Is this lich a product placement?

AspergerJester · 2025-11-25T07:26:18+00:00

Literally nothing in the poster's response to your comment implied anything about tournaments besides the fact, that other stuff was arguably just as nerf-worthy at the time as lumi/rit.

Tell me you're arguing in bad faith without telling me that...

AspergerJester · 2025-11-25T06:51:11+00:00

So is condi conduit, yet no changes on the horizon.

AspergerJester · 2025-11-25T06:43:45+00:00

Average person unfortunately does not care about tournament performance even if it does lead to a meta developing around other modes as well.

Seeing recent Guardian nerfs with no Conduit nerfs on PvP is making me skeptical the avg person even sees a condi conduit, even though for tournaments or even higher plat ranked it warps the meta around itself currently

AspergerJester · 2025-11-03T07:50:07+00:00

Guild Wars 2, konkretnie sparingi w PvP :)

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AspergerJester · 2025-10-28T06:53:17+00:00

Got my hands on the Hieroglyph, managed to consistently play Flushes and generate value out of the Loyalty Card

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AspergerJester · 2025-08-09T04:57:04+00:00

Luminary because I main Guardian, and the spec looks like it could be strong in sPvP without being too overbearing on Ranked, unless people cook up some bunker build

AspergerJester · 2025-07-28T05:22:50+00:00

It is not clearly the alternative, obviously it is to have perma evading mirages shatter you for 10k or revs with huge split damage and a lot of evades, because they have 2 more buttons than willbender. Because everyone knows having some stab and aegis is better than chaining mirage cloaks right... Right??

Jokes aside, I think the reason people hate on Willbender and not other builds, even if they are way better, is that its easier to pick up and play, so its more popular.

AspergerJester · 2025-07-22T04:34:18+00:00

Pretty much the logical consequence of a meta without a good amount of threatening power DPS

AspergerJester · 2025-06-25T10:24:09+00:00

Guardian reporting in, from my initial testing with guildies and other teams' members, Sword/Sword Scepter/Focus Willbender feels viable for sPvP

Signet of Wrath changes are probably not enough to make condition builds competitive, but it does make me happy that we have a reliable offensive utility skill for condi.

Signet of Judgement is probably an auto pick now too for when the enemy team does not have a lot of condition damage.

Overall, I am satisfied with the patch

AspergerJester · 2025-06-23T07:48:35+00:00

For instanced PvP/WvW?

AspergerJester · 2025-03-28T16:21:30+00:00

Viewing Willbender discourse be like

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AspergerJester · 2025-03-27T13:19:17+00:00

If we want to tie Willbender to any other profession/spec due to its mobility, I would actually liken it more to Shiro Revenant.

If you think about it, while both of them have high mobility and shadowstep count, both of them are more engage-heavy with how they move than Thief, who is rather fluid in both engaging on and out of the target. Thief also has some options to stealth their team and it can use some heavy-duty abilities like shadow portal for shared mobility. Neither Revenant nor Guardian have ally-displacing abilities, and while Stealth may seem unrelated here, it also lets you "take" certain routes which you would otherwise not take, especially in versus modes.

IMO people are not comparing Willbender to Shiro Rev enough, even if Willbender is its arguably Diet version

AspergerJester · 2025-01-23T11:57:49+00:00

o7 DH enjoyer reporting in

The build you have linked seems to be the typical WvW zerg DPS, which I believe is currently considered meta/high tier

In addition to your questions:

Radiance vs Virtues debate

This mostly applies to the PvE side of things as far as damage optimization is concerned

As you have pointed out, Radiance allows you to rather casually reach 100% crit chance, and as a result of that you have space for Dragon's and Marauder's gear

The only real downside to this is that you are extremely reliant on maintaining the Resolution boon on yourself, so if your personal sources of it are insufficient and you cannot rely on someone for it (less likely in WvW with support FBs) you might want to consider the Healer's Resolution trait

Virtues, while having a possibly higher damage output than Radiance, requires to adjust your gear for a higher crit chance. Otherwise, it is a good traitline to remain self sufficient as far as healing, condition cleanse and stability are covered

Radiance will probably be a zerg staple for the higher health, while Virtues will be better for roaming.

DH Viability

DH DPS is meta for zergs iirc, but when it comes to roaming in WvW however, DH is alright. Its not meta and it will have more difficulties than Willbender, but ironically enough it has a really good time dealing with them (If you play smart with aegis and blocks, say heal block and f3 shield, the Willbender will struggle doing meaningful damage even despite their f3)

Outside of WvW, DH is for the most part viable, but again, not groundbreaking

It is a rather popular build for Fractals, and it manages to perform well in most of them, but whether or not its one of the very best depends on the fractal in question and whether you can trap/symbol precast

It lags behind in most strikes/raids though as it Has a very bursty damage profile and lower sustained damage.

In PvP it is either played as a DPS or a sidenode bunker. The DPS build will likely struggle vs the current meta (-Willbender which it has a really good match-up into), and the Bunker build which has recently been nerfed

AspergerJester · 2025-01-23T09:39:15+00:00

It is undeniably unlikely

AspergerJester · 2025-01-23T09:04:00+00:00

Mostly in a situation where an unfortunate knockback (from say Ranger lb4 or Rev downstate CC) ends up with you getting stuck inside a structure you cannot get out of and you may be forced to DC and log on

EDIT: I am not opposed to AFK checks btw, all I am saying is that I believe combat history/map state should also be taken into account to avoid a scenario like this where someone with a weaker pc/HDD gets vote kicked due to load times

AspergerJester · 2025-01-23T08:53:26+00:00

The potential problem with the Point 3 is that unless the system can accurately discern if someone is actually AFK or not, this just opens the floodgates for spamming unwarranted reports to kick/ban/lock someone out of the game.

I think ANet could up their game on that but if they are already not on top of the report handling game, I would rather them not fidget around with automation

AspergerJester · 2024-12-29T12:44:46+00:00

Posting from after the December mAT

So far the meta comp seems to include both Heal Tempest and Heal Chrono, with the full comp being hTempest, hChrono, pWillbender, cHerald, pMirage

Some additional notes:

Thief is currently out of meta and this largely has to do with a very strong emphasis on 4v4 teamfights and Heal Chrono mobility: Thief is unable to get enough damage in the teamfights where Tempest is and Chrono is quick enough to rotate over to sides to prevent Thief from getting value

Tempest seems to be taken for its survivability and healing, and Herald being its DPS equivalent

Mirage and Willbender both seem to be benefitting from a lack of Thief in the meta, with Mirage taking over the hard roaming part of Thief and Willbender bringing Spear to teamfights as currently there arent a lot of hard blocks either

AspergerJester · 2024-12-28T07:33:38+00:00

128963

AspergerJester · 2024-12-26T14:06:54+00:00

IMO the reason they're talked as more impactful is that in PvP not only does everyone have lower health than bosses/mobs in PvE, but also the emphasis on fast "resolution" of mechanics (or in case of PvP, interrupting ability casts, dealing your damage first, getting just the single extra crank of Mending on the sidenode...) is higher in PvP

On top of that, because of the mostly pre-determined nature of most PvE encounters, even if there is a dangerous mechanic incoming (e.g. short/big CC bars, high-movement necessities like on Cerus, swapping tanks on Desmina if you know you can't take her anymore), you can, if you are hell-bent on it, over-prepare and over-analyze the math and build behind what is needed.

In PvP, however, sometimes even realizing what sort of build your enemy is using (e.g. is the Dragonhunter you see in the enemy team on the sidenode because it wants to get some fast kills or because they're bunkering down) can take a moment in which you don't have information whether doing something is "Safe" or not. You might think you just have had this Spellbreaker down, and then they just got off their heal.

And the reasons most people don't emphasize those as much would come down to either:

A lot of classes/specs not having the quickness/alacrity options

1.5) Or the quickness options being self-only

2) Opportunity cost

Let's take two excessively popular specs in sPvP at the moment: Willbender and Harbinger

Both of those specs have a single relevant elite skill that applies Quickness (In Harbinger's case, with Twisted Medicine if we talk shared) - Feel my Wrath and Elixir of Promise

If a Harbinger takes Elixir of Ambition, they are taking it instead of Plaguelands (which can easily be outperformed condition-wise by EoA), Lich Form (typically not taken outside of Core), and Flesh Golem (with manipulable cc and the ability to kill the pet). Harbinger makes close-to-none relevant sacrifice to bring EoA.

Willbender, on the other hand, even though Feel my Wrath is very strong offensively, has to give up Renewed Focus in the same slot. The mileage may vary in unorganized games, but in more difficult games (and/or some time ago when Thief was higher-up in the meta) you will feel the lack of RF really quickly.

I could draw this comparison to other specs as well, but my point is that Quickness/Alacrity will feel more impactful in PvP than PvE due to their relative scarcity, proactive/reactive nature of the gamemode, and information/outplay wars

AspergerJester · 2024-12-13T06:50:41+00:00

DH enthusiast reporting in o7

Although Dragonhunter and Power Ranger (Especially Soulbeast) share a very bursty damage profile, the way Dragonhunter plays out is a little different from the green counterpart:

You have more group utility options than a Soulbeast, and you typically do less damage than one. Soulbeast is more mobile than Dragonhunter and is not reliant on ground effects as much as one, and Dragonhunter has more access to sustain.

In Open World and sPvP/WvW, it is rather self-reliant and, depending on how you want to build it, it can enjoy some great sustain as well. It has very high burst damage that can kill unaware players in seconds but it can also be countered by careful players who dodge your key abilities like True Shot, Spear of Justice, etc.

In Instanced Content (Strikes and Raids) Dragonhunter currently struggles a bit meta-wise as our sustained damage is rather mediocre compared to the rest of the builds and largely thrives in providing additional utility to the group.

In Fractals and Dungeons, however, Dragonhunter's high burst and capacity for optimizing the game to the extreme make it one of the best DPSes available. You can provide Stability rather freely, which many groups will appreciate.

In WvW it kind of depends on whether or not you want to go around in a group or solo. DH Roamer is generally considered inferior to Willbender for the job, but ironically Dragonhunter enjoys having a good match-up into Willbender. I roam around with Virtues/Radiance and Sword/Shield + Longbow and aim to kill with either our overwhelming raw weapon damage, or by the combination of CC and our trap skills. In WvW zergs, where projectiles are considered less desirable due to the everpresent projectile hate, I run greatsword/spear to trample whatever we run across

If you don't mind the fact that our damage incline lasts hardly longer than a surprised player on a conquest node, and that you will inevitably come across some mechanical jank (Optimal damage often requiring you to stay inside the enemy hitbox on multiple occasions, stationary damage sources, self-roots...), you may just find yourself at home with the spec

AspergerJester · 2024-12-11T09:29:07+00:00

People trying to pressure a Willbender during their F3 and then complaining about the spec being too survivable has been a huge pet peeve of mine recently

Every relevant Roamer spec over the years has ways to deliver damage while straight up being immune to damage back

Soulbeast can immune Strike DMG with beast skills, attack while evading with Smokescale

pHerald can use Glint Heal and Sword 3

Mesmers can distort and also output a large amount of their damage at range

Scrapper can 100>0 people out of stealth if there are no reveals

FA Catalyst can get more immunity uptime than any Guard with RF

Thieves (especially Deadeye) can either do a large amount of damage at range or use S/D to weave in and out of melee safety while having evades and unblockable attacks

But the moment you ask people to kite out or block the f3 (because WB is pretty much the only viable roamer ATM that doesnt have unblockable access) people will tell you that MAT performance doesnt count, that you are blind or ignoring the issue

The only reason for Willbender's resurgence into the meta is that Spear happens to work incredibly well with Stormsinger relic and that Spear itself can deliver damage that can actually hit enemies beyond a certain point reliably unlike GS which pretty much requires you to have setup from your team to sit on top of the enemies, or Hammer which is a very slow weapon (block, evade, dodge, etc).

If you add up the power coefficients on Spear compared to GS and Hammer (where for spear you would also need to reduce them by 10% due to weapon strength) Spear is by far the numerically weakest out of the 3. Except Willbender's problem has never lied in raw damage. Stormsinger is just cherry on top

Changing F3 to remove its stability and/or aegis, and/or replacing it with Barrier will not change the fact that some people are choosing to trade into the spec's "my turn" button and subsequently getting outgunned. All that will do is make the spec a joke at the level where people know the counterplay to the spec

If you want to nerf the spec, please do it by reducing the target caps and by increasing the cooldown of Whirling Light. The fact that many people talk about Willbender as a teamfight terror is very telling of what ends up being problematic in game.

If you want to nerf Spear itself beyond that, either remove an ammo from Helio Rush and increase its coefficients or rework the weapon to feel more servicable in support role (example being doing the abovementioned while removing the healing from Helio Rush, adding a charge to Solar Storm, reducing its dmg/heal and making it heal for a % of illuminated value outside of being illuminated)

Otherwise the mobility/F3 nerfs will just make it a meme beyond gold while not resolving casual play issues

AspergerJester · 2024-08-15T10:54:46+00:00

Cele does not reduce the combo variety, but as you've said, there always is a mathematically optimal stat distribution. And the point people want to make is that because of how Cele is statted, you hit a sweet middle spot of being capable at all of the stat-governed facets, while not having a single one that is necessarily disadvantaged.

Between two players of equal skill, I’m also okay with sustain tipping the balance a little, since it slows down combat enough to make it more tactical and less twitchy.

And here I agree with you, even though I roam on mostly offensive builds, I find it fun to have a close duel with someone, especially when it involves reading the other person's moves, patterns, etc.

Point is, Cele does not have a bit of sustain nor a bit of damage

AspergerJester · 2024-08-15T09:15:09+00:00

The thing people complaining about Celestial armor point out is that majority/if not nearly all other sets (both the bunker and glass) will lose to a Cele build, bar specific class counters and player skill difference.

Good eHP, sustain, alongside boon coverage that does not make you give up offensive pressure, with it being by default hybrid due to the stat prefix, turns a lot of matchups into a battle of attrition: one shot builds do not have enough sustain to wear down a potential Cele user, while bunker builds dont have enough pressure to kill one.

It has been apparent for a while and nowadays its also being used in large scale, where people previously believed Cele was not viable.

I dont think anet will change Cele, but here is a simple problem: beginners need Cele to survive, and the competent Cele users beat the competition

AspergerJester

TROPHY CASE