Sevenshot needs a nerf (WvW)

[LucianTheAngelic.7054]

25 minutes ago, ArthurDent.9538 said:

I've been thinking shining aspects should be reworked as its just a selfish survivability trait that directly competes with another selfish survivability trait in the same tier. Making it a selfish damage mod would make a more definitive choice between the shared empowerment support, the self sustain of hardening persistence, or the selfish damage of new trait. A roughly10% damage mod would be greatly appreciated there.

Yeah this would be absolutely the best choice to push the choice between "might & support" and "damage."  Mutually exclusive choices like "Draconic Echo" vs "forceful persistence" are definitely the way to go for the class, and having another choice like you say in the mid tier would be perfect

[Buran.3796]

18 hours ago, Blood Red Arachnid.2493 said:

Out of curiosity, is there a public build for WvW Renegades?  I wouldn't mind taking a rev back into there.  

   The roaming build for Renegades is mostly based in the PvP one, which essentially is a power Renegade build with shortbow and staff, Shiro and Jalis Retribution  1,3,3, Invocation 1,2,2 and Renegade 3,2,3 and either demolisher or berserk amulet (based on your tastes). In the past used the Runes of the Speed whereas after some nerfs people currently also runs Dolyak (or my favourite, Melandru). Sigils in PvP are the expented ones: energy, cleansing or escape for the staff and separation, explotation (maybe others) for the short bow.

   Now, that build has some sense in PvP: is focused on direct damage because premade teams usually deal quite well with condition damage and the stat points of the amulets are subpar for a condi focused Renegade (no viper, no grieving, no trailblazer or dire...). So in Conquest works well (albeit I run Retribution  1,3,3, Invocation 1,2,1 and Renegade 1,2,2 instead) but doesn't top power Herald due ranged attacks can be entirely negated if a pair of members of a conformed team chose to equip skills and traits to hardcounter ranged attackers. The rest of the plantif makes total sense: Shiro provides mobility, extra damage and cc, and Jalis damage mitigation, stability and more cc. Combos of Sevenshots with Scorchrazor, Jade Winds and Forced Engagement are common and you can put a lot of pressure in the first seconds of a fight casting Enchanted Daggers to both increase your damage proc Dome of the Mist from Planar Protection forcing people to waste evades in Bloodbane Path and Spiritcrush just to hit them with  Scorchrazor, then Sevenshot, swap to Jalis, land Forced Engagement and Inspiring Reinforcement, etc.

 

   BUT, despite the WvW roaming recomendation for Renegade in metabattle is similar to the PvP one, I use a quite different one:

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PmgAUZlxQHsOqhxROMP6hRSfMCKgl+U2LF-zRhYBREQGmZwsRBUKRGBZGCdkAhUACPLL6pB-e

   I started playing the PvP Renegade power build in WvW with condition stats due I had a viper set (no longer matters due I have the legendary heavy armor, The Ascension and Trascendence, plus some weapons, so I can experiment with gear changes without much trouble), but I came to the conclusion that pure viper, grieving or a mix of any of both with trailblazer is way better than power Renegade for roaming and small scale fights.

 

   This became aparent after test and trial for very simple reasons:

1) You do way more damage with condition stats. Is evident vs foes that doesn't clean conditions themselves (sentinels and guard camps... also most of players), but also vs people with plenti of cleanses. The short bow is a hybrid weapon with solid damage from a variety of sources (bleeds, torment, burns, physical...) and not a single trick pony with a bursty single one (Guardians). Condition also have better runes and sigils available (Tormenting, Nightmare, Malice, Bursting... ) and with the PvE/WvW  stats optimization the condition duration is so long that any enemy with not enough cleanses or evades will end melted over the fight.

2) Usually the fights will be either very short (in your favour) or long (which favours condis). A pure strike build will have to chose between maximizing damage while having less HP and armor or having even less damage to get some cushion. My build sits at base 19 HP with ~2850 armor with ~1500 condition damage (with celestial stats you can achieve better physical damage and HP, similar armor and ~1000 condition damage). With tat stats, the damage mitigation,  regeneration and cleanses from Jalis and the evassion and burst of damage from Shiro is easier to endure though fights and ever revert ambushes.

3) I didn't even tried the Tormenting runes in this build; the sustain is already great despite running the Nightmare runes which are a pure PvE choice. Probably I should change the sigils in the staff to energy + cleansing isntead o the hydromancy + doom I run frequently. To be hones, I don't swap to staff too oftenly except when I'm pressed to. 80%+ of the time I'm in short bow.

 

   Now, this approach doesn't work so well in scrins of 15 vs 15 or zerg vs zerg, because large groups share cleanses and anti projectile tools, so for that case I can see how a Renegade more oriented towards strike damake can make sense. 

   By the way: as I said some builds can hard counter this one. But condi Renegade as a WvW roamer works very, very well due the access to mobility and high pace across the terrain, the fast kills when we play well our combos and the high sustain and access to stab and defense when is required. power Herald is better for duels but when is a n vs n goingf mele is highly risky, and condi Herald is good in small skirmishes but lacks the same mobility.

   Power hammer core Rev is way harder to play; albeit well played entirely counters Renebow builds is more a "glass cannon" kind of template with more encounters in disadvantage. Currently I'm playing both of them.