Some better party support and power options for core necro/reaper?

A (long) compilation of suggestions addressing a variety of issues. Some of them come from ideas here on this forum; some are just my own ideas. Some of the issues they intend to address:

• Uneven/low life force generation on some weapons (too much reliance on a single Soul Reaping minor to hard-carry LF generation).
• Underwhelming spectral and well utilties.
• Underwhelming power options.
• No viable melee set-up for the core Necromancer weapon line-up.
• Staff being a boring spirograph with no sustained combat presence whatsoever.
• Stock Death Shroud being a half-hearted mish-mash of power and condi that currently has no role in the meta.
• Necro lacks a notable level of party support (especially in PvE). There a few unique bonuses included here which relate to chaining/generating Frost Auras, but I personally don't like how auras currently work in GW2. That aside, for now, the changes are thematic, make use of an otherwise under-used mechanic, and bring some level of party support and utility to Necro.
• Trait adjustments in order to match the changes to the above skills.

Dagger main-hand

! [Necrotic Slash] (1a)! Cast-time: 0! Slash foes.! Number of targets: 3! Damage (2x): (0.9)! Range: 130

! [Necrotic Stab] (1b)! Cast-time: 0! Stab foes.! Number of targets: 3! Damage: (0.7)! Range: 130

! [Lifebane Strike] (1c)! Cast-time: ½s! Strike again and gain life force if you hit. If you successfully land a strike while above the life force threshold, a shade of yourself appears and deals another strike.! Number of targets: 3! Damage: (1.2)! Life Force: 5%! Life Force Threshold: 50%! Shade damage: (1.2)! * Range: 150!The shade produced by this skill uses a model of the player cloaked in a “Death Shroud” particle aura. It appears only after the player successfully resolves [Necrotic Bite] onto a target. The shade appears within the user's hitbox (angled at the user's point of attack), and it stands still while executing a copy of [Lifebane Strike]. The wind-up matches the user's attack (½s cast) and strikes up to 3 targets within a melee range of 150 units. The shade cannot be damaged or CC'ed (it's simply there as a tell), and it deals damage that scales directly off of the player's stats.

! [Life Siphon] (2)! Cast-time: 2¼s / Recharge: ½s! Siphon health from foes in front of you. While below the life force threshold, successful strikes grant life force. While above the threshold, strikes heal you.! Number of targets: 5! Damage (4x): (2.4)! Life Force threshold: 30%! Life Force: 3%! Healing (4x): 2200 (0.4)! Maximum Count: 2! Count Recharge: 10s! * Range: 400! Life force gain and healing respectively only trigger once per successful strike regardless of the number of targets struck. Life force gain and healing respectively do not occur if the player misses or the attack is evaded.! This channeled attack uses the same conical hitbox as Elementalist [Cone of Cold].

! [Dark Pact] (3)! Cast-time: 1s / Recharge: 8s! Gain Dark Pact and lower the recharge of your shroud. Blast the ground and surge forward, crippling foes in your path.! Number of targets: 3! Damage (9x): (2.7)! Crippled (½s): -50% Movement Speed! Dark Pact (4s): Lose 1% of your maximum health per second; gain 1% life force when you strike foes (max 2% per interval).! Dark Pact Life Force gain interval: 1s! Shroud recharge reduced: 2s! Combo Finisher: Blast! * Range: 600!Blast finisher is applied on the player right as the skill is activated.!Attack functions identically to Revenant's [surge of the Mists].

Focus

! [Reaper's Touch] (4)! Cast-time: ¼s / Recharge: 12s! Piercing scythes converge on the target location, damaging foes and healing allies through which they pass. Gain life force if a scythe strikes a foe. When the scythes reach their destination, they generate a blast finisher.! Number of targets: 5! Number of allies: 5! Damage (6x): (2.4)! Life force: 1.5%! Healing: 184 (0.1)! Combo Finisher: Blast! Range: 900! Piercing!This skill functions identically to the Mirage's [Crystal Sands] “projectiles.”!The healing tooltip notes the healing from just one of the six scythes.!A single scythe cannot grant life force more than once regardless of the number of foes that it strikes along its path.

! [spinal Shivers] (5)! Cast-time: ¾s / Recharge: 20s! Gain Frost Aura. Strip boons from foes with a strike that freezes the ground in front of you.! Frost Aura (4s): -10% Incoming Damage! Number of targets: 5! Initial strike: (0.3)! Initial boons removed: 3! Field pulses: 5! Pulse chilled (1½s): -66% Skill Recharge Rate, -66% Movement Speed! Field duration: 5s! Unblockable! Range: 480!Skill functions akin to Revenant [searing Fissure]. The field created by this skill also matches the size of [searing Fissure].!Both the initial strike and the field's chill pulses are unblockable.

Staff

! [Necrotic Grasp] (1)!Cast-time: 1s! Send out a grasping hand which bursts upon impact, striking multiple foes. Gain life force for each foe struck.! Number of targets: 3! Damage: (0.9)! Life force per target: 1.5%! Blast radius: 180! Range: 1200!Elementalist [Fireball] projectile behavior.

![Mark of Blood] (2)!Recharge: 5s! Inscribe a pulsing mark that damages foes at the target location. While below the Life Force threshold, this skill grants Life Force on successful strikes. While above the Life Force threshold, this skill bleeds foes and heals allies with each pulse.! Number of targets: 5! Number of allies: 5! Damage (4x): (3.4)! Life Force threshold: 50%! Life Force per pulse: 5%! Bleeding (8s) per pulse: [damage]! Healing per pulse: 130 (0.05)! Duration: 4s! Combo Field: Dark! Radius: 180! Range: 1200!Elementalist [Lava Font] “cast-time.”!Mark features are now a neon-red color; emits bright, red-colored “well mist.”!Life Force gain only triggers once per pulse regardless of the number of targets struck.!Pulses occur at the end of each second.

![Chilblains] (3)!Recharge: 15s! Evade backwards and unleash a line of chilling blasts. The initial impact counts as a blast finisher, inflicts poison and knocks foes backward.! Evade: ¾s! Number of targets: 5! Number of impacts: 5! Impact damage: (0.25)! Chilled (1s): -66% Skill Recharge Rate, -66% Movement Speed! Poison|3| (8s): [damage], -33% Healing Effectiveness! Impact radius: 120! Initial Impact Knockback: 400! Initial Impact Combo Finisher: Blast!* Range: 600!The line of chilling blasts functions identically to the Koda's Hammer [ice Shock Wave] skill.!Backwards evasion animation equivalent in duration and distance to Revenant [Riposting Shadows].

![Foul Feast] (4)!Cast-time: 1s / Recharge: 15s! Cure damaging conditions on allies in the area. Gain life force for each condition cured in this way (maximum 5% per pulse).! Number of allies: 5! Pulses: 3! Conditions cured per pulse: 1! Life force per condition: 1%! Radius: 600!This skill principally counts the user within the “number of allies” tooltip.!Condition removal priority: Burning - > Poison - > Bleeding - > Confusion - > Torment.

![Reaper's Mark] (5)!Cast-time: ¾s / Recharge: 25s! Inscribe an icy ring around the target area. Foes that attempt to cross the ring lose boons and flee in fear.! Number of targets: 10! Boons removed: 3! Fear (1s): Involuntary retreat; unable to act; stacks duration! Duration: 4s! Radius: 180! Combo Field: Ice! Range: 1200!* Unblockable!Boon removal occurs before fear application.

Death Shroud

! [Life Blast]! Cast-time: 1s! Unlesh a blast of life force that explodes on impact, damaging nearby foes. If you are above the life force threshold, this blast leaves behind a pulsing field of dark energy which continues to strike foes.! Number of blast targets: 3! Blast damage: (1.4)! Blast radius: 180! Blast range: 1200! Life Force Threshold: 75%! Field damage (2x): (1.6)! Field duration: 2s! Field radius: 150! * Combo Field: Dark!The field strikes foes at the end of each second of its duration.

! [Dark Path]! Cast-time: ¾s / Recharge: 1½s! Leap forward, striking all foes in a line.! Damage: (0.55)! Chilled (2½s): -66% Skill Recharge Rate, -66% Movement Speed! Maximum Count: 2! Count Recharge: 12s! Combo Finisher: Leap! * Range: 600! Functionally identical to [Viper's Leap] from the Caithe (transformation) form from the No Refuge story mission.

! [Life Transfer]! Recharge reduced from 40s to 30s.! Each of this skill's pulses now respectively inflicts 30 Defiance Bar damage.

! [Tainted Shackles]! Cast-time: ¼s / Recharge: 30s! Reveal and bind nearby foes with your life force. Whenever you strike a bound foe, you inflict a blast of necrotic energy which damages that target and nearby foes (this effect cannot trigger on a bound foe more than once per the interval). If enemies move out of range of this ability, the bind will break.! Number of targets: 5! Initial revealed (5s): You cannot stealth! Tainted Shackles duration: 5s! Blast damage: (0.4)! Blast radius: 180! Blast trigger interval: 1s! Shackle radius: 600! Unblockable!The necrotic blast attacks can critically hit.

Spectral utilities

![spectral Wall]! Recharge reduced from 40s to 30s.! Duration reduced from 6s to 4s.! * Range increased from 900 to 1200.

![spectral Walk]! Recharge: 25s! Cure movement-impairing conditions and gain superspeed. While in combat, gain life force over time. You may return to your initial position by using Spectral Recall.! Initial Superspeed (4s): Movement Speed is greatly increased.! Initial Swiftness (20s): 33% Movement Speed! [Crippled] Condition Removed! [Chilled] Condition Removed! [immobilize] Condition Removed! Spectral Walk (10s): Gain life force over time if you are in combat.! Combat Only Life Force per interval: 1.5%! Interval: 1s! Breaks Stun

![spectral Armor]! Recharge: 1½s! Gain barrier. If you are in combat, gain life force.! Barrier: 2487 (0.75)! Combat Only Life Force: 12%! Maximum Count: 2! Count Recharge: 35s! Breaks Stun

![spectral Grasp]! Recharge reduced from 50s to 30s.! Life Force gain reduced from 15% to 10%.! Range reduced from 1200 to 700.! Cast-time increased from ½s to ¾s.! Chill duration reduced from 4s to 2s.! Now unblockable.

Well utilities

![Well of Corruption]!* Recharge reduced from 40s to 30s.

![Well of Power]!* Recharge reduced from 40s to 30s.

![Well of Suffering]! Recharge reduced from 35s to 15s.! Radius reduced from 240 to 180.

![Well of Darkness]!Cast-time: ¼s / Recharge: 30s! Target area pulses, blinding and crippling foes with each pulse. This well's final pulse knocks down foes within it.! Number of targets: 5! Blind (3s): Next outgoing attack misses! Crippled (1s): -50% Movement Speed! Final pulse knockdown: 1s! Pulse interval: 1s! Duration: 3s! Combo Field: Dark! Radius: 210! Range: 900!* Unblockable!Pulses 4 times (once on creation and then at the end of every second of its duration).

Spite traits

!Spiteful Talisman name changed to Icy Veins (Spite adept-major)

! Whenever you gain Frost Aura, gain Icy Veins.! Icy Veins (3s): Your attacks are unblockable; deal 15% more damage.

! Chill of Death (Spite master-major)

! Whenever you gain Frost Aura, gain life force and grant Chill of Death to allies in the area (effect stacks up to 5 times).! Life Force: 5%! Number of allies: 10! Chill of Death (15s): +60 Power, +60 Toughness! * Radius: 600!The user is principally included in the “allies” count.

Soul Reaping traits

! Soul Marks name changed to Dark Soul (Soul Reaping adept-major)

! Dark fields last longer. Whenever you execute a blast finisher onto a dark field, you gain life force and grant vigor to nearby allies. Entering into shroud now applies a blast finisher at your location.! Duration Increase: 2s! Life Force: 7%! Number of allies: 5! Vigor (5s): +50% Endurance Regeneration! * Radius: 240

!Speed of Shadows (Soul Reaping adept-major)

! Reduces the recharge on entering shroud. Gain swiftness and remove movement-impairing conditions when you enter shroud.! Shroud recharge reduction: 2s! Swiftness (10s): 33% Movement Speed! [Crippled] Condition Removed! [Chilled] Condition Removed! [immobilize] Condition Removed!Scourge shroud recharge increased from 20s to 25s to prevent excessive recharge reduction stacking. The wholesale “2 seconds reduced” instead of a percentile reduction also most benefits Death and Reaper Shroud respectively without affecting Desert Shroud too much.

!Last Gasp (Soul Reaping master-minor)

!Recharge: 10s! When you completely exhaust your life force, gain a barrier based on your current health.! Barrier if above 50% health: 1293 (0.5)! Barrier if below 50% health: 1768 (0.5)! Barrier if below 25% health: 2243 (0.5)

! Spectral Mastery (Soul Reaping master-major)

! While below the life force threshold, gain life force over time for each spectral skill you have equipped.! Life Force threshold: 20%! Life Force gain per equipped spectral skill: 1%! Life Force gain interval: 2s! This effect will continue to contribute life force within the appropriate parameters even if the player's associated spectral skills were on cooldown.

!Foot in the Grave (Soul Reaping grandmaster-major)

! Gain stability and break stuns when you enter shroud. Increases the amount of barrier gained from Last Gasp.! Stability (3s): Cannot be knocked down, pushed back, pulled, launched, stunned, dazed, floated, sunk, feared or taunted.! Breaks Stun! Last Gasp Barrier Increase: 50%!The “Barrier Increase” refers to the base amount of barrier granted by the Last Gasp trait rather than the barrier's own scaling with Healing Power. If the former is too complicated to implement, the latter mechanic would be an acceptable alternative with a numerical adjustment. This is basically just to give this trait some more bonuses (especially since the barrier would almost never trigger on Scourge given how its respective LF costs are static).

Blood Magic traits

!Mark of Evasion name changed to Soul Leech (Blood Magic adept-minor)!Recharge: 1s

! Gain life force whenever you evade an attack.! Life Force: 5%

! Quickening Thirst (Blood Magic adept-major)

! Gain Superspeed whenever you swap to a dagger. While under the effects of Superspeed, you gain bonus Ferocity, and your attacks siphon health.! Superspeed (3s): Movement Speed is greatly increased.! Superspeed Ferocity: +225! Life Siphon Damage: 184 (0.05)! Life Siphon Healing: 95 (0.05)! Combat Only

!Vampiric Rituals (Blood Magic grandmaster-major)

! Wells siphon health and grant you life force with every pulse.! Life siphon damage 212 (0.02)! Life siphon healing 212 (0.03)! Life force per pulse: 1.5%!Life force gain only triggers once per pulse regardless of the number of targets struck.

Classic swagg post

Core Dagger and Horn are rock solid in any power setup. I blasted from 1-80 on core Necro using Dagger/Horn and Wells without any problem whatsoever. May not be as broken as it used to be, but it works well.

The Meta seems to glorify burst healing, burst damage for trash mobs, sustained damage for big enemies, and periodic cleansing and often at least 25% movespeed increase to help avoid AoE zones. Necromancer are highly self-sufficient, and can do many of those things on its own, but other classes have evolved through the game to do many of these things in a support role the Necro was never designed for. This is what Scourge was made to help allay.

Core Necro on its own is fine and can fit into most any team scenario. I don’t get...Whatever this is.

I kind of liked some of the changes.

@Mercurias.1826 said:Core Dagger and Horn are rock solid in any power setup. I blasted from 1-80 on core Necro using Dagger/Horn and Wells without any problem whatsoever. May not be as broken as it used to be, but it works well.

Overworld leveling isn't really a good benchmark for gauging the effectiveness of anything in GW2.

@Mercurias.1826 said:[The necro's lack of a support role] is what Scourge was made to help allay.

Entirely ignoring how Scourge became spike damage regardless whatever anet presumably "intended" to do with it, Barrier is support, but it's entirely HP related. Now, even if Scourge were to focus on barrier application, the one thing that Necro still would not have (and has never had) is the ability to apply a class-specific bonus to its party. For instance, Druid has been a viable party healer since HoT, making it just as competitive as Scourge in that regard. However, Druid also provides a huge party buff through Grace of the Land.

In GW2, there's no point to a support class who can't provide the same stuff as another support class. The game doesn't have enough depth to keep room for two of the same role despite the fact that it continues to force the existence of 9 classes with 2 "unique" specs per class. Basically, the Necro needs an Empower Allies or Grace of the Land to compete for consistent space in a party because every other class in the game already does competitive damage but also feeds party-wide damage (especially if we're talking about Scourge being rightfully nerfed).

@Mercurias.1826 said:Core Necro on its own is fine and can fit into most any team scenario.

Yes, that clearly why every necro you see in any post-80 mode or area is a Reaper or Scourge.

@Mercurias.1826 said:I don’t get...Whatever this is.

There's a list describing what it is at the top of the page.

@Riko.1309 said:Classic swagg post

It's the flavor you know and love.

Best of wishes to you. After 5 years of vanilla and 3 years of reaper and core power necro being absolute garbage (as well as core condi necro), I'm not holding my breath.

This development team and studio simply have a strategy of releasing enough new crap to hype up box sales, then go back to designing mainly for the next box sale while doing the bare minimum in revisiting what they already implemented.

I don't understand why some players are so deadset on destroying spectral walk. Ths is a great skill which is very usefull. If you really want another movement skill look at another of the necromancer skills, just stop trying to harm this one.

@Dadnir.5038 said:I don't understand why some players are so deadset on destroying spectral walk. Ths is a great skill which is very usefull. If you really want another movement skill look at another of the necromancer skills, just stop trying to harm this one.

Spectral Walk was destroyed when anet removed the ability to use it in mid-air. That's the crux of it. This version at least preserves the potential juke duration, ties life force gain to something other than letting people hit you (especially right after a possible stun break when you're most likely to get bursted), allows the necro to reposition immediately on activation (to escape or even just pursue since the CD is now more reasonable), and lets the necromancer move faster baseline in order to maintain their new positioning.

You can't let yourself be bound by flavor-based design. Just because it says "walk" doesn't mean you have to be forced to keep it as a sub-par skill. My only consolation to your input would be changing the initial teleport to "cure all movement-impairing conditions" which would be a fair alternative (Ever been snared while popping spectral walk? Real "good" skill it is then, ain't it, huh?). Besides that, letting yourself get hit for a powerful bonus is a cheap/low-skill mechanic in any game, and with all the powercreep in GW2 nowadays, something like 2% LF isn't probably going to offset the amount of HP lost from any attack grazing you anyway.

It's best to get over your attachment to flavor-based design. That mentality has created nearly all the balance problems in GW2 since launch.

No well, you don't get it. Spectral walk is still usefull for staying longer in shroud in zerg v zerg, still usefull in jumping puzzle, still usefull to climb back a cliff (since now you can even fly a bit in wvw), you can still use it to get away from a dangerous situation... etc.

The problem is not flavor, the problem is that the skill is not bad, it's even a good skill with tons of use. Why would you change such a usefull skill to something that's not even close to being as usefull? Player that incessantly ask for it's change might end up have it change for the worse. The best way to not end up with a worse skill is to not ask for it to be changed. At the moment it's balanced, there is no need for "more".

@Dadnir.5038 said:No well, you don't get it. Spectral walk is still usefull for staying longer in shroud in zerg v zerg, still usefull in jumping puzzle, still usefull to climb back a cliff (since now you can even fly a bit in wvw), you can still use it to get away from a dangerous situation... etc.

The problem is not flavor, the problem is that the skill is not bad, it's even a good skill with tons of use. Why would you change such a usefull skill to something that's not even close to being as usefull? Player that incessantly ask for it's change might end up have it change for the worse. The best way to not end up with a worse skill is to not ask for it to be changed. At the moment it's balanced, there is no need for "more".

All the uses you listed are garbage niche uses that are hardly relevant in instanced PvE and the skill isn't even used in spvp.

. .

Swagg in charge of balance:Spectral Walk becomes Shadowstep, except with half the cooldown of actual shadowstep. Despite being a skill that's already pretty frequently used.Didn't actually read it the first time around until someone commented that you were molesting specwalk.

@Sarrs.4831 said:Swagg in charge of balance:Spectral Walk becomes Shadowstep, except with half the cooldown of actual shadowstep. Despite being a skill that's already pretty frequently used.Didn't actually read it the first time around until someone commented that you were molesting specwalk.

Shadow step breaks stun twice, porst 900 range twice, and clears 2 conditions on the second port, on a small 50 sec cd. And with improvisation it can get reset anyways.

@Sarrs.4831 said:Spectral Walk becomes Shadowstep, except with half the cooldown of actual shadowstep.

Considering the fact that it already ports back, I can concede that concern given that this version would also grant superspeed. Since you didn't bother to read anything else, I'll say again how the superspeed version might be better balanced if it just cured movement-impairing conditions on use instead of teleporting.

@Sarrs.4831 said:Despite being a skill that's already pretty frequently used.

Top joke. The only spectral skill that sees consistent play is the passively-triggered, HP threshold version of Spectral Armor. Even then, a second armor trumps walk since swiftness doesn't get you out of jack and armor provides greater damage negation and LF generation.

This is all on top of the fact that you're trying to call a Shadowstep-esque option overpowered on a class that doesn't also have 6+ dodges on top of that. I still think "removes movement-impairing conditions" is a more balanced, yet still useful alternative than "teleport up to 600 range."

@Swagg.9236 said:The only spectral skill that sees consistent play is the passively-triggered, HP threshold version of Spectral Armor.

This is simply wrong, and someone who glanced through Metabattle would be able to tell you that.

@Sarrs.4831 said:

@Swagg.9236 said:The only spectral skill that sees consistent play is the passively-triggered, HP threshold version of Spectral Armor.

Sounds like you have no rebuttal about my points on spectral walk, then.

That aside, despite how I could see how fearwall could make it into zergvzerg or some niche (ineffective) PvP set-up, given the general state of things, spectral armor is still far and away the most "useful" because of how static and straightforward gw2's (and particularly necro's) gameplay is. Even then, anyone running scourge or even reaper typically have plenty more meta options to permanently staple to their utility bar.

@Zenith.7301 said:

@Dadnir.5038 said:No well, you don't get it. Spectral walk is still usefull for staying longer in shroud in zerg v zerg, still usefull in jumping puzzle, still usefull to climb back a cliff (since now you can even fly a bit in wvw), you can still use it to get away from a dangerous situation... etc.

The problem is not flavor, the problem is that the skill is not bad, it's even a good skill with tons of use. Why would you change such a usefull skill to something that's not even close to being as usefull? Player that incessantly ask for it's change might end up have it change for the worse. The best way to not end up with a worse skill is to not ask for it to be changed. At the moment it's balanced, there is no need for "more".

So you are saying that because an utility skill isn't specifically used against bosses in instanced PvE, they are automatically garbage? Your saying that in sPvP necromancers have already so many stun break that they could care less about spectral walk that give them 2 consecutive break stun? Wow that's wonderfull, that mean that necromancer don't really have any need for stability since they can just discard easy stun break.

Plenty of skill across all professions see no use in instanced PvE, not because they are garbage but because they are simply not optimal against bosses. If anet had to tweek all those skills, i'm pretty sure that spectral walk would be really far on the list. As for sPvP, the fact that you don't see it used doesn't mean that it isn't. The main issue in spvp for this skill is that the necromancer have naturally weak offense and most necromancers tend to sacrifice their "stability" for condition management or damage via well/corruption. But don't worry, their is use for it in PvP.

Even with swagg change there is no way that spectral walk would see a use in instanced PvE. Why? Because it doesn't do any damage. And in sPvP were balance matter, the change would make it a ridiculously op skill with twice as many effect than the skills of other professions that act similarly. Is this really hard to understand?

@Swagg.9236 said:Top joke. The only spectral skill that sees consistent play is the passively-triggered, HP threshold version of Spectral Armor. Even then, a second armor trumps walk since swiftness doesn't get you out of jack and armor provides greater damage negation and LF generation.

You got no suggestion for minion's active skill. are these skills so used and usefull that they shouldn't take priority in rework over skills that already improve a lot survivability? Do you think that the bone minion's explosion see enough uses in instanced PvE and spvp? Do you think that rigor mortis is fine as is? Do you feel that flesh wurm is perfect as it is?

A real joke is asking for an auto attack that trigger an e-spec specific mechanism. You should really look at some priority and spectral skills are not a priority for changes. Spectral skills are usefull and spectral skill that break stun are already among the most usefull skill that we have. Come on, you want mesmer's blink with swiftness, some sustain and a way to come back a few moment later? Each skill need it's own peculiar flavor and spectral walk is a very peculiar skill which despite your lack of aknowledgement is a very good skill in the current game.

@Swagg.9236 said:Sounds like you have no rebuttal about my points on spectral walk, then.

Your opinion is so malformed that to rebutt your points would not be constructive. You wouldn't understand why you're wrong.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

The problem is not flavor, the problem is that the skill is not bad, it's even a good skill with tons of use. Why would you change such a usefull skill to something that's not even close to being as usefull?

Except the spectral walk change makes it a better version of itself? You even complain about it being too strong later on in your post.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

The best way to not end up with a worse skill is to not ask for it to be changed. At the moment it's balanced, there is no need for "more".

While I'm all in favor for a mass culling of worthless bloat skills, not changing anything is obviously not going to get any more playtime for things like core never and its skill line-up. You also insist on things being balanced without giving any reason (or if you do, you are immediately given some counterpoint which you don't address).

@Dadnir.5038 said:

So you are saying that because an utility skill isn't specifically used against bosses in instanced PvE, they are automatically garbage?

Yes, since overworld can be mindlessly completed with any build (and since swiftness is irrelevant on the face of mounts), not working on a boss makes a skill bad in pve. I never implied I was balancing spectral walk for pve use, though.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

Your saying that in sPvP necromancers have already so many stun break that they could care less about spectral walk that give them 2 consecutive break stun? Wow that's wonderfull, that mean that necromancer don't really have any need for stability since they can just discard easy stun break.

Except it was one stun break and a reposition. I already changed the thing to just cure movement-impairing conditions on use anyway. Stability has nothing to do with this argument.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

Plenty of skill across all professions see no use in instanced PvE, not because they are garbage but because they are simply not optimal against bosses.

Gw2 is a very shallow game. "Not optimal" is effectively saying "don't use it; use this instead." Due to fundamental design flaws, the margin between "optimal" and "viable" in gw2 is pretty tremendous despite the game flaunting so many "options."

@Dadnir.5038 said:

As for sPvP, the fact that you don't see it used doesn't mean that it isn't.

And does seeing a skill used in PvP automatically make using it a good idea? Spectral walk can't be used for back-caps despite the rubber band teleport, it can't be used to cover any considerable amount of distance, it won't allow the user to consistently escape anything (barring a few fluke locations involving varied terrain height), its means of LF generation is entirely buried by the requirement of facetanking damage, and it has a higher base cooldown of every other, more effective stun break. Someone caught using spectral walk in PvP was either tricked into using it, or they just enjoy the green streamer effect that follows the user around while its active. Next you'll tell me how you saw a warrior use offhand sword and how that has a place somewhere in 2017.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

Even with swagg change there is no way that spectral walk would see a use in instanced PvE. Why? Because it doesn't do any damage.

This is the first valid point I've seen you make, and it is definitely something to consider (although, the superspeed would synergize with a damage-boost trait rework I've had in there from the beginning).

@Dadnir.5038 said:

And in sPvP were balance matter, the change would make it a ridiculously op skill with twice as many effect than the skills of other professions that act similarly. Is this really hard to understand?

I already changed/fixed that. In the rework's current form, it's more on par with Trail of Anguish, hinging on the choice between condi damage or mobility and extra life force (which could also translate into extra damage).

@Dadnir.5038 said:

You got no suggestion for minion's active skill. are these skills so used and usefull that they shouldn't take priority in rework over skills that already improve a lot survivability? Do you think that the bone minion's explosion see enough uses in instanced PvE and spvp? Do you think that rigor mortis is fine as is? Do you feel that flesh wurm is perfect as it is?

Why do you keep bringing up irrelevant tangents? To humor you, there must be a sharp dichotomy between MMORPG minions if people are going to find them useful and balanced: MMO pets need to either be a single entity over which the user must exert a high amount of manual control, or they need to be a brainless, disposable AI blob. GW2 has neither of these, which is why all pet classes have either been worthless or infuriating to counter. The only pet class that comes sort of close to one of the ideals is the mesmer, but even it's still a mess because that class's design never made up its mind regarding which of the two it wanted to be.

@Dadnir.5038 said:

A real joke is asking for an auto attack that trigger an e-spec specific mechanism.See, now you've just completely lost me.

@Sarrs.4831 said:

@Swagg.9236 said:Sounds like you have no rebuttal about my points on spectral walk, then.

If you don't have a real response, you can just elect to post nothing,