A small problem with Weaver sword is that so many of the abilities have 3-8 ticks of damage.

So many of the abilities of the Weaver's sword have 3-8 separate ticks of damage, where this becomes a problem is against specs that have both retaliation and heavy defensive stats/dmg mitigation like Guardian/Scrapper/Warrior.Retaliation has always been a big problem for Elementalists to deal with because of their low base health pool and weapons that exacerbate the problem like scepter and sword is no different. Weaver's sustain is quite nice to deal with this but the spec is quite weak at the moment so I feel like the change I propose at the end of the post would be a welcome change and it would only really have an impact against retaliation.

3 of Weavers abilities hit for 8 ticks of damage these are : Quantum Strike (air + air 3), Rust Frenzy (earth+earth 3), Natural Frenzy (earth + water 3).

• Quantum Strike "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Quantum_Strike" is arguably weaver's best damage skill, however this ability hits 8 separate times which means 8 ticks of retal which would tick for around 230-300ish depending on how much power the enemy has. Versus the specs I mentioned earlier this ability is usually only going to tick for around 300-450 damage. this means you while you could be doing 3600 damage, if they have retaliation you will also be taking potentially 2400 damage from retal alone, nevermind the enemy landing any skills.

• Rust Frenzy "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rust_Frenzy" does a bit more damage than quantum strike so the trade vs retal is better in a 1v1 but it hit's 3 targets so if a guard give's aoe retal on a downed cleave you could get hit for up to 24 ticks of retaliation. But it's a skill that requires double attuning to earth which is just not possible to fit into a rotation most of the time since you have got to be constantly getting value out of water 2 and earth 2 as well as double attuning air to get off damage. Double attuning earth slows down your rotation and there's rarely any situation it's good for, doesn't even give you prot the second attune either.

• Natural Frenzy "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Natural_Frenzy" ticks for a lot less than Quantum strike and you would probably end up doing more damage to yourself than tanky targets with retaliation. I haven't really tested any of these numbers myself, this is just my perspective from playing the spec.

Many of Weavers abilities hit 3/4/5 times these are :

• Pyro Vortex - 4 potential ticks from hit + field (3 targets) "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pyro_Vortex"
• Gale Strike - 5 potential ticks from hit + field (3 targets) "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gale_Strike"
• Lava Skin - 5 ticks ( 5 targets) "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Gale_Strike"
• Flame Uprising - 3 potential ticks from hit + field (5 targets) "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Flame_Uprising"
• Call lighting (Air 3rd auto) - 3 ticks (3 targets hit) "https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Call_Lightning"

With the already pitiful damage weaver has this makes it so hard to win trades and makes killing a bad core guardian take a lot longer simply because you're forced to spend time re-sustaining from the passive pressure of their retal along with other things that are to hard to avoid like smite condition active + trait. With the playstyle that weaver has you can't just "git gud" by avoiding using these skill or others like it because you are constantly swapping attunements and if you avoid using skills you won't have any kill pressure. You have to use all your skills when you come across them in your rotation because you are always rotating. Double attuning fire more often than air vs specs with retal would be a good way to get better trades but I feel like this situation needs a change of design rather than a change of playstyle.

Solution: The solution I propose is that you change Quantum strike, Natural Frenzy and Rust Frenzy to have half the amount of ticks (so 4 instead of 8) and double the amount of damage, so instead of hitting 400 400 400 400 400 400 400 400, you hit 800 800 800 800. This would only really be a buff against retal, the only negative I can see from this change would be less ticks resulting in less chances of procs such as the arcane precision trait or sigil of air in WvW/PvE. The other abilities I mentioned could do with a change but aoe retal isn't around that often so it's less of a problem and the announced damage buffs coming to sword would probably affect some of these skills meaning the trade vs retaliation won't be as significant.

TL/DR:Elementalist's have always had a bad time dealing with retaliation because of their low base health pool and Weaver is no different. 3 of Weaver's sword abilities hit for 8 ticks of damage (Quantum Strike, Natural Frenzy and Rust Frenzy) and many others tick 3/4/5 times AoE (3-5 targets). Versus high armor targets with retaliation each tick of Natural Frenzy would do less damage than the retaliation damage you take, meaning you would be taking more damage than you are dealing as a power build that takes 2 full damage trait-lines + traits, an amulet with no toughness and hardly any cleanse. Quantum Strike is a bit better and each tick would hit probably 300-450 which would do a bit more damage to the enemy than yourself. Rust Frenzy would do a bit more damage compared to Quantum Strike but it also hits 3 targets so on cleave it would destroy you with retaliation.

The change I propose would be to change Quantum strike, Natural Frenzy and Rust Frenzy to have half the amount of ticks (so 4 instead of 8) and double the amount of damage, this would help a lot versus match-ups with a lot retal.

I wonder how it works if you also have retal up?

@MyPuppy.8970 said:I wonder how it works if you also have retal up?

It doesn't reflect back.

This would be great and give weavers alot more possible burst damage. Still think alot of the sword skills need damage buffs tho.

Retaliate is a pain, I wish they rework that boon :/You shouldn’t die from retaliate when playing staff ele just cause 50 players buffed themself before engaging a fight.

Sword’s damage is going to be improved, but yeah, i’d like to see less hits, and more damage per hit. It’s a good idea.