Sand Shade in 1 Vs 1 Situations

I am curious, whats the point of sand shades in 1 Vs 1 situations? I mean. Other than summoning them at range - Minus how all Power ranged weapons are 1,200 or 1,500 Range where as Sand Shade is 900Range. Whats the point of them in melee when if they are on top of you, they will take the conditions from just using the shroud abilities, without needing to summon the Shades? In group and blob fights, i am guessing its spam as much as possible to affect as many people as possible?

It seems kinda odd that you would be better off NOT summoning them at all, unless the person is at 900Range, if melee, they have zero use as the conditions wont proc from you and the shade, Does the shade do anything else itself, like pulsing damage or something that i am missing?

Summoning the shade on top of them triggers the effects of using a shade ability and shroud skill 1 (around the shade and you, but only hits once), triggers your chosen Scourge major master trait (if you hit with the shade itself, not around you), and grants you extra direct damage reduction, concentration (boon duration), and expertise (condition duration) from your Scourge minor traits (if you haven't hit the cap on the number of shades you can have out at once).

@Snipe Evon.8549 said:Summoning the shade on top of them triggers the effects of using a shade ability and shroud skill 1 (around the shade and you, but only hits once), triggers your chosen Scourge major master trait (if you hit with the shade itself, not around you), and grants you extra direct damage reduction, concentration (boon duration), and expertise (condition duration) from your Scourge minor traits (if you haven't hit the cap on the number of shades you can have out at once).

So, using it will proc Torment and Cripple and for me Burning, if i have already used a Punishment skill and give very minor buffs to Condi duration, boon duration. I guess the damage reduction isnt too bad. But other than the initial cast, they dont do anything on their own? Like pulse damage/conditions/whatever?

After the initial effects from the summon, shades don't do anything other than looking cool unless you use your other shade skills to activate effects around you and your shades.

@Snipe Evon.8549 said:After the initial effects from the summon, shades don't do anything other than looking cool unless you use your other shade skills to activate effects around you and your shades.

But, with the fact that targets could be inside the shade and in your range, using a shade skill will only proc the conditions once. So. The question is. Is it really worth focusing time to use them? I mean the Damage reduction is decent but other than that the effects are meh, especially if you are in melee.

If you're using Sand Savant in competitive play, shades last only 10 seconds. In a melee, you might as well summon them on the enemy to keep up the 15% boon/condition duration and 15% damage reduction, in addition to keeping up pressure with damage and triggering the master major trait (either barrier, which can also cleanse a condition and grant a bit of might with abrasive grit; significant burning after using a punishment skill; or boon corruption to debilitate and keep up cover conditions to make them harder to remove). You should use manifest sand shade when appropriate, and being in a melee doesn't exclude that.

@Snipe Evon.8549 said:If you're using Sand Savant in competitive play, shades last only 10 seconds. In a melee, you might as well summon them on the enemy to keep up the 15% boon/condition duration and 15% damage reduction, in addition to keeping up pressure with damage and triggering the master major trait (either barrier, which can also cleanse a condition and grant a bit of might with abrasive grit; significant burning after using a punishment skill; or boon corruption to debilitate and keep up cover conditions to make them harder to remove). You should use manifest sand shade when appropriate, and being in a melee doesn't exclude that.

Nope. Not Sand Savant. Kinda toying with a Power/Hybrid Boon Corrupter with the Feed from Corruption trait. I'm a WvW player, so would be roaming 99% of the time, zergs and blobs it really doesnt matter, its spam range and AoE anyway but its more for the roaming 1 Vs 1 and such situations. The problem is The Barrier and Boon Corruption traits just arent strong enough imo, i am playing with the Punishment trait at the moment, a 1k Barrier or a single Boon converted isnt really that strong when i have so many other ways of getting boon corruption.

Though combined with Path of Corruption and nefarious Favor could be quite strong i guess. Though that would again be for more of a group/zerg setting.

Yeah, if your playstyle doesn't focus as much on what I touched, it understandably has less value. I exclusively play scourge in groups when in competitive play (sPvP and WvW) focusing on either support or boon corruption with condition damage.

In the example in which you stated you can spike conditions with Unending Corruption or Sadistic Searing, followed by Nefarious Favor with Path of Corruption, that is effective in both 1v1 and group play. Moreso for small-scale fights since you're using Feed from Corruption to bolster yourself with your corruptions rather than Sand Savant to affect more people in a larger area.