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Ranger Sword Changes


Evenaardez.7913

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What does everybody think about swapping the sword skills again? In all honesty, having a dodge (serpent's strike) not on demand is useless. What if the serpents strike was swapped to skill 3, and it was that skill that had the flip over skill to hornet sting. That will have far better flow. That way you can evade with sword 3, then use hornet sting to evade back for more distance and you can use sword 2 to re-engage. Hornet sting really does not work well as an evade in competitive combat because of the start up time and overall short duration, so it is only good for its distance making.

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The sensible thing would be to put skill 2 back but invert like it is now (so monarch leap => hornet sting) and put serpent's strike back on skill 3. That way you have a primary leap for engage / disengage and then an on demand evade in skill 3. Then still have hornet sting recharge monarch's leap if it hits , so you could potentially jump in => out => out for more distance. If that's not possible, then just make it three charges, same effect.

Sword would still need a pretty major damage boost and some other utility (boon transfer, or possibly like 1 stack of stability on hornet sting) to be useful in competitive modes.

The other problem is the offhands are so bad for today's game, S/D no longer is all that useful for kiting when you have GS or Staff being able to kite and be far more defensive (GS barrier / staff 4/5). Warhorn lost its place when they changed shouts to commands, axe is clunky and has a root problem, and torch...I don't think torch has been used since 2012/2013.

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I'm also not a fan of the current setup nor the former.

Both Monarch's Leap and Serpent's Strike need to be on demand skills.Hornet's Sting should only appear after a successful evade when using Serpent's Strike making it a reward retreat for a well timed evade.It should probably get a damage boost or grant quickness if you manage to land it on an enemy's flank.

Probably the best setup for Sword that I can think of.

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Serpent's Strike should work more like a charge or gap closer when slightly far from your target.All the attacks from the AA chain should cleave and do a little bit more damage.Otherwise the weapon is decent as it is.BONUS: Even better, Serpent's Strike should be the first skill in the chain and act as a gap closer if far away from your target like Monarc's Leap, and act as always does if close to your target (and of course it becomes a leap finisher as well). If you land it, you unlock Monarc's Leap for extra mobility. Now you have your gap closer with an on demand dodge. In this case I'd also change Monarc's Leap to something like Monarc's Strike, a powerful high damage attack that's unlocked if you land Serpent's Strike, the sword always needed that extra punch besides AA spam.

On the other hand and kind of off topic, warhorn skill 4, Hunter's Call, should pulse (yes, pulse) revealed. How can you sneak away with birds pecking on your fucking face? Also, just to fuck with thieves and deadeyes in particular. Rangers are the hunters of this game, Sic 'Em shouldn't be the only option for them.

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@Khenzy.9348 said:Serpent's Strike should work more like a charge or gap closer when slightly far from your target.All the attacks from the AA chain should cleave and do a little bit more damage.Otherwise the weapon is decent as it is.BONUS: Even better, Serpent's Strike should be the first skill in the chain and act as a gap closer if far away from your target like Monarc's Leap, and act as always does if close to your target (and of course it becomes a leap finisher as well). If you land it, you unlock Monarc's Leap for extra mobility. Now you have your gap closer with an on demand dodge. In this case I'd also change Monarc's Leap to something like Monarc's Strike, a powerful high damage attack that's unlocked if you land Serpent's Strike, the sword always needed that extra punch besides AA spam.

On the other hand and kind of off topic, warhorn skill 4, Hunter's Call, should pulse (yes, pulse) revealed. How can you sneak away with birds pecking on your kitten face? Also, just to kitten with thieves and deadeyes in particular. Rangers are the hunters of this game, Sic 'Em shouldn't be the only option for them.

Pulse reveal on Hunter's call?...god...I'd send a cake to Anet office, all paid from EU, Spear of Justice is the best skill in the game to use in WvW, another skill working in a similar way would be a god send

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@Gotejjeken.1267 said:The sensible thing would be to put skill 2 back but invert like it is now (so monarch leap => hornet sting) and put serpent's strike back on skill 3.

This, seriously. Sword was already less used than GS at that time, they only made it worse and nobody is using it now.

@Khenzy.9348 said:All the attacks from the AA chain should cleave and do a little bit more damage.

Ranger sword is so out of date that Crippling Thrust (2nd chain AA) is one target, unbelievable. They couldn't even bother to fix it for so long.

@Gotejjeken.1267 said:The other problem is the offhands are so bad for today's game,

Torch being the biggest offender. All they did is give Throw Torch a 180 radius, LOL. Bonfire for being a stationnary condi field, should do much more. Couldn't give blind and charges to Throw Torch ? Additional burning when laying down Bonfire ? No !?

Then, you look at the changes they did to Guardian's torch... Ugh

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If yu swap them around again, it causes people to have to relearn building muscle memory on it again.The in - out - in style of Ranger sword has remained mostly the same, even after the changes.

My opinion that having Hornet's on its own is functionally better because yu can double out of a fight by using Hornet followed by Monarch, and it's important that yu lead with Hornet's evasive back roll before leaping away with Monarch so as not to get interrupted mid-leap with Monarch leap first followed by Hornet roll.(Therefore I'm in the Hornet first > Monarch Leap and Serpent on 3 camp)

But again, all that doesn't matter so much to me.What does tick me off is that the hit registration for Ranger Sword skills, ALL THE SKILLS INCLUDING AUTO ATTACKS, are god awful and "floaty"I mean it takes Float like a Butterfly Sting like a Bee way too literally and it's flying all over the place and barely registers in actual combat where both characters move around alot.

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@Gotejjeken.1267 said:The sensible thing would be to put skill 2 back but invert like it is now (so monarch leap => hornet sting) and put serpent's strike back on skill 3. That way you have a primary leap for engage / disengage and then an on demand evade in skill 3. Then still have hornet sting recharge monarch's leap if it hits , so you could potentially jump in => out => out for more distance. If that's not possible, then just make it three charges, same effect.

I'd prefer this over the current sword setup, that's for sure. Not having the on-demand evade kind of sucks, although I've managed to learn to pre-emptively queue up the evade-on-flip so I have sword 2 and dagger 4 evades ready to chain. Needless to say, this sword/dagger build is horribly niche, and I run it for personal challenge.

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I've managed to make sword work with might stacking traits and warhorn. Sw/wh and then axe/dagger. Build might with axe and Hunters gaze and swap weapons. Hunters call with hunters gaze stacks a good chunk of might. Pair it with sigil of courage and 20+ might stacks isnt hard to do.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POAFwE2ZUZBMPWHDjdiDri2JtEp3D-z5gXGZmC5XBaMA

Just a baseline.

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Seems people really like the evade and leap combo on demand..

Ok so how about (if possible) we replace the leap skill with Serpent's strike while we are within like 150 range of an enemy and after using Serpent Strike we get a new quick thrust stab skill that deals big damage to enemies struck on the back or sides?

This would make Monarch's leap purely an engage and retreat skill and would give the on demand dodge that would help make Ranger Sword a better duelist weapon.

If it's possible to setup skills like this that change when an enemy is in a certain range that opens up a whole lot of doors for every class to get some significant upgrades to their various weapon skill sets.

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@NorthernRedStar.3054 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

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@nopoet.2960 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

If we're talking about not having a weapon swap cooldown, then, on swap sigils mostly. You'd do hornet sting, could swap and say get 3 condis cleared, then immediately swap back for another 3. There are also traits that would get broken pretty bad, like getting fury / swiftness on swap, would get a lot out of those with little downside.

If you like that kind of play though, look into Quick Draw. It does very similar to what you want but only on skills used and not the swap itself.

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@Gotejjeken.1267 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

If we're talking about not having a weapon swap cooldown, then, on swap sigils mostly. You'd do hornet sting, could swap and say get 3 condis cleared, then immediately swap back for another 3. There are also traits that would get broken pretty bad, like getting fury / swiftness on swap, would get a lot out of those with little downside.

If you like that kind of play though, look into Quick Draw. It does very similar to what you want but only on skills used and not the swap itself.

Weapon swap sigils of the same type share CDs even if they are on different weapons.

From the wiki:

"A character can always equip two sigils at a time (either one sigil each on a main-hand and off-hand weapon, or two sigils on a two-handed weapon). In general, the two sigils will both provide their effects independently as long as the base sigil is different. The exceptions to this are the attribute increasing stacking sigils: only one stack effect can be active at a time. Additionally, sigils with the same base sigil will share cooldowns between weapon sets.

ExamplesA warrior is wielding a greatsword with both a Superior Sigil of Air (chance to deal additional damage to target on critical hit) and a Superior Sigil of Earth (chance to inflict Bleeding on critical hit) attached to it. Both sigils will roll their chance to activate on every attack the warrior makes, and each sigil will run its own cooldown timer after it activates.A thief is wielding a main-hand dagger with a Minor Sigil of Agony (+10% Bleeding duration) and an off-hand pistol with a Major Sigil of Agony (+15% Bleeding duration). Only the major sigil's effect will apply, giving the thief +15% bleeding duration.A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.A mesmer is wielding a scepter with a Minor Sigil of Bloodlust (gain a stack of +Power for every kill) and a focus with a Major Sigil of Perception (gain a stack of +Precision for every kill). The main-hand's stacking sigil will take precedence, and the mesmer will only gain stacks of Bloodlust."

Relevant part bolded.

Also the traits you are worrying about have built in 9s CDs so they wouldn't even be the problem you think they would be.

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@Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

If we're talking about not having a weapon swap cooldown, then, on swap sigils mostly. You'd do hornet sting, could swap and say get 3 condis cleared, then immediately swap back for another 3. There are also traits that would get broken pretty bad, like getting fury / swiftness on swap, would get a lot out of those with little downside.

If you like that kind of play though, look into Quick Draw. It does very similar to what you want but only on skills used and not the swap itself.

Weapon swap sigils of the same type share CDs even if they are on different weapons.

From the wiki:

"A character can always equip two sigils at a time (either one sigil each on a main-hand and off-hand weapon, or two sigils on a two-handed weapon). In general, the two sigils will both provide their effects independently as long as the base sigil is different. The exceptions to this are the attribute increasing stacking sigils: only one stack effect can be active at a time. Additionally, sigils with the same base sigil will share cooldowns between weapon sets.

ExamplesA warrior is wielding a greatsword with both a Superior Sigil of Air (chance to deal additional damage to target on critical hit) and a Superior Sigil of Earth (chance to inflict Bleeding on critical hit) attached to it. Both sigils will roll their chance to activate on every attack the warrior makes, and each sigil will run its own cooldown timer after it activates.A thief is wielding a main-hand dagger with a Minor Sigil of Agony (+10% Bleeding duration) and an off-hand pistol with a Major Sigil of Agony (+15% Bleeding duration). Only the major sigil's effect will apply, giving the thief +15% bleeding duration.
A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.
A mesmer is wielding a scepter with a Minor Sigil of Bloodlust (gain a stack of +Power for every kill) and a focus with a Major Sigil of Perception (gain a stack of +Precision for every kill). The main-hand's stacking sigil will take precedence, and the mesmer will only gain stacks of Bloodlust."

Relevant part bolded.

Also the traits you are worrying about have built in 9s CDs so they wouldn't even be the problem you think they would be.

Even so, you can still have say Cleansing and Energy, both on-swap but different base. That's three conditions cleared and half your stamina back.

You are also now tying cooldown reduction as a result of using a weapon skill, which as far as I'm aware does not currently exist as a mechanic. Double that up with aforementioned Quick Draw trait and you could have instant back to back weapon swap + sigil procs + cooldown of the next skill you use...

So no, it wouldn't balanced.

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@Gotejjeken.1267 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

If we're talking about not having a weapon swap cooldown, then, on swap sigils mostly. You'd do hornet sting, could swap and say get 3 condis cleared, then immediately swap back for another 3. There are also traits that would get broken pretty bad, like getting fury / swiftness on swap, would get a lot out of those with little downside.

If you like that kind of play though, look into Quick Draw. It does very similar to what you want but only on skills used and not the swap itself.

Weapon swap sigils of the same type share CDs even if they are on different weapons.

From the wiki:

"A character can always equip two sigils at a time (either one sigil each on a main-hand and off-hand weapon, or two sigils on a two-handed weapon). In general, the two sigils will both provide their effects independently as long as the base sigil is different. The exceptions to this are the attribute increasing stacking sigils: only one stack effect can be active at a time. Additionally, sigils with the same base sigil will share cooldowns between weapon sets.

ExamplesA warrior is wielding a greatsword with both a Superior Sigil of Air (chance to deal additional damage to target on critical hit) and a Superior Sigil of Earth (chance to inflict Bleeding on critical hit) attached to it. Both sigils will roll their chance to activate on every attack the warrior makes, and each sigil will run its own cooldown timer after it activates.A thief is wielding a main-hand dagger with a Minor Sigil of Agony (+10% Bleeding duration) and an off-hand pistol with a Major Sigil of Agony (+15% Bleeding duration). Only the major sigil's effect will apply, giving the thief +15% bleeding duration.
A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.
A mesmer is wielding a scepter with a Minor Sigil of Bloodlust (gain a stack of +Power for every kill) and a focus with a Major Sigil of Perception (gain a stack of +Precision for every kill). The main-hand's stacking sigil will take precedence, and the mesmer will only gain stacks of Bloodlust."

Relevant part bolded.

Also the traits you are worrying about have built in 9s CDs so they wouldn't even be the problem you think they would be.

Even so, you can still have say Cleansing and Energy, both on-swap but different base. That's three conditions cleared and half your stamina back.

You are also now tying cooldown reduction as a result of using a weapon skill, which as far as I'm aware does not currently exist as a mechanic. Double that up with aforementioned Quick Draw trait and you could have instant back to back weapon swap + sigil procs + cooldown of the next skill you use...

So no, it wouldn't balanced.

I made no statement on balance other than to point out your misinformation on certain CDs that you were making your own conclusions off of.

Also if quickdraw would break it, then the solution would be for it to replace quickdraw would it not, or to be from a trait within the same tier?

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@Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

If we're talking about not having a weapon swap cooldown, then, on swap sigils mostly. You'd do hornet sting, could swap and say get 3 condis cleared, then immediately swap back for another 3. There are also traits that would get broken pretty bad, like getting fury / swiftness on swap, would get a lot out of those with little downside.

If you like that kind of play though, look into Quick Draw. It does very similar to what you want but only on skills used and not the swap itself.

Weapon swap sigils of the same type share CDs even if they are on different weapons.

From the wiki:

"A character can always equip two sigils at a time (either one sigil each on a main-hand and off-hand weapon, or two sigils on a two-handed weapon). In general, the two sigils will both provide their effects independently as long as the base sigil is different. The exceptions to this are the attribute increasing stacking sigils: only one stack effect can be active at a time. Additionally, sigils with the same base sigil will share cooldowns between weapon sets.

ExamplesA warrior is wielding a greatsword with both a Superior Sigil of Air (chance to deal additional damage to target on critical hit) and a Superior Sigil of Earth (chance to inflict Bleeding on critical hit) attached to it. Both sigils will roll their chance to activate on every attack the warrior makes, and each sigil will run its own cooldown timer after it activates.A thief is wielding a main-hand dagger with a Minor Sigil of Agony (+10% Bleeding duration) and an off-hand pistol with a Major Sigil of Agony (+15% Bleeding duration). Only the major sigil's effect will apply, giving the thief +15% bleeding duration.
A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.
A mesmer is wielding a scepter with a Minor Sigil of Bloodlust (gain a stack of +Power for every kill) and a focus with a Major Sigil of Perception (gain a stack of +Precision for every kill). The main-hand's stacking sigil will take precedence, and the mesmer will only gain stacks of Bloodlust."

Relevant part bolded.

Also the traits you are worrying about have built in 9s CDs so they wouldn't even be the problem you think they would be.

Even so, you can still have say Cleansing and Energy, both on-swap but different base. That's three conditions cleared and half your stamina back.

You are also now tying cooldown reduction as a result of using a weapon skill, which as far as I'm aware does not currently exist as a mechanic. Double that up with aforementioned Quick Draw trait and you could have instant back to back weapon swap + sigil procs + cooldown of the next skill you use...

So no, it wouldn't balanced.

I made no statement on balance other than to point out your misinformation on certain CDs that you were making your own conclusions off of.

Also if quickdraw would break it, then the solution would be for it to replace quickdraw would it not, or to be from a trait within the same tier?

I was referring to the initial post I quoted with the balance comment rather than yours.

You could add it to Quick Draw but I don't think it would be balanced because of the potential to get too many benefits from sigil procs among other things. I wouldn't want it to replace Quick Draw either because that hurts all the other builds using it for the sake of one weapon.

I think you are better off keeping it within the weapon itself like my original reply about inverting the #2 skill or making it charge based.

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@Gotejjeken.1267 said:

@nopoet.2960 said:I finally got my ranger to 80. I play shortbow, sword/dagger. I wish if you swapped weapons directly after hornet sting it wouldn't trigger a swap cool down. That would play into the skirmishing traits nicely.

You do realize that's fundamentally broken and impossible to balance?

How would you exploit it?

If we're talking about not having a weapon swap cooldown, then, on swap sigils mostly. You'd do hornet sting, could swap and say get 3 condis cleared, then immediately swap back for another 3. There are also traits that would get broken pretty bad, like getting fury / swiftness on swap, would get a lot out of those with little downside.

If you like that kind of play though, look into Quick Draw. It does very similar to what you want but only on skills used and not the swap itself.

Weapon swap sigils of the same type share CDs even if they are on different weapons.

From the wiki:

"A character can always equip two sigils at a time (either one sigil each on a main-hand and off-hand weapon, or two sigils on a two-handed weapon). In general, the two sigils will both provide their effects independently as long as the base sigil is different. The exceptions to this are the attribute increasing stacking sigils: only one stack effect can be active at a time. Additionally, sigils with the same base sigil will share cooldowns between weapon sets.

ExamplesA warrior is wielding a greatsword with both a Superior Sigil of Air (chance to deal additional damage to target on critical hit) and a Superior Sigil of Earth (chance to inflict Bleeding on critical hit) attached to it. Both sigils will roll their chance to activate on every attack the warrior makes, and each sigil will run its own cooldown timer after it activates.A thief is wielding a main-hand dagger with a Minor Sigil of Agony (+10% Bleeding duration) and an off-hand pistol with a Major Sigil of Agony (+15% Bleeding duration). Only the major sigil's effect will apply, giving the thief +15% bleeding duration.
A warrior with Fast Hands is wielding a greatsword and axe/mace, with Superior Sigil of Battle in both weapon sets. He can swap weapons every 5 seconds, but the sigils will trigger only every 9 seconds, since they share cooldown.
A mesmer is wielding a scepter with a Minor Sigil of Bloodlust (gain a stack of +Power for every kill) and a focus with a Major Sigil of Perception (gain a stack of +Precision for every kill). The main-hand's stacking sigil will take precedence, and the mesmer will only gain stacks of Bloodlust."

Relevant part bolded.

Also the traits you are worrying about have built in 9s CDs so they wouldn't even be the problem you think they would be.

Even so, you can still have say Cleansing and Energy, both on-swap but different base. That's three conditions cleared and half your stamina back.

You are also now tying cooldown reduction as a result of using a weapon skill, which as far as I'm aware does not currently exist as a mechanic. Double that up with aforementioned Quick Draw trait and you could have instant back to back weapon swap + sigil procs + cooldown of the next skill you use...

So no, it wouldn't balanced.

I made no statement on balance other than to point out your misinformation on certain CDs that you were making your own conclusions off of.

Also if quickdraw would break it, then the solution would be for it to replace quickdraw would it not, or to be from a trait within the same tier?

I was referring to the initial post I quoted with the balance comment rather than yours.

You could add it to Quick Draw but I don't think it would be balanced because of the potential to get too many benefits from sigil procs among other things. I wouldn't want it to replace Quick Draw either because that hurts all the other builds using it for the sake of one weapon.

I think you are better off keeping it within the weapon itself like my original reply about inverting the #2 skill or making it charge based.

I'm not so sure sigils would be a problem as they already have built in cool downs. Quick Draw could be problematic but even that has a 5 sec cool down. I can see an issue with something like a s/x s/x build with torches but then your using two swords and that seems ineffective. Who knows. I just know sometimes I wanted to get back to sword faster in certain instances.

To the OPs question, I kind of like the way it is. Other than the the cool down thing I wish hornet sting left a poison field or better yet a lighting field you could leap back into.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Actually I used to use LB & Sword/Dagger. Used to teach newbie ranger's year 1-3 about how to properly use Sword/Dagger. But since they changed it, it actually threw things kinda out of wack. I think I saw a Ranger S/D like couple weeks back. I was amused, but they kinda failed at it's use for attack purposes. Getting away along with Greatsword, they did great. Attack wise, they didn't know how to use it.

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