Guild Wars 2 Breaking-down Traits

This article was shared by Vorsakan from Guildwars2guru

(Too much time on my hands - need that GW1 'feature build'! )

We actually know quite a lot about how the "roughly 100" traits of each profession are broken down, when the time is taken to organize the information.

A few basics:
> Each profession, but elementalist, has 2 profession lines that cover 4 areas in different combinations.
-> Attribute boosts (3 sets of 3).
-> Profession mechanic augmentation (e.g. death shroud, pet).
-> Utility & healing skills.
-> Innate modifiers (e.g. recover from condition X faster).
> Each profession has more traits than they can equip, and thus far each trait line we've seen has more traits than can be equipped.
> Each weapon line has traits that increase base damage/effects and traits that increase/augment critical hits (the recent GuildMag interview declared this).



Warrior
Tactics is the profession line covering utility & healing skills and - possibly - adrenaline augmentation; we have no examples of this, but the other trait line definitely covers attribute boosts and innate modifiers (individual burst skills seem to be incorprated into each weapon line - see: Extreme Evisceration).
It also covers armor boosts, though we cannot say whether that's for practical reasons (having armor boosts competing with vitality boosts would be bad) or because heavy armor is considered a profession mechanic.

> Superior Armor [Major] Gain +75 armor.
> Armor [Minor]: Gain +25 armor.
> Battle Commander [Minor] Your banners last longer.
> Minor Armor 1 [Minor] Gain +10 armor.
> Minor Armor 2 [Minor] Gain +10 armor.
> Natural Leader [Minor] (likely reduced shout recharge)
> Sentry [Minor] Signets recharge faster.
> Stance Master [Minor] (suggested to reduce stance recharge)
= 8/100

Power is the profession line covering attribute boosts and innate modifiers, of which the warrior seems to have many.

> Hatred [Major] You do 25% more damage when your health is below 50%.
> Superior Agility [Major] Gain +75 agility.
> Superior Strength [Major] Gain +75 strength.
> Superior Vitality [Major] Gain +75 vitality.
> Agility [Minor] Gain +25 agility.
> Improvisation [Minor] +10% damage with improvised weapons.
> Minor Agility [Minor] Gain +10 agility.
> Minor Strength [Minor] Gain +10 strength.
> Minor Vitality [Minor] Gain +10 vitality.
> Strength [Minor] Gain +25 strength.
> Thick Skin [Minor] You recover from bleeding 33% faster.
> Thick Skull [Minor] You recover from stun 25% faster.
> Unyielding Pace [Minor] You recover from immobility 50% faster.
> Vitality [Minor] Gain +25 vitality.
= 22/100

Having the largest armory, warriors have far more trait lines than the other professions we've seen (though elementalists could conceivably surpass them).
Warriors have 4 two-handed weapon lines, 3 main hand weapon lines & 5 off hand weapon lines.
Furthermore; warriors have the most attack chains in the game, contributing 2 more traitable candidate to all 6 melee two-handed/main hand lines.

Longbow
> Longbow Mastery [Major]
> Raider [Major] Your critical attacks with a longbow cause burning.
> Merciless Barrage [Minor]
> Punishing Pin Down [Minor]
> Improved Arcing Shot [Minor]
Axe, main hand
> Axe Mastery [Major]
> Executioner [Major] While wielding an axe, you are 20% more likely to get critical hits.
> Extreme Evisceration [Major]
> Improved Triple Chop [Minor]
> Malicious Accuracy [Minor]: Throw Axe causes crippling and is a critical hit against a fleeing enemy.
> Slayer [Minor] While wielding an axe, you are 5% more likely to get critical hits.
Axe, off hand
> Off Hand Axe Mastery [Minor] Your off hand axe attacks do more damage.
Mace, main hand
> Unknown trait that causes critical hits to inflict vulnerability.
Sword, main hand
> Swordmastery [Major] Your sword attacks do more damage.
> Swordsmanship [Major] Your sword attacks inflict bleeding.
> Unknown trait increasing critical chance of Final Thrust
> Unknown trait halving recharge of Savage Leap
Warhorn
> Unknown trait that causes Charge! to apply regeneration.
= 40/100

Now for the specualtion...

If we assume that main hand axe is indicative of other main hand weapons, that would be 3 major and 3 minor each.
> A major "mastery" that increases damage - Swordmastery and Off Hand Axe Mastery support this.
> A major upgrading the burst skill, possibly.
> Another major enhancement; I kind of expect 1 affecting criticals (e.g. Executioner) and 1 affecting base attacks (e.g. Swordmanship), but we'll assume 3 majors total for now.
> A minor enhancing the chain finale (supported by what we know of the sword).
> A minor enhancing the skill in slot 2 or 3.
> A minor enhancing base damage or critical chance
= 47/100

We only know of 5 longbow traits, but two-handed lines surely must have at least as many as main hand weapon lines, since they have 2 more skill slots and an extra minor slot.
Even if we speculate 7 (which seems conservative) per weapon to accomdate the extra skills vying for a minor trait, that takes us to 70/100.

Across all professions, off hand lines have been shown to offer a trait for each of the 2 skills individually - but Off Hand Axe Mastery already bucks the trend by presenting us with a trait that augments the off hand axe in general.
If we assume that's off hand warrior weapons recieve an additional "mastery" minor and otherwise stick with 2 traits per off hand line, we arrive at 82/100.

We know - with varying certainty - of 2 more profession line traits; reduced weapon change cooldown & increased shout area/targets (it's confusing).
It would seem a strange oversight to not have quick recovery traits for crippling & weakness, given they are equally formidable anti-melee traits, taking us to 86/100.

It would be very nice to revisit and allocate 1 more minor trait for each main hand weapon, to augment the 2nd or 3rd slot skill that wasn't covered earlier; it would just seem odd for those to be left out when almost every other weapon skill has a dedicated trait.
Similarly; an extra 2 traits for each two-hander would allow each of their skills to receive a dedicated trait too, taking us to 100/100.

Any traits remaing (is only "roughly 100" after all) could easily be allocated to adrenaline (we've seen 0 traits so far), specific utility & healing skills (0 of these so far) or utility & healing types (we're missing a banner recharge reduction at the least).

That draws us this map of the warrior traits:

Tactics [10+]
2+ Major
> 1 Armor
> 1 Weapon switching
8+ Minor
> 3 Armor
> 5 Utility/healing skill types
-> 2 Shout
-> 1 Banner
-> 1 Signet
-> 1 Stance

Power [16]
4 Major
> 3 Attributes
> 1 Innate modifier
12 Minor
> 6 Attributes
> 6 Innate modifiers
-> 5 Condition/effect recovery
-> 1 Improvised

Two-handed weapon [9]
3 Major
> Burst
> Critical
> Damage
6 Minor
> 1 Critical/damage
> 5 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 1 (3rd skill of chain in the case of melee weapons)
-> Skill slot 2
-> Skill slot 3
-> Skill slot 4
-> Skill slot 5

Main hand weapon [7]
3 Major
> Burst
> Critical
> Damage
4 Minor
> 1 Critical/damage
> 3 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 1 (3rd skill of chain)
-> Skill slot 2
-> Skill slot 3

Off hand weapon [3]
3 Minor
> 1 Critical/damage
> 2 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 4
-> Skill slot 5

Off hand non-weapon armament [2]
2 Minor
> 2 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 4
-> Skill slot 5


Necromancer
Soul Reaping is the profession line covering attribute boosts and profession mechanics - quite narrow, but we've been promised lots of death shroud goodies await (I believe!).

> Superior Intelligence [Major] Gain +75 intelligence.
> Superior Vitality [Major] Gain +75 vitality.
> Superior Willpower [Major] Gain +75 willpower.
> Death Strike [Minor] Create a blast of energy when you enter Death Shroud.
> Intelligence [Minor] Gain +25 intelligence.
> Minor Intelligence [Minor] Gain +10 intelligence.
> Minor Vitality [Minor] Gain +10 vitality.
> Minor Willpower [Minor] Gain +10 willpower.
> Shade [Minor] Cannot be knocked back, knocked down, launched, slowed, or stunned while in Death Shroud.
> Soul Stealer [Minor] You accumulate life force faster.
> Vitality [Minor] Gain +25 vitality.
> Willpower [Minor] Gain +25 willpower.
= 12/100

Blood Rituals is the profession line covering innate modifiers and utility & healing augmentation, of which necromancers look to have lots.
It looks to be a very busy & important trait line, but I cannot personally see the innate modifiers on offer being much competition - so this may be the closest to a dedicated utility trait line as any profession is going to get!

> Blood Pact [Major] Your sacrifices require less health.
> Blood Scribe [Minor] Mark skills recharge faster.
> Leyline Mastery [Minor] Wells last longer and recharge faster.
> Malevolence [Minor] Conditions you inflict on enemies last longer.
> Pure Blood [Minor] You recover from poison faster.
> True Blood [Minor] Your sacrifice skills do more damage.
> Unknown trait that causes summons to regenerate health.
> Unknown trait that increases fiends summoned by Bone Fiend to 2.
> Unknown trait that increases minions summoned by Bone Minions to 5.
> Unknown trait that causes Putrid Explosion to grant you health.
> Unknown trait that causes Putrid Explosion to grant you life force.
= 23/100

N.B. That lasts could be a Soul Reaping trait, since it encompasses both utility & profession mechanic.

Necromancers have the smallest weapon skill selection so far, with a respectable number of armaments but no attack chains or profession mechanics to bolster them.

Axe
> Improved Rending Claws [Major] Critical hits with Rending Claws cause extra bleeding.
> Skull Splitter [Major] Critical hits cause vulnerability.
> Axe Expertise [Minor] You are more likely to get critical hits with axes.
> Axe Mastery [Minor] Your axe attacks do more damage.
> Leech [Minor] Your axe attacks steal life.
> Longer Ghostly Claws [Minor] Ghastly Claws last longer.
> Unholy Feaster [Minor] Unholy Feast recharges faster.
Dagger, main hand
> Necrotic Force [Major] Necrotic Bite becomes a ranged attack.
> Barbed Dark Pact [Minor] Bleeding caused by Dark Pact lasts longer.
Dagger, off hand
> Life Blood [Minor] Mark of Blood heals for more.
> Weaken the Blood [Minor] Enfeebling Blood lasts longer.
Focus
> Deadly Life Blast [Minor] Your Life Blast deals more damage.
Warhorn
> Plague of Locusts [Minor] Locust Swarm last longer.
> Poisoning Doom [Minor] Wail of Doom creates a poison cloud.
= 37/100

Now for the speculation...

The axe repetoire is very informative:
2 Majors, but both are critical orientated; note that the slot 1 skill enhancement is a major for necromancers, which the main hand dagger line confirms to be a trend.
5 Minors; and note this time the damage increasing "mastery" is a minor in contrast to the warrior - presumably necromancers split their attention more with the latter half of their skillbar, so the emphasis is more on making individual attacks count more rather than the perpetual offense of warriors.
As anticipated, the skills in slots 2 & 3 each receive a dedicated minor trait.

In the absence of any contradictory information then, I'll punt for necromancers having 7 traits for each main hand weapon - but with a 2|5 split - taking us to 49/100.
I see the possibility of a 3rd major, but with "mastery" demoted to minor there's not really any need according to the core philosophies outlined at the top of this post; if anything, necromancers are already in a superior position for being able to a] combine base damage increases with a +20% critical rate boost and b] being able to augment 2 of their main hand skills at once (warriors can do neither).

In the convention build, the warhorn & off hand dagger each literally only had those 2 skill-centric traits.
There isn't any demand for a "mastery" style 3rd trait as there was for warriors, because Life Blast is the only pure off hand offensive skill in the entire necromancer arsenal (and it already has a damage boosting trait!) - those armaments just aren't in need of general enhancements.
So at a mere 2 traits each, we're only unaware of 1 to take us to an even 50/100.

The staff is a complete enigma, and potentially a trait sink; if it incorporates even 1 minion skill that alone could consume 3-4 extra traits.
But we'll play safe and assume it stretches to 3 major (5 set skills = more potential for all-encompassing enhancements) and 7 minor; 4 for skills 2-5 plus 3 for the kind of miscellanous effects we saw with main hand axe.
That takes us to 60/100, but leaves us all out of armaments!

Soul Reaping still has much potential; at the very least we need to see some more majors as we've none besides the attribute boosts - and those won't exactly be compelling at level 80 when +75 is a pittance.
I'm just making up numbers here, but let's guess...
> 3 More majors; life force, death shroud & death shroud skill 1.
> 5 More minors; death shroud skills 2a & 2b, 3, 4 plus 1 more innate death shroud modifier.
That takes us to 68/100 without stretching credibility too far.

Blood Rituals has only a single confirmed major - I'd say summons health regeneration is also a candidate to be, while we know one or both of the extra summoning rituals definitely aren't major as they can be used at the same time - so it's got to have more.
Furthermore; Blood Pact looks to be just dreadful (I cannot even imagine what combination of utility sacrifice skills could make that effect look good), so I'm guessing we're missing at least 3 major traits - sufficient to cover minions masters and necromancer builds which don't focus on minions or sacrifice.
That takes us to 71/100.

I don't believe Blood Rituals will get away with only 1 condition counter, and really some snare counters could be quite attractive in PvP; I'll guess 4 more - crippled, immobilized, stunned and (purely for flavor) bleeding.
I've not the foggiest what the final utility tally will be, but I'm guessing it's very high; we know there are more summoning spells to come, and in all honesty I can see necromancers getting to augment each other individual utility skill too - with so few weapon skills, they can lavish equal treatment on slots 6-9 in ways that warriors cannot possibly accomodate.
Minion mastery is most definitely a big deal, but my suspicion is that a necromancer can drop any 3 of their 20ish utility skills in place and be able to augment each 1 individually.

In fact I wouldn't even be tempted to revisit the earlier sections, and would simply speculate that the profession lines eat up all the remaining traits to finish at/under the 100 mark!

That draws up this outline of the necromancer's traits:

Soul Reaping [20+]
6+ Major
> 3 Attributes
> 3 Profession mechanics
14+ Minor
> 6 Attributes
> 8 Profession mechanics

Blood Rituals [19++]
4++ Major
> 4 Utilty & healing
15++ Minor
> 9 Utility & healing
> 5 Innate modifiers (all condition/effect recovery)

Staff [10]
3 Major
> 2 Universal
> 1 Skill specific (skill slot 1)
7 Minor
> 4 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 2
-> Skill slot 3
-> Skill slot 4
-> Skill slot 5
> 3 Universal

Main hand weapon [7]
2 Major
> Skill specific (skill slot 1)
> Universal
5 Minor
> 3 Universal (including at least 1 critical/damage)
> 2 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 2
-> Skill slot 3

Off hand armament [2]
2 Minor
> 2 Skill specific
-> Skill slot 4
-> Skill slot 5