Torqiseknite.1380

> @"steveraptor.9603" said:

> In general, i started to get the habit of avoiding large teamfights and insead focusing on decapping and small skirmishes, i found that i'm perform better at those.

As a core warrior, this should indeed be your role since the build doesn't have any particularly impactful skills for teamfights other than rampage.

> Why healing signet is so popular?

> The heal over time is only realy useful in small skirmishes, and with so many bursts going around, it doesn't really make such a big difference.

> the cast time is very long, and it can be interrupted easily.

> Finally, the reason to activate it is mostly against specs like scourges, and those are very likely to corrupt it.

Healing signet is meta because it provides passive healing that can't be interrupted as long as you don't activate it. This can be crucial if you're in a 1v1 with cooldowns and get +1ed by say an enemy thief, mesmer, or holo, since warrior's stability uptime got nerfed a while back and mending has a long 1 second cast time. As a core warrior you need to dodge the major bursts and heal through the rest, but if you have to pause and cast mending you might end up tanking more damage than you would heal compared to signet passive, or wasting your stability just to cover it. However if you're finding that people in your games don't really try to interrupt mending then you're probably fine to continue using it

> How warrior players play in ranked games? do they prioritize rotating and decapping as well as fighting 1v1s or 2v2/1v2? do they also avoid large teamfights?

Yes, you should mostly try to push side nodes and take 1v1s. Ideally you shouldn't be the one decapping empty nodes or +1ing even fights since other professions can do it better, instead you should be pressuring an enemy player on point to create opportunities for those classes to +1 you.

> Condition mirage mesmers are so far the only class that i get demoralized very quickly as a core warrior and feel very helpless....

> I simply don't know how to lock them down, even if i manage to cleanse the conditions and clear the clone spam.

> Every time i target the real one with bullcharge/shield 4, i am greeted with "Evade" or "Invulnerable" , i never manage to actually knock one on the floor.

> It usually ends up me swinging GS aoe around, F1 are usually ends up "blinded" or ending in the same evade/invul or just running away.

> Even if i get the upper hand they blink away...

> How can i get better at dealing with them? so far i just try to avoid them all together....

It's not a good matchup for this build so you shouldn't attempt to 1v1 them if you can avoid it, instead leave it to more suitable classes like core guardian or s/d thief. However sometimes you might end up fighting them anyway, in which case dueling a condi mirage is mostly about timing. I wouldn't recommend using your ccs immediately as those have obvious animations and can easily be evaded, instead you should hold them until he dodges (which you can see by the blue icon on his bar) and then press your bulls or shield 4, this way you'll hopefully channel the cc into the end of the evade frames and have a better chance of landing it. If you're fighting an axe mirage you can save gs 3 for when he teleports in using his axe 3, then instantly whirl through him to deal damage while evading the axe 2 burst that usually follows. You should also try to bait their evades using stow weapon to fake cast skills like gs f1 or auto attacks. Important skills to dodge or block are the staff ambush if they're running infinite horizon, torch phantasm, and axe 3 + axe 2 combo

> Next are guardians....

> I have trouble out lasting some specs and their massive block boon/active skills.

> How do warriors handle their burst (Core) or their retaliate with just sign of healing? i find out that without defiance stance/mending I just lose to attrition.

> For the core burst, I don't understand when is it coming and I don't know how to read it, they just insta teleport and spike me.

> Unlike holos, which gives me visual cues, this happens out of nowhere and i don't know how i can counter the damage spike.

> Other then that, I find myself losing to attrition quickly against them, even by just auto-attacking the with the axe....i guess this is due to the retaliation and their burning AOE (I don't know guardians skills that well...)

> My F1s are getting blocked most of the time ,and I find out that i have to use signet of might to take most of them on, and by the looks of it, i don't see any warrior using signet of might so i'm doing something wrong.

> How do you guys approach guardians in combat? how do you handle their burst and their boons (specifically constant application of retaliation and block) and how do you win the war of attrition against them?

Core guardian can also be a tough matchup but since it's a pretty popular build at the moment you'll probably have to 1v1 a lot of them, so I'll go into more detail based on personal experience. There are 2 common variants to this build, both of them use sword + focus on one set but the other weapon can be either gs or hammer. On sword, the skill 2 is a teleport that drops a high damage symbol, you should move out of this or dodge the initial hit if you can. Sword 3 is a stationary skill that shoots out ranged projectiles, however you can avoid these without wasting endurance by running in a circle around the guardian at range so they miss, use gs 3 to burst him while he's rooted, or put up shield 5 to reflect the projectiles. Focus 4 deals a lot of damage over time if its initial hit lands, so you should dodge as soon as you see the white beam appear over your character or use shield 5 if you fail to dodge in time. Focus 5 blocks up to 3 attacks or eventually explodes for big damage if you don't manage to hit it enough, he can also cast it while stunned. You can use multi hit skills like axe 2 or gs 3 to try and pop it before it blows up, or just dodge/block the explosion since he will often swap weapons and time it to be simultaneous with the rest of his burst. Dodge priority on this set should be focus 4 > focus 5 (if you can't pop it) > sword 2 > sword 3/autos

If the other weapon is gs, most of their damage comes from gs 2 which is the whirl. You can easily dodge out of this, most guardians will combine it with judges intervention to teleport on top of you mid cast, but dodging it shouldn't be a problem regardless. Gs 3 is a leap that deals pretty high damage and blinds, you can clear the blind by immediately doing axe 2 or use your own gs 3 to evade it. Gs 4 is a symbol that shouldn't be an issue if you don't stand in it. Gs 5 is another whirl that throws out swords which deal damage over time, it also chains into a pull. It shares the same animation as gs 2, but you can usually tell when it's gs 5 if the guardian is standing out of melee range when he spins around and doesn't try to port in. Dodge priority for this is gs 5 (since he can use it to pull into gs 2) > gs 2 > gs 3 > autos/gs 4

Hammer guards similarly get their burst from the 2 skill, which is a telegraphed leap that is often used in combination with judges intervention as well. Unlike greatsword however, you will need to dodge this before they actually teleport in, since all the damage is in a single hit and if you dodge afterward it'll be too late. It's a pretty obvious animation so unless they're standing behind a wall or something this should be fairly easy, you can also use gs 3 to whirl through it while he's stuck in the leap animation. Hammer 3 throws out a projectile along the ground that immobilizes you for two seconds, you should try to avoid this as you will otherwise be left vulnerable to hammer 2. You can clear the immob with a mobility skill like gs 3 if it lands, or use shield 5 to reflect it since it's a projectile. Hammer 4 is a slow melee attack that will deal ok damage and launch you away if it hits, which can be a problem if you're contesting a point but isn't hard to evade. Hammer 5 makes a cc ring that will knock you back if you attempt to walk or dodge through it, this can be dangerous since he will often try to land a hammer 2 while you're trapped in it. He can combo this one with judges intervention to teleport in and immediately trap you in a ring, so if you see the guardian starting to cast it at range (the animation has him spinning around) you should dodge away or get your stability ready. Dodge priority is hammer 2 (if you have stability available) > hammer 5 (if you don't have stability available) > hammer 3/4

Other than that, some core guardians have a passive trait that gives them retaliation and aegis after you cc them, which could be what's blocking your f1s. One of their stunbreaks (f3) also gives aegis and stability. Don't bother with signet of might, instead use a multi hit skill like axe 2 or gs 3 to clear the block first and deal some damage. It's usually not worth it to trade autos with core guards since their retaliation and might stacking will often win out, instead you should try to avoid their key skills and look for opportunities to land a clean gs 3 or f1 after you remove their aegis. It's worth noting that when they cast their heal they do an automatic aoe attack, so watch out for that if you're both low. Don't hesitate to activate rampage once they've used up most of their blocks and stunbreaks, core guard is actually pretty squishy as long as you don't let it outpressure you

> Finally, here is the build i'm running right now in Spvp:

>

> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR3ejEdQjHW3BmdApIGICK8EehRwCgIon1v41jBA-jpBHQBE8gAIuHAAAOCA5rMQG2fwAXAAA

>

> If you have any critics or tips on ways I can improve in terms of playstyle/build and things I need to know and practice before i get into ranked (pvp fundamentals as warrior i might have missed) than please do share, i would greatly appreciate it.

Here are the issues I see with your build:

-Your condi cleanse is very limited, as you're running neither shake it off or berserker stance. This means that if you get bursted by a condi mirage or scourge, you can only cast mending and try to land your f1, but if they dodge it you'll probably die

-You're using dolyak signet, which I assume is for the long stability to cover your heal. However, unlike balanced stance the stability on this doesn't pulse, so it can easily be stripped or corrupted and you won't get it back

-You're using signet of might, which is useful in some matchups such as core guardian, but will be pretty much worthless against a lot of other builds such as soulbeast, condi mirage, or reaper

Therefore my suggestions here would be to switch dolyak signet and signet of might for balanced stance and shake it off, which will give you two stunbreaks and more cleanse on demand. If you ever decide to drop mending for heal signet, you could instead swap the stability (dolyak signet/balanced stance) for endure pain. It's also possible to swap destruction of the empowered for brawler's recovery if you're still having trouble with condi mirage. Divinity rune is a decent pick, but optionally you could change to strength rune for more damage and might stacking.

Playstyle wise I'd just recommend going to a duel server and spamming some 1v1s for practice since that's your main role, good luck

If ANet tried to balance every skill based on the realism of its animation, it would take ages and probably break the game's balance in the process.

Also, gs 3 (spinning across the floor like an ice skater in heavy armor while slashing things and evading attacks) and gs 4 (throwing a massive greatsword only for it to return like a boomerang) seem significantly less realistic on a conceptual level than gs 5 not having a knockdown.

I don't think mending needs any further cooldown reduction since it's already good healing per second, would rather see its cast time go down to 3/4 second (like they did with elixir h last patch) to make it more usable

Not sure why they'd nerf longbow when it's not meta or overperforming in any game mode at the moment, the guaranteed burst is pretty much the only thing it has going for it unless the weapon gets a more substantial overhaul

Stability on burst with brave stride would make for a rather strong trait given that warr already has decent stunbreaks/stab uptime, I'd suggest swapping it with great fortitude in the master tier in that case so there's more of a tradeoff for picking it

Signet of rage seems fine to me in its current iteration, on-kill bonuses typically aren't good (see: thief signet trait that no one ever uses) and double damage wouldn't be as useful as the current boons for weapons with burst skills that aren't damage focused (earthshaker, skullcrack, breaching strike, etc)

The proposal for sight beyond sight might not be technically possible(?), although I do recall being able to see stealthed enemies in wvw if they were in your party years ago, so maybe

Otherwise the suggested changes seem generally interesting or sensible, nice job on the list

Seen a lot of ideas on this topic, the one I've liked most so far is to have primal bursts count as level 2, but also make entering berserk mode count as a guaranteed level 2 burst in the same way that full counter is a level 1 burst. They'd probably also have to rework some of the traits so that smash brawler isn't a 100% pick in this case

> @"skchurch.3047" said:

> > @"Torqiseknite.1380" said:

> > For movement I suggest you rebind the left/right movement keys (A/D by default) to strafe left/right instead of turn left/right, then use those along with the move forward key (default W) while steering your character with the right mouse button. This will allow you to circle around enemies and still face them by holding move forward/strafe keys and turning with mouse. The problem with relying only on the mouse buttons for movement is that you can't really aim ground target aoe skills (e.g. staff marks on necro) effectively on the move. Combining keyboard controls/right mouse still allows you to steer quickly and you can also drop aoes to the sides/behind your character while running and strafing.

>

> OMG, wow...I totally get how this is what I want to do, but yikes...how does someone manually target, hold down A + W, trigger their weapons/skills (and sometimes aiming the AoE target with the left mouse button), and steer with the right mouse button all at the same time. Is that physically possible lol?

With a bit of practice the skills and movement will soon become muscle memory, so you don't have to actively think about pressing them. Having good controls also helps since that minimizes how much you need to shift your hand to access all the keys. I've found that changing keybinds after a while of getting used to the old ones is one of the worst feelings in this game, so it's best to configure a decent setup early. Targeting is also pretty simple once you get used to it, in pve you can normally just tab to/click on an enemy at the start of a fight and leave them selected, unless you're trying to do fancy things with skill retargeting

> @"skchurch.3047" said:

> Hi :-) I am new to Guild Wars 2 and the classes I have enjoyed the most are: Necromancer, Mesmer (I do best with these two), Elementalist (hardest one for me because of the 4 attunements and he gets killed easiest for me), and Guardian–I really like the spell casters :-) I've only taken my Necromancer all the way through the personal story and just started the Living World Season. What I find is although I cleared everything okay in the early game (up through the Personal Story), but when I go to higher level maps (I am 80 level on all my characters) I have a very hard time not dying and killing bosses especially. The only MMO I have played before is World of Warcraft (just a couple of months), but really like GW2 more, but in WoW I just stood still when I battled, and I see here in GW2 I really need to learn how to move while fighting. So my question is, are there good resources focused on teaching how to move while fighting (e.g., how to do it mechanically (how to use the keyboard and/or mouse combinations and the strategies around combat mechanics, and even the settings to go along with it (like Autotargeting or not)) As an example, how to do kiting while still looking at the enemy so they are targeted. Note: I have been using my mouse to move (i.e., I've been steer with Right mouse button + run with the Left mouse button, and using my right hand on the keyboard to hit the keys to invoke attacks with some more convenient keybindings) so not sure if there is some other way I should be thinking about moving and fighting more efficiently, especially melee vs mid-rage vs ranged weapons.

>

> I've looked on YouTube, but most of the videos are about the builds, specs, and traits for a class (which is helpful), but I am looking for something even more fundamental to all classes which is moving around a fighting the way really skilled folks seem to do–where they teach how to best use the Keyboard and Mouse. Right now, it just seems like so many keys, and like a miraculous feat of finger acrobatics to move, target, and press all the weapons and skills for it all to come together at the same time LOL But, it seems worth learning and practicing and I want to be better :-)

As far as the general options go, here are some personal suggestions:

-check show skill recharge so you know the exact time until skills come off cooldown

-adjust rotation speed and fov sliders to turn camera faster and have a wider field of view

-check use free camera to be able to look around by holding down left mouse while running

-change the ground targeting option to either fast with range indicator or instant, this will allow you to press targeted aoe skills such as necro staff marks only once to aim/cast them instead of needing to double tap

-uncheck double tap to evade, instead have a dedicated dodge key

-uncheck autotargeting as this can cause you to target random hostiles, instead use next/nearest enemy keybinds (tab by default) to cycle through nearby enemies, or just click on the target if it's in a crowd

-uncheck melee attack assist, all it does is make you unable to walk through the selected target's hitbox which actually hinders your movement

-consider checking allow skill retargeting to have more control over skill casts, for example if an enemy dies while you're casting a slow skill at it this will let you swap to another target and not have the skill be wasted

For movement I suggest you rebind the left/right movement keys (A/D by default) to strafe left/right instead of turn left/right, then use those along with the move forward key (default W) while steering your character with the right mouse button. This will allow you to circle around enemies and still face them by holding move forward/strafe keys and turning with mouse. The problem with relying only on the mouse buttons for movement is that you can't really aim ground target aoe skills (e.g. staff marks on necro) effectively on the move. Combining keyboard controls/right mouse still allows you to steer quickly and you can also drop aoes to the sides/behind your character while running and strafing.

Keybinds are a complex topic and if you want to go more in depth with control optimizations, I recommend watching [Helseth's guide](

Agree with the above poster, balanced stance is particularly good if you're using rousing resilience, the crit immunity stacks with the toughness from the trait proc so it's basically a soft endure pain.

The new shake it off actually has a longer cooldown over time compared to the old one because of how cooldowns queue up with the ammo system. You can test this in game by slotting it in pvp/wvw and trying to use it every 25 sec:

1st activation, 50 sec cd on one charge, other charge ready

(wait 25 sec)

2nd activation, 50 sec cd on one charge, 25 sec cd on other

(wait 25 sec)

3rd activation, 50 sec cd on one charge + 50 sec cd on other

Therefore, if you're using it repeatedly in a fight, both charges of shake it off will eventually be stuck behind consecutive 50 second cooldowns. However, featherfoot grace is already 40 seconds cooldown so it's not much of a difference there, plus you can save up a 2nd charge on shake it off if you're not forced to use it off cooldown. The other tradeoff is dropping superspeed and temp immunity to blind spam for mass condi cleanse that's not affected by boonrip. For blinds, spellbreaker already has some resistance from revenge counter, so shake it off is probably more reliable cleanse overall.

> @"Cyrin.1035" said:

> **Where the GW 2 Story Went Off-Track:**

>

> The story has been muddled and inconsistent since LW S3 when they decided to focus on other stories in the world as the main focus. This would not be as much of an issue if they had cleverly weaved these alternate storylines into the one they built from the beginning: the story of the Elder Dragons.

>

> These storylines would also work far better if they were designed and written as well as the stories GW 1 told. We are in GW 2 now and GW 2 was built on the story of the Elder Dragons. If we suddenly go away from that and focus the main story on random, smaller threats like Caudecus and the quick closing plots of the Mursaat and Joko, it will always feel like a detour.

>

> The Balthazar storyline was a detour especially since it included less of the other races and focused more on the Human race, but unlike the other detour plots, it was weaved alongside the Elder Dragon's story and showed us a different perception of the dragons. This made Balthazar's plot relevant even if the ending of his own story was poorly executed.

The problem with the elder dragon storyline is that those antagonists were designed for an entirely different method of content delivery. The original structure of living world allowed for the implementation of permanent, large-scale changes to existing zones, rather than just adding new regions with every patch. Elder dragons were perfect for that, since they were essentially forces of nature that could destroy or corrupt sizable areas of the map, forcing the inhabitants there to adapt or rebuild and even altering the physical terrain.

However, the game has since moved away from exclusive, limited-time story content, meaning that the devs can no longer make sweeping changes to the old maps. Sure, we might see the occasional new npc or event, but there won't be anything like the tower of nightmares in kessex hills or the destruction of lion's arch anymore. All of the new living world maps are frozen in time and segregated into self-contained updates, so the story won't ever revisit those areas after going through them the first time. Even expansion areas such as crystal oasis didn't receive any permanent changes despite amnoon getting trashed in s4ep1, and we probably won't see any significant revisions to open world zones in the future. Anet doesn't want new or returning players to miss out on content because they weren't playing the game at the time of those releases.

This becomes an issue with the elder dragons as it severely limits what the story team can do with them. Since the dragons were characterized as vast, impersonal forces that wreak chaos and destruction wherever they go by their presence alone, the writers can't have them appear in places like central tyria or crystal oasis, because if they did, there would logically have to be major open-world changes to those zones, which is no longer permissible in the current story model. And if a dragon can't suddenly blow up half a map or wreck an existing city, they suddenly become much less of a potent threat. Sure, the devs can show them causing devastation and havoc in whatever new zones get added, but when we know that the dragons aren't ever going to directly attack lion's arch or the other cities again, they turn into a distant tragedy rather than a pressing menace - like hearing about an earthquake or hurricane on the other side of the world in the news. I think this is what forced the narrative shift from "the dragons aren't stars in the sky, let's murder them all" in the personal story to "we can't just kill the dragons outright, they're the life force of this world" in seasons 3 and 4 of living world (and the devs probably realized that it would be too repetitive to go through slaying them one by one).

This is where the secondary, smaller-scale antagonists come in. Unlike the dragons, characters like palawa joko have more discernible motives and are easier to communicate with than a natural disaster incarnate. Their every action doesn't have to create giant, world-changing consequences, giving the writers more leeway when working with them. Although I doubt gw2 will ever move entirely away from having elder dragons as primary antagonists - it's in the game logo, after all- I wouldn't be surprised if they were no longer the sole focus of the story going forward.

I'm glad that we agree (jimmies notwithstanding). I actually wasn't referencing your comment on warrior utilities in the previous post, just the difference between

> it's just so garbage compared to necro or engineer and their specializations

> Warrior has no AOE to crap all over the place (which is balanced but balanced means bad nowadays)

> you don't have any or hardly any condition removal as a warrior, all you have is... resistance

> unless you're dueling, warrior is just bad in WvW.

and

> They are unkillable gods in WvW. They chain defensive abilities together and their most basic attacks deal for 3k+ while being unkillable.

The first post implies that warrior is a garbage class that's only good for dueling, lacks ranged or aoe damage (making it balanced), and relies on resistance to deal with condi. The second post says that warriors are invincible gods that deal massive damage and can't die, which seems contradictory to the idea that the class is either balanced or garbage. Perhaps you meant unkillable in duels, although that's also not true since it can be countered by mirage, scourge, and holosmith 1v1.

It's fine if the devs nerfs defenses and evade uptime across the game as long as they also reduce damage output, which has become similarly powercreeped particularly in the new specs and redesigned traits.

Also, I assume you were just trying to make an example, but running strength spellbreaker for traited bulls charge, whirlwind, and might makes right means longer cooldowns on full counter and weapon swap, significantly lower adrenaline generation, no cleanse on weapon swap, and no access to axe traits or movespeed/break immob. Eviscerate on spellbreaker can only act as a level 1 burst with 2.0 damage coefficient (lower than jump shot). The build you cited would actually be trash tier in wvw since it would die to any competent scourge, mirage, or even condi thief or ranger as soon as berserker stance ran out.

Looks like you've really changed your tune since february (before all the recent warr nerfs):

> (Speaking WvW here) I've always wanted so badly to play my warrior but it's just so garbage compared to necro or engineer and their specializations. Warrior has no AOE to crap all over the place (which is balanced but balanced means bad nowadays) warrior is melee only which means in a large fight you literally just get to stand back and press spacebar a bunch to pretend like you're doing something, since you can't use rifle because lord knows that's one of the worst weapons in the game. AFAIK, longbow isn't even viable for power anymore. Almost all of the warrior utilities are horrible (balanced) other than the traits and stances as I am one of the people against so much passive garbage in the game, but if warrior didn't have them, then RIP any sustain it has.

>

> I mean, bulls charge is like the only good utility in that whole list. Even half of the utilities for spellbreaker and berserker are bad lol. Mending should very obviously be a phsyical skill. As well, you don't have any or hardly any condition removal as a warrior, all you have is... resistance. And I've been unable to make a decent build utilizing shouts for condition removal. Either nerf literally everything on all classes (like you should, but won't, because then raiders will kill their monsters in 17 seconds instead of 12 seconds... the horror!) or buff/revamp some of the garbage on the warrior which there's a lot of. It's like, unless you're dueling, warrior is just bad in WvW.

Anyway, I think your proposed nerfs are pretty reasonable and wouldn't mind seeing them implemented. While the devs are unsplitting all those things from pvp, they can also do the same for engi:

-increase the cooldown of self-regulating defenses to 90 seconds in wvw

-increase the cooldown of protection injection to 20 seconds in wvw

-increase the cooldown of reactive lenses to 90 seconds in wvw

-change rocket boots back to 1 charge skill without ammo system, just like in 2015

-reduce the duration of hard light arena from 8 seconds to 4 seconds, like they did with balanced stance

And then nerf photon forge damage to pvp levels, the same way dagger, full counter, and break enchantments got nerfed in march:

-reduce the damage of light strike by 40% in wvw

-reduce the damage of holo leap by 17% in wvw

-reduce the might stacks on corona burst from 2 to 1 in wvw

-reduce the damage of holographic shockwave by 22% in wvw

That way engineers will also lose some dps and survivability and anet can buff firearms instead. After all, we just want to balance the game modes, not favor whichever class is our current main :^)

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > @"Torqiseknite.1380" said:

> > What server are you on? I don't usually run axe spellbreaker but I wouldn't mind tossing it on for a few duels, otherwise I could see if I know any good warrs in the same tier

>

> I'm on DH linked to NSP right now (blue), but am more than happy to arrange something with anyone in EoTM, guild hall, or sPvP.

We're in the same tier, feel free to msg me whenever for duels

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > @"Torqiseknite.1380" said:

> > > @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> > > Hey folks,

> > >

> > > I'm looking for some reputable spellbreakers to practice fighting against in a 1v1 setting for WvW. I don't know too many prominent warriors who still play so have no idea who to ask or who's who around here.

> > > I've played D/D power thief for the past several years and have gotten to the point where I can get a handle on most matchups from all of my of practice, but Spellbreaker just seems to be one I have the biggest struggles with.

> > >

> > > I understand it's a counter matchup (as most things with D/D power thief are), but am curious if there's anyone on NA with a good understanding of the GS+A/S Spellbreaker who'd be down to 1v1 for a while and get my matchup win rate to improve.

> > >

> > > Rerolling is not an option. I don't want the easy way out as I haven't done so yet :P

> >

> > You probably won't find many spellbreakers running gs+a/s, the most widely used build is gs+d/s because dagger has access to boonrip, interrupt/cc, and an unblockable burst skill. Anyone currently using axe is more likely to be a core warrior. Since the skill split patch on the 27th is going to be nerfing damage on dagger skills, full counter, and break enchantments, I'd suggest waiting until then before trying to learn this matchup in case it falls out of meta entirely

>

> Good to know though I honestly don't see dagger very often from my experience in WvW.

What server are you on? I don't usually run axe spellbreaker but I wouldn't mind tossing it on for a few duels, otherwise I could see if I know any good warrs in the same tier

> @"DeceiverX.8361" said:

> Hey folks,

>

> I'm looking for some reputable spellbreakers to practice fighting against in a 1v1 setting for WvW. I don't know too many prominent warriors who still play so have no idea who to ask or who's who around here.

> I've played D/D power thief for the past several years and have gotten to the point where I can get a handle on most matchups from all of my of practice, but Spellbreaker just seems to be one I have the biggest struggles with.

>

> I understand it's a counter matchup (as most things with D/D power thief are), but am curious if there's anyone on NA with a good understanding of the GS+A/S Spellbreaker who'd be down to 1v1 for a while and get my matchup win rate to improve.

>

> Rerolling is not an option. I don't want the easy way out as I haven't done so yet :P

You probably won't find many spellbreakers running gs+a/s, the most widely used build is gs+d/s because dagger has access to boonrip, interrupt/cc, and an unblockable burst skill. Anyone currently using axe is more likely to be a core warrior. Since the skill split patch on the 27th is going to be nerfing damage on dagger skills, full counter, and break enchantments, I'd suggest waiting until then before trying to learn this matchup in case it falls out of meta entirely

I've heard from map chat that it drops from the simulacrum bosses at the end of the Specimen Chamber event, however the drop seems to be somewhat rng if so since many people have done the meta multiple times without getting it.

Edit: Dulfy's guide suggests that it's the champs in the pre-event, so I guess the best thing to do would just be to run the entire event sequence repeatedly and hope it drops at some point

It would probably be more useful if it didn't put your actual heal skill on a 180-second cooldown, even after dismounting. Right now I don't see any reason to ever activate it

As a workaround, you can type "cons" into the inventory search bar to bring up a shortened list of all consumables in your inventory, including loot bags, essences of luck, and salvage kits. From there it's easy to do use-all on bags, salvage-all, and then use-all on luck in the same screen.

If the [siegemaster's satchel](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Siegemaster%27s_Satchel "siegemaster's satchel") didn't exclude champ bags for no apparent reason, that would probably work fairly well too

> @"Gaile Gray.6029" said:

> ### Warrior

Some impactful splits, several of these changes should probably be made game-wide (frenzy, battle standard, rampage, and shake it off) since they affect skills that haven't been meta anywhere for a while. In fact this might be a good time to finally standardize mending as a physical skill with base 20 second cooldown

> ### Revenant

Less significant changes here, though the hammer 2 nerfs are probably noticeable for large scale wvw fights. I guess rev's issues warrant some sort of redesign that would lay outside the scope of this proposed patch. The change to soothing stone seems good, perhaps cleansing channel could also be updated to clear 2 conditions instead of 1?

> ### Guardian

I doubt it's necessary to continue nerfing firebrand at this point. The updates to signet of resolve and spirit weapons could also be made game wide.

> ### Thief

D/p changes seem good in theory, pushing thief away from spamming autoattack and giving it a reason to use the 2 and 3 skills again. I don't think the nerf to roll for initiative was necessarily warranted, but maybe we'll see more s/d thieves running infiltrator's signet now.

> ### Ranger

The druid nerfs were probably needed given all the other changes in this patch, but is it ever going to be able to fulfill a supportive role as originally designed? Signet of stone update is interesting, I think the new version might actually be stronger in some cases. The axe changes could be universalized also.

> ### Engineer

Major nerfs to meta holosmith, I think the minesweeper/vent exhaust split might finally kill off the explosives build as far as pvp is concerned. Not sure that I like the change to crystal configuration: eclipse, maybe it would've been better to make it 1 stack of stability for 5 seconds in pvp/wvw without the hit requirement.

> ### Elementalist

Minor changes on ele, glyph of renewal really needs to not have a 3+ second cast time if it's ever going to be viable. Maybe now shatterstone will actually deal damage on the rare occasion that it actually hits anything. Tornado split game wide etc

> ### Mesmer

Very narrow mesmer changes, but they are pretty reasonable ones as far as I can tell. Maybe some of the phantasms could be split as well, a defensive one like phantasmal avenger probably shouldn't be critting upwards of 6k

> ### Necromancer

More scourge nerfs? As with firebrand I think the first half of these splits are overkill. Buffs to wells seem interesting, well of blood/spectral grasp changes could be universalized.

Some builds that might fit your criteria in pvp/wvw:

[Fresh air ele](https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_S/F_Fresh_Air "Fresh air ele") - strong ranged burst, constant kiting with superspeed, many options for active defense/damage mitigation

[Rifle holo](https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Holosmith_-_Holorifle "Rifle holo") - high mobility/disengage using rocket boots, consistent ranged pressure with burst damage in melee, excellent stability uptime

[Power mirage](https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mirage_-_Power_Shatter "Power mirage") - good mobility with sword leaps, very high burst potential with setup (stealth/stuns), can evade while casting skills

This bug has been around for a while, from what I've seen it happens when an enemy stands still after teleporting. The game doesn't visually update the affected character's location until the player actually moves. I notice this most often with guardians using sword 2 > sword 3, since sword 2 is a teleport and sword 3 roots them in place.

No idea if/when it'll be fixed, but it's a pretty major bug so I can only hope the devs are working on it

The balance patch on November 7 cut the durations of both berserker stance and balanced stance in half. However, while berserker stance also had its cooldown reduced by half to compensate, balanced stance retained its original 40 second cooldown and instead gained an additional effect that makes its user immune to critical hits. Although this secondary effect is useful, the fact remains that 4 seconds of stability on a 40 second cooldown is often insufficient given the amount of cc currently available in the game. Furthermore, the stance trait last stand is currently bugged such that it will proc even if the user already has stability, and the stability/crit immunity given by that trait doesn't stack duration with the utility version of balanced stance (which is actually fine in my opinion).

Therefore, I suggest that balanced stance have its cooldown adjusted to 35 seconds in order to improve its usefulness as a primary stunbreak for builds not running last stand. Note that this proposal only applies to the active version of the skill; the trait version is usually taken along with another stunbreak (e.g. endure pain) and thus doesn't really need changing, although it probably shouldn't proc when the player already has stability.

I've also been experiencing lag spikes recently (playing on NA from West Coast). It's definitely latency, not fps. Here's a screenshot:


> @EremiteAngel.9765 said:

> Thanks Torq for the detailed reply! That was very helpful. I see the fight much clearer now that I know what utilities were in play.

>

> Great advice for both reaper and sb.

>

> I'll link this in the necro forum so more get to learn too =]

>

> Thanks for sharing!

The first guy in the video comments also had some good advice, I've dueled him before and he was one of the best necro players I've met.

> @Hitman.5829 said:

> * Was there a recent change in meta?

> Answer: No, actually warrior got nerfed bad.

> * Also, based on your experience fighting power Reapers, what could I or the Spellbreaker have done better?

> Answer: Get good kid, you are a backpedaler so I suggest stop backpedaling while fighting, also you did not even use your healing skill when you clearly needed it.

> Also, when you are running away from him you don't cast spells!

>

> I know most people don't like to hear the brutal truth as it is, but the truth is you are a bad necro.

> really there is no advice we can give you on how to fight warrior, you have to discover that for yourself by getting good at the game.

> Start by not backpedaling because that kills most of the people.

Anyone can make mistakes, that doesn't necessarily make Eremite a bad player. He kited well around the middle of the fight and during lich form, a lot of necros don't know that you can cast lich auto backwards.

The spellbreaker's utilities were berserker stance, endure pain, and featherfoot grace. In your footage he used berserker at 1:10, endure pain at 1:34, and featherfoot at 1:43.

I assume by gap closing utility you mean bull's charge, which isn't really popular for the meta spellbreaker build (def/disc/spellbreaker) because it can't be traited without taking the strength line. Meta is double stance with either featherfoot or break enchantments.

You basically had him at 1:45, most of your cooldowns were up while he'd just used everything and was at low health. If you'd healed and kited away instead of casting deathly swarm into his block while backpedaling, I'm pretty sure you would've won. Leaving shroud wasn't necessarily a mistake since he was in block and reaper shroud degens fast now, you still had enough resources to down him in your normal set. You could've potentially recovered by using corrupt boon at around 1:55 to nerf his pressure with 10 seconds of weakness, buying you enough time to heal.

The spellbreaker actually played pretty impatiently, using shield bash immediately after the block is predictable as you noted, it also wastes a cc when you still had all your endurance/stunbreaks available. He wasted a full counter at 0:55, used it again off cooldown at 1:29 but failed to proc, and finally landed one at 2:02 when you were already pressured. Spellbreaker should generally have a favorable matchup against power reaper because it can easily proc full counter off shroud 2, axe 2, and gs 4.

The experience of underwater combat can vary greatly depending on which profession you're playing. Some builds/specializations work fine underwater, others (e.g. scourge, herald) don't work at all. It's never fun when you jump into the water and suddenly your profession mechanic becomes unavailable. I think a lot of the current dissatisfaction with underwater content would go away if ANet were to rework most traits and skills to retain their functionality underwater.

That being said, at this stage I doubt that underwater content will ever become a significant aspect of the game as originally envisioned. It's disliked enough that any attempts at a major overhaul would probably be controversial at best; many players would prefer that the development time be spent on other things. I think the best we could hope for would be some minor (yet consistent) underwater skill/trait tweaks rolled into the regular balance patches, which could allow ANet to gradually improve on gameplay and quality of life in existing water content without taking too many resources away from their other projects.

It would be good if anet could at least provide a reply on this topic, right now most map instances are 10.63.xx ips with a few being 64.25.xx, and the 10.63.xx instances tend to be noticeably laggier for non-east coast players