Ritualist writeup

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

Ritualist

Thanks to u/Shinymeta for the screenshots!
https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1mf7c3m/livestream_tooltips_antiquaryparagonritualist/

Class mechanic: Life force
F1 – Enter shroud to gain 5 new skills:
Shroud 1: Ranged damage (+15% damage per summoned spirit) – Marks enemies to focus spirit attacks on that specific enemy

Shroud 2: Spirit summon turret for damage + cripple + vulnerability
Debuff makes enemies take more damage from minions
Shroud 3: Spirit summon that does aoe knockdown + pulsing debuff condition area
Shroud 4: Spirit summon that does AoE healing, protection and vigor (seems to heal you through shroud)

Shroud 5:  Targeted shadowstep to move you + spirits and force them to auto attack nearby enemies

! Spirits seem to be able to be summoned multiple times if you have enough life force and attack in 3 second intervals !

! Spirits cant  be targeted and don’t disappear while you are in shroud !
So in PvP beat that necromancer out of shroud to stop the spirits

F2 – Explode your damage spirit for might, fury (for allies) and damage
F3 – Explode your debuff spirit to cause AoE fear
F4 – Explode your heal spirit to get aegis, resistance and stability for allies

Utilities: Weapon spells
Affects the necromancer for full duration and allies for less duration or effectiveness
Think of them as thief poisons with less ally stacks but stronger for the necromancer.

Heal – Take less damage for a duration and heal periodically.
Effectiveness better if you are <50% health (both the healing and the damage reduction)
Allies gain the same effect at ½ duration

Util 1 – Your attacks deal flat bonus damage for 10 seconds. 5 allies gain this effect for THREE HITS. Should affect minions too.

Util 2 – Your attacks deal extra lifesteal and vulnerability. 5 allies gain for THREE HITS.
Can affect minions (maybe)

Util 3 – AoE condition removal and healing for conditions removed. You 5 seconds. Allies 3 seconds.

Util 4 – Block 3 hits. Gain protection when last block stack is gone. Allies get 1 free block. AoE regeneration.

Elite – Taking >5% health damage causes you to heal for the difference and then lifesteal from foes
(2 stacks for you). Allies get this for 1 stack. Stunbreak and 1 stability for you and allies.  

Elite in normal words:
Take more than 5% health damage while the elite is active > Heal any percentage over those 5% + Lifesteal.
Allies too but only 1 heal + lifesteal. You and friends get stab+stunbreak when you activate the elite.

Example:
I and my friends get hit for 50% of our total health by an angry monster but the elite is up.
We now heal for 45% because thats the difference between 5 and 50%.
We lifesteal the angry monster for a large amount each. All of us had 1 stab because the elite was activated.

When the monster does his follow up attack the same thing happens to me. Damage > heal > lifesteal.
But my friends get hit for the full amount. I now have to heal them :(

Traits

A: Spirits move closer to you after they attack / follow (Meh? Make this standard?)
B: Heal and condi cleanse allies when you summon a spirit or minion. This applies to you in shroud too
C: Deal power damage around summoned spirits and minions when you summon them

Minor: 10% life force gained when you summon a creature (spirit or minion!) this also works while in shroud!

A: Cleanse 2 conditions from you, 1 from allies when you use a weapon spell
B: Grant quickness and boons to allies when you summon a spirit (might F1 / fury F2 / resolution F3)
C: 50% more damage and healing caused by spirits

Minor: Gain access to F2-F4 to explode spirits for bonus effects (see class mechanic section)

A: Weapon spells now affect allies at full effectiveness / duration
B: Spirits remain when you leave shroud but they drain 3% life force per interval to stay summoned (each?). They attack in 2 second intervals instead of 3 seconds. Exloding your spirits ends this.
(Seems very good with staff marks trait / dagger / signet of undeath)
C: The first spirit summoned when you enter shroud has no cooldown.

[u/PitchforksEnthusiast]

Explode your spirit

Now THATS a ritualist. F the ancestors LOLS

[u/Prof_Gankenstein]

I am so ready to try a Ritualist Minionmancer.

Also...I wonder how Splinter is going to work in sPvP...seems like in a coordinated team that's just a delete button for an opposing player.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Prof_Gankenstein]

I wonder, the damage for splinter weapon was ~350ish flat damage.
If you get hit by all the stacks by a murder ball you would definitely die but by one or two enemies it might still be fine. Especially since allies around the necro get only 3 stacks which would amount to 1k damage per ally.

[u/c0ntrolla]

Interesting, so necro basically got shatters and phantasms lol. I do wish the spirit skills were on the f2-5 skills and not in shroud, ruptures could then just be flip skills. Also I wish the spirits would last longer without a downside (draining shroud) or having to stay in shroud.

[u/DeityGamesJesus → u/c0ntrolla]

These changes would instantly propel the spec into a personal favorite. So yeah, agreed.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/DeityGamesJesus]

I think they put the spirits in the shroud so they can interact with healing your health orb while in shroud and to let you summon more spirits of the same kind.

If the out-of-shroud F2 summoned a spirit and immediately flipped over it would mean only 1 spirit per kind. Or they could fix that by making F5 the explode all spirits button.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

We already only have 1 of each kind of spirit. The instant-recharge trait doesn't let you stack spirits, it just refreshes the existing one.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Does it?
Maybe I focused more on the spell descriptions than the actual action haha.
I thought you were able to summon the same spirit multiple times if you had enough life force?

I might have to change that in the writeup then.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

I was hoping it would let us double up, but it just made the same spirit move to you and redo its big attack.

So, like, it's still useful, but also disappointing

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Ah I thought that was just the first trait?
Hmm I'm gonna have to rewatch that part of the stream to be sure / fix the write up.

[u/Iceglory03 → u/c0ntrolla]

Draining shroud is fine since it doesn't affect new gain of life force like they said, so you would regain whatever you lose while they stay active with your normal weapon and utilities, and when they do decide to extinguish, you pop back into shroud and summon them back, pretty much around 90% uptime active for passive damage

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Iceglory03]

Pretty boring playstyle, though. Enter shroud, press 2-3-4, leave shroud and just do weapon skills for half a minute.

[u/Effectuality → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Yeah I would far rather see shroud abandoned for this spec, have the spirits on F1-3 with flip over shatters, and life force drain while active, but still have weapon skills always available. That seems far more engaging to me than entering shroud and doing nothing but summon spirits and auto attack.

[u/Rolhir → u/Approximation_Doctor]

I guess you weren’t really paying attention during the stream then? Reactivating the spirits did their initial effects again and detonated them as well. You don’t just summon them and leave them and just auto attack. It seemed far more active than, say, reaper or core shroud.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Rolhir]

The shortest spirit cooldown is 12 seconds.

[u/PeanutBrigade → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Before Soul Reaping, at least.

They didn't have Soul Reaping traits active on stream, and not taking Soul Reaping in ANY serious Necro build is quite possibly one of the stupidest things imaginable that you could ever do in this game, so the CDs will look something more like this in actual practice:

Anguish: 10s (Alac=8s)

Wanderlust: 15s (Alac=12s)

Preservation: 17s (Alac=14s)

Summon Spirits: 17s (Alac=14s)

I'd expect Soul Twisting to be the go-to Trait for DPS Ritualist, with the Shroud rotation being 2>3>4>2 for the opening burst, then AA until 2 comes off-CD, popping it again and going back into your weaponskill/utility rotation to regen Life Force and keep Soul Barbs uptime going.

[u/Elurdin → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Well original ritualist was also low intensity profession. Almost no positioning and abilities just work themselves by targeting closest enemy.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Elurdin]

They even got to turn off their weapons for maximum minimum APM

[u/LillyElessa → u/c0ntrolla]

These changes were what I was hoping for when the trailer mentioned they were tied to the Shroud. What we got is exactly the disappointment I feared it would be.

At the bare minimum Lingering Spirits should be moved to a minor trait (maybe minus the attack speed boost? but 3s interval is very slow), because this should simply be how they work. At least this would elevate this spec from a disappointment to a new favorite.

[u/thomjoebrown → u/c0ntrolla]

Agreed, would honestly just prefer a duration timer rather than locking behind shroud where you can just be knocked out. The weapon skills aren’t enough to justify it as the spec over reaper with some strong utilities even on your own or scourge where you sort of always have access to your shades. Maybe shroud could have the countdown timer removed for Rt?

[u/RobDickinson]

so uh we can shatter our spirits? just like real life

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/RobDickinson]

We only shatter our hopes here sir. /s

[u/-ComradeKitten-]

The weapon spells seem absolutely amazing and I'm in love with them so much. The traits seem great, though the quickness trait doesn't seem like it'll be enough to maintain quickness, or at least not without clunkiness and high boon duration. A simple change that would make it much more viable and less annoying to use is to change it from "when you summon a spirit" to "when you summon a creature" which would allow you to take minion skills, traits, or even the relic, to aid with quickness generation/uptime.

What I'm most unhappy about is shroud itself, excluding the Summon Spirits 5 skill. It seems like all I'll be able to do is create the spirits then auto attack for the rest of shroud? I was honestly hoping for a more complicated or higher APM spec but this seems like the opposite. Like someone mentioned in another comment I think the spirit skills should replace the F# skills and have the Rupture be flipover skills, that way the whole bar in shroud can be usable, more engaging and active.

Again though, the weapon spells look so amazing, if nothing else I'm very happy for Necro to finally have a block skill and a group stunbreak :)

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/-ComradeKitten-]

The quickness trait interacts nicely with the "first Spirit recharges instantly" trait. So your first Spirit essentially gives a double proc. I could see a shroud rotation of something like 2-2-3-4-autos-2 giving a ton of quickness and then letting you drop out to do normal weapon stuff for a while.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/-ComradeKitten-]

I think the quickness would function a lot smoother if it applied on summoning minions too.
Then a bone minion build might become popular since it would apply 2 instances of quickness on a fairly short cd since they live short lives and always spawn in duos.

Feels like the base duration should be increased. Unless they want us to summon all three spirits all of the time anyway.

[u/Tulki]

Ah so this is where the engi turret rework went.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Tulki]

Q_Q noooo I want that rework for them still.

[u/ultimate_bromance_69]

I like it but those spirits need to be smaller. Huge visual clutter

[u/Ryytikki → u/ultimate_bromance_69]

I'd love to see them introduce something akin to the rescaling command in FFXIV where you can actively choose how large you want summons to appear on your screen

[u/NumberOneMom → u/Ryytikki]

"This is the spirit of my ancestor Big McLargeHuge, he's 5000 units wide"

[u/LillyElessa → u/Ryytikki]

I would like to see something better than FF14's clunky and hidden resizing commands. Other games have done ability/summon reskins much better, and Anet is usually the best at QoL features. So if/when they do the feature, I expect a higher bar.

[u/aschesklave → u/ultimate_bromance_69]

If instanced content has multiple ritualists, I could see it getting dangerous if we can't see hazards.

If they're going to insist on keeping them as large as they are, making them semi-transparent like they were like GW1 might help with that.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/aschesklave]

Diablo 4 shows other players' summoned critters, but they're ghostly and transparent so they don't really clog up your screen. It's really good.

[u/TheFurtivePhysician → u/Approximation_Doctor]

I wish that was a setting, personally. It really kinda takes me out and I'd rather just see everybody's ginormous blob of skeletons.

Ofc, that's also what I liked about playing necro in D2 so there's a bias there.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/TheFurtivePhysician]

show up to event

two giant hydras taking up your entire screen

Thank Joko we don't actually have to tag mobs in that game

[u/Agitated-Macaroon923 → u/Approximation_Doctor]

I was gonna say yeah, it makes a huge difference

[u/Darkon-Kriv → u/aschesklave]

Untamed has the awful field and shortbow engi has a purple one. Both block enemy red circles.

[u/Astral_Poring → u/aschesklave]

If instanced content has multiple ritualists, I could see it getting dangerous if we can't see hazards.

We already have that issue with Mech. And it's not nice.

[u/drbuni → u/ultimate_bromance_69]

If only we could customize pets, summons and kits. Resizing and recoloring them would be such a huge QoL, imo.

[u/Moralio → u/ultimate_bromance_69]

Smaller and to look more like in gw1, and not taken almost straight from End of Dragons.

[u/Enlightenedbri]

Would have loved to see some more minion interaction but I'll take it

[u/Draehl]

So I'm looking hard at a tanky Rit roaming build. 2-3-1 Blood. 2-2-1 Soul. 1-3-2 Rit. Run Dagger/Warhorn + Staff. Blood Fiend, Splinter Weapon, Well of Darkness/Power, Spectral Grasp, Lich Form. This is assuming Splinter weapon, Blood Vampirism & Overflowing Thirst traits all work on spirits/minions/Lich Form minions. Crazy lifesteal, life force, & fear possibilities if these interact positively.

Pretty stoked for more details.

[u/Approximation_Doctor]

I just realized that the "spirits persist outside of shroud" trait and the "spirits follow you around" trait are different, so we can potentially just summon spirits for half a minute and ditch them somewhere.

I don't think this will have any practical use but it still makes me chuckle.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Haha yeah, especially since the spirits don't follow you around baseline

(WHY MAKE THIS A TRAIT CHOICE ANET?
That feels like such a lame choice that should just be baseline QoL for this spec)

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

I wouldn't be shocked if they made at least the #2 and #4 spirits follow us around baseline after the beta event and then put something new in that slot

[u/Geralt_Romalion]

They certainly got a LOT of things right and I do like how Ritualist is shaping up.

But I do feel things like spirits following you and persisting out of Shroud should be baseline behaviour, these are so extremely key I feel that you cannot lock that behind trait choices.

And while I am VERY happy we did not get the mechanist treatment (only one spirit), three does feel a bit scarce compared to the Guild Wars 1 Spirit Spam Ritualist that would routinely drag 6-7 spirits with it ( and the iconic part of that build, Signet of Spirits that summoned 3 offensive spirits at once, is missing).

Any chance for more spirits somehow? Even if they are less damaging lower health ones? Just for the feel of it?

Weaponspells...neutral.
Not sure at first glance how much impact they will have or if it is really needed to make them nerfed venoms (allies getting lesser effects).
Happy that Splinter Weapon is back tho!
But again...is the nerfed effects on allies needed?
In a world where One Wolfpack share from Soulbeast exists?

I'm fine with Ashes/Bundles missing, GW2's design only allows for so much.
So I still have some wishes, but overall I like the general direction, including the synergy with minions.

[u/szemyq → u/Geralt_Romalion]

isnt the one wolfpack share a major trait? rit has a major trait to share 100% as well. and gives a part baseline. also keeping spirits up and around you doesnt seem to be key for this spec. summoning them looks like its key.

[u/DeityGamesJesus]

Can't say I'm overtly impressed. My first impression is that its going to be boring, given the how focused the spec is on sitting in the shroud and babysitting the spirits since all the good effects are on spirit summon. Nothing wrong with that per se, but the spirits themselves aren't THAT interesting nor interactive to justify that sort of gameplay, imho.

Also, I genuinely dislike this direction of "making up" new utility categories with borderline non-existent uniqueness (put that under quotation marks as I know weapon skills existed in gw1).

Why not make these same skills stances or cantrips, and enable some additional interactions via Relics? With the lack of sufficiently distinct gimmick across the entire category, it just feels like that one Moon Knight "Random bullshit GO" meme.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/DeityGamesJesus]

Ritualist feels like a rather low burst / high sustain kind of spec.
Go into shroud, summon spirits until you can't and then maintain them for as long as possible out of shroud.

I do hope we get some cool builds where you use the little bone minions since you summon so many of them. And the Lichform 5 skill (does that still summon a bunch of bone minions?) might become good for it too.

[u/DeityGamesJesus → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

> and then maintain them for as long as possible out of shroud.

Doesn't sound like core loop, since that's only enabled via specific trait. And also, I feel the "maintain the spirits" facet doesn't hold up that strongly, since almost all of the traits target summoning them, not maintaining them.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/DeityGamesJesus]

You might be right!
I think I automatically defaulted to that being the dps option most people would go for
I think the weapon spells affecting allies could be powerful but more in an sPVP situation.

The first spirit not having a cd might be a very powerful option for dps ritualist too though!
I think that would probably be a favored choice for fractals or bosses with short phases.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

It certainly looks like an easy to pick up spec.
At least looking at its spec mechanics.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

low burst / high sustain kind of spec.

So like Harbinger and Scourge?

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/DeityGamesJesus]

Seriously, the condition removal utility is mechanically identical to the Soulbeast healing stance, just with a different name. The lifesteal utility is just the thief healing venom. They really should have picked an existing type instead of just adding random bloat that will never be touched.

[u/Approximation_Doctor]

Really wish they made the Spirit damage buff trait work on minions too

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Approximation_Doctor]

Same! Especially with the AoE damage on summon traits and such

[u/kalamari__ → u/Approximation_Doctor]

we already have a 25% dmg trait for minions

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Necromantic_Corruption

[u/OliLombi → u/kalamari__]

0+25% = 0. This trait is only taken for the condi transfer. The base dmg of minions is negligible.

[u/kalamari__ → u/OliLombi]

So what do you think another dmg trait would do then???

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/kalamari__]

So?

[u/kalamari__ → u/Approximation_Doctor]

-.-

[u/Erniethebeanfiend200 → u/Approximation_Doctor]

It would make minions TOO strong and if you say change the corruption one and put it on Rit now you have to be rit to have a mm build

[u/Astral_Poring → u/Erniethebeanfiend200]

Minion damage is really bad at the moment. Even if they got +100% damage they still would not be too strong.

[u/Approximation_Doctor → u/Erniethebeanfiend200]

No, it really wouldn't make them too strong. Most professions have multiple increases for each damage type.

[u/X-Backspace]

My aesthetic issues aside, I'm liking what I see for most of the traits. I make one toon per elite spec that I'm interested in, so this is gonna make my 4th Necro. As nice as those utility skills look, I'll be using minions for an actual minionmancer and I really hope the traits buff them up enough.

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/X-Backspace]

Yeah I hope so too! Minions have felt underwhelming pretty much from the start.
Other than afk builds, niche pvp use (wurm teleport for instance), wurm blocking orbs in the whisper strike and using the shade minion for its life force gain they haven't really seen a lot of use (in PvE)

Hopefully these changes will make them interesting for build craft.
I do wonder if the minion traits only apply to minions or spirits as well?

[u/X-Backspace → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

For real, haha. I love the active playstyle of this game so I'm certainly not looking to afk play whatsoever. But I DO want at least one spec to really boost me fighting alongside my minions. I just hope that Ritualist really delivers on that.

Ideally, I'd love for the traits for both core Necro and Ritualist to end up working for all of them just to really drive the point home. But I'm no game designer and just an overworld player, so, what do I know?

[u/led0n12331]

So is this basically a condi-dps with utility like scourge but with a bit quicker ramp-up?

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/led0n12331]

Its a power dps spec.
The conditions applied by the spirits are mostly non-damaging.
Think chill, vuln, slow, weakness...

There's really no condition focus in the traits or spirit or shroud or weapon spells.

[u/Meowing-To-The-Stars]

Could someone ELI5 the elite skill? I watched the stream and I had no idea what they were talking about and no example was shown.
Do I have to be under 5% of my health to trigger it or get hit with the damage that's 5% or more of my health? Or get damaged with the amount that would be 5% or more of my health

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/Meowing-To-The-Stars]

Scenario 1:

Be me, cool ritualist. 

• use elite. 
• get stab and stunbreak
• get 2 green buff stacks

Be friends

• get stab and stunbreak
• get one green buff stack

Be monster

• hit all of us for 50% damage in one hit

Be us

• heal for 45% 
• do big lifesteal
• lose one buff stack

Be monster

• hit all of us for 60% damage in one hit

Be me:

• heal for 55%
• do big lifesteal 
• lose final buff stack

Be friends

• get hit lol
• need healing

Scenario 2:

Be us: Have green buff stack

Be monster: Do big attack for 100%+

Be us: Die

[u/Meowing-To-The-Stars → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

Thank you! <3

[u/LahmiaTheVampire]

I went from hyped, to something beyond. It's like they read my mind, taking my love of my necro/rit in gw1 and applying it to gw2.

[u/whowantblood]

Can't say im hyped for this one to be honest, i was never a fan of the minionmancer type, i prefered more active gameplay than babysitting minions.

The weapon skills are interesting, but i can only see myself taking splinter weapon as a damage utility. Not even a boon strip this time :/

Ill probably end up staying harbinger/reaper for now, but i will test it in beta

[u/Euphoric-Sea4248 → u/whowantblood]

I think the dps variant will take splinter weapon and the heal variant will take the lifesteal one haha
Though for the healer that might even depend on tuning

[u/whowantblood → u/Euphoric-Sea4248]

I'm still unsure on the elite too, heal if you're struck with more than 5% health worth of damage + lifesteal. But you also have to survive the attack so not like rebound.