Rev Patch Notes (11/7/17)

Revenant:

The off-hand sword weapon for the revenant had a bit of an identity crisis. While the main-hand sword is primarily an offensive weapon, the off-hand feels like it's trying to be both a defensive and utility weapon at the same time. We're reworking both skills on this weapon to be more accurately positioned as an offensive power option for the off-hand slot. We also took a hard look at the Invocation trait line and removed several of the harder-to-use traits based on energy thresholds. We've replaced them with new traits that reinforce the themes of energy management and legend swapping to strengthen the themes of this line.

Renegade Rewards: Updated available stat combinations to use Celestial, Viper, and Grieving options. This change will reset your current helm pieces and weapons and will require you to reselect your stat preference.

Skills

Duelist's Preparation: This skill is no longer available on the revenant's off-hand sword.

Shackling Wave: This skill has been reworked and will now deliver up to 5 strikes to random enemies in the area in addition to its initial impact. Immobilize duration has been reduced to 1 second and is increased by 1 second to all targets per target struck. Base damage of this skill has been reduced by 20%. Bonus strikes are equal to 25% of the initial impact each. The cooldown of this skill has been set at 15 seconds, while the energy cost is set at 10.

Grasping Shadow: This skill has been renamed to Deathstrike and has a reworked functionality. Activating this skill will now shadowstep the revenant toward their target, up to a range of 600 away, and deliver a strike that chills and slows the foe for 3 seconds while gaining fury. If this attack successfully lands, the revenant will immediately deliver a second attack that deals large damage. The cooldown of this skill is 20 seconds, with the energy cost being 20 as well.

Bloodbane Path: Increased the duration of bleeding per strike inflicted by this skill from 7 seconds to 8 seconds.

Sevenshot: Increased the duration of torment inflicted per arrow from 4 seconds to 7 seconds.

Spiritcrush: Increased the duration of burning inflicted per interval from 2 seconds to 3 seconds. Increased the duration of slow inflicted per interval from 1 second to 1.5 seconds.

Heroic Command: Increased the base might granted by this skill per stack of Kalla's Fervor from 1 to 2 stacks.

Orders from Above: Increased the duration of alacrity granted by this skill per interval from 1 seconds to 1.5 seconds.

Echoing Eruption: Decreased the amount of torment inflicted by this skill from 5 stacks for 10 seconds to 4 stacks for 8 seconds. Fixed a bug that was causing inconsistency with moving toward your target. Fixed a bug that could cause attacks from multiple revenants using this skill to miss a target.

Traits

Lasting Legacy: This trait no longer increases your maximum potential stacks of Kalla's Fervor. It now increases the effect of Kalla's Fervor from 30 ferocity and 2% condition damage to 50 ferocity and 3% condition damage, and increases the might granted from Heroic Command per stack of Kalla's Fervor from 2 to 3.

Radiant Revival: Fixed a bug that caused the effect applied by this skill to use the wrong icon.

Charged Mists: This trait has been reworked. It now grants 25 extra energy to your new legend when you invoke while at or below 10 energy.

Shrouded Mists: This trait has been reworked and renamed Song of the Mists, and it causes invoking a legend to cast a skill based on the legend you are invoking. This trait has swapped positions with Roiling Mists.

Equilibrium: This trait has been reworked and renamed Spirit Boon and grants a legend-specific boon to yourself and nearby allies when you invoke a new legend.

Cruel Repercussion: This trait has been reworked and renamed to Forceful Persistence, and it causes you to deal 7% increased damage while maintaining an upkeep skill. Herald upkeep skills grant a 2% bonus but can be stacked. This trait has swapped positions with Cleansing Channel.

Incensed Response: Increased might stacks from 2 to 5. This trait now requires you to be the source of fury in order to gain might.

Wait so is Equilibrium removed from the game are you serious?

My Power Herald build is dead for WvW/PvP(goodbye Cruel Repercussion) time to go back to the drawing board, and I’m going to miss the Duelist’s Preparation, but I am intrigued with Deathstrike, that Energy and CD increase on it will hurt though.

I'm not very optimistic reading these for Herald, but until I play test it, I'll hold my thoughts.

I really like the thought behind Charged Mists and Shrouded Mists.

Honestly I camp legends way too much. But this will hopefully change that.

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:My Power Herald build is dead for WvW/PvP(goodbye Cruel Repercussion) time to go back to the drawing board, and I’m going to miss the Duelist’s Preparation, but I am intrigued with Deathstrike, that Energy and CD increase on it will hurt though.

I think Orders From Above is meant to help the high CDs on these new offhand sword skills. Deathstrike hits pretty hard, but I like Shackling Wave as it can be used on single target for damage, or multi target for CC+some damage.

Anyone able to post what spirit boon actually does? ANET decided we didn't need to know what boons it gives/duration.

Deathstrike really needs a new animation, considering how hard it hits the little arm flick looks super underwhelming lol. It's weird how it's basically the same exact skill as axe 4. The cd and energy cost are pretty ldicrous, I guess it is strong, but you can no longer switch to assassin and phase travel + sword 5 because that combo cost 55 energy. In order to take the trait that gives you 25 extra energy you have to give up fury granting you 40% crit chance which will suck big time.

However I think the new herald burst combo with charged mists will be pretty lethal. Start out in herald, with your fury swiftness and might stacking as you run to a fight. Turn on your elite so your energy reaches almost 0 before you get to a fight. Pick an enemy, blow all your facet attacks, switch to assassin, phase travel into sword 5, sword 2, and then sword 3. Should be enough to kill anyone provided most of your skills hit. Switch to staff right after so you can block and staff 5 escape before you immediately die.

Offhand sword is obviously far better for pve if that's all you care about that though.

@Redfeather.6401 said:

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:My Power Herald build is dead for WvW/PvP(goodbye Cruel Repercussion) time to go back to the drawing board, and I’m going to miss the Duelist’s Preparation, but I am intrigued with Deathstrike, that Energy and CD increase on it will hurt though.

I will never use Renegade, the Spec does nothing for my playstyle, I do miss the Block though it allowed for many a Clutch play.

Sad to see Equilibrium gone. It was only a problem in WvW, where it could've simply been nerfed. Was one of the rare traits that got the more useful the better revenant player was in pvp. The short resistance from the new version for Mallyx is helpful though.

Rest of the changes, ace, especially the new Invocation GMs. A step in the good direction.

@Helly.2597 said:Anyone able to post what spirit boon actually does? ANET decided we didn't need to know what boons it gives/duration.

Shiro grants 2 might for 10 seconds.Mally grants resistance for 2 seconds.Jalis grants stability for 3 seconds. :oVentari grants regen for 5 seconds.Glint grants protection for 3 seconds.Kall grants swiftness for 5 seconds.

I like the new changes, though I have to notice that they haven't done anything to Renegade, yes they buffed condition duration on the short bow, but this doesn't answer the fact that most skills miss moving targets, that Sevenshot is horribly designed, or that Spiritcrush cannot be used without a line of sight, unlike Choking Gas for the Thief which is also an AoE, and of course nothing for the Renegade stance or traits which are another mess in themselves.

Early testing is showing that basically nothing has changed for power herald for pve. Realistic dps has gone down a bit, but so has everyone else's from no more GoTL. Forceful persistence is an alright damage multiplier, but all it does is nulify the dps loss from the deletion of equilibrium. New shackling wave hits hard enough to be worth using in a dps rotation, but not hard enough to really impact our still abysmal damage, and sword off-hand no longer has hard cc which is quite bad. Deathstrike hits for a bit less than precision strike but with double the cast time, and a huge energy cost of 20 so it should only to be used as a gap closer.

@ArthurDent.9538 said:Early testing is showing that basically nothing has changed for power herald for pve. Realistic dps has gone down a bit, but so has everyone else's from no more GoTL. Forceful persistence is an alright damage multiplier, but all it does is nulify the dps loss from the deletion of equilibrium. New shackling wave hits hard enough to be worth using in a dps rotation, but not hard enough to really impact our still abysmal damage, and sword off-hand no longer has hard cc which is quite bad. Deathstrike hits for a bit less than precision strike but with double the cast time, and a huge energy cost of 20 so it should only to be used as a gap closer.

The last patch did barely anything for Herald as well. Here's to another six months wait.

@Rym.1469 said:Sad to see Equilibrium gone. It was only a problem in WvW, where it could've simply been nerfed. Was one of the rare traits that got the more useful the better revenant player was in pvp.

It wasn't even that crazy in WvW imo...4k to 5k (on non-tank targets) equilibrium for 50 energy, sounded pretty fair to me considering that's how much a single full counter or thief dagger auto hit. At this point I can't tell if they removed equilibrium because it was too hard to use, or because it was too hard to play against since the only way to predict when it was coming was to actually have experience with revenant (and heavens forbid l2ping).

Pretty sure I quit the game after this patch, just complaining. The unhindered combatant "change" and the removal of equilibrium just tell me that the people designing this game are clueless, all my friends have stopped logging, and it's time I join them.

@Redfeather.6401 said:Shiro grants 2 might for 10 seconds.Mally grants resistance for 2 seconds.Jalis grants stability for 3 seconds. :oVentari grants regen for 5 seconds.Glint grants protection for 3 seconds.Kall grants swiftness for 5 seconds.

Whelp that is what I call a trait being gutted. Totally useless imo.

@BeepBoopBop.5403 said:

It wasn't even that crazy in WvW imo...4k to 5k (on non-tank targets) equilibrium for 50 energy, sounded pretty fair to me considering that's how much a single full counter or thief dagger auto hit.

Pretty sure I quit the game after this patch, just complaining. The unhindered combatant "change" and the removal of equilibrium just tell me that the people designing this game are clueless, all my friends have stopped logging, and it's time I join them.

I'm sad equilibrium is gone, but 4-5k wasn't even close to what I was hitting. I would commonly get 6k on spellbreakers and 8k+ on squishier targets. Now clearly it would hit a lot less on support classes, but it was a lot of damage. It could've maybe used a base damage increase and then the ol can't crit treatment. The new trait is complete garbage.

Notes for what Song of the Mists does (according to the tooltips at least):

• Every legend has the same basic skill, a point-blank AoE with a 5 target cap and a 180 radius. With the exception of Ventari these AOEs all target enemies and do a token amount of power damage (not sure what the scaling is, but it was less than 300 damage on a Viper's build).
• Assassin gives you 1 second of quickness per target hit and inflicts 5 stacks of vulnerability on the targets.
• Dwarf gives you a small (700ish on the viper build) barrier per target hit and inflicts 6 secs weakness on the targets.
• Demon inflicts slow for 3 seconds on the targets. Power damage is higher but still negligible (400ish).
• Centaur heals allies for less than 2k instead of damaging enemies.
• Dragon burns and chills foes for 3 seconds. Power damage is slightly lower (less than 200).
• Renegade grants Kalla's Fervour per target hit and inflicts bleed on the targets.

Analysis:

• If you're not in melee with a target you will get nothing out of this trait.
• Mallyx, the condition DPS legend, has a power-focused effect. An odd choice.
• Glint, the boonshare legend, has the condition DPS effect and probably the strongest effect from this trait. Again, odd.
• The Centaur effect grants healing, something which Ventari arguably grants enough of already.

no fixes for pathing issues on renegade summons listed in the patch notes...are the devs really this oblivious to how bad this spec is?

I'm really liking song of the mists and spirit boon on jalis for pvp.

This patch pretty much gutted revs instead of buffing. The only thing they got it right was the sword off hand and when we finally get an energy management skill that we asked so much what do they do? They remove equilibrium, the only motive why energy management was important. Really anet??????Most of the changes to the invocation tree are grand master traits, I'm not even going to mention again how hard and unnecessary removing equilibrium was. Who in it's right mind would swap 40% crit chance for the other 2, like really???The only "buff" revs got was the sword off hand that it was needed for ages but it's still too similar to axe off hand though axe still has a bigger range (900) and a CC that the sword off hand lost. So again, POINTLESS. I'm definitly done with GW2 after this patch.

@Kuya.6495 said:I'm really liking song of the mists and spirit boon on jalis for pvp.

I know right? I was looking at it thinking 'so poopy' then I got to jalis and was :o

The one thing I find hilarious is this:

This trait has swapped positions with Roiling Mists.

What was the point of that? They are both Grandmaster Traits...

@Helly.2597 said:

@Redfeather.6401 said:Shiro grants 2 might for 10 seconds.Mally grants resistance for 2 seconds.Jalis grants stability for 3 seconds. :oVentari grants regen for 5 seconds.Glint grants protection for 3 seconds.Kall grants swiftness for 5 seconds.

@BeepBoopBop.5403 said:

It wasn't even that crazy in WvW imo...4k to 5k (on non-tank targets) equilibrium for 50 energy, sounded pretty fair to me considering that's how much a single full counter or thief dagger auto hit.

Pretty sure I quit the game after this patch, just complaining. The unhindered combatant "change" and the removal of equilibrium just tell me that the people designing this game are clueless, all my friends have stopped logging, and it's time I join them.

I'm sad equilibrium is gone, but 4-5k wasn't even close to what I was hitting. I would commonly get 6k on spellbreakers and 8k+ on squishier targets. Now clearly it would hit a lot less on support classes, but it was a lot of damage. It could've maybe used a base damage increase and then the ol can't crit treatment. The new trait is complete garbage.

Having "can't crit" in a trait line about fury would not have worked out well.

My rev was getting those equilibrium numbers with about 2.6k base power (full bloodlust no might) and with 216% crit damage (before Assassin's Presence). You could hit 6k to 8k maybe if you're full zerk...in which case I counter that thieves have been capable of hitting 20k backstabs for a while now while full zerk (lol who needs DJ).

Idk I agree it hit hard, maybe a hair too hard (50 energy though...rewarded proper play...I can do the same damage with a hammer auto or CoR...) but removing a trait that rewarded planning ahead and resource management from the game was not the answer.

@ArthurDent.9538 said:Early testing is showing that basically nothing has changed for power herald for pve. Realistic dps has gone down a bit, but so has everyone else's from no more GoTL. Forceful persistence is an alright damage multiplier, but all it does is nulify the dps loss from the deletion of equilibrium. New shackling wave hits hard enough to be worth using in a dps rotation, but not hard enough to really impact our still abysmal damage, and sword off-hand no longer has hard cc which is quite bad. Deathstrike hits for a bit less than precision strike but with double the cast time, and a huge energy cost of 20 so it should only to be used as a gap closer.

I though with the sword off hand changes and Forceful Persistence will improve power herald damage. I guess not :/ Though the removal of block from off hand sword writes it off completely out PvP.

Charged Mists change borders line on useless. It is good, but no on playing power build will take it over Roiling Mists. Not even sure it can compete on Condi builds either. And invocation is not taken by condi builds in Raids anyway, so... the energy management addition is restricted to under 10 energy and competing with probably the strongest dps buff trait, on a line not taken in competitive PvE. Epic fail.

The changes overall to Renegade are null. The buffs to SB damage do not address the fact the skill 3 can barely hit anything and skill 4 is slower than grandma. The utilities themselves were not addressed. I cannot fathom how these are working as intended. Renegade still has no blocks, evade or mobility. No ability to remove condis. So it still no go in PvP. Buffs to utilities are meh. Heroic command does get occasional use in PvE so 15 might instead of 10 is not bad. Though between the 0.5 sec cast and 15 energy cost, it is doubtful to use. Order from Above at 25 energy cost is no go. The extra 2 second of alacrity does not swing it even to considerable category.

Mace 3 nerf + Kalla Lasting Legacy surely to be a dps nerf to condi meta build in PvE.

I am not against off hand swords changes, but should not Renegade, which has significant issues, been the priority...

@BlaqueFyre.5678 said:What was the point of that? They are both Grandmaster Traits...

Visibility.Bottom line is now focused on Fury, top line for legend swap effects.