Worst Elite in the Game

I can't really pick a "worst" elite skill, there are just so many bad ones to pick from, it's hard to choose. I can pick a worst skill from each profession, though.

Assassin: This was a hard one, I have to say. I was torn between Wastrel's Collapse and Mark of Insecurity, but I decided in the end that Mark had the reasonable capacity to hinder an opponent, whereas Collapse was essentially unusable.

Dervish: Also a difficult choice, though for different reasons: almost all of the Dervish's elites are valid and viable, given a decent player and a decent build. In the end, I picked Vow of Silence, which shouldn't be on a "worst elites" list at any time, but it is the most likely to get you killed, since allies can't cast on you.

Elementalist: This one wasn't quite so difficult. Stone Sheath, without question. I'll admit, denying critical hits is nice, sure, but hardly worth an elite slot. As for the earth damage thing, it's hardly worth mentioning, because Stone Striker is superior in most every way.

Mesmer: Symbols of Inspiration, Keystone Signet, Air of Disenchantment, Stolen Speed... the list of bad Mesmer elites seems to just keep growing. I picked Extend Conditions in the end, as it was just a truly crappy skill. Mesmers don't cause any conditions worth extending, and even if they did, the real vulnerability of conditions lies in their ease of being removed more so than their duration. If this was a hex that prevented conditions from being cured while it was active, we might have something, but as it is, it can never hope to have a seat on my mesmer's bar.

Monk: Another class with a veritable plethora of crappy skills. But one stands out above all the rest: yes, you guessed it, Balthazar's Pendulum. Scribe's Insight, Peace and Harmony, and Ray of Judgement may have their sickening flaws, but only Balthazar's Pendulum has in the history of Guild Wars make me wonder what the dev team was smoking when they came up with this piece of garbage. If it did 75 damage to the knocked down foe and affected the whole party instead of one target, still I would never consider putting this on my bar.

Necromancer: Comparatively speaking, Necromancers don't have many bad elite skills. Even the ones that seem useless to a primary necro can be awesome on a secondary one (Contagion, for example). Of course there are a few, erm... questionable skills, like Ravenous Gaze and Soul Bind, but for the most part, their elites are all pretty good. But, there is one skill that has stubbornly refused to change from bad to good throughout all of Guild Wars: Plague Signet. A required investment into Curses and elite status only serve to further degrade the skill's already weak, easily replicated effect.

Paragon: Lots of weird elites here. Anthem of Guidance was a strong candidate for the position, but I decided in the end that it had its uses. "Incoming!" definitely gets second place for its short duration, long-assed recharge, and somewhat iffy effect. But the worst is probably "The Power is Yours!", a skill that defies all attempts of effective use. Having another team mate bring an elite so that you don't have to worry so much about energy is bad enough (BiP, I'm looking at you...), but the fact that it almost completely disables that ally for a full ten seconds is simply preposterous. If it completely removed all traces of the energy loss effect, it might - might - pass as a serviceable elite. As it is, though, worthless.

Ranger: Rangers get the full spectrum of incredible (Cripshot, Burning Arrow, Rampage as One), good (Barrage, BHA), mediocre (QuickShot, Escape) and downright terrible (Practiced Stance, Scavenger's Focus, Strike as One) elites. But my personal least favorite is the exceptionally stupid, exceedingly unreliable, and generally useless Spirit, Equinox. There are no skills that "combine" with exhaustion. There are almost no skills that cause exhaustion on an enemy. There is mostly only one profession that can cause exhaustion unto itself. And finally, there is no real penalty for exhaustion, so long as you don't accrue a huge amount. This skill would need as much or more work as Otyugh's Cry ended up getting to make it playable at all, and even then it would remain mostly unused simply because of its elite spirit status.

Ritualist: An interesting set of elites belongs to the ritualist. In my experience, they are all conditional to your build, and either mind-boggling useful or completely worthless, with little middle ground. Clamor of Souls was the first "bad" ritualist elite that came to my mind, but as it would turn out, there are two that are far worse. So much worse, indeed, that I've mostly blocked them out of my mind: the Xinrae skills. Useful only in situations where 2 or more of your enemies have the exact same offensive spell on their bar and just so happen to be targeting the recipient of your spell, it even then rarely makes a remarkable impact. The most either of these skills can ever really hope to achieve, aside perhaps from a vital role in a gimmicky farming build, is a "o cool lol" comment in an 8v8, akin to what happens when a monk casts Spellbreaker on the guy that's about to get six Obsidian Flames cast on him at once.

Warrior: Primal rage. No introduction needed, no explanation necessary. Despite all the horrid skills warriors get, like "Coward!" (which is actually pretty cool when those damned Luxon warriors use it at Ft. Aspenwood) or Defy Pain, Primal Rage truly stands out for being wretched and awful. I'd give a full explanation, but there's at least a dozen other people in here who picked as well with good reasons for why it sucks monkey ass. Hell, I wrote this whole list without thinking of it, and now realize it's the worst skill of the lot. Except maybe Balthazar's Pendulum. Huh.



tl;dr Primal Rage and Balthazar's Pendulum.