Kuya.6495

I personally prefer sword/torch and scepter since regardless of whether you are on sword or scepter you always have torch on to use when it procs torch 4. Also torch 5 is also multi hit which is good for wb.

I did some testing and with about 40% boon duration you can keep perma alacrity on a group. Problem is that it's a tight window. I used full ritualist armor with zerker trinkets and weapons and food with boon duration. I switched to strike damage since I found it impossible to make condi alac willbender work. Doing strike damage was easier since I only needed to worry about using f2. I took strike damage willbender to the aetherblade hideout strike and found that in order to keep close to 100% boon duration on the squad, i couldn't focus on a dps rotation and had to desperately use f2, quickly reposition using a port or a leap and then quickly drop multi hit skills such as symbols and whirling light to make sure alacrity stayed up. My dps was abysmal. I really hope they change f2 to just be a port or a stationary evade because using f2 and then having to reposition is just too much especially if the boss moves a lot. I almost wish they'd just put the alacrity on f3 and raise the base duration because you'd only have to worry to do as many strikes as possible during f3 and once that's over with you can focus on your dps until f3 is back up. This rotation would also synergize with unscathed contender in virtues trait lines. And since f3 is a port, you don't have to worry about the boss moving or you being out of position so much. Orrrr, increase the radius of f3 and make just standing inside the circle give alacrity so I don't have to have a heart attack about keeping alacrity up while doing dps while doing mechanics. A big reason why you're not going to take a willbender for alacrity is because it can't give alacrity if it can't hit the boss and bosses tend to have invulnerability phases or moments where you can't be near the boss due to mechanics. While we're at it. Make willbender flames cover an area like a carpet. F1 should be a full triangle, f2 a large chunky square and f3 should be a full fiery circle. It would fix the issues in pvp with virtues proc.

The elite skill seems designed for pvp in mind since you do want to knock down your main target and knock back everything else in pvp. But the windup is so long and the range of the skill is so short that you have to use it right in front of the enemy which is very bad for pvp.

I have also found condi willbender fun to play in pve. Especially open world. Sustain is good thanks to how the virtues work when you're cleaving multiple targets, and the purging flames+whirling light combo is also very smooth and satisfying. I dps tested the build and the damage is on par (possibly better?) With condi firebrand. My only problem with the spec right now is that alacrity willbender is frustrating to play and I haven't figured out how to do good dps and maintain alacrity for a group. Condi willbender doesn't seem good with alacrity share since you give up permeating wrath for battle presence and if you use f1 it overrides f2 alacrity. So I am trying it with diviners and using similar rotations as dh but I'm having a hard time regardless with uptime and dps. In pvp, well I haven't tried going to pvp since last beta. But from what I've heard willbender is still bad in pvp.

That's the problem though. On willbender in pvp you can't choose your engagements like a thf can. Since you lack the disengage invisible provides, you rely on your mobility and the mobility willbender has is only enough to outrun builds that have no swiftness, movement traits or ports of their own. That's my principle complaint about willbender in pvp. Not enough sustain to survive a bad match up and not enough disengage to outrun them either. So what can you do but die?

I agree on making f2 a blink or something. As it works right now it's so painful trying to use it to maintain alacrity for your group that it makes me hate playing alacrity willbender.

A bit early to say that? No? The expansion became available literally two days ago. People don't know how to use the classes yet and they haven't figured out what's broken or not. Give it about a month and then we'll find out. But to your credit they did design this round of elites to be specifically less bloated than the PoF ones.

Thanks! Any suggestions on the best rotation? I've been trying just purging flames>f1>whirling light>sword2>3>torch 5 and torch 4 whenever it's off cooldown. But the damage up buff from virtues means you want to keep activating a virtue even if f1 is not up. Do you then use f3 to trigger the traits unscathed contender (i noticed you don't use it tho) and inspiring virtues between f1 casts? Are there any skills you should only use during virtues to maximize dps?

So I've been playing willbender in open world and it's not bad IF you're fighting multiple enemies. But I have concerns about alacrity uptime and best condi dps rotation. For alacrity with using mostly ritualist gear (3 trinkets and 1 weapon are vipers) i can't seem to maintain perma alacrity. Does anyone know how much boon duration you'll need to have 100% uptime assuming you're always hitting the enemy? I think I have about 30% and that lets me keep alacrity up with about 3-5 seconds downtime. Also I have concerns about alacrity uptime even if you had 100% boon duration. You can't maintain it if you're not attacking the enemy but other alacrity providers such as spectre and renegade don't have this problem. So why would you bring a willbender who can't give you alacrity if he's doing mechanics? Can we get a response from a dev if this is something they're looking into? Now as for dps, anyone know what the best rotations, weapons and utilities are for condi dps willbender? I've been using purging flames, whirling light, signet of wrath and sword/torch. I presume you'd want to take permeating wrath if you're not doing alacrity.

Maybe this is why they didn't post patch notes for the new especs? They didn't change anything since last beta? It's pretty bad for guardians since willbender was the worst out of the lot. Sadge

Thank you for the clarification! But I think what I've heard CM fractal raiders say is that it feels like the reward for CMs are being nerfed with nothing to compensate. You just showed how there will be more mystic coins available for most players but not what other rewards might be added to fractal CMs to replace the loss of the mystic coins and to maintain the incentive in doing them daily. I appreciate that you at least let us know there are exclusive rewards to strike CMs (legendary insights). We did not know this previously.

You generally start seeing people get nasty in gold and above. Less so in legend. Gold is the worst. People in gold tend to think they're better than being in gold and a few people tend to lash out by blaming their teammates. People below gold tend to expect bad gameplay from themselves and their team and they chill out a little more. That's not to say you won't ever see a try hard in silver or bronze. Even in unranked you do still see every once in a blue moon someone raging for no discernable reason. So sometimes it does happen in bronze and silver.

I was agreeing with you.

To be fair, if you're running a build that is meant for side nodding, such as fire weaver, asking them to team fight instead isn't helpful either. That's like asking a d/p thf to stop decap/+1 and join team fights and then complain that the thf keeps dying from stray aoe damage. Sometimes there's just no way to win a match because the enemy team, overall, is just better than your team.

See? But this is the problem. If spvp toxicity is so bad that you need to turn off chat and go invisible to be able to enjoy it, then there is a serious problem here. Imagine having to wall yourself off from any form of communication to be able to enjoy a game mode. In a team game! We need more aggressive punishment and enforcement of rules against verbal abuse and "throwing" (afking at spawn to spite your team). Being able to talk to your team is important in 5v5 and if the toxic environment in pvp is preventing this then the toxic environment is something that requires a serious attempt to address it.

I hope no one debates this post because we literally saw streams of people accusing sindrener of being the worst thf ever because they lost the game. And let's be clear. This behavior is human nature. When you can't control a situation, some people lash out at whatever their brain picks at first. The only way to solve this? Stricter enforcement of rules over verbal abuse and throwing. The moment you send a toxic message in teamchat or afk at spawn you should get at least a 6 hour ban within the same day with repeat offenses seeing your account permabanned.

I think anet just needs stricter punishments for toxicity in chat. Like dishing out bans within 24 hours of you flaming your teammates in a match. You should get at least a 6 hour ban even if it is your first time being toxic. Once players are afraid of even saying your teammate smells weird maybe people won't find a need to block team chat in pvp anymore. Perhaps then people will actually use chat to communicate instead of just flaming your teammates because you have poor emotional control.

In my experience it is the number 1 reason why players who are new to pvp don't want to come back. Or if they haven't even tried it yet, they are told by their friends and guild mates about how bad the pvp community and stay away. But the game mode needs new players to survive and more players makes matchmaking more accurate. Anet tried to fix this by making pvp more rewarding and it has enticed some pve players to try pvp but the general response i get from them is: "i play ranked to get my rewards and get out as soon as possible because pvp is toxic". The average gw2 player doesn't understand that necro is kitten in pvp (they probably think firebrand is broken in pvp like it is in pve).What they do understand is you calling them trash and accusing them of throwing within 60 seconds of match start.

Whenever I ask my guild members about trying pvp the general responses I get: 1. From those who haven't tried it: they think they will be bad at it 2. From those who tried it: they don't want to go back because of consistent bad experiences with other players. Most of the people in this forum are pvp regulars so they complain mostly about matchmaking and balance but the real thing that will grow the game mode is new players and the pvp community (it's not much of a community honestly as there is no incentive to cooperate and be constructive) in this game consistently drives new players away. I am starting to think Anet should be more aggressive in punishing hostile behavior in GW2 like the mods do in FFXIV.

My intention really isn't to have willbender replace thf. I dont think it can do that without access to similar disengage mechanic such as stealth which is what makes thf unique in its role. The intention is to turn willbender into a spec meant to chase down mobile targets and have a specific niche in preventing a decap thf from being unchallenged by anyone other than another thf. In fact, the reason why I dont think willbender sustain should be touched yet is because unlike thief, if you can catch a willbender and you use strike damage spikes, you are almost guaranteed to win the fight. So the obvious counter to an anti-stealth willbender is a power herald because guards rely on blocks for sustain and anything with unblockable strike damage is a massive pain for all guardian specs. Plus a herald rev will catch you and you have no way to get away like a thief would. If you don't think a rock paper scissors meta is good, that's fine. I agree a rock-paper-scissors meta isn't fun if you're up against your counter. I think a rock paper scissors meta is better however for team based combat and I think conquest is essentially about team comp. Almost every successful pvp game is based on classes who counter other classes. IE: league of legends and overwatch. The game already has situations where some builds counter others and I think that's fine. And if a guardian doesn't want to spend the whole match getting farmed by a power rev as willbender, they have the flexibility in this game to change to DH and core guard and perform a different role.

I dont think an aoe reveal would be necessary. A few classes already have aoe reveal and it doesn't really help them fight thieves because you'd have to know where the thief is to land it or be able to catch up to it to use it. I think it would be better to just put the reveal on willbender shadowsteps such as sword 5 or flash combo.

I agree completely. Even the thing the class is meant to do, mobility, isn't even good at all. Non mobile classes can catch up to you somehow. It's why I think aside from giving the spec access to on demand reveal, they need to at least up the distance on ports and dashes. As for the sustain, it's pretty bad and relies, once again, on meditations but I wanted to focus first on getting the spec to actually be able to kill something.

I recently saw a video where Teapot, Helseth and Rom were discussing pvp balance and the subject of thf came up and how nothing else really does what thf does and the only real counter to a thf as far as decap/+1 goes is a better thf. Why not just tweak willbender a little to be an effective thf counter? Right now willbender has some mobility to be able to catch up to thf (i feel it needs more tbh) but at this moment willbender is just a worse herald rev. Perhaps by raising the range on willbender ports and giving willbender access to revealed debuff (maybe on sword 5), willbender can be a good counter. This post isn't meant to say the problem with pvp right now is thf. It's just a discussion on balance and counters and making a bad elite (willbender) useful in pvp.

By the way, today's trailer is exactly what i wanted. Good job and thank you! Please do more like this!

Just change trapper runes to give protection or something instead of stealth and that solves DH being annoying. It will also make it so the only viable spec on guard is core support but there is still that meme core burn guard people can rely on too. Anyway the game has more pressing problems right now.