Curse

Aigred · Jan 22, 2006, 11:09 PM // 23:09

Many of you already know the things I am about to describe concerning Ritualist skills, but I figured it would be a good idea to collect them all in one place, especially for people who were introduced to the game for the first time this weekend.

Binding Rituals
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Binding Rituals used to summon spirits are not Spells, and so the following apply:

- Binding Rituals energy costs are reduced by Ranger Expertise.

- Binding Rituals cannot be interrupted by Spell-only interrupts.

- Binding Rituals do not trigger hexes that trigger on spellcasting (eg., Backfire or Soul Leech)

- Binding Rituals are not affected by Fast Casting.

- Binding Rituals cannot be stolen by Arcane Thievery.

Ritualist and Ranger Spirits are both "Spirits", therefore:

- Ritualist skill effects that require the presence of a spirit will work with both Ranger Spirits and Ritualist Spirits.
For example, Mend Body and Soul will remove conditions from an ally when the only Spirit in range of that ally is a Ranger Spirit.
For example, Rupture Soul will destroy Ranger Spirits.

- Dying Ritualist Spirits trigger Necromancer Soul Reaping, including when a Spirit dies due to summoning another allied Spirit of the same type. This is the same mechanic as for ranger spirits.

- If you target and mouseover a Ritualist Spirit as it dies, you will see it leave a grey-named Corpse. However, like Ranger Spirits, dead Ritualist Spirits cannot be animated by Necromancers

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Item Spells
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The "<Adjective> Was <Name>" (hereon called AWN) Spells will replace your hand-held items the same way as any item that you hold with a Drop Item button active. So the following apply:

- If you have Ether Lord or Wither on you, you can cast an AWN to drop your energy to zero and cancel the hex. It's probably faster just to swap out your focus or staff though, unless you were going to cast the AWN anyway.

- Similarly, if you are being energy denied while holding an AWN item, dropping the item will give you an energy boost as you re-equip your staff or focus.

- You do not gain the benefit your weapon upgrades while holding an AWN. For example +armor on a staff will not help you.

- If you equip a weapon, focus, shield, or piece of armor while holding an AWN, you will drop the AWN. Note: simply unequipping something will not cause you to drop the AWN; it is the act of equipping something that forces you to drop what you are holding.

Weapon Spells
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Weapon Spells are "Spells" so:

- Weapon Spells are affected by Spell interrupts.

- Weapon Spells are affected by hexes that trigger on spellcasting (eg., Backfire, Shame, Mark of Subversion)

You *CAN* stack a Weapon Spell with an AWN item. You will receive the benefit of the Weapon Spell while holding the AWN ashes, assuming of course that the benefit does not rely on you attacking. For example, Weapon of Warding will give you health regen whether you are holding an AWN or not, and Wielder's Boon will heal for extra as well.

AWN items and Weapon Spells are not Enchantments. For example, Contemplation of Purity will not remove them.

Ritualist Mystic Armor
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Ritualist Mystic Armor has a +15 Armor bonus while you are using skills. This armor bonus is LOCAL to the body part covered by the Mystic armor and it works for ALL skills.

This is in contrast to Mesmer Performer/Courtly/Noble armor where the +15 Armor While Casting bonus applies globally but only while casting a Spell.

So that the readers can verify that my conclusions here are correct, I tested the Ritualist armor by wearing a mix of Mystic and other armor and letting myself get hit by the Obelisk in the training area while using a variety of skills. The obelisk always hits for exactly the same amount of damage for a given armor level, but it hits you in a random location. Wearing no Mystic armor, I would always take the same amount of damage every time, using a skill or not. Wearing all Mystic armor except for the head, I would often take a reduced amount of damage while using skills. The lower damage amount was always the same value.

One other thing I can conclude from my testing is that the head has the highest likelihood of all body parts of being struck by an Obelisk, at least it felt that way, but as this was not the focus of my testing, I did not take a very large sample size.

Manic Smile · Jan 23, 2006, 12:02 AM // 00:02

thanks...very useful for those of use not inclined to unlock everything this weekend

Vermilion Okeanos · Jan 23, 2006, 12:35 AM // 00:35

Should put arcane echo in the list too.

Grimm · Jan 23, 2006, 03:23 AM // 03:23

Seems mostly like common sense to those of us with a firm grasp of how the GW skill system works, but good info nonetheless.

Esrever · Jan 23, 2006, 04:24 AM // 04:24

Good work.

Ensign · Jan 23, 2006, 04:48 AM // 04:48

You can report it as a bug, but Binding Rituals are affected by Fast Casting as of last night.

Peace,
-CxE

Vermilion Okeanos · Jan 23, 2006, 06:16 AM // 06:16

I really wonder who the heck finding out all these stuffs.

I wouldn't have, as I know ritual aren't spell therefore fast casting won't effect rtual, that lead to me not trying it.

Oh well.

duverga · Jan 23, 2006, 07:05 AM // 07:05

A few more tidbits...

The offensive spirits like Pain and Blood Song have an attack speed of one second and range equal to the aggro circle. They both seem to prefer low armor targets and to stick with a selected target until it dies or moves out of range.

The restoration spirits like Preservation and Recuperation have a larger range, about 1/2 the radar range. Recuperation appears to select targets at random and will happily heal a target at full health instead of one close to dying.

complexiator · Jan 23, 2006, 07:39 AM // 07:39

Helpfull info

One question:

Casting a binding ritual of the same type will cancel the other. However, last night I saw multiple spirits of pain in an arena match. Anyone know what might have caused that?

edit: the answer is one thread below me :P

Chicken Rice Seller · Jan 23, 2006, 08:04 AM // 08:04

Thank for the infor