Noodle Ant.1605

> @"Dadnir.5038" said: > > @"Noodle Ant.1605" said: > > axe... mirage? other condi MHs are garbage > > I like scepter a lot on mesmer, it's pretty decent for condition damage. I understand that not everybody share my opinion on this weapon but calling it "garbage" feel incorrect. remembering that i am commenting within the scope of (high-end) pve, i remember attempting to discuss core condi mes in pve with leonidrex and we came to the conclusion that doesnt work because one of the reasons is that scepter/staff cannot carry it into viability condi chrono is basically carried by rewinder condi mirage is quite literally a core mesmer with ambushes and axe, why is that axe is always chosen over scepter? scepter skills might look ok but the clones *yuck*, its so bad you cant even pull it out as your 2nd set. why play scepter if its like OP playing power gs on mirage, surely if it was good it would see more use similarly thief, necro and ele core weapons are not totally garbage, but they turn out to be anyway because they will almost always get replaced

PoM traits are not supposed to 'PoM traits'. They're supposed to be 100% functional and have their own distinct function without PoM, except anet took some lazy route and solely relied on boons instead of directly modifying the phantasms instead. **Phantasmal Haste:** this is supposed to make the longer cast time phantasms (i.e. swordsman, duelist, WARDEN) attack faster, except a portion of it is wasted when the phantasms idle after spawning (and again after attacking if attempting to use PoM) and the duration isn't even long enough to cover all of warden's cast time. The personal quickness duration is stunted to near uselessness because PvE staff #3, traited GS #4 and chronophantasma can double (or even quadruple) it. This trait should make all phantasms faster by whatever % quickness is supposed to grant (including berserker and defender, because they are not affected by quickness) and apply only one definite and meaningful instance of quickness at the end of casting a phantasm skill so you're not relying on phantasms *actually spawning* for the personal quickness, and there is no fear of extended durations due to very specific interactions. The quickness applied to phantasm can stay purely to interact with PoM. **Protected Phantasms:** one instance of aegis is pretty garbage no matter how you look at it, it's similar to Blood Bank in that it's a wasted trait if phantasms are not being attacked, and has little/situational effect even if they are. This trait should make phantasms inherently and significantly tankier so that it doesnt just die to AoE/cleave, whether that be a massive HP boost, straight up dmg% reduction, whatever... it should technically allow a phantasm to run into a blob, do its thing and turn into that clone. Again, you can slap boons on to the phantasm just to interact with PoM. PoM is another issue in itself since mesmer's options for boon output was completely axed due to boon chrono....

scope of OP is mainly (high end) pve so ill mention only (high end) pve its an unavoidable ‘problem’ if base weapons do not coincidentally (and properly) cover all niches by themselves. e.g. why would you not want to use staff on daredevil? other power options are garbage in comparison why would you not want to use gs on reaper? other power options are garbage torch... scg? other OHs are garbage wh... temp? other OHs are garbage axe... mirage? other condi MHs are garbage thief, necro and ele imo have depressing core weapon choices that they are almost guaranteed to ditch in favour for any new weapon that comes with espec (tho d/d on DE appears to be passable... /shrug) unless you have strong pre existing options like warr, guard, rev, ranger, or kits from engi, this problem will exist. core supp options and condi OHs are kind of lacking across all specs tho, so stuff still happens there try making a wep that completely surpasses a/a for power warr, ~~MH sword~~/lb for condi (sword is pretty garbo now when i look at it) try making a wep that completely surpasses guard’s plethora of well designed weps s/s for power rev, MH mace for condi gs x/a for power ranger, sb for condi kits in general for engi in general meanwhile its super easy for thief, necro and ele mesmer has a strong core power kit, but its condi kit is lacking and hence why axe is simply superior on a condi pigeonholed spec like mirage (scepter/staff are not even on any of the wep swaps)

> @"Steve The Cynic.3217" said: > > @"Batel.9206" said: > > Oh, wow, these look fantastic! *Finally* we get some decent high heels for the ladies. (I originally thought the men's version didn't look as nice...then realized - it's a pair of casual shoes that can be worn with heavy armor classes. I revise my opinion: they're awesome.) Now I'm curious what they look like on asura and charr... > > > > Thank you, ArenaNet! :D > > Someone said in (EU) chat that he had tried them on an Asura, and I got the definite impression that "what has been seen cannot be unseen", as they say. > > EDIT: it's not quite as bad as that implies: > https://i.imgur.com/nbOGmtz.jpg > As a long time asura player, it immediately didn’t look right when I first viewed it. It still doesn’t. But then I saw the picture of it being used on a human model at the top of this page and wondered, why does it look alright there? The difference is, human models (human, sylvari, norn) get a bit of extra substance on their foot to compensate their missing heels. On the other hand, asura get their heels sliced off with no compensation. It’s a bit inhumane if you ask me, but then again, asura ears are lopped off everywhere. And I can’t deny that the human models get their ankles obliterated by these shoes either. But IMO it would’ve been interesting if they did artificially increase character height (as it should) instead of slicing off heels/adding some mysterious body-like substance.

Would be fine with anything that shakes up the current clone/shatter interaction (so something that’s not clones casually walking to target and exploding); phantasms are fine as they are (mechanically, balance is another issue) since they kinda on the level of symbol skills on guard (but they can change if needed, idc). Mesmer is perhaps the only profession whose *profession mechanic* has not really changed after 2 especs (chrono shatters outside f4 are basically reskins). F1/2/3 are all the same and the method to use them is literally the same. The only different thing is csplit on chrono and you can’t even use it very often. Meanwhile other professions get flashy new skills/transformations/entire skill bars as their new profession mechanic, makes you wonder if they just ran out of creative juices when it came to mesmer...

> @"necromaniac.7629" said: > > @"Leonidrex.5649" said: > > as a someone that often does fractals on power chrono... it has loads of issues. all the burst damage is spread over REALLY long time due chronophantasma, and all the aoe is not fully reliable since its in the hands of clones/phantasms. enemy dies or gets knock-backed and suddenly your 5mob aoe gets turned into 1mob skill. > Would taking seize the moment instead and also taking illusions for the double shatter make any difference since no chronophantasma=more frequent clones which then equals 3 clone shatters off cooldown especially with 2 counts and reduced shatter recharge too? I don’t think there’s much point in running chrono when you ditch ~20% of your effectiveness (chronophantasma) and can’t even rely on another ~15-20% (danger time); core would outdps chrono at that point. Change either domi or duel to illu and you lose out on even more dmg because that’s how weak illu is atm. Illu *is* the real estate for burst dmg (double f1 + phant quickness) but it simply doesn’t compare to domi/duel. Phantasmal force used to be a really cool thing (cuz rotation opener is full of phants) until domi came over and suddenly got +32% dmg phants, +25% dmg phants are not gonna cut it anymore (also +42% personal dmg vs +10% LOL). Ditch duel and they won’t crit, and you won’t hit as hard either. Ditch chrono(phantasma) and your overall dmg drops like a rock pretty much back to dps scourge level (w/o epi ofc), but I guess now you have a mediocre burst? It scares me (or anet more likely) to think how much of a difference it would make if compounding power was changed to affect illusions (and a revert on the 3% -> 2% per stack for PvE would be nice too) so that illu actually had better phantasms vs domi...

@"Veprovina.4876" I think OP is somewhat aware of the problems in WvW/PvP, but the title of this thread and context of the original post specifically mentions PvE where *dps* mesmer (so yes you could say OP forgot about the boon/support side of things) does seem to be in a very salvageable state and IMO has been for a while, only that Anet seemingly can’t be bothered to make the changes required to pull PvE dps mesmer from ‘ok’ to ‘good’. (PvE) Mirage’s problems are basically defined by how confusion works. It is the sole reason why it is good on ~3 raid bosses and on some other weird interactions, and ‘bad’ at everything else. (PvE) Chrono’s problems I have outlined many times already. Apart from questionable balancing factors such as slow uptime and being able to pull of a csplit uninterrupted, its setup is catered towards longer fights (i.e. actually having to cast things twice instead of being a 100% straight up dmg increase). This is why I keep commenting about how the next espec (hopefully), or even core, would fare better in terms of burst. The next espec is fair game provided they don’t destroy Domi and Duel, whereas core is simply (and only?!) being held back by Illu, whose power bonuses seem neglected and is dwarfed by Domi/Duel/Chrono. Chrono itself needs a more accessible csplit (105s is *far* too high). I’m not expecting any significant changes until pre release patch and post expac release patch however, where I would actually be surprised if things manage to remain intact/not nerfed after having to accomodate a new espec.

> @"lare.5129" said: > current inpr. alacrity you always should set disabled. It cut alacrity uptime if you select it. Most people don't worry about it, or don't check it .. Wiht disabled trai you can keep bettter uptime, and don't push SoI onfly for quickenss if alacrity gone. > People see green numbers, boon, and happy. And only after some time if you overskilled you can try that imps alacrity ..but it uselees I am sure. This doesn’t make much sense. The penalty is only applied to the chrono(s) who take uber alac, who over-compensate for it anyway by shattering normally (via flow of time). Even if uber alac expires, it will *always* recharge more than sad alac would have anyway. SoI extends boons on other people so whether or not you have alac is irrelevant... if you *really* need to extend alac on yourself, you can shatter just before it activates and get 3s of uber alac instead of 3s sad alac?

This thread really reminds me of the thread I made about PvE retaliation, where I was trying to point out a mechanical flaw where one skill could proc 11k+ worth of retal dmg where others only took 700... then ppl came flying in saying it was good cuz it makes the ppl only getting hit for 700 ‘think’ and ‘play less brainlessly’, leaving the ppl who had the perspective of 11k thinking ‘wtf :anguished:’. Like someone said somewhere, both that and this discussion is basically a mental exercise since it is somewhat expected that anet will ignore most of this anyway. I agree with the comments about aggro range though. Recently, my siblings revisited the game and we ran through the PoF maps together. One of them managed to get dismounted and have up to *a dozen* **separate** (not grouped) branded ogres chasing after them. From my exp in core gw2, you’d only get 3-4 risen (given how ‘high-density’ Orr is) chasing you before the furthest one gave up. For HoT, probably only 2-3 mobs. And it doesn’t help that every mob in PoF seems to have a ranged attack as well (10s poison from scarabs literally intended to keep you in combat/dismounted LOL).

> @"Leonidrex.5649" said: > > @"necromaniac.7629" said: > > you can also overcap boon duration to 133% so you counter the -33% idk how often people do that tho, basically all your skills cool down is halved compared to a quarter when you don't take the trait and have alacrity > > it doesnt work like that, 25s cooldown skill recharges is 20s under effect off alacrity > 30s cd skill recharges in 20s under the effect off uber alacrity, its 50% faster but not half the time, I dont know how to explain it lol, its been like 5-6 years since I delt with math dw i got u, 100s CD skill: no alac: recharging 1 CDs/s, 100 / 1 = 100% normal alac: recharging 1.25 CDs/s, 100 / 1.25 = 80% uber alac: recharging 1.5 CDs/s, 100 / 1.5 = 66(.67)% assuming u have enough alac to last the whole dura.

This one’s easy. - Normal alac is +25% recharge rate so it shaves off 0.25s per second. - Improved alac makes sets alac recharge rate to +50% (not 50% stronger) so it shaves off 0.5s per second - ~~The penalty only applies to alac that *you* apply to *yourself*~~ Let’s grab 6s of alac (assuming you apply it to yourself and w/ no boon dura). - Normal alac gives 0.25 * 6 = 1.5s shaved - Improved alac gives 0.5* 4 = 2s shaved - The penalty does not scale and so Improved Alac gets better the more boon dura you have - ~~If alac is from external source then penalty does not apply~~ Edit: actually I’m not sure but w/e lol

personal preference but i wish mind wrack looked and sounded more violent, like *shatter* violent :grimace: you can replace the scepter and staff impact sound with the the gs auto impact and i think it should be ok... in all cases its just some purple magicky stuff hitting something so it should sound the same anyway?

> @"draxynnic.3719" said: > Yeah, PoF has the Awakened that pop up Protection and so on. Still, I think there's potential value in having more boonplay in general, and in some ways it can _help_ with making trashmobs somewhat threatening without doing so in an annoying way. For instance, most PvE mobs are set up so that they either have boons or they don't - you don't see many instances of PvE mobs steadily mightstacking during a fight, for instance. This could allow them to have enemies that are relatively nonthreatening early in a fight (unlike those darned pocket raptors which can down you in seconds if a pack or two of them catch you by surprise due to that insane flanking damage they do), but can build up to become a threat if you let them. But if you boonstrip them, you reset that counter. Drop a Well of Corruption or a Null Field or the like on them, and you can keep that counter on 0 for several seconds. This could make for mobs that are more fun to fight, because they're not a cakewalk, but they're also not dishing out big damage right from the word go, and you don't get the issue you can get in some PoF regions where you're fighting one dangerous opponent and then another wanders in and drops some big damage effects on you before you can react (this happens a lot with the djinn bottle in Crystal Oasis with the hydra wandering nearby, for instance). > > Even in PoF, boons are something you generally only really notice against specific mobs. Now compare that to any competitive mode, where it's virtually _guaranteed_ that any opponent you're facing is going to have some boons. There's a pretty big disconnect there. It might not be one desirable to make PvE as boon-heavy as PvP, but it would be nice for boonstrip and boonsteal to be more useful in PvE without relying on shortcuts like "skill does extra damage to targets without boons" or "skill will grant you Quickness even if the target has no boons to steal." The reason we HAVE conditional modifiers like that is because those skills weren't useful enough in PvE without them. It's hard to incentivize any sort of boonstripping in PvE as: - All boons besides Protection and Retaliation are worthless on mobs in PvE - Boonstripping trashmobs is never worthwhile Boonplay has little impact on PvE enemies. A properly timed boonstrip is powerful in PvP, but does not serve as much use in PvE not (only) because there are no boons, but because stripping them has little to no impact if it does not include prot or retal. It is important to notice this when observing these 'shortcuts' since it allows skills and traits to double up and provide additional/different effects to still have a use in PvE where boonstripping is rarely impactful. Adding in boons now does nothing other than to devalue these 'shortcuts' and make them useless again.

> @"necromaniac.7629" said: > > @"Noodle Ant.1605" said: > > > @"necromaniac.7629" said: > > > > @"Noodle Ant.1605" said: > > > > **What is DT/IA/IR?** > > > > DT = Danger Time > > > > IA = Improved Alacrity > > > > IR = Illusionary Reversion > > > > It is important to differentiate these, as DT variants are based on 100% slow uptime and will suffer some penalty w/o slow, whereas non-DT variants suffer no penalty. > > > > > > > > **What is the difference between (power) chrono/core/mirage?** > > > > Tbh, not much. They all currently play the same atm (i.e. all focus, pretty much the same rotation minus Csplit, also dodging on pMirage is a dps loss). This is more of a jab at anet's espec design - are especs actually a sidegrade of core/each other? Why is only chrono being buffed to infinity? > > > > > > > > And then despite all these buffs, chrono continues to suffer from having to rely on Csplit (massive 100s CD) and DT (reliance on a rare condition); these buffs aren't doing much other than making chrono look extremely bloated in terms of dps. > > > > > > > > Otherwise: > > > > Chrono = has 'chronoburst' and chronophantaspam. > > > > Core = has 'PvPburst' which deletes trash mobs instantly (like afk players). Follows the same phants > autoattack formula as chrono; does more autos and is more faceroll than chrono. > > > > Mirage = downgrade copy of core. Better to run GS ambush spam for tagging mobs. > > > > > > Can core compete with chrono for fracs because of less ramp up and more shatters? i.e more burst > > > > > There is a **very large** margin between core and chrono (~7-12k). But as I wrote on another thread: > > > chrono is garbage on things that don’t last for very long (trash, breakbars), and only shines on things that do get to last long enough (target golem, raid bosses). > > Chrono's specialty is specifically bosses, and nothing else really. This means for non-boss content (i.e. clearing trash), core competes reasonably well - in many cases being the better option. > > > > On bosses however, the competition is relatively one-sided, with core only being able to compete (technically speaking) with some number of the following criteria: > > - Boss(es) has low to no slow uptime. Chrono not having slow brings it a lot closer to core, and having to self-supply slow itself doesn't have much of as much as an impact when it fails to exist on windows of opportunity (i.e. breakbars) and/or when it only buffs AA's and not bursts. > > - Boss(es) has a breakbar at start of the fight that is broken near instantly and not delayed. This catches the peak of core's burst but not chrono's. Core is also better at delaying its burst/having alternate burst combos to 'catch' subsequent breakbars if possible (more is better), whereas chrono is more or less better played mindlessly cycling through its rotation as most of its skills deal DoT. > > - Boss(es) has multiple, frequent phases which heavily disrupt chrono's non-quickness'd, respawning phantasms and csplit timing. > > - Boss does not last long enough for chrono to take advantage of its higher sustained dmg. > > - Other factors which did not come to mind :anguished: > > > > Core is sort of a 'win-more' approach in these situations as compared to chrono, where mesmer as a whole is not considered very good for this type of content. Ofc you may beat unexperienced/casual players even as core, but against people *who really know how to play*, purple class should always lose. > > Thanks for going in detail, " but against people *who really know how to play*, purple class should always lose." oof that sucks to hear, forgot power chrono phantasms doesn't have quickness too (cause i'm mostly playing illusions in open world) > Sounds like just need to make video rotation to satisfy our "needs" cause personally I just love theory crafting and stuff I feel like I should explain myself a bit more. In the high-end of the high-end (and keeping in mind this specifically refers to fractals), you can expect things such as: - Instant breakbars, which favours other classes' burst more than mesmer - OWP stance share, which mesmer fails to utilise since it lacks drawn out multi-hits (phantasms don't trigger OWP from the mesmer) - Precasting, which mesmer can't really do anything - Class specific buffs/bonuses/abilities, which mesmer doesn't really have anything to bring outside of boonstrip The only class which mesmer might not lose to is revenant due to its lack of a dedicated power dps spec. But a revenant is almost always run for alac and other important goodies anyways (it has boonstrip too so why play mesmer?). There's also some other mesmer-specific annoyances that I've discovered over the past few years: - Clones and phantasms can be CC'ed/targeted and destroyed by 'accident' - Csplit rift can be destroyed randomly

> @"necromaniac.7629" said: > > @"Noodle Ant.1605" said: > > **What is DT/IA/IR?** > > DT = Danger Time > > IA = Improved Alacrity > > IR = Illusionary Reversion > > It is important to differentiate these, as DT variants are based on 100% slow uptime and will suffer some penalty w/o slow, whereas non-DT variants suffer no penalty. > > > > **What is the difference between (power) chrono/core/mirage?** > > Tbh, not much. They all currently play the same atm (i.e. all focus, pretty much the same rotation minus Csplit, also dodging on pMirage is a dps loss). This is more of a jab at anet's espec design - are especs actually a sidegrade of core/each other? Why is only chrono being buffed to infinity? > > > > And then despite all these buffs, chrono continues to suffer from having to rely on Csplit (massive 100s CD) and DT (reliance on a rare condition); these buffs aren't doing much other than making chrono look extremely bloated in terms of dps. > > > > Otherwise: > > Chrono = has 'chronoburst' and chronophantaspam. > > Core = has 'PvPburst' which deletes trash mobs instantly (like afk players). Follows the same phants > autoattack formula as chrono; does more autos and is more faceroll than chrono. > > Mirage = downgrade copy of core. Better to run GS ambush spam for tagging mobs. > > Can core compete with chrono for fracs because of less ramp up and more shatters? i.e more burst > There is a **very large** margin between core and chrono (~7-12k). But as I wrote on another thread: > chrono is garbage on things that don’t last for very long (trash, breakbars), and only shines on things that do get to last long enough (target golem, raid bosses). Chrono's specialty is specifically bosses, and nothing else really. This means for non-boss content (i.e. clearing trash), core competes reasonably well - in many cases being the better option. On bosses however, the competition is relatively one-sided, with core only being able to compete (technically speaking) with some number of the following criteria: - Boss(es) has low to no slow uptime. Chrono not having slow brings it a lot closer to core, and having to self-supply slow itself doesn't have much of as much as an impact when it fails to exist on windows of opportunity (i.e. breakbars) and/or when it only buffs AA's and not bursts. - Boss(es) has a breakbar at start of the fight that is broken near instantly and not delayed. This catches the peak of core's burst but not chrono's. Core is also better at delaying its burst/having alternate burst combos to 'catch' subsequent breakbars if possible (more is better), whereas chrono is more or less better played mindlessly cycling through its rotation as most of its skills deal DoT. - Boss(es) has multiple, frequent phases which heavily disrupt chrono's non-quickness'd, respawning phantasms and csplit timing. - Boss does not last long enough for chrono to take advantage of its higher sustained dmg. - Other factors which did not come to mind :anguished: Core is sort of a 'win-more' approach in these situations as compared to chrono, where mesmer as a whole is not considered very good for this type of content. Ofc you may beat unexperienced/casual players even as core, but against people *who really know how to play*, purple class should always lose.

> @"necromaniac.7629" said: > Yeah I know dom is meta no ifs/but/maybe but i was just saying before dom reworks, i'm sure illusions was meta, and also i'm sure the Fencer bonus is permanent if you're rotating correctly, so basically we all agreeing here. - Duel/illu/chrono was meta after phantasm and phantasmal might rework - At this point, there were 2 main builds: domi gs and illu focus/whatever OH bar torch really - Illu ate a nerf in compounding power - 3% -> 2% per stack - Domi got egotism. Domi (gs) then benched 4k over illu - Domi got vicious expression, not using gs with domi became popular, changes to imagined burden messed up gs and bye bye illu cuz dmg difference is way too great. Ppl used to run domi/illu gs prior to vicious expression, but if you ran swordsman as main phant, it was always almost better to use duel in group content.

> @"necromaniac.7629" said: > This what doesn't sit right with me ,there shouldn't be so much traits in DIFFERENT traitlines that buff ESPECIALLY phantasm/illusions damage etc You can see how just before Vicious Expression, the traitlines were a bit more 'focused', despite having phant dmg traits in different traitlines. Domi focused on personal dmg; Illu on phants, while Duel was balanced. Now its more Domi = flat-out more dmg, Duel = 2nd best dmg line (+making sure your phants crit) and Illu = mainly for utility purposes (and chrono = broken?). > 30% max dmg for phantasms-could you explain how you got 32.3% ) Dmg multipliers are *multiplied* and not added. If you have 2 separate 10% dmg traits, the calculation would be 1 * 1.1 * 1.1 = 1.21, not 1.2. Similarly, 1 * 1.15 * 1.15 = 1.32, not just 1.3.

I think this is kinda the same with core ele? Unless D/D ‘campfire’ ele is more effective than I thought... Last time I checked, the closest-to-espec build was triple conjure core ele (which IMO sounds like a nightmare to play). > @"Dawdler.8521" said: > Is any other core build much better off in PvE? The meta is all PoF or HoT specs (which incidently include both holo and scrapper). I don’t think that there’s any core build which is outright better than their especs, especially in high end PvE. However, if you set condi scourge as a worthy benchmark (not actually saying that it is), some core builds (usually downgrades of meta builds) do get close: - core not-bs warrior - core guardian, doesn’t even need unscathed contender - core mesmer, because memes are somehow worthy - core condi engi(?), I’m not sure how this works - core iboga ranger(?), mixing the deadliest independent pet with the deadliest core build may actually make it somewhat viable Core classes that don’t seem to be destined for greatness: - core rev - core thief - core necro - core ele, probs gets close but the effort is definitely not worth - core engi, probs the same as ele, if we declare that it may only have core things (so no condi build). Core ranger might still be useable despite not using iboga Edit: big typo :smile:

Phantasm Force passively grants might on phantasm despawn *and* respawn (if running chronophantasma) regardless. > @"Lethion.8745" said: > I figured out it's best usage is organized PvE but isn't Dueling+Domination better in all cases? I see no reason to replace one of those lines with Illusions unless you are F2P. Illu used to be more in line with Domi before Vicious Expression was added; Illu did less dmg but was burstier and generated its own quickness and might. However, Vicious Expression introduced another +15% to both player and phant dmg (we ignore clones cuz its dmg is negligible) in domi, resulting in a total of +42.3% to player dmg and +32.3% to phant dmg (23.8%/15% previously). Illu evidently could no longer compete with its +10% player dmg, +25% phant dmg and even with its extra condi dmg, shorter shatter CDs + double F1. You can see how the Illusions traitline would’ve been used before Vicious Expression and why it’s no longer even an option now. Edit: For completion’s sake, Dueling is *roughly* 24.8%/18.2% plus ~4% on top worth of bleed (you could say 28.8%/22.2% for simplicity’s sake) with shorter sword CDs, which is important for spamming blurred frenzy/swordsman/signet (you don’t delay it as swordsman refreshes faster).

I don’t like the idea of adding in *more* random boons in PvE just to add some half-baked interaction with enemies. Only protection and retaliation are of any worth - and even then, a large number of builds can just power through without caring (whilst some others are invalidated by retal lol). Something that is also overlooked is how certain necro and especially mesmer builds cannot simply ignore boons as easily, hence the reasoning for their generous access to boonstrip options in the first place. For example, the boonsplurge in DRM CMs does not include protection and, because it is almost never worthwhile to boonstrip trash mobs, it sticks a random finger in power necro/mesmer’s offensive capabilities (but reaper remains useful for its ez trash clearing capability). Unbeknownst to many (as it would it seem), there has already been boonplay in PvE ever since PoF, and this amount is *fine and really does not need to be increased*. I see no need to make enemies increasingly threatening (without a clear tradeoff) either, especially when the aim is to make *singular* trash mobs unnecessarily ‘challenging’. Anet has designed mobs such that they fulfil ‘roles’; one mob might be melee and tankier, another ranged and applies a significant debuff, and another which might grant important boons. These mobs become exponentially effective when grouped together, but are ofc ineffective when subjected to *approaches that are used to make the encounter easier,* such as dealing with the mobs one by one, pulling/disabling them together with mount engage and bursting them down quickly, etc. And the game does occasionally have very interesting ‘singular’ mobs - awakened canids, hydra, djinn, dominion crushers... only that they aren’t spammed across the entire map/instance for certain reasons. And then you have to find some balance between faceroll reaper and not-trailblazer melee-locked weaver, there’s evidently some issues there.

I don’t think retaliation is intended to ‘punish’ or ‘deter’; it’s a boon that gives an offensive edge when you cannot (or are too lazy to) avoid dmg, like area-denying AoEs which may or may not be mindless. Its effectiveness against multi-hit scenarios is seemingly an unintended side-effect of its current implementation. It is a boon which its sole purpose is to allow you to do *something* instead of *nothing*, which makes it passive by design. Therefore it makes sense that no one pays attention to it because you can just simply pop it and then walk into a pre-existing AoE. Unlike aegis or stability, it wouldn’t have really mattered if the opponent could see it on your bar beforehand or not as they would get ‘punished’(?) all the same. Whether or not such a design deserves a buff without an extensive rework (comparing retal in wvw) is questionable.

Probably repeating myself at this point but: - Buff weapon traits to provide a bonus to something *other than* the weapon itself. - Replace a low-use trait for a Glamour trait. Some random idea: - Revert All's Well That Ends Well to grant additional alacrity (either by adding on to or replacing current effects) to allow more options for specialized 'alachrono' builds in 5 man PvE content. It's a bit weird how chrono struggles so hard to pump out this boon that supposedly made it special in the first place.

**How it seems to work:** Fire -> DAMAGE (in general, includes both) Water -> support Air -> alternates between single target dmg and cc Earth -> alternates between defense and a little condi (bleed) If an ele switches out of fire, the intention was that they are switching out of their ‘damage stance’; they will now have less offensive tools. Water -> less sustain Etc.

Chrono is riddled with countless problems that makes it horrible to use in a fast paced fractal setup regardless of whatever you do to it: - needs slow on target or suffers a ~15% dmg loss - needs to go through 4.5s of csplit... breakbar stun only lasts 5s - csplit on a massive 105s CD - wastes a number clones to enter csplit instead of using it for more instant dmg during stun like (core) F1 - chrono F1 changed to deal less instantaneous dmg - phantasm respawn is overkill on trash/non bosses and tends to miss breakbar anyway tl;dr: You want to fit as much as dmg into stun as you can, yet chrono is for some reason still essentially ‘pre-casting’. Balance-wise, things apparently get to do more overall dmg the longer it takes for it to happen. This is the working basis for swordsman’s highest dmg among phantasms (one quick stab would never be allowed to do that much dmg), and chronophantasma’s supposed 100% dmg increase. Imo, this is their interpretation of chrono’s offensive tradeoff vs not-chrono (core/next spec?); chrono is garbage on things that don’t last for very long (trash, breakbars), and only shines on things that do get to last long enough (target golem, raid bosses). *I highly doubt they would change chrono from this design. You’d have better hope supporting the next espec or core.*

A bursty, all-out core build that kinda deletes trash mobs in roughly 3 keystrokes because I have no need to *solo* champs, and movement is covered by mounts anyways. :confused: Edit: I can run any weapon combo that doesn’t include scepter or staff.