Guild Wars 2

MadRabbit.3179:

I guess this is a concept that is complete foreign to me, probably, because I haven’t done any of the raid content.

I don’t understand how a tank concept can exist without any kind of taunt mechanic.

The first boss at least 100% targets the player with the highest armor.

Wolfric.9380:

i didn´t build to max stacks. Normal is 12-20 bleed stacks for me adding 2-5 burning stacks. If i overlaod fire and target stays in i regulary do about 4k burn per tick.
I have a WvW build and thus i don´t use sigils or glyphs have only abot 1500 condi damage and 35% duration (+20% burn dur). I can push this further with food gaining another 30% duration.

Now imagine if you have 3000+ condi damage and 100% bleed and burning duration on top of rocking some high toughness.

Wolfric.9380:

i didn´t build to max stacks. Normal is 12-20 bleed stacks for me adding 2-5 burning stacks. If i overlaod fire and target stays in i regulary do about 4k burn per tick.
I have a WvW build and thus i don´t use sigils or glyphs have only abot 1500 condi damage and 35% duration (+20% burn dur). I can push this further with food gaining another 30% duration.

Ill need to fullytest it once we can get the armor and jewelry but it looks extremely promising on paper.

You have very long duration bleeds which add up over time, and flowing between earth and fire is easy with both overloads.

Yea the biggest assumption is that the nuock vender in TD is bugged. The trailblazer recipies drop from that zone and the chak weapons are trailblazer.

PlasticHippo.8934:

in the Raids beta awhile ago there were a few mobs that were completely immune to direct damage, so groups were required to bring condition builds (not everyone, but 3 or 4 people) currently the only classes that are very good at doing a lot of condition damage are trap rangers and engineers. and because trap rangers need to be in melee, and engineers don’t. engineers will be in very high demand for raids. and at least for what we saw in the beta, ascended gear was not needed

Tempest, Venom thief, and Reaper can be added to the list of top tier raw condi build options. Ignoring the raw damage, since the boss is immune, drastically lowers the advantage the ranger and engineer have with their sinister sets.

Ghotistyx.6942:

Other professions can get higher (stat wise, not dps), but for Ele it’s definitely a contender for best condition damage.

Interesting, who gets higher condition damage than this and how?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/external?l=http%3A%2F%2Fgw2skills.net%2Feditor%2F%3FvFAQJArdhcMoshFRwvB8RsIAYut2ZbtNIAEKPADxgdQRA-TBSTABDr%2BThnAglV%2BZ4DAAg9H208XbKBnVPApAgZZF-e

At 25 Stacks of Might, is this potentially one of if not the highest “pure” condition damage build obtainable by any class?

By stacking Condition damage and toughness, and converting Power and Toughness each by 10% into condition damage, AND while maintaing 100% Bleed and Burning duration, AND while converting an additional 7% toughness into condi damage from Undead, AND THEN getting a final +6% condition damage from Bursting …

Is this potentially the absolute best condition damage build available for bosses that ignore raw damage, such as some of the new raid bosses in Lost Vale?

This build gains over 3,000 condition damage at 25 might and has 100% duration. Discuss. Obviously some utilities can be swapped around as needed.

For the very high condition damage alternative, look no further than the following:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJArdhcMoshFRwvB8RsIAYut2ZbtNIAEKPADxgdQRA-TBSTABDr+ThnAglV+Z4DAAg9H208XbKBnVPApAgZZF-e

This version completely ignores healing power in favor of significantly higher sustained condition damage while still being exceptionally durable, but your ability to self-sustain with healing gets thrown out in favor of this extremely high sustained damage.

This combination would be ideal for less serious fights, or for fights when damage is more of a concern and the boss itself isnt doing overwhelming damage.

At 25 might stacks, this build essentially has almost 3,000 Condition Damage with 100% (99.67%) condition duration for Bleeding and Burning. While having over 3,500 Armor and 1500 Health. Loses all of the Healing Power though The values exceed the above when using Earthen Shield and Fiery Greatsword.

The double conversion of Toughness into Condition damage and Power into Condition damage, with all the free power from Might stacks, is HUGE.

I’m actually starting to believe I just discovered the highest Pure Condition damage build in the entire game, so no other class benefits from multiple conversions of various stats into Condition damage. Time will tell if I can ever manage to make a full Ascended Trailblazer set.

Not saying I’m mister pro-skill Daredevil over here, but I run pure Berserker with some Assassins and Scholar Runes with Critical Strikes / Deadly Arts / Daredevil to compound all my damage options.

THEN I take Invigorating Strikes to heal based on a % of my critical damage. One good Vault at 25 might stacks in a cluster of foes is almost a full heal.

I find that I sustain VERY well with this build, and I don’t even use the Signet heal, instead relying on the fantastic burst heal option of the Daredevil Heal.

If the situation is too hairy to melee, I just use Dash dodge out and Unload with dual pistols. Its incredibly fun, active, and rewarding when I’m pulling off some of the highest possible sustained damage in the game due to well timed dodges and vamping my health back up from my foes after a miss play. Rarely has anything “one shot” me yet.

Actually, by seeing them go into stealth, you are being made aware that a burst is likely incoming.

Also, there are increasingly prevalent Reveal options being added to the game, which adds more direct counters to Stealth.

I think the Warrior’s Kill Shot is a better analogy, even though it does higher damage potentially and has increased range, its considered balanced or under-powered due to how GOOD the tell and cast time are to give the opponent time to react.

I know I’ve been hit my some impressive 15k+ Gunflames recently on my super glass cannon Dragonhunter

Iohanna.4863:

I can no longer defend the Tempest after playing Revenant.

The Tempest really is kind of meh. For all the reasons you guys have stated. DPS build too squishy, Bunker build lacks stun breaks + stability + damage, etc.

In order to join the ranks of Reaper, Scrapper, Dragonhunter, and Chronomancer, (and maybe Druid and Berserker – can’t tell if they’re good right now), I must play Revenant.

I must embrace the deeps…

Stunbreaks available to Bunker Build:

Trait one.

Using an Overload.

Taking any Stun-break options we have in our Utilities.

I DO think that Rebound needs to become an instant cast Stunbreak though, that would go a long way toward making it more viable as an Elite.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vFAQJBLhdyxAU2AWEB43AwhJW0AM3+agNxSECWBpxhAwCoCA-TBSAABBqHgCzfB8AA6U9HAOBAzv/QuKBpT5HpAgZZF-e

Default Build, but highly adjustable for each raid fight with minimal effort to combat Condi-specific or Crit-damage specific content.

Core Concept: Self-Sustainable, Adaptable Condi Damage Tank

The Sand Squall is, in my opinion until refuted by someone else with a better example, the strongest, most consistent, and most flexible raid tank option in guild wars 2.

The build is simple and revolves around easily adjustable traits in the Earth, Water, and Tempest trait lines.

The core stat type of the build is Settler’s stats, maximizing your Toughness while maintaining solid Healing Power and Condition Damage.

Stat Details

This build can achieve around 4,000 Armor, and permanent Protection with 40% damage reduction. Let that sink in. Enjoy it. This comes from the Settler’s stat items, Ascended Armor, Scepter 2nd ability passive, Signet of Earth passive, Earth Attunement passive from trait-line, and from the Earthen Shield’s passives. Permanent Protection is maintained from a fully channeled Earth Overload (and potentially supplemented by Aura trait in earth at the expense of Bleed Duration if needed when running full Shouts in the Condition Tank variant).

The Tempest has access to quite a decent amount of constant Bleed up-time while using Scepter and Warhorn, but can easily adjust weapons as needed. Focus is a great defensive option if a boss simply has ridiculous levels of sustained damage in later raids.

Additionally, the Tempest can switch into Fire for some quick might stacking and Burning stacks in situations in which they are not at risk of taking much damage. Air is largely never used save for mobility, while Water may be used to top off healing, assist an ally, or most importantly, to receive huge healing per second passively while wielding the Earthen Shield.

Lastly, if you wish to sacrifice some survival and sustain for better conditions, you can run Trailblazer armor. This will result in better total condition damage at the cost of significantly reduced healing per second. You could easily transition this build into a “high condition damage build” that requires some moderate healing from others, gaining more personal damage at the cost of losing your individual self-sustain.

Rune Choice

The Rune of the Defender works wonderfully for this build, providing a huge additional heal on top of the already good Signet of Renewal heal. It also can be activated by Blocking with the Earthen Shield 2nd ability. This could be substituded for a condition damage rune-set option if the Sand Squall is finding their Herculean defensive capability as overkill for the content. Rune of Balthazar or Nightmare/Trapper combinations would allow for a good Bleed/Burn combo.

Adaptability

The goal of this build is to remain as durable and self-sustaining as possible while still contributing Bleeding and Burn condition damage. Similarly, with some quick trait changes and utility adjustments, it can transition into a heavily condition damage resistant tank that also removes conditions on nearby allies, while maintaining permanent Protection, Vigor, and Regeneration.

Lastly, it has the unique function of all tank builds in GW2 in that, in the event of adds or eventual boss mechanics that may critically hit, this build can turn on the Stoneheart trait to become immune to them. Similar, Diamond Skin offers a similar level of immunity to conditions, especially considering how easy this build heals back to full.

Independence

This build should, under no circumstances, ever require external healing. If there ever is a situation in which this build ends up requiring sustained external healing to survive, this means that most likely some mechanic of the fight is not being fulfilled, as it should take less sustained damage than any other build.

Anti-Condi Shout Variant

In the event of a full condition damage tanking situation, you would switch to full Aura Shouts and Ether Renewal, and turn on Diamond Skin trait, and likely switch to a Focus. If you had a spare set for Soldier Runes, this would be advised as well, but likely not required unless a huge variety of conditions are present.

In the event that your group decides to use another tank instead of you (a foolish choice indeed!) you can transition into a healer by using a Staff and camping Water while spamming all your shouts with the aura healing trait, maybe using Soldier Runes for my condition cleanse if needed.

Playstyle

Predominantly camp Earth, Water, or Fire depending on the combat need. Stay in Earth long enough to dump all bleeds and fully charge and complete Overload Earth for permanent protection, then switch to either Water or Fire. Fire if you are above 80% health and do not appear to be getting damage in the near future, OR Water if you are lower than 80% health and feel that sustained healing will be more important.

While in Water, or if in Fire after blowing your overload and have used all your persistent Burn effects and Heat Sync, conjure your Earthen Shield. This will provide increased toughness and vitality, as well as give you access to strong bleed stacking, a Block = Heal from second skill that also applies more bleeds, and an Invulnerability if the need arises. This also has a Pull and Daze to assist with break bare phases, which are mandatory on raids to Finish Off bosses.

If using the Default build, fire off both Fire and Earth Signets on cool down, and Renewal as needed as well, since Writ in Stone will maintain their passives (not that we really benefit from the Fire passive much anyway). Always be using SOME ability at all times to maximize the amazing sustain of Signet of Renewal, which becomes extremely potent while using Earthen Shield while in Water, thanks to the highly empowered Soothing Mist.

Conclusion

The end result for the Sand Squall is a Tank that is neigh impenetrable while still contributing a fairly steady amount of condition damage while keeping the boss as stationary as possible.

I cannot stress this point enough. Some of the highest DPS options for Tempest, Elementalist, Engineer, and several other classes work best when an opponent is stationary. This allows the above build to focus on enabling the damage of these builds by being the ultimate anchor, and as such it is up to the Sand Squall user to learn any mechanics of the boss fights that would require movement, and only move if these effects require it.

For example, in the BWE3 test, the Vale Guardian would summon small blue lightning AoE under himself that would teleport those hit by the ability in a random location. Additionally, allies would need to “gather up” on special ground targeted areas to diffuse a raid wide damage burst. Possitioning the boss in range of those player’s range abilities, WHILE keeping the boss as stationary as possible, WHILE avoiding its AoE Teleport with a well timed dodge or slight movement adjustment, is key to keeping the boss stationary 90% of the fight, which maximizes DPS up-time and reduces the chaotic nature of the fight.

I will be running this through all wings of Lost Vale, and I will report its effectiveness in the coming weeks

Acknowledgement of other good tanks

While I firmly believe the Sand Squal is the be-all best raw damage mitigation and most self-sustained Tank option, there are several other tank builds that DO still have an important role to play.

For example, both Death Magic Toughness to Power conversion Reapers make the best balance of “good enough defense, with great offense” and cleave down groups of weaker enemies better than The Sand Squall by far, but against serious boss damage they will not sustain as well.

Guardian/Dragonhunter has some strong reactive tanking through Aegis spam and Shield of Courage to block for up to 4 allies in addition to them-self.

Heralds can tank well enough while providing substantial support to allies through a mixture of Jallis and Glint, or play a flexible off-tank and Healer with a Clerics gear set with Ventari and Glint. Lastly, Revenent/Herald Malix make the absolute best Condition Damage tanks in the entire game due to their easily maintained Resistance buff, as well as earning bonus points as the Disenchanter for the raid to remove a boss’s boons.

Lastly, Rangers can also gear and trait for very high sustained personal defense that is almost on par with the Tempest, will still providing modest damage their their pets, and additional healing for allies if also running Druid.

All that said, I firmly believe that in the truly hardest boss fights, The Sand Squall will reign supreme as the absolute best “main tank” for taking on sustained, high damage boss hits continuously, and may make certain encounters easier due to their unparalleled levels of damage mitigation, although the other Tank options will each have their fights and scenarios in which they too shine.

Skyline Crash.6254:

No these are awful. DH is fine the way it is.

Elaborate.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

Just wait for ranked to come back so you can set the stock model option back on.

While I’m absolutely 100% on board with this, I highly suspect that Anet will adjust things before giving stuff its fair time to shake out in a truly balanced, competitive environment.

We’ve already seen higher end players learn to adjust and counter DH trapper builds without issue.

The problem is that Anet will, based on previous experiences, simply cater to the common player’s cry of frustration and will likely adjust damage, recharges, and cast times rather than really focus on keeping them deadly but with counter play.

Which is beyond frustrating, since we can almost be assured that:

1.) This will make the play style unviable in higher ranked play than it already is.

2.) Will most likely NOT be split for PVE and PVP, which will directly gut the style for PVE, which is only moderately good at the moment and still cannot truly compete with the class’s own condi damage options NOR the berserker damage options for other professions.

The only benefit to using the Longbow-Trapper in PvE currently is it provides great damage while offering very good area effect control. Gut the damage, and you completely remove one half of why a PvE Dragonhunter might be used over an Ele/Tempest or Daredevil.

Heimdallr.7021:

Swiftwynd.1685:

When Trueshot is being charged up, or when the traps are being placed, the opponent currently does not have sufficient visual cues to alert them to the incoming damage or what trap is being used, especially instant cast traps that deploy instantly.

You can easily see a Trueshot coming, what do you need more than the current animation?

I’ve been on the dishing out and receiving end of Trueshot and the animation time and visual, particularly for female models, is not distinct enough in my honest opinion.

If any adjustments happen to Trueshot id love these to be explored before nerfing its damage potential. With the volume of complaints i have no doubt something will be changed, and id rather a healthy, sensible change than read “reduced trueshots damage by 20%” in Tuesdays patch.

Ranged primary throwing dagger for a support would look cool.

Call it “Rune Etcher.”

Wolfric.9380:

Sounds good. Exept placing traps at 1200 range feels to much.

Well, the full suggestion is basically “the father you deploy them, the longer they take before they activate, which also means they are visible longer to alert foes if they happen to see them before they activate.”

It would basically allow DH, Rangers, and Thieves to deploy their traps from afar to ease the time to takes to set up traps (and make them more user friendly for range builds) at the cost of increasing their counter play.

For the record, my person best “in a match” hit with Trueshot against a braindead glass cannon Chronomancer (who was not aware I was above in im Skyhammer), was 15,000.

This required: F1 teather on him (10%), he was over 600 range away (14%) I had Aegis (20%), he was burning from a symbol I used (7%) and was in said symbol (10%) and had cripple from an earlier trap another DH had placed (10%). I also was using Scholar runes and was at full health (+10%).

These “omfg what the hell hit me” Trueshots take a HUGE list of variable to set up. I run a non-trapper rune build that maximizes on my Trueshot bursts and try to set up the ideal circumstances. When you can make it all align, the damage is phenominal, but its is highly countered by bruiser builds and anything named "Reaper, Scrapper, or a good Tempest/Chronomancer.

I’m going to be a MIGHT bit unhappy if Arenanet does the ludicris decision of simply “nerfing damage” when what the DH really needs is increased counterplay options.

Give Trueshot a better visual cue, increase cast time to 1 second from 3/4.

Give traps a delay before triggering and let them be visible until they are armed and ready.

Give a shorter tether break distance on F1, and dont let us use it instantly after the spear lands.

Lower base healing and vastly increase scaling on F2, so we’re not heaing for 4k in berserker gear.

There are SO many options for making the DH more fair and balanced without negatively killing its PVE and PVP damage options. Let players have the opportunity to get GOOD and reflect those highly televised Trueshots.

I think most people in PvP are overly concerned with the damage of the traps and longbow, but the real culprit in my view is clarity. Opponents should be able to SEE what a DH is using, and be able to react. The damage is fine, if counter-play exists.

When Trueshot is being charged up, or when the traps are being placed, the opponent currently does not have sufficient visual cues to alert them to the incoming damage or what trap is being used, especially instant cast traps that deploy instantly.

I’d honestly really hope Anet takes the time to adjust the animations and mechanics of traps and Trueshot while maintain their damage. Longbow and Traps need to remain as highly threatening abilities that NEED to be avoided/interrupted/mitigated and otherwise played around.

I fear Anet will simply take the path of least resistance and development time, which is to “simply lower their damage to the point of being crap.”

Here are some of many options Arenanet could do, with hopefully minimal development effort, to introduce more clarity and counter-play into the DH trapper kit, while also filling in some QoL issues with the DH as well:

Traps:

1.) Make traps visible when placed, and give them a minimum of a 1 second Arming time in which they will be visible to the foe before going invisible. Once the Arming time is up, the traps would be trigger-able. This prevents the “teleport and trap” instant gimping with Judge’s Intervention. Traps could all become instant cast with this change, allowing easier trap placement set up, but preventing the “instant trap damage” combos, since there would always be the 1 second delay.

2.) PLEASE fix the visual bug glitch on Dragon’s Maw, in which the Barrier is NOT animating for any player. This causes a host of confusion to new players. For balance, maybe lower its duration by a second or so, but it NEEDS visual clarity to let players know they are trapped in a ring ward, and thus dodging will NOT get them out of it.

3.) Consider letting us deploy our traps from long range, but increase the Arming Time before they go invisible and are able to be triggered based on how far we deployed them. If I could toss a trap from 1,200 range, but would have to wait 3 seconds for it to become active, that would be a very balanced and good QoL buff for actually using the traps preemptively.

Longbow:

1.) Increase the cast time of Trueshot to 1 second AND make its visual much more noticeable. Give it a visual-audio “charge up” sound and animation. In return, consider giving it increased “actual” range after being fired, so that if someone moves out of it’s 1,200 range, it would “follow through” to hit up to 1,500 range. They damage is absolutely fine, players just need the opportunity to see it coming and react to it with dodges, defenses, or CC to interrupt the DH.

2.) Change the trait that causes a random knock-back to instead work only on Deflecting shot. It would be much easier to understand for both the DH and the foe, and would remove the RNG nature of the current trait. Could consider base-lining this and making a new, interesting trait.

3.) Reduce casting time of 5th ability to 2 seconds or less, improve its ability to hit along the Z axis during channel, and reduce the total duration of the Ward effect slightly, and reduce its cool-down appropriately to 30 seconds or so.

Virtues:

1.) Consider doing something with the F1. As much as I love the pull, I think the ability to “instantly” activate it after tethering someone is a bit strong. Give it a 1 or 2 second internal cool-down before it can be activated for the pull after landing the hit, and reduce the tether distance to 1,500, giving players the opportunity to “run away” to break the tether, thus negating the chance of being pulled.

2.) Consider improving the F1, F2, and F3 abilities to perform their traited effects upon use, rather than on completion

3.) Consider giving F2 a weaker base heal and much better scaling. Currently, it heals for over 4k on a pure berserker build, but doesn’t heal quite as well as it should on a full support healing power build. This inflates the DH’s innate durability when going full offensive stats. In return, give us the much requested Evade frames during the leap, making in more of a skillful avoidance ability rather than a default amazing heal. Also, PLEASE fix the reintroduced bug: Chill and Cripple are reducing the leap range currently.

4.) If Virtues are interrupted by actions from the opponent, they need to go on the 5 second recharge timer, NOT their full timer.

Closing Comments:

With all of the above said, if a player is hit by my full combo of F1 theater, symbol placed beneath them, runs into a stack of my traps to get 25 vuln and give me 10 Might, AND I still have Aegis up and land a Trueshot, this SHOULD take out all but the talkiest bruiser and bunker builds.

If Trueshot and Traps do not have sufficiently punishing damage for extreme misplays, then DH will absolutely not have a place in PvP or PvE. With that said, I agree that the current situation is not “fair enough” with allowing opponents a reasonable time to react to, and be visually aware of, their impending doom.

If some or many of the above suggestions are considered, then I firmly believe that DH will be fair and balanced in PvP as extreme area deniers, particularly effective in choke points and in situations where they can maintain the high ground.

Does anyone believe the any of the above suggestions are completely unwarranted, or are there other areas in which you think the DH should have better counter play? Do you feel their existing counter-play is sufficient?

Lets hear your feedback!

Tempests are the strongest and most reliably adjustable tank options in the entire game for sustainable damage mitigation and self healing while still being able to provide modest condition damage.

Im in the process of writing my build but I’ve tested it a bit during the beta event and it could infinitely self sustain the first bosses damage without a healer while keeping it highly stationary.

emkelly.2371:

As stated above not fighting them on their terms is key. however, its very hard to make them come to you when their long range abilities are as good or better than a ranger’s.

Rangers have the easiest time with dh and are the biggiest threats to a pure dps trapper.

Pets trigger traps.

1,500 range vs 1,200.

Long physical damage invuln.

Able to evade through traps or block through them witb greatsword.

Stability through SotP.

Higher base health than guardian.

Need I go on?

Razarei.2809:

I logged in to say how awful your “balance” decisions are, and people like you are exactly why people with legitimately good balance ethos’ are ignored.

This this thread pains me to read.

Couldn’t agree more.

Arcaedus.7290:

Saint Tyrael.5804:

Swiftwynd.1685:

The main thing that needs to be fixed is that the virtues should NOT go on full recharge if interrupted.

I would also trade some of the base healing of wings of virtue for better healing power scaling and evade frames during the leap animation.

All virtue triggered traits should work instantly upon activation not completion. You are spending a trait slot ob improving these skills and it makes zero sense that they should become functionaly weaker by using them with dragonhunter

If they gave us evade frames during Wings of Resolve, that would make Dragonhunter even more powerful, and we’re talking about a spec here that seriously needs a nerf

Certain aspects need a nerf, not the entire spec. For one, Test of Faith needs a small nerf (either an arming time, reduced trigger damage, or a casting time), and many would agree that Longbow #2 needs a slight nerf (either base damage, or cool down).

IMO, our f3 should not be able to be interrupted because it casts faster than the human reaction time + time it takes to cast an interrupt. That means getting interrupted is next to random chance, and we should not be castrated due to random chance.

I can agree with our f2 being able to be interrupted because it is telegraphed, has such a short cool down, and its cast time is 1s (plenty of time to interrupt), but our f3 should NOT be able to be interrupted.

Honestly id rather have f2 have the vault treatment that daredevils got and give the evade at the start. It has a very high base heal currently which makes it a bit strong for raw damage builds. Hence why i said to lower the base and increase scaling with HP and add evade at least to the start.

Also, the thing trueshot truely NEEDS is a better animation that lets foes know the paintrain is vharging up, and maybe a return to its 1 second cast time. The damage is perfectly fine, the isshe is the fairness of the counter play. Any damage reductions will kill this weapon in pve.

Traps are a whole other matter. They need a redesign in their activation and deployment so ghey arnt just instantly usable aoe effect with conjunction of teleports. Tweak them to be visible until armed and then increase the arming time, but let us deploy them from range. And fix their beneficial bugs, like dragons maw being invisible with its barrier.

The main thing that needs to be fixed is that the virtues should NOT go on full recharge if interrupted.

I would also trade some of the base healing of wings of virtue for better healing power scaling and evade frames during the leap animation.

All virtue triggered traits should work instantly upon activation not completion. You are spending a trait slot ob improving these skills and it makes zero sense that they should become functionaly weaker by using them with dragonhunter

Currently, with the 5 stack cap for Chill, a condi necromancer’s Deathly Chill has the same issue that the old design of Burning had, in that it gets constantly overriden by other players.

Thus, I present a novel solution that should hopefully be easy to implement:

Change Deathly Chill to:

“Deal condition damage to Chilled foes within 600 units.”

This would allow the Reaper to radiate damage to any Chilled foes that are around them, regardless of the source of the Chill. This also offers some slight counter play for opponents, in that escaping the “nearish” range of the reaper would make them lose the damage.

With this change, its damage could potentially be increased as well, since it would now have more play to it.

This would allow multiple reapers to “stack” their Chill based damage, and never have to worry about other classes’ Chills interfering with their condi damage.

To prevent any issues ala the old Elementalist’s Air attunement swap / well of blood on dodge trait shinanigans putting Reapers in combat when they don’t desire, it would only trigger while in combat.

Thoughts?

The arming time would begin on skill use, including thr time it takes for the projectile thrown trap to hit the ground, just to be clear. So after throwing a trap from 1200 range, it would arm 3 seconds after the button press, only being visible for around 1 to 1.5 seconds depending on how fast they make the projectile.

Think about longbow 4 for example for an idea of travel time, maybe slightly faster.

knight.8926:

“hey guys while I’m fighting you I’m gonna arm this trap that takes 2-3 seconds, make sure not to interupt or attack me okay?” is what I’m getting from this

Perhaps I did not explain myself well as you and many others appear to not understand what the arming time details.

Currently, mosy traps to my knowledge have a universal halfsecond arming time, which is a delay after placing the trap before it fires. Additionally, most traps also have a casting time in addition to this arming time.

As such, by making all traps instant cast, the 1 second minimum arming time is at most only a .25 delayed increase, as you would no longer have a cast time and a delay time.

Furthermore, you would be able to place all 5 traps simultaneously since they would be instant cast, which means a player could perform their set up much, much faster than currently able.

Laslty, each trap player would now have the option of lobbing traps much farther at the cost of increasing the arm time. Couppled with the instant cast change, this would make it significantly easier to trap up a locations in situations where this would currently be impossible to use, such as on top of a gate in wvw or from up near the treb in stronghold.

Th is would significantly improve traps as an arena denial tool and offer opponents at least some forenotice if you are lobbing traps from afar or if attempting to teleport onto someone to trap under them.

I main both Daredevil and Dragon Hunter in PvP.

The best build imo for Daredevil to vs a trapper longbow Dragon Hunter is staff with pistol pistol in a power build with Marauder amulet.

I run full physical skills and Unhindered Combatant. This allows me more than enough options for defusing traps.

Additionally, there is absolutely nothing wrong about running in, triggering traps and making them blow their LONG recharge on F3, then cheesing it the hell up out of there with Vault and the Dash Dodge. They simply cannot keep up with you.

Lastly, P/P does FAR, FAR more damage than a ranged DH can put out in the same time frame. While they could also run Wall of Reflection, you similarly could run the smoke wall to block their range. Double Unloads after tossing out your Impairing Daggers is insane damage and will force them to pop F3, and 16 seconds later you are ready to do it again.

Proskill if you use Bandit’s Defense to block a Trueshot, Wonder Woman would be proud of you.

Honestly, every fight I’ve won or lose while playing AS a Daredevil against a Dragon Hunter OR in reverse, its purely down to a skill match up.

TL:DR – Traps would become instant cast, 1,200 range ground targets, but with an Arming Time that scales between 1 to 3 seconds based on the distance thrown. They would be visible during their Arming Time and invisible afterward. Trap Placing abilities would go on a 5 second cool-down when triggered to prevent double-trap stacking

I think many Dragon Hunter mains are truly awaiting the fretful day in which our traps get nerfed at some point due to the constant griping by several PVP players who do not know how to adapt to them.

If we take this as an eventuality, what are some healthy ways to adjust traps to make them both fair, functional, and truly “trappy” rather than just close range AOE attacks?

There are a few complaints about traps that I do agree are warranted:

• The “Invisible Ring Ward” on Dragon’s Maw needs to be addressed. This is a bug, and should be visible at all times when triggered. (likely a bug with Trapper Rune)
• The ability to use Judge’s Intervention to instantly face-drop a Dragon’s Maw / Test of Faith combo is clearly not intended behavior for “traps” and I agree that this is a big too punishing currently.
• Traps being “double used” if they have existed past their recharge time, since they can be immediately dropped again after their trigger.
• No “visual” to tell which trap has been placed, even if foe witnesses the placement.

Additionally, several Rangers, Thieves, and now Dragon Hunters would very much appreciate reintroducing ranged trap placement to ease the play style of placing traps in preparation or while up on a high vantage.

This leads to the suggestion I’ve been building up to, which would hopefully address all of the above concerns:

• All Traps would now be able to be placed up to 1,200 range from the user, in which case they are tossed as a long range “bundle bag” for Thief or Ranger, or an arching orb of light that creates the symbol for the Dragon Hunter.
• All Traps would become Instant Cast.
• The Arming Time of traps scales based on the distance the trap is spawned by the trap placer. This ranges from 1 second in melee range to 3 seconds at maximum range.
• While traps are Arming, they are visible to all foes.
• All trap placement abilities have a 5 second recharge timer imposed upon their existing traps triggering, which means there is at least a 5 second “gap” between traps being “reused” after a trigger.
• For interaction purposes with Teleports, traps will use the original distance from the ground targeted location of the ability use. This means that, for example, a DH launching Dragon’s Maw from 1,200 range then using Judge’s Intervention onto this foe as the trap hits would NOT reduce its Arming Time from 3 seconds to 1 second.

For an example, Dragon’s Maw would read as follows:

“Deploy a trap from range that pulls enemies and creates a barrier which holds them in. The trap takes longer to arm the further it is placed, and is visible to foes while arming.”

Damage Damage: 638
10 Might on Trap Trigger (8s): +300 Power, +300 Condition Damage
Slow (4s): Skills and actions are slower.
Maw Barrier Duration: 6s
Trigger Radius: 180
Attack Radius: 240
Maw Barrier Radius: 90
Range: 1,200
Arming Time: 1s Close to 3s Max Deploy Range.

Benefits for Trap Users:

• Being instant cast means they are no longer interrupt-able. The counter play for foes is to leave the area of the trap before it arms, which is now visible to them. This also means deploying a huge amount of traps at once is possible.
• 1,200 range placement allows for traps to be placed from high vantage points, and allows safer placement in dangerous situations, at the cost of a longer Arming time.

Benefits for Trapped Foes:

• Traps would no longer be able to be used back-to-back if they existed long enough for their recharge to come back up, but they still would be up again fairly quickly, but would give the opponent at least a 5 second window to breath.
• Traps would now visibly display for foes, allowing them some counter play options if they recognize the types of trap. This is likely healthier for the competitive element of traps, and improves the “fairness” factor, which allows traps to still maintain their potency at the cost of more readability.
• Traps would not be as effective with “teleporting” skills to make them instantly fire. They would, at best, only take effect 1 second after a teleport skill and could no longer be pre-cast before teleports. This is a huge benefit for opponents, as unless you know this is coming, there simply is not time to avoid it in a reasonable environment. This also prevents some of the complains of “Dragon Hunters just poping in and instantly demolishing team fights.”

Let me know what you guys think of this compromise. I personally think this would greatly improve traps for their actual, intended purpose of using them premptively, and for how I personally prefer to use my traps (area denial at key locations in PVP and PVE) it would be a significant improvement to have the option to Deploy traps from range at the cost of them being visible while having a longer Arming time. The instant cast would certainly help set up the battle field faster as well.

Eager to hear the opinions of Dragon Hunters AND our prey

Reapers who include toughness or stack high vitality and shroud generation in their build, or who are minion masters, are the absolute bane of my trapper berserker DH.

I know it takes a lot of preengage to have a full lifeforce bar, but ive had a reaper literally just waltz through all my traps + take a fully synergized treushot to the face and still have 20% shroud remaining.

Pets triggering my trpas is additional salt to my wound hehe.

But yea, my build gives up huge survival options to go all in on damage, but even a pure tank bruiser reaper with no might would cleave me down in a matter of 10 seconds or less unless i get off some trap heals. Its berserker stats with 11k health and no elite invulnerability or Shelter heal, so i have to be on point with my dodges, f3 shield, f2 leap heal, and kiting.

On maps like Stronghold i can use the terrain to my advantage and this is when i have my best chance of opening up tankier reapers before they can close on me.

Mesmer clones, and auto invulnerability traits, are the bane of my glass cannon berserker DH

Irenio CalmonHuang.2048:

Thanks for spotting this! Definitely unintended behavior on Jump Shot and Rocket Charge.

Leap of Resolve F2 on Dragon Hunter is simarly bugged. Goes a very short distance when crippled or chilled.

Karl McLain.5604:

Purification and Maw’s duration are known issues.

Thanks for the fix!!

Karl McLain.5604:

This trap applies healing and regeneration to the guardian only, but blind to all enemies in the trap’s radius. The guardian’s position when the trap triggers doesn’t matter.

Karl, can you please let us know if you guys are aware that Purification and Dragon’s Maw are currently bugged? Their trap durations only last for 60 seconds instead of 5 minutes, they were not updated with the global trap changes :^(

Karma.3064:

Swiftwynd.1685:

Purification and Dragon’s Maw did not receive the 5 minute duration global trap change when all other traps were adjusted.

Additionally, we can lay down traps and switch our heal/utilities/elite to something else while still having the traps persist in the world.

Since Anet “adjusted” traps recharge timers, they could at least do us the service fixing the broken duration on Purification and Dragon’s Maw, the latter of which now is even more important to be fixed with Maw’s increased Recharge making it fade before its even ready to be recast.

If Purification ever gets a condi cleansing element and its trap duration fixed, it might actually see some good use. Pre-casting it and luring people in, while having a second one waiting in the wing, would make it actually competitive with our other healing options in many scenarios, especially in PvE.

My bet?

Patch Notes:

• Fixed bug with Dragon Hunter Traps persisting when utilities are swapped.

… and then crickets :P

They got them, the issue you are finding is that the added cool down is 20% of the cool down before. So, with the trait that reduces the cool down of traps by 20% you are still seeing 20 second cool downs. Take it off and it goes up to 25 seconds and 75 seconds for Dragon’s Maw. Before the patch, Dragon’s Maw was a 45 second cool down and Precession was a 16 second cool down. Now they are 20 and 60 with the trait.

Read what i wrote.

This has nothing to do with recharge. Im talking about the duration the trap persists in the world before fading. It should last for 5 minutes for all traps in the game.

Nike.2631:

And shrieking “OMGNEURF!!!” in a vacuum isn’t the right attitude either. Enjoy a day or two of having been over powered and getting some cheap wins. Dragonhunter trap spam is incredibly effective. Stretching out the cooldowns instead of reducing the boons that we get with them triggering is a pretty gentle way of tuning them down a bit. And if they’re STILL over powered they’ll get trimmed again. If the numbers look good they’ll stay as they are now.

I’m not too miffed that the recast timers were increased, but I completely DISAGREE that the traps are overpowered.

Case in point, I’ve had Reapers just waltz through a fully stacked trap area while in my symbol and with my aegis up and in berserker gear with a follow up trueshot, and it still didnt break through a full shroud on a tanky minion master reaper.

Mind you, this is literally as glass cannony as I can possibly make the PvP build for absolute maximum damage, and I STILL had a reaper who autoed down my Treb in Stronghold completing ingoring me.

Can I blow up squishy foes? Absolutely, but its not as though a full, all-in Trapper berserker is going to handle the incoming wave of incredibly durable bruiser Scrappers and Reapers, and Heralds have a built in counter with their heal if they are smart enough to use it or fast enough to react.

Purification and Dragon’s Maw did not receive the 5 minute duration global trap change when all other traps were adjusted.

Additionally, we can lay down traps and switch our heal/utilities/elite to something else while still having the traps persist in the world.

Since Anet “adjusted” traps recharge timers, they could at least do us the service fixing the broken duration on Purification and Dragon’s Maw, the latter of which now is even more important to be fixed with Maw’s increased Recharge making it fade before its even ready to be recast.

If Purification ever gets a condi cleansing element and its trap duration fixed, it might actually see some good use. Pre-casting it and luring people in, while having a second one waiting in the wing, would make it actually competitive with our other healing options in many scenarios, especially in PvE.

Purification and Dragon’s Maw did not receive the 5 minute duration global trap change when all other traps were adjusted.

Additionally, we can lay down traps and switch our heal/utilities/elite to something else while still having the traps persist in the world.

Since Anet “adjusted” traps recharge timers, they could at least do us the service fixing the broken duration on Purification and Dragon’s Maw, the latter of which now is even more important to be fixed with Maw’s increased Recharge making it fade before its even ready to be recast.

If Purification ever gets a condi cleansing element and its trap duration fixed, it might actually see some good use. Pre-casting it and luring people in, while having a second one waiting in the wing, would make it actually competitive with our other healing options in many scenarios, especially in PvE.

My bet?

Patch Notes:

• Fixed bug with Dragon Hunter Traps persisting when utilities are swapped.

… and then crickets :P

I cant be the only one amused that Ragnarox was replied to by Ragnar The Rocks.

Anywhosits, I totally agree.

I think Evade frames are more than warranted on Leap of Resolve, as there are SO many combat situations in which I’ve died in mid air while leaping over ground area damage abilities, such as the AOE from Snipers. You leap over it and take damage, which just feels sooo wrong on so many levels. A brief Evade would be huge.

Lastly, I do agree with the majority of players that the “on Virtue activation” type traits should happen instantly, rather than on completion of their activation.

AWACS.6537:

Anywhere from 8k to 14k under proper conditions ( solo )

I’m using dragonhunter runes with zerker stats.

I’m going to need a few people to help me test for a highest possible hit, maybe I’ll try to get a warrior, ranger, and revenant to buff me and see how it goes.

Definitely going to need Scholar Runes, 25 might, 25 vuln, and Druid’s 15% damage buff, 10% damage buff from rune, and get lucky on a frost spirit proc, as well as Revenant’s Ferocity buff and warrior’s banners.

I think that about covers it? Stacking all our damage mods for sure as well, so burning foe and crippled foe in our symbol with Aegis up. This surely will breach 30k I’d imagine. More so on “weakened” foes whose breakbar was depleted

Katreyn.4218:

Final story instance, Final Fight.

I’m having serious issues with the updraft things not pushing me into the air. They seem to work like 50/50 chance. Have died on this fight multiple times due to something I can’t control.

Never really had any issues with Bouncy Mushrooms or Glider registering in any other areas of the game.

Would appreciate if this is looked into.

Also the rifts seem to love to spawn in the air/off the map and make the fight impossible to complete as well.

Same issue. I’m tired of trying at this point. I’ve failed over 15 times because the dang glider absolutely refuses to work on the second glider phase. Also, the rocks appear to be homing missiles. Seriously need to emergency remove this phase of the fight until it can be properly fixed, I’m really not enjoying this bug 100% preventing my story progression.

High priority bug imo, please investigate as soon as possible

Swanky McDanky.5214:

In PvP, I capped at 9.7 vs a Thief, couldn’t tell you the build. I myself using a Marauder’s Amulet with Dragonhunter runes. As far as might stacking and other buffs are concerned, I dont remember enough to give an accurate retelling.

I am proud of a True Shot I pulled off against a champion in PvE though. I know it’s not the point of the thread, but just wanna show what this skill is really capable of doing.

That is a nice one! My guess is during a stun phase with break bar down and max might/vuln?

Isarii.2804:

Swiftwynd.1685:

Isarii.2804:

Serraphin Storm.2369:

Unlike Rangers DH don’t lose dps when they get close on the bow.

Welp, you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

The only thing we lose is 7% damage bonus from our minir trait. Care to explain how he is wrong beyond that? Medi leap mid trueshot cast is brital in pvp for example.

Aside from that? What a lolworthy request. That’s like asking how cars are useful to every day folks aside from their ability to transport things. You can’t just rule out the entire point of something just because you want to disagree with my statement..

His statement: DH doesn’t lose DPS when going in close. Reality: DH loses a 6% damage modifier. Fact: DH loses DPS when going in close.

It’s 6%

Have a nice day, you are unreasonable.

Here is the deal:

She is actually decently easy. Projectile reflect or destruction is handy but not required, but super high aoe damage is very much a needed thing, or 1200 range berserker damage to take out her spawns as they happen.

If you get too far from her, her beam will spam knock you down. So either stability through it or get closer and dance through her death circles.

You absolutely have to kill the Firstborn as your absolute priority, it makes her very weak if you do and is mandatory to kill her.

I got it on my second attempt as a pure berserker stats Dragon Hunter, so totally do able.

Now, bugged-kitten Modremoth with the completely unbeatable messed up glider section that doesn’t deploy? Yea, thats going to need to be patched.

TimberWolf.5297:

Gave up trying to kill the pale tree after about 6 attempts. Seems the best course of action is just to not take Caithe with you. If that doesnt scream broken, I dont know what will.

She’s fine…

You have to kill her spawns before they reach her to actually get the kill. If more than 5 reach her she heals up and won’t die.

Modremoth himself on the other hand … SCREW that buggy gliding portion. That needs to absolutely be removed if its going to continue bugging out as much as it currently does.

Its impossible to get airborn on the second gliding phase, it simply shoots you up, you fall down, and enjoy juicy death.

THEY NEED TO FIX THIS IMMEDIATELY. Ugh. The glider portion is absolutely the buggiest part of any boss fight I’ve ever had in Guild Wars 2, in which the cost of “failure” is immediate, unavoidable death and a 10 minute or more restart of the fight, and its 100% due to the glider not deploying after the updraft boosts you.

I can’t see how QA didn’t catch any bugs with the glider portion, its horrendous. I’m done with this. I’ve failed over 15 times now.

Playing dragonhunter in pve in hot maps, having the secuirty of traps to wreck any of the billio s of movs that like to charge you from range is hoghly useful. Traps arent all perfect for sure, such as the heal trap needing to trigger on you or allys health similar to rangers instead of on only foe passing it, but they certainly help make it easier to deal with foes that are otherwise a huge hassel. Rolling devils, mushroom chargers, pocket raptors, and the vampire beasts melt to traps

Isarii.2804:

Serraphin Storm.2369:

Unlike Rangers DH don’t lose dps when they get close on the bow.

Welp, you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

The only thing we lose is 7% damage bonus from our minir trait. Care to explain how he is wrong beyond that? Medi leap mid trueshot cast is brital in pvp for example.

Evilek.5690:

6,8k vs Elementalist and 2,2k vs Revenant with full glass cannon build on Guardian.Unload on my Thief make more DMG, same kill shot on Warrior.

That is impossible? How are you hitting so low if you are full glass cannon?

Im running scholar runes, berserker stats, virties and zeal with damage bonuses from having aegis, them burning, them tethered with F1, and bonus damage if they are in a symbol, as well as mught and vuln from traps.

Have you never had the awesome situation where you layer all your offensive boosts together for a huge spike?

Also, unload and killshot both have much stronger tells and in unloads case requires a build up and longer stationary cast and longer recharge. Not to mention warriors dont have as many damage applification traits as we do. Unload is also short range and easier to dodge or interupt

SlayerSixx.5763:

What’s your survivability like?

Since it’s a Stronghold-centric build, quite well actually. My biggest issues are Warriors/Engineers who load up on invulnerability, but barring those match ups I win about 70% or more of my engagements, primarily due to surprise factor.

It relies heavily on kiting skills, reactive defenses of F3 and Shelter, as well as using the terrain to my advantage.

Pulling people into traps who have escaped them or who attempt to dance outside their range is always satisfying. I’ve been running with staff in secondary to further pre-buff might for anticipatory engages and for swiftness for mobility, and sometimes a well placed Line Warding will save the day for escapes after F2. It will improve a LOT once some bugs are fixed, such as 800 range and full heal on F2 when traited. Also if they allow the Virtue active traits to work AT the start rather than FINSIH of Virtues, this will greatly improve this build’s ability to react.

All in all, its been one of my most successful and enjoyable play styles to date with my full trapper build (sans heal since it still under-preforms). I set up on defense at Treb, trap up after hopefully getting their first, then treb down anyone rushing the guards, kill archers with treb if needed, or kill the door breakers. Traps nicely cover the lead in, and if foes teleport to me with a shadow step I F2 and F1 on to traps that I laid at the entrence to pull them in if need be.

It has issues if 2 or 3 people rush the point and I’m alone, but what damage build wouldnt really. (ohwait Chrono ..)