cat.8975

When you use any of the virtues, you get a temporary (6s by default in PvE) buff that will proc burns/heals/aegis+stab every 5th strike you land on your targets. The Permeating Wrath trait in Virtues will decrease the F1 burns to every third hit, along with making them AoE. Example: You press F3 and hit your enemies 22 times within those 6 seconds. You'll have gained aegis and stability once with the initial cast, and then 4 more times (22 / 5 = 4.4 = 4) throughout the duration. You can pull off some crazy healing with the F2 this way, and I've noticed myself getting up to 12+ stacks of stability in PvE a couple of times with the F3. They're pretty great skills, though the split cooldowns in PvP/WvW are unnecessary IMO. (By default, these skills are sort of split across the gamemodes due to how much easier it is to hit things in PvE for the procs.)

This is demonstrably false.

Because when it comes to group content, there are plenty of players that wont let you join their group if your build isn't "good enough" for their standards. I've pugged fractals on core condi and dh condi plenty of times in the past and got flamed/kicked for it every so often. If those builds were brought up to a more competitive level with the existing ones, that wouldn't happen.

More builds = more ways for players to enjoy the game

WB has already made those compromises with how glassy the spec is relative to the core/dh/fb. I've never had a harder time playing a condi build in fractals than I have had with WB, and I've tried to play condi on the other three. Its distinctly aggressive playstyle separates it from the rest.

If we're talking PvE, it's already perfectly viable. If they change LT to affect condis, then a hybrid build would be great too. Off-hand sword and the kick util could use some tweaks, but otherwise this spec is perfectly serviceable in PvE. As far as PvP/WvW go, I think most of the issues stem from them being a little too conservative with the numbers (many of the skills have longer cooldowns/shorter effects in those gamemodes atm).

Build variety is always a good thing. It's great when you can squeeze 3-4 builds out of a single spec that are competitive with the existing ones in the metagame. It's especially good when they have unique playstyle differences.

This is verifiably false if you spend a little time at the golem. I've been able to push ~34k on condi WB while struggling to break 32k on core.

You need a target in order for the second part of the skill to go off, including the whirl finisher.

It's not nearly as bad as you describe, but I'd also like to see LT work on conditions. I've managed to get around ~34k in a "hybrid" grieving+flame legion setup, and if LT was changed it'd push it up to around ~39k. Would fit in nicely with existing PvE builds considering how much more punishing it is to play than existing guardian builds. Virtues is better than Zeal for condi builds now. Try Radiance 221, Virtues 311, WB 222, with Whirling Light + Purging Flames + Signet of Wrath. Sw/T + GS

The delay between the dash on the f1 (Rushing Justice) and Willbender Flames coming out could probably be shortened a tad. It's incredibly easy to accidentally interrupt the flames and miss out on those extra hits to proc the "passive". Is it possible to remove aftercasts from skills? If so, Rushing Justice could definitely use that, and the followup WBF could be sped up a bit so it doesn't feel so clunky/weak.

Just burst them harder, WB is more than capable of "stunlocking" hydras with burst damage. https://streamable.com/1g0iix Edit: have another, this time without using quickness https://streamable.com/fh7ob3

I only disagreed with changing Inspiring Virtue, as it's in the Virtues line and would be a buff to Firebrand. All condi wb needs is Lethal Tempo and it should fall in the 36-38k range. Edit: After further refinement, it seems LT would push it closer to 38-40k. Still perfectly acceptable for such a selfish, glassy spec.

We don't need Inspiring Virtue to work on condis, but Lethal Tempo would put a condi wb build right in the "viable" range (when compared to existing specs).

It's not bad for instanced PvE, and with a handful of tweaks, it could be very good. Some of the utils, the f2, and the numbers on the traits need looking at, but I don't think it's far off from being a great spec.

There are so many viable and good guardian builds at the moment, and WB will add even more. There's never been a better time to play this class lol

If the alacrity from Phoenix Protocol can't be shared, I don't see that trait being taken in any gamemode. Nerfing your f2 to get some alacrity in wvw/pvp seems like a bad move, and nothing is going to trump the damage increase of Tyrant's Momentum in PvE.

It'd be nice if Whirling Light gave superspeed and maybe allowed free movement, rather than going in a straight line/sticking to your current target. It feels pretty unwieldy to use in PvE at the moment, and I imagine it being even worse in PvP scenarios. The animation also seems to interrupt 2-3 times during the cast (with and without quickness), so it doesn't *feel* as smooth as it could. This doesn't really effect the viability of it, but it could certainly feel better.

Heaven's Palm needs a massive damage increase for PvE (it's going to do no damage in PvP/WvW anyway). Increase the coefficient from 1.0 to like... 4.0 and add some burning (3 stacks of 5s base? idk). Make the elite feel like an elite, not just a worse version of bane signet. It'd be nice if Lethal Tempo's damage bonus applied to conditions, as it'd open up the opportunity for a condi wb build to exist in PvE. The playerbase usually loves the idea of "hybrid" builds that utilize the grieving stat set, and guardian players have been asking for years about the viability of flame legion runes. If this trait worked on condis, it'd likely "bench" in the 37-38k dps range, and would be perfectly acceptable once you consider just how much glassier it is relative to Dragonhunter and Firebrand builds. You're giving up 240 toughness, 10% max hp (balth runes to flame legion), tomes, aegis mantra, etc. to play a damage spec that is actively punished for using its f2 and f3 virtues. I'd say the 15/25% applying to condis would be more than fair at that point.

The stacks now belong to your allies, giving them the burns (and using their condition damage stats). This is a pretty hefty nerf, and even if it's intended, I'd rather the skill be reworked entirely at this point. Having a skill whose damage is entirely dependent on what your allies are running heavily restricts where you can run the build. Is it still viable in power comps? Sure. Are you going to feel like a huge idiot for running it with power comps instead of condi? You bet. Edit: Keep in mind this is the exact reason they changed thief venoms in 2014 to use the thief's condi stats instead of their allies. Feels like a big step backwards.

While I'm fine with GS being a power weapon, I do wish at least one of the core weapons was condi-oriented. Maybe it's time for a scepter rework.

They said they fixed it, but it's still broken. The fix either wasn't applied in this update, or is bugged and not working.

The cast time wasn't changed, so that doesn't matter. The skill does precisely 1/6th less damage after the patch.

If two guards cast it, the first to cast still gets ownership of every burn stack.

There are only a handful of places in the CM fractals where you'll get those resets. ai dark phase (cc adds), artsariiv (add that spawns the bubble), arkk, and mama, and you're usually better off playing power for those fights (excluding ai). PW is definitely strong against trash, but there are only 3(?) bosses in fotm where this is relevant. Trash usually dies almost instantly anyway. (Siren's is definitely the big outlier where PW really shines.)