Mevelios.4809

Alright, time to expand the topic a bit after more thorough testing with qheal zerk! Here's the build I'm using: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwEMKNssA2FDj5xIxk66utD-DSJYqR9fZUdVleqq71BWafzCqA-e Honestly, I'm surprised I'm just not seeing it anywhere. It's amazing how capable it is at maintaining max might, fury, and quickness uptime; while the inherent warrior issues about aegis, stab & protection availability remain, its ability at dishing out burst skills really ease the spread of quickness & the use of Soldier's focus. Healing remains heavily tied to the Relic of karakosa which has been recently nerfed, although while the impact has proven meaningful it didn't ruin the build; Savage instinct proves also to be a wonderful (and likely too powerful) tool at tanking! Having the mace bursts also provide several CCs to assist the squad, while the warhorn and its blast finishers replace the longbow's Arcing arrow when heals are required (as long as any combo field is available). Numbers-wise, protection has an uptime of ~70%; longbow's Combustive shot & Scorched earth work wonders at that, since their fire fields also trigger burst-related tools such as soldier's focus. Obviously, relying on the relic of karakosa for healing prevents the use of the Zephyrite one, so protection uptime can't be raised up any further; that frees however the elite skill slot, leaving room for the Battle standard to raise allies in an "oh sh*t" moment should they fall. Aegis, regen & stab remain locked behind their respective banners sadly, which (should removing Shake it off be necessary to have group stability) makes the healer zerk otherwise really weak on healing without the karakosa relic & blast finishers. While providing so many fire fields can have a great synergy with condi damage dealers using projectile/whirl finishers for free burning, it can also prove troublesome for some key healers such as the engineer, who'll compete with its water fields, and the mesmer, who might have trouble fitting in ethereal fields for extra chaos auras. The one little quirk about qheal zerk is the radius of Heat the soul (480) differing from the shouts (600), which proves sometimes misleading. Eternal champion isn't a must but provides some comfortable breathing room when bosses phasing prevent building up adrenaline, however just like Savage instinct's line there isn't much interest in both of them for a support profile. On the opposite, discipline's Fast hands & Burst mastery are definitely must-haves there! Still, it's really fun to play and worth a shot if you'd like to have a new take on healing! It's a lot less pressuring compared to bladesworn's reliance on Lush forest, and more beginner-friendly!

No, I can only disagree. Dagger skills are instant (besides Bladecall's very short animation) while the sword is plagued by lengthy aftercasts and blur's channeling, during which you could fit in extra dagger autoattacks. The sword chain would supposedly cover whatever damages are lacking from the rest, yet any test on golem lets you see the surprising gap: Unstable bladestorm is instant and does the damages on its own of both Blurred frenzy & Blade leap if we're only talking about an opener - let alone if we're not talking virtuoso but chronomancer here, doing no damages on the third skill (without mentioning any boon removed with the chain finisher comes at the cost of a fourth of its damages). And Fencer's finesse does not affect your phantasms, only your base stats matter from your gear; your sigils or traits (unless specified, like Phantasmal force) do not influence them.

Just look at that changelog. Nerfs after nerfs, to bring it to today's topic - how underwhelming the weapon is, despite its utilities, in comparison to other power options. It really didn't get much love! 😆

Even with the 150 ferocity +CD reduction, it doesn't compensate the nearly +50% damages the dagger does when compared to that boosted sword.

The patch notes still have the nerf listed, so either it's an oversight ("oops, forgot to nerf that") either it's a typo that was forgotten from copy-pasting the preview. 😋

Qheal scrapper fails because of fury & swiftness, although it could arguably be compensated with either Experimental turrets for the Rifle turret to become a source of fury, either rely on the Relic of the midnight king although there are definitely better relics to be used. Instead of swiftness, there's superspeed for the phases that need moving around; it offers group stab, group stealth, a ranged revive without locking the character into the revive action, projectile reflection, stun break. The real caveat of that profile is the access to group fury without relying on an otherwise near-useless trait+utility or a so-so relic, and more than anything the complete lack of aegis. Qheal zerk can provide it all. Its issue being only a single stack of stab is accessible, same thing with aegis (both from banners) and with the nerf of the relic of karakosa I'll have to see whether it still holds up or not for the direct healing. Finally, aheal renegade almost fills your requirements - fury isn't 100% uptime because of the crit requirement to trigger it. The issue rather is, only a single source of aegis (shield) and a very unpractical one of stab (blowing up the tablet). You also get (IMO) the most reliable anti-projectiles ability and one of the strongest CCs from the staff! Since I won't include there all boondps profiles, long story short is - combos aren't something worth neglecting for several professions. Ranged Cdps benefit well from it with any projectile finisher into fire/poison/ethereal fields for free conditions. Maybe not the strongest extra dps, but even if they've mostly been forgotten, they provide some assistance worth considering!

Define "meta worthy". If that's effortless do-it-all builds, they're already listed and you likely know them; otherwise even from exclusively healer profiles, qheal scrapper needs fire fields to provide 25 might, aheal renegade needs fire fields to provide 25 might, qheal berserker needs fire fields to provide 25 might. Their common point being the reliance on blast finishers which for some are an absolute to provide decent healing (thinking of the berserker in particular here) while the Relic of karakosa is getting nerfed!

Definitely sure about that, yes. That topic has been discussed and now it's a done thing with beta over, so let's move forward! 😉 Wasn't actually the reason of differentiating them an old trait that's been removed since then? Pretty sure I read that up a while ago. Anyway, today it could definitely be merged; not even PvP/WvW would feel much of a difference IMO, although the opinion of their regulars would be better than mine on this topic since I'm more of a PvE player in this game - and there are still competitive splits if need be. Inspiring distorsion indeed doesn't work on the mesmer itself, while the single aegis for allies won't completely shut down a burst; it could turn the sword into a decent option for support if it were to offer distorsion, between ripping boons & providing aegis to the group.

A few years ago it had meaning for PvP, and could open up a window of opportunity by immobilizing the target; still usable today, although obviously very inconvenient. The weapon didn't age well with a not-so-determined identity; capable of stripping boons, offering an evade frame, leaping to the target... There are still cases in which it can help a bit, but it fell behind over time and I still feel like reducing Blurred frenzy's duration (and its damages accordingly) was a mistake!

What I don't get is why is there still a split between virtuoso's Blade leap & every other mesmer's Illusionary leap. Mainhand sword doesn't compare against the dagger, it's a well-know fact; the crippling leap I'd use in PvE, the immobilizing swap I'd use in PvP. Even then, the melee imperative, the fewer targets affected and the lower damages (even with the leap) wouldn't make it more interesting at least in PvE. The availability of any boon ruins the last autoattack in the chain, though that's only fair - it's a free boon rip. Such skills are usually tied to a forced movement or a forced immobilization, personally I'm fine with it as-is. Enabling movement could come at the cost of damages for a weapon that's already on the weaker side, so... That one I don't get - there are no damages on Swap or Returning edge. Maybe you were thinking of the conditions they bring? That thing I'm fine with, it's a pain in PvP/WvW but still consider it fair for PvE. There could indeed be a damage bonus against boonless foes on the first & second attacks of the chain to bring it closer in line with the dagger, but in any case the boon rip shouldn't be removed from the chain finisher - it's a worthwhile utility.

That was, for a while, because we play mesmer and don't rely much on it. Remember though ~3 months ago, when I said tying the main bonuses to chaos aura (which is largely tied to the staff, because there's never enough for the staff) was a bad idea? For us, chaos aura triggers Illusionary membrane's extra damages (even if it'll be nerfed to +7% ISO 10%) and opens the opportunity to generate some regen, in order to also trigger Chaotic persistence (which will also be nerfed on expertise, +150 ISO 250) without being limited to Metaphysical rejuvenation. Knowing we can trigger that chaos aura on an ethereal field comboed into a blast or leap finisher makes that difference in performance. You already said you were playing only open world/story content so performance may not matter for you, but in instanced content it can make quite some difference: leaps into lightning fields are free CC, blasts into fire fields are 3 stacks of might for a base 20s around (100% boon duration doubles it), water fields allow access to extra regen or direct healing (especially blasts for healers), projectiles into dark fields are worth lifesteal to ease the strain on healers, blasts in smoke fields offer area stealth to cheese some mechanics/encounters. Combos have been largely forgotten yet are still very worthwhile, not only for supports in providing boons but even for the ordinary damage dealer who only cares about having teh biggest deeps, 'cuz who cares 'bout mechanixx. Meanwhile, a gem like the Relic of karakosa really restore interest in them or even allow some profiles such as the qheal zerk, and yet that relic's being nerfed. Individually, it may not look like much; in group play, it's definitely worth interest to refine group efficiency! To reply to the topic though, shocking aura is a defensive tool providing a free CC. Scrapper can easily access lightning fields and use leap skills (hammer, sword, even mace regardless of current efficiency) for an easier access to an active CC; as for magnetic aura, the purpose is to reflect projectiles - something already accessible from the hammer and the shield, the latter capable of a block which stuns on a melee attack. It might sound good for the theme, but the functionalities are already there; cumulating them would be too much!

It would put at risk the current healsworn though, which works fine already. I'm not familiar with the warrior (and play almost exclusively in PvE), but wouldn't Unshakable mountain be a better candidate - even if replacing it completely? I don't see much use for it besides potentially a bit of survival in PvP/WvW, although by the time you've fired twice or thrice any last ammo, you've likely taken as many bursts.

Haha, you forgot to mention getting kicked by the cool meta kids 😋 Reminds me of PoF's release during which it took barely two or three weeks for a few people (myself included) to get the renegade running as aheal, yet since it took one year for the build to appear on meta sites, we were often kicked (with/without insults or "this is no healer" comments). Honestly, I'm sure indeed it won't see much use 'cause there are other easier, overperforming profiles such as the druid or the scourge. But hey, for whoever fancies a challenge or a new take on how to heal, 'tis thang workz! I did experiment with the qheal zerk as well, but the results aren't as satisfying - boons are there so it's similar to what the healsworn provides, except sadly protection since the other healer part (y'know, what comes second despite giving its name to the role, the "healing") is heavily tied to the relic of karakosa. Without the zephyrite one, protection uptime falls down to ~70% and having no direct CD reduction the way the healsworn does, shouts struggle to cover the lower healing output +extra damages taken - hence you rely heavily on these blast finishers, and since you want more healing shouts you can't easily afford removing Shake it off to slot in the Banner of tactics, so the cascading effect continues with the lack of stab (Eternal champion obviously isn't shared with allies). Heat the soul provides fury around and the blast finishers on fire fields are worth (on 100% boon duration) 3 stacks of 40s might each, so removing For great justice could be a thing; longbow projectile finishers in the banners' light fields could cover the condi cleansing while there's still Shrug it off available as a trait to complete that aspect, so even Shake it off could be removed as a utility to make room for the Banner of tactics (although at this point it's your only sources of regen or stab, providing light fields, competing with condi cleansing -a very risky bet- although there's still the warhorn 5 on weapon switch); these don't solve however the issue of having a lower healing potential overall, so the staff would likely become mandatory here IMO - removing most choices available on the build since blast finishers wouldn't be as accessible, so you're back to wanting shouts this time around to provide might instead of working on combos (an oddity here, most of them have been forgotten over time). There's definitely potential here with a few tweaks, however I definitely need more experimenting with qheal zerk. The suggestions I intended to make a bit later on, depending on the replies of the more experienced warrior community if there are mechanics/traits I missed, would primarily cover things applicable to PvE healsworn (the opinion of PvP/WvW players would really have interest for me here) but I'll also keep zerk in mind!

Again I'm a main mesmer, so let me make that continuum split to reach the proper timeline in which that's possible! 😆 With more seriousness, it's definitely viable although so far, I've only tested it in nm raids/strikes (and few of the easier CMs otherwise, such as CO). Even compared to my ordinary healers (mesmer & ele) the 600 radius makes it far easier to heal/provide boons, if only limited by the current abilities of the warrior (that is, 90 to 95% protection uptime if nobody else provides some or if there's no overflow from the other sub/only a single group aegis/only a single group stab taking a precious utility slot). I wouldn't go as far as saying it would become an "expected pick" because it's no drood/scourge/herald, but it's definitely a proper healer already without the staff! I wouldn't say that much about the qheal zerk sadly, especially since most of its current healing can be found in the Relic of karakosa which is getting a nerf next week - possible through longbow bursts for lengthy fire fields detonated by blast finishers from longbow 3+warhorn skills (makes for 3 stacks of base 20s might per detonation). The healsworn is easy to learn right now, honestly. After all, it's about one draggon trigger every 20s at least for alacrity (which is not a problem, considering the flow generation and recovery +the opener if you want an immediate cast) and using the shouts+banners+warhorn to keep allies alive and provide boons. The mastery curve is much harder though, and I definitely haven't mastered it - you need to mind the Soldier's focus renewal to make the comfort trait trigger (more for the sake of protection than for its healing, although the latter is obviously welcome); you need to mind the Zephyrite relic timing to ensure as much protection as you can (resolution too, although with your condi cleanse you don't care much for it) depending how fast do you renew the Tactical reload (you could supposedly fire it twice on the 30s window for its CD, obviously in practice it's more like every 35/40s); you should accurately know mechanics not to waste your only group aegis/stab; you should accurately know the boss' pattern not to waste your barriers; and finally there's the focus of the build making it possible, Lush forest, which should only consume the first ammo of every ammo skill you have, which are themselves fed by the Tactical reload (making it feel like a dps rotation, not as punishing as some if you miss something - yet in the current state, there's little room to breathe again for protection uptime). Since it relies on ammo skills (and only their first use), there's the possibility in an emergency of doubling up your heals in an "oh sh*t" moment. It'll make your CD reductions suffer for a while, but it's still forgiving enough in that regard; you don't even have to rely much on what the accompanying Qdps brings (apart from quickness) unless you really want those missing 5/10% of protection uptime (and some stab if you need more than a single stack every 15/20s). I wouldn't rely on it for HT CM, but so far I'm not having any trouble playing it!

Ahai, warrior community! Lately I've taken to the aheal bladesworn as a fun, different approach from more conventional healers: shout at people & blow dat' horn to keep 'em alive. Tempests already had that privilege for a long while, but now they're sharing that niche! Flavor aside, my main character being a mesmer there definitely is room for improvement on my warrior play, but even from theory and the strikes/raids practice I've been getting this month, there are concerns (possibly misplaced, hence this topic) I feel won't be adressed by the coming staff. Note that I hadn't participated to the staff beta topic when it took place, some things here might've already been mentioned! It may turn into a lengthy read, so for a TL;DR just jump between each of the first sentences per block below. First of all, here's the build I'm using: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PKwEcEmpsA2FDj5xcxk66O2D-DSJYqR3fZUdVleqq7pBWafzCA-e Alacrity isn't much of a concern here, it's about getting the rhythm to renew it before the next 20s. Shouts are accessible even in dragon trigger, so healing isn't interrupted if need be; the numbers are great both in direct healing & in barrier; condi cleanses are (very) frequently available in several forms; Lush forest is the cornerstone of the build, allowing frequent CD reductions on top of alacrity and directly fed by the Tactical reload. That way, might can be kept up in high stacks (20+ is ordinary) the same way fury does, Banner of defense provides all the regen you need (and the only regen available right now) thanks to Doubled standards on top of an aegis, and vigor's available on the warhorn with a renewing rhythm similar to alacrity (though obviously lower in priority, since there's another way to replenish endurance). There's also quite some resolution, which makes for a good transition towards the downsides! --- First, the topic of stability. While resolution's obviously welcome, its primary acquisition (in the form of Doubled standards) quickly brings the topic of the Banner of tactics as the only source of group stability, in a single stack. While it's mostly used for shockwave mechanics which players can dodge through/jump over, it feels really underwhelming as the closest second method is found in Martial cadence - again a single stack but from a status tied to a 10s CD, which is tied to your dragon trigger use. The main issue in picking it is obvious - there's Vigorous shouts next to it, and that's something you simply cannot disregard! The staff's healing will make it a possible choice, although at the expense of your only vigor source and its condi cleanse as well as both of the warhorn's blast finishers, while Martial cadence still retains its lot of "ifs" for - a single stab stack. The second issue easy to identify is the protection uptime. That's why I'm using the Relic of the Zephyrite: Tactical reload triggers it for 5s, for a total of 10s protection+resolution. The monk relic would obviously be the best choice here, but in practice the zephyrite one allows me to keep an uptime between 90 & 95% for fewer risks at enduring unprotected hits. The staff will contribute well for the sake of protection, although possibly not making use of its heal+aegis - the tight window without the zephyrite relic may incite wasting it! Bladesworns would have an easier time accessing it thanks to Lush forest, but it could actually prove excessive - although restricted by sheathing the gunsaber. Simply waiting for it to go live to make myself an idea on it! My third issue would be aegis access. It's litterally gated behind the Banner of defense (which is also the only current source of regeneration), making it a must-have; the bladesworn has plenty of self-aegis contributing to tanking, but even a single extra aegis to cover the group/raid would be welcome so it doesn't become a race between regen uptime & aegis use! The staff will address it, although again from the previous point... it will likely compete with protection uptime. My fourth is a flat concentration bonus. It's a small thing unrelated to the staff, but especially annoying when running minstrel gear for tanking! While it is available on Roaring reveille, it's directly competing with the current only source of protection: Soldier's comfort! Even on harrier gear, water runes take precedence over monk ones for boon duration's sake, so for minstrel gear it's even more of a no-brainer. Well, at least it makes the tanking job a lot different from the healer, better know what you do though 'cause there's little room to breathe! The fifth and final issue simply lies in the mainhand weapons. While all autoattacks are useless except the future regen out of staff (already accessible from the Banner of defense), the mace makes for a good tanking tool: its block is welcome (although not the most handy to keep track of - instead of the usual yellow filling bar, blocking is tracked in the boon bar) and the CC compensates the warhorn, which has none. However as an ordinary healer, it's a pointless weapon; that's when I use the axe, having an ammo skill to feed Lush forest while its projectile finisher (+whirl on the axe spin) can contribute to condi cleansing. Cleanses are aplenty though, so it almost never sees any use leaving only the ammo axe throw - better than nothing, if otherwise useless! There's no real mainhand complimenting the warhorn here, but potentially a future opportunity for the next weapon mastery? Swing a scepter like a caveman would swing a club, 'cause warriors ain't got no magic. Solutions! A final word on the warhorn itself: while the Call of valor is a precious and outstanding skill as well as the only source of vigor, Charge definitely has uses in PvP/WvW but in PvE... well, that's nearly meaningless. A competitive split could work wonders here! Quickness supposedly isn't sourced from an alac provider, and there still are concerns above to be adressed; swiftness can make the difference against a late reaction on spread mechanics or any movement accross the map, but you don't exactly bet on it to begin with when you go about the next fight's tactics. Having Charge as a blast finisher is great for comboing and potential use of the Relic of karakosa (which is getting a nerf soon), but before that there's still the issue about protection & group aegis! --- Still reading? Great! Now here are my questions: from your experience in general as warrior, are there things I've overlooked/misunderstood in the five issues I'm identifying above? While I know the staff will completely replace the warhorn soon, it's a shame there aren't really mainhand options to compliment it (besides the mace when tanking) to possibly compete with that coming tool! While my observations are mostly about current issues & how will the staff adress it, there are still holes in the logic IMO. But before getting to suggestions, I'd like to make sure whether I've been looking at it the right way or not; thanks in advance for your input - and anyway, whether performing well or not as much as other ordinary healer classes, this one's a real blast to play! 🙂

Who would make jumping puzzle portals then? 😞 Oh wait, necros, right. Nevermind! You can delete. 😄

Heal firebrand does, heal mesmer with its healing mantra does, ventari rev does, heal bladesworn can get close to it as far as I know. That relic's definitely getting a nerf IMO. Builds that could best put to use its barrier already rely (almost) exclusively on direct healing, and it's becoming primarily another direct healing tool that'll only convert its effect to barrier if you're at full health... a shame, really.

Exactly what was I about to reply after reading @SeTect.5918's message. Snow Crows' benchmarks don't tell it all, a static idle golem doesn't simulate real fighting. Wingman brings factual data. Axe is a powerful weapon, but the forced movement denies you either freely using your skills, either... well, simply using the weapon. You can't spin freely on SH unless you're fine with "what's dat' smell? Bacon's burning!", you can't spin freely on Q1, you can't get close on any spread mechanic, and in general you already try not to start your spin from the back of the boss because it would otherwise bring you to its front. If you end up before the boss, you want to dodge since you're supposedly a glass cannon, which may as well ruin your golem benchmark rotation! When trying to compare it to chrono/virtuoso, both of them don't have any forced movement and can freely play the way they want on any boss.

Right, it's been so long since I used any that I completely forgot what were gemstones for 😳 Thanks for the reminder! Brings the gap to a rough 10%.

I'm not exactly trying to shed some positive light on it; I'm well aware how easily can it be toxic, especially in groups with requirements which, again, count amongst some of my worst experiences in failed runs. What I'm saying is, it isn't all there is to that LFG; raids are content in which performance becomes necessary, hence groups are made with precise objectives - either training, either clearing. When clearing, indeed most commanders expect some sort of guarantee as a single player can wreck a whole encounter by ruining a mechanic; that's why knowledge of the encounter is important, and having a bunch of killproof supposedly means you learned a thing or two from your runs. You can see it in T4 fractals as well with some UFE requirements; but that's not all there is to it! It's merely the only tool available to them to quickly tell whether a player has some experience or not - which, again, may very well not tell a thing if said player has learned nothing more than simply where not to stand (always a good start, but there's usually more than that). That's why the immediate objective as a novice in raids isn't to aim for clearing runs, but training ones. Here, really, the biggest effort to get into that content is finding a guild that organizes training runs. Gather knowledge from there - don't just have pseudo-training runs in which you're only being brought along, merely standing as an ordinary dps that doesn't do any special role; anybody can be that bystander. Ask for training on special roles, try things out, fail twice or thrice on it so you get to learn that role; from there you start accumulating said knowledge, which will make a world of difference in your experience of raiding and likely will attract more novices willing to learn. The results for autonomy won't be immediate since there's little incentive (besides the fun) to repeat raids beyond their weekly reward, but isn't the idea of improving yourself constantly enough of a reward already? 😋 The difficulty gap can be daunting should you be struggling with fractals; roughly, NM T4 fractals are easier than NM strikes (although you're more likely to struggle with silent surf fractal than something like the cosmic observatory strike), said strikes being easier than NM raids. CMs are a different kind of beast, some really being on the easier side (W3 KC, W4 Cairn, W5 SH if only mentioning raids - little change from their NM versions) while others put you through quite some struggle (W6 Q1 "oops, we just ran out of aegis for that next bouncing fireball" or that lovely W5 Dhuum jogger). Again, knowledge makes a world of difference here but between that and practice, you can overcome raids if you just dare challenge yourself! Forget the worst elements in the raiding community, there will always be some - join more openminded guilds or make similar contacts to enjoy that content. 🙂 You can compare any exotic backpack with its ascended version; that's the worst piece for which the exotic litterally is half of the ascended's stats. An exotic accessory is two thirds of the ascended version, and so on! Ascended gear (or legendary for that matter, it's the same stats) do have meaning for performance, but beyond the jewelry/back items it's not really a requirement for the vast majority of the content.

That one I disapprove wholeheartedly. For the sake of balance, it's true you don't exactly want to ease barrier access on ordinary healer profiles, if they can resort frequently enough to their healing skill. But there are so many synergies allowing regen or smaller heals to kick in while the barrier covers the next hit, so you can actually have a pick worth considering other than the relic of the monk... A shame!

I'm mitigated on this one. Mesmer mantras are not the firebrand's; the most powerful effect is on preparation, not on its charges. The shortest CD is on the preparation, not the charges. I prefer firing away the charges to focus on the preparation effect rather than the charges, aside from the Mantra of resolve/Power cleanse (which has little use considering the condi cleanse of the healer mesmer). Those mirage nerfs though... ouch. Hope the real impact won't be as heavy as it looks like it might be.

Taunt being a condition largely forgotten and almost removed from the game, sadly I suppose it was abandoned halfway with its few remaining issues. Didn't check if it had been reported before; maybe trying it with a rev on Jalis (with Forced engagement - oh look, taunt & slow! 😆) while one of these traits Dwarven battle training/Words of censure/Ashen demeanor would yield similar results (as in, not triggering them on a successful taunt)? I thought it may work on ordinary adds, but you already stated it weren't triggering even on trash mobs...

True, been derailing from the topic - my bad!

Chrono isn't the only way to play it; condis can take some heat off their back with it while building their stacks. Personally I've given up on it because on the opposite, considering the lengthy cast & CD, I only find use for it to take away a few adds from me - which is rather difficult because of its short radius. Making it capable however to deliver simultaneously taunt & slow (which is expected from the tooltips) on a boss makes for a great soft CC ability!