[SL] why so unpopular?

[Aebel]

I feel like I'm constantly tripping over Choppas but I feel like I never see Slayers. I know no class is a perfect mirror to the other faction but what makes Choppa so much more popular than Slayers and why is Slayer so unpopular in general?

[Sever1n]

Slays where hited hard with nerf hammer, meta changed into lions+bw spam. They still used but a lot of slayers mains where morallly obliterated by nerfing rampage, id, aoe tactics, and as final drop ws parry lose wich slays had a lot. So a lot of slay mains droped them for WL or BW. Maybe situation will stabilise when we finaly see dps classes rewor, till then slays are in weird spot.

[Khailee]

They were the FOTM class for like a decade or so and every 2nd char in Altdorf was a slayer. When they finally got nerfed all FOTMers had long been bored of their slayers.

The odd soloers have also vanished because they appeared to be angry about the changes which effected them moreso than group slayers. Group slayers are still playable just not FOTM.

[Speedyluck]

almost all my slayer friends rerolled sth else or quitted.

[billyk]

I feel like I'm constantly tripping over Choppas but I feel like I never see Slayers. I know no class is a perfect mirror to the other faction but what makes Choppa so much more popular than Slayers and why is Slayer so unpopular in general?

Choppa has mobility and survivability, Slayer only has fluff aoe damage. SL was never the powerhouse Destro claimed they were, even at the best of times they were rare because the AoE build was lackluster and for single target DPS, WL was (and is) better due to pounce and better debuffs.

[bw10]

no reason to stare at naked dwarf if its not good class anymore. choppas always had great aesthetic so many stuck with them. but yeah, sl used to be good. once i hit over a million damage in nordwatch sc only pressing tab and ID with -5 sec cd tactic (it was a stalemate).

[what63]

Pretty simple, Whirling Axe is probably the most drastically buffed single ability in the game when taking into account actual ability damage buff and supporting tactics buffs. Shatter Limbs was nerfed along with a significant increase to Slayer throughput. So WL got more damage, SL got more damage, but SL utilility was pretty gutted meaning they now compete almost exclusively on raw damage, mobility and ability to stay alive. WL is a clear winner, even in a hypothetical scenario where SL would deal significantly more damage.

SL started out as a utility pick through shatter limbs and had far less throughput than BW. But the trend has been to turn more and more DPS into pure damage classes while removing or significantly nerfing their unique utilities, meaning whatever classes dish out the most damage relative to mobility and survivability are clear winners, and the only way to buff/nerf is to give and take away stuff in these departments. As such, SL needs to deal an utterly imbalanced amount of damage to be ""popular"" as they lack in the other areas relative to WL.

Similar logic is also why engi for example simply isn't viewed favourably these days as opposed to back in the day, where the engi pull was great for both offensive and defensive pulls. The damage on the melee DPS went up so much that it became all about capitalizing on the higher mobility to just drive through people with raw damage. WL with their reach cannibalized the meta years aggo to a fair degree, and now with SL taking even a minor hit, WL is very much IT.

End of the day, WL throughput needs to be adjusted to match their actual kit. That's not to say SL needs to be buffed, because this aint the case, in all honestly both were buffed way past what the rest of the game could take. Same goes for stuff on the destro side. The general TTK complaints have nothing to do with avoidance formula changes or the likes, they are down to deep issues with powercreep introduced over years. The game went from classes having a fine balance between mobility, utility, survivability and damage, to being all focused on damage. Granted, there were always outright BAD picks and WL was one of them, but the approach accross the board neglected to account for anything but throughput both when adjusting these up, and while bringing the popular picks down (which frankly didn't happen apart from ranged squig/SW bomb, that were entirely deleted for a few years until reworks happened.).

[agemennon675]

I love the slayer skill kit I dont want to play as a dwarf

[Everdin]

... The game went from classes having a fine balance between mobility, utility, survivability and damage, to being all focused on damage. Granted, there were always outright BAD picks and WL was one of them, but the approach accross the board neglected to account for anything but throughput both when adjusting these up, and while bringing the popular picks down (which frankly didn't happen apart from ranged squig/SW bomb, that were entirely deleted for a few years until reworks happened.).

The problem is people still complaining about balance, cause they are not able to use utility, so answer was ... damage, even the thinest light understand "unga bunga, higher damage, more better"

OT: Beside aesthetic, there is no reason not to play slayer anymore, still good enough, still brings good damage on the table, still can be a big pain in the axe for the enemy

[Nelly74]

Quite simply because the Slayers were massacred following several consecutive nerfs. Today, an SL has little interest as it's no longer part of the meta. In solo play, it’s not even worth mentioning. Only Toshu or Rorhi are still running the campaign, from what I observe from the back of my wolf.