Worst Elite Skill

[glountz]

Originally Posted by chumsy

__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
Battle Rage is more likely the worst after Keystone sig.
Gaining double adrenaline isn't worth all the possibilities of losing all adrenaline.

Examples (assuming that you're using adrenal skills to make the most of this):
Use res sig and lose all adrenaline - is anyone ever encouraged not to bring res sig?

Use endure pain, healing sig, or any other form of healing/health-buff, and lose all adrenaline - you healed, but you just disabled yourself.

Use warrior cunning and lose all adrenaline - might be able to hit that stance tank, but got nothing to hit him with now.

Use wild blow and lose all adrenaline - even though it is an attack skill, you still lose all adrenaline because its the side effect of wild blow, not Battle Rage.

Battle Rage ends and lose all adrenaline - unavoidable, even refreshing it before it ends causes it to "end" for an instant.

Use any NON-ATTACK adrenal skills, and lose all adrenaline - hmm, the point of Battle Rage was for the extra adrenaline, but you can't use around half of all adrenal skills available without losing all adrenaline - adrenal shouts, stances or skills (i.e. Watch Yourself, Bonnetti's Defense, Riposte, etc)
Also since it it is elite, it can't be coupled with other elite adrenal skills, furthur reducing the number of adrenal skills, you can use with it.

Battle rage has its own efficient build. Rez signet, Succor casted twice on your monks, Battle Rage, then only attack skills (Axe is better for this). Be prepared to chain adrenal attacks like crazy + you have a rush incorporated inside to avoid kiting. Anyone for a 15-20 sec continuous adrenal spike?

[Batou of Nine]

I have been using Battle Rage for PvE lately. I do a dual adrenal gain build, that lets me spam adrenal axe attacks nonstop for like 30+ secs, until i have to refresh Battle Rage. Basically, as soon as i start swingin, i use "For Great Justice!" which starts the first phase of double adrenaline. Then in no time flat, Battle Rage is ready, and i cast that. I now have around 18 seconds of quadruble (4x) adren per hit!! During that time i can spam Executioners, Penetrating and Disrupting Chop. "For Great Justice" will where off 2-3 seconds before Battle Rage, which gives me plenty of time to refresh Battle Rage, and i can continue spamming adren skills (not as fast mind you, but still fast).

Its a real fun build, and the overall dmg output can really get high. There is just some weird bug where if you use Battle Rage first, THEN use "For Great Justice", the Battle Rage Stance will end. But if you use it in the other order (Shout first, then use stance), it works just fine. Now this has GOT to be a bug, since one is a shout and one is a stance, therefore it shouldnt matter the order i use them in....

oh, and Wild Blow works great if i have to break an enemy stance. Since i will be gaining 2x or 4x adren per hit, all teh skills recharge quite fast. It really is no problem...

anywhoo, try it out its quite fun actually!
enjoy.

[chumsy]

Originally Posted by Batou of Nine

I have been using Battle Rage for PvE lately. I do a dual adrenal gain build, that lets me spam adrenal axe attacks nonstop for like 30+ secs, until i have to refresh Battle Rage. Basically, as soon as i start swingin, i use "For Great Justice!" which starts the first phase of double adrenaline. Then in no time flat, Battle Rage is ready, and i cast that. I now have around 18 seconds of quadruble (4x) adren per hit!! During that time i can spam Executioners, Penetrating and Disrupting Chop. "For Great Justice" will where off 2-3 seconds before Battle Rage, which gives me plenty of time to refresh Battle Rage, and i can continue spamming adren skills (not as fast mind you, but still fast).

Its a real fun build, and the overall dmg output can really get high. There is just some weird bug where if you use Battle Rage first, THEN use "For Great Justice", the Battle Rage Stance will end. But if you use it in the other order (Shout first, then use stance), it works just fine. Now this has GOT to be a bug, since one is a shout and one is a stance, therefore it shouldnt matter the order i use them in....

oh, and Wild Blow works great if i have to break an enemy stance. Since i will be gaining 2x or 4x adren per hit, all teh skills recharge quite fast. It really is no problem...

anywhoo, try it out its quite fun actually!
enjoy.

Nice idea.
Though Battle Rage first and shout second causing Battle Rage to end is not a bug - when I was saying lose all adrenaline I really meant Battle Rage ends and you lose all adrenaline except for the case where you use wild blow or refresh Battle Rage.

[RandomEngy]

Wither is really bad, even if you take Mind Wrack (and we all know how effective Domination/Curses builds are). It's not like it takes a lot of time or effort to switch focuses, and Mind Wrack damage is fine considering how much time and mana was spent on it. Right now the only good uses for Wither and Malaise or on Warriors and Rangers, who have no good way to remove it. And Wither costs twice as much, recharges slower and casts at 2s, making for easy interrupts. Maliase comes at a little health penalty, which is easily offset by a little self-healing or a cheap, same-attribute Parasitic Bond. Plus it's not even elite.

To those hurting on Hundred Blades: the current #1 guild on the ladder uses it with Frenzy and a Zealous hilt in their energy denial build.

To those hurting on Signet of Midnight: if you use it with Plauge Touch you can keep two warriors/rangers blind forever, for 5 energy every 15 seconds. And Plauge Touch is a great skill to take by itself anyway.

[yesitsrob]

Battle rage is not a bad elite skill at all - there are just other skills which you'd probably choose to use instead of it (like on a sword warrior.. probably charge).

Dwarven Battle Stance is _not_ 10 seconds of shut down at all - maybe against a really really dense person who doesn't think to move to avoid hammer swings every 2 seconds and actually tries his hardest to synch his casting with your hammer.... maybe you can shut down a guy using 3 second spells with Dwarven Battle Stance, however if it's someone using 1 second or 1/4 second spells.. or even 2 - you won't interrupt much, if anything.

If I ever join a pick in FoW as my monk, which I most likely never will... I think I'll make great use of a Unyileding Aura + Blessed Signet build... it will be like bonding... but with peopels lives instead... and there are a lot of enchant removals down there... maybe someone could bring death nova too.. haha. (I wouldn't really do this)

[twicky_kid]

Originally Posted by RandomEngy

To those hurting on Signet of Midnight: if you use it with Plauge Touch you can keep two warriors/rangers blind forever, for 5 energy every 15 seconds. And Plauge Touch is a great skill to take by itself anyway.

Since plague sending got a 1 sec casting I use it over touch. On a mes with fast cast its insane. Not to mention adjacent aoe to boot.

Still skull crack in my book is the worst. I have never used it and see much better options that are non elite.

100b is good but really does need to lower its recharge. I just noticed that it hits target and adjacent twice where it used to hit target twice and adjacent once.

[Ghull Ka]

Bad elites:

Plague Signet.
It's a great skill and all, but so overshadowed by other elites that it's hard to justify bringing. Had some fun with it and Draw Conditions, though.

Flourish. Marksman's Wager. Warrior's Endurance. Grenth's Balance.
These elites shine only as the centerpieces of gimmick/concept builds. Sure they work, but they're so limited in scope, and in when you can use them, that outside of their particular gimmick builds, they're worthless.

Keystone Signet.
As above with Flourish et al, except for one difference: There aren't any gimmick builds to use it with yet, hehe.

Fevered Dreams.
If the stars align and your timing is perfect, this elite is really sweet. Otherwise, why the hell are you bringing it instead of Epidemic?

Skull Crack.
As much as I try and try and try and TRY to like this skill... sigh... it still sucks. Especially when Concussion Shot is a nonelite. Grr. The bad thing is that if they made it energy based or gave it a 1/4 second activation time then it'd be overpowered.

Ether Renewal:
Sadly, there's really no way to un-nerf this skill and make it not abusable. I miss it. Oh well, we have Ether Prodigy now! :-)

Mind Freeze/Shock/Burn:
Guess what, after I cast it once, by the time it recharges I won't have enough energy to meet the requirements of the secondary damage spike/effect. If I do, then I'm not doing my freaking job.

Good, yet misunderstood elites:

Defy Pain.
This CANNOT be replaced with Endure Pain. Endure doesn't give you +20 stackable armor, and Endure isn't nearly as spammy as Defy is. Defy is a great elite; if all you see when you look at it is the extra health, you've missed the mark.

Practiced Stance.
Quite a neat elite for going out and pounding things with Dual Shot and Kindle Arrows. It (kinda) serves as energy management (and helps the user be a bit more lazy and relaxed hehe) by not having to re-apply Kindle so frequently. Also, it's a ranger stance that can be maintained 100% of the time, so that your "while in a stance" bow will always work.

Unyielding Aura.
Not just for use as a noob leash (although it's really cool as one), UA gives you a 3-second mid-combat rez. It beats the crap out of vengeance because it doesn't just stop in the middle of a fight; it ends when you want it to end (or when it gets shattered, but hey). The recent reduction in its recycle time makes it even sweeter.

[UltimaXtreme]

wow, i hear alot of quickshot, its good in pve but punishing owns it in pvp.

my vote(s)
Plague signet worst spell ingame

[Theos]

Ok Fevered Dreams >>>>>>>>> Epidemic. For one the area of the condition is immense for Dreams in comparison to Epidemic. Run a Me/E and you can literraly set a everyone/thing on fire/blind/weak etc...

I dare say it is anything but a bad elite.

[Goonter]

You named the two other skills that feel would work better as nonelite.

Grenths Balance and Practice Stance.

Im not so sure about GB though. Ive used it with trick builds and also how I think it was intended to be used and its never been the skill I was glad I had on my skill bar. In its current state, if feels balanced, but it doesnt feel elite. Im reserving some judgement because I havent studied combo possablities to my fullest with this one.

Practice Stance would be kill with Incendary Arrows or Marksman Wager.
Ive found it solely useful with choking gas before and after every nerf/buff of every preperation and the skill itself.
So how can it get some flexablity? I imagine...

Practice Stance (the non elite version)
For 5 seconds your next preparation is ready 50% faster and last 24-50% longer.
10 | - | 40

[Minus Sign]

GB in a Me/N for the fast casing. Use sac skills to drop HP on one enemy, then swap to another for your heal. Its a 2 for 1 slaughterhouse, making it almost overbalanced when used in PvE. PvP, it can still cause havoc to the monk if you're constantly sucking the life out of their tanks with both hands.

[capblueberry]

I'd have to vote Cleave

[Arkantos]

Elementalist: Thunderclap or Mind Burn.
Mesmer: IMO Keystone Sig is useless.
Monk: Probably Signet of Judgement
Necromancer: Dont really think there is a "bad" elite for necro's, IMO.
Ranger: Well, heres a few. Crippling shot, quick shot, poison arrow. Warrior: Battle rage, dwarvern battle stance, and definitally skull crack

[twicky_kid]

I would use GB in a HA blood spike for the infuser.

Infuse>tab>grenth

GB's 10 sec recharge is balanced for what it does.

I think we should turn this into a Poll.

Since Anet likes to buff a little and we know more changes are coming after the 24th event I say we get a poll and vote on the worst skills.

[Jormund]

I'm going to go with Keystone Signet. Pooooor signets .

As for Skull Crack, which is my runner up, it could really use a buff up to a 1/2 speed like Distracting Blow is, then you could actually start interrupting commonly used spells.

Quick Shot, while certainly got hit hard, probably isn't in the running for the worst elite. The 1s use time is actually considerably quicker then a normal bow attack, albiet slower then an interrupt speed shot. Granted, it was much better before. Still very spammable and pressury.

[arredondo]

Keystone Signet owns all... well, maybe not, but it's still decent. I have a few good builds with it and here's my latest... maybe a few less votes for it from now on?:

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...47#post1123847

My vote for worst elite is easy if I'm allowed to include the known upcoming elites for the Assassin:

Seeping Wound ELITE (Hex Spell) - For 5..17 seconds, if target foe is suffering from Bleeding or Poison, that foe suffers -2 Health regeneration. 5E/1C/10R

I mean, you can grab a Necro secondary to bring in Suffering if you want -2 degen on your build. Suffering is a non-elite that also does -2 degen, but it's AoE! And while SW here needs L12 to give you 17 seconds AND a prior, specific Condition on your foe, Suffering needs only L8 Curses for 17 seconds (25 at L12) and needs nothing at all to latch onto your target.

Seeping Wound, if it stays this way, appears to be beyond awful.

[Raxxman]

It's like a really ineffective viluerence... <SP>

[doomsayer]

illusion of haste

[Str0b0]

Spike Trap...aggravating to get and limited in it's utility. Sure it cripples and does knockdown but honestly it's not that hard to hold the aggro and keep the monsters in the AoE of the trap.

[Phaern Majes]

Originally Posted by Shinsei

Poison Arrow. Oh hello apply poison! What's that? You're a cheaper method of poisoning people AND you're not an elite? That's unpossible!

Except I use Kindle Arrows, which I keep constantly up. So in my case Poison Arrow is great. I get to poison and keep the fire damage.

My vote has to be for Quick Shot.