Curse

Rustjive · Mar 16, 2006, 04:27 AM // 04:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Janitor

I've seen a few healers using HoD swords.

Ow wow..+5 energy. That gives exactly one heal.

It's not that simple. It's +5 energy, but it's +5 energy that you can put in any slot. A staff can only be put in the 'normal' slot...you can't exactly take the insightful mod with you up to your first focus swap. It's 5 more energy and 20% enchanting in exchange for 20/20. You tell me what's more valuable when you're *out*of*energy*.

LightningHell · Mar 16, 2006, 04:33 AM // 04:33

The energy's nonconditional. You can't get it on a wand.

I like wanding, though.

wheel · Mar 16, 2006, 04:51 AM // 04:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by LightningHell

The energy's nonconditional. You can't get it on a wand.

I like wanding, though.

Swap weapons for wanding. I think I've said that 20 times, now.

SaintGreg · Mar 16, 2006, 05:48 AM // 05:48

Quote:

The energy's nonconditional. You can't get it on a wand.

You can get it on a wand, but you can't wand with that wand and do damage anyways

LightningHell · Mar 16, 2006, 08:39 AM // 08:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheel

Swap weapons for wanding. I think I've said that 20 times, now.

Oops, didn't read whole topic.

Ensign · Mar 16, 2006, 11:21 PM // 23:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Janitor

Ow wow..+5 energy. That gives exactly one heal.

Or an additional 40 damage to the enemy when he burns you out with that initial flurry. Max energy capacity is not always beneficial. You'll see monks enter a battle on their -energy set in high level GvG, because there's no benefit to exposing that extra energy from the beginning.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wheel

Swap weapons for wanding. I think I've said that 20 times, now.

Disagree, wand normally, swap weapons for the energy. But again I'm not big on max energy capacity in general unless a character has some rather chunky energy management (like Mantra of Recall). Personally I find it much more valuable to have a strong defense on your first set to prevent deaths and make you more durable (ala defensive or health staff parts), and have a fat second set that you can get milage out of in an emergency to avoid having to ever hit that 3rd set.

Still the value of wanding is pretty marginal. Perhaps more marginal than +2 energy, but there's definitely a debate there.

Peace,
-CxE

coldplay · Mar 16, 2006, 11:32 PM // 23:32

wanding is pretty good for breaking RoF. Monks will get mad if a 5(7) energy spell keeps getting break by 10-20 damage attacks.

Maxiemonster · Mar 17, 2006, 04:09 PM // 16:09

Am I the only one who love the 15% FFS so much?

Anyway.. HoD Sword is nice, but not more then that. If ~60 ectos isn't much to you, get it, if it is, don't get it. I'd rather spend those Ectos on a HoD Axe/15% FFS myself though.

Byron · Mar 17, 2006, 04:57 PM // 16:57

So I see a lot of bashing and praising on the 2 energy bonus of the HoD sword, but personally, that's not why I focus swap.

I don't have the money to get a HoD sword, but when monking, as I often am, I take a secondary weapons set with a +15/-1 focus and a pvp sword of enchanting. That 20% enchantment bonus can make a big difference on a prot spirit, healing seed, or spell breaker. A difference worthy enough of weapon swapping, IMO, especially in those dying moments of an HA altar match when a 25 second healing seed over a 20 second healing seed will make or break the round. That 2 energy bonus is a small advantage, but the enchanting bonus is the game maker. I imagine there are similar situations in GvG.

Of course, I keep the thrid slot open for e-denial swap. I would advise strongly against swapping to a +15/-1 focus when you have a mesmer on you...

Tortoise · Mar 21, 2006, 04:42 AM // 04:42

Do the swords have a value in PvP?

Yes and no.
No, because most builds will generally profit more from +recharge to an energy management skill then from an extra 2 energy. Although you could always swap to a +recharge set when casting your energy management skill and then swap back to a HoD set.
Yes, because it is good to have around in the rare cases where 2 energy can make a difference. Have I ever encountered those cases? No... Will I ever? More then likely not.

In the end the benefit is rather marginal and I cannot imagine a HoD sword ever determining the outcome of a battle. I've said it before and I will say it again: War Machine was running sub-optimal gear, yet it didn't stop them from putting a great fight.

Heck, Just for the fun of it I'm gonna try and run a full Wa/Mo team with mending and non max weapons of pruning in GvG one of these days and try and make it to the top 100

.

Warskull · Mar 21, 2006, 06:23 AM // 06:23

The strength of the HoD weapons is they give you access to the +armor, +enchantment, and +health mods of a sword while you can run your focus of choice. For example an air spiker can run an HoD sword with +20% enchantment length and carry the +30 HP/20% chance of +1 focus. They give you more flexibility with your weapon sets.

D Fault · Mar 21, 2006, 07:11 AM // 07:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxiemonster

Am I the only one who love the 15% FFS so much?

Nope, I'd take one over the HoD sword anyday.
Just wish I had one to take.

eR1k · Mar 21, 2006, 04:33 PM // 16:33

That 15% FFS is really expensive though... I only think the HoD sword really shines in combination with the 20/20 Rockmolder. It's a great primary set.

Mage Henchnem · Mar 21, 2006, 05:20 PM // 17:20

I monk about 90% of my time spent in PvP and I don't have a HoD sword. I know some people that swear by them, but personally I don't think that 2 energy, and the inability to wand is worth it. I wand all the time with my monk, I know it doesn't do very much dmg, but how many times have you ended up with 10 or less health, kiting around hoping for a heal in the middle of a battle? It happens to me, being a monk or otherwise. If a monk was wanding me I would be done. As far as to what someone had posted earlier about using it to e-deny trappers... I dont think thats a very good plan, your best bet is to hope they dont have a mantra and to just interupt them, but I usually just wand a spiked target in spike teams or I will just hit "c" and fire away until they start pulling me from my team. Extra dmg in a build never hurts, even though its minimal, but don't count on it to make or break a battle.

spy.ware · Mar 30, 2006, 04:54 AM // 04:54

There's always the Nolani +5 always wand... But poor damage (if you're one of those noob monks that think that you should actually be wanding instead of anticipating something/kiting from someone [in essence, you shouldn't have time to wand in the first place under most circumstances]). Only bad thing is: no recharge/cast speed/other bonuses.

And yes, Maxiemonster, the 15% FFS would be my choice.

And another thing. Against a balanced team, I'd always suggest starting out with your -5 combination (if you have them, otherwise the +5 armor pre-sear sword, or just a normal wand + shield or something that would give a benefit [with no energy]) just so E-denial won't rape you. then simply switch to HoD sword/other and switch back. Blood Ritual wouldn't hurt.

And yea, the whole "+5 energy wow only 1 heal" thing ............. 1 heal = the game, If given the circumstances. 1 heal = important... what if infuser doesn't have 10 energy to infuse a spike? gg.

dansamy · Mar 30, 2006, 08:35 AM // 08:35

Quote:

Or an additional 40 damage to the enemy when he burns you out with that initial flurry. Max energy capacity is not always beneficial. You'll see monks enter a battle on their -energy set in high level GvG, because there's no benefit to exposing that extra energy from the beginning.

I like to go in on my -e set just for my own benefit, not simply to "hide" energy from e-denial. I tend to overcast still. (Yeah, I know. Bad, BAD Maya!!) The -e set keeps me from burning through a tremendous amount of energy in the 1st 3 minutes of a match. I still burn through a lot of energy in a short time period, but then I can swap up to a normal set and have +10-15 energy to utilize. Overcasting is also why I am not crazy about a -2 regen set because then I get stuck once I switch over to it and dig myself a hole that I can't get out of. It's just better to know one's own weaknesses and protect yourself from them as much as possible.

allience · Mar 30, 2006, 12:00 PM // 12:00

i play monk in pvp 90% of the time and i wand things as much as possible.
it's a good thing to do when i'm not being chased or pressured. there's always trappers to wand or spirits (put very close by inexperenced rangers) or any target to break off the rof.

the only time i wished i had that +2 energy from hod, was as an infuser when the lack of 2 energy meant somebody's death but since that hapens rarely, i won't bother with the hod.