Arenanet has posted a list of upcoming skill and balance changes for PvP Season 5 coming next week.
Hey all,
We have a number of skill splits (and some global changes) that will be accompanying the launch of Season 5 next week. Read on to see what’s in store for December 13.
Over the past few releases the PvP team has been working closely with the Skills team to implement some PvP-only skill splits. Moving forward the PvP team will have more opportunity to make these skill splits as we see fit. It’s important to understand that skill splits should not change the core functionality of a skill. Players should be able to use a skill in PvE and have it do relatively the same thing in PvP, though it may be more or less effective depending on the game mode. This means that when we are looking to split out a skill, the changes are limited to the following areas:
Now on to the changes! Note that all changes listed are global changes except for those that are designated as “PvP only.”
General:
Support elementalist has long reigned supreme, but we’d like to see elementalist bring a bit more damage to the table. To start, we’re looking at giving scepter some stronger sustained damage to fill the gaps between their burst combos. The changes to Final Shielding are more QoL in nature, but should give the elementalist slightly better survivability when pressured in 1-on-1 scenarios. The greatest buff to the elementalist’s survivability will come as a result of reductions to other professions.
We’ve been making some gradual changes to pistol and rifle, hoping to bring them a bit more in line with hammer. As for Jump Shot, it’s difficult to land both the first and second attacks consistently unless you’re cleaving a downed player. To address this, we’ve moved some of the initial damage to the end of the attack, making it easier to spike. The total damage done by the skill will be the same.
We’d like to give the guardian some core buffs to encourage non-elite spec play, ideally pushing them towards a potential support role. As for Dragonhunter, we’re seeing a disproportionate amount of play across all skill levels. We’re mostly happy with their damage output, and have decided to instead shave some of their utility.
Mesmer has been on our radar for a while now, but it’s a delicate situation. We’re going to keep the change list small for this update, focusing mostly on sustain, and reassess the situation mid-season.
Revenant is in an interesting place in PvP. It’s undoubtedly one of the more difficult professions to play, but when mastered it is devastating on the battlefield. We’re going to bring some elements of the main power build down slightly, while attempting to address the lack of stun-break in the standard Mallyx condition build.
Thief has two very strong options between the dagger/pistol and staff builds. We’re putting in two small changes in this release that might open up additional options for pistol main-hand and sword builds. Sword already does top-tier damage between its auto-attack chain and various 3 skills – the changes to Infiltrator’s Strike should help make that damage land more consistently. The change to Shadow Strike should hopefully give a bit more punch to some off-meta condition builds.
Hey all,
We have a number of skill splits (and some global changes) that will be accompanying the launch of Season 5 next week. Read on to see what’s in store for December 13.
Over the past few releases the PvP team has been working closely with the Skills team to implement some PvP-only skill splits. Moving forward the PvP team will have more opportunity to make these skill splits as we see fit. It’s important to understand that skill splits should not change the core functionality of a skill. Players should be able to use a skill in PvE and have it do relatively the same thing in PvP, though it may be more or less effective depending on the game mode. This means that when we are looking to split out a skill, the changes are limited to the following areas:
- Recharge
- Damage multipliers
- Healing multipliers
- Number of conditions/boons applied
- Duration of conditions/boons applied
- Skill cost (energy and initiative)
Now on to the changes! Note that all changes listed are global changes except for those that are designated as “PvP only.”
General:
- New PvP Amulet: Deadshot Amulet: 1050 Precision, 1050 Condition Damage, 560 Vitality, 560 Expertise
- This amulet should be a viable choice for lower-HP precision proc-based condition classes, such as condition engineer and condition ranger. It provides strong offense, with some defense through vitality.
- New PvP-only Rune: Rune of the Lynx: +175 power, +100 Condition Damage, +25% Movement Speed
- We’re looking to add a viable damage-oriented movement speed rune to help professions with minimal access to in-combat movement speed or swiftness. This may impact match pacing, so we’re going to keep a close eye on it.
Support elementalist has long reigned supreme, but we’d like to see elementalist bring a bit more damage to the table. To start, we’re looking at giving scepter some stronger sustained damage to fill the gaps between their burst combos. The changes to Final Shielding are more QoL in nature, but should give the elementalist slightly better survivability when pressured in 1-on-1 scenarios. The greatest buff to the elementalist’s survivability will come as a result of reductions to other professions.
- Arc Lightning: The damage of this ability has been increased by 25% in PvP only.
- Arcane Shield: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 60 to 40 seconds in PvP only.
- Final Shielding: The cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 75 to 60 seconds The health threshold for activating Arcane Shield has been increased from 25% to 50%.
- Glyph of Elemental Harmony: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 25 to 20 in PvP only.
We’ve been making some gradual changes to pistol and rifle, hoping to bring them a bit more in line with hammer. As for Jump Shot, it’s difficult to land both the first and second attacks consistently unless you’re cleaving a downed player. To address this, we’ve moved some of the initial damage to the end of the attack, making it easier to spike. The total damage done by the skill will be the same.
- Blunderbuss: The damage of this ability has been increased by 10% at all range thresholds in PvP only.
- Jump Shot: The damage of the initial jump has been reduced by 56%. The damage of the landing has been increased by 28%
We’d like to give the guardian some core buffs to encourage non-elite spec play, ideally pushing them towards a potential support role. As for Dragonhunter, we’re seeing a disproportionate amount of play across all skill levels. We’re mostly happy with their damage output, and have decided to instead shave some of their utility.
- Piercing Light: This trait no longer causes traps to daze enemies and will instead inflict the Slow condition on enemies for 1.5 seconds on the initial ‘trigger’ of a trap.
- Virtue of Justice: Increased the Burning duration of the passive effect from 2 to 4 seconds in PvP only. Increased the amount of burning of the active effect from 1 to 3 stacks in PvP only.
- Virtue of Resolve: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 45 to 30 in PvP only. The healing contribution of this ability has been increased by 87% in PvP only.
- Virtue of Courage: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 60 to 40 seconds in PvP only.
- Shield of Courage: Fixed a bug that allowed this ability to grant benefits without going on recharge.
- Detonate Orb of Light: The healing contribution of this ability has been increased by 67%.
- Line of Warding: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 40 to 30 seconds in PvP only.
- Signet of Courage: The cooldown of this ability has been reduced from 180 to 120 seconds in PvP only.
Mesmer has been on our radar for a while now, but it’s a delicate situation. We’re going to keep the change list small for this update, focusing mostly on sustain, and reassess the situation mid-season.
- Echo of Memory: The cooldown of this ability has been increased from 30 to 35 seconds in PvP only.
- Restorative Illusions: The healing contribution of this trait has been increased by 285% in PvP only. The base healing modifiers for this trait have been adjusted as follows:
- 0 Illusions shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 62% in PvP only.
- 1 Illusion shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 50% in PvP only.
- 2 Illusions shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 42% in PvP only.
- 3 Illusions shattered: Base healing modifier reduced by 36% in PvP only.
Revenant is in an interesting place in PvP. It’s undoubtedly one of the more difficult professions to play, but when mastered it is devastating on the battlefield. We’re going to bring some elements of the main power build down slightly, while attempting to address the lack of stun-break in the standard Mallyx condition build.
- Surge of the Mists: The damage of this ability has been reduced by 50% in PvP only.
- Precision Strike: The damage of this ability has been reduced by 33% in PvP only.
- Warding Rift: The cooldown of this ability has been increased from 12 to 15 seconds in PvP only.
- Debilitating Slam: The energy cost of this ability has been reduced from 15 to 10.
- Pain Absorption: This ability now breaks stun.
Thief has two very strong options between the dagger/pistol and staff builds. We’re putting in two small changes in this release that might open up additional options for pistol main-hand and sword builds. Sword already does top-tier damage between its auto-attack chain and various 3 skills – the changes to Infiltrator’s Strike should help make that damage land more consistently. The change to Shadow Strike should hopefully give a bit more punch to some off-meta condition builds.
- Infiltrator’s Strike: The range of this ability has been increased from 600 to 900 in PvP only. Immobilize duration has been increased from 1 to 1.5 seconds in PvP only.
- Shadow Strike: Increased the amount of Torment applied by this ability from 2 to 4 stacks in PvP only.
