Developer ArenaNet launched a new update for Guild Wars 2 that implements a ton of tweaks to different professions.
One of the professions that received many adjustments is the Elementalist. The dev team wants to improve the status of the Scepter because it is not utilized enough in competitive modes. Thus, certain abilities have been changed to make the said weapon more appealing to use. For example, the Water Trident is no longer cast on the ground but instead, fires projectiles at the target and up to two nearby enemies when used. While it no longer heals allies, the skill does heal the caster when the enemy is hit successfully.
The Scrapper, one of the elite specializations for the Engineer, got a few ability buffs in PvP as well. The Electro-whirl’s power coefficient has been increased from 0.68 to 0.75, making it a bit more damaging than before. On top of that, the Medic Gyro’s cooldown is reduced to just 25 seconds, down from 30. These tweaks help the Scrapper become a more reliable profession to use in PvP combat.
Below are some of the changes made to the Elementalist and the Engineer professions in Guild Wars 2:
- Phoenix: This skill now inflicts an additional stack of burning against enemies that are already burning. Reduced burning stacks from 2 to 1 in PvE only.
- Shatterstone: This skill now inflicts chill instead of vulnerability and strikes enemies on the initial cast in addition to the explosion. Reduced explosion time from 1 second to 0.67 seconds. Reduced power coefficient from 1.66 to 1.0 in PvE, and from 1.5 to 0.6 in PvP and WvW.
- Blinding Flash: This skill now strikes up to 2 additional enemies near the target and inflicts weakness against vulnerable enemies. Increased ammunition from 1 to 2.
- Rock Barrier: This skill now grants barrier and resistance to the user in addition to its other effects.
- Shearing Edge: This skill now inflicts bleeding in addition to its other effects.
- Elements of Rage: Increased damage bonus from 5% to 10% in PvE only.
- Woven Stride: Fixed an issue that prevented this trait from increasing the effectiveness of swiftness.
- Rifle Burst: This skill now fires one piercing projectile before the grenade instead of two. Increased piercing projectile power coefficient from 0.3 to 0.4 in PvE only. Grenade power coefficient increased from 0.4 to 0.6 in PvE only. Increased skill animation speed; total animation duration remains the same as previous version in PvE only.
- Healing Turret: Fixed an issue that caused the overcharge skill to take longer than intended to fire.
- Mechanical Genius: Combat attribute bonuses to the mech are now reduced by 50% if the engineer is more than a range of 360 away from the mech for a certain amount of time.
Guild Wars 2 November 29 Update is available on PC.
