Another Ritualist thread!

[Acheron.1580]

Design philosophy: I wanted to find a niche area that the Revenant doesn't already cover, and basically it's combo fields. I also wanted to consider that It shouldn't feel too close to renegade "summons", nor too close to herald facets. Basically came up with an idea that sort of tied in a couple old ritualist ideas (not weapons or signets), and came up with urns that when dropped summon ghosts that the urn housed.

 

- Players can hold 1 urn at a time, activating or swapping urns will cause the player to drop their current urn at their feet, releasing the ghost. Equipping an urn would have a cast time (maybe 3/4 seconds), dropping would be instant and doable while CCd. Players could hold 1 urn at a time, and it would only have an energy drain cost when you swap legends. Urns would not replace your weapon skills. When an urn is dropped, it creates a combo field dark.

 

- Ghosts that are summons are autonomous, and would basically run around punching mobs. While a ghost is out, their Urn utility slot would become possess, an active that costs energy. Ghosts that are out drain the revenant's energy constantly at 2 pips per tick, the more out the stronger you become but for a shorter sustainable duration. Ghosts only dissipate back into their urns when the Revenant has run out of energy or swapped legends. Ghosts that are temporary (have a duration) would not have any particular interaction with other Ritualist skills (like possession), but wouldn't drain energy, and would still count towards any talent that is looking for a ghost.

 

- Possession abilities would cost energy (5?), and when activated the ghost is no longer on the field (aka no more auto attacking from the ghost), but would still cause drain. Alternatively, could refund energy for every second it is possessing (rather than remove the energy drain, since it could cause issues with potentially building -11 energy drain).

 

- New weapon would be a focus (like a memory tablet). While players are holding an urn, the focus skills gain an extra effect to reflect the ghost you are honoring.

 

Talent selections: Most were designed with the core mechanics in mind being ghost quantity, Urn holding, focus interaction and supplementing core Revenant dps, healing, or condition capabilities. No specific numbers for things that may be difficulty to balance around (particularly between pve and pvp/wvw), other things would be easy to balance around by tweaking values (such as Anguished). Ghostly touch was added as an ability to have a source of CC (which I find on a Revenant kind of frustrating in general), the low chill duration would be because you could have a lot of ghosts at once stacking it up. For the last choice of talents, I wanted there to still be a benefit and maybe a desire to hold on to an Urn that would benefit your build.

 

Master Togo: Gain access to focus weapons, and Urns.

 

Troubled: Reduce focus cooldown by 20%. Your focus skills no longer cost energy, and instead restore 1 energy per active ghost.
Miasma: Your possessions leave behind a combo field dark around the target for 3 seconds. Increase the effect of life steal effects you provide.
Ghostly touch: Your ghosts' strikes apply 0.5 seconds of chill. Your focus 4 applies 1 second of daze.

 

Take Form: Invoking a legend creates a ghostly version of that legend that performs an action before disappearing.
 - Shiro - sword 3, applies bleed on each hit
 - Jalis - shattering anvil strike: point blank AoE strike damage, removes protection from enemies.
 - Togo - Drop effect of your current urn, if not holding an urn or elite urn, summon an immobile ranged ghost that lasts for 7 seconds.
 - Ventari - AoE line attack stampede, starting behind the Revenant, and healing allies and damaging enemies it passes through.
 - Mallyx - Target AoE, dealing damage and torment to the initial target and chilling it and surrounding enemies.

 

Ancestor's Rage: When you summon a ghost, heal yourself and provide 1 second of swiftness and quickness to your ghosts.
Armor of unfeeling: Reduce damage received by 3% plus an additional 1% per active ghost, doubled for 3 seconds if disabled (45 second cooldown).    
Union: Gain 1% outgoing damage and 1% reduced incoming damage for each second you hold an urn, up to 10 stacks. Lose all stacks when you drop your urn.

 

Spirit Light: Increase the effect of the Urn holding affects by 5% per active ghost (reduced for elite).

 

Anguished: The hold effect of Mad was someone is always active (50% effectiveness). Your ghosts inflict torment per x strikes.
Hateful: The hold effect of Unrelenting was someone is always active (50% effectiveness). Your ghosts gain a portion of your precision and ferocity.
Generous: The hold effect of Merciful was someone is always active (50% effectiveness). Your ghosts restore life to targets around them per strike.
 

Focus skills:

 

Feast of Souls, Focus 4: 15 Second cooldown, 20 energy, 1 second AoE damage and healing pulse around yourself and each ghost (non stacking).
Ghostmirror, Focus 5: 12 Second cooldown 10 energy, 2 second block. If you blocked an attack, reset the cooldown of all ghost attacks.

 

Utility Skills: (I didn't even want to guess at how their original naming convention went for their urns, and so didn't want to attempt it)

 

Utility 6: Hungry was someone.
While holding: Steal life from targets, increased against targets that are weakened (0.5 second cooldown).
While holding focus skill: Cripple and weaken your target (2 seconds).
When dropped (active): Deal damage and cause weakness to all surrounding mobs, gain healing and 1 stack of might for each target effected.
As a ghost (activate): Possess your target, causing the next 15 attacks against that target to steal life (.75 second cooldown per player). Ghost is gone during the duration.

 

Utility 7: Mad was someone.
While holding: Increase condition damage and expertise.
While holding focus skill: Inflict 3 stacks of torment and confusion on your target.
When dropped (active): Fear all surrounding mobs.
As a ghost (activate): Possess your target, causing the target to suffer 1 stack of torment and confusion every second for the next 5 seconds. Ghost is gone during the duration

 

Utility 8: Merciful was someone.
While holding: Increase concentration and healing power.
While holding focus skill: Heal and remove 1 condition from players around you.
When dropped (active): Heal and apply regen and vigor to all surrounding players.
As a ghost (activate): Possess a friendly target, healing them and removing 1 condition every second for 5 seconds. Ghost is gone during the duration.

 

Utility 9: Unrelenting was someone.
While holding: Gain power and ferocity.
While holding focus skill: Grant yourself fury and might.
When dropped (active): Deal AoE strike damage, break stuns and provide stability to surrounding players.
As a ghost (activate): Possess yourself, breaking stuns, gaining 4 seconds stability and Resolution. Ghost is gone during the duration.

 

Utility 10: Angry were someones.
While holding: Increase the damage of your ghosts (modified by Spirit Light), reduce the cooldown of your ghost possessions by 20%. While in another legend: spawn 2 ghosts.
While holding focus skill: Spawn an immobile ranged ghost that lasts 5 seconds.
When dropped (active): Spawn 3 immobile ranged ghosts, each ghost has 1 energy pip drain.
As a ghost (activate): Relocate your 3 ranged ghosts, dealing AoE damage where they are summoned and inflicting torment.

 

While I don't really expect to ever see a ritualist in GW2, I'm still hopeful. They can have "new cantha" styled gear, which would still make the old ritualist gear from the BLTC "traditional".