Heizero.9183

Back in the day, like year 1 vanilla, Bountiful Theft used to rip full durations of boons, same with Larc strike. (I cant remember if it stole full stacks too, it may have.) To be fair it was a little op in some situations and abused. For example, I personally used to use it on Dredge in Eternal Battlegrounds in wvw to gain over 1 min of protection. Im sure there were even more ways to abuse it outside of my example and so they made every gained boon have a fixed duration.

> @"Curennos.9307" said:

> > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > > @"Buran.3796" said:

> > > > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > >

> > > > Me and my guild love hammer guard so much its not uncommon for us to run 3 or 4 at a time when roaming.

> > > >

> > >

> > >

> > > I can see how 3-4 of you fighting at the same time with hammers in WvW can make you feel that the weapon is powerful. But that's a hollow feeling, like armwrestling a 7 year old and bragging about winning. There's a reason you don't see hammers in neither PvE nor PvP (aside from Scrappers). They are outdated. They didn't endure the power creep of PoF.

> >

> > Don't misunderstand, I solo roam with hammer very effectively. We all do. The weapon IS powerful when used properly in WvW. I know it isn't good in PvE and it's PvP application is debatable as well, but that's why I specifically said it was niche. It is very good at what it does where it's applicable. Which is fine imo.

>

> Could you please go into what 'used properly' and 'effectively' are?

>

> I use it in spvp and have found it rather lackluster - albeit funny when I can bonk someone with a 7k mighty blow while they're stuck in a trap or something. I'm dubious as to how it can be so bad in spvp but somehow manage to be as you describe in WvW, even with the stat/skill split differences and so forth. It is certainly very effective fighting against people who've never seen a hammer guardian before, but I've found it fails to measure up once I find someone who has any sort of idea of what they're doing and knows how to abuse the weapon's flaws.

>

> Anywho. I think the weapon could definitely benefit from trimming some cast times, at the very least. It feels like it was given the speed of a heavy ranged weapon when it is not that.

I generally run it as a DH but I dont run traps I run full meditations like an old school core medi guard. The stat split in wvw does make a big difference because your 7k bonk is a 10k bonk for me in wvw which with the sigil proc can almost 1 shot thieves and mesmers. I run vision sigils on my hammer and my greatsword and hydromancy on greatsword. I catch them with the JI+H5, H2, swap to greatsword for the hydromancy sigil ceit which is usually about 2k, and then full crit greatsword 2 which usually lands because they ate the KD from the ring of warding. In total its something like 20k+ damage in that burst.

If they survive, its fine because I can keep bursting like this since im running double vision sigils and DH virtues plus monks focus full meditations gives me tons of survivability. People also underestimate hammer 3 but it actually hits really hard, about 3 or 3.5k when it crits and is really strong when chained right after a banish and then into a DH F2, then you can follow with whichever burst you have available, either H2, Greatsword 2 or both.

Arenanet has officially stated many years ago that they have halted any development on dungeons. They will never be updated. They will never be improved. We will never get new ones. They are an old piece of content that has been completely abandoned, so take it or leave it.

Recently Ive been having fun messing around with support tempest but generally I am a roamer.

I understand how support tempest fits into large scale and which utils and traits I like to run in a large group, however I really want to modify the meta zerg tempest build to fit better with a group of 6-10 roamers.

I currently run the standard fire/water/temp d/f with trooper runes. But I dont feel like this is optimal for a smaller havoc group.

What changes to trait/util/weapon/runes do you guys recommend for a type of "roaming" specialized support tempest?

I dont think this poll will get the proper data with those types of polling options

For example, I DO agree that hammer is only useful in some situations and game modes, however, I always use it since I play in those situations and game modes very often.

Also, even though I use hammer very often and enjoy it I still think it could use SOME updating such as making ring of warding castable while moving and increasing the attack speed on the auto attack. I DO NOT want to see the skills fundamentally altered or the mechanics of the weapon changed though because I think it is excellent at what it does with its current functionality and for what I use it for: to lock down and deliver a big burst of damage to a target(s).

> @"Buran.3796" said:

> > @"Heizero.9183" said:

>

> > Me and my guild love hammer guard so much its not uncommon for us to run 3 or 4 at a time when roaming.

> >

>

>

> I can see how 3-4 of you fighting at the same time with hammers in WvW can make you feel that the weapon is powerful. But that's a hollow feeling, like armwrestling a 7 year old and bragging about winning. There's a reason you don't see hammers in neither PvE nor PvP (aside from Scrappers). They are outdated. They didn't endure the power creep of PoF.

Don't misunderstand, I solo roam with hammer very effectively. We all do. The weapon IS powerful when used properly in WvW. I know it isn't good in PvE and it's PvP application is debatable as well, but that's why I specifically said it was niche. It is very good at what it does where it's applicable. Which is fine imo.

Personally I completely disagree with this sentiment. Hammer has been at the core of my roaming guardian builds since vanilla. It actually feels great again since they lowered the cooldown on skill #2. Glacial Blow burst is insanely high and trapping a target in your ring is devastating.

Me and my guild love hammer guard so much its not uncommon for us to run 3 or 4 at a time when roaming.

I do agree that it is a very niche weapon, but when you play to its strengths it is a game changer. Its scarcity also helps because many average players are not used to seeing hammer and do not typically have the muscle memory to react to being Hammer 5d in time to avoid the devastating hammer 2.

Its a ton of fun and very effective in roaming/zerg busting groups and I would hate to see its mechanics change. Imo every skill on it is valuable and synchronizes very well with each other in this environment. My only comment on its current state is that I would love to see the hammer 5 castable while moving. I think that small update would honestly make a world of difference. Otherwise, the Judges Intervention/ Ring of Warding combo is always my go-to opener. "Welcome to the Thunderdome!"

I know many of you would disagree with me butbif you would like to hear more details about how powerful this weapon really is in roaming/small scale or want to see my build or see it in action in-game just let me know.

This was long but I hope it helps some you understand how exceptionally this weapon can perform in its niche. If any of you ever get slammed by one of the BLNT hammer guards in NA just remember this post. Happy hunting.

> @"Hollowperspectiv.3047" said:

> Quite the investigation...

>

> Winter break has been totally great with a stack of new nerfs and our class further broken by this. If any other class couldn't use a class skill, after a patch, due to a bug, it would get fixed right away. These combos are essential for thieves and this bug should have been high priority and fixed before ya'll hung it up for the year..

Pretty much what this guy said. Lets just hope this really was caused by spaghetti code bug and not an unintentional early balance patch update.

Crazy that we still get these threads in 2020.

> @"otto.5684" said:

> > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > > @"otto.5684" said:

> > > > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > > > GS2 already does insane damage If you land the whole skill. I dont think buffing damage is the right fix, however I think removing the movement penalty so that it behaves more like Reaper shroud 4 would really benefit the while weaponset.

> > >

> > > Insane damage as 6k in sPvP? Assuming you somehow managed to pull the entire damage on enemy target. You know this is not PvE we are talking about, right?

> >

> > Insane damage as in 8-12k in wvw when running full marauder with zerk trinkets like I do on my roaming build. I run hydromancy and vision on My GS and the times I manage to get a full GS 2 after a weapon swap the 2 skill on average does about 10k damage. The damage on it is honestly great, at least in wvw, and the movement penalty it receives while channeling is what I think makes it difficult to use successfully.

>

> I specifically said in sPvP. Blob PvP balance is and always would be wonky. Hey, I can get you a picture of something doing ranger damage of 10-12k in WvW, so...? Btw 12k damage, considering how hard it is to pull a full GS2 against a bone dumby target, is not that high.

OP did not specify spvp at all in his original post, which is what I was initially replying to. I use hammer offhand and usually ring my target before swapping to gs, and yes after the overall power nerfs earlier this year any skill that does 12k damage is pretty high.

Also, Im not debating that GS2 is difficult to land, thats my entire point. It IS difficult to land and removing the movement speed penalty on it would help a lot with staying on target during the channel, much like how Reaper Shroud 4 behaves.

> @"Gwaihir.1745" said:

> > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > > @"otto.5684" said:

> > > > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > > > GS2 already does insane damage If you land the whole skill. I dont think buffing damage is the right fix, however I think removing the movement penalty so that it behaves more like Reaper shroud 4 would really benefit the while weaponset.

> > >

> > > Insane damage as 6k in sPvP? Assuming you somehow managed to pull the entire damage on enemy target. You know this is not PvE we are talking about, right?

> >

> > Insane damage as in 8-12k in wvw when running full marauder with zerk trinkets like I do on my roaming build. I run hydromancy and vision on My GS and the times I manage to get a full GS 2 after a weapon swap the 2 skill on average does about 10k damage. The damage on it is honestly great, at least in wvw, and the movement penalty it receives while channeling is what I think makes it difficult to use successfully.

>

> Post a 12k screen where you have your target locked showing their boons.

A full spin can range anywhere from 8-12k, 12k being on light armor targets without prot. I do this all the time in wvw, and will do some recording tonight and post here for you if you'd like. To be fair I have seen more than 12k as well although I wasnt paying attention to my own might stacks, but I remember a few weeks ago landing a 16k GS 2 on a full zerk well necro. Obviously this doesnt happen often which is why instances like that stand out in my memory.

> @"otto.5684" said:

> > @"Heizero.9183" said:

> > GS2 already does insane damage If you land the whole skill. I dont think buffing damage is the right fix, however I think removing the movement penalty so that it behaves more like Reaper shroud 4 would really benefit the while weaponset.

>

> Insane damage as 6k in sPvP? Assuming you somehow managed to pull the entire damage on enemy target. You know this is not PvE we are talking about, right?

Insane damage as in 8-12k in wvw when running full marauder with zerk trinkets like I do on my roaming build. I run hydromancy and vision on My GS and the times I manage to get a full GS 2 after a weapon swap the 2 skill on average does about 10k damage. The damage on it is honestly great, at least in wvw, and the movement penalty it receives while channeling is what I think makes it difficult to use successfully.

GS2 already does insane damage If you land the whole skill. I dont think buffing damage is the right fix, however I think removing the movement penalty so that it behaves more like Reaper shroud 4 would really benefit the while weaponset.

If youre already using Eagle I highly recommend Infiltratuon runes. Really great synergy with thief and good stats while still retaining Eagle's damage increase to low health targets.

> @"Eremoo.2786" said:

> Hey so I've never really committed to high end pve before but I'm making a push for it at the moment. Still only in T1s but I'm starting to craft ascended gear and I got a question.

> I play revenant and I understand that alacrity rev is the meta, but to me that's a bit boring. I've always played healer in other games so I really wanted to play harrier rev, so I'd still give perma alacrity but I'd replace dps with healing.

> In your opinion would I get turned down a lot for T4s because I'm not playing the absolute most meta build atm or would it be fine?

> Unfortunately I can't open 76-100 bracket LFG to see what people ask for.

> In case people don't want heal revs at all, how about heal firebrand since the gear is transferable?

> I also want to eventually try out raids and I don't wanna craft diviner gear then not have it be good for raid as rev

I play Diviner Rev in T4s and Raids. I'd say go with a Diviner Rev. It's a ton of fun and as long as you are switching up your legends to fit each encounter the playstyle is very dynamic and full of variations. Your party will love you for dropping Jalis Stab at the right time. If you go healacrity rev you will have a very difficult time pugging T4s. as a whole the reason alacrev is so popular in T4s is because a good alacrev can pump out some very respectable dps along with all of the utility and buffs, most parties will already have a heal firebrand so taking a 2nd healer wouldn't be favorable for them.

I don't have anything to add to this other than stating the title is straight facts.

I don't want to continue to de-rail this thread, I just saw my mention so just to quickly reiterate, Yeah I'm always open for gold duels @noot.8641. I added your forum acc in-game. I'm on NA, I don't run a build like Aiki, but I do run my own flavor of thief for sure. so if you want some good duels hmu.

> @"AikijinX.6258" said:

>

>

> Aiki’s Staff/DP Zerker/Dura Build

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAYhrlNw6YgsNGJe2WntSA-zVZYBhJG1r7jgQOkmEWhJBaVlqxDiYM4/zeAL6vgB-w

>

> (This build is my 1st choice, in terms of roaming/duels)

>

> This build has a better base damage opportunity, and ferocity under its belt with higher base crit chance, and ferocity. The consistency in Damage output is good, as well as the ability to mitigate damage taken. I switch between builds depending on my situation. If I want to fight multiple foes, while being able to mitigate and tank as much damage as I can, I’ll use my wanderer’s build. If I wanted to roam (killing solo’s or 2v1s), gank, or duel people I’d come in with my Zerker/Dura build, more than 2 people I switch to my Wanderer’s.

> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Aiki's Staff/DP Zerker/Daredevil Build

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PawAYhrlNw6YgsNGJe2WntSA-zVhYBhpF1gYEsuPCC5QaSYFmEoVVqL/Iixg/P7Bso/CG-w

>

> (This build is equally as strong, but a 2nd choice)

>

> This build is identical to my Zerker/Dura build, with an exception to a change in runes and weapon stats!

> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Aiki’s Staff/DP Wanderer/Scrapper Build

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?Pa1AYhrlNw6YbMQGJe+WntSA-zVhYaRNIG09ZE8OCC5QaSoGmEoVVlR/IhxfNCYBD-w

>

> This build is more for mitigating damage, and outnumbered situations with the use of flickering shadows, marauder's resilience, and scrapper runes. Flickering Shadows, and Leeching venoms from the Shadow arts line can be interchangeable and depends on the situation. For duels I use Leeching venoms, and for roaming, or fighting outnumbered, I run Flickering Shadows for the revealed damage mitigation. On occasion I’ll still use leeching venoms while fighting outnumbered. But that’s, again, situational.

> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Aiki’s Staff/DP Wanderer/Brawler Build

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?Pa1AYhrlNw6YbMQGJe2WntSA-zVhYbR9KQMI7zwOCCpQaKUDMBatqk9jEG/1IgFMA-w

>

> This build is identical to my wanderer/scrapper build but with a change of runes and weapon stats for more precision/crit chance, while still retaining an above 2500 toughness, 3k power, and 60%+ crit chance(W/Fury). The Wanderer/Scrapper build is more for mitigating damage, and outnumbered situations, whereas this build is more for attacking, while also being able to take a little bit of damage. To acquire more crit chance all that needs to be done is a change in utility food. (Writ of masterful accuracy)

>

> EDIT:(9/5/20)- 3 Video Examples of the new build and how I play and utilize the Barrier.

>

> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xy23pu0Xg_flZmx58W5baZhSmQbwjnAI/view?usp=sharing

> https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T6kEuRRD0Hj1GpJrBlSTVuABYOL1SvGz/view?usp=sharing

> https://drive.google.com/file/d/13INVz5H3rLvrUggzcCYNFTyFq2DMh18h/view?usp=sharing

> (clips that will be in future montages)

Also while I'm in here, nice post Aiki. Good to see you here contributing to the thief community. See you out there.

> @"noot.8641" said:

> > @"Jugglemonkey.8741" said:

> > > @"noot.8641" said:

> > > > @"Jugglemonkey.8741" said:

> > > > > @"noot.8641" said:

> > > > > Playing SA in general is so cheesy, i have no respect for SA thieves, it’s the ultimate carry traitline.

> > > >

> > > > Everyone else in the game uses the "carry" or "cheese" options, so I don't see why I shouldn't.

> > >

> > > That’s a nice mentality you got man, the game is kitten because of ppl like you flocking to the OP ez to play builds.

> > >

> >

> > Again, why should I handicap myself by refusing to use certain parts of my class in order to make you feel better? Do you also handicap yourself on your main class, or do you play whatever is strongest because it's in the game? If you are losing to thief, set up some duels with one and learn to fight them.

> >

> > Edit: you also assume I only play SA builds. That would be very wrong.

>

> Handicap yourself? SA just doesn’t req any skill, it just carries you, and then you think you are good, till you switch out SA, and you notice you are trash.

> You can play your carry build, but when they nerf it, you still gonna be a bad player with bad reactions.

> And how you talk about SA, yes it makes people think you only play SA.

> I would be impressed if you would beat me in a 1v1 without SA, i’m a drd s/d thief btw.

> If you ever wanna duel for gold, lemme know.

> Otherwise just keep being trash, on your trash build.

>

Hey man, I know I'm not the guy you were debating with but I usually run SA in my build and would be more than willing to duel you for gold with or without it. Let me know, I'm usually on every evening.

Maybe Regeneration should now start stacking intensity instead of duration. I only think its fair. Regeneration is such a lackluster boon currently and with all of the conditions dot damage stacking inensity, including burning, it seems fair for regeneration to be the boon that should stack intensity.

Imo you can be very independant as hilosmith engi. They are decent roamers and have great aoe damage and utility. Thief is probably the most selfish class and as such is very independant, not relying on any other class to support it. However, if you ever would like to chug along with a zerg Thief will feel very ginped in that enviroment where holo engi can still fight comfortably within a large group.

I have not "seriously" played this game in quite a few years. The last time I was really into it there was a definitive group of servers that always had fantastic small group skirmishes, usually Mag, Sea of Sorrows and Fort Aspenwood. Coming back years later, I'm sure the landscape of WvW and the type of players on certain worlds has changed drastically, but ideally I would still enjoy playing in an ecosystem with healthy-ish roaming. Is there still a Tier or a specific server that is known for having great roaming like those 3 servers were known for back in the day? And if not, any recommendations for a good middle-ground server? Or am I just looking for a WvW style that just doesn't exist anymore?

> @"Laila Lightness.8742" said:

> > @"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

> > Correlation does not imply causation.

> >

> > People who are elitist jerks using ArcDPS will remain elities jerks without having access to ArcDPS. This issue has been debated ad nauseum in MMOs since forever.

> >

> > Recount, Gearscore, Skada, Achievement linking, Kill proof - they are all player creations, and just like any tool, are neutral in purpose. How they are used and by whom is the only relevant issue.

> >

> > Jerks exist in MMOs

> > Don't play with jerks, and you won't care about DPS meters / addons anymore.

> >

>

> I belive you meant to use damage not skada wich is swedish word

Skada is a WoW damage meter add on

I was a pretty "hardcore" player in vanilla gw2 up into the first patch of HoTs before anything like ARCdps. I'm just coming back now and I love the add-on. I can confirm that before ARCdps the dungeon scene has always been toxic.

Add-on or no add-on the min/maxers of the game will find a way to critique you. It's just how it goes. Back when I was hardcore if you didn't run zerk warrior or Mesmer you get kicked. Seems to be a much healthier build diversity these days in competitive content. So I'd be careful what you wish for.