Reference[edit]
I do like the campaign of Lancy and Falconeye (Lancy's Campaign). They have a lot eligent ideas about balancing the Ritualist. I support many of their ideas and suggestions. I do think a bit different about some skills and neccessary changes, but in all, their ideas are realy good. If you read through their proposals and my mind about the topic, you will see a few differences.
To understand their ideas, it could be useful, to read these 2 pages: Shaman and Alchemist.
General[edit]
The updates changed the Ritualist a lot and developed a huge chaos. So it is necessary to rethink the concept of the Ritualist and to change his charakter a litle bit.
To drop Binding Rituals and let them do their task is boring. ANET sais, they want to support aktive playing. But this shoudln't happen by weaken the inaktive skills. Make this skills more aktiv would be a better solution. Right now, the Ritualist is a Profession, which does everything, the core Professions do and cobines it. I dream of a Ritualist, doing tasks, tho core Professions do, but doing it in a far other way. Making the Ritualist more interesting.
Attributes[edit]
The skills of the Ritualist are after many updates in a mess. The discriptions of the Attributes do not realy tell what the task of it is and some skills seem to be in the wrong Attribute. The Attributes need a new definition and the skills have to get a new order. The inherent effect of Spawning Power needs a buff at weapon spells and need to improve item spells.
- supporting the use of Weapon Spells, Item Spells and Binding Rituals through improving skills
- inherent effect:
- Your Spirits, Minions and Pets have 8% more Health for every 2 points in Spawning Power.
- Your weapon spells last 6% longer for every 2 points in Spawning Power.
- If you hold an item spell you gain 1 stacking base damage reduction for every 2 points in Spawning Power.
- supporting allies with energy and buffs (interrupt, life steal, unblockable, etc) and dealing indirekt damage (mainly lightening and armor ignoring) through spells, weapon spells and spirits
- offensive support
- potecting group by Binding Rituals, single allies by Weapon Spells and self by Item Spells; disturbing foes by Binding Rituals and hexes
- protect
- healing over time, reducing duration/benefit of/from conditions and hexes on group by Binding Rituals, on single alies by Weapon Spells and on self by Item Spells; instant heal and condition remove by spells
- heal
Rit Trinity[edit]
The Ritualist has 3 kinds of skills, that only he owns. Item Spells, Weapon Spells and Binding Rituals. I like to call it the Rit Trinity.
These 3 special abilities should be the base of every Ritualist build. Everything the Ritualist does for the group or counter the foes, should be done by the use of these kinds of skills.
All other skills should support the Rit Trinity or be based on them.
Weapon Spells[edit]
Without Weapon of Aggression (right now) all weapon spells can be cast on allies and they all can't get removed by foes.
Weapon spells are the perfect kind of skill for the active support. They should be as strong as enchantments are, because they are spells like enchantments. Well, enchantments can get removed by foes but every player can just wear one weapon spell. So it does nearly offset the removal problem. And weapon spells turn your rare weapon skin into a glittering bone.^^
I want Weapon Spells opposable.
- Cracked Armor and Weakness should decrease the duration of Weapon Spells by 30% each. So with both on the player the duration is 1/3 of the normal.
Weapon Spells should be the perfect support for allies in every task.
- support the allies
Item Spells[edit]
Item spells are very important for the Ritualist. Many of them are good in use but some are simple too weak. Important to mention is that there are some problems a player gains by holding bundle. The most important is that he can't hold weapons while holding an item spell. So he is unable to attack foes and he loses every effect of his weapons. He drops the bundle if he takes a shadow step, or pickes up a flag.
So holding a bundle is a handicap anyway. The two effects of the bundles: drop effect and hold effect have to be different in it's balance.
- The drop effect should be a bit worse than normal spell, because the player can carry the bundle into fight and just has to drop the item for the effect. He can't be interupted (by interupting abilities) and he doesn't need energy at that moment.
- The hold effect should be way stronger. It is hard to compare with stances or enchantments because the enemies can't remove the bundle. Better to compare it with a weapon spell. Weapon spells are kinda item spells without the mentioned handicaps. So the hold effect of item spells should be realy strong.
The Item Spells do only work on the caster himself (after the patch of Claive), which weakens it a lot.
I want Item Spells a bit opposable.
- Weakness should decrease the duration of Item Spells by 30%.
The main task for item spells should be to fortify and defend the Ritualist.
- fortify the caster
Binding Rituals[edit]
Spirits are a realy special skill type. The main problem is that they can't move. The second is that spirits of the same kind cannot exist in the same team. Of cause they can, but they would need a hughe range to each other. This is possible to use in some cases but it's not the norm. The third big handicap of using spirits is that they have a long casting time and a ranger can easy interupt the caster. The Rituals have with their lvl more armor than a human player but less health points. But they all are on a low lvl.
The Binding Rituals have to be devided into
- The owner can't controll their aiming and they only attack targets in their attack range. The range is good, but the spirits can't reduce their distance to the foe and their attacks easy to avoid, because their projectiles are slow. So it is ok that they deal a lot of damage and have strong abilities. The problem is that they have to low lvl. They are too easy killed by aoe-damage.
- They need a good range because they are quick destroyed. But the problem is that the hughe range of some spirits is too strong in combination with their effect. It is hard to balance skills that protect a whole group and are nearly not to remove for foes.
I want Binding Rituals more useful and more active.
- The first step is to strengthen Binding Rituals.
- The Binding Rituals do need a higher lvl. What happens, if they are about lvl 15? They have the half health points, a player has. But they have a hughe armor. In the battle it means that the spirits survive many aoe-spells and attacks. But they die fast from armor ignoring damage. Assasines, using attackskills against spirits kill them fast. Even some spells do a good damage to the spirits, but just a few aoe-spells or splash attacks deal armor ignoring damage. The result is that the foes have to focus a spirit to kill him effectiv. So they can't ignore them anymore and maybe kill them with their aoe-spells while attacking a player. Together with raising the spirits lvl the anti-spirit skills have to get improved. So they get effective too. Making Binding Rituals more active doesn't only mean to make the Ritualist more aktive. It also should mean to force the foes to spend some regard to the spirits.
- The second step is to make the part of the Ritualist more active.
- Reduce the lifespan of Binding Rituals! The most spirits shouldn't live till their rituals are recharged. To sustain the spirits a Ritualist has to use other skills. So he can't just carry 8 spirits and bind them everytime if they are recharged. He should be forced to create an active build. The lifespan of the most spirits should be maximal 3/4 of their rechargetime. The rechargetime should be between 25 and 45 seconds, so the player cares for interupts.
- Binding Ritual related skills need to be more aktiv too. Skills improving spirits could heal them, protect them, teleport them, improve their attack rate or damage, doublicate them, etc. Of cause some skills do these things, but they are not activ. What about giving these skills requirements? Like "if you suffer from a hex / condition", "if target foe attacks / casts a spell", "if target ally is under a chant / shout / stance / enchantment". One fact I want to remind: spirits do have energy and they regenerate it. Why is there only one single skill using this energy?
The role of a Binding Ritual is to be a kinda little player who wields skills instead of the Ritualist, even if the Ritualist isn't available.
- little ambassador of the Ritualist
Enchantments[edit]
The Ritualist uses his Rit Trinity (Item Spells, Weapon Spells and Spirits) to support others and to fortify him self. But he still has some Enchantments. I want to use them, to improve his special abilities, or the use of them.
For that, I would pull them all on Spawning Power.
Energy management[edit]
For managing the energy storage of the Ritualist I would use the main attribute, like every other class (without Mesmer ôÔ). But not using the inherrent effect. This would be kinda lazy and not active. The spirits have 31 energypoint, they still don't use. The Ritualist could take a use of them.
He also can get energy from using special Weapon Spells, or Items Spells (maybe by them self, or by enchantments on the Ritualist).
Channeling Magic could be a good choice, for giving energy to team mates. Therefore the Ritualist again can use the energy of spirits, or give allies weapon spells, or could give them a buff from his Item Spells (on hold, or on drop).
Conditions[edit]
Removing, or using conditions by item spells, weapon spells, or spirits is a good remedy for the Ritualist. The way it is right now is quite ok.
The Ritualist shouldn't be able to remove hexes. But he should be able to diminish their duration or their effect. Some more skills like Resilient Weapon and Resilient Was Xiko, which benefit from hexes on allies would be nice too.
New skill suggestion[edit]
Spawning Power[edit]
10  2  45  - (Spawning Power) - Elite Item Spell. Hold Songkai's ashes for up to 35 seconds. While you hold her ashes, your spells and Binding Rituals cost -5...41...50% of the base Energy to cast.
5 ¼ 15 - (Spawning Power) - Elite Enchantment Spell. (10 seconds) Whenever a Spirit in earshot dies while his lifespan, Ritual Lord becomes the Ritual to this spirit for 5 seconds, using your Spawning Power attribute. Every time this happens, you gain 0...8...10 Energy and your non Ritual skills are deactivated for 3 seconds.
5 ¼ 15 - (Spawning Power) - Elite Enchantment Spell. For 1...15...19 seconds, if you use a skill on an ally, he gains 20 health for every spirit within earshot to you (maximum 75). Spells you cast on a foe have 30% armor penetration, if you are within earshot of a spirit. If you are not within earshot of a spirit you sacrifice 7% of your maximum health whenever you use a skill.
5 ¼ 10 - (Spawning Power) - Elite Spell. You gain 5% of the health of the target touched allied Spirit as energy. The spirit dies after 3 seconds.
5 1 10 - (Spawning Power) - Elite Spell. Steal up to 10...70...85 health from target foe. If you are within earshot to a ally spirit you also steal 0...5...6 energy from the target foe. If target foe was a Spirit, you steal the half of it's current health and energy.
10 1 10 - (Spawning Power) - Elite Enchantment Spell. For 10...26...30 seconds, whenever you cast a Weapon Spell on an ally, you gain 1...4...5 Energy.
5 2 20 - (Spawning Power) - Item Spell. Hold Lee Sa's ashes for 5...13...15 seconds. While you hold her ashes, you gain +2 Energy regeneration. When you drop her ashes, you gain +1...8...10 Energy.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, while holding an item, you are imun to critical hits and bleeding.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. (5...25...30 seconds.) You are healed for 150...350...400% of the Energy cost and you gain 1 Energy plus 30% of the Energy cost whenever you use a Binding Ritual.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. (5...25...30 seconds.) You cast your Binding Rituals 50% faster.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. (5...25...30 seconds.) Whenever you create a Spirit, party members are healed for 5...41...50 Health and lose 1 Condition.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. (5...25...30 seconds.) Your Spirits within earshot attack the enemy you target and cannot get blocked.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. (5...25...30 seconds.) Whenever you cast a Spell you steal 5...41...50 Health and 0...1...1 energy from one Spirit within earshot.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. (5...25...30 seconds.) Whenever you use a Binding Ritual, up to 5 foes near that Spirit are struck for 20...64...75 lightning damage.
5 ¼ 8 - (Spawning Power) - Spell. You draw 0...7...9 Energy from target allied spirit.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. For 5...17...20 seconds, while holding an item, any weapon and item Spells you cast cost 5...29...35% less Energy.
5 1 12 - (Spawning Power) - Enchantment Spell. For 10...26...30 seconds, whenever you cast a weapon Spell on an ally, that ally loses 1 Condition.
Channeling Magic[edit]
10 1 15 - (Channeling Magic) - Elite Weapon Spell. Give target ally Spirit's Strength for 10...30...35 seconds. If the bearer hits with his melee weapon, he steals up to 1...4...5 Health for every spirit within earshot (maximum 4 spirits). If he hits a summoned creature, he hits twice.
5 1 8 - (Channeling Magic) - Elite Weapon Spell. For 3...13...15 seconds, target ally gains 5...41...50% more adrenaline and 1 Energy whenever that ally successfully hits with an attack.
10 2 5 - (Channeling Magic) - Elite Spell. Open a rift of souls at target foe's location. After 3 seconds, all foes In the area are struck for -25...95...113 lightning damage.
15 2 25 - (Channeling) - Item Spell. Hold Lingwah's ashes for up to 3...25...30 seconds. Dropping her ashes summons a level 1...8...10 Spirit of Anguish that does 5 damage for every Hex you suffered while holding the bundle (maximum 35 damage) and deals double damage to Hexed foes. This Spirit dies after 5...41...50 seconds.
10 ¼ 15 - (Channeling Magic) - Spell. If you hold a Bundle you dropp it and every foe without a bundle in the area loses 0...2...2 energy. For every effected foe, one ally in the area who is holding a bundle, gains 0...2...2 energy. No ally can be hit twice.
25 3 45 - (Channeling) - Binding Ritual Create a level 1...12...15 Spirit. This Spirit's attacks deal 5...17...20 damage and deal double damage to Hexed foes. This Spirit dies after 15...39...45 seconds.
25 3 45 - (Channeling) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...11...13 Spirit. This Spirit causes a -1 Health degeneration to foes with 3/4 of their maximum Healthpoints, a -2 Health degeneration to foes with 1/2 of their maximum Healthpoints and a -3 Health degeneration to foes with 1/4 of their maximum Healthpoints within its Range. The degeneration doubles to foes within Earshot. This Spirit dies after 3...32...39 seconds.
5 3 30 - (Channeling) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...11...14 Spirit. Attacks by that Spirit steal up to 5...21...25 Health. This Spirit dies after 10...50...60 seconds.
5 2 25 - (Channeling) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...12...15 Spirit. When this Spirit dies, all foes in the area take 1...4...5 damage for each second the Spirit was alive. This Spirit dies after 30 seconds.
5 3 30 - (Channeling) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...14...17 Spirit. This Spirit's attacks deal 5...25...30 damage. This Spirit dies after 30...66...75 seconds.
10 2 8 - (Channeling Magic) - Spell. Target foe is struck for 32...90...105 lightning damage. If you are within earshot to a spirit, you gain 5 Energy and 5...41...50 Health.
5 1 15 - (Channeling Magic) - Spell. Deals 5...49...60 lightning damage. Allies within earshot steal 5 Energy of the spirit nearest them if they have less energy than target foe.
5 5/4 10 - (Channeling Magic) - Spell. For each dead ally or allied spirit within earshot a foe within earshot takes 5...53...65 damage (The same foe cannot be struck more than once.). Deactivates your skills for 3 seconds.
5 2 10 - (Channeling Magic) - Spell. Inflicts burning (1...4...5 second(s)) to all foe's near a spirit.
enemies near spirits (all in earshot) burn
10 1 15 - (Channeling) - Weapon Spell. For 5...13...15 seconds, everytime target ally's melee attack becomes blocked, he attacks twice with his next melee attack.
5 1 10 - (Channeling) - Weapon Spell. For 4...9...10 seconds, the next time target ally hits with an melee attack, that ally gains 1...5...6 Energy.
5 ¼ 8 - (Channeling) - Skill. For 2 seconds, nothing happens. When this skill ends, all foes adjacent to target ally are struck for 5...93...115 lightning damage.
10 1 5 - (Channeling) - Spell. Open a Spirit Rift at target foe's location. After 3 seconds, all adjacent foes are struck for 25...113...135 lightning damage.
Communing[edit]
10 2 25 - (Communing) - Elite Item Spell. Hold Xinrae's ashes for up to 15...27...30 seconds. While you hold her ashes, you cannot lose more than 10% of your max Health from a single hit. When you drop her ashes, all hostile Spells that target you fail and all attacks against you miss for 0...2...3 seconds.
0 1 10 - (Communing) - Elite Signet. Spirits within earshot gain 30...126...150 Health and get relieved of Burning.
5 ¼ 3 - (Communing) - Elite Weapon Spell. (8 seconds). The next time target ally takes damage from a foe, that damage is limited to 5% of target ally's max Health. If the ally becomes the target of a skill, that skill needs 0...12...15 longer to recharge.
15 5 45 - (Communing) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...10...12 Spirit. All non-Spirit foes knocked down within its range are knocked down for 1 second longer. Whenever this happens, this Spirit loses 65...37...30 Health. This Spirit dies after 10...26...30 seconds.
15 3 45 - (Communing) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...11...13 Spirit. Non-Spirit allies within earshot have a 75% chance to block incoming attack skills. Every time the Spirit prevents an attack, it takes 60 damage. This Spirit dies after 20...32...35 seconds.
25 4 45 - (Communing) - Binding Ritual Create a level 1...11...13 Spirit. Non-Spirit allies within earshot cannot lose more than 20% maximum health from a single strike. When this Spirit prevents damage, 50% of the remaining damage will be transfered to it. This Spirit lasts 20...32...35 seconds.
15 3 45 - (Communing) - Binding Ritual. Create a level 1...11...13 Spirit. Whenever a non-Spirit ally in its range takes damage, that damage is reduced by 10, the Spirit takes 5 damage and burns for 2 seconds. If the Spirit already burns, it burns for 2 seconds longer. This Spirit dies after 20...32...35 seconds.
5 1 15 - (Communing) - Hex Spell. (1...8...10 seconds.) Target foe moves 90% slower and cannot attack. Ends if this foe takes damage.
Restoration Magic[edit]
15 3 20 - (Restoration Magic) - Elite Binding Ritual Create a level 1...16...20 Spirit. For each Hex or Condition non-spirit allies within range are suffering from, they gain +0...2...2 Health regeneration. When this spirit dies, allies within range lose 0...1...1 Condition. This Spirit dies after 15...39...45 seconds.
10 1 15 - (Restoration Magic) - Elite Skill Target allied spirit loses 5 energy every second. Allies nearby the spirit are healed for 5...49...60 every second. If the spirits energy reaches 0, the spirit dies.
10 ¼ 15 - (Restoration Magic) - Spell. Target touched allied Spirit is destroyed. All all party members are healed for 30...198...240.
10 1 5 - (Restoration Magic) - Weapon Spell. (5...13...15 seconds.) Target ally has +50...170...200 maximum Health and gains 30% more health from healing.
10 3 30 - (Restoration Magic) - Binding Ritual. Creates a level 1...11...14 spirit. If a party member within range dies, he gets resurrected after 3 seconds with 7...61...75% Health and 0...60...75% of the spirits Energy and the spirit dies. This spirit dies after 30 seconds.
no Attribute[edit]
5 ¼ 10 - (no Attribute) - Elite Spell. Destroy target, touched allied spirit. The next skill you use recharges 50% faster.
5 ¼ 10 - (no Attribute) - Skill. (15 seconds.) Teleport target allied Spirit every 5 seconds to your location.
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