Impling.4170

I've been thinking with relics coming in, how it could be really interesting if they had one that modified stealth we apply. Something like... Relic of Panaku's Embrace: Stealth that you apply is now converted to dark aura. Dark aura now increases incoming healing and barrier by 15%. Stealth applied by others is not affected. Something like this could add a way of actually utilizing the group stealth effects in SA (as well as Panaku's Ambition) in a non-intrusive way for PvE content. In theory, all stealth application/expiration effects would instead interact with dark aura application/expiration. I doubt this would ever happen, but it's a fun thought at least.

Basically this yeah. Specter has really great synergy with offhand pistol since it gets access to 1 leap and 2 blast finishers in shroud, so you can proc it when both entering and leaving shroud. I don't think the trait has too much value in endgame PvE content but the barrier from the trait plus the healing granted from entering/leaving stealth from SA adds up to a lot. Otherwise it has nice synergy with builds like Hizen's SA Sc/D open world build since you go in and out of stealth a lot and are using stealth attacks on every stealth application.

Just wanna add my 2 cents to your suggestions from the perspective of a WvWer. Traversing Dusk offering all resistance at once is beneficial due to the unlikelihood that we will be spending the entire duration in our wells. The nature of most WvW fights simply doesn't allow for this. Panaku's Ambution is not only really great for sustain, but also for support. One of the ways Specter carves a unique niche in how it offers support is through frequent access to group stealth. I know this may not be relevant in endgame PvE content, but the trait is a massive benefit for competitive modes. I'd honestly hate to see allied targeting removed. That is part of what makes Specter unique. I think their recent changes of giving it better AoE access is a big step in the right direction. I would rather see they make better attempts of making the UI more customizable as well as actually making the allied targeting keybinds usable. It's very frustrating to cycle through pets, minis, siege, dead clones, and NPCs, which essentially renders the keybinds useless. All we really have at our disposal is call personal target. Character-specific keybinds would also be nice considering how I feel like I need to mess with my keybinds every time I want to optimize my playtime as a Specter. I also think that scepter skills need more LoS forgiveness when used on allies. The whole playstyle forces a massive amount of positional compromise and backpedaling, which just doesn't feel good. Having skills persist if LoS is broken as long as we are facing the target at the start of the cast would be a huge improvement to how it feels and plays as a support. By this I mean directional LoS, not obstructions from terrain/objects. At this point I am convinced that ANet needs to separate the allied tether function of Siphon into its own F-skill. We have so many on-steal effect traits in the core kit. The fact that *none* of them have any interaction with ally Siphon feels really bad. This would make traits like Amplified Siphon inherently better, though I don't disagree that that trait specifically needs some attention.

My favorite suggestion I have seen for nerfing Cele is removing the toughness from it. It would still be an incredibly strong stat set, but it would give it a more defined weakness. It would still have enough tankiness from the vitality, healing power, and concentration, but in terms of raw damage mitigation it would be at least a little squishier. One of the reasons I could actually see this happening is because of how it could benefit endgame PvE since toughness relates to tanking. ANet never balances with roaming or small-scale in mind, especially since changing a stat set would be a game-wide change, so it would have to make sense for PvE too.

Specter: I dislike how half-assed the UI is for allied targeting. ANet created a really unique and fun elite spec but put really minimal effort into better optimizing the UI to accommodate the spec. There needs to be far more customization available and keybinds that work better. Target next ally will legit cycle through minis, dead clones, NPCs, and siege. All the time it happens that I try to click on someone in a zerg to try to center my support, but it ends up targeting a mech or pet. Fighting against the UI is really unfun. I also dislike how few trait interactions there are for allied targeting options. There could be so many more options if they added a dual functionality to certain traits when used on an ally, particularly for on-steal and on-stealth attack traits.

Speaking from a WvW perspective, I actually really like how Spirits function now. Between Mesmers being able to give their phantasms invuln and this change, I appreciate the effort to try to make these AI/minion-based skills more viable in high cleave settings, which is basically any WvW situation. Nature's Vengeance is a pretty interesting trait too, though my only complaint is that a 3 second delay on the second slam feels too long. Changing it to be a 2 second delay would make it feel really great IMO. In terms of the actual Spirits themselves, I think the supportive ones are really great. Water, Frost, and Nature all feel wonderful to use. I love having an alternative supportive utility option to Glyphs, especially considering the effects are independent of which CA mode we are in. The blast finishers on Frost and Earth feel great with all the access to fields we get. And we now have a very reliable way of blasting our own CA4. I have yet to play with Fire and Storm but they seem good/fine. The only one that stands out to me as a bit lackluster is the Stone Spirit slam effect. Perhaps it could grant some barrier to allies in addition to its current effects. The weakness and cripple have some value in PvP/WvW, but especially in PvE it seems very weak. I don't think it'd be a major loss to have the cripple be sacrificed for some allied barrier output.

I would have liked to see torch for Thief, but really any offhand option would have been nice.

That is an interesting thought that I had never considered. Even like a 100-200 unit shadowstep would be neat, and my Specter brain is loving the idea of giving Sc/D builds a way to proc Traversing Dusk and Shadow Savior.

Personal opinion about Shallow Grave is that it is a welcome addition to the kit, but currently undertuned in PvP/WvW. While the PvE amount of 3 condis transferred/cleansed would be too high for competitive modes, the trait would greatly benefit from being increased to 2 for both enemy and ally Siphon. I was actually really hyped for this trait when it was announced, but currently much prefer the flat condi damage increase, and Consume Shadows feels like it acts as more of a detriment than a benefit in any of the builds I run in PvP/WvW.

If you are speaking of dps performance, I am not sure if there were any benchmarks completed for non-Specter scepter cDPS builds. Scepter on DE was bugged the whole beta so couldn't be properly tested. I think there's potential but in terms of how they numerically perform against Specter I am unsure, though I'd expect Specter to be the highest performing. If you aren't worried about numbers any of the specs can work well enough with scepter for cDPS. For core, taking SA as a third line could create a potentially fun gameplay loop by adding in CnD > Shadowsqualls into the rotation, and the traitline adds in quite a lot of sustain. I think the biggest bummer for non-Specter scepter builds, though, is the lack of cleave damage.

Now that all specs will have access to staff, it would be nice to have a Moa with a supportive archetype. Blue Moa would make most sense. I am sure that a heal Soulbeast will be a meme, but since PoF launched I've felt that the one pet family that has an AoE heal as one of its merge skills is the one that should have access to a supportive archetype option.

I haven't used SnR recently and don't play my Ranger much anymore, but I remember this being the case years ago too. Was always frustrating and felt like the interaction should be blacklisted so the trait can't trigger while the pet is already reviving the target.

I really like the idea of merging the rez aspect of Shadestep with current Amplified Siphoning. AS has always felt undertuned since its inception. Forcing a choice against the other master traits is a good approach because both other options are very strong. Without Shadestep, using Siphon on an ally really feels like it lacks impact.

It does heal them, yes. Pumping heals onto them can be nice, and even barrier too if you can't access Shadowsquall to help delay someone from getting cleaved out. I've found it to be somewhat useful in WvW on people I can't hand-rez due to there being too much cleave damage on the body for me to tank while other allies attempt to hand-rez.

Great, thanks so much!