Worst Elite Skill

skull crack, dwarven battle stance

cleave isn't bad it's just in the shadow of eviscerate in most situations - a lot of warrior elites really suck.

i think amity has limited use, unyielding aura i don't care for.

ranger gets crap like poison arrow and quickshot aint too great right now

eles.. mm, thunderclap i guess

What was ether renewal like before it was nerfed? I keep hearing that it was overpowered. o.O

I saw Mind Freeze written here somewhere, Mind Freeze is great if u do the right combo. Mind Freeze+Maelstrom on monk FTW!

My vote goes 2 Signet of Judgement.

skull crack
plague sig isn't bad ,but its nowhere near useful enough for people to use it

Ether Renewal was very overpowered before it was nerfed. Most people ran a E/Mo smiter and that would be their energy management and their healing. If used right, it could easily bring your health and energy all the way back up.

so 35 energy 7 seconds casting and double exhaustion for 6-7 seconds of shut down if the freeze isn't removed.

Might as well go with diversion for 2 second casting (fast cast) and 10e. 6 second shutdown or they get a skill disabled for nearly a minute.

Mind freeze is horrible in any instance you can put it in because there are better options.

The other reason I don't use melee interrupts is because they do not interrupt your attack for the interrupt like rangers do. Rangers fire their interrupts soon as you hit the button. Melee interrupts make you wait until you current attack is over with whether you are using a skill or not. That can put their timing off by even more.

Id say that martyr is a lame skill

I take it your the PvE kind...

Hands down the best condition removal on the game.

Martyr is great, IW plus a mimicked 100 blades is GREAT, Dwarven Battle Stance is great (10 seconds of shutdown for 10e...not bad), Keystone sig is fun if usd with mantra of inscriptions, leech sig, sig of humility, sig of weariness...

Mind Burn is pretty bad 15e, exhaustion, and 20 sec recharge
IMO Healing hands is pretty lame, its like a weak mark of protection (with faster recharge)
Sig of Judgement is bad
Quick Shot is baaadd
Skull crack would be cool if it wasn't elite/didn't take so much adrenaline, as is it is bad

unyielding aura kicks ass in RA and TA when your on a kill-count arena.
prolly quickshot is worst imo. also i really dont think charge should be an elite. it sucks for an elite

Charge only sucks for an elite if you only think about yourself. If you're operating with a team, and using *tactics* it can give you a tremendous advantage. See: split team tactics.

(and even so, using charge means you can have frenzy and your runspeed boost at the same time- having cake AND eating it)

About Unyielding Aura:
Noone remembers the Unyielding Aura -> Divine Intervention -> cancel Divine Intervention trick?

Also I've noticed that when the monk dies, the Unyielding Aura enchant goes away, but the ally enchanted with Unyielding Aura stays alive even though its gone.

What's so bad about bringing a dead ally back with full health and mp at the cost of 5 mp and 2 second cast?
The ally should be able to make use of that +20-60 mp (depending on job type) that you gave him/her.

Hell, if I were a monk in an Ele team, I'd let one die and keep ressing him/her with Unyielding Aura for full mp every time he/she runs out of mp -
run out of mp? No problem. *cancels Unyielding Aura; Ele dies; recasts Unyielding Aura on dead Ele; Ele comes back with full mp*
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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.

Someone put in Water Trident. After the update, take a closer look at that bad boy. 5 mana...Knockdown on moving foes. Can anyone say W/E KD build?

For Warrior I'd have to put my money on Skull crack. Its too situational to be an Elite.

Quick Shot gets my vote for Ranger; there are just too many better ways to get a fast arrow out.

Shield of Deflection for monks; there are, again, better ways to do the same thing. And Shield or regen is a close second.

For necros, I don't hear anything good about Lingering Curse. Tried it a few times in PvE and PvP; its kinda the great skill that isn't.

Mesmer gets Fevered Dreams; again, too situational for Elite slot.

Lastly; for Eles I call out Ether renewal. Another skill with tons of potental, but its been nerfed into the ground due to up time and recharge.

Glimmering Mark

I've had lots of fun farming Charr Carving during the special events with my R/W using Read the Wind + Frenzy + Quick Shot. DPS? Holy cow!

Also, I always take Charge! and Balanced Stance when I run people. Catch me now you effing worms!!!

Quick Shot got hit really hard by the interrupt aftercast update. Before Quick Shot was a great skill for firing off some extended spikes, like Dual -> Quick -> Distracting -> Quick. Now the 3rd attack has to be normal speed, neutralizing the fourth and pretty much putting an end to this sort of pressure spike.

It isn't a bad skill at all. It's still a pretty solid pressure skill (stacks another 33% bonus attack speed onto whatever you're doing) and it's really spammable, it just doesn't really have a place right now.

The really terrible elites are those which are so bad that even when it has the effect you want you won't run it because it's so bad. Prominent examples are Mind Freeze and Skull Crack.

Peace,
-CxE

Most elite skills aren't bad, they're simply crude. They can work in simpler builds (Word of Healing comes to my mind,) but they're not always the most effective choice in advanced builds (Healing Hands, Offering of Blood.)

For the record, Keystone Signet has a lot of potential that will be harnessed in future chapters.

My vote goes to Amity without question.

you're still spot on with your logic though, signet of midnight sees little to no usage outside of Random Arena.

yea, my uber otyugh's cry build held halls for 3 hours just now

except that surge pretty much gives your target away, assume you're talking about random arena with no monk
otherwise, CoP/veil/smite lightning surge and dodge the lightning orb!

Its funny, Unyielding Aura is one of the most amazing skills but is one of the most misunderstood because of its mis-use by people who equip it or have had it used on them.

Lets see...

Fast res
res'd to FULL health AND energy (qualifying it as the best situational heal)
maintained as long as the monk can maintain it as opposed to vengence.
Death penalties no longer apply when aura is on <---.

I can't count the amount of times I have saved an entire party by having three people up on aura at the same time and maintaining it easily. I have even gone up to four. Fow, Uw, Tombs, Thunderhead, almost every pve mission in the game has a credited success to aura. PVP is a little different due to high amounts of enchant removals.

Do you have to drop it eventually? Yes a monk would be stupid not to. May you have to drop someone in mid battle? Yes I weigh the lives of those aura'd versus the existing lives of those in the party. If you are an aura monk should you pack a regular res? Yup.

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?

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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

my vote(s)
Plague signet worst spell ingame

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.

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

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.

I'd have to vote Cleave

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

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.

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.

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:

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.

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

illusion of haste

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.

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.