[SUGGESTION] Celestial (Elite Spec)

ELITE SPECIALIZATION: CELESTIAL

[DESCRIPTION]

the Celestial is a long range damage dealer. Wielding a longbow, the Celestial charges up the “artillery” spells by swapping attunements.The Celestial also offers some offensive boons and a few control effects if enemies get to close. The Celestial also provides more conditions than other Elementalist specializations.

Disclaimer: values given are hypothetical example, and would need to fine tuned for balance. I’m not necessarily providing cast times and recharges for weapon skills, but as a general rule cooldowns can be assumed to be roughly in the neighborhood of other elementalist cooldowns, based on skill position, 1) autoattack, 2) 4-8seconds, 3) 8-12 seconds, 4)12-30 seconds. 5) 20-45 seconds

[NEW GAME MECHANICS]

these mechanics would not be limited to this elite spec, but would be added to the game in general.

[New Condition: Steam]Steam is basically the opposite of torment. if you stay still, you receive more damage. if you move, you receive less damage.More complicated version. if you stay still, you gain additional stacks of steam until the duration expires. if you move, you lose stacks of steam until no more stacks remain, or the duration expires, whichever comes first.

[New aura: Mist Aura]apply 1 stack of steam condition to enemies who strike you, cd 2 seconds per attacker

[New Combo Field: Steam field]projectile: apply 1 stack of steam to foe.Leap: grants Mist aurablast: grants 1 stack preventionwhirl: apply 1 stack of steam to struck foes

[New Boon: Prevention]each stack of this boon will convert one the next incoming attack or condition, into healing~this is basically the mechanic of several heal skills, like Glint's heal for the revenant, but instead of being a duration that converts all damage into healing, each stack converts only the next damage pulse into healing

[Condition-Boon Conversion]Prevention and Steam are opposites, so one will convert to the other under the appropriate spell use.

[if-Blocked Effects]many classes already have "Unblockable" skills, or ways to make there next few attacks unblockable. I wanted to add a Secondary effect to skills "if they were blocked" from GW1. take for example GLASS ARROWS: Glass Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage, that bleeds (2stacks, 5 seconds) your foe if blocked. the primary attack is the physical damage arrow. if blocked, the physical damage is negated, but the arrow splinters and applies bleed to the target instead. the target takes LESS damage if blocked, because Glass Arrows is an auroattack. more expensive skills on longer cooldowns might apply MORE damage if blocked. or possibly become AoEs

[CLASS MECHANIC: ELEMENTAL CHARGE]~ swapping attunements now grants one charge per attunement swap.~ similar to the warrior adrenaline bar, the celestial charge can tier up 3 times~ does not decay out of combat, but also does not charge out of combat~ 4 charges grants tier1, 8 charges grants t2, 12 charges grants t3~ taking into account Attunement Swap cooldowns, it would take 24-30 seconds to fully charge, at best.

~ F5 = Celestial Storm~~ base skill (10 second cooldown) lasts 5 seconds, and drops 5 impacts per attunement type, 1500 range, 250 radius~~ t1 lasts 10 seconds and drops 10 impacts per attunement type, 300 radius~~ t2 lasts 15 seconds and drops 15 impacts per attunement type, 350 radius~~ t3 lasts 20 seconds and drops 20 impacts per attunement type. 400 radius

~~ using f5 consumes all charges~~ using a utility skill consumes 4 charges (more on this in the utility skill section.)

~ celestial storm is balanced around the idea that it’s available often, but requires many attunement swaps to fully charge up. The base skill is available every 10 seconds, but requires time-gated attunement swapping to become more powerful.

~ Since the utility skills also consume a tier of charges, f5 can remain as powerful as it is, due to having to make a choice of using a utility skill or the f5

[uTILITY SKILL CATEGORY: Meditation]

~~ these skills have 10 second cooldown, and are balanced around the charging mechanic~~ these skills consume 4 charges when used, to prevent someone from spamming all t3 skills all the time, once fully charged.~~ each tier stacks with all previous tiers~~ each successive tier could be a pulse 1/4 - 1/2 second after the previous pulse

These meditations are designed for use with any weapon set, especially considering the short range of daggers, also giving the shorter range weapon sets a ranged option. like how tempest gives melee option to ranged weapon sets.

Heal:~~ base skill: heal the elementalist for 4k (15 second cooldown)~~ t1 also grant 4s vigor + 1 stack prevention~~ t2 also grant 4s protection + 1 stacks prevention~~ t3 also grant 4s mist aura + 1 stacks prevention

Crystal Wave: send out a wave toward your foes, 900 range, directional targeting~~ base skill: do AoE (5 targets) damage based on power~~ t1 daze enemies ¼ seconds~~ t2 knockback enemies 100 range~~ t3 knockdown enemies(synergizes very well with Lightning Rod trait)

Searing Heat~~ base skill: 300 radius damage (1000 power based damage) to foes in the area, 1500 range, 3 second cast time~~ t1 second pulse of damage~~ t2 3rd pulse of damage + applies 3 stacks of burning for 2 second~~ t3 4th pulse of damage + applies 5 stacks of steam:

Frost Armour (to yourself and nearby allies)~~ base skill: grant a frost aura~~ t1 grant 4s resistance~~ t2 grant 1 stack prevention (5 seconds)~~ t3 grant protection (5 seconds)

Kinetic Armour (to yourself and nearby allies)~~ base skill: stun break~~ t1: gain stability 2 stacks (3 seconds)~~ t2: gain swiftness (10 seconds)~~ t3: gain quickness (5 seconds)

Elite: Elemental Lord: channel for 3 seconds, focusing your power, cooldown 20? / 30? / 60? seconds~~ base skill: gain 4 charges per second~~ t1: grant 4 might per second to yourself and nearby allies~~ t2: grant 2s fury per second to yourself and nearby allies~~ t3: grant 1stack prevention (5 seconds) per second to yourself and nearby allies~~ EDIT: alternate t3: grant 1 stack "Elemental Bond" buff to allies per second. each stack grants 2 seconds burning + chill + weakness + vulnerablilty to your allies' next attack.

[NEW WEAPON: LONGBOW]

range: generally 1500

animations:~ generally, archer animations, firing arrows.~ javelin / spear skills: the Celestial holds the bow in the left hand as though it were a staff, and conjures a javelin in the right hand, and throws it.~ spell: the Celestial holds the bow in the left hand as a staff, and uses the right hand to direct the spell.

the longbow is generally a single target long- ranged DPS weapon, that offers counters to blocks by adding a secondary effect which occurs if the attack is blocked.

Fire attunement:1) Lava Arrows: (20% projectile) fire three arrows at your foe2) Incendiary Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage and 2 seconds burning, if blocked, it explodes and causes up to 5 foes to burn (3 stacks, 3 seconds?)3) Burning Arrow: (20% projectile) fire one arrow that does massive damage and burns (5stacks) your foe4) Starburst: fire an arrow that explodes for AoE damage when it hits its target, and breaks into 3 smaller shards that also explode for AoE damage. Each burst is also a blast finisher5) Smoking Arrow: fire an arrow that leaves a trail of smoke behind it, creating a smoke field

Air Attunement:1) Shock Arrow: (20% projectile) damage plus vulnerability2) Lightning Arrow: (20% projectile) fire an arrow at your target for damage. 1 second later, the target is struck with lightning3) Lightning Javelin: (50% projectile) pierces foes, for 10 vulnerability, and massive damage4) Shell Shock: (spell) stun and damage your target (could use the electrocute death animation)5) Enervating Charge: (spell) strike your foe with lightning, causing AoE damage, AoE weakness to enemies, and apply AoE vigor to allies

Earth Attunement:1) Glass Arrows: (20% projectile) fire an arrow for damage, that bleeds (2stacks, 5 seconds) your foe if blocked2) Ash Blast: (spell, ground target AoE)) poison your target with ash they can’t breathe (3 stacks, 8 seconds)3) Rock Javelin: (50% projectile) throw a rock javelin at your foe, piercing, if blocked it blinds and bleeds (5stacks 10 seconds) foes in AoE4) Obsidian Flame: (spell) damage your target (no projectile) for unblockable, armour ignoring, critical damage (2000 base damage)5) Ebon Hawk: (100% projectile, spell) summon a hawk to fly at your foes, fearing (3seconds), and tormenting (3 stacks, 8 seconds) them as it cries and flies through them

Water Attunement:1) Ice Spear: (50% projectile) throw a spear at your foes, granting regen to allies it passes through2) Steam: (AOE, ground targeted) blinds target, and applies 3 stacks of steam to target3) Chilling Winds: fire an arrow that becomes a chilling wind, chilling (4 seconds) and tormenting (2 stacks, 8 seconds) up to 5 foes the wind passes through.4) Mirror of Ice: (spell): conjure an ice shield that reflects damage back to the source. if the reflected damage passes through allies, grant them 1 stack of prevention5) Steam Arrow: fire a rapid arrow that leaves a trail of steam behind it, creating a steam field that pulses for 3 seconds. Each pulse causes damage and 2 stacks of steam to foes.

[TRAITS]

Adept:~ minor: swapping attunements grants a charge, earn Celestial Storm F5 skill1- arrows pierce and / or cause bleeding (1 stack, 2 seconds?)2- 7% power is converted to healing power3- meditations gain an extra pulse

Master:~ minor: conditions last 25% longer4- apply 1 stack steam condition to targets who block your arrows (cd 10s)5- auras grant 1 stack prevention / prevention also grants retaliation6- consuming charges grants might (10 seconds 1 stack might per charge consumed)

Grandmaster:~ minor: burning causes 2 stacks steam (cd 10s)7- deal 10-13% more damage to foes suffering from steam8- celestial storm grants boons to allies within the radius every 5 seconds.9- camping an attunement grants 4 charges every 10 seconds

 

EDIT: longbow air4, one new utility skill offers CC, and core air signet also offers immobilize. Frostbow can offer some chilled. Longbow, while offering smoke field, has only ranged blast finisher for stealth which would mainly affect allies unless the ele was too close to the target, which would then give the ele momentary defense, but the smoke field offers mainly blindness with projectiles. longbow projectile speed will be approximately the same speed as ranger longbow.

Great idea. Maybe little toi much block hate?

I like Celestial, new condi sounds amazingly cool but idk whether this can be abused, avoided and other stuff or not. Longbow on an ele sounds great and I am not the hugest fan of Elemenetal Charge but I can understand why people may like this. If I was one of the ANET developers I would take a look at this suggestion for a new elite spec for a new expansion, keep up the good work.

ice bow kind of removes this option as a bow i think ^^like the idea of the skills, not sure how i like the staff getting in second place for long range abilities, rather see the staff changed then ^^

thank you all for your feedback! i'll offer some of my train of thought , even though i think the spec could easily get out of hand if overtuned

LONGBOW:technically, Ice Bow is a shortbow, with only 900 range (equal to scepter)

as for staff, it's really too much of a support weapon. take away traited lava font and meteor shower, and staff is worthless for damage. (don't get me wrong, my Tempest uses Nevermore, and will not be using the Weaver's sword. He's a ranged type.) and honestly, i'd like to see staff give out more conditions as well.

i'm just tired of seeing every new spec be close to mid range by default.

i fleshed out longbow for 2 reasons....~ i wanted a long range weapon where ALL attunements were good for damage.~ i wanted to bring back some GW1 skills, even though they were taken from both Elementalist and Ranger.

BLOCK HATE and GW1 THROWBACK:i was looking for something to differentiate the longbow from the staff, and the idea came from the GW1 skills, like Glass Arrows. mostly, i also wanted Ele to have something NEW! ( I need to edit the OP to include "block hate" comments in the "new mechanic" section. ) i also imagine this skill type would find its way to other classes as well. here are some of my thoughts:~ the autoattack block hate had to be minor, so 2 stacks of bleed for 2 seconds seemed fair. the main attack got blocked, but something still got through.~ the longer cooldown skills needed more oomph for the effect, hence AoE.~ it made most sense for earth attunement, which provides weaker single target damage in exchange for higher block-hate damage. it just made sense to me that the defensive element should be able to defeat foes' defenses if the element was used more in an offense role.

STEAM:this condition is actually, also a GW1 throwback. but mechanically different of course. i need to update the OP to indicate that steam would have short durations to prevent too much abuse. it needs to have enough uptime to make it worth using, but short enough to not outclass burning. i imagined steam to be the 2nd most dangerous damage condition, under fire, and above poison, confusion, and torment. i also wanted it to synergize well with immobilize and knockdown.

ELEMENTAL CHARGE:i should probably update to OP to indicate a possible 24 seconds to fully charge T3, but the use of the utility skills would force the choice of going for full power celestial storm, or going for more powerful utilities during combat. it's very possible that the charges would need to diminish while out of combat for full balance.

ROLE:i envisioned this spec as primarily a backline damage dealer with a few defensive tools in case somebody got close, but would require a dagger mainhand if it wanted to compete in melee with it's foes. the utilites were designed to hopefully be useful in all ranges. ELE is already squishy, so that needs to be taken into account, too.

Well, I don't like the specialization in general, but I like steam. I think they should apply steam to an existing condition, like burning.

thanks for your honesty!

even though i'd personally love to see this spec show up in game as is, i 'd be even happier if this simply sparks the creativity of our community and also of the devs, especially if it means an even better elite spec makes it's way into the game. cherry pick one of my ideas, combine it with an idea from another forum user, and another idea from another dev, and another idea from another class... eventually we'll be able to make more threads thanking the devs for implementing our ideas again!