Buran.3796

Put weaknes on him so 1) damage it does is halved, and 2) won't be able to dodge again in a looong time. Chill also works (and fear works even better).

Honestly I wouldn't rate any of them above "B". To be "A" or "S" they would be able to compete or replace any of the current builds that are meta in MAT, and do they? Would you replace core Guard as main support? Maybe with the Tempest improvements, but I don't see any of the new classes being better at team support. Would you replace Daredevil, Herald or Soulbeast as a +1/ roamers? Do you think that Vindicator is better at teamfights than Necro or Holos? If all, most of the new specs needs serious buffs, specially at PvP.

I have 3 Revs; the Monday I spent stacked hero points to unlock the full new specs from 5 of my characters and the Tuesday bough the rest with WvW currencies. I made space in the templates to test 3 Vindicator builds: * A power Vindicator for PvP/WvW with sg + staf, Jalis + Shiro, with Devastation, Retribution and Vindicator. I run that build full berserker with Fireworks runes, energy sigils and force & cleansing. I'm already 21 matches into ranked PvP + HoT PvE maps using testing this one. Traits with a mix of stsain and support. * A power Vindicator for OW PvE with the same weapons, runes and stats but Jalis + Alliance and replacing Retribution with Invocation, traits fucused on maximizing damage. Cuattently barely started to test this one in PvE. * A condi Vindicator with full celestial stats, gs + mace & axe and Corruption + Retribution; still didn't play this one. So far: the power PvP build has been decent in Ranked; climbing in gold. But won't compete vs power Hearld, which is more mobile and better +1 and at disengaging. The greatsword provides big burst for teamfights, but isn't as good as keeping pressure on foes. The best tactic I found is usually, starting an attack, then playing defensively for a while (evade, gs blocks, staff blocks, Jalis interreupts and sustain skills.... And then after surviving the pressure of the overcommited enemies releasing the big nukes. Vindi si not as good as Herald at chasing targets or ccing them. Could end being and alternative to Renebow, but is more risky to play. Also, fear necros harcounters Vindicator (whereas Renebow. had good times vs them previous to the Forced Engagement nerf). That build, tho, is garbage in HoT: seems to do decent vs PoF enemies, but just doesn't have the damage vs HoT ones. Had problems vs every Hero Point champion in the first HoT maps; died to ones which I even easily killed with core Rev. Died even to normal veterans as double smoke scales or double bristlebacks, foes which fall appart in seconds with either condi Herald or condi Renegade builds. Things were better in PoF; those have lighter armor and lower HP. But overall I'm not impressed with the numbers in PvE. But worries me due the PvE build (even if works out) is more glass cannon. I'll keep playing Vindi in Ranked until the reach of 40-50 matches, then will came back to Herald & Renegade to test those vs the new specs. In PvE I'll start to test the PvE build and celestial Vindi soon, bu so far I wouldn't encourage new players to run this spec: too brittle for the damage it delivers.

The range reduction is bs. No one asked for a buff in Forced Engagement, so losing half of the º and part of the radius was just going to where the skill always was. But halving the range to 600 is utterly bullcrap. Is a 35% less than short bow's range, and 50% less than hammer, and the skill wasn't op. In fact, take a look at Dragon Hunter's F1: 1200 range, unblockable, tracks the target in any direction, burns the target, has a pull that interrups, cripples, reveals and pierces. Then people says that Rev skills are over bloated... They weren't just happy with delivering the Vindi with almost no cc; had to botch one of the few the core Rev had.

Only if you camp in mace, or in Mallyx pulsating Embrace the Darkness. the whole time. But if Innocent is playing a Renegade, and has access to the short bow, I think that the range adds for sustain more than having 150-200 HP of heal x second, and the +80% torment duration isn't as good as the +20% to torment, burns, bleedds, chills and poison duration. It also varies based on the enemies: now torment is specially strong vs static or cced foes, but weaker vs mobile ones. Burns are still kings in terms of condition damage, and Nightmare runes buffs the duration of every condition.

It is. Sustain got a hit, but in terms of damage nothing changed, and condi Renegade was always a faster killing build than condi Herald with runes of tormeting (or Renegade with the same runes, anyway). That killing speed helps a lot against most champions of bounties. Is just that now the margin for mistakes is more narrow. Can still solo high level fractal bosses? Probably. Condi Weaver has amazing sustain and the burns it procs are also insane, but the gameplay required is very intensive in terms of key strokes x minute and very different from crusing everything with a ranged shortbow.

Nightmare runes. Nightmare runes.

On top of condi Renegade I would also add condi Soulbeast: wasn't touched by the nerfs and doesn't use torment runes. When merged with the pet, reaches insane stats in condition damage. Has tanky stats, 24 seconds of stability each 60 seconds and with short bow can be played mixing AoE mele and range. Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAgi/lZweYRMJGKeqXfP3REH-zRJYkRLfZkZK0bBo3BIctwbh3PN-e

Condi (Viper/TB) Renegade with Nightmare runes. And trailblazer Soulbeast.

Completed my first 10 Conquest clasificatory matches playing entirely with power Vindicator (the build I posted up), using Traveler runes and berserker amulet (but changed to demolisher soon, because the damage was good enough and I'm still learning, the extra armor allows more mistakes). Won 5 and lost 5, not great, not terrible. Plan to try to climb from gold I to III using solely the spec. New specs were from 20% to 60% of the builds I saw in the matches. I think that is stronger than other previous Revenant "bruiser" builds in terms of sustain + damage, but still trying to figure if would be better or worse than the power Renegade. It won't beat power Herald at the #1 spot, tho. The bad part is that I see very limited chance for having a viable condi/hybrid variant in PvP: maybe in WvW due celestial or trailblazer stats, but in PvP condi damage just not on par with the power variants, and the spec is not suited to to deliver significative condi pressure (or cc):

The change affects the most to the hybrid/condition Herald builds used in WvW roaming, since they oftenly pair Invoke Torment + Diabolic Inferno with sigils of Hydromancy and Doom to support the condi pressure of mace & axe. Was a important tool since swapping to swords or sword + shield didn't provide much benefits in terms of condition damage and was dome mostly for defensive purposes. It doesn't affect PvE builds since most of them trend to camp in mace + axe and run Malice and Torment or Bursting for the constant buffs, and the Invoke Torment + sigil swap builds don't deliver the same amount of damage asthe later ones. In terms of damage the change doesn't affect those roaming builds (tested), and neither the changes inthe Tormenting runes, but in terms of opportunity is sub optimal: as have been said, sometimes you want to stay in a set of weapons, but since the cooldown of swapping legends (which provokes Invoke Torment) and the activation of the sigils is shared, and in roaming and duelling those builds want spikes of damage, so activating the sigils and the traits at the same time chosing carefuly the leged swap delivered a crucial burst of conditions. Now if you want the same effect you need to both swap legend and weapons, and that is less flexible. It doesn't affect too much PvP since those WvW builds are empowered by stat combinations that doesn't exist in PvP (trailblazer, celestial...), but anyway weakens builds which already were off meta. That is bad, due nerfing builds which already underperforn promotes the diminishing of variety and worsens the game. By the way I also tested the Tormenting runes: same damage but the regeneration delivers ~150-200 HP x tick depending on how much trailblazer or celestial you run. I think that now condi Renegade enhanced the advantage it had over condi Herald in OW PvE: previously Herald was more tanky and overally safe but slower at killing, and IMO Tormenting worked better with Herald due the main condis were torment and burns, whereas Renegade has a much wider access to a mix of bleeds, torment and burns and therefore Nightmare runes were superior. Now, with the nerf in sustain from the runes (+ the nerf in siphoning) the mele focused Herald becomes more exposed, whereas condi Renegade keeps the advantage in damage and has the extra safety of range. That's how I see it.

I don't think it will be meta in PvP or anything close to. Doesn't have the mobility of power Herald, so is useless as a +1. Is just a bruiser/teamfighter, but has only a single non-stackable evade which costs 100 endurance units. If after the jump doesn't gets stability it can be tossed around like a rag dolll; weakness hardcounters vigor, and chill just kills his entire gameplay. Heralds will love his telegraphed Eternity's Requiem to refill his HP with Infuse Ligth. Aside from PvP, saw a few duels in WvW between a Harbinger and a Vidicator and the Harbinger demolished him (despite being a frail spec which I don't thing is as strong as the other Necros). If all, EoD empowered Herald: Renegade lost the range of Forced Engagement so now will have hard time vs any build with ccs over 900 range, and Vindicator can't swap from teamfights to +1 and decaps around the maps due lack of mobility (wven with Traveler runes). So nerf it hard: it won't be used at MATs, anyway (the Vindicator, don't touch my kitten Herald!).

Nerfing specs that have fun mechanics and perform well won't magically make me jump in the wagon of a spec that is not fun even if they enhance their performances. Some of the new specs not only have to deal with problems of lack of performance and/or lack of imaginative new mechanics, but also with massive tradeoffs: play a Guardian without virtues, a Warrior without weapon swap, a Revenant with a single evade (which costs x2 endurance), a Mesmer without clones, etc... I guess ANet is currently brainstorming a Thief without stealth and steal for the next expansion...

Of the new? Specter. But don't expect to be on the same level as older specs. Not yet, at least.

Usually I'm suspicious about posters with a single post, but I'll bite the bait. Replace your build with this one: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUZldQMsGqj5QcsHyj9RksAigju1/TF-zRRYkBbGVvSJzQt3oqjEIkCQ4Dg4agHjf0AiPNA-e You can replace Shiro + Jalis with Kalla + Mallyx (more damage, worse survability) and also going mace + axe instead of staff (not needed, tho), or go more tankier changing Corruption by Retribution 1,3,3. Anyway: Nighmare runes are way stronger than Tormenting in terms of damage (Tormenting are better you always camp in mace, the short bow favours Nightmare), and now that the sustain of the later have been reduced no reason to not go for more dps.

The best condi build for the whole (PvE) game is condi Renegade. Looks something like this: For pure raw damage (while still having amazing sustain): short bow +mace & axe, Renegade (2,2,2), Corruption (1,3,1) and Devastation (3,3,3) traitlines, Nightmare runes, Malice and Bursting sigils. Full viper stats (or mixed a bit with trailblazer or dire if needed). Mallyx and Kalla legends. Lord Hizen uses a similar build and soloed almost every legendary bounty, world boss or fractal/raid boss in the game with it (you have at least three videos of them doing all those stuff): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmwAUlflhQLsIajJRaMIKjBSjMBygj+1/LF-zRJYkRNfZUaJ0RG49BIc9wrBEfaA-e The main difference is that He runs full trailblazer and tormenting runes, to maximize sustain at the cost of killing speed (still, his build kills faster than any burn firabrand build). Now, since the tormenting runes have been nerfed if you're seeking similar sustain probably full celestial is a better choice, since you can reach from 80% to 100% permanent regeneration depending on your sigils and food choices. My personal choice for PvE looks like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUZldQMsGqj5QcsHyj9RksAigju1/TF-zRRYkBbGVvSJzQt3oqjEIkCQ4Dg4agHjf0AiPNA-e I do prefer Nightmare runes over Tormenting ones and Shiro + Jalis over Kalla + Mallyx; the main reason is that just replacing Corruption 1,3,1 with Retribution 1,3,3 and changing in Kalla "Blood Fury" with "Ashen Demeanor" the build works perfectly in WvW roaming (and I run a very similar build in PvP when I chose a Renebow, but with power stats instead): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUZlxQHMPqh1ROMO6hRSfMCKgl+1/LF-zZIPlMlA9KECYEUyCQDDA I still have to check the range of the nerf of the tormenting runes in the game; I only use that ones in two builds: a PvE based condition Herald (full trailblazer) which kills slower than Renegade but is way more tankier and a WvW condition Herald (full trailblazer) which uses hydromancy and venom sigils + Invoking Torment as the main mechanic to inflict conditions in the weapon and legend swaps. That later build is a bit slower but extremely strong in small skirmishes, but after the nerf in the sigil activations and condition runes probably the condi Renegade remains stronger for both PvE and WvW, since the runes are stronger and the sustain depends mostly on positioning, so reducing the life siphoning does very little to hurt his sustain. The main nerf was instead the reduced range of Forced Engagement, since Renebow performs the best at 700-900 range and the reduction of FE to 600 is silly for non mele builds. And for mele builds also: If I want to fight at mele I chose power Herald, and would never replace Glint + Shiro for Jalis in that build. So: condi Renegade, with Nightmare runes, short bow, viper stats, with either Kalla + Mallyx and Corruption for max damage or Shiro + Jalis and Retribution for survability and all purpose build (PvE, WvW, PvP). Still the best OW builds in the game, bar nothing.

Runes are probably abandoned content now. At the beginning they were few but powerfull and some builds used to wield 4+2 and even 2+2+ 2 combos. Then ANet though that transferring most of their power to the last rune favoured standarization and prevented OP combos (and creativity). Then ANet though that runes and sigils shouldn't have a definig nature or long lasting impact, so nerfed them in terms of power (moving stats to the gear in the form of expertise and concentration, as example). That didn't affect Trapper runes, anyway (wink, wink). Then they though that the meta still had "too variety" so they nuked tons of them from PvP (having to return the gold they cost in the procces). So, why to spent time developing runes that shouldn't be impactful? You already have Scholar for power damage and Nigthmare for condi, plus Monk or Water for support. Happens the same in every game mode: half of a dozen of runes totally fill the best in slot requirement; the 90% of the remaining are unused except when someone finds out a broken use which gets nuked ASAP. Disclaimer: I'm not defending that way of thinking, just describing why ANet does what he does.

Wait a minute… Now that you said it, I remember that a few years ago (2018) Arenanet took the decisión of nerfing Phase Traversal, so the skill didn’t work if its use didn’t hit a target in WvW and PvP. The change was unfair, due they didn’t aply the nerf to any other of the similar teleporting skills of any class, including Guardian’s Judge’s Intervention, and the outrage in the forums was so high that they entirely reverted the change in less than A WEEK, without giving any further explanation. Now I’m wondering if the Phantom’s Onslaught inability to deliver the 900 unit range is really a bug due the coding changes in Phase Traversal or a retaliation towards the community. I fis the former, the Revenant truly honors his fame of being able to travel in the mist… And invoke code lines from the past, lol!

For anythink PvE related I would run a condi Soulbeast build like this from Lord Hizen: For PvP or WvW roaming my choice would be either a power build with longbow and greatsword or a condition build with short bow and dagger, albeit I've seen hybrid variants of both working really well. There's some guides in meta battle and tutorials on Youtube. I don't main Ranger, tho. But is what I would make my main if medium armor professions were my favs.

So ditching Vindicator instantly improves your build! You halve your dodge cost, can stack up to two of them and get Ancient Echo. And you gain an entire usable traitline, and fix the needof buying the solution for a problem which you didn't have.

Oh boy, we already known it, and we all suspected that they would fix nothing, but here we are: Aparently ANet missed that chapter of Sesame Street with Doku. So please: CHANGE the tooltip to "Range: 450". I'm not asking a buff (because in a few years you'll say "oooh, was a bug, anyway, never intended this skill to reach 900"), but a simple tooltip correction. The skill HAS 450 range. Put that in the description. Don't lie players, and don't waste another 5 months fixing nothing.

I entirely agree. I play Mallyx only in PvE, but most of my time is spent in PvP and WvW running either power Herald or power or condi Renegade builds, with none of them using Vebtari or Mallyx. And yes, I also miss the early days in which the Revenant was a fast paced class with quickness access, lower energy costs, high damage and skills and weapon attacks which weren't crippled with roots, huge casting animations of attacks which deal no damage or useless weapons.

But Alliance is worse than Mallyx, which after the stacked nerfs is in a very bad spot since provides almost no sustain ant it energy cost are insane on the look of how barely deals any damage (outside activating the elite, which drains your energy in a pace which roots you in auto attacks!).

From the three ones you're invested into my advice would be focus on the Ranger. The Ranger is a very mobile class with access to stealth and extremely good roaming builds in both WvW and PvP in either power or condition variants; It has also a very good open world PvE builds which can edure a ton of punish and deliver very high damage to both single targets and AoE. It can be played entirely at range, only mele or in a mix of both. Has also one of the best healing builds in the game, the Druid spec. You can benefit for having a pet to tank or entirely ditch the pet with the Soulbeast spec, merging the stats of your character and his pet. The only drawback of Ranger is that isn't as great in WvW zergs. Compared to the Thief, Thief is meta PvP but only due is even more mobile, a Ranger can do well the Thief role. In WvW roaming both are exceptional. In PvE Thief isn't as great due most of its damage is single target, and his playstile is harder, and the class is a lot more frail. Compared to the Warrior the Ranger has more variety of viable builds and is WAY better fighting at range.

I would would you to take a look at For Honor, Diablo III, Path of Exile or Mortal Kombat games to check the validity of that reasoning in those "eastern games". Oh, but they aren't MMOs, you got me! Ok, then let's compare Vindicator weapon animations with the weapon animations of another class from another western MMO: the Bladesworn. Now check again the internal coherence of your argument. Bladesworn. Vindicator. Bladesworn. Vindicator. One has flashy and unique animations which look over the top. The other has recicled animations from previous classes with toned down fx (albeit I must admit that I love the sounds). Same can be said with the Firebrand or Mirage skills. "Animations aren't important" Oh, for sure there are things that are more important, which isn't what is being discused in this thread. I think that Vidicator has poor lore integration and is badly designed in terms of visuals and mechanics. They should have gone with the Balthazar path, but since it was discarded, and they won't give use floating greatsword animations, ANet should try at least to not make look that you're invoking the powers of a ranger and a reaper from the mist.