DarkLancer.1902

Well, this thing has got a hell of a learning curve. Still, I can tell I got it right a few times, because I obliterated a squad of Kryptis with ease. Not that I can do that consistently, hence the learning curve. A bit odd, conceptually, though. Not sure how this came out to be shortbow, but hey, engineers were always weird. 7/10 overall, and only escapes a higher rating because of the time and effort necessary to master it.

Please provide a link to the relevant page. I've been looking through everything official and unofficial about Warriors, and both the official page & the wiki clearly state that the Warrior is a master of PHYSICAL combat, not magic. The Spellbreaker was special because it was a Warrior that learned a limited degree of magic to counter Joko and his awakened.

Not sure where the concept for this one came from, but it is a lot of fun. Very much a glass cannon though. Probably going to be relegated to group content; not a lot of solo potential here. I have noticed a bug: Skill 5 fails to knock back enemies at less than 300 range. 8/10 overall. Recommend pairing with Dragonhunter.

Who came up with this? The Warrior is a profession designed around the concept that it doesn't use magic & doesn't need to. Yet here we are, giving the Warrior a MAGIC HEALING STICK. The kit does NOT jive with the Warrior concept, and, depending on how much of a rules-lawyer you are, could even be said to break the game's lore. I could see this being a Spellbreaker thing -- in fact, it makes much more sense that the Sunspears would have hacked the heads off their spears and used the hafts as quarterstaves, with healing powers, to restore the imbalance of magic caused by Joko, than hacking the heads off their spears & using the heads as daggers. (The severe deficiencies in the dagger weapon kit are something to discuss at a different time.) Oh, and the bug noted many times above, that Skill 5 'Bullet Catcher' is interrupted by the auto-attack does severely limit the effectiveness of that skill. That said, this does what it says on the box. High-octane front-line support, lots of healing, and the 'infinite might' Spellbreaker build turns it into an immortal tank/healer. Damage suffers, but it was meant to be a support weapon, not DPS. 9/10 on performance, 2/10 on concept.

Well, this turned out exactly how I knew it would. Axes flung by the thief fly out to their maximum range, and stay there, spinning and inflicting damage. Except they don't. Because they are spinning in empty air. Doing nothing. Thus it is impossible to use this kit to its full potential. At least the parts that DO work don't lack for damage. 6/10 overall. Don't know how to fix it.

Damage output is disappointingly underwhelming, but it seems not to need it; I'm not having any problems with survival. It's a good concept though; when you get around to the ground-up rebuild of the Catalyst (which, by the way, it DESPERATELY needs), this is the principle you should build it around, not the utterly useless circular projectiles. 7/10 overall. Just tune up the numbers to bring it in line with the rest of the elementalist kits.

Healer rifle... okay Mesmers are weird, but I can get behind this. I was expecting it to be dead on arrival, but never have I been more happy to be so completely wrong. Firepower is good, with healing besides. That said, the activation delay from the phantasm is so long as to make the stun useless, except against defiant foes, and the rescue portal on skill 5, while NARRATIVELY awesome, is worthless in actual gameplay. Other than that, great job. 9/10 overall.

I was super excited for this, but WOW, what a let-down. Low damage, slow, clunky, clearly meant to operate exclusively at maximum range... with a bloody useless gap-closer tacked in for no reason. It works with a swarm Reaper build, but nothing else can make it viable. The concept was good, but execeution was lousy. 0/10 overall. Scrap and rebuild from the ground up.

This does what it says on the box. It's a good close-range support/control kit. Damage is lackluster, but you're outliving the enemy anyway. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it does NOT play like a guardian; this kit is its own thing. 8/10 overall rating. Good work.

Great concept, useful skills, nice aesthetic. With high healing power, the barrier bursts can make you nearly immortal, and it doesn't want for damage either. Certainly a better kit than I thought it would be when I saw its trailer video... BUT Internal synergy? Yeah, there is none. Forcing players to use a different kit in order to close with the target after applying the effects of the ranged skills makes poor tactical sense, and forces the use of aggressive legends and/or off-hand weapons, in what was obviously meant to be a support/tank build. 6/10 overall rating. If skill 3 pulled the target, it would go up to 10/10.

(beta 4 feedback) The re-tuned Mechanist is still awesome, just not unreasonably so. I like the increased support capacity, and the mech seems more balanced. I don't feel like I can leave everything to the mech and be fine anymore. That said, there are a few issues: 1) Binding rocket punch to mace 3 was a bad idea. People who don't use mace will never see the rocket punch happen. Either bind it to weapon/kit skill 3, no matter what weapon or engineer kit is being used, or unbind it from any player control, but make mech command skills override anything else the mech may be doing. 2) Having a stunbreak that takes so long to aim that the disabling effect runs out before it finishes casting is not good. Stunbreak needs to be an instant thing, tap the key and it happens immediately, rather than having to aim the skill first.

My one major complaint is that you can't heal while in shroud. Since shroud no longer protects health, and lifesteals have reduced effectiveness, or don't work at all, while in shroud, having no access to healing skills while in shroud makes me not want to use it in the situations it's most useful for: big enemies and lots of them. Entering shroud in those situations is just asking to die as a Harbinger, while with other necro specs it allows you to take on battles that you would otherwise avoid. Give us access to at least our healing skill while in shroud, or better yet, all our slot skills. Either that or tack a really strong heal onto entering shroud, comparable to using a heal skill.

(beta 4 feedback) I was prepared to give Harbinger a scathing critique, but I find myself pleasantly surprised. While it would, of course, be preferable not to have the Blight mechanic, it does not significantly impair survival on high-vitality builds that lean heavily into lifesteal. A healing tune-up may be necessary, but damage is well above average, and sustain is good. It doesn't get the insane condi ticks that a Willbender does, but then, burning does more damage than torment. A strong build for a player with good reflexes.

(beta 4 feedback) Well, it's playable. Average damage, severely underwhelming sustain (I suppose it's an elementalist), crap recovery, low mobility... really not a lot to recommend this. The focus in the traits and skills is clearly on damage, but it doesn't really have anything to show for it. Damage winds up being pretty lackluster, and nothing else pops out as extraordinary. With gear focused on strike damage, I guess it might become a beast, but it would be a glass cannon, unplayable outside of raids, strikes and dungeons. Overall kind of feels like the dev team tried to force an elementalist into a revenant costume, but without the revenant's heavy armor, it doesn't really work.

I used it for condition damage in the raid. When I went into shadow shroud, I just focused one of the healers. Your mistake is in thinking that just because it can be a support build that it is only a support build. Try thinking outside the support box.