Invigorating Bond

[Za Shaloc.3908]

Can this trait please get an update? Doesn't feel good to have a grandmaster trait not scale off of healing power unless you run Soulbeast. Even the life siphon traits have better stat investment than this. It feels like it is stuck in the past and could really use some love, whether it be a complete rework or some improvements.

Just some simple ideas....

• Simply make it scale off of the player
• Have the trait cause the pet to share the player's healing power so that it actually scales properly and gives a boost to the pets' own heal/self-heal skills (ex: Moa's Harmonic Cry, Fern Hound's Regenerate, etc.)
• Give it a condition cleanse component
• Have it instead grant AoE barrier (that scales)

Nature Magic is the go-to pseudo-support line for the core class, but with spirits being a poor choice in PvP/WvW, it makes the options in the GM line feel lackluster.

[Gotejjeken.1267]

Yeah it hasn't been touched since 2015...and 20s ICD at 300 range using the pets healing power is way, way ridiculous. I wish they'd just get rid of all beast skill related traits--as they do nothing for any spec outside of SB.

If they keep them I think those are some good ideas for this one, especially using the players healing power since they've nerfed pets quite a few times in the past 6 years.

Even some aegis may be fun, as it isn't on many professions and you'd have to be close to your pet for it to trigger anyway. Guess the problem there would still be boonbeast, as it gets the best of all worlds and really hinders development of the other specs with things like this, as they're borderline OP on one spec and would be interesting on the others.

[Soilder.3607]

I agree fully that Invigorating Bond is a lackluster trait. Scrappers and Firebrands have access to powerful support traits such as Purity of Purpose, Medical Dispersion Field, and Force of Will. The Ranger doesn't have anything of equal power aside from the reworked Lingering Light, which was only introduced to force a choice between healing and might stacking from Grace of the Land after CA skills were significantly nerfed.

@Gotejjeken.1267 said:Even some aegis may be fun, as it isn't on many professions and you'd have to be close to your pet for it to trigger anyway. Guess the problem there would still be boonbeast, as it gets the best of all worlds and really hinders development of the other specs with things like this, as they're borderline OP on one spec and would be interesting on the others.

Aegis is interesting, but currently only two classes (Mesmer and Guardian) have the ability to grant Aegis with frequency. Anet probably intends to keep it that way.

• Invigorating Bond: Whenever you heal an ally, that ally gains Aegis (3s). 10s ICD PvE, 15s ICD WvW/PvP

Comes to mind.Other ideas:

• Invigorating Bond: Removing a condition from yourself causes allies near your and your pet to lose a condition.

[aymnad.9023]

I would love to see it reworked (alongside with eternal bond which is only used to kite on Deimos) but to be honest I do not know how to make something “good and different”. Dispel would compete with evasive purity imo.

I have been trying a build without lb and without wilderness survival in unranked (so I had to pick skirmishing + healing spring and tested frost trap) and found that evasive purity or windborne notes (mandatory to play warhorn) were good. It is just that outside of fortifying bond the rest of the tree is not working so well in sPvP… (protective ward is good but feels too random [cd] and nerfed because of the past interaction with survival)

[Lazze.9870]

Pretty much anything supportive that doesn't proc from a beast skill would be better.

The fact that it scales from the pet's healing power, which can't even be adjusted outside a small boost from Instinctive Reaction, leaves me almost speechless. It's such lack of attention to how your game works. Unless they're fine with a small radius 2K heal for a GM trait, in that case I'm completely speechless.

[Za Shaloc.3908]

Yeah, having IB rely on the F2 does make it awkward when not using a pet that has a supportive F2 skill. It also makes it even less valuable in WvW because of how easy it is for the pet to die. A group heal is nice but there really are so many more creative options they could do with it. I agree with you @Soilder.3607 that having an iconic impactful trait such as those you listed would help carve a niche for the class. I think a group cleanse-related trait would be the best path to go down, but I have run out of creativity to think of anything worthwhile that isn't horribly powercrept.