Anyone else rather squishy with the Willbender?

[Adonan.7985]

I thought I could get away with building for vitality more than toughness, but I guess I was wrong. It's odd, because I built the Willbender similar to if not the same as my Bladesworn (mostly Marauder stats) and my Bladesworn rarely gets downed, whereas I can't seem to last more than a few second under fire with the Willbender. Maybe I'm suppose to rely on blocks and dodges?

[Borked.6824]

Any chance you're using Reversal?  That's a 1 way ticket to downstate.  I run a power GS+Mace/Sword build with a mix of Zerk/Celestial for solo play, and almost anything dies well before it can kill me.  This spec can kite almost anything to buy time as well, so abuse the dozen teleports at your disposal, most importantly Crashing Courage.  That ability is practically designed for cheesing stuff.

[Travman.7609]

Crashing courage + runes of the defender rely help keep me alive I find.

[zaery.6478]

Mostly ritualist gear and litany of wrath make me feel pretty much invulnerable.

[HotDelirium.7984]

The anti-death gimmick healing skills are very shortsighted because even if you repel the deathblow....you only heal some of that so the next attack can then be the deathblow and so on. Pvp and wvw they may be more relevant if you're 1 v 1 but its just too niche a concept. To this day just cold-hard numbers with large amounts are usually the best healing skills.

[Adonan.7985]

11 hours ago, Borked.6824 said:

Any chance you're using Reversal?  That's a 1 way ticket to downstate.  I run a power GS+Mace/Sword build with a mix of Zerk/Celestial for solo play, and almost anything dies well before it can kill me.  This spec can kite almost anything to buy time as well, so abuse the dozen teleports at your disposal, most importantly Crashing Courage.  That ability is practically designed for cheesing stuff.

Actually, I am using Reversal. Is it really that simple? As for kiting, doesn't that require ranged weaponry?

1 hour ago, HotDelirium.7984 said:

The anti-death gimmick healing skills are very shortsighted because even if you repel the deathblow....you only heal some of that so the next attack can then be the deathblow and so on. Pvp and wvw they may be more relevant if you're 1 v 1 but its just too niche a concept. To this day just cold-hard numbers with large amounts are usually the best healing skills.

I'm not even good with Reversal. I just use it because it came with the e-spec, and I like using the skills the spec came with.

 

I assume there's some exponent or coefficient that's lower for the Willbender/Guardian when it comes to vitality scaling. My vitality is about 175 less on my Willbender than my Bladesworn, yet my Bladesworn has about 8000 more health. The Bladesworn also seems to take a hit better, but that may be because I'm using the defense tree.

[Mikali.9651]

I do not know for which mode you are asking. If it is open world PvE and story, Celestial is actually nice, Willbender does nice burning application. 

[HotDelirium.7984]

9 hours ago, Adonan.7985 said:

Actually, I am using Reversal. Is it really that simple? As for kiting, doesn't that require ranged weaponry?

I'm not even good with Reversal. I just use it because it came with the e-spec, and I like using the skills the spec came with.

 

I assume there's some exponent or coefficient that's lower for the Willbender/Guardian when it comes to vitality scaling. My vitality is about 175 less on my Willbender than my Bladesworn, yet my Bladesworn has about 8000 more health. The Bladesworn also seems to take a hit better, but that may be because I'm using the defense tree.

From what I've seen and what I assume they have to juggle- is having a new concept while also having a trade-off so sometimes elite spec skills (even though their new) they sometimes are a better fit for certain playstyles. One of the failings of elites is that they aren't always an efficient trait line. They are just more tools for the toolbox. When build crafting you have to also look at your traits, skills and your intentions. For example, if you're traited for blocking, the healing skill which gives block would be a better fit most times even as a willbender.

[KeoLegend.5132]

Don't use under any circunstances, the WB Heal skill on PvE.

 

[Rune Darkmoor.3269]

20 hours ago, Adonan.7985 said:

Actually, I am using Reversal. Is it really that simple? As for kiting, doesn't that require ranged weaponry?

I'm not even good with Reversal. I just use it because it came with the e-spec, and I like using the skills the spec came with.

Take Litany or Shelter and you'll notice much better survivability. Reversal would be good in 1v1 or in situations where their are big hits with long time between them, but that's not MOST PvE.

I think of Reversal like a worse version of Guardians Selfless Daring trait (Heal on Dodges). Took away the mobility and AOE, heals a bit more, But now can be interrupted and ends as soon as you get hit by something, but heals more when you stop. Think about how well that would work in MOST PvE situations - it doesn't.

[Brokensunday.4098]

You cant facetank like a dh or core guard or even fb, wb is has to dodge more use f2 for evades and mix the revelsal you cant use reversal like a normal skill you have to use it like the rev heal when you lnow a big hit is comming use it, also you have to use your f3 for blocks and stab anf renew focus.  And try to los more like necros do.

[Charrbeque.8729]

On 3/9/2022 at 9:32 AM, Adonan.7985 said:

Actually, I am using Reversal. Is it really that simple? As for kiting, doesn't that require ranged weaponry?

I'm not even good with Reversal. I just use it because it came with the e-spec, and I like using the skills the spec came with.

 

I assume there's some exponent or coefficient that's lower for the Willbender/Guardian when it comes to vitality scaling. My vitality is about 175 less on my Willbender than my Bladesworn, yet my Bladesworn has about 8000 more health. The Bladesworn also seems to take a hit better, but that may be because I'm using the defense tree.

It's not a "coefficient". Guardian has a much lower base health than warrior. With base health + 1,000 vitality at level 80, guardian has around 11,645 HP while warrior has around 19,221. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Health#Mechanics Warrior and necromancer have the highest base health, while guardian, thief, and elementalist have the lowest. The rest of the professions are in the middle.

 

Vitality adds to the max health by a fixed amount, not a percentage. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vitality

Quote

Each attribute point put into vitality increases the maximum health of the character by ten hitpoints.

 

Edited March 11, 2022 by Charrbeque.8729

[Quietas.4891]

I'm playing with Willbender now and running my Ascended celestial set that I use on Firebrand. It feels really squishy, champions hurt now. More damage output but it's fragile.

[Makion.3457]

try this build, its really good! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5bV17YgdWM&t=189s I use runes of the Monk instead of defender. 

[setdog.1592]

yes, willbender is about as durable as a soap bubble.  however, it can hit like a truck, can have great cc and mobility with ports and shadowsteps.  its still pretty awesome to play despite the weak self sustain and mitigation provided to many other builds.