Should Scepter Get a Rework Next?

[Treetoptrickster.4205]

Just feels like a pretty meh weapon that you'd only take if you really needed range. I feel like since it's the core guardian's only real offensive ranged weapon, with the Staff being more supportive, that the scepter could have a place maybe as a hybrid option. This would give it a niche for core guard as well as more of a presence in condi Firebrand builds. Throw ideas around in the comments if you think that scepter needs a touch up, or reasons to keep it as is if you don't.

Here's what I'd like to see from it.

 

**1. Sacred Spark, Sacred Strike, Sacred Flame**

- Fire a wrathful bolt at your target, dealing damage on impact and again after a short delay. The second strike inflicts 5s of Vulnerability.

- Fire a vengeful bolt at your target, dealing damage on impact and again aftef a short delay. The second strike inflicts 5s of Vulnerability.

- Fire a searing bolt at your target, dealing damage and applying 3s of Burning.

 

**2. Symbol of Punishment**

Call down a punishing strike upon the target loction, dealing heavy damage and inflicting 2x Burning and Blind for 4s. Sears a mystic symbol into the ground that deals ongoing damage to enemies while granting Might to allies.

 

**3. Chains of Light**

Damage a target by shackling them in searing chains, Dazing them for 1/2s and Immobilizing them for 2s.

[Arcaedus.7290]

> @"Treetoptrickster.4205" said:

> Just feels like a pretty meh weapon that you'd only take if you really needed range. I feel like since it's the core guardian's only real offensive ranged weapon, with the Staff being more supportive, that the scepter could have a place maybe as a hybrid option. This would give it a niche for core guard as well as more of a presence in condi Firebrand builds. Throw ideas around in the comments if you think that scepter needs a touch up, or reasons to keep it as is if you don't.

> Here's what I'd like to see from it.

>

> **1. Sacred Spark, Sacred Strike, Sacred Flame**

> - Fire a wrathful bolt at your target, dealing damage on impact and again after a short delay. The second strike inflicts 5s of Vulnerability.

> - Fire a vengeful bolt at your target, dealing damage on impact and again aftef a short delay. The second strike inflicts 5s of Vulnerability.

> - Fire a searing bolt at your target, dealing damage and applying 3s of Burning.

>

> **2. Symbol of Punishment**

> Call down a punishing strike upon the target loction, dealing heavy damage and inflicting 2x Burning and Blind for 4s. Sears a mystic symbol into the ground that deals ongoing damage to enemies while granting Might to allies.

>

> **3. Chains of Light**

> Damage a target by shackling them in searing chains, Dazing them for 1/2s and Immobilizing them for 2s.

 

This sounds like a heavy buff for scepter in pvp situations. I like your angle of turning scepter more into a condi or hybrid weapon although we have to be careful with things like this since true hybrid weapons often end up being ineffectual (like it's still better to invest all in one stat rather than be hybrid) or overpowered (see mirage axe). To address your specific skills though:

 

1. Like your idea, but burn has largely been kept off weapons because we apply it through our f1 passive. To keep in line with this idea, I think it would be best if our scepter auto just adopted a 3-hit chain like you suggested which would both reward power and condi builds.

2. burning, blind, might and a low cooldown on a very fast ranged symbol? Not to mention, the symbol's size and duration can be increased. Scepter 2 is fine as is.

3. Daze would be a good pve buff for scepter but a bit overtuned for pvp. I rather like scepter 3 and I think all it needs is a shave to the cooldown since a single target, casted immob should be 12-15s cd, not 20s. Maybe adding a bit of burn to scepter 3 would be fine as well.

[otto.5684]

Scepter, in PvE, is meta in both power and condi builds. It is not absolutely terrible in PvP, but not recommended.

 

All what scepter needs is a change in the AA. Suggested before, make the AA a beam. Nothing else is needed.

 

And if we are on the rework subject, the following require rework much more scepter:

 

LB

Hammer

Mace

 

[kasoki.5180]

Scepter is the one of the best guardian weapons, and probably most used after/beside Greatsword. Its also great in PvP if you are playing against people who can see through Judges 's Intervention combo or are taking advantage of your lack of mobility

[Arcaedus.7290]

> @"kasoki.5180" said:

> Scepter is the one of the best guardian weapons, and probably most used after/beside Greatsword. Its also great in PvP if you are playing against people who can see through Judges 's Intervention combo or are taking advantage of your lack of mobility

 

It has a lot of trouble hitting a moving target. The auto is completely unreliable once your opponent is around 500-600 units away and only mediocre damage even if you're consistently hitting. If you do scepter 2 --> 3, they can easily move out of the symbol before you can land scepter 3, and if you do scepter 3 -->2, the enormous aftercast on scepter 3 + the time it takes to cast the symbol eats up essentially half of the immob time.

[derd.6413]

outside the AA scepter is pretty good

[Hoodie.1045]

No, I don't think the scepter needs a rework. Can it be improved, even a little bit? Of course it can. Out of the three skills the scepter provides, I would say Symbol of Punishment is fine as it is and Chains of Light could have a lower cooldown from 20 seconds to 10 seconds. On the other hand, the auto attack Orb of Wrath is the skill that could definitely be improved.

 

I say make it similar to the elementalist's Arc Lightning or even make it the same as the guardian's downed state auto attack Wrath. Instead of slow projectiles that can be easily avoided by side stepping, it fires hitscan beams 5 times within 2-3 seconds. Wrath has the same range as Orb of Wrath and it can hit up to 3 targets, so maybe take that into consideration. Also, the noise Orb of Wrath makes has got to go.

[Etterwyn.5263]

> @"Arcaedus.7290" said:

> > @"kasoki.5180" said:

> > Scepter is the one of the best guardian weapons, and probably most used after/beside Greatsword. Its also great in PvP if you are playing against people who can see through Judges 's Intervention combo or are taking advantage of your lack of mobility

>

> It has a lot of trouble hitting a moving target. The auto is completely unreliable once your opponent is around 500-600 units away and only mediocre damage even if you're consistently hitting. If you do scepter 2 --> 3, they can easily move out of the symbol before you can land scepter 3, and if you do scepter 3 -->2, the enormous aftercast on scepter 3 + the time it takes to cast the symbol eats up essentially half of the immob time.

 

It's balanced right now **because** it's easy to avoid. It can do good damage if it always hits. Before it got buffed, the auto was absolutely horrible. Now I'm good with it.

 

The only buff it needs is on #3. Either shorter recharge or longer immobilize time. Immob is nowhere near as powerful as it was in 2012

[LetoII.3782]

Mace auto says me first

[otto.5684]

> @"Etterwyn.5263" said:

> > @"Arcaedus.7290" said:

> > > @"kasoki.5180" said:

> > > Scepter is the one of the best guardian weapons, and probably most used after/beside Greatsword. Its also great in PvP if you are playing against people who can see through Judges 's Intervention combo or are taking advantage of your lack of mobility

> >

> > It has a lot of trouble hitting a moving target. The auto is completely unreliable once your opponent is around 500-600 units away and only mediocre damage even if you're consistently hitting. If you do scepter 2 --> 3, they can easily move out of the symbol before you can land scepter 3, and if you do scepter 3 -->2, the enormous aftercast on scepter 3 + the time it takes to cast the symbol eats up essentially half of the immob time.

>

> It's balanced right now **because** it's easy to avoid. It can do good damage if it always hits. Before it got buffed, the auto was absolutely horrible. Now I'm good with it.

>

> The only buff it needs is on #3. Either shorter recharge or longer immobilize time. Immob is nowhere near as powerful as it was in 2012

 

I am not really sure how is the auto balanced. It struggles big time in hitting anything that moves. Sure, it was better than before, but that does not mean it is good.

 

If it proves to be OP then devs can nerf its damage in PvP. Weapons cannot be balanced by having poor functionality or design.

[TheAgedGnome.7520]

Scepter seems pretty balanced, but needs improved AA sound effect:

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/64096/suggestion-make-scepter-auto-attack-quieter

[Yannir.4132]

Yeah, Scepter is fine for the most part.

Shave the casting animation and cooldown of Sc3, and make the auto a 3-part chain with varying and quieter sound effects. Swing from the right, swing from the left, swing overhead. That's all it really needs.

[Ezrael.6859]

Scepter Auto is the issue.

 

It's balanced well against PvE mobs that don't move.

It's utterly unreliable and easy to strafe in PvP and WvW.

 

Ideally the auto-attack needs to become a guaranteed hit, then tailor the damage to match this. This could be achieved either by making it a damage stream like Ele Air Scepter or by making it a three part instant hit chain like Necro scepter.

 

_Even the Mesmer Scepter confusion beam deals great damage against a single moving target with a Berserker build (10.5-12.5k vs light golem) and it's a condi based weapon!_

[VixusIrine.9013]

You could always turn the guardian scepter auto into the air elementalist scepter auto but without the damage windup. With that you can easily do some tweaks on how many instances of damage, how fast it is, etc.

[Arcaedus.7290]

> @"VixusIrine.9013" said:

> You could always turn the guardian scepter auto into the air elementalist scepter auto but without the damage windup. With that you can easily do some tweaks on how many instances of damage, how fast it is, etc.

 

I would absolutely love this, but it would probably be a balance issue since it would remove some counterplay from the skill. I don't think balancing by reducing the dps of the beam (to be lower than old scepter with 100% hit rate of orbs) would be a popular choice either since it would greatly hurt guards in pve.

 

Edit: although I suppose how this could be implemented is the beam could maintain identical dps to scepter in pve, and just receive a damage nerf in pvp only

[crazyhusky.2985]

 

> @"Treetoptrickster.4205" said:

> Just feels like a pretty meh weapon that you'd only take if you really needed range. I feel like since it's the core guardian's only real offensive ranged weapon, with the Staff being more supportive, that the scepter could have a place maybe as a hybrid option. This would give it a niche for core guard as well as more of a presence in condi Firebrand builds. Throw ideas around in the comments if you think that scepter needs a touch up, or reasons to keep it as is if you don't.

> Here's what I'd like to see from it.

>

> **1. Sacred Spark, Sacred Strike, Sacred Flame**

> - Fire a wrathful bolt at your target, dealing damage on impact and again after a short delay. The second strike inflicts 5s of Vulnerability.

> - Fire a vengeful bolt at your target, dealing damage on impact and again aftef a short delay. The second strike inflicts 5s of Vulnerability.

> - Fire a searing bolt at your target, dealing damage and applying 3s of Burning.

>

> **2. Symbol of Punishment**

> Call down a punishing strike upon the target loction, dealing heavy damage and inflicting 2x Burning and Blind for 4s. Sears a mystic symbol into the ground that deals ongoing damage to enemies while granting Might to allies.

>

> **3. Chains of Light**

> Damage a target by shackling them in searing chains, Dazing them for 1/2s and Immobilizing them for 2s.

 

They should really fix longbow first, Its just trash at the moment for everything. it's slow and weak.

DH in general needs a complete redoing and buffing in some areas.

 

I agree with you on scepter, a kinda wish scepter1 was better and quicker, it doesn't look or feel good, it floats towards the foe.

I do want scepter to be like how Mesmar's and Nerco scepter is with a combo.

The problem you get is that, if you change scepter to be more condi focused that would make it more of a weapon for firebrand and not Dragonhunter or Base guardian as use power.

So they would have to balance it to make it suitable for both. Atm its the best DPS weapon for Guardian but i do think it heavily need tweak to its auto attack.

also maybe give 3 another change effect. I think that 3 should have retaliation so that Dragonhunter can get some, as the dragonhunter doesn't have any way of getting from traits and rarely uses the virtues traitline. Only way that DH gets retaliation is GS4 which isn't used much outside raids and fractals, and a heal skill but even then you don't want to healing when you don't have to. Commonly DH uses scepter and focus both of which have no way of getting retaliation.

 

here is the change I want to make to scepter 3.

**3. Chains of Retribution**

Gain retaliation and Punish the target by damaging and shackling them in vengeful chains, Immobilizing and Dazing the foe on impact.

Range 900

Radius 120

Retaliation for 5 secs

Dazing 1 sec

Immobilize 2 secs

 

This way it anything really close to the target also gets dazed and immoblized allowing for scepter a little AOE to it so that can combo with scepter 2 easier.

 

[crazyhusky.2985]

Personally I would prefer it that Arena-Net just give base Guardian a new ranged weapon.

 

One that is power based, so they can redo scepter to be a Condi weapon.

So that if you want power you pick the new weapon and focus

and if you want condi you pick scepter and torch.

 

Having scepter be hybrid would probley hurt the damage if they tweaked to be more condi based to help firebrand, which would be nerfing Dragonhunter and base guard but keeping scepter how it is doesn't help firebrand.

 

The problem is Base Guardian doesn't have a main hand weapon that is condi based. If you look at the other classes in their base form, they all have weapons for both power and condi.

 

Base Guardian lacks condi weapons in general there is no main hand weapon for it, Torch is condi based but there is no main hand weapon to go with it. I think this is what has made Firbrand hard to balance, since Guardian is mostly a power and support based class, i think they've given up with it and just gone for the "Firebrand is support only now. "

 

They should give Base guardian a main hand pistol. A magical pistol themed one with spirit bullets, They should make it power based, that way Drgaonhunter can have it too. Because we all know they're not going to fix DH's longbow anytime soon. Best of all the Pistol goes with the Hunter / Ranger theme.

Since pistol is 900 ranged weapon it would match scepter's range, so there wouldn't be a superior ranged weapon out of the two.

 

This would allow Arena net to redo scepter as a condi weapon for firebrand. Giving it more buring on the symbol and completly changing the auto attack to a combo condi based one. Since Firebrand is based on lore and magic making the scepter condi based would go well with Firebrand better than a pistol would.

 

**What do you guys think?**

At point I feel that Base Guardian NEEDS a main hand condi ranged weapon for Firebrand, it's too late to be nerfing or tweaking scepter to be a hybrid, because its gonna hurt power guardian as they use scepter.

For whatever reason base Guardian doesn't have a condi based weapon.

The only option is to give a new weapon. since base guardian can use all 1 handed weapons except from pistol, so giving it a main hand pistol and then tweaking scepter accordingly would work. (you can't give it main hand axe because thats Firebrand's exclusive weapon)

[Kam.4092]

No. It’s fine.

[Obtena.7952]

If an auto attack can hit you, you shouldn't be able to dodge it without dodging ... period. If Anet intended players to be able to avoid ranged attacks by simply moving, then somehow they missed implementing it EVERY OTHER ranged weapon

[Turkeyspit.3965]

As many have said, Scepter is fine except for the AA. Either make it a hit scan weapon (like Mesmer GS) or drastically increase the projectile speed. That won't fix the issue of other targets intercepting the projectile, but it would be a start.

 

I wouldn't mind if the AA had an attack chain like other weapons, but no point in wishing for the stars.,