but 2 condi cleanse
- Inspiring Reinforcement is good but too slow to complete and the Stability comes 2 seconds aftercast.
- Forced engagment (50)…. 50 energy for a long casting 3 seconds taunt…useless
- Vengefull hammers is a good skill but the collision bugs makes it stop everytime it hit a wall, couldn’t use it in the Itzel village bridges because of that.
- Rite of the great Dwarf was overnerfed. The cast time is a death sentence (hey wait before hitting me please! i’m using my emergency button!) especially on a skill i suppose must be defensive and the 50% damage reduction is pale compared to the invulnerability it was before. Note that

conditions keep ticking threw it.

Weapons :

Sword mh :
- sword 2 has low range and the chill efect isn’t usefull. A cripple would be better imo.
- sword 3 is a nice skill (like master Yi’s Q from LoL) but damages are low and the lack of evade is problematic on a skill that roots you, puts you next to your target and some of it’s damages can be negated by dodgerolls, blocks or simply multiple targets near each others.

Sword oh:
- sword 4 : one of our only defensive tool right now, nothing to say on it since the blocking bug is fixed
- sword 5 : This skill is impossible to use correctly due to GW2 pathing and terrain height problems, the idea is nice but can’t be used well.

Mace/Ax : Good Condition weapon set, good synergies between AoE and explosions, axe mobility and controls are welcome, maybe just Axe5 as a ground targeted skill instead of a direct front skill to have better control but it’s QoL.
Only real problem : lack damages in a pure dps setup

Hammer :
General hammer feel is good, hammer 5 should be faster, right now the wind up is super long and you can even fail to hit normal mobs with it if they move a little. the only good thing is that it’s so slow that you don’t even feel the energy costs as it repelenish during the animation.
My only real concern with hammer is the lack of synergy with any legend other than Ventari. The range allow you to stay far and manage the tablet from a safe spot but that’s all.
Still a nice ranged weapon.

Staff :

First of all, the dps boost was good but still a bit low imo, just personnal opinion.
Staff 1: healing orbs are impossible to see in AoE heavy fights and their collision is really small you must be right on it to take it.
Staff 2 : long wind up, not bad damages but the second part is uninspired, a little AoE weakness with the condition you hit while the ennemy was casting a skill.
Staff 3 is nice, nothing to add.
Staff 4 : Condition cleanse is nice as it is our only weapon based condi cleanse and Reve has subpar access to cleanses, BUT the root during animation and the too low heal makes it not worth using under pressure.
Staff 5 : Cool dash, good damages, knock back, nothing to say ^^

Invocation

The almost “must take” trait line as you have two trait lines tied to legends the third is the generic trait line for everyone.

Minors : Fury on legend swapping, good thing, more damages while under fury (adds power to previous minor like Devastation minors), breakstun on legend swap, really good and easy access to stunbreaker though forces you to swap.(it’s the core mechanic of revenant after all)

Tier 1 :
Cruel repercussion : too situationnal, not worth it.
Cleansing Channel, good little condi cleanse, still can help not bad.
Firce infusion, Fury on healing skill, good only with Shiro’s heal wich need a precast to activate it, else it’s not that good, you don’t want your fury access to be on an emergency skill.

Tier 2 :
Equilibrium, damage over energy threshold , healing under energy threshold, 50 energy threshold… you’ll never see the damages as it is now, no one will swap legends over 50 energy…especially for a weak damage. Reminds me of gardian burning on use of virtue nerfed to fixed damages…
Invigorating flow, heal on use of energy susing skill, like thief heal on initiative use…now that we can’t use more than 2 skills in a row, i don’t see how it can be usefull.
Incensed response, fury on stun break, not bad but we lack stunbreaks to really see it without Shiro.

Tier 3 :
Roiling mists, increased critical hit chance under fury, not bad with sigils and on crit effects.
Charged mist, might access on energy threshold, 2 mights under 50 energy…not really usefull with the current energy system, only if you can manage to keep energy between 49 and 51…
Shrouding mists, healing enhancement over 50 energy, damage reduction under 50, not bad but the healing part should be under 50 and the reduction over 50 as the Revenant is squishy right now, plus it compete with a Retribution trait (Determined Resolution)

Redemption
The Ventary trait line, supposed to help life regen and staff.

Minors : blind on hit while ennemy is using a skill is not bad, Hardened fondation is useless as no one builds healing power. Serene Rejuvenation adds to the healing capacities and is only usefull with the tablet and a little with the staff.

Tier 1 :
Nourishing Roots one of our 2 access to regen, but only with ventari tablet out.
Blinding truth is good, another access to a defensive condi : blindness.
Tranquill balance is another generic healing improvment %, lazy trait.

Tier 2
Tranquil Benediction our second access to regen and our only access to swiftness, but only if we take the staff orbs wich means it’s a combat only boon tied to auto attack.
Elluding nullification, generic on dodge roll condi cleanse, not bad, a bit like warrior damage on

dodge roll or gardian heal on dodge. not worth a Tier 2 imo, would be better as a minor trait.
Invoking harmony : 3rd % based increased healing efficiency… like we didn’t have enough, even worst

because it’s on legend swap, so it’s usefull only if you swap to a legend that can heal allies… so Ventari…useless half of the time when you swap to your other legend.

Tier 3:
Selfless amplification : 4th % based improved healing! Talk about lack of inspiration…
Natural abundance, create a little healing fragment near the tablet when you summon it… not worth a tier 3…
Momentary Pacification, Daze on elite use, not bad, but useless with ventari elite because of cast time, same with Jalis, and Dazing petrified ennemies is stupid… only Mallyx could really take it as a bonus…

Devastation :
Our DPS traitline, good in general.

Minors : Vulnerability on hit, good if you use anything else than sword, increased damage on vulnerable target adds to trait 1, life syphon on hit, still good.

Tier 1 :
Assassin’s presence, classic passive ferocity stat boost.
Rapid laceration, 2% skill speed, 5 charge max for 10% max skill speed for sword skills. I’d rather have a cd reduction on sword skills and cd’s on weapon skills…
Malicious Reprisal, whan one attack is blocked, next 2 are unblockable…too situationnal to be usefull in any way.

Tier 2 :
Jade Echo, good but lacks the damage part of Jade winds.
Nefarious Momentum, THE might access of our DPS trait line, good trait.
Ferocious strikes, Ferocity bonus for dual wielding….copy of assassin’s presence and less good…

Tier 3 :
Swift termination, theif like executionner on an assassin legend, good but lazy.
Dismantle fortification, could be nice in pvp, but i don’t see that much control skills on revenant weapons…or maybe if you can land a Hammer5 or spam Shiro elite and it’s 50 energy cost..
Assassin’s annihilation, life syphon on hit from behind or the side…not bad, but to be honest we are not thieves, we can’t really hit someone from behind…can be good in pve vs stupid mobs though…

Traits :

They are a big part of the lack of identity of Revenant and legends. Half Revenant traits are too simple and adds nothing to legends. Note that only Salvation trait line gives something to weapons (staff). there is no CD reduction for any weapon on any trait line.

Corruption :

Minors are good, theyè merge well with Mallyx Theme.

Tier 1 :
Venom enhancement is just a lazy trait, increased venom duration and…that’s all.
Replenishing despair is weak, but well the idea is not bad.
Demonic defiance is good as it emphasis the fact that Mallyx ignore conditions on himself.

Tier 2 : Bolstered anguish is good as it can support a dps build using Corruption trait line.
Spontaneous destruction is good too. Frigid precision is completely useless and out of theme.

Tier 3 : Pulsating pestilence is good as it adds more condi transfert (as you can transfert only one stack per pulse). Maniacal persistance is uninspired, especially with all the fury we have access to and the fury enhancment of Invocation trait line.

Punition
Minors are good too, damage reduction, stability on dodge and endurance gain.

Tier 1 :
Planar protection is a generic falling damage reduction, nothing to add.
Close quarter is a good idea but a bit simple.
Improved aggression is completely useless as a semi pve skill on a taunt we have poor access to.

Tier 2 :
Eye for an Eye is a CC’ed traits, not really usefull imo.
Retaliatory Evasion… 2 seconds retal on dodge…2 seconds and it’s our only access to retaliation…
Redeeming protection…same as above, 3 seconds protection on CC, our only access to Protection…

Tier 3 :
Empowering vengeance, gain 2 might on hit while under our 2 seconds dodgeroll retal? and why giving access to might on Jalis trait line…supposed to be more defensive. (yes i don’t forget the old trait system as all the classic classes still have almost the same traits as before the big trait patch)
Reflexive summon is bugged the same way Vengefull hammer is, even more sometimes with reports of hammer popping on different platforms than the owner.
Steadfast rejuvenation, same as Corruption Tier 1 but 50% chance on hit and a better heal…good but

not worth a tier 3 imo.

Here is my feedback on the Revenant.
Wall of text incoming!

First, i must say that thematically, the Revenant is cool, especially for GW1 players like me.

The problem lies in its design i think.

I agree with people on the fact that energy is a problem right now. Something is wrong with weapons AND utilities pumping on it.
Weapon skills are between 5 and 15 energy cost right now.
This is probably due to the old “no weapon swap” design. We needed the energy cost to compensate the low CDs to compete with normal weapon swap classes (a bit like Thief initiative).
Now that they changed it, energy cost on weapon skills is not justified anymore.

Two things comes to my mind to cover this :
- no energy on weapon skills, only CDs and energy kept only for utilities.
or
- 100 energy as a base (compared to the 50 right now)

All utilites costs between 20 and 35 energy (even 50 for Jalis forced engagment). It means you can’t use more than twice a utility IF you are at 100 energy (sitting on it for 10 seconds only auto attacking).

Revenant lack boons, stun breaks and stability access.
We can’t afford to use a dodge roll to get stability in pvp, and inspired reinfocement has 2 seconds stability application delay.
The only boons we have access to are Fury and Might, especially with Shiro. And that is okay.
BUT we have almost no access to retaliation or protection (crappy access with Jalis and it is again on dodge roll or getting CCed).
A poor access to regeneration with salavation trait line that forces you to use Ventari tablet…
Only Mallyx has access to resistance and it’s good because it’s Mallyx theme, as a condi manipulator.
But other legends lack access to usefull boons.

skowcia was faster than me
Pain absorption is the best exemple we have because we had the chance to test it and yes, in solo settings it’s useless, not because the skill is bad, in group settings it gives a good amount of resistance, but in solo setting, it is the only skill that is so useless you play with one less skill, like a thief not using a left hand weapon, because no offhand skills are awesome (or not…)

I think many people don’t see the global image of the legend swapping/traits/weapons.

Everything is taken from CURRENT state.

I read a lot of Mallyx is condition/offensive, but you can also see it as defensive self-condi managment helping a zerk (Shiro?) spec.
If the dps legend is purely offensive, it will lack condi managment, so it’s up to you to decide what you prefere : clean it or use it to your advantage.
Plus some of Mallyx (corruption trait line) traits are giving increased critical hit chances, damage increase for every condi on you and resistance boon. So you can go direct damage and still use it.
Same for weapons, you are not forced into a weapon set, hammer will be the 1200 range weapon whatever legend you use.

At the moment, the only thing that bugs me is the lack of a 4th utility skill to give at least one choice if there is one you don’t want to use.
During the beta, when alone, Mallyx Pain absorption was used to half it’s real power, while playing other classe, you can change it for something else fitting solo play, the revenant cannot or must completely swap legend (and probably a full traitline)