Torchwood ability discussion

When they added Torchwood and Hovergoat 9000 to GW2 back in the Trials of Gnomus, I was a bit surprised but pleasantly so it turned out. I love how even today, when you play Torchwood in garden ops, you're a full sized giga-torchwood in the RV, but turn to normal once you drop to the ground!

They nerfed his main weapon but it's still pretty good, especially at close range (and characters with a lot of health should be more close up types as one way to balance those that fight at long range is to give them less health; that's one of my issues with BfN's lack of drop off). I with we would have gotten that charge ability I saw in the files as an alternate ability as I'm a huge fan of the alternate abilities in GW and GW2.

Blazin Blast is extremely powerful and one reason for zombies to keep their distance, or wait till the Torchwood uses it to get in close for characters like Super Brainz that functions best in melee. It's excellent in Ops and against AI as they have poor self preservation and you can get a ton of vanquishes with it.

Smoldering Madness is a joy to use, yet not that hard to get away from as a zombie player as the individual shots don't do that much damage, it's getting caught in a stream for a persistent amount of time that makes this ability very dangerous. It's got that XP bonus for using it too!

Leaf Shield is very good but being slowed down for a character that is already a magnet for enemy fire, means that it's no free ride. I actually don't use it all that often for that very reason, but there's no denying it's a solid ability.

Long ago it seems, I posted ideas for 'Poison Oak' a toxic variant, and we've seen others too, but  how they have Acorn/Oak and Torchwood in the same game would be interesting to see. I'm definitely for that as I enjoy them all.

I am being honest here, but I personally think Torchwood is my absolute favourite character in GW2, over any other character in the game. High health, awesome abilities and lots of fun to use, and I mastered him really quite quickly. I did use him in Boss Hunts almost always.

My thoughts on his abilities here:

Blazing Blast: What the absolute heck is this ability? This ability does extreme amounts of damage, it's not even funny. I mean you are limited to close range and you are slower while using it, but huge damage and fire damage on top of all that is amazing. You can defeat any enemy hero instantly (assuming they are at full health but are hurt by your entire Blazing Blast). You may even be able to jump into a group of enemies and get multiple vanquishes this way. But wait, there's more! It does not have that long of a cooldown either, so it may even feel like you can use it whenever you want like a primary attack.

Smoldering Madness: Fun times ahead. Another definition for this ability is "all of Torchwood's weaknesses are now temporarily removed and he is even more powerful than before". 

• Torchwood is slower when attacking: Not during this ability, in fact he moves faster than normal instead of slower. He also shoots faster than normal as well.
• Torchwood cannot jump while attacking: Use this ability, and this will not be true. Jump like a Pogo Pea with this ability and you will begin to realise how fun this ability really can be.
• Torchwood does less damage at range: While using this ability, you will deal consistent damage at all ranges, along with additional fire damage. Activating sniper mode!
• Torchwood can overheat: Fair enough, all characters generally overheat or need to reload sometimes. Although use this ability and he will never overheat. Keep shooting normally and just as you are about to overheat, activate this ability. Use this if you overheat as well!

What else do you get on top of all this? Nothing, right? WRONG! Stand still and do not move around and this ability will last what feels like an entire minute. You can shoot this entire time as well so have fun with that!

Leaf Shield: So, this is what we are going to do! We are going to give the character with the most health in the game, and give them the ability to halve their damage again, or in theory, double their health temporarily. Torchwood with 550 health coming up, boss music begins, let's go in. I bet that those enemies cannot vanquish you before you have finished that revive. Yes, he moves slower while using Leaf Shield is active and he cannot activate Smoldering Madness during this time, but this is insane during lots of battles. Don't you worry if enemies get close to you and all that either, just use Blazing Blast and nothing can go wrong for any reason whatsoever (Right? Right?). Finally, if you want, cancel Leaf Shield early, up to you!

Anyway, my point is I love this character and all of his abilities, Torchwood is a fair and balanced character as well! 😉

Happy New Year!