Banshee’s Wail over Vampiric Presence

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

I’d like to posit the following argument that Banshees wail is potentially better than Vampiric Presence

 

I’ve made this argument in map chat just to see what people thought, and I though I’d introduce the argument here to get more opinions.

 

For some information.

 

Banshee’s wail extends the effectiveness of locust swarm, by reducing the cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds, and granting 5 more impacts on its Aoe effect. When it hits up to 5 enemies, it grants you about 10% life force per tick. On a build with 20k life force, this is 2kps life force, or 2k effective health per second...a 10k health on its effectiveness in 5 seconds. (50% life force)

 

Compare that to VP, which at maximum grants 35 health X 5 players per 1/2 second, for a total of 350 health per second, which is 1.75 k health every 5 seconds (split between 5 teammates)

 

The damage calculation is roughly 5k extra damage over 5 seconds.

 

Imo Banshees wail seems to provide more value. If we break it down in a setting in which the life force allows anreaper to sustain longer, they would in turn be able to deal more damage in those 5 seconds...ranging from 0 to thousands.

 

Thoughts?

[derd.6413]

why post twice?

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

> @"derd.6413" said:

> why post twice?

 

It’s a bug with tha mobile version of this forum. No idea why it happens and I can’t delete a post from mobile either

 

[Rhyse.8179]

Vampiric Presence scales with power so it's not as bad as it look on the wiki. It does 150dmg per hit on my Reaper, and it hits multiple targets per tick, so it can add up when you are AOE'ing. Still, if you use a warhorn in your build, yes banshees is better. VP is more valuable if you don't use a horn though, like in a condi build.

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

> @"Rhyse.8179" said:

> Vampiric Presence scales with power so it's not as bad as it look on the wiki. It does 150dmg per hit on my Reaper, and it hits multiple targets per tick, so it can add up when you are AOE'ing. Still, if you use a warhorn in your build, yes banshees is better. VP is more valuable if you don't use a horn though, like in a condi build.

 

I think the damage calculation is with the scaling added. Doing a calculation with 3k power yielded 6.5k damage over the course of 5 seconds. That's not negligible, but you have to consider this damage is spread out amongst enemies too, so the value becomes diluted. But in terms of pressure, we can assume that in a 5 man teamfight, 6.5k damage per 5 seconds is the potential.

 

I have a question though. How can it hit multiple times with AOE if it has an internal cooldown of 1/2 seconds? If this is the case, than suppose i use an aoe ability that hits 5 players. On one tick your saying it can hit 100x5 in 1/2 a second? If i were to have 5 players with this buff use the same AOE on those same players, it would be 100x5x5, which is 2.5k damage per half second? Is that math correct?

 

Edit: So i'm in game, and i tested this now, and it's not true. VP doesn't actually tick multiple times when using AOE. What triggers with AOE is the sister trait[ Vampiric ](https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Vampiric " Vampiric "). This has no ICD and in turns triggers on every hit of an AOE attack.

[Rhyse.8179]

I'm pretty sure it hits each target once per cooldown? So if you GS 1 which hits 3 targets, you'd get 3 procs. I admit I've never tested it.

[JusticeRetroHunter.7684]

> @"Rhyse.8179" said:

> I'm pretty sure it hits each target once per cooldown? So if you GS 1 which hits 3 targets, you'd get 3 procs. I admit I've never tested it.

 

I tested it. That’s not the case. It will only proc once.

 

 

[Zex Anthon.8673]

VP also shows everyone your a blood necro. Harder to get a rez off.

[Etterwyn.5263]

Banshee all day for WVW (at least when roaming at my noob level). Near permanent swiftness and being able to spam cripple in melee range, plus each hit steals a little life and can crit, can sometimes save your bacon.

 

The ICD nerf on Vamp Presence made it extremely unattractive for me. Far as my PVE minions go, I've found a Water Sigil + barrier works much better for keeping them alive versus VP.

[Anchoku.8142]

Has VP ever been good? For me, I only use it when LfD or BW are inappropriate.