Torch as next weapon

[nopoet.2960]

I'm just going to leave this here as a suggestion for torch as our next weapon.  Could be fun.  I tried to build in some interesting combos.

Torch

4. Flair: Use your torch to create a blinding flair revealing yourself and nearby foes.
 4b. Brand (flip over on revealed): Strike your target with your torch causing high damage and burning

5. Purging Flames: Burn and foes around you.  Remove a damaging condition and gain fire aura
  5b. Trail Blazer (Flip Over on Fire Aura): Extinguish your fire aura by rolling (evade) in a targets direction leaving a path of flames (fire field) behind you

Dual Skills
Dagger - Fan of Flames: Unleash a flurry of attacks that damages and burns foes in a cone in front of you.  This attack converts aegis to burning and protection to vulnerability.

Sword - Firethorn: Use your heated sword to execute a slow powerful thrust that pierces through your target with a flameblade (additional 600 units).  Grants quickness if your target is under the health threshold

Pistol - Dragon's Gale: Fire an exploding shot (small push on target) that burns foes near your target (small leap backwards)
Stinging Embers (flip over): Gain Stability and shoot your foe with two critical strikes, extends burning

Scepter - Dusk (enemy targeted): Send a wave of cold flames at your target burning and chilling them.  This leaves an ice field between you and your target
 Dawn (ally target): Send a wave of cleansing shadows to at your target healing them and granting fire aura.  This leaves a smoke field between you and your target.

Axe - Shield of blades: Block with your torch and recall axes to orbit you burning and bleeding foes that come in contact with.

Doused Skills - You torch is doused when you enter stealth. Using on of the following skills reignites the torch.
3. Lucky Strike: Ignite your torch by striking you target gaining a random boon
4. Drake Spit: Ignite your torch by breathing fire on it creating a fire ball that burns your target
5. Fireblast: Ignite your torch with explosive powder (blast finisher) damaging nearby foes   

 

[Eekasqueak.7850]

Isn't purging flames already a guardian utility skill? Do also want thief to get a torch though.  

[BobbyT.7192]

Off... Hand... SWORD!!!

[Zacchary.6183]

What about focus with access to burning?

[remorseless.6352]

No more condi weapons we have plenty, sword/axe/mace OH or GS. Preferably a new OH tho.

[draxynnic.3719]

Does feel a bit guardian-y as some have commented, but definitely some interesting ideas. I do like the idea of orbiting axes when combined with axe, although they might need to do reduced damage when used that way.

[Panda.1967]

I feel as though if/when thief gets torch, it'll be heavily focused around proving AoE stealth and blinds through smoke rather than applying burning... Also, I feel like I've been losing my mind over this since the game launched... but I swear Thief had Torch back in the original GW2 betas... One of the skills was to throw the torch and it created a smoke field and blinded enemies... the other stealthed yourself and allies for a few seconds, and the dual attacks were mostly shadowsteps that either blinded or stealthed.

Edited December 6, 2023 by Panda.1967

[draxynnic.3719]

I don't recall anything like that. They did some pretty big weapon reworks prerelease, but I don't think there were any outright removed. Might have been an environmental or stolen weapon that behaved somewhat like that, though.

[Doggie.3184]

Since my idea of an Arsonist Spec using Torch & Black-Fire Shadow Form to fully replace Stealth with Barrier (with a Moon Knight Tier "I want them to see me coming" Assassin playstyle) will never be a thing since we got Specter kinda half-assing it, I just want literally any Off-hand that isn't Stealth-focused like the current ones are. Need to revive Sword's overnerfed speedy brawler style and ditching Cloak and Dagger and Black Powder for something to help that would be ideal as they just don't synergize well with Sword, (or even MH Pistol).

[draxynnic.3719]

Black Powder used to synergise nicely with sword before they butchered the blind application and turned it into being primarily used as a combo field (and butchered Pistol Whip to boot). It's probably salvageable if they could add something else to compensate for the reduced blind application.

[Bunny.9834]

On 12/2/2023 at 9:14 AM, BobbyT.7192 said:

Off... Hand... SWORD!!!

THIS. JUST THIS. 

This has long been overdue. 

[draxynnic.3719]

1 hour ago, Bunny.9834 said:

THIS. JUST THIS. 

This has long been overdue. 

Sword gets requested a lot for, I suspect, the aesthetic, but I suspect it would be impractical to achieve in practice. Thief offhands kind of need to be useful regardless of the mainhand, or you'll end up with some of the dual skills being dead. Offhand sword would need to have some ranged utility on the 4 and 5 slots, which is hard to achieve without making it primarily defensive and/or more of a spellcasting focus than a physical weapon. A pure melee offhand seems unlikely, and other functions might be better achieved with alternative offhands.

[nopoet.2960]

On 12/3/2023 at 8:51 AM, draxynnic.3719 said:

Does feel a bit guardian-y as some have commented, but definitely some interesting ideas. I do like the idea of orbiting axes when combined with axe, although they might need to do reduced damage when used that way.

The guardian feel is on purpose.  A while back I suggested a new spec called seeker that was a thief's take on guardian.  This is just a rehash of that because we aren't getting any more e-specs.

On 12/3/2023 at 6:11 AM, remorseless.6352 said:

No more condi weapons we have plenty, sword/axe/mace OH or GS. Preferably a new OH tho.

In my head torch is a hybrid.  If condition set ups would use T5 more and power set ups would use t4 more.  It may not be obvious but torch 4 is a stealth follow up attack.  So if you are on dagger you could backstab>lucky strike (to relight torch) > Brand (assuming you are fast enough and still have revealed).