Hello, Tyrians! My name is Chun-Hong Fung, and I’m a game designer on the Systems Team here at ArenaNet.
Expanded weapon proficiencies are coming in 2024 during the second major update for Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure™, bringing a new weapon and skills for each profession. Today, we’ll be looking at the new scepter weapon for the revenant profession, which you’ll be able to test during our Expanded Weapon Proficiency beta event, starting on November 28 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-8).
Don’t Cross the Streams
Revenants wield scepters in an unorthodox way that is unique to their profession. Having observed the Kryptis in battle, they draw upon their ability to connect individuals together using the scepter as a conduit. They use this conduit to channel energies between targets, strengthening allies and debilitating enemies.
The revenant’s autoattack chain projects a concentrated stream of energy from the tip of the scepter, which they wield like a blade to swing in a wide arc, damaging multiple enemies. The first attack, Serene Strike, is a simple melee slice, while the follow-up attack, Acerbic Cut, will grant might to allies. Motivating Whirl is the third strike of the autoattack chain, which cleaves enemies in a 360-degree radius around the revenant and applies barrier to allies on impact.
The second skill, Blossoming Aura, infuses an enemy target with energy from the Mists, dealing damage over time. After a delay, this energy explodes outward, damaging the enemy and granting barrier to allies. This effect can be strengthened by repeatedly striking the enemy with autoattacks, causing the final explosion to deal more damage and grant additional barrier to allies. While this skill can be cast at range, if you want to maximize the second effect you’ll need to get in your enemies’ faces.
Finally, Otherworldly Bond is an upkeep skill that creates a spiritual tether between you and your target. The tether has differing effects based on whether the target is an ally or an enemy. When used on an ally, the tether continually grants might to the target and allies around you. When an enemy is being tethered, the target will instead be inflicted with vulnerability and take additional strike damage from the revenant. The tether can be manually broken with the accompanying follow-up skill Deactivate, and it will automatically break if the revenant moves too far away from the target. And like Blossoming Aura, attacking enemies will cause the effects of the tether to strengthen!
But that’s not all! When the tether reaches maximum strength, the revenant gains a new follow-up skill called Otherworldly Attraction. The allied version allows the revenant to shadowstep to the tethered target, granting barrier to allies around them. When an enemy is targeted, it instead pulls the tethered target toward the revenant while applying additional vulnerability to them.
Until Next Time
That about wraps it up for today’s preview. As mentioned above, you’ll be able to try out all of the upcoming new weapon and profession combos during the Expanded Weapon Proficiency beta event starting at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time (UTC-8) on November 28 and ending at 10:00 p.m. Pacific Time (UTC-8) on December 3. Please note that since this is a beta test, there will be placeholder UI, art, and audio assets for some of the weapon skills. Be sure to tune in to the Expanded Weapon Proficiency preview livestream on November 27 at noon Pacific Time (UTC-8) to get a more in-depth look at all the new weapons.
