In this update, we'd like to address some PvP issues that came up as a result of our latest Dervish update. After the last MAT, we decided to tone down several problematic skills. Additionally, we are taking this opportunity to address the power of Blood Magic necromancers and some builds that have gotten a little out of line, as well as making a few small buffs to improve some skills that are difficult to use.

We recognized during testing that the Dervish would be able to maintain increased attack speed stances in conjunction with increased movement speed enchantments. While this was problematic in the past with skills like Primal Rage, we felt that the lower damage of scythes and their unique skill combinations would keep their power in check. However, more observation showed that keeping both skills up at the same time was still a little easier than we liked it to be for such a strong effect, so we adjusted the durations of several skills accordingly.

Because these speed boosts are enchantments with low recharges, it's okay to reduce their durations to account for the presence of 20% longer enchantment mods on weapons.

Enchanted Haste: decreased duration to 7 seconds.

Fleeting Stability: decreased duration to 2...5...6 seconds.

Harrier's Haste: decreased duration to 2...7...8 seconds.

Heart of Fury: decreased duration to 2...8...10 seconds.

Avatar of Grenth has been seeing more use than any other Avatar. It's popularity is due to the power of the bonus life steal combined with the powerful Disease condition. We slightly reduced the effectiveness of both of these aspects, as well as the related skill Mystic Corruption. We are concerned that this combination might still be too powerful, however, and will continue to watch its effects on the meta.

Avatar of Grenth: decreased life stealing to 0...10...12 Health; decreased inflicted Disease duration to 3 seconds.

Mystic Corruption: decreased unconditional Disease duration to 1...2...2 seconds.

Ebon Dust Aura has seen a lot of use with sword-wielding Dervishes since the update. While the character is refreshing and original, we noticed that it's too easy for this character to continually blind many foes and that stripping enchantments to combat him feels trivial. Accordingly, we increased the duration and recharge on this skill to reduce the total time that he can keep foes blinded and to make strips more meaningful. We also took the damage down a bit, since the skill was adding too much damage for the utility it was providing.

Ebon Dust Aura: increased duration to 30 seconds; decreased bonus damage to 3...13...15; increased recharge to 20 seconds.

Since becoming a flash enchantment, Aura of Thorns has been too good at keeping foes crippled nearly 100% of the time. We slightly reduced the cripple duration to create a larger window in which to escape. Crippling Sweep was dealing too much bonus damage for a non-teardown skill and was generating too much damage over time, so we lowered the bonus damage to be in line with other skills.

Aura of Thorns: decreased Cripple duration to 3...7...8 seconds.

Crippling Sweep: decreased bonus damage to 3...13...15.

Since we buffed them about a year ago, Blood Necromancers have established a strong presence in the GvG meta. Players adapted and refined their builds, and we continued to make adjustments in response. With the recent update, we revisited this character and how it functions in relation to the pressure output that Dervishes provide. We discovered that he had become a dominating presence in GvG, to the point where he was easily able to slot a strong cross-class elite with enough attribute points left to make it fairly effective. We like the fact that Necromancers continue to see play in GvG, but this character and the Dervish have allowed pressure to get beyond manageable levels for most teams. We therefore have decided to make the following adjustments:

Barbed Signet is the keystone skill in this build; it empowered all the other skills in the build while allowing the Necromancer a free elite. We moved the functionality of this skill onto the rarely used Signet of Suffering, which removes the free elite slot from the character. The build was already strong without an elite, so this doesn't take the character out of play as much as limit the number of overpowering combinations that can be run. As a result of this change, we also changed Barbed Signet to be a simple AoE Bleed skill.

Barbed Signet: increased casting time to 1 second; increased recharge time to 10 seconds; increased Sacrifice to 8%; changed functionality to: "You inflict Bleeding for 3...13...15 seconds on target foe and all adjacent foes".

Signet of Suffering: changed attribute to Blood Magic; removed casting time; decreased recharge to 4 seconds; changed functionality to: "You suffer from Bleeding for 6 seconds. The next Necromancer skill that targets a foe causes Bleeding for 2...13...16 seconds".

These two skills provide strong energy management to Blood Necromancers in PvP, but this character's ability to spam skills was too high with too little investment. By reducing the energy gains of these skills, players will need more dedicated attribute investments to power the character.

Angorodon's Gaze: decreased Energy gain to 3...10...12.

Masochism: decreased Energy gain to 1...3...3.

Finally, the duration of conditions that Necromancers can inflict with this skill was reduced for greater manageability.

Oppressive Gaze: decreased Poison and Weakness durations to 3...10...12 seconds.

Spike teams with Invoke Lightning were a little bit too strong, so we toned down the damage on this skill. We also reduced the recharge to compensate for the lowered damage.

Invoke Lightning: decreased damage to 10...74...90; decreased recharge to 6 seconds.

With the prevalence of enchantment strips in GvG and certain areas of PvE, Elementalists were often discouraged when their attunements were taken down for long periods of time. To take the edge off, we reduced the recharge and improved the casting time on these skills. Aura of Restoration had its recharge increased a bit; otherwise it would have been too powerful of a cover enchantment for these skills.

Air/Water/Fire/Earth/Elemental Attunement: decreased casting time to 1 second; decreased recharge to 30 seconds.

Aura of Restoration: increased recharge to 20 seconds.

Consume Soul proved to be too powerful at destroying enemy spirits. We reworked the functionality so that it still works great for taking down spirits, but it cannot be used effectively without investment in Spawning Power.

Consume Soul: changed functionality to: "You steal 5...49...60 Health from target foe. All hostile summoned creatures in the area of that foe take 25...105...125 damage".

The costs of Shatter skills made them difficult to fit into current Mesmer bars. With the addition of flash enchantments and the prevalence of Hexes in the current meta, it seemed appropriate to give Mesmers this small buff.

Shatter Enchantment: decreased Energy cost to 10.

Shatter Hex: decreased Energy cost to 10.

Fevered Dreams is a skill which always had the potential to be very strong, but which lacked the condition-applying skills to support it. The addition of Dervish flash enchantments and the improvements to Avatar skills—particularly when combined with older adjustments focused on Necromancers applying conditions—have made Fevered Dreams a driving force in many meta builds. We like the synergy that this skill provides, but its ability to continually Daze large groups of foes was too strong. We reduced its recharge and duration so that it can only be maintained on one foe.

Fevered Dreams: decreased duration to 5...13...15 seconds; increased recharge to 20 seconds.