Game updates/2017-08-08

August 8, 2017

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Update 2 - August 8, 2017

Bug Fix

• Fixed a bug that was granting incorrect map-completion rewards.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 80,679

Update - August 8, 2017

World Polish

General

• Current Events achievements from Living World Season 3 have been grouped into new categories under the Side Stories achievement group.
• All Season 3 Current Events achievements have been unhidden, with the exception of those that cannot be progressed without specific Living Story chapters or expansions.
• Meta-achievements have been added for two of the new Side Stories categories, including an achievement for beginning each new meta's story.
• A Central Tyria Mastery Point has been added to the existing rewards for the Transfer Chaser meta-achievement.
• With her journey concluded for now, Seis Burntheart has returned to her original location in Frostgorge Sound, where she will direct adventurers hoping to follow in her footsteps.
• Event scaling on the Ley-Energy Coalescence events has been rebalanced.
• The Bloodstone-Crazed Arctodus, Bloodstone-Crazed Devourer, and Bloodstone-Crazed Moa have gained additional Power.
• Anomaly fragment enemies during the Ley-Line Anomaly events are now easier to stun when Counter Magic is used against them.
• Bandit leaders across Kryta have found their health further reduced as their supply lines remain in disarray.
• Responding to local demand for pet-care supplies, a new vendor has set up shop in Rata Sum to provide shoppers with fun and safe toys to entertain their cats. Further responding to local demand to "get these infuriating felines out of my lab," harmless and scientific equipment for shooing cats away is also provided.
• Text has been standardized on food and utility tooltips.
• Added two new options to the Sound Options panel that will allow you to determine how items with unique sound effects play back on your game client. The four options are listed below and can be independently specified for both your items and other players' items:
  • All: All unique item sound effects will play back without restrictions (as they have traditionally).
  • Limited: Unique item sounds will have a chance to play but will usually fall back to default sound effects.
  • Mute Projectiles Only: Unique item sounds originating from projectile attacks (such as Quip and the Dreamer) will be muted, and all others will play normally.
  • Off: Unique item sound effects will be completely disabled, and default sound effects will play in their place.
• Fixed some issues in which only the left modifier keys (Shift, Alt, Control, etc.) were considered for various UI interactions.

Fractals

Shattered Observatory

• Fixed a bug in which green circles would not display properly for the final boss.
• Fixed the attack timing for the final boss's Solar Blast.
• Aegis will no longer block the first beam attack in the final boss fight.
• Fixed a bug that could cause the platforms to sometimes not disappear in the final boss fight.
• Solar Blooms have had their aggro range increased so that they will always follow their target.
• Solar Blooms will now bounce off the edges of the final boss platform instead of getting stuck.
• Solar Blooms' attack telegraph time has been increased by 0.25 seconds.
• For lower tiers, various mechanics for the final boss have had their damage toned down so that the difficulty curve is more similar to other bosses.
• The Skorvald and Viirastra bosses now provide a daily reward chest.
• Increased the size of the hit box of the final boss.

General

• Fixed a bug in which players might create a new fractal instance instead of joining their existing party when using the Lion's Arch or Mistlock Sanctuary fractal portals.
• Fixed a bug in which celestial infusion effects displayed the wrong color on charr.

Items

• Giver's weapons now provide Expertise instead of Condition Duration.
• Giver's armor now provides Concentration instead of Boon Duration.
• Doubloons now provide Concentration instead of Boon Duration.
• Snowflake upgrades now provide Concentration instead of Boon Duration.
• Food consumables that provided Boon Duration or Condition Duration now provide Concentration or Expertise instead.
• Food consumables that provided stat conversion have had that bonus replaced with a flat amount of stats:
  • Foods that converted Toughness into Vitality now grant level-appropriate amounts of Vitality.
  • Foods that converted Toughness and Vitality into Healing Power now grant level-appropriate amounts of Healing Power (primary) and Toughness (secondary).
  • Bowl of Chocolate Tapioca Pudding now grants +100 Toughness instead of converting Healing Power into Toughness.
  • Bowl of Passion Fruit Tapioca Pudding now grants +100 Power instead of converting Healing Power into Power.
  • Bowl of Prickly Pear Tapioca Pudding now grants +100 Condition Damage instead of converting Healing Power into Condition Damage.
• Utility consumables have been overhauled and now all provide stat conversion. More details can be found on the forums: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Upcoming-Stat-Changes-in-the-Q3-Balance-Update/6667249
  • Sharpening Stones all provide at least one bonus to Power.
  • Maintenance Oils now provide bonuses to Concentration or Healing.
  • Tuning Crystals all provide at least one bonus to Condition Damage.
• Furious, Toxic, Bountiful, and Magnanimous utility consumable recipes have had their ingredients adjusted to reduce their crafting costs.
  • When ascended materials are ingredients, Sharpening Stones will now always require Dragonite Ore, Maintenance Oils will require Bloodstone Dust, and Focusing Crystals will require Empyreal Fragments.
• Runes of Balthazar: Fixed a bug that would not allow this rune's sixth piece to fire while underwater or in air.

Profession Skills

With Path of Fire™ on the horizon, we'll soon be adding nine new elite specializations with nine new trait lines to the game. Along with these new additions, we are also taking some time to do a pass on the older trait lines in order to update them for the current state of the game. There has been a general pass on wording for traits to better clarify what they do, as well as several functionality changes across all core profession traits and some Heart of Thorns™ elite specialization traits. These changes are aimed at improving the synergy of these old traits with the lines they live in as well as across other lines.

General

• Ammunition System: The ammunition (ammo) system has been added to the game. Several skills across multiple professions now use ammo for their skills. Ammo skills have a stock (count) of uses that can regenerate over time. Each ammo skill has a short recharge between uses that varies per skill. New skill facts for ammo count and Count Recharge have been added. Count Recharge and recharge between uses are affected by recharge-reduction skills and traits.
• Light Aura: This skill no longer applies a single stack of vulnerability to someone striking you. It now reduces incoming Condition Damage by 10% in addition to granting retaliation when struck.
• Area Weakness: Fixed a bug in which executing a blast finisher in a poison combo field would sometimes mistakenly apply 3 seconds of weakness instead of the intended 5 seconds.
• A new icon for the Explosion skill fact has been added.
• A new icon for the Pierces skill fact has been added.
• Key words relating to profession mechanics and skill types have been standardized and highlighted across all professions.
•  Charrzooka: This skill is now equipped for a 15-second duration instead of expiring after using a set number of attacks.
•  Become the Raven:
  •  Swoop: The distance this skill travels is no longer affected by movement-speed modifiers.
•  Become the Wolf:
  •  Leap: The distance this skill travels is no longer affected by movement-speed modifiers.
•  Become the Snow Leopard:
  •  Pounce: The distance this skill travels is no longer affected by movement-speed modifiers.

Elementalist

In this balance update, the elementalist is seeing some cleanup of a few elemental minions and a change in the way their Conjure utility skills behave. We've reworked different aspects of these weapons and removed the prohibitive charge system with the intention of promoting holding on to the weapons and using all of their skills. Several traits have seen augmentations, with Arcane Resurrection now allowing Geyser (in all of its formats) to revive downed allies instead of applying a flat revive percentage. And finally, we're looking to normalize damage for the elementalist so that it is not effectively the best-in-slot for damage, support, and survivability in all scenarios. To this end, we are modifying the functionality for a few skills that unintentionally overperform against large hit-box targets, in addition to a select few damage reductions.

Profession

•  Overload Fire: The physical damage has been reduced by 10% in PvE only.
•  Overload Air: The total number of attacks has been reduced from 17 to 14.

Weapon Skills:

•  Lightning Surge: The cast time has been reduced by 0.4 seconds.
•  Geyser: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and will now use the higher-value Healing Power multiplier in all game modes. Base healing value has been reduced by 33%. Number of pulses has been increased from 3 to 5.
•  Phoenix: Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to hit more frequently than intended.
•  Wildfire: This skill can now only damage an enemy once per second. Burning duration has been increased from 2 seconds to 2.5 seconds.
•  Burning Speed: This skill can now only damage an enemy once per second. Fire-wall damage has been increased by 100%, and burning duration has been increased from 1.5 seconds to 2 seconds per tick.
•  Burning Retreat: This skill can now only damage an enemy once per second. Damage has been increased by 100%, and burning duration has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds per tick.
•  Flamewall: The damage of this skill has been increased by 100%.

Utility Skills

• Greater Air Elemental:
  •  Shocking Bolt: Recharge has been reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Air Elemental:
  • Lightning Strikes: This skill now fires projectiles directly at the target rather than in an area around the target.
• Water Elemental:
  •  Frozen Ground: The cast time has been reduced by 1 second. Chill duration has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
  •  Crashing Waves: The cast time of the initial portion of this skill has been reduced by 1.6 seconds. The number of targets knocked back has been increased from 1 to 3. The healing attribute multiplier has been increased by 300%.
• Fire Elemental:
  •  Flame Barrage: Burning duration has been increased from 1 second to 3 seconds per missile hit. Recharge has been reduced from 15 seconds to 10 seconds.
•  Arcane Blast: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 3, with a 20-second count recharge. There is a 1-second recharge between each use.
•  Arcane Wave: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 2, with a 30-second count recharge. There is a 2-second recharge between each use.
• Conjure Weapons: Conjured weapons no longer expire after a set number of skill activations but instead last for a flat duration of 30 seconds.
• Conjure Lightning Hammer:
  •  Lightning Leap: This skill now grants 3 seconds of quickness if it hits. The cooldown of this skill has been increased from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.
  •  Wind Blast: This skill now grants 3 seconds of superspeed if it hits.
  •  Lightning Storm: This skill has been partially reworked. Lightning bolts will occur over a longer duration, with 50% of the bolts guaranteed to attack a target within the radius. The final attack delivered by the storm guarantees attacks on up to five targets. The number of attacks has been increased from 10 to 12.
• Conjure Frost Bow:
  •  Water Arrow: This skill now grants a stacking enhancement to the user when striking a target. This enhancement increases outgoing healing by 10% per stack and stacks up to two times. In addition, stacks of Water Arrow modify other Conjure Frost Bow skills in different ways. Base healing has been increased by 10%. The aftercast has been slightly reduced.
  •  Frost Volley: This skill now gains 10% bonus damage per stack of Water Arrow. Cast time has been reduced by approximately 0.5 seconds. The recharge has been increased from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
  •  Frost Fan: This skill now fires one additional projectile per stack of Water Arrow.
  •  Ice Storm: This skill now fires one additional attack per stack of Water Arrow.
  •  Deep Freeze: This skill now freezes for 0.5 additional seconds per stack of Water Arrow.
• Conjure Flame Axe: This conjure weapon now enhances the autoattack by unlocking Double Lava Axe when any other skill on the conjure weapon is used.
  •  Double Lava Axe: Throw two lava axes in quick succession.
  •  Burning Retreat: This skill can now only damage an enemy once per second. The damage of this skill has been increased by 100%. Burning duration has been increased from 1 second to 2 seconds. Fixed a bug that caused this skill to not apply burning in some situations.
• Conjure Fiery Greatsword: Wielding this weapon while in combat will now create Fiery Eruptions on random enemies within a range of 600 every 3 seconds.
  •  Fiery Rush: This skill is now able to hit an enemy only once per second. The damage of the wall portion has been increased by 100%.
•  "Feel the Burn!": Fixed a bug that caused this skill to hit more than 5 targets.

Traits

•  Powerful Aura: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from correctly sharing light aura.
•  Arcane Resurrection: This trait no longer grants an increased revive rate but instead changes the functionality of the Geyser skill, causing it to revive allies in its radius by 7% per tick in addition to healing. This trait now casts Geyser on the elementalist when they begin reviving an ally.
•  Elemental Enchantment: This trait no longer grants boon duration; it now grants up to 180 Concentration at level 80.
•  Conjurer: This trait no longer increases charge count for conjured weapons but instead reduces the recharge for conjured weapon skills that the elementalist uses. Fire-aura functionality remains the same.
•  Arcane Restoration: In addition to its previous effects, this trait now heals you a small amount whenever you swap attunements.
•  Transcendent Tempest: This trait no longer grants boon duration; it now grants Concentration.
•  Harmonious Conduit: Bonus damage enhancement duration has been reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds.
•  Smothering Auras: Elementalist skills that grant fire aura have been updated to indicate the correct duration when this trait is equipped.

Engineer

In this update, we're making major changes to the Explosives and Tools trait lines as well as some changes to the Gadget skill type. Explosions traits have been reorganized and reworked to better support a larger variety of builds. While we expect any build that takes the Explosives line to have at least some explosive skills, the line was disproportionately weighted to favor bombs and grenades to the exclusion of other Power-damage options. We want this line to have a few viable options for builds that don't go all-in on these kits while still having an explosive theme where appropriate. The traits Siege Rounds, Thermobaric Detonation, and Explosive Powder have been removed, and the Shaped Charge trait has been moved to the Grandmaster minor slot due to its passive functionality. Several new traits have been added to replace the lost traits, and some adjustments have been made to enhancement skills that suffered a loss of effectiveness due to the removal of these traits. The Tools line was suffering from poor options at its Grandmaster tier, so we've reworked Kinetic Battery and Gadgeteer to smooth out their gameplay patterns.

Utility Skills

• Weapon Kits and Device Kits are now referred to as Engineering kits to reflect that their classifications are functionally the same.
• Removed the delay on gyro skills before they can be detonated.
• Turret Detonate Skills: Fixed a bug that caused these skills to count as toolbelt skills for the purposes of traits.
•  Toss Elixir X: Fixed incorrect duration skill facts when this skill is traited with HGH.
•  Personal Battering Ram: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 2, with a 25-second count recharge. There is a 5-second recharge between each use.
•  Rocket Boots: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 2, with a 20-second count recharge. There is a 2-second recharge between each use.
•  A.E.D.: This skill now removes confusion in addition to its previous removals.
•  Throw Mine: Added a missing skill fact for the number of boons removed.
•  Elite Mortar Kit: Fixed a bug that caused the effects for these skills to play incorrectly on WvW walls and doors.
  •  Poison Gas Shell: Increased poison duration from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds. Increased field duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
  •  Endothermic Shell: Increased field duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
  •  Flash Shell: Increased field duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.
  •  Elixir Shell: Increased field duration from 4 seconds to 5 seconds.

Traits

•  Explosive Descent: This trait has been removed and its functionality merged with Grenadier. It has been replaced with Blasting Zone. Fixed an incorrect number of grenades in the skill fact.
•  Grenadier: This trait now reduces falling damage by 50% and causes you to drop grenades when taking falling damage, in addition to its previous functionality.
•  Blasting Zone: This trait replaces Explosive Descent, grants +120 Power at level 80, and causes your blast finishers to grant 1 stack of might for 20 seconds.
•  Alchemical Tinctures: This trait no longer grants boon duration; it now grants up to 240 Concentration at level 80.
•  Explosive Powder: This trait has been removed from the game. It has been replaced by Shaped Charge. Some explosion skills have had their damage increased to compensate.
  •  Throw Mine: Increased damage by 20%.
  •  Booby Trap: Increased damage by 10%.
  •  Rocket Turret Overcharge: Increased damage by 10%.
  •  Shrapnel Grenade: Increased damage by 14%.
  •  Big Ol' Bomb: Increased damage by 10%.
  •  Fire Bomb: Increased damage by 14%.
  •  Grenade Barrage: Increased damage by 20%.
  •  Bunker Down: Increased damage by 10%.
•  Shaped Charge: This trait has been moved to the Grandmaster minor slot. It has been replaced with Big Boomer.
•  Evasive Powder Keg: Removed internal cooldown.
•  Big Boomer: This trait replaces the slot left open by Shaped Charge. It converts 5% of Power to Vitality and 5% of Power to Ferocity.
•  Thermobaric Detonation: This trait has been removed. It has been replaced with Minesweeper.
•  Minesweeper: This trait upgrades Evasive Powder Keg to drop a series of mines along the dodge path instead of a single bomb.
•  Siege Rounds: This trait has been removed. It has been replaced with Orbital Command. The duration of fields created by Mortar Kit skills has been increased to compensate.
•  Orbital Command: This trait invokes an orbital strike when striking a foe below 50% health and has a 15-second recharge.
•  Reactive Lenses: This now uses the traited version of Utility Goggles when Gadgeteer is equipped.
•  Lock On: Added functionality. This trait will now also analyze foes that you disable. Disable analyze and stealth analyze are two separate skills with individual recharges.
•  Excessive Energy: This trait now grants its bonus damage when you are not at full endurance.
•  Kinetic Battery: This trait has been reworked. It now generates kinetic charges whenever a toolbelt skill is used. At 5 charges, gain quickness and superspeed for 5 seconds. Charges can only be generated while in combat but do not expire until 5 stacks is reached or the trait is unequipped.
•  Gadgeteer: This trait has been reworked. It no longer requires static charges and always enhances your gadgets as long as it is equipped. Gadget recharge bonus has been reduced to 20%. Fixed a bug that prevented enhanced skills from displaying their bonuses properly in the trait preview. Specific gadget enhancements have been adjusted as follows:
  •  A.E.D.: When fatal damage is prevented, this skill now grants shocking aura in addition to its previous effects.
  •  Throw Mine: Increased radius has been removed. This now causes you to drop a second mine at your location when cast.
  •  Utility Goggles: Increased might gain from 3 stacks to 5 stacks.
  •  Slick Shoes: This skill now inflicts cripple when it knocks down foes, in addition to its previous effects.
  •  Rocket Boots: This skill now grants superspeed after landing, in addition to its previous effects.
  •  Personal Battering Ram: This skill is now considered an explosion and inflicts burning, in addition to its previous effects.
•  Pinpoint Distribution: Fixed an incorrect skill fact that listed this trait as providing Precision instead of Condition Damage.

Guardian

The addition of the ammo system also allows us to rework some old skill types. In this case, something we've long wanted to do—Spirit Weapons. These skills now immediately summon a weapon that performs a single, powerful skill and then vanishes. We also revisited some of the older skills and traits that have gone largely untouched in recent years to update them on the back end and smooth out some of their functionality. One example of this is Zealot's Flame, which felt somewhat random in its burn application, so we've smoothed out the burning around you to pulse every second. In this update, we've also seized the opportunity to review a couple of trait lines, adjusting and reworking the Zeal and Radiance specializations.

Weapon Skills

•  Zealot's Flame: Reduced burning duration from 6 seconds to 3 seconds. Rather than burning once every 3 seconds after the initial cast, it now burns every second as long as the enhancement persists. Fixed a bug that could prevent the application of burning to nearby enemies after the initial cast.
•  Faithful Strike: The Healing Power contribution for this skill has been unsplit from PvP and will use the 100% increase in all game types.
•  Zealot's Defense: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to continue blocking even if the skill was canceled.
•  Wave of Wrath: Reduced the range from 600 to 300. Increased the attack angle from 90 degrees to 110 degrees to better line up with its effect.
•  Holy Strike: Reduced the extended recharge time of this skill when detonating the orb of light from 400% to 300%. Detonating the orb of light now grants light aura to allies, in addition to its previous effects. This skill has been unsplit from PvP and will use the 20% higher heal scaling in all game types.
•  Empower: This skill now grants healing per pulse in addition to might. It will now heal for 17% of the previous healing value for 3 ticks and then 50% at the skill's end.
•  Line of Warding: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and how has a 30-second recharge in all game modes.

Utility Skills

• Spirit Weapons: Spirit weapons have been reworked. They now use the ammo system.
  •  Hammer of Wisdom: This now has an ammo count of 2, and using the skill orders the hammer to knock down your foe. Count recharge is 30 seconds.
  •  Bow of Truth: This now has an ammo count of 2, and using the skill barrages an area with healing arrows. Count recharge is 30 seconds.
  •  Shield of the Avenger: This now has an ammo count of 3, and using the skill creates a protective dome and flings projectiles at nearby enemies. Count recharge is 25 seconds.
  •  Sword of Justice: This now has an ammo count of 3, and using the skill targets an area for the sword to repeatedly attack. Count recharge is 25 seconds.
•  Bane Signet: Fixed a bug with this skill when attempting to use it on a target behind you.
•  Hold the Line!: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and will use the increased 6-second duration in all game types.
•  Fragments of Faith: The detonation effect of this trap is no longer unblockable.

Traits

•  Justice Is Blind: This trait now grants you light aura when you activate Virtue of Justice, in addition to its previous effects.
•  Radiant Fire: Fixed a bug with this trait in which it would fail to apply burning to nearby enemies when triggered.
•  Retribution: This trait now grants Ferocity while you have retaliation, in addition to its previous effect.
•  Zealous Scepter: This trait now also grants 1 stack of might for 10 seconds if you are using a nonscepter weapon when it triggers.
•  Expeditious Spirits: This trait has been reworked and renamed Eternal Armory. Eternal Armory increases the maximum ammo count of Spirit Weapon skills while reducing their recharge and causes strikes from Spirit Weapons to inflict burning.
•  Symbolic Avenger: This trait now converts 13% of your Toughness into Power, in addition to its previous effect.
•  Radiant Retaliation: This trait has been reworked and renamed Righteous Instincts. Righteous Instincts increases your chance to critically strike and grants 1 stack of might for 6 seconds every second while you have retaliation.
•  Symbolic Exposure: Increased the stacks of vulnerability inflicted by this trait from 1 stack to 3 stacks and the vulnerability duration from 3 seconds to 5 seconds.
•  Invigorated Bulwark: This trait has been reworked. It now grants increased outgoing healing percentage when you block and no longer requires you to wield a mace. This trait also reduces the recharge of mace skills and increases the duration of boons granted by mace skills.
•  Perfect Inscriptions: This no longer grants light aura but instead shares the passive effects of the activated signets with your allies.
•  Honorable Staff: This trait now grants up to 200 Concentration at level 80, regardless of weapon wielded. Removed increased boon duration while wielding a staff.
•  Protector's Restoration: This trait now casts Lesser Symbol of Protection when you use your healing skill in addition to when you take falling damage, and it has a recharge of 20 seconds. Fixed a bug that caused the falling damage reduction to not function while Lesser Symbol of Protection was recharging.
•  Healer's Resolution: Fixed a bug that was preventing this trait from granting retaliation when using Purification.

Mesmer

In addition to being integrated into the new ammo system, mesmer mantras are seeing a comprehensive overhaul. When we took a look at the traits available to mantras, we found that harmonious mantras and restorative mantras had conflicting purposes. Restorative mantras are most effective when you are restocking your mantra charges, but harmonious mantras made it harder to do this. With new mantras in the upcoming firebrand specialization, we wanted to make sure that mesmer mantras had gameplay that was unique to them. Our decision was to focus mesmer mantras on combat casting, which meant removing harmonious mantras and adding additional bonuses to mesmer mantras when they are fully restocked. The removal of harmonious mantras also allowed us to make the active effects stronger since we no longer had to worry about the balance skewing that adding a third cast would create. Removing harmonious mantras also gave us space to build a new Dueling Grandmaster trait that favors Precision builds.

Profession

•  Cry of Frustration: Fixed the vigor skill fact that appears when Bountiful Disillusionment is present so that the correct 8-second vigor duration is indicated.
•  Illusionary Warlock: Fixed a bug that caused this phantasm's attack to not increase in damage against foes with certain conditions.
•  Illusionary Berserker: The attack from this phantasm now has a consistent move distance and is unaffected by enhancements that change movement speed.
•  Continuum Split: Fixed a bug that could cause this skill to go on a longer-than-expected recharge when traited with Master of Misdirection.

Weapon Skills

•  Phantasmal Berserker: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to not display legendary-weapon projectile effects.
•  Spatial Surge: Slightly increased its beam width.
•  Blurred Frenzy: This skill now goes on full cooldown if it is canceled.
•  The Prestige: This skill now removes 1 condition when activated.

Utility Skills

•  Signet of the Ether: Increased the healing rate to once per second instead of once per 3 seconds. The healing per pulse has been reduced to preserve approximate healing per second.
• Mantras: Mantra skills will no longer display their number of charges in the enhancement bar and will instead use the ammo system. Reduced cast time by 0.5 seconds. Mantras no longer grant bonus Toughness while channeling. Ammo count has been set to 2. Recharges between casts have not changed.
  •  Mantra of Recovery: When fully charged, this skill now heals for a small amount.
  •  Power Return: Count recharge has been set to 20 seconds. Lowered base healing by approximately 33%. Heal amount is increased while below 50% health.
  •  Mantra of Concentration: Reduced recharge to 15 seconds. Count recharge has been set to 30 seconds. When fully charged, grants a stack of stability and aegis for 5 seconds.
  •  Power Break: Removed unnecessary range skill fact. Cleaned up ambiguous language about stun breaks.
  •  Mantra of Distraction: When fully charged, this skill reduces the recharge of Diversion by 15 seconds.
  •  Power Lock: Count recharge has been set to 24 seconds. Updated skill description to reflect that this skill hits multiple targets.
  •  Mantra of Pain: When fully charged, gain 8 stacks of might for 5 seconds.
  •  Power Spike: Count recharge has been set to 10 seconds. Inflicts 5 stacks of vulnerability for 8 seconds on foes not using skills. Updated the skill description to reflect that this skill his multiple targets.
  •  Mantra of Resolve: Reduced recharge to 12 seconds. When fully charged, gain resistance for 2 seconds.
  •  Power Cleanse: Count recharge has been set to 24 seconds. Increased the number of conditions removed from 2 to 3. Added an effect to indicate skill area.
•  Arcane Thievery: This skill has been unsplit and now has a 25-second recharge in all game modes.
•  Signet of Midnight: The signet's active effect now grants stealth for 2 seconds but no longer applies vulnerability or cripple. The recharge has been increased from 25 seconds to 30 seconds.

Traits

•  Harmonious Mantras: This trait has been removed from the game.
•  Superiority Complex: This trait replaces Harmonious Mantras and increases critical-hit damage by 15%. This bonus is further increased to 25% against foes below 50% health or foes who become disabled by stun, daze, taunt, fear, knockdown, etc.
•  Mistrust: This trait has been removed from the game.
•  Ineptitude: This trait has been moved to the Grandmaster trait line in Dueling, to the slot previously taken by Mistrust, and its effects have changed. This trait now causes interrupts to inflict blind for 5 seconds, and applies blind to inflict 2 stacks of confusion for 5 seconds.
•  Phantasmal Force: This trait replaces the slot left open by Ineptitude and has the following effect: Phantasms gain a 1% damage boost whenever might is applied to them, and a 4% damage boost whenever they attack (maximum bonus 25%). This bonus damage lasts until the phantasm is destroyed.
•  Restorative Mantras: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to show incorrect values based on the player's Healing-Power multiplier. Lowered base multiplier by 37%. Increased Healing-Power multiplier by 25%.
•  Persistence of Memory: This trait has been reworked. It now causes shattered phantasms to transfer their boons to the mesmer.
•  The Pledge: This trait now grants a flat 20% recharge reduction but no longer causes torch skills to remove conditions. Instead, it causes torch skills to apply an additional stack of burning. (Does not affect phantasm attacks.)
•  Mender's Purity: This trait now casts Lesser Power Cleanse, which removes 1 condition from you and nearby allies. Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to put Mantra of Resolve on recharge. This trait now shows an effect to indicate its radius.
•  Chaotic Potency: This trait now grants a flat 20% recharge reduction to staff and trident skills instead of scaling the recharge reduction with Chaos Armor. Fixed a bug that caused this trait to grant an unlisted 50 Toughness while wielding a staff or trident.
•  Method of Madness: The skill fired by this trait has been renamed to Lesser Chaos Storm. This trait now casts Lesser Chaos Storm when you use your healing skill in addition to when you take falling damage.

Necromancer

One of the biggest changes for necromancers in this patch is the change to the Vital Persistence trait. Previously, this trait reduced the rate at which life force decayed while in shroud and was too powerful compared to the other two traits in the same tier. We've changed the functionality of this trait in order to provide a different option that is easier to track and is more competitive with other traits in the same tier. The Lich Form elite skill has also received a significant update and had most of its functionality overhauled to better position it as a power-based option that can complement Plaguelands. One other major change was to the Signets of Suffering trait in the Spite line, which previously was competing with Spiteful Spirit as a boon-corruption option. We've reworked this trait to more directly benefit signet skills and increase the boon-corruption power of Spiteful Spirit a bit for players who want that functionality.

Profession

•  Infusing Terror: Updated the description of this skill to clarify the damage-reduction component.

Weapon Skills

•  Life Siphon: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now uses the higher healing value in all game modes. Fixed a bug that caused this skill to go on higher (normal) recharge when interrupted while Quickening Thirst is equipped.
•  Dark Pact: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now uses the higher damage value in all game modes.

Utility Skills

•  Spectral Walk: Removed one of the unique enhancements from visibility because it had no function. Increased duration from 8 seconds to 10 seconds.
•  Spectral Armor: Increased duration from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.
•  Spectral Ring: Increased duration from 5 seconds to 6 seconds.
•  Spectral Grasp: This skill now fires at the necromancer's original target and up to 4 other enemies within a 1,200 range. Increased the recharge from 20 seconds to 50 seconds. This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now functions the same in all game modes.
•  Lich Form: This skill has had a functionality rework for many of its skills. Its active duration has been increased from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.
  •  Marked for Death: This skill has been renamed to  Lich's Gaze. The functionality of this skill has been reworked and will now fire a bolt of dark energy at a random, nearby enemy that cripples for 2 seconds and applies vulnerability for 10 seconds. This skill uses the new ammo system, with an ammo count of 5 and a count recharge of 1.5 seconds. There is a 0.1-second recharge between each use.
  •  Chilling Wind: This skill has been renamed to  Ripple of Horror. The lich will now fire a wave of terrible power that fears enemies struck by it for 2 seconds. Grants access to March of Undeath while the wave is active.
    •  March of Undeath: Shadowstep to your Ripple of Horror, destroying it.
  •  Mark of Horror: This skill has been renamed to  Summon Madness. This skill no longer requires a ground target. Upon casting, minions will spawn every second for the next 8 seconds. Minions spawned have been changed from Jagged Horrors to a new Unstable Horror. Unstable Horrors have a low health pool and will explode after 6 seconds if they are not killed, dealing damage in a 180 radius around them.
  •  Grim Specter: This skill has been reworked to no longer clear conditions from allies or boons from enemies. This skill now tethers up to 5 nearby enemies, drawing Vitality to the lich. The lich gains up to 30 Vitality per stack for 20 seconds, life-stealing each pulse. Enemy players struck by this skill have their Vitality reduced by an equivalent amount for the same duration.
•  Shadow Fiend: Increased damage of basic attack by 50%. Increased damage of Haunt skill by 33%, and fixed an incorrect skill description. Haunt now applies chilled for 3 seconds and weakness for 5 seconds, in addition to blind.
•  Plague Signet: Updated skill facts to clarify that this skill's passive effect transfers 1 condition every 3 seconds from allies to yourself.
•  Signet of Spite: When activated, this skill now inflicts 2 stacks of torment for 6 seconds, in addition to its previous active effects.

Traits

•  Soul Eater: This trait has had its functionality changed. It now reduces the recharge of greatsword skills by 20%. Additionally, it grants healing and life force every second while in combat and wielding a greatsword
•  Spectral Mastery: Duration increase has been reduced from 50% to 20%.
•  Spiteful Spirit: Fixed a bug that caused this trait to be nonfunctional while underwater. Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from granting retaliation. Fixed a bug that caused this trait to fail to display the number of boons converted. Increased the number of boons converted from 1 to 2.
•  Chill of Death: The skill fired by this trait has been renamed to Lesser Spinal Shivers.
•  Insidious Disruption: This trait now also inflicts 1 stack of torment for 3 seconds on foes you fear, in addition to its previous functionality. The skill activated when taking falling damage has been named Lesser Terrify.
•  Spiteful Renewal: This trait now triggers when you use a healing skill instead of when striking a low-health foe.
•  Signets of Suffering: This trait has been reworked to have the following functionality: Signets have a 20% reduced recharge and their passive abilities are improved. Signet passive effects are preserved while in a shroud.
  •  Signet of Vampirism: Healing when struck has been increased by approximately 50%.
  •  Plague Signet: The number of conditions drawn per interval has been increased from 1 to 2.
  •  Signet of Spite: Increased Power to 270 at level 80.
  •  Signet of the Locust: Grants an additional 180 Healing Power at level 80.
  •  Signet of Undeath: Life-force gain per interval has been increased from 2% to 3%.
•  Ritual of Life: This trait no longer improves revive speed. The skill cast by this trait has been renamed Lesser Well of Blood. This trait now causes Well of Blood and Lesser Well of Blood to revive allies by 7% each pulse.
•  Life from Death: Increased the revive amount to 10%. Increased healing by 25%.
•  Vampiric Rituals: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now provides 5 seconds of protection in all game modes. Increased life-stealing values by approximately 100%.
•  Speed of Shadows: This trait has been reworked, now grants 10 seconds of swiftness, and removes all movement-impairing conditions when you enter a shroud.
•  Vital Persistence: This trait no longer slows shroud decay but instead grants bonus Vitality and reduces the recharge of shroud skills by 20%.

Ranger

With this release, we've aimed to update numerous traits for readability and synergy within each line. Included in these changes are some quality-of-life updates, such as syncing pet-swap trait cooldowns with the cooldown pet swap, as well as major revisions to some traits like Most Dangerous Game and Empathic Bond. While revisiting traits, we also reviewed the ranger's signets with an eye on encouraging player choice of whether to activate the signet or retain the passive benefits by ensuring the actives are not merely a temporarily better version of the passive.

Profession

•  Celestial Avatar: Fixed a bug that was causing druids in Celestial Avatar form to lose access to their energy and transformation if they were frozen by Ice Storm (in Bitterfrost Frontier).
• Drake: Fixed a bug causing the Tail Swipe skill to display a smaller radius than the actual skill; it now correctly displays the larger radius of 280.

Weapon Skills

•  Maul: Fixed a bug in which the damage was being incorrectly updated when traited with Two-Handed Training.
•  Swoop: Changed the range skill fact from 1,100 to 1,000 to better reflect the actual range of this skill (no functionality change).
•  Hilt Bash: Fixed a bug that was occasionally causing this skill to miss at near maximum range or strike a target behind you.
•  Winter's Bite: Unsplit this skill from PvP. The higher 150% damage will now be used in all game types.
•  Ancestral Grace: This skill now grants your pet protection for 3 seconds. Fixed a bug in which the player's backpack would still be shown while moving.

Utility Skills

•  Signet of Renewal: Reduced the recharge of this skill from 60 seconds to 50 seconds. The old passive effect of removing a single condition every 10 seconds has been replaced with Signet of the Wild's, in which you and your pet recover health constantly. The active effect now grants resistance to your pet for 2 seconds when they take conditions from nearby allies to themselves.
•  Signet of Stone: Added additional tooltip information to indicate how much Toughness is gained from the passive of this skill.
•  Signet of the Hunt: Increased the recharge of this skill from 30 seconds to 40 seconds. The old active effect of increasing the damage of your and your pet's next strike has been replaced with making your and your pet's attacks unblockable for 6 seconds.
•  Signet of the Wild: Reduced the recharge of this skill from 60 seconds to 40 seconds. The cast time of this skill has been reduced by 0.25 seconds. The old passive of recovering health constantly has been moved to Signet of Renewal and replaced with improved Ferocity for you and your pet. The old active of gaining stability and increased damage has been replaced and now immobilizes nearby foes for several seconds.
•  "Strength of the Pack!": Removed a tooltip that was no longer relevant.
• Glyphs: Fixed a bug in which being transformed while in the Celestial Avatar state would leave your glyphs in that mode.
•  Muddy Terrain: This skill now inflicts slow for 1 second every pulse, in addition to cripple. This change also applies to the version of the skill fired by the trait Soften the Fall.

Traits

•  Opening Strike: This trait now grants  Opening Strike to both you and your pet, rather than to just you.
•  Enlargement: This trait has been replaced with Stoneform. Stoneform casts Lesser Signet of Stone when your health drops below the 50% health threshold, granting you temporary immunity to damage from attacks.
•  Predator's Instinct: This trait has been replaced with Hunter's Gaze. Hunter's Gaze grants you varying amounts of might when striking a foe based on their health percentage.
•  Clarion Bond: This trait now casts Lesser Call of the Wild when you swap pets. Lesser Call of the Wild has a shorter cooldown and grants shorter duration enhancements than Call of the Wild.
•  Alpha Training: This trait has been replaced with Alpha Focus. Alpha Focus causes your opening strike to inflict cripple for 2 seconds.
•  Brutish Seals: This trait has been reworked. It no longer grants might. Brutish Seals now grants 6 seconds of fury to allies around you when using a signet and reduces the recharge of your signets.
•  Most Dangerous Game: This trait has been replaced by Vicious Quarry. Vicious Quarry causes fury on you, granting increased Ferocity, as well as an additional critical-strike chance, and grants 4 seconds of fury when you are struck while below 75% health.
•  Natural Vigor: The endurance recovery granted by this trait has been increased from 20% to 25%.
•  Expertise Training: This trait has been renamed and reworked to Taste for Danger. It now grants increased Vitality and converts 7% of Vitality into Expertise for both you and your pet.
•  Bark Skin: This trait has been replaced with Rugged Growth. Rugged Growth heals you or your pet while they have protection.
•  Empathic Bond: This trait has been reworked and now splits the duration of conditions applied to you between you and your pet.
•  Rejuvenation: The internal cooldown of this trait has been reduced from 18 seconds to 10 seconds.
•  Wellspring: This trait no longer grants Power based on your Healing Power. You and your pet now convert 7% of your Power into Healing Power.
•  Vigorous Training: This trait has been renamed Spirited Arrival. Grant vigor and fury to nearby allies for 8 seconds when you swap pets.
•  Lingering Magic: This trait no longer grants boon duration. It now grants up to 240 Concentration at level 80 to both you and your pet.
•  Go for the Eyes: Removed increased pet Toughness.
•  Zephyr's Speed: This trait now casts Lesser Quickening Zephyr when you swap pets. Lesser Quickening Zephyr is not a stun break, has a shorter cooldown, and grants shorter duration enhancements than Quickening Zephyr.
•  Companion's Might: This trait has been replaced with Potent Ally. Potent Ally grants 1 stack of might for 6 seconds to you or your pet when the other one critically strikes a foe.
•  Natural Healing: Removed the pet Healing-Power increase. Increased the pulse interval from 1 second to 3 seconds. Increased the healing amount to retain overall healing per second.
•  Child of Earth: This trait now casts Lesser Muddy Terrain when you use your healing skill, in addition to when you take falling damage.
•  Lead the Wind: Fixed a bug that prevented this trait from updating longbow skills with the Pierces skill fact.

Revenant

Inspiring Reinforcement felt lacking in its stability generation because you still had to wait for the skill to complete before gaining stability. We've changed it to immediately grant stability to the caster so you have the opportunity to prevent crowd control before it lands. The Retribution trait line's identity was centered around Sustain and was somewhat lacking in synergy; a couple trait reworks here are intended to create some interplay with retaliation and stability. The Devastation line and the Legendary Assassin stance have been about Power damage and seizing initiative, and we've pushed a few modifications here to help Power builds and offer revenants more control on when their traits come into play.

Weapon Skills

•  Hammer Bolt: Fixed a bug that allowed this skill to hit foes beyond its maximum range.
•  Echoing Eruption: This skill now leaps to a target, if there is one. Increased the leap distance traveled by 25%. Fixed a bug causing this skill to display the incorrect range.
•  Shackling Wave: Increased damage by 66%. This attack now inflicts 8 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds. The range has been increased from 300 to 450.
•  Grasping Shadow: Increased damage by 25%. The fury duration has been increased from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.

Utility Skills

•  Protective Solace: Fixed a bug with this skill's tooltip displaying the incorrect radius.
•  Inspiring Reinforcement: This skill has been unsplit from PvP, reducing the energy cost of this skill from 35 to 30 in all game types.
•  Vengeful Hammers: Added a third hammer and reduced damage by 33% to preserve approximate damage per second. Changed the base function of this skill so you can no longer lose projectiles as a result of passing too close to uneven terrain. This skill has been unsplit from PvP, using the increased healing values in all game types.
•  Energy Expulsion: Increased the duration of fragments created by this skill from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.
•  Enchanted Daggers: Increased damage by 20%.
•  Riposting Shadows: This skill now grants 6 seconds of fury when activated.
•  Impossible Odds: This skill now grants 10% increased damage for its duration in addition to its existing effects.
•  Jade Winds: This skill now inflicts 6 stacks of vulnerability for 6 seconds on each foe struck, in addition to its existing effects.
•  Soothing Stone: This skill now grants 5 seconds of retaliation when used, rather than scaling retaliation based on the number of conditions removed.

Traits

•  Abyssal Chill: Fixed a bug that affected how this trait displays its torment skill fact.
•  Notoriety: Increased the might granted when using an assassin-stance skill from 2 to 3 stacks. This trait now grants 2 stacks of might for 10 seconds when using a nonassassin stance skill.
•  Mutilate Defenses: This trait now has a chance to inflict vulnerability when you critically strike rather than on any strike. The chance to inflict vulnerability has been increased from 25% to 33%, and the duration of vulnerability has been increased from 4 seconds to 6 seconds.
•  Empowering Vengeance: This trait has been reworked and renamed Vicious Reprisal. Vicious Reprisal increases the duration of retaliation applied to you by 50% and causes your attacks to do 10% increased damage, granting 1 stack of might for 8 seconds as long as you have retaliation.
•  Spiritual Reckoning: This trait has been split and now increases taunt duration by 100% in PvE and 25% in WvW and PvP. It now also grants 2 seconds of retaliation when taunting a foe.
•  Versed in Stone: This trait now also converts 13% of your Toughness into Power.
•  Determined Resolution: This trait has been reworked and now reduces the damage you take while you have stability by 15%, and increases the duration of stability you apply by 33%.
•  Hardened Foundation: This trait has been reworked and now grants up to 120 Toughness, converting 7% of your Toughness into Healing Power.
•  Natural Abundance: Increased the duration of fragments from this trait from 5 seconds to 10 seconds.
•  Hardening Persistence: Fixed an issue in PvP where this trait was not granting the proper amount of Toughness when using Facet of Light.
•  Planar Protection: This trait now casts Dome of the Mists when you use your healing skill in addition to when you take falling damage. Increased Dome of the Mists's recharge from 5 seconds to 20 seconds.
•  Envoy of Sustenance: This trait no longer grants boon duration. It now grants up to 240 Concentration at level 80.
•  Venom Enhancement: Increased the poison application of this trait from 1 stack to 2 stacks.
•  Focused Siphoning: Increased damage dealt by 20%.
•  Malicious Reprisal: This trait now triggers when you block an attack as well as when your attacks are blocked. The unblockable attacks from this trait now deal 25% increased damage. This trait has swapped positions with Jade Echo and moved to the Master tier. Reduced recharge from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
•  Assassin's Annihilation: Increased damage dealt by 20%.
•  Enduring Recovery: This trait no longer grants a chance to recover endurance every 10 seconds when struck. Instead, it now grants a constant 25% increased endurance recovery, as long as the trait is equipped.
•  Jade Echo: This trait has swapped positions with Malicious Reprisal and moved to the Adept tier. Renamed the skill fired by this trait to Lesser Jade Winds.
•  Assassin's Presence: Increased the Ferocity bonus granted by this trait to 225 at level 80.
•  Dwarven Battle Training: The chance to apply weakness has been increased to 100%.
•  Dismantle Fortifications: This trait now grants 5 stacks of might for 5 seconds when you attempt to disable a foe with stability, in addition to its previous effects.
•  Steadfast Rejuvenation: Increased the chance for healing to occur to 100%. Increased healing by 25%.

Thief

The Daredevil specialization has largely taken over the Power-based gameplay that used to be the domain of the sword, so we are giving sword (and sword-related traits) an enhancement in order to ensure it has some unique utility to offer. Tricks and signets are also receiving several changes to help them compete with the very powerful utility skills offered by deceptions and physicals. Finally, we are also reassessing some traits that we felt were either lacking in power or not offering enough diversity in choice.

Profession

• Stolen Skills:
  •  Skull Fear: Added a missing unblockable skill fact.
  •  Consume Plasma: Increased the duration of stability granted by this skill from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. This skill now also grants quickness for 2.5 seconds.
  •  Throw Gunk: This skill is now targeted instead of ground targeted when used underwater. Updated the skill facts to show the correct number of hits.

Weapon Skills

•  Infiltrator's Strike: This skill now grants 3 seconds of swiftness when cast, in addition to its previous effects.
•  Infiltrator's Return: Lowered the aftercast by 0.2 seconds.
•  Larcenous Strike: This skill now deals 20% bonus damage to boonless foes. This damage is calculated after the boon strip takes place.
•  Flanking Strike: This attack is now unblockable.
•  Flanking Strike (thief spear skill): This skill has been renamed to Flanking Dive, to eliminate confusion with similarly named skills and traits.
•  Tactical Strike: This skill has been unsplit and now dazes for 2 seconds in all game modes when attacking from behind. Increased the damage by 33%.
•  Dancing Dagger: Now applies 1 stack of torment for 6 seconds, in addition to its previous effects.
•  Pistol Whip: Increased the stun duration to 0.75 seconds. Added an additional warning effect to Warmup. Reduced the number of flurry hits from 8 to 4, to match the animation. Flurry damage has been increased by 100% to compensate.

Utility Skills

•  Distracting Daggers: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 3 with a count recharge of 20 seconds. There is a 1-second recharge between uses.
•  Haste: Lowered the recharge from 50 seconds to 30 seconds. Now grants swiftness for 6 seconds, in addition to its previous effects.
•  Roll for Initiative: Lowered the recharge from 60 seconds to 35 seconds.
•  Signet of Shadows: The active effect now applies weakness and 10 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds, in addition to blind. This skill now requires a target before it will activate. This skill will no longer activate and do nothing if it is cast on a target out of range.
•  Thieves Guild: The thieves summoned by this skill will now use chatter lines that match their race. Increased the number of thieves summoned to 3.
•  Ambush: The thieves summoned by this skill will now use chatter lines that match their race.
•  Dagger Storm: Reduced the duration from 8 seconds to 4 seconds, but doubled the number of daggers thrown. Now gives 1 stack of stability for 6 seconds on activation instead of pulsing stacks. This skill now increases movement speed by 100% while activated. Changed the system that limited hits on the same target to be more consistent for multiple thieves using the skill at the same time.
•  Assassin's Signet: The active skill of this signet now triples the Power bonus of the passive for 5 seconds. Reduced the recharge from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.
•  Hide in Shadows: Fixed a bug in which this skill was not receiving increased stealth duration from Meld with Shadows.

Traits

•  Improvisation: Updated the text description to refer to Stolen Skills instead of Stolen Items. The skill-recharge portion of this trait now has a 20-second internal cooldown.
•  Hidden Killer: This trait now grants a lingering 100% critical-hit chance enhancement for 2 seconds when you are revealed from stealth in addition to its previous functionality.
•  Flanking Strikes: This trait has been renamed to Burst of Agility to eliminate confusion with the similarly named attack skills. The version of haste activated by this trait has been renamed to Lesser Haste. Lesser Haste now grants swiftness for 6 seconds in addition to its previous effects.
•  Pain Response: This trait now removes confusion in addition to its other effects.
•  Swindler's Equilibrium: Increased bonus damage to 10%. Increased internal cooldown from 1 second to 20 seconds. This trait now fully recharges steal when the conditions are met instead of recharging it by 1 second.
•  Side Strikes[sic]: This trait has been removed, and its effects have been combined with Flawless Strikes. It has been replaced with Assassin's Fury.
•  Assassin's Fury: This trait grants 3 stacks of might for 8 seconds whenever you gain fury and has a 2-second internal cooldown.
•  Flawless Strikes[sic]: This trait has been renamed to Twin Fangs and now causes attacks from behind or beside to have 7% bonus critical-hit chance in addition to its previous functionality.
•  Signets of Power: This trait no longer grants might when a signet is cast. Instead, it causes all signets to have a second passive effect. The additional passive varies per signet.
  •  Signet of Malice: Heal on kill.
  •  Assassin's Signet: Gain 2 stacks of might for 5 seconds on kill.
  •  Infiltrator's Signet: Regain 1 initiative on kill.
  •  Signet of Agility: Regain 10 endurance on kill.
  •  Signet of Shadows: Gain 2 seconds stealth on kill (no effect if already stealthed).
•  Cloaked in Shadow: The falling damage component of this trait has been moved to Last Refuge. This trait now makes you immune to critical hits while in stealth in addition to blinding nearby foes when you stealth. The blind applied by this trait can now be blocked or evaded.
•  Last Refuge: The blinding powder cast by this skill has been renamed to Lesser Blinding Powder. This trait now also causes you to cast Lesser Blinding Powder when you take fall damage and reduces falling damage in addition to its previous functionality. Fixed a bug that caused Lesser Blinding Powder to be considered a trick instead of a deception.
•  Fluid Strikes: This trait now grants a +240 Concentration at level 80 in addition to its previous effects.
•  Don't Stop: This trait has been reworked and now causes incoming movement-impairing conditions have 80% reduced duration while you have swiftness. Additionally, when you gain swiftness it removes one movement-impairing condition.

Warrior

In addition to moving some utility skills to the new ammo system, we're also taking a look at the Strength and Arms trait lines. These lines have several adjustments aimed at making each choice more meaningful and less conflicting with other choices in the same tier while also focusing the purpose of each trait line into areas that make the most sense. One important trait that changed in this process was Berserker's Power, which is an important trait for warriors who rely on Power damage. This trait previously granted a damage bonus based on the tier of adrenaline you were at when you used a burst skill. We've updated this trait to better scale with the amount of adrenaline you use so that warriors can feel good about using lower-level bursts consecutively rather than always waiting for the level 3.

Profession

• Primal Burst: These skills now count as level-1 bursts for the purposes of traits that scale on adrenaline level.

Weapon Skills

•  Throw Axe: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 2 with a 10-second count recharge. There is a 1-second recharge between uses.
•  Combustive Shot: Fixed a bug that caused the projectile created by this skill to be destroyed without creating the damaging area when fired at enemy gates in WvW.
•  Scorched Earth: Fixed a bug that caused this skill to fail to hit some gates in WvW.
•  Flaming Flurry: Increased projectile speed by 66%.
•  Aimed Shot: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now uses the higher damage values and vulnerability stack amounts in all game modes.
•  Flames of War: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now uses the higher burn duration and burning stack values in all game modes.
•  Blaze Breaker: This skill has been unsplit from PvP and now uses the higher condition durations in all game modes.

Utility Skills

•  "On My Mark!": This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 2 with a 30-second count recharge. There is a 5-second recharge between uses.
•  Kick: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 3 with a 30-second count recharge. There is a 3-second recharge between uses.
•  Throw Bolas: This skill now uses the ammo system. Ammo count has been set to 2 with a 25-second count recharge. There is a 1-second recharge between uses.
•  Bull's Charge: This skill now evades for the duration of the charge. Increased damage by 267%[sic]. This skill now goes on full recharge if interrupted.

Traits

•  Berserker's Power: This trait's functionality has been changed. It now provides a stacking 7% damage-increase enhancement for 10 seconds for each bar of adrenaline used when a burst skill hits. Maximum 3 stacks.
•  Axe Mastery: This trait has moved to the Discipline line and takes the slot previously taken by Merciless Hammer.
•  Merciless Hammer: This trait has moved to the Strength line and takes the slot previously taken by Axe Mastery. In addition to its previous functionality, this trait now also causes interrupts to inflict 4 stacks of confusion for 8 seconds.
•  Death from Above: This trait has been removed and its functionality moved to Peak Performance. It has been replaced with Brave Stride.
•  Brave Stride: Your first attack when entering combat grants 1 stack of stability for 4 seconds.
•  Peak Performance: This trait now increases the damage of all physical skills by 30% regardless of your adrenaline level. Additionally it now also reduces fall damage by 50% and causes you to launch foes when you take fall damage.
•  Distracting Strikes: This trait has been removed and its functionality combined with Merciless Hammer. It has been replaced with Might Makes Right.
•  Might Makes Right: Whenever you apply might to yourself, heal a small amount and gain 5 endurance.
•  Determined Revival: Now reduces incoming damage by 25% while reviving, instead of granting increased Toughness.
•  Precise Strikes: This trait has been reworked and its functionality moved to Bloodlust. This trait has been renamed to Furious Burst and causes burst skills to grant 5 seconds of fury with a 15-second internal cooldown.
•  Berserker's Fury: This trait has been reworked, and it has been renamed Wounding Precision. It now grants +120 Precision at level 80 and converts 7% of Precision to Expertise.
•  Signet Mastery: This trait now grants Ferocity instead of Precision when a signet is used.
•  Opportunist: This trait now grants 5 adrenaline when immobilizing a foe in addition to fury.
•  Deep Strikes: This trait has switched places with Rending Strikes and is now in the Master Minor slot.
•  Unsuspecting Foe: This trait now provides a bonus critical-hit chance against foes that are disabled by any hard crowd-control effect rather than just stun.
•  Rending Strikes: This trait has switched places with Deep Strikes and is now in a Master Major slot. Increased vulnerability duration to 10 seconds.
•  Blademaster: This trait now increases condition duration by 20% for sword skills instead of increasing sword critical-hit chance against bleeding foes by 20%.
•  Bloodlust: This trait no longer increases damage against bleeding foes. Instead, it causes your critical hits to have a 33% chance to inflict 1 stack of bleeding for 5 seconds and increases duration of outgoing bleeds by 33%.
•  Dual Wielding: Increased attack speed bonus from 15% to 20%. Updated description for clarity. This trait gives an attack speed bonus when a main-hand weapon is wielded in the off-hand slot.
•  Shrug It Off: Fixed a bug that could cause this trait to go on a 30-second internal cooldown under some circumstances instead of its listed cooldown.
•  Cull the Weak: Increased bonus damage from 5% to 7%. Increased health threshold from 33% to 50%. Increased weakness duration from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. This trait now applies weakness to foes regardless of if they already have weakness on them, but it has a 5-second internal cooldown.
•  Sundering Mace: This trait has had its functionality changed. It now causes stuns, dazes, and knockdowns inflicted by mace skills to last 20% longer against vulnerable foes, and it reduces the recharge of mace skills by 20%.
•  Reviver's Might: In addition to granting might, this trait now also heals nearby allies. This trait now triggers when you successfully revive someone or when you rally.
•  Inspiring Presence: This trait no longer grants Healing Power to outgoing might but instead grants bonus Healing Power to the warrior for each stack of might.

Structured Player vs. Player

• League Vendors have had some tab consolidation.
• Glorious armors, earned from PvP Reward Tracks, now have Heart of Thorns stat combinations as selectable options. Heart of Thorns required.
• The Champion's Crown has been swapped with the Champion's Sun for winning first place in the Monthly PvP Tournament.
• Stealth Attacks: Fixed a bug that caused thief stealth attacks to treat the PvP lobby as a PvE area when determining the duration of Revealed to apply.

PvP Stat-Swappable Armor

• The PvP ascended armors Ardent Glorious and Glorious Hero's can now be upgraded into stat-swappable armor.
• The Ascended Armor League Vendor now sells items needed to upgrade ascended PvP armor into stat-swappable armor.
• Since this is an upgrade, the stat-swappable armor does not include a new unique skin but is instead the same skin as the ascended piece that was upgraded.

World vs. World

Territories

• Each objective now has a territory associated with it that is outlined on the map. An objective's territory will display the team color of the team that owns it. The WvW score UI now displays the objective of whatever territory you are in.

Gliding

• The new War Gliding Mastery has been added to WvW. The War Gliding skill allows gliding in territories that your team owns in the Mist War maps. You will be kicked from your glider if you enter a territory that you do not own.
• With the addition of gliding, several small map adjustments have been made to the Eternal Battlegrounds, Desert, and Alpine borderlands to better accommodate gliding. Along with map changes, several out-of-bounds areas have been added that will teleport players back to the spawn point if they get outside of the playable game area. This is a test for gliding in WvW. We can disable gliding in WvW if we do not find it appropriate for the game mode.

Ability-Point Reset

• A new ability-point reset vendor, the World Ability Master, has been added to each portal keep (team starting area). One free sample ability-point reset is available per character. Ability-point resets can be bought with spirit shards that will instantly reset your WvW ability points.

Siege Balance

• Ballista:
  • Ballista's damage to siege has been increased.
  • Ballista's 4th skill has been replaced with an antiair bolt that shoots people out of the air and immobilizes them.
• Catapult:
  • Catapults' boulder shots now deal damage based on their charge level. The longer the catapult is charged, the more damage it deals.

WvW Stat-Swappable Armor

• The WvW ascended armor Triumphant Hero's and Mistforged Triumphant Hero's can now be upgraded into stat-swappable armor.
• Legendary Commander War Razor now has a new Legendary Components tab that sells items needed to upgrade ascended WvW armor into stat-swappable armor.
• Since this is an upgrade, the stat-swappable armor does not include a new unique skin but is instead the same skin as the ascended piece that was upgraded.

Reward Changes

• Being in first place with war score now grants 5 pips instead of 3.
• Being in second place with war score now grants 4 pips instead of 2.
• Being in third place with war score now grants 3 pips instead of 1.
• The Superior Siege Blueprint Case choice from the Skirmish Chest now grants 2 superior siege instead of 1.
• WvW Skirmish Claim Tickets have been reduced in the last chest of each division but have been added to every chest.
• The Triumphant Armor Box and Legacy Armor Box exotics now give Heart of Thorns stats if you own Heart of Thorns.
  • If you already chose stats on the exotic gear, you will need to earn the exotic gear again to choose different stats.
• Mistforged Hero's ascended weapons now have infusion slots.

Black Lion Trading Company Gem Store

New Items and Promotions

• A new Rival Skies Package with the Fiery Blade Axe and the Icy Blade Axe is available in the Style category of the Gem Store for 1,000 gems.
• The new Black Lion Instant Level 80 Ticket is available in the Upgrades category of the Gem Store for 2,000 gems. Using this item will grant a Level-80 Boost, allowing players to test their characters before boosting one to level 80.
• A new Path of Fire Preparation Pack is available in the Utility category of the Gem Store for 3,500 gems. It contains 1 Character Slot, 2 Bag Slot Expansions, 1 Black Lion Instant Level 80, 1 Unbreakable Gathering Tools Container, and 10 Black Lion Chest Keys.
• With the improvement to the Mistlock Sanctuary lounge, the Permanent Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey is available in the Utility category of the Gem Store for an additional week for 1,000 gems.
• The Guild Wars 2 Fifth Year Anniversary Sale starts soon. Check back every day for your favorite items on sale.

Improvements

• Updated the Dynamics Glider Module to appear less detached on asura when deployed.
• The Mistlock Sanctuary's portal to Tyria has been updated with additional teleportation options. Players may now choose to return to the location where they used their Mistlock Sanctuary Passkey.
• The Black Lion Exclusives Chest has been added as a rare drop in the current Black Lion Chest for a limited time. Players can choose one of the nine exclusive items released previously in the Black Lion Chest, including the Grasping Phantom Glider, Mini Celestial Rooster, Infinirarium Glider, Candelabra Staff, Bitterfrost Vantage Point, Noran's Safe Room Pass and Key, Elemental Sword, Sworn Zaishen Helm Skin, and Hounds of Balthazar Mail Carrier.
• For a limited time, the Maguuma Jungle, Kryta, and Ranger's Miniatures are available when using Black Lion Miniature Claim Tickets.
  • Ranger's Miniatures: Mini Brown Bear, Mini Devourer, Mini Jungle Stalker, Mini Toxic Spider Queen, Mini Salamander Drake, Mini River Drake, Mini Swamp Drake, Mini Polar Bear, Mini Lynx, and Mini Snow Leopard.
  • Maguuma Jungle Miniatures: Mini Colocal, Mini Forest Spider, Mini Green Moa, Mini Jungle Stalker, Mini Skritt Forager, Mini Skritt Bottle Lobber, Mini Tiger, Mini Chickenado, Mini Tizlak, Mini Forest Grub, and Mini Lynx.
  • Kryta Miniatures: Mini Brown Bear, Mini Ettin, Mini Modniir Berserker, Mini River Drake, Mini Swamp Spider, Mini Wind Rider, Mini Black Wind Rider, Mini Blue Drake Hatchling, Mini Swamp Drake, Mini River Drake Broodmother, and Mini Black Moa.

Bug Fixes

• Removed the Agony Resistance filter when searching for armor or weapons on the trading post.
• Updated the Guaranteed Wardrobe Unlock to correctly unlock permanent finishers while players have limited-use versions of that finisher equipped.
• Fixed an issue in which players could become stuck midair in the Mistlock Sanctuary when simultaneously manipulating gravity and untransforming.
• Fixed the Merchant Express to prevent summoned merchants floating in midair.

Mac Client

• Adjusted Touch Bar integration to better work with some user preferences.

Guild Wars 2 Wiki Notes

• Build: 80,647
• The game launcher is now Path of Fire-themed.
  • Build id is displayed in the bottom right corner of the launcher.
• Some more settings have been added to the Options panel.
  • General Options now has checkboxes for disabling the WvW Territory overlay, and conditional activation of mount movement ability input.
  • Graphics Options has a new slider for Motion Blur Power.
  • Controls concerning mounts are (unsurprisingly) in Control Options.
• Both the World map and the Dragonbrand have been expanded southward; Elona is now visible as far southeast as Resplendent Makuun.
• A new point of interest has been added to Lion's Arch. Additionally, Aid Workers and Elonian refugees have set up nearby; a Lionguard ship and airship have docked in southern Sanctum Harbor; and Marcello DiGiacomo, Hero-Tron and the nearby Kid and Cub have been relocated west of the Chef crafting station, with the area in which they were previously located being filled with various objects.
• Holomancer Netto had been added to Rata Sum. This eccentric merchant sells a cat and cat-related items and home instance upgrades.
• Three new hungry cats have been added: Holographic Kitten, sold by Holomancer Netto for 1 ; Blue Catmander, in the hidden cat room in the Mistwrought Vault; and Yellow Catmander, in a hidden quaggan area west of O'del Academy.
  • Both catmanders sell a miniature version of themselves, as well as a cat-shaped commander tag.
  • The new tag costs 300  + 250 ; existing commanders may purchase it for half the coin.
• Players not representing their guild can no longer be seen on the world/mini map by representing members.
• Some Hero challenges are now repeatable.
• Revenants' channeled legends now converse with the player character while idle.
• Several icons have been updated, including the overlay over non-aquatic skills while underwater.
• Many traits have had their descriptions updated, even if they received no functionality updates.
  • Affected traits appear to be those that use a skill or affect skills of a certain type.
•  Shattered Aegis: The damage has been moved to the trait skill Mystic Rebuke.
•  Line of Warding: A light field skill fact has been added.
•  Deadly Ambition: This trait has been renamed from "Trappers Respite" (added an apostrophe). The skill triggered by this trait has been renamed from "Needle Trap" to Lesser Needle Trap. Increased Poison duration to 10 seconds.