[Spears are confirmed 2h. After this xpac, thief will have gone 13 years with no new offhand.]

Dual wield skills? Anet be like 'we don't care to devote ourselves to making those skills.' It took them NINE years to make dual-wield skills with EoD. Endless Night was so sweet on release. 
All that axe does is copy both scepter and pistol with the condi damage, although axe is more for hitting crowds of enemies. I'll respect that axe does lots of juicy burst damage for both power and condi builds. Spear however is so powerful underwater esp if a DD or DE is using it. Imagine if it retains the block on land... 

[Necromancer Spear Description]

4 hours ago, StraightPath.3972 said:

@Magmi.6723  Swords go far beyond meta, which isn't their purpose in the first place.
 

• real mobility (not teleports to an "anchor" or enemy) with double leap
• amazing mob tagging, far better than staff
• a real ranged weapon - Staff and Axe are good for burst only, after that you swap or go shroud.
• well rounded - you got cc, lifesteal, life force generation, mobility, might and vulni generation.

I've no idea why so many necros diss the swords. I'm running full Grieving gear hybrid reaper and I couldn't be happier
having double swords as one of my weapons swap options.

swords make necro so fun. double leaps are pretty rare to have. the boon corrupt on mh sword has a lot of synergy with traits that people overlook. the chills enable condi reaper to use something that isn't scepter or greatsword. off-hand sword makes up for the fact that other off-hands do no damage, or used to. poor focus and warhorn. I swap between sword + torch or double swords for CC.

I've been using sword especially in PvE and WvW because it's crazy to go w/o mobility. People only care about damage or if the new weapon suits their fantasies; the latter is fair. Not everyone spends time homebrewing builds either so I get it.

[Necromancer Spear Description]

1 hour ago, felincyriac.5981 said:

bruh no way it doesn't provide swiftness at least, don't tell me we still need warhorn...

Aye I hope it does at the very least. While underwater spear grants personal swiftness, whether or not that carries over to the terrestrial spear, we'll see on June 27th. 😬Also, now that I think about it, the 6s of swiftness on deadly feast's 15 CD is way too short.

[Necromancer Spear Description]

The teleport and melee range is nice, considering how many ranged weapons there are now. Melee however does not fit necro without swiftness or especially stability. Even if you drop blinds or CCs, you'll get tossed like a ragdoll. This weapon sounds so cool though, and I like that exiting shroud can benefit this weapon. Other weapons should get that treatment in the future. It's really eye-catching, and in general, there should be more reasons to exit shroud after DPSing.

[Give [Well of Power] group Stability similar to [Well of Precognition] (Chronomancer)]

Stability is always going to be necro's sore spot, but I don't see well of power giving group stability, as cool as that sounds. I would be for upping the number of stacks from 1 to 5, however. Otherwise you have to walk over your allies with trail of anguish, or if harbinger, use elixir of ambition off CD. Ironically, power harbinger has more access to on-demand self-stability than power quick harbinger. I could even see anet buffing trail of anguish's initial stability from 1 stack to 5 stacks in PvE only lol.

[Which Weapon next for Engineer?]

One way I could see spear on engi would be skills like throwing it to create explosions, burning, or coming with AOEs. Granted, ranged playstyle isn't everyone's style. It better not be a support weapon either.😅

[Spears and Mesmers]

A power weapon that focuses on aoe and maybe boon removal. The next big question is whether or not it will synergize with virtuoso's blade mechanic since spear UW doesn't even register as blade skills (trident too for that matter but it's a diff story). Melee would be sick, especially if they keep the evasive playstyle and put it on land. I could imagine the much-needed mobility for other mesmer specs. The mirage ambush should be the same; it works fine as it is. It would be cool to make a skill like vortex but have it ground-targeted hehehe.

[Quick cata excells at nothing. Here's how to improve it.]

On 5/31/2024 at 12:52 AM, Antycypator.9874 said:

Boon DPS is supposed to provide boons at first place. It's your main role, to make other players hit faster or recharge skills faster, so you should use Concentration in your stats to make sure your party will never go out of your boons, even during splits. No one really cares about support DPS. That 80% is just Golem scenario.

preach, that is what boon dps is meant to be about at the end of the day. you don't need to be blamed for having bad or scuffed boon uptime because you also wanna DPS when providing good uptime is the goal.

[Engineer shortbow rework [idea]]

I'd like it to get reworked, but your idea is more or less the same as shortbow currently. shortbow should have a lot more oomph for setting up the payloads.

arc detonator: fire an arrow that confuses enemies and inflicts vulnerability. combo finisher: phys proj with a 20% chance.
essence of animated sand: damage and barrier. chain reaction - grant might to yourself and allies
essence of living shadows: explosion that blinds and confuses enemies. remove a condition. chain reaction: remove 2 conditions and grant swiftness.
essence of liquid wrath: fire field that instantly explodes and pulses burning. allies gain aegis and protection. chain reaction: strip 3 boons from enemies. 
essence of borrowed time: a field that damages and stuns enemies who try to enter it. it gives confusion + vulnerability to enemies upon creation. chain reaction: superspeed.

[Headbutt the only utility in the entire game that has self stun.]

Stalwart Strength negates the self-stun entirely because you gain stability once you stun your target, however. I don't know if berserkers take the trait to circumvent the self-stun but it's worth pointing out. Apart from that trait, I take outrage to counteract the self-stun and extend berserk mode too. However, taking those 2 skills to counteract headbutt's downside is rather annoying, even if for the adrenaline gain and berserk duration.

[Alac & Heal Auras ONE TRAIT - Please Anet]

Oh yes yes and yes!! I've been wanting that for a long while now! heal tempest would feel a lot more natural when a majority of its tool kit gives auras that trigger aura-related traits from whatever 2 core traitlines tempest takes. it really sucks using overloads off cooldown to provide alacrity, and then you get interrupted midway into your overload. then you lose out on alacrity pulses. lucid singularity can become something else, such as self-sustain. I would replay my tempest if they merged these into elemental bastion.

[Prediction: Next weapon is Spear]

Your precognition is stunning.

[Guild Wars 2 Expansion Reveal: June 4]

5 hours ago, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

SPEAR ON LAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

YESSSIR it feels like a dream come true!!!

[Resistance and Fear Damage.]

Terror's damage does happen when the target has resistance, but no aegis and stability. I've seen fear deal damage to my health bar even when I had resistance, and vice versa to enemies. So there is a very niche counterplay to resistance! Fear Necro though gets countered by blocks, unless you are using wail of doom or spectral ring. Reaper however can use 'nothing can save you!' to create unblockable fears, but ofc the fear won't go off if targets have stability. Staff 5 with soul marks trait could also work, but I don't use the trait a lot.

[June 25 Balance Update Preview]

another enemy-required-targeted skill on mesmer?! signet of humility's CD should be cut to 60s in WvW then because the change is lowkey over the top.

[Wurm Teleport cast to instant please]

sorry, but this is the one flipover skill that deserves counterplay if you're using it to ready the stunbreak. it is so obvious people can tell you want to use its stunbreak skill, so you need to position it before you start a fight.

why should summon flesh wurm be instant as well? necrotic traversal having no cast time is as good as you're gonna get, and it's frankly the reward for getting past summon flesh wurm's long cast time.

[New Relics]

Founding and Wayfinder are good. Wayfinder for my virtuoso and mirage builds because they don't have the same movement speed, unlike other classes that get it as minor traits or passives from signets. Zakiros is like the old invigorating precision trait but that now enables more healing from critical damage like it used to in the past!

Idk if I will use the other ones though, but I get how they enhance builds or doubly benefit from trait synergy (for example, more vulnerability uptime on condi reaper when inflicting chill is nice).

[The WvW Necromancer *needs* a Full Rework]

more boon corrupts would be nice jajajaja so zergs could face some punishment again. >_< the signet trait needs a serious rework as it is a troll pick; signet of undeath does not rip boons. signets are also hardly taken in wvw unless it's locust signet for its passive increased speed.

[Quick cata excells at nothing. Here's how to improve it.]

Catalyst is a cute spec, though I don't like having to take more than one trait to do the same role admittedly. It would also be so sick if augments did more augmenting with your jade sphere. The energy bar is also super hard to read because of how tiny it is. Catalyst comes off as very unfinished and restricted with the trait designs.

[Necromancer and vigor]

inflict bleeding on yourself with dagger #3 or blood is power, and then convert it into vigor with well of power. jajaja. 

agreeing with Dranor here on resolution, as you can rack up to 15s of resolution if you strike 5 enemies with it. so you can upkeep resolution for a while even without boon duration. 
 

vigor isn't necro's best friend, sadly. ngl I wish elixir of ignorance gave stability too so that stunbreak doesn't end up doing anything if I get interrupted. the only other stability I get is popping harbinger shroud every 10s. 

[Bleed + Burning Rune]

this sounds like the fractal relic but if it were like a rune. just no. burning hits very hard but doesn't last long unlike bleeding or poison. when you look at the condi builds on sites, their DPS is more or less similar. favoring one condition over the other or going for different condition durations that condi builds apply will not change the overall DPS; maybe burst damage changes and sustained DPS too but that's that. increasing burning durations also break any remaining delicate balance anet has done to it. they were careful with this for scourge's burning the times they rebalanced it, in particular the May 2021 patch and patches from last summer.

[Condi Spellbreak Pitch, Take Three.]

we're basically almost there; just a few changes and condi warrior would exist outside berserker or even the core class. never mind that warrior would also have a non-bleeding focused build which is another win. it would be similar to the old confusion warrior whenever they interrupted enemies.

[Its time to increase base hp]

eh, weaver and catalyst especially have it slightly easier to do burst DPS and maintain vitality thanks to elemental empowerment and elemental polyphony. harbinger also has vitality and can benefit further from it with vital persistence. while they are both incredibly squishy, they do superior DPS in return. also, has anyone not seen power harbinger in WvW? that has done 11k hits with devouring cut and voracious arc does around 10k with a few stacks of might. you have to play these two classes to really understand why their HPs are different. and out of the three especs in this comparison, harbinger has life way harder than ele will ever have lol.

what's more, necro lacks the same active defenses that ele has. you have to play very carefully with other classes or else you melt like ice cream. 

I don't see why HP should be increased baseline in any game mode. you can also get away with mixing marauder and dragon gear if you desire more sustain. on top of that, dragon benefits especially when you are perfectly crit capped. for wvw, go for marauder, or again mix the two stats because you'll want a mix of precision, vitality, and ferocity.

[Reaper with minions.]

The only minions I seriously use a lot are flesh wurm and flesh golem. My queens. <3 The other minions honestly take up a lot of value that I'll be missing out on my other useful skills, so I don't like taking more than 2 minions. However nothing will stop you from running full minions if you desire pets for the roleplay or cuteness.

[Do you use the sceptre?]

2 hours ago, Vasdamas Anklast.1607 said:

Gotta wait a year or two before they give it shortbow treatment with 233% buffs.

heh, I wonder if anyone still enjoys using rev's weapons apart from the elite spec ones, swords, or mace. heck, hammer has had los and terrain problems with its skills, scepter is clunky, staff is seemingly not good at damage, and the poor axe recently lost a useful extra condition.