Nin.9853

I've been a thief main since launch and deadeye has been my favorite spec since the very first time i slotted it. most of my time is spent in open world pve, and Dual Daggers with Shortbow alt. is my preferreld pve set for general play. This build has always worked well for me and provided outstanding survivability and very respectable sustained dps without demanding a high skill level. [&DQUsJyM7OhmFAIUAWQEzASAXIBdbAVsBKAAoAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACLwBrAAA=] Open every encounter with Deadeye's Mark to instantly grant yourself Fury, Might, Swiftness, and Vigor, plus additional stolen boons provided your target has any up. Pop Thieves Guild in any fight you're outnumbered or want the extra dps/meat shields . Every strike you land will heal you, with critical strikes healing for much more. Every time you kill a marked target you'll refund 20% of your heal, utility, and elite cooldowns. Magnificent Seven will provide a wide array of boons as you spam out your initiative skills on daggers or shortbow virtually unhindered by initiative costs thanks to the initiative refund provided by Magnificent Seven each time you reach max malice. The game then becomes a fast paced cycle of mark target, build malice, stealth, stealth attack, repeat. The weapon set provides an excellent blend of utility in each kit: -fast, easy access to stealth from Dagger 5, Stolen Skills at 5+ malice(don't waste these until you're at max malice if possible to avoid missing out of the boons and initiative refund from magnificent Seven) and using Dagger 2 or Shortbow 2 inside Smoke Screen for the stealth combo. -high mobility from dagger 2 and shortbow 5 for closing the distance in fights or quick escapes from dicey situations -evasion on dagger 3 and shadowstep on shortbow 5 allow you to escape or dodge otherwise dangerous hits from champs and other boss-like enemies -Break bar damage from daze on application of deadeye's mark and chaining shortbow 4 to interrupt entire groups -Stun Breaks on both Haste and Mercy(which will become an ammo skill with the march 19th patch) for when you do happen to catch CC. -Smoke Screen provides 7s of projectile defense as well as pulsing blinds to defend against melee attackers, as well as serving as a smoke field for stealth and blind combos -Invigorating Precision and Signet of Malice provide a TON of passive healing from just spamming out your weapon skills in any situation. For the fastest spike healing you can spam dagger 4 and shortbow 2/4 on the core of groups for maximum strikes/heals on hit, Striking marked targets with 7 malice and Backstab will also provide a strong heal on a very short cooldown thanks to Invigorating Precision. -Mercy serves as a stun break as well as a way to reset the cooldown on Deadeye's Mark should you every need to change your marked target or even purge your malice in a situation where stealth/stealth attack isn't an option (rare but it does happen). With just a little practice and focus on your marked targets you can easily reach a point in most group encounters where Payback and Magnificent 7 Allow you to maintain Permanent uptime on Thieves guild, and several essential boons, Fury, Might, Swiftness, Quickness, Vigor, Regen, and Protection. There are Dozens of synergies within this build to discover and take advantage of and several pieces that can be mixed and matched depending on the situation. For instance; consider replacing Shortbow with dual Pistols and Practiced Tolerence with Deadly Aim for more much higher and focused ranged dps and infinite initiative via Unload + Magnificent 7 For single enemy encounters like strikes or world bosses you can swap Magnificent 7 and Haste with Fire For Effect and Signet of/Roll for Initiative to provide AoE Quickness to your allies and Thieves Guild with another elite like Basilisk Venom for AoE CC For More AoE dps at the cost of slower malice generation consider taking Collateral Damage over Malicious Intent. i'd go on but this post is already much longer than intended. feel free to reach out to me In game for a live demo or any questions you may have and prepare to enjoy Open world Deadeye like you never have before.

Your point is to let the revenant have its own identity… their core design of swapping legends/roles on the fly makes them a walking Identity Crisis.. the vision for a Guild Wars 2 Ritualist outlined by OP and expanded upon by myself is just one more identity. And far from the same niche that Renegade seeks to fill. My revised format for Ritualist Traits/utilities offers much more than my favorite build. It lends itself well to almost any play style, even expanding on some that are currently lackluster or just clunky to play like heal/support Rev by incorporating the supportive GS trait and GM ‘Soothing’ trait to modify Utility #3 into a much more supportive ability.. Ritualist, much like Revenant thrives because of its versatility. The Ritualist spec as a whole with Traits, GS, profession Skills, and Togo Legend utilities will definitely have its own feel, that of an energy abundant, mid-long range support or nuker depending on various chosen traits. However, each component on its own also serves to compliment other play styles just as we’ve seen each herald and renegade do already. The various combinations of Revenant components, their distinct legends, variety of weapons, and wide array of specialized traits are the stuff of buildcraft dreams despite utilities being locked in for each legend. There is no weapon or legend on core Rev that doesn’t stand to benefit from one or more of the elements of the proposed Ritualist., by that same token, each core legend stands to further enhance the various elements this New Ritualist would include.

TL:DR. OP. Is driving in the right direction. Renegade is NOT the Ritualist reborn. A revised Guild Wars 2 Rit could bring more to the Revenant and the game as a whole than moist people seem to realize and Revenant might be the best platform for it. OP’s vision for a true revival of the Ritualist in Guild Wars 2 is truly excellent. The anti-Rit community can dismiss the subject claiming Kalla is the revised ritualist and carry on with their frustration over the continued pro-ritualist sentiment but they fail to see one fundamental truth, despite any parallels they draw between Kalla and the Ritualist of Gw1(based largely on the flimsy platform of “Kalla has ‘spirits’. Sprits=Ritualist”) the Pro-Ritualist push continues. Is this because the Pro-Rit community is never going to be satisfied? No. Its because Kalla and Renegade as a whole falls woefully short of embracing the most dynamic and beloved aspects of Gw1 Ritualist gameplay. True, Spirit Spamming was what many, many, Ritualists of the day were known for, it was a simple, user-friendly, utterly broken play style for many years and many casual ritualists never moved beyond this to explore the deeper elements of the Ritualist (and that’s ok. Gimmick builds that define the meta game continue to be widely used to this day for a reason, they work). However, Ritualist mains and build rafters alike know how much more the Ritualist had to offer and how much it can bring to Guild Wars 2. —Destruction(F2) could flip over to a skill that destroys the spirit on command, much like detonating an engineer turret Or blowing up a bone minion. Add an adept trait to also make this manual detonation summon the spirit to your location BEFORE destroying it to better compliment melee play styles OP’s idea for shifting the Spirit summoned with F4 based on Active Legend is truly inspired and akin to carefully selecting only the spirits that best complimented your gw1 Ritualist build and the role it was designed for. As each legend leans into a specific role the available spirit summon SHOULD compliment that role. We saw this same principle with the changes to Facet of Nature’s Upkeep skill on Herald. As for the utility skills, the heal is simple, effective, and fits within the theme of the legend. par for the course with Revenant —Spirit burn could add additional burning or even more conditions based on the number of spirits in range of the caster with a minor trait to change this to ‘within X range of target for’ to allow for a drastic change in how the skill is best used. —Essence Strike is another stroke of genius as Energy management tools are always in high demand for Rev and this could easily make Togo(rit) stance feel more fluid and lend itself to both a rapid ‘caster’ play style with ranged GS or Hammer as well as a more aggressive melee spec with any existing one handed combo. Adding a stun break conditional on a spirit being in range also gives this ability more tactical flair and counterplay — Rage of the Dragon Empire. Love the premise, perhaps tweak the damage/barrier application based on whether a spirit is nearby or not, pushing the core mechanic of keeping spirit(s) in close proximity. A ‘Soothing’ GM trait could replace the damage with pulsing protection and share the barrier/boons to allies, Perhaps changing the utility name to something like ‘Wisdom of the Dragon Empire’ for those who opt into support roles. The Elite. Again, I love the built in energy management, this simple skill leaves room for more augmentation via traits as well, Perhaps a GM trait to apply self-alacrity as well as restoring energy for more rapid casting/attacking on shorter CDs appealing to more Selfish builds ranged and melee alike. The cost being a greater sacrifice of 20-25% max hp if no spirit is in range. Again offering more counterplay. where spirits are concerned, treating them like most summoned allies (they take reduced splash damage when not directly targeted) could create a more pronounced form of counterplay that focuses on targeting a Ritualists Spirits to weaken the Ritualist overall, in contrast to the current state of the game where summoned Allies of other professions/specs are often ignored by enemies, NPC and player alike. As for Greatsword, Rev already has devastating Melee options for both power and condi,, what more can you really ask for from a melee GS? More PBAoE? It can be easily built in to the profession skills and utilities as seen above, Another ranged weapon simply makes more sense, to compliment a long-ranged Caster playstyle, which is completely optional and can be further reinforced with the proper traits as well. Hammer is a good ranges weapon, no argument but GS could make an excellent alternative or compliment to it by providing a wider array of both single target and targeted AoE abilities. With this in mind, and to preserve OP’s Weapon spell theme; Skill #1 should be a chain attack >1a) Brutal Weapon- 900 range. Strike target. apply vulnerability 1x(3s) if a spirit is in range. >1b) Sundering Weapon- 1200 range. Strike target and apply Vulnerability 2x(3s). This attack pierces and strikes up to 5 foes if a spirit is in range. >1c) Splinter Weapon- 900 range. Strike target and up to 4 nearby foes (300 radius). Applies Torment 1x(4s) and Vulnerability 3x(3s) if a spirit is in range. #2 Spirit Rift- 1200 range. 8 energy. 5s Cd Open a rift at target location, after a delay(1.5s) foes in the area are struck for heavy damage. Applies torment and Vulnerability 5x(5s) on strike if a spirit is in range #3 Spirit Boon Strike- 900 range 10 energy. 8s cd. Strike your target dealing moderate damage. If this attack hits nearby spirits are healed for 25% and gain Protection and Resolution(3s). If a spirit is healed in this way, this skill is disabled for an additional 4s #4 Two phase skill. >4a)Binding Chains- 900 range. 15 energy. 15s cd. Hurl chains at up to 3 foes in front on you dealing moderate damage. struck foes suffer pulsing torment and cripple for the duration(6s).ends on target if that target exceeds range threshold(1200) Up to 5 foes if a spirit is in range. >4b) Earthbind- 1200 range. 5 energy. 15s cd. foes under the effect of Binding Chains are immobilized(2s) applies 5x vulnerability(5s). Foes are instead knocked down(1s) and suffer 10x vulnerability(5s) if a spirit is in range. #5a) Shelter- 20 energy. 18s Cd. Surround yourself in a protective field blocking incoming attacks(2s). If an attack is blocked gain access to Vengeful Weapon for 5 seconds) >5b) Vengeful Weapon. 300 radius. 5 energy. 0s cd. Lash out at up to 5 nearby foes dealing moderate damage removing 1 boon and applying Daze(1.5s) Torment 2x(6s) and Vulnerability 5x(10s). Radius increased to 450 and remove 2 boons from each struck foe of a spirit is nearby.(skill becomes unavailable after use until Shelter is used to block an attack again. In this way, much of the “Caster” weight of the Ritualist is Shifted to the Weapon, making it a powerful Ranged Threat but keeping the legend and its multi-faceted utility intact regardless of weapon/range preference. A Major trait would add a small splash healing component to OTHER allies when striking a target with a GS skill. Proper scaling from Healing Power would allow GS to become a powerful healing tool for your allies, especially those engaged in the middle of the Fray. The rest of the traits would serve to greater define the Ritualist’s ability to function as either ranged or Melee dps,(with provisions for condi or power respective to the traits or support as an counterpart to Ventari with a stronger Ranged Healer feel than Staff Ventari currently offers. The supportive traits could even come with a reduction to toughness to bring it more in line with a light armor healer EDIT: to anyone wondering about the inconsistencies in range for the GS, the fundamental idea is to be able to place your spirits with what I imagine to be a ‘nearby’ radius of 600(for both the purposes of AoE effects and counting as ‘in range of a spirit’ and a projectile range of 1200 to be placed at a slight distance behind the Ritualist/away from the action before/during an engagement and the 900 range GS auto-attack would place you firmly between your spirits and your foe when wielding GS, allowing you to maximize the effect of both your GS and utility skills while not creating too large of a gap when swapping to hammer or your melee set of choice.

Id like to see an Elite Spec Built around ONLY using 2 ELEMENTS at a time. Utilizing a system similar to the Revenant 2-legend system. -F1 would swap between both pre-selected attunements, Changing the skills available based on your attunement and current weapon set. SLOTTED ELEMENTS CAN ONLY BE CHANGED OUTSIDE COMBAT the same as revenant legends can(though in general you'd focus on the two elements that your gear/traits worked best with) Limited attunement access would allow ele to WEAPON SWAP IN COMBAT to maintain their standard pool of 20 available weapon skills. This dramatic change to potential combinations of existing weapon skills would add new flavor to the ele by emphasizing DYNAMIC CHANGE TO ATTACK RANGE when weapon swapping, and LEAN HEAVILY INTO THE THEMES OF EACH ELEMENT. --More potent Power and Condi builds from Fire Magic --More Healing and Snares from Water Magic --More Control, Mobility, and Power Damage from Air Magic -- More Bleeding, Soft CC(Blind, Cripple, Immob), and Defensive utility from Earth Magic --Greater access to Combo fields with the most build synergy the rest are just ideas, the core mechanics above are what i really want to see in the new Espec. WEAPON-Main hand PISTOL --600 range Mid-Short range, 3 Hit- Auto attack Chain, rather than firing munitions the ele would channel the elements through the pistol, allowing for a wide variety of spells and effects. Example spell types: --Bursts of Fire in a wide cone, Napalm like Lava bombs with combo fields --Water Bombs with 'Spash' healing/damage application or icy bullets to interrupt and chill --Focused high powered multi-hit Lightning strike, Air Bursts for AoE Launch or KB CC, Intense lightning muzzle flash to blind/stun --Rapid Fire Stone/Obsidian shards to damage/bleed, Mud shot to slow/cripple foes Possible Pistol Trait could add Piercing or 100% finisher chance to projectile attacks when target is suffering element-specific condition UTILITY: PREPARATIONS a relatively new utility type currently only used by Thieves, preparations can provide the ambush feel of Trap skills and/or the AoE benefits and utility of Wells/Concecrations and provide a flavor similar to the gw1 Ward skills the Elementalists of Tyria seems to have forgotten. For non-thief players unfamiliar to with the skill type; Preparations are placed your current location when activated and after a couple seconds are armed and ready for activation. Activating an armed preparation applies an AoE effect to the initial location. --Heal/Stun Break: Hot Spring--Raises a Geyser that pulses healing to allies and cleanses all movement impairing conditions and 1 additional- Large Cooldown, best suited for group play --Utility 1) Blizzard--Initial AoE damage, pulses Revealed on Chilled Foes. Final Pulse applies Chill --Utility 2) Searing Heat--Pulsing AoE damage, More Dmg vs Burning foes, apply burning on FINAL pulse --Utility 3) Invoke Lightning-- Call down a single devestating lightning strike, heavy AoE damage to enemies in the area, applies Weakness and 15x vulnerability, foes who are already Weakened are knocked down --Utility 4) Earthen Shackles--Immobilize enemies in the area, Copy the boons of effected foes(with the new boon duration limits this doesn't seam unreasonable and it does provide more counterplay for boon removal/corruption builds. --Elite: Ward Against Harm--Pulsing Stability + Protection + Resolutionon allies. Destroys Projectiles and pulses Blind to enemies While some of these utilities may seem overpowered at first glance it's important to remember that Preparations require an Arming time before they can be activated, Preparations are FIXED in a predetermined location, cooldowns can be used to balance quite effectively. to make the best of these utilities an Players will need to pay very close attention to their positioning while also juggling large, often complicated skill rotations. Balance can also be split for pve/pvp/wvw. Thanks to those of you who made it to the bottom of this. Specialization name and Trait suggestions would be appreciated. best i can come up with is Weathersmith. Or Forecast

Love the application of the Ammo system to this skill to allow for ramping up to the specified summon cap faster. A cap of 3 lesser elementals (possibly increased to 4 if using the "Inscription" trait) sounds reasonable and could be split for pve/wvw/pvp if balancing becomes to tedious (it shouldn't since AI isn't as reliable in pvp/wvw). Both of these changes would make for excellent QoL and appeal to more casual PvE Elementalist players who enjoy the "Summoner" aesthetic. with so many new players rushing to get their first mount very early on, penalizing them for mounting by destroying their elementals for no real reason (as far as I can see) can understandably turn players away from an otherwise very cool skill. and we already have clunky conjured weapons to handle that.

As a PvE Thief main and (gw1) Assassin before that, I often find myself compelled to play other, less "selfish", classes in team play to maximize what I have to offer a group simply because thief brings very little to the table where support is concerned. Yes, is some situations thief mobility/stealth makes them an ideal choice to circumvent various mechanics in dungeons. fractals, and raids to a lesser extent, but this is not my idea of support. Yes properly traited DE can pump out a stream of potent/long lasting offensive boons to their allies, but Might, Fury, and Swiftness are so readily available from every other class, often without needing to frame a whole build around their mass application. The Thief's limited healing potential relies heavily on applying stealth to allies, which is often removed immediately in combat as players frantically spam their skills with little regard for secondary effects like stealth being applied to them, or even worse, if playing with a fellow thief or mirage, we can actively disrupt their rotations by forcing them into stealth at the wrong moment. Beyond stealth and the couple supportive traits associated with it, we have Leeching Venoms...the potency of which is laughable compared to the passive healing effects other professions are capable of. With the coming changes to thief Condi builds to bring them more in line with the Power builds, and the DD potential to tank, Support, in the form of Healing/Damage Mitigation seems like a logical direction to take thief with their next Elite Spec to round out what we bring to the table and add some much needed build diversity to thief, as well as help integrate the Thief into more Team builds as a viable support alternative. I'll spare you my personal ideas for how this should look and play, at this point, whatever we're getting is likely too far into development to change course anyway.

I honestly don't know if it's possible to kill Braham though I doubt it. Might have to try this.I've found it's relatively easy, both solo and in groups(CM or no), to pull, or lure, the Boss to the end of the bridge opposite the Destroyer portal early in the fight, keeping him far away from Braham and a large number of adds . Just a couple ranged attacks to get his attention and slowly back off toward the archway at the western end of the bridge. As an added bonus, if you've selected the Deldrimor Dwarves as your allied faction,(which is highly recommended) a barrel of their Alchemic Acid can be found just short distance from the Archway, making it very easy for players to keep a steady stream of thrown acid on the boss, even with how often he moves during the fight. If using this strategy it helps if your team tries to stay keep to the west side of the boss, to ensure his whirling attack doesn't send him back across the bridge toward more adds and Braham. though not essential, it will make for a much smoother fight. Note: Braham can be ignored for the duration of the fight. Concerning team composition: Heal/Quickbrand is recommended for damage mitigation via Aegis and increased team dps via Quickness.a Renegade or Chronomancer to provide party-wide Alacrity will also help improve group performance by lowering skill cooldowns allowing more frequent support anddps skill use.Scourge, traited for rapid, safer revival via the blood magic line can not only help mitigate damage party-wide via near-constant Barrier application but ensure that if any ally does go down (it happens, nobody is perfect) they're teleported to the scourge and back on their feet in record time. You can forget the waypoint even exists and with a constant stream of dps the boss is far less likely to return to the center of the bridge. Note--Support oriented gear is not recommended or needed for this only the blood magic trait line, freeing up the scourge to focus on dps and boon stripping with their remaining traits/equipmentBeyond these three suggestions, fill remaining slots with DPS builds. there is quite a long timer on this challenge mode so as long as you keep the boss away fromBraham you should have little trouble finishing in time and with minimal stress.

Please make this happen. As someone who plays multiple classes and hundreds of builds across them and who frequently swaps equipment and build templates within the same instance/run hotkeys for template swap are a godsend and their use has become a reflex at this point. However the generic "Activating Template" text after using a hotkey to swap leaves me with a lingering sense of doubt and anxiety that "maybe I fat-fingered the wrong key". Support for custom template names in place of this flavorless and vague text would eliminate this doubt completely and help foster a much more organic and immersive experience.