Tyrian Chronicle: Revenant Revealed .

The first details about Guild Wars 2’s first new class since launch, Revenant have been released. It took me a little while to digest it all and really soak in how amazingly awesome it will be but now I’m confident that I want to give ArenaNet all of my money. Not only does the class sound amazing when you consider what that means for Rytlock…well, I mean just look at the videos we’ve seen of him in action. The man (Charr) is a total beast. In fact, this brings me all the way back to the middle of August.

During Gamescom 2014 I got the chance to sit down with some Guild Wars 2 developers and ask some really pressing questions. At the time Rytlock had recently made his leap into the Mists and there was a lot of concern about his future. Alas, Logan didn’t make his way into the Mists to confess his love to Rytlock and save him but that’s not the point of this story. I asked about Rytlock, but of course at that point they weren’t ready to tell us about Heart of Thorns or Rytlock’s fate. I did however get a promise from Meelad Sadat, the Head of PR for ArenaNet that I would not be disappointed. The wait has been long Meelad but I’ve not forgotten that promise. We haven’t seen a whole let yet but I can already tell you, I am not disappointed. Rytlock and Revenants may possibly be the thing I’m looking forward to most in Heart of Thorns, that’s really saying something as I mostly play Sylvari and am heavily invested in their story.

But lets get back to those juicy details. Not sure what I’m talking about? Check out the news post on the Guild Wars 2 website from Roy Cronacher, a game designer at ArenaNet. In it he laid out some of the first information we’ve seen about the new class.

 

Hammer

Traditionally when you think of hammer you think of in your face smashy fun, but not anymore. With Revenant hammer will take a few steps back out of melee range to become a ranged weapon. You’ll be able to throw magical hammers at your enemies as well as other sweet moves. One of the abilities that was highlighted is called Coalescence of Ruin. The skill creates a cascading attack that starts at your character and the damage increases with distance. This means that if you want to hit harder you have to stand back. There isn’t any mention of what the range on this attack will be, that’s most likely not something that has been finalized yet. This sounds like it will be really fun, and I love that they’re introducing new technology to the game, and along with it new moves we’ve never seen before. I’m very interested to find out if this will be a single target attack or if you could come across a bunch of enemies who happen to be very nicely lined up, smack the button and watch as the attack gets stronger with every enemy it hits as it moves away from you until the last guy just falls over dead. It’s an amusing image to say the least.

The other hammer ability that was introduced is called Field of Mists. With it, again using new technology, you create a cone field in front of you that blocks incoming projectiles. There isn’t really a whole lot more to say about this ability. It sounds like it will be helpful in a fight but I’m not really sure how it fits in. Before I pass judgement on it I’d rather wait and see what the other hammer abilities do and how it fits in with them.

 

Mace

Mace and Axe have been designed to work well together as a theme though how hasn’t really been said yet. The most important thing to know about mace is that it the attacks are direction based. That means if you aren’t pointing at your enemy you aren’t going to hit them. For some people, myself included this may cause some issues. But it does add some difficulty that I’m sure many veteran players will adore. It brings in an element of action based gameplay that hasn’t been hugely important in Guild Wars 2 up until now. The ability outlined in the article is Manifest Toxin. With it you can deliver a crushing blow with toxic energy that chains to enemies behind your target. This sounds a lot like a Guardian chain attack already in the game that I absolutely adore. I will certainly be giving mace a try, but I don’t hold out much hope of being any good at it.

 

Axe

Axe is more about utility than damage. The example given in the post talks about opening a rift that sucks enemies in. This sounds a lot like a Mesmer ability and sounds like it will work really well with the mace ability they talked about. There may be some hope for me after all! Sadly that was the last of the weapons talked about in the article, though we know more are coming. We’ve seen an image of Rytlock holding what looks like two swords, so I’ll be on the lookout for more information about that.

Just because that was the end of the weapon talk doesn’t mean it was the end of the Revenant reveal by any means. The big gimmick of this class are the Legendary Stances. These appear to be your F keys and impact the right side of your tray. Though, if that includes the heal isn’t clear just yet. Two stances were revealed.

 

Demon Stance

With Demon stance you are invoking the power of Mallyx the Unyielding, the overlord of the Domain of Anguish and a servant of Abaddon from the original Guild Wars. While Mallyx is actually kind of cute the image from the article, which you can see above is somewhat terrifying and completely awesome. The idea with the Demon stance is to collect conditions. The more conditions you have the stronger your skills become. Embrace the Darkness is the example given. It is, what is being called an upkeep skill. That is, a mode you can activate and deactivate at any time so long as you have the energy to do so. Additionally, all Demon stance skills apply a condition to yourself. Demon stance generally sounds like it’s a bit more complex than anything else we’ve played so far. I’m not yet sold on the idea, but that’s mostly because the next one has really grabbed my attention.

 

Dwarf Stance

In Dwarf Stance you are a tanking beast. You’re channeling the power of the legendary Dwarf King, Jalis Ironhammer, who again was in the first Guild Wars game. This stance is all about keeping a frightening presence on the battlefield while also sustaining yourself. The example given for this is called Vengeful Hammers and it like so many others mentioned so far also uses new technology. This ability summons hammers that fly around you damaging your foes. This ability uses the upkeep idea so you’re able to keep it active as long as you have the energy to keep it running. The most pressing thing we haven’t learned yet is how to keep your energy up. That being said, I love the idea of pairing up Hammer with Dwarf Stance and just standing my ground, destroying anything that tries to come at me. It creates a great image in my head. Of course right now there’s no way of knowing if that will actually work.

The final part of the article talks about a new boon, condition, and status effect. From the way it’s phrased it sounds like we can look forward to more than just what has been announced so far. Though I have to say what has been announced sounds like a great addition to the game. The best part is that these won’t just apply to Revenant, they’ll also be spread out amongst the professions already in the game.

 

Resistance Boon

Resistance will make it so that conditions on you have no effect for a limited time. It seems to me that this will be really important for anyone who uses the Demon stance as they’ll be trying to collect conditions (gotta catch em all!). The important thing to take note of though is that because this is a boon it can be removed by other players. This adds another layer of complexity.

 

Slow Condition

Slow is…exactly what slow sounds like. Your skills and actions are slowed. The slow allows more time for dodging or perhaps more importantly interrupting skills. There has also been a small quality of life made that will impact both slows and quickness. Currently quickness will cause your cast bar to cut out early as you’ve finished your attack. With the change the cast bar will update to take account of a quickness or slow placed on you. A very small change that really makes a world of difference.

 

Taunt Status Effect

Taunt, oh taunt is going to get a lot of people in trouble. It will cause you to involuntarily attack foes. In addition it will give you the ability to pull enemies off your more squishy friends. As an Elementalist main with severe aggro issues I thank you all in advance.

That is unfortunately the end of what we learned yesterday. New, interesting effects, Revenant is looking like it will be amazing. To be honest the only thing I want to know now (other than everything about the story) is when I can start giving ArenaNet my money. I wonder if I can get my paycheck direct deposited to ArenaNet’s bank account…