Elite spec Hammer

[Slygray.7051]

Catalyst was great showed a lot of thought and love in what I saw, of the craft that went into it. I re-watched the cata portion just to get some objective opinions going and 3 important things stuck out for me:

 

1 - I immediately was able to see combos in just the hammer skills alone. Granted its Ele and by getting a new 2h wep you get like 20 new buttons to press. Regardless, the main synergy of getting off your main big hits in each element and then chaining the #3 element into a final Avatar-Form hit was something that looked cool and fun to me Even IF it becomes something non-competitive I can say that something that feels good to press or a combo like that where you are just building up to this big ole elemental fiesta bash in open world would be mission accomplished imo. When I tested the basic oh sword on willbender #5--> #4 basic af combo I was like 'hmmm well this is ... not great?" This was just from weapon skills alone, as someone who has only played Ele by leveling it to 80 and leaving it there mind you - I know next to nothing about Ele secrets and traits etc. 

 

Compared to Willbender - OH Sword #4 is clunky as the mediocre damage is just reliant on getting the first unreliable hit so might as well just not press it ever, whilst #5 serves its purpose very well. Thats it. WB no longer has passives so the incentive to proc burns doesn't come from that but that rather the active of WB Justice Flames  (which is clunky as well as its got that uppercut and delay thing we all were vocal about).

 

2 - The gyro thing  was visibly thematic, and the well looked like it made hammer impactful. After my third watch I could see myself playing it in a way that I would enjoy something akin to a bruiser-support-mage or like an enhancement shaman from the Warcraft franchise. Being able to identify how I could see myself playing this thing, or even being able to see how I could play this differently was not a feeling I had when I saw Willbender. 

 

Compared to Willbender - Admittedly I was very excited when they showed some trait stuff, however I was let down overall by the things I was excited when I got to beta test. But still, WB was somewhat fun to play. What is the Willbender identity? They have dashes and ports now which on paper you're like 'Wow! Amazing! The only weakness they had is now gone at the expense of what passives on virtues? They must be broken!" I found the flames lacking in terms of thematic I was really let down by hopes of becoming the epic kitten that Almorra showed us we could be. Something  seemed lacking kinda. It was just a worst Thief at the end. Like, Thief has traits that would synergize very well with any elite spec but when I looked at Willbender no longer having passive shut us out of a LOT of traits that were kind of the main appeal in their columns. 

 

3 - Lastly and my main point I wanted to talk about was that we haven't had a Hammer weapon come out from Elite specs since scrapper,I believe, and it just showed me at glance only how much they could do with it. The hammer weapon is currently kind of meh with only 3 core profs (Rev, Guard, and Warr?) having access to it. 2 of which see some usage in WvW zerg builds (Sell Br. + Herald), correct me if I'm wrong here but I think as far meta builds go with raids - zero usage? and in PvP I think ppl just run hammer on warr for the memes and on guard for memes VERY rarely.

 

Compared to Willbender - Guard Hammer has been vocally named the worst weapon in the game, which when you look back it was in good shape. Seeing how Hammer came out for Scrapper (granted they have no wep-swap so it made sense to put everything into it which fit the theme of engi swiss army knife), and now how hammer is shaping up at this first untested-glance for Catalyst, it  just made me happy to have seen this in a selfish way to process it as hope and proof that the tools are in their capable hands to someday revisit this weapon we have and give it some positive attention. 

 

Very excited to play Catalyst this beta and see what it actually has to offer. May make a follow up to this to anyone whos in the same boat as me/ thinking the same stuff.  

[GoingMenthol.7281]

What if hammer was removed from regular guardian, and Willbender used hammer instead of offhand sword?

- Lacklustre Willbender traits can be replaced with hammer traits (Glacial Heart has no synergy in Virtue trait line, while Willbender has a ton of CC to trigger Glacial Heart)

- It would also be an incentive for hammer to be redesigned for new mechanics

- It would resolve the need for hammer to have gap closers as Willbender changes all virtues into movement skills

- Have a trait that grants quickness for Physical skills to speed up hammer skills

Edited September 20, 2021 by GoingMenthol.7281

[GoingMenthol.7281]

Willbender Elite weapon - Hammer - The Righteous Hand

Willbender Flames change - All Virtues create willbender flames that cast a 180 radius ring on where the willbender lands (fire field), instead of cone/line/ring

 

Hammer skills

Skill 1 - Reduced cast time of Symbol of Protection to 3/4 seconds (Could maybe have new fancy looking symbol like what Firebrand has plz ;_;)

Skill 2 - Replace Mighty Blow with Glacial Blow

Skill 3 - No longer a projectile. Shadowstep to target (600 range) and immobilise (2 seconds). Can cast a second time to return to previous location if target hit

Skill 4 - Launch is reduced to 600. Gain Alacrity on hit (2 seconds)

Skill 5 - Shadowstep to targeted location (600 range) and create a ward that foes can enter but cannot leave (180 radius)

 

Traits

Major Adept Trait - Nightmare Weapon - While Wielding a hammer, you gain 3 seconds of quickness on hit (12 second cooldown). A portion of strike damage is converted into health (10%)

(Reasoning) - Glacial Heart in the Virtues traitline doesn't benefit the hammer enough to be worthwhile. Hammer is also a slow weapon that would greatly benefit from quickness, and the toughness reduction from Willbender means there should be some way to sustain health to stay alive

 

Minor Master Trait - Power for Power - Gain 240 Power, Concentration, and Healing Power. Allies receive reduced outgoing healing from you (-30%) and boons applied to allies have reduced duration (-30%). Your toughness is reduced by 240

(Reasoning) - Ranger with Beast Mastery can gain 150 to all attributes with Pack Alpha, and 100-225 extra attribute bonus when  Soulbeast merged with pet. If the design of the Willbender is to have selfish sustain then it makes sense to have all of this compressed into a single trait that cannot be removed. Will also reduce the benefits allies receive from Writ of Persistence in order to benefit yourself with boons and healing

 

Major Master Trait - Glacial Heart - Physical skills have reduced cooldown (20%). Inflict strike damage and chill on disabled targets

(Reasoning) - No physical skill trait currently. Most Physical skills have CC, may as well combine Glacial Heart into it

 

Minor Grandmaster Trait - Lethal Tempo - (Righteous Sprint is now combined with Lethal Tempo)

 

Major Grandmaster Trait - Augury of Death - All Virtues are now shadowsteps. Willbender Flames are larger (240 radius) and also inflict cripple and weakness when the number of impacts have been reached (5 hits)

(Reasoning) - 240 Radius makes Willbender Flames in line with Symbols traited with Writ of Persistence. Willbender is about constantly chasing a target, CC bombardment, and damage in an area that the enemy must desperately escape

Edited September 20, 2021 by GoingMenthol.7281

[Daddy.8125]

11 hours ago, GoingMenthol.7281 said:

What if hammer was removed from regular guardian, and Willbender used hammer instead of offhand sword?

- Lacklustre Willbender traits can be replaced with hammer traits (Glacial Heart has no synergy in Virtue trait line, while Willbender has a ton of CC to trigger Glacial Heart)

- It would also be an incentive for hammer to be redesigned for new mechanics

- It would resolve the need for hammer to have gap closers as Willbender changes all virtues into movement skills

- Have a trait that grants quickness for Physical skills to speed up hammer skills

imho i think this is a good idea.

Like all rthe core hammer weapons sets are outdated and terrible.. would be rly nice to see hammer get some love.

[TheRealGorthaur.1796]

On 9/20/2021 at 6:52 PM, GoingMenthol.7281 said:

Willbender Elite weapon - Hammer - The Righteous Hand

Willbender Flames change - All Virtues create willbender flames that cast a 180 radius ring on where the willbender lands (fire field), instead of cone/line/ring

 

Hammer skills

Skill 1 - Reduced cast time of Symbol of Protection to 3/4 seconds (Could maybe have new fancy looking symbol like what Firebrand has plz ;_;)

Skill 2 - Replace Mighty Blow with Glacial Blow

Skill 3 - No longer a projectile. Shadowstep to target (600 range) and immobilise (2 seconds). Can cast a second time to return to previous location if target hit

Skill 4 - Launch is reduced to 600. Gain Alacrity on hit (2 seconds)

Skill 5 - Shadowstep to targeted location (600 range) and create a ward that foes can enter but cannot leave (180 radius)

 

Traits

Major Adept Trait - Nightmare Weapon - While Wielding a hammer, you gain 3 seconds of quickness on hit (12 second cooldown). A portion of strike damage is converted into health (10%)

(Reasoning) - Glacial Heart in the Virtues traitline doesn't benefit the hammer enough to be worthwhile. Hammer is also a slow weapon that would greatly benefit from quickness, and the toughness reduction from Willbender means there should be some way to sustain health to stay alive

 

Minor Master Trait - Power for Power - Gain 240 Power, Concentration, and Healing Power. Allies receive reduced outgoing healing from you (-30%) and boons applied to allies have reduced duration (-30%). Your toughness is reduced by 240

(Reasoning) - Ranger with Beast Mastery can gain 150 to all attributes with Pack Alpha, and 100-225 extra attribute bonus when  Soulbeast merged with pet. If the design of the Willbender is to have selfish sustain then it makes sense to have all of this compressed into a single trait that cannot be removed. Will also reduce the benefits allies receive from Writ of Persistence in order to benefit yourself with boons and healing

 

Major Master Trait - Glacial Heart - Physical skills have reduced cooldown (20%). Inflict strike damage and chill on disabled targets

(Reasoning) - No physical skill trait currently. Most Physical skills have CC, may as well combine Glacial Heart into it

 

Minor Grandmaster Trait - Lethal Tempo - (Righteous Sprint is now combined with Lethal Tempo)

 

Major Grandmaster Trait - Augury of Death - All Virtues are now shadowsteps. Willbender Flames are larger (240 radius) and also inflict cripple and weakness when the number of impacts have been reached (5 hits)

(Reasoning) - 240 Radius makes Willbender Flames in line with Symbols traited with Writ of Persistence. Willbender is about constantly chasing a target, CC bombardment, and damage in an area that the enemy must desperately escape

I like your hammer rework but taking the weapon away from core guardian is quite a blow. I really dislike reducing the scope of the core class to have a better Espec which you have to unlock first. Even if it is just a meme weapon you can use it in fun builds. You should at least give something else to core guardian to compensate.

Edited September 23, 2021 by TheRealGorthaur.1796