Hello, Tyrians!
Welcome back to another set of elite specialization reveals for Guild Wars 2®: Visions of Eternity™! If you missed last week's unveiling of the troubadour (mesmer), galeshot (ranger), and luminary (guardian), be sure to check out last week's blog.
Today, the focus shifts toward the thief, necromancer, and warrior. Fans of the original Guild Wars® may be familiar with two of the elite specializations we're talking about today, while the third is full of surprises!
Tune in to our Twitch channel this Friday, August 1, at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) for a live preview of these elite specializations. You'll also be able to play all of the elite specializations yourself during our beta event from August 20 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) until August 27 at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7).
The Antiquary: Improvisational Procurers
The balance of black-market trade and above-board commerce in Lion's Arch has tipped toward legitimacy in recent years, and the Captain's Council has banded together with several smaller factions to claim a place in the Tyrian Alliance. But the discovery of Janthiri artifacts has started a gold rush as explorers hustle to procure rare and valuable items that no living culture can lay claim to.
The somewhat-euphemistically titled antiquaries pride themselves on their scholarly appreciation for the artifacts they acquire. Many even keep a few in their private collections, ready to impress colleagues at the tavern or blindside foes on the battlefield. And whether they're priory historians or pirates, Lion's Arch is still their favored nexus for trading and selling their wares and knowledge.
Skritt Happens
Antiquaries are the pinnacle of accomplished thieves—no longer stealing for material need and purely doing so for the fun of it. With the help of their loyal (but not necessarily reliable) skritt assistants, antiquaries can plunder precious artifacts from their opponents and turn their random spoils into improvised weapons!
Antiquaries can even break the rules of regular combat, allowing them to reverse a dire situation—or, at the very least, take themselves and their opponents out in a blaze of glory. For the thrill-seeking player who delights in rolling the dice and adapting to any situation no matter the outcome, look no further than the antiquary.
Press Your Luck
Antiquaries acquire new artifacts with the skill Pilfer, which replaces Steal, summoning a skritt assistant from underground to plunder from your target. After a successful Pilfer, instead of stolen skills, antiquaries get the choice of using one of two randomly selected artifacts from across Tyria. These artifacts range from a Kryptis turret that fires automatically at any nearby enemies to a chak organ that produces a shield, protecting you from incoming projectiles. Traits give you finer control over the artifacts you receive, from guaranteeing that you'll get one offensive and one defensive artifact each time you Pilfer to rerolling your artifacts for new ones at the cost of initiative.
Double Edge, the antiquary's new skill category, consists of a set of abilities that can be used repeatedly even while on cooldown! The catch? There is a chance for the skill to backfire when used while still cooling down, often with detrimental effects to the user. The chance of the skill backfiring decreases the closer it gets to completing its cooldown, so players who are more risk averse may want to wait a little while before attempting to use a Double Edge skill again.
The Ritualist: Spiritual Successors
Ritualism is one of Tyria's oldest professions. The practice originated in Cantha, where humans discovered that spirits could be summoned from the Mists and bound to a ritualist's will. In practice, this was traditionally a respectful partnership between ritualists and ancestral spirits—but as the Speakers' influence spread in recent years, so did their hastily adopted methods of forcibly binding spirits.
Necromancy and ritualism have long been considered separate disciplines, but as open hostility between the Speakers and Jade Brotherhood cools and Cantha becomes one of the Tyrian Alliance's strongest pillars, ritualists have formed ties with necromantic communities across Central Tyria, Elona, and beyond. Ritualism will gain new practitioners; networks of political support and shared resources will ensure that responsible traditions are favored over cruel shortcuts to power.
Preserving a Legacy
As you might expect, the ritualist draws heavy inspiration from its Guild Wars counterpart. We'll go into more detail during this Friday's livestream, but our design goal was to capture the key elements of the profession and translate them into Guild Wars 2®. And to achieve that, we started with spirits. Depending on their skill and trait selections, we expect ritualists will be able to specialize into supportive builds or aggressive power-focused builds.
Spirits will be summoned while in ritualist shroud, and the ritualist will also gain access to weapon spells as their utility type. For those who aren't familiar with weapon spells from Guild Wars, they're shareable, beneficial effects with similarities to stances and venoms. Some are applied for a specific duration, and others are applied as stacks.
While weapon spells were ally-targeted skills in Guild Wars, in Guild Wars 2 they behave a bit differently. The ritualist will always receive the full effect of the skill, while up to four nearby allies will receive the effect at a reduced amount. For example, one skill may last for five seconds on the ritualist and three seconds on their allies.
Anguish, Wanderlust, and Preservation
The ritualist's shroud behaves similarly to the necromancer's: it's fueled by life force, and damage taken drains the life-force pool. Once life force is fully drained, the player will exit their shroud.
Inside the ritualist shroud, ritualists will have access to three skills that summon spirits: Anguish, Wanderlust, and Preservation. Each of these skills has an initial effect activated by the ritualist, after which the spirit will appear. When a spirit is summoned, it performs a powerful attack before lingering in a more passive state. During that time, the spirit will periodically attack nearby enemies. These attacks can be focused on a specific enemy by targeting that enemy with the shroud's basic attack; otherwise, the spirits will simply attack an enemy that is in range. Spirits will usually disappear when exiting shroud; however, there is a trait that allows them to stick around longer for a cost.
For example, when activating Anguish, the ritualist performs an initial strike on the target that inflicts cripple and vulnerability and marks that target to take additional damage from your summoned creatures (yes, that includes minions). When Anguish is summoned, it fires a barrage of projectiles at the target that deal additional damage against controlled enemies and for each condition on the enemy.
There's a lot more to cover about the ritualist shroud, as well as some other trait interactions and the weapon spell utilities, so be sure to tune into the stream on Friday.
The Paragon: Unrelenting Protectors
Elona, Land of the Golden Sun. A once opulent dynasty and triune of nations scarred by war, pestilence, and the machinations of divines and dragons over the centuries. In times of crisis, the nations of Elona could count on its most steadfast and inspiring of warriors, the paragons, to serve as an unyielding phalanx against their foes without and within.
In the past, these spear- and shield-wielding fighters were a favored specialization among the storied Sunspears. However, the practice faded into obscurity after the second coming of Palawa Joko, who saw the Sunspears summarily crushed and twisted into the Mordant Crescent. The inheritors of the practice eventually reemerged in the years following Joko's demise.
Today, paragons are still known for conjuring golden ethereal wings and shouting bolstering chants and commands to empower their allies and demoralize their enemies. Hoping to expand this tradition beyond Elona, some Sunspear paragons have begun offering their expertise to those willing to answer the call.
Commanding Respect
The paragon is a staple pillar of Guild Wars 2 lore, and its elite specialization carries on the traditions of its original iteration. While the spears that were introduced in Guild Wars 2: Janthir Wilds™ have already brought one of the paragon's key aspects to warriors, this elite specialization further delves into their role as commanders and defenders of Elona, granting them the ability to bolster and aid allies around them with chants and commands.
Their presence is so powerful they can, in a moment of dire need, command their allies not to die! The "We Will Never Yield!" elite skill prevents the paragon and their allies from falling below zero health for a short time.
Motivational Chanting
Paragons build up motivation, a new resource, whenever they use a burst skill. In addition to level 1 weapon bursts, paragons gain access to chants—special burst skills that are available regardless of the weapon equipped. Chant skills come in two parts; the first part occurs immediately when the skill is used, while the second part, the refrain, is a pulsing beneficial effect.
Refrains drain motivation and deactivate when it is depleted. In addition, the effects of the refrain become stronger depending on the current motivation level; thus, they are at their most effective when the paragon stays on the front lines of battle, channeling adrenaline into bursts and chants to keep motivation high.
Paragons also gain access to commands, which function similarly to shouts, affecting either enemies or allies around them. Furthermore, command skills come with an additional property called an echo. Echo is a secondary effect that triggers a short interval after a command is used, granting additional bonuses. However, echoes can also be triggered early by using a burst skill, allowing skilled paragons to strategically time their echo effects to turn the tide of battle.
Livestream This Friday
Six elite specializations have now been revealed, and we'll be back next week to discuss the final three! Tune into our Twitch channel this Friday, August 1, at 12:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-7) for more details on the ritualist, antiquary, and paragon!
For more information about Guild Wars 2: Visions of Eternity, head over to our official site.