Guild Wars 2

Vizardlorde.8243:

The ZD problem is that it behaves like HB without having any of the advantages of HB (no cleave, high damage, low cooldown). The range is incredibly close to melee, the projectiles are not considered finishers, and the projectiles can be reflected.

The thing is though, even if all the attacks from zealot’s defense hit it’s still on average less damage then the sword auto attack.

Really they should just redesign the whole skill. Is is it’s not needed & redundant.

Personally I’d love to see it changed to some type of mobility or utility skill that doesn’t root you in place.

Thaddeus.4891:

I don’t agree with all your solutions, but most of those need some changes you are right. Just 3 things

- The tooltip of Zealot’s Defense say ‘’destroy projectiles’’ so there is no error there.
- It’s Hunter’s Ward not Hunter’s Shot.
- What you wrote about Shield of Judgment, it seem like there is something missing. You didn’t complete it.

Lol ty for catching those ill fix them.

As for zealots defense, ya it does say that now. I remember it used to say “block ranged attacks”.
Guess they fixed it at some point.

So any thoughts, comments, suggestions ?

Or of if you just wana bump the ideas please comment.

Now for dragon hunter longbow skills & traps

1: “Deflecting Shot” (The projectile speed on this skill seems rather fast, if it were slowed by say 25% that would be great.
It would also be great if it counted as a block when it stopped a projectile.
A suggestion for scrapping the current iterration of “heavy Light” & baking in a knock back on this skill at base has been made)

2: “Hunter’s Ward” (The cool down of this skill is excessively long, but given the length of the barrier duration it’s understandable. What if the barrier duration was reduced to 3 seconds but the cool down reduced to 30 seconds)

3: “Purification” (if the healing on this trap were evenly spread between use & being triggered it would be appreciated.
Also the fact it is called purification but doesn’t remove a condition is kind of weird)

Now for the Dragon Hunter traits

1: “Piercing Light” (Many guardians are glad to finally have access to bleeds, however only some of us are happy about them being tied to traps.
Several suggestions have been made by others and myself ranging from giving critical hits a chance to bleed in addition to traps always bleeding, to allowing symbols to bleed when this trait is used. Whatever is done spreading the effect of this trait around would be appreciated.
Another suggestion is to have the trait also effect longbow skills so that they apply bleeds)

2: “Dulled Senses” (If this trait also effected launches, immobilizes & knock downs it would be much better able to compete with the other choices.
Another suggestion that has been made would be to change it to “Seared Tendons” Cripple foes you burn. Cd of 15 seconds per target)

3: “Hunter’s Fortification” (It was mentioned in the live stream that this trait felt redundant with existing virtues traits. What if instead it applied weakness to enemies around the guardian when a virtue was used ?)

4: “Heavy Light” (What if instead of it’s current incarnation it caused deflecting shot to knock back enemies & reduced the cool down of traps by say 25-30%)

Like allot of you I have been looking at the traits & skills for guardians & dragon hunters lately.
While the majority of them look great there are some that still seem underwhelming to just plan meh.
I have also added some suggestions for base line guardian skills on weapons that have proved problematic.

If you feel the same about these skills/traits feel free to chip in and even add your own ideas.

Lets start out with the base guardian skills

1: Mace number 3 “Protectors Strike”. This skill is a melee block, however unlike every other melee block in game its secondary skill can be triggered (and the block ended) by ranged attacks.
(If this skill were changed to continue blocking unless struck by an attacker within melee range it would be great)

2: Sword auto attack number 3 “Sword Wave”. The cone on this skill is extremely small, meaning that fast moving enemies are often missed. It also is treated like a ranged attack where reflects are concerned but cannot trigger ranged projectile finishers.
(Pretty sure I speak for all guardians when I say just make it a 3 hit melee cleave)

3: Sword skill number 3 “Zealot’s Defense”. This skill despite what the tool tip says does not actually block anything, it absorbs. This means it cannot trigger any of the on block traits that guardians have.
It also roots you in place making you a prime target for melee & ground targeted attacks it does not stop. Lastly the projectiles are so slow that anyone outside of immediate melee range can avoid them by strafing.
(Think the summary gives a pretty good idea of what to fix)

4: Scepter skill number 2 “Smite” (The vast majority of guardians would love to see this skill changed into a ground targeted symbol)

5: Shield skill number 4 “Shield of Judgment”. ( A great many guardians were sad that the guardian was not one of the classes to receive the taunt ability. Wouldn’t this be a great place to tack it on ?)

6: Shield skill number 5 “Shield of Absorption”. (Would be great if you make this skill simply knock back enemies & grant AEGIS to allies)

Now for the guardian traits

1: “Wrathful Spirit” (Yey a whole 3 seconds of retaliation, seriously though we have enough retaliation & the up time from this skill is laughable. What if instead it gave 2-3 stacks of might for 10 seconds)

2: “Zealous Scepter” (I cant really see anyone using this skill vs firey wrath. what if instead it were to grant AOE might when triggered?)

3: “Healer’s Retribution” (Given the other choices in this line I can’t really see anyone using this. What if instead it granted 5 seconds of retaliation to nearby allies when you use your heal?)

4: “Perfect Inscriptions” (Many guardians were upset that you cannot trait to have signets remove a condition on use. Many have also seen the warrior signet mastery trait and thought this was laughable in comparison.)

5: “Strength of the Fallen” (Many guardians have commented that using this trait will actually be a burden in PvP because when dying it will take longer to actually die & thus longer to respawn. If that part of the trait were to be changed to do something else then it would be fine)

6: “Stalwart Defender” (Compared to the other traits in this line this skill is rather underwhelming. What if it caused guardians to grant resistance to allies on shield skill use)

7: “Protector’s Impact” (Fall damage traits tend to extremely niche, this one especially so. Any ideas for this trait would be great)

8: “Retaliatory Subconscious” (Given the cool down many guardians would prefer if this skill gave protection & retaliation when triggered, or if it just had a much lower cool down)

Knox.8462:

Thematically reflect doesn’t make much sense on a necro. I’d be fine with projectile blocking though.

This ^.

The perfect candidates for it would be corrosive poison cloud, spectral wall & well of darkness.

The necro could also use some stability.

Personally I think the flesh golem should grant the necro stability with it’s activated ability.
At least then it would serve more use then standing around looking fugly while we get hit.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Zerg Buster:
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgIGVAXUArQ~
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQJAr/ksApZI8DBA-TFSEABhs/QwnAAR0DAg5vCeAApqEMG1fIT5HpAgYNA-w

Required utilities include Procession of Blades and Lights Judgment. Helpful utilities include renewed focus, SYG, Merciful Intervention, Shelter, Purging Flames, or similar skills.

Mostly carrion with maybe some rabid or settlers of needed. Optional runes include trapper, krait, flame legion, or similar. Weapons include scepter/torch and longbow.

Place your traps where you can guarantee the zerg will walk over them, like behind gates at objectives. Once they pop, the fun don’t stop. Don’t neglect to drop Smites, LB 4s, and LB 5s on top of your trap placement for the extra VoJ procs. LB 5 is particularly good as it drops wards, keeping your quarry inside the kill zone.

This is currently built around the potential change to Permeating Wrath, which will allow it to proc based on target location instead of your location. If that doesn’t happen, the build can still work, it’ll just be much riskier and be more likely you become a suicide bomber before an engagement. Judge’s Intervention will be a necessity to proc PW, or you could replace PW with another Virtues trait for hampered aoe burn application.

Well if it turns out to be a suicide build dont forget to yell Aloha Snack bar before you run to your death.

Is it better ? IDk.

Can it be useful ? yes, especially if you trait for blinds to apply vulnerability since mischief effects up to 4 enemies in front of you.

In the end id say its all up to you.

Both sigils are rather cheap so I would suggest at least trying it out.

As for support healing builds, I have used http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAW5dlsApUotCxWI8DRRCRlTNY/BZQKcdA0AjJA-TJxHwAILDY4KAob/BAPEAA

Like other bunker/support guardian builds the damage & control is laughably low compared to bunker/support elementalists , engineers & warriors but its support is top notch.

Fashion Mage.3712:

I use a very similar build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fVAQNAW7dl8ApXotDxeI0ENBEBl9JWR8xODT4CXFAA-TJxHAB1eRAQqMwP7PAwTAAA

It works very well for me (I win the majority of my matches with it), and my team certainly enjoys it when I use it. Sadly, I don’t see it being as good if Tome of Courage is removed.

Idk I see it being even better of courage is changed to the signet.

The passive AOE heal could work quite nice for keeping allies alive depending on how strong it is.

Two things I wouldn’t mind seeing other then AI improvements.

1: Minions being more viable with condition builds (this means minions applying conditions.

2: Minions being able to apply boons with their active. (flesh golem gets stability, what if he shared it with his master ?)

You mean I can finally get a squire to follow me around, carry all my extra armor & weapons while shouting words of encouragement ?

Lily.1935:

Proven.2854:

Necros want to be hit… right. I’ve been thinking lately how to make that actually a thing. Best I can think of is baking traits into Death Magic. Here’s one idea:

Trait: Retaliatory Force
Gain Life Force while hit under the effects of Retaliation.

Any other ideas?

What about a trait that just converts the damage of retaliation into Life stealing? Something like “Insidious parasite” or something along those lines.

That combined with blood magic traits working in shroud could become a bit obscene as far as sustain goes.

As far as what to add to death shroud traits at this point I’d love to see some more retaliation & stability
If they are going to focus you at least make them pay for it.

Obtena.7952:

That’s a pretty good reason to use traps in PVP if you ask me. How many times you want to hold points? Lots, and we do it well, now even better.

It won’t be a idiot or a newbie getting F’ed Up either. Trap effects will be applied to everyone equally.

Except any smart person & or person who has played for any length of time will do everything possible to get away from that spot as quickly as they can.
And with the wide array of stability & condition cleanses out there they likely will.

Idiots/newbies & NPC’s however will not know any better.

Thus those 3 simple changes to traits I suggest they make above.

That way guardian wont have to rely exclusively on traps for bleeding & traps will bring “some” defensive/supportive utility to help them compete with other skill types the guardian has access to.

Obtena.7952:

^^ You’ve just explained why people hate traps; people are going to have to play smart to use them.

Dont get me wrong traps will be good in PvE no doubt.

But for PvP I cant really see them being used other then in the occasional hot join to drop a ton on a single point and laugh as an idiot or newbi gets f’d up.

Xaylin.1860:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

The trait piercing light which allows the guardian to apply bleeds via traps is quite underwhelming.

I say this because it only activates when a trap deals damage & to get any significant bleeding up you would have to keep the enemy inside the trap. (something that is unlikely to happen.

If they were to change it so that the guardian applied a bleed on crit or so that symbols applied bleeding when doing damage then it would be great for condition builds.

While burning will stack in intensity I have doubts that it will be enough.
I say this because you will have to stack it up & it can be easily cleansed since the guardian will lack other damaging conditions.

So can condi work ? possibly, but it will have problems unless some changes are made to make it more viable like other classes.

Sometimes I get the impression people just prefer being overly sceptical.

Yes, the trait requires your enemies to stay within a Trap. But especially Meditation Guardians should know how to keep people in place. JI help but it bascially comes down to a specific weapon choice which also DH can use. No rocket science.

Keeping people in place will only be an issue for roaming. In PvE it doesn’t matter most of the time. In WvW it mostly doesn’t matter because there are so many people you will always hit someone. And in Conquest people will want to stay on the note so you can’t decap. It is not unlikely to happen that people will be hit by the bleeds.

Procession of Blades appears to hit three times within one second in an area effect. Light’s Judgment is slower but this also means it is harder to cleanse. In a PvP context it will still be pretty devastating when placed on a cap point. Both of these Traps will trigger VoJ like crazy which will result in Permeating Wrath potentially applying 1 stack of area burn per spin or pulse. That’s 3 stacks for PoB and 1 stack for LJ per second.

‘But it can be cleansed’ can be said about every condition build. Yes, Traps are on relatively high cooldowns but this just means they are supposed to be used as burst rather than for wearing people down like on Rangers. When it comes to burning, Guardians don’t really need excessive cover conditions since they can apply it so easily. And, for example, Light’s Judgment has a pseudo-built in condition removal protection through pulsing Vulnerability. On another note: Baiting out important condition removals has always been a thing. While there are certain builds where this doesn’t work, there are plenty where it does.

Yes, we will have to see how it works out. I highly doubt we will see full Trap Guardians because they’d lack survivability. That’s quite obvious and we see Rangers having similar issues. Still, a Heal X, Utility X, Trap/Utility X, Trap, Trap/Elite X set up should work perfectly fine. You might have to use slightly less offensive armor but that doesn’t mean it won’t work. Especially since the bleeds aren’t riggered on crit you might be able to forgo Precision.

I still have my doubts about how useful traps will be in PvP.

As for condition builds, its anybodies guess.

I mean why stand in the trap and get bleeds/burning when you can simply get out of it for a couple of seconds then come back on it.

That makes allot more sense then standing still on it to contest a point and more then likely dying.

There is also the rather sizable cool downs that traps have which makes me doubt them.

Over all I think the dragon hunter spec would be much better off if they did things

1: Change the trait “Piercing Light” so that it causes traps & symbols to bleed when they do damage (maybe make the bleed a bit shorter, say 4 seconds).

2: Change the ability “Deflecting Shot” so that it does a knock back at base (and counts as a block)

3: Change the trait “Heavy Light” so that it reduces trap cool downs by a static amount (say 20-25%) and causes traps to grant a beneficial effect to nearby allies when triggered. (could be a boon, condition removal or AOE heal)

After that traps & condition builds become a better option.

The trait piercing light which allows the guardian to apply bleeds via traps is quite underwhelming.

I say this because it only activates when a trap deals damage & to get any significant bleeding up you would have to keep the enemy inside the trap. (something that is unlikely to happen.

If they were to change it so that the guardian applied a bleed on crit or so that symbols applied bleeding when doing damage then it would be great for condition builds.

While burning will stack in intensity I have doubts that it will be enough.
I say this because you will have to stack it up & it can be easily cleansed since the guardian will lack other damaging conditions.

So can condi work ? possibly, but it will have problems unless some changes are made to make it more viable like other classes.

Personally I think they should change the shout trait.

Give it a static 30% Cd reduction to shouts, cause all shouts to give you stability for 2 ish seconds & remove a condition on use.

Given the Cd & cast time of many of the shouts it would be fine balance wise.

Blasino.3128:

Some of you guys are just jumping into way too many conclusions and honestly we have yet to see the implementation of the new traits with new trait points and masteries, etc.

There is a very positive spin to look at this.

I mean look at traps with longbow this way, with celes or apoth gear we have great sustain and condi application. Dodge roll heal, boons etc. The VoR is nice because it gives us another utility to it, a gap closer or retreat.

There are some pretty cool things here and they gave us a little more mobility, more utility, condis, and a ranged weapon. Why are we so upset? Nothing is final.

I do agree the name is dumb, but personally it doesn’t bother me. I’m not saying it shouldn’t bother you.

I wouldn’t really call selfless daring sustain unless your in PvE or WvW.

The fact that it’s healing is halved in PvP means you need to get insane amounts of healing power for it to be any good at which point you cant really put out any damage.

If they were to bring selfless daring up to say 75-80% effectiveness in PvP then it would be good for sustain.

But that’s beside the point. They really need to reduce the CD on most of the traps and give them some support/sustain or they just won’t be worth taking.

Something I have suggested since the trait reveal is that they make deflecting shot count as a block (when it stops projectiles) and knock back enemies that it hits.

Then take heavy light & change it to the following.

Heavy Light: Reduce the Cd of traps by 25% then have it either remove a condition, AOE heal or grant a boon specific to the trap when triggered.

Then traps may be considered for PvP. Until then however its doubtful anyone will use more then one (at a time) at the very most.

ronpierce.2760:

If it’s ANY boon gained, including outside sources, it’s actually very powerful. This means if there is any pre-buffing, no longer will Necros have to start with 0 LF.

It does NOT need a buff. That said, I hope it doesn’t get nerfed either. At least not with a ICD because they would completely ruin the team-based defense it gives allowing it to fight front lines. It’s the perfect trait.

I hope it doesn’t get nerfed as well but they could put a cap on how many times it can trigger in a short time period. Say 20x in 10 seconds, (ala chilling nova) to keep it from becoming completely insane.

I say this because if you pair it with a staff guardian, or certain types of ele & warrior it could become completely over powered in PvP.

Cecilia.5179:

So the trick would be to keep chill on a foe indefinitely. Sounds easier said than done, and to use the might on chill, you’d have to give up Decimate Defenses.

The trick will definitely be keeping chill up.

By my best guess the reaper alone will have at best 40 ish % chill up time while in shroud (without dropping it) & that is by dropping other stats to gain + condition duration.

But ya crit will be nothing to worry about for a reaper as they will get up to 50% from decimate defenses and another 50% from perception of death.

Even with all of those things though the best chill uptime you could hope for is like 40% while in shroud.

Even then that will be by losing allot of other stats to go for +condition duration.

All that I propose is a simple change to deaths charge so that it applies a 3 second poison & chill in AOE (instead of a 5 second poison) when it ends.

Where rise is concerned.

I actually like Jagged horrors in that they do physical damage & bleed on their attacks.

Their problem comes in that their health is constantly draining. If they got rid of that then they would be decent so far as minions are concerned.

Short of that I would like to see a new minion that does ranged attacks that bleed.

For suffer & nothing can save you. They really should lower the base CD to 30 seconds with cast times of 1/2 second.

For chilled to the bone, ya they should make it 1 second cast time & reduce the CD to 80-90 seconds.

Lastly for Augury of Death. I think they should give it a flat 20% CD reduction and have it cause your shouts to grant retaliation to allies (4-5 seconds) on use..

This would give the necro a little bit of support & help punish foes who just kite you in circles.

I chose answer C: Racial elite.

Sigmoid.7082:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Shiki.7148:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Tim.6450:

you forgot terrify will always chill due to master minor trait.

Even so that’s not much chill up time in shroud.

Even with that & the number 5 your looking at around 1/5-1/4 up time.

After looking at the evidence put forward by Xaylin, The only suggestion I make is changing deaths charge so that it applies 3 seconds of chill & poison in a small AOE when it ends.

That ought to be sufficient to help keep enemies in melee range.

You also forget that you can spin to win through the cold field for even more chill.

Ya but wouldn’t you rather have a short duration chill on demand with a short CD them something on a long CD that you have to combo through ?

Cant you take chilling dark then drop the well or nightfall to get your chills. They are both persistent skills so fire ad eneter RS to stack burns on auto attack.

Im talking about access to chill while in shroud. Those require you be out of it to use them.

Unless of course they gave access to utility skills while in shroud which would be frekin fantastic and also solve this issue.

Shiki.7148:

Ragnar the Rock.3174:

Tim.6450:

you forgot terrify will always chill due to master minor trait.

Even so that’s not much chill up time in shroud.

Even with that & the number 5 your looking at around 1/5-1/4 up time.

After looking at the evidence put forward by Xaylin, The only suggestion I make is changing deaths charge so that it applies 3 seconds of chill & poison in a small AOE when it ends.

That ought to be sufficient to help keep enemies in melee range.

You also forget that you can spin to win through the cold field for even more chill.

Ya but wouldn’t you rather have a short duration chill on demand with a short CD them something on a long CD that you have to combo through ?

Tim.6450:

you forgot terrify will always chill due to master minor trait.

Even so that’s not much chill up time in shroud.

Even with that & the number 5 your looking at around 1/5-1/4 up time.

After looking at the evidence put forward by Xaylin, The only suggestion I make is changing deaths charge so that it applies 3 seconds of chill & poison in a small AOE when it ends.

That ought to be sufficient to help keep enemies in melee range.

Xaylin.1860:

I’m with you on RS#2. I’ve been torturing my brain how to work around it but I couldn’t come up with a reasonable solution. However, two things to keep in mind:

• No poison in RS will mean less synergy with Death Magic
• No poison will make it less appealing for condition Necros

I got to say no on the Torment on RS#4. As it stands now, Dhuumfire with the new AA will easily compensate for the loss of Torment. It might hurt at first since Torment is kind of the class condition but that doesn’t justify slapping it onto everything. That aside, potentially applying 11 stacks of Torment plus 11 stacks Burning from Dhuumfire is just wrong.

That/s Mainly why I said have it apply poison and chill, but for 3 seconds each.

Also your right about torment & how Dhuumfire will work,.

So like many of you I watched the live stream & saw things I liked & things I didn’t.

There are 2 things I noticed however that bother me.

1: While in reapers shroud the necro has very little chill up time. The only way to apply chill is on the number 5 which has a sizable cool down.

&

2: Reapers shroud looses quite a bit of condition access vs regular death shroud.

The problem with number one is that it will make escaping from the reaper while they are in shroud easier then it would be to escape while they are out of it.

I think this problem could easily be solved by slightly changing the number 2 “Deaths Charge”. As is it applies a 5 second AOE poison when it ends.
I propose they change it to apply a 3 second AOE poison & Chill.

As for problem number 2, it slightly pigeon holes the reaper into a power build.
The fix I propose is rather simple.
Simply slightly change the 4 skill chain “Soul Spiral” so that it also applies 1 stack of torment (say 2-3 seconds) when it hits a foe in exchange for a slight (say 15-20%) physical damage reduction.

After this the spec becomes better

Frankly I’m amazed that the shouts don’t have a more defensive/supportive nature.

Given that the reaper is melee it will need all the defense/support it can get especially since it has no blocks/absorbs to speak of.

Would be nice if there was a trait to give all the shouts protection or healing on use.

Also some of the changes to base things are nice but I’m still amazed you cannot use utility skills while in death shroud.

Vizardlorde.8243:

Aoe poison synergizes with putrid defense

True however there are already tons of ways to apply poison.

If it applied chill & poison but for 3 seconds each then it could interact with a wider variety of traits + help keep enemies in range.

It would be quite nice considering the only thing the reaper has that applies chill while in shroud is on a 30 second cool down.

Tzozef.9841:

Ohoni.6057:

I think it all looks really cool, but I’m still not seeing how this is meant to improve the Necro’s usefulness against world bosses. The defensive options don’t seem like they would apply, and most of the effects are only working at their best against multiple enemies.

Very good point.

I also feel the Shouts still have room for potential, i think the numbers can be changed, like the amount of conditions transfered, and “you are all weaklings!” can give those boons to allies as well, and make it a variety of boons other than might.

Again these are simple changes, shouts for Necro already set up great potential for it. And i’d rather have them weaker and instant cast with shorted cool downs. Again with the right tweaks it can fulfill a lot of issues it already has

This.

Also am I alone in wishing they would change blood is power ?

If they would reduce it to say 4 stacks of might, but give said might to all nearby allies as well then it could be quite nice when paired with strength runes & or boon duration.

Warcry.8914:

Rym.1469:

And honorable mention – We lose our only source of Torment as a Reaper.

That totally slipped past me. Certainly feels like Reaper is cemented into Power only and the possibility of Celestial or even Rampager builds are out the window.

The lack of torment does suck, but the vulnerability stacking is insane & if you wanted to you could grab dhuumfire.

With the cast time of the auto in shroud you could potentially keep up 6 stacks of burning in AOE around you.
Doing so however means no crit chance or stability from the soul reaping line.

Frankly I think they should change the reapers shroud number 2 ability to inflict chill & Poison on hit (for 3 seconds each).

The poison is nice but if you look at reapers shroud the only chilling ability is on a long CD.

This will help keep enemies within range while your in shroud & interact with the traits better.

It would also be nice if they changed soul spiral so that it did a little less physical damage but inflicted torment or bleeding with each hit. That way enemies who run away take some damage.

Atherakhia.4086:

Wasn’t slow, but also didn’t deal the type of damage I was expecting either.

All the attacks were low damage utility attacks except gravedigger really. But spamming gravedigger on a low health target may work.

They were using soldiers rune though.

With a berserker rune & the trait giving crit based off of vulnerability it should be pretty easy to get a good bit of damage (especially with all the ways to apply vulnerability via skills/traits)

I like jagged horrors in that they do physical damage & apply a bleed when they hit.

Combine this with the fact that when minions die they can trigger death nova & it works alright.

The thing I hate about bone minions is the fact they constantly lose health from the moment they are summoned.
If they would get rid of that little problem then the skill would be alright.

All that being said it would also be nice if it summoned bone minions & allowed you to shout again (as a chain) to blow each of them up.
(be like mwahahaha I have a little suicide vest army)

Bone fiends would have also worked, though summoning one per enemy would be a bit much if it allowed you to summon 5.

CandymanSpieler.5106:

Why couldn’t they make the shouts somewhat supportive? They theoretically fixed cleave but it still leaves them as a selfish class built around the theme instead of usefulness.

Agreed.

Though I guess it is nice they are looking at blood magic. Just hope they give it enough love to be viable as a support tree.

cerulean moth.2743:

Kharr.5746:

If we go by the trait lines, dagger is situated in blood (our support line), so it is technically supposed to be a support weapon. It would be great if Anet made #2 on dagger heal allies via the Transfusion trait that currently only works in DS. This would go a long way with giving necros some team support.

mmmm “All channeled siphons heal nearby allies” I like that.

I have actually suggested for a long time that they change the “Vampiric Rituals” trait so that it causes all your hits & hits of nearby allies to siphon health.

Though simply making all channeled life siphons effect nearby allies for a % would be nice.

Dagger will be the fast hitting weapon.

Greatsword will be the burst damage & cleaving weapon.

Axe will be the thing nobody ever wants to use.

Staff will be the utility weapon

Scepter will be the condition choice.

Really I wish they would change axe training trait so that the damage was baked in base line & it instead increased the range of number 1 & number 2 to 900 or even 1200 units.
Then the necro would finally have a decent ranged power weapon.

Bash.7291:

Saiyan.1704:

Genesis.8572:

Silhouette.5631:

The devs said they gave it the name kuz of lore, not as much because of play style, wait until the expansion before yall go saying its just thrown togeather. Anet usually provides great game depth (even if the characters lines in the main plot are a tad simplistic). That being said I’m not going to complain about what Anets giving us when everything we already having is working just fine. (Go talk to a theif/necro/memser/ranger about stuff not workin right)

Even if there is a lore explanation, the specialization could use a simple name change (e.g. “dragonbane”) and have many of its abilities and aesthetics (e.g. angel wings) changed to reflect that whole draconic and foe-slaying motif. As it stands, the trait and ability names feel disjointed and like a hodge-podge of differing elite specialization ideas haphazardly thrown together.

I’m sorry but Dragonbane just sounds terrible. But to each his own. I rather have Harbinger or Grainger (play on words).

As for traps usefulness, we’ll be able to pull them off easier than rangers can. People are so quick to judge and compare.

I didn’t want mantras, shouts, or spirits. Traps are fine for the theme. They’re especially fine for condition builds which happens to be my specialty

I am looking forward to the hybrid meta in pvp so badly… between the radiance changes and the traps… its going to be very interesting.

Unless they add some support/sustain on to traps I doubt anyone will use more then one.

Because while they do good damage said damage is easily avoided & taking them means you lose your sustain & support.

While the idea of a guardian using traps is alien to me the spec itself does add some good things.

They just need to look at 3 of the traits in dragon hunter, adjust the bow slightly & make it so traps have a reduced CD and provide some type of sustain/support on use or activation.

(cannot really see them being used outside of PvE due to that limitation)

Silhouette.5631:

You mean all those things that we can already do? Nah Vigor is great. It gives those zerkers more dodges so they can most and keep zerkin.

The thing is they have to stand still for 4 seconds to get the vigor.

That’s kind of counter productive when you want to dodge more often.

If your going to stand still its much better to be getting protection, retaliation or regeneration so at least the damage you take is inflicted back in kind or somewhat negated.

Would be nice, doubt it will happen though. As Noah said best we can hope for is them changing up a few things.

Also Giving vigor per pulse seems kinda off. I mean you have to stand still for 4 seconds to get something that helps you dodge more often.

Retaliation, swiftness, might or protection would make more sense.

As brandon said, Best bruisers to worst ?

1 being best, 8 being worst I would say

1: Elementalist (the amount of protection & health regin is amazing & they can do it while helping allies & providing a decent mix of condition damage and control.)

2: Warrior (high base health with strong health regen. They also provide good condition damage & control)

3: Engineer (Lots of blocks, conditions removal & health regin if you do it right. They also provide good condition damage & the best CC in game.)

4: Guardian. (Insane survivability but it’s tied to allies being nearby to proc altruistic healing. Good condition removal also. Sadly it’s control & damage output is a joke. Lets see how that improves in the expansion)

After that its a matter of perspective. Though if played right I would say the mesmer can be insanely tanky due to how much damage you can simply not get hit with.

Eh when it comes to the DH longbow & traits I think they should do the following.

Puncture Shot, Split it into a 2 hit attack with each hit doing 55-60% of the current single hit’s damage.
(Would result in faster VOJ triggers & more crit chances)

Deflecting Shot, slow down the speed of the projectile by about 25-30%, make it wider (say 180 units across) & make it knock back at base.
(would make it avoidable if your good, would also make it better vs projectiles)

Symbol of Energy, Change it to a ranged symbol of wrath (make the 2 second burn per pulse a base effect for all symbols)
(Vigor at the cost of standing still is kinda useless, retaliation however; is not)

As for the traits

Piercing Light, Make it effect symbols as well but lower the duration of the bleed to 4-5 seconds.
(better for condition builds, symbol weapons are not high on mobility however so that balances it out)

Hunters Ward, Lower the ring duration to 3-4 seconds but lower the CD to 30-35 seconds.
(the extreme CD of 60 seconds is way to long, lowering the CD but also the ward balances it)

Dulled Senses, Change it completely.
Rename it “Seared Tendons”, Make it cripple foes that you burn (3-4 second cripple with a 10-12 second Cd per target)
(makes it better any way you look at it)

Heavy Light, Change it so that it reduces the CD of traps by 25-30% and causes each trap to grant nearby allies a boon (specific to the trap) when triggered.
(helps make traps viable for PvP where they will likely not be vs meditations/shouts)

Hunters Fortification, change it to apply weakness to nearby enemies (4 seconds, 240 radius) when you activate a virtue.
(As is it’s like inspired virtue but better. This gives it an offensive theme but still lets it reduce incoming damage)

Would be funny if warriors got potions.

But instead of mixed potions you drink different types of alcohol to go into a drunken rage!

Would have rather gotten manipulations, cantrips or shouts, but I suppose stances could work if done right.

Kinda like the number 4. We need to get away from skills that root ppl in place though so number 5 turns me off.

A suggestion I have been putting out for a while now is to change number 4 so that it taunts enemies it hits while giving nearby allies protection. (could add your rush idea on to it easy enough via traits)

Then change number 5 so that it simply grants all nearby allies AEGIS while knocking back nearby enemies. (Shield trait would make it also grant nearby allies Resistance)

ronpierce.2760:

3. Reduce total life in DS. (A semi-decent amount)
4. Increase LF gained in combat.
5. Outside of combat slowly gravitate to 25% when out of combat.
6. Remove the tait that increases LF from kills (it’s terrible). Make it something better.
7. With less DS HP pools, offer some evasive defensives, which to me doesn’t sound out of the realm of shadow and death magic.

These but i would also do the following

Replace Death Shroud with the following F1 – F4keys

F1: Attack varies depending on your equipped weapon, but consumes a static amount of life force on use.
As a bonus you take X% less damage while casting this ability.

F2: Shadow Armor (Channeled ability, Consumes X life force per second to absorb all incoming attacks. Has a trait that grants protection to allies when channeled but at an increased life force cost.
CD TBD. (think low)

F3: Dark Path. Consume X life force to teleport to the target area, when you arive you chill (4 seconds) & poison (2 stacks for 5 seconds) nearby foes.
600 range, 180 radius effect (trait can increase to 900 range and 300 radius effect)
15 second CD

F4: Doom. Consume X life force to inflict fear (2 seconds) & torment (3 stacks for 5 seconds) on your enemy.
Range 700, 20 second CD.

5: Transfusion. (Channeled ability), Consume X life force per second to heal nearby allies while damaging & bleeding (1 stack for 4 seconds per pulse) nearby enemies.
Channel time of 3 seconds, pulses 2 times per second. CD 25-35 seconds.

After this necro becomes fairly easy to balance, just adjust traits & life force generation accordingly.

Eh I would prefer to keep some damage on it but also make it daze (Say 1/2 to 1 second) whoever broke the AEGIS.

This would give the guardian some hard CC, but in a reactionary way.