[SW] Assault Discussion

[Manatikik]

Alrighty fellas I think enough time has passed with the new Assault changes that those of us who were going to test them have and have had enough time to adapt and find our own style with it. So I think its about time we have a nice discussion about what we're doing. how we feel assault stance stands currently, and any other changes we think could help it out.

Personally I find that there is two effective ways to play the Assault SW now: solo (or duo) roaming in ORvR looking for 1v1/2's and small fights to grab some kills with surprise burst AND running with a WW SM 6 man in SC's with a dedicated Guard + WW for BA/SA + VoN spam cheese burst. Clearly Assault isn't made for large scale RvR or even a real 6v6 situation.

I've personally found success with this build: Assault SW RR 60 - I still can't decide if i like WS or NR more. I talked to Katjarn a bit and he said he drops SA (unless he's running with a WW SM) and WS and uses IA, NR, BE, and MS for most situations. I'm considering dropping WS for BE but I really like SA for the solo roaming because it crits for so hard and allows you to 1v1 every MDPS and melt SH/Sorcs before the end of your KD.

For when I eventually hit RR 70 I think you could find a lot more group and roam success with this build: RR 70 Build - and be more of a true hybrid with sustained damage from ranged with some kiting and then coming in melee with EW and BA for finishing people off; could even drop SA for NR if you feel EW needs an extra kick.

Currently gear wise I'm just running full conq with bs/ws talis, 45/45 SC weapons with ws talis, 3 piece BL, 2 genesis, and empire t4 orvr jewel. Pretty squishy but with WS and my high WS Parrying usually helps make up for my lower toughness with IA slotted. Still working on full Dom but when I get it I'll test it out to see how it goes; may try a 3 dom/3 conq here pretty soon (lose out on a lot of crit but gain more base bs + str and defensive stats).

Personally I feel like Assault SW is in a pretty decent spot currently and is strong in a 1v1/cheese build but isn't overperforming to a MDPS level nor are they too powerful from range + strong melee (though this might change with a the RR 70 build). You're biggest areas of weakness are getting too easily kited/cc'd in melee and not having a gap closer or your RKD its hard to catch up with Healers/RDPS unless you get the drop in ORvR or they just mess up badly.

One big change that I think could be cool but may be too powerful would be to have Swift Strikes speed buff persist 2-3 seconds after you end the channel or until you use an ability. That way you can sling shot off of one enemy to reach the backlines faster OR use it to disengage a little easier and set yourself up for a more medium-range kite.

What are your guys' thoughts on the current state of ASW and what are you guys doing differently than I am?

[Skalier]

This is my build is assault. All stance is very nice, but Mastery tree from this path is totally terrible and should be reworked.

http://www.ror.builders/career/shadow-warrior

Just spam Eagle eye + Acid Arrow and knock down enemy when he attack me as melee attack. 24% range crit.

[Darosh]

I sadly don't have SW in a relevant leven range, however:
I'd be interested in seeing a IB/SW duo roam in the lakes/perform in (pug) scenarios - the parrybuff, the level of WS a SW can reach and the guard (and occassional htl/wp buff) should allow the SW to go more glassy. The critbuff comes in handy, too, as does the good (high uptime) CC kit of the IB whenever its time bugger off and leave melee range.

Imho, Assault SW might work really well in a roaming 6man - (on paper, i.e. with a well crafted and organized group) you can jump into melee range, deliver quite a burst and relatively easy and safely leave it again to free up the guard for swaps.

On a sidenote: In lower tiers - where there are only pugs - one can use WP as a gap closer and makeshift pounce, provided the situation allows it. Maybe a WL/SM/SW/x/x/x group would be fun ~ dem evil pouncy pointy-ears.

[Skalier]

DPS in Assault is incomparably worse than the one that makes normal mdps and these abilities should be improved.

Brutal Assault even with tactic Sinister Assault is useless with 5sec CD, another stupid skill Sweeping Slash with 10 sec CD. Merciless Soldier tactic is useless too, should give any another bonus.

But these are not the only changes needed. The biggest change should be the exchange of skills:

-Festering Arrow as 13th point ability in scout stance.
(with reduced CD and cast time)
-Flame Arrow as 9th point ability in scout stance.
(but aslo could be 13th point if enought buffed)
-Lileath's Arrow as 13th point ability in skirmish stance.
-Fell The Weak as 5th point ability in scout stance.
-Glass Arrow as core ability.
-Vengeananceof Nagarythe as 40th lvl ability.

At least I see it that way.

[dansari]

This is what I'm running (rr70). I love it. Gives me the utility from Skirmish that I need and the burst up front when solo mdps get cheeky. But, like you said... really only good in pug situations.. small skirmish rvr type stuff or pug scs. Haven't really tested it with a WW SM.
RoR.builders - Shadow Warrior

[dansari]

Gotta agree with Torque. The Assault changes were really nice. You feel strong in Assault now, as opposed to before. You're not quite as strong as an mdps, but the balance is certainly much closer than before, especially with WS now counting towards parry. I think I'd just like to see some strong updates to Scout and maybe small tweaks here and there to Assault and it would be golden (since it's not super great in 6v6, and even worse in wb, the potential to update it is there).

[Manatikik]

Yea I'd say anyone who thinks BA and MS are bad is pretty clueless to the SW class as a whole...

@Dan - what tweaks do you want to see? More utility to make life a little easier or something like sweeping slash into s more attractive pick up? And you seem to be playing more of a Skirnisher Lite build that has burst on melee; do you find yourself actually using the range of PD as much and spending most of your time in Skirmish?

[Manatikik]

Sweeping slash, on crit with Merciless Soldier does crazy good numbers, its a little short but it does very nice burst for an aoe, swift strikes also wrecks casters. I would kind of like it to have a rootbreak but then it still has range potential so it gets tough in terms of what to distribute.

Could swap its position in the tree with Sweeping Slash to make it less appealing to ranged specs. Definitely can't give Assault too many toys though or it makes Skirm specs too strong for sure.

[Skalier]

Merciless Soldier Tactic which provides this utility to Assault shadow warriors - Direct damage Assault melee attacks (Opportunistic Strike, Grim Slash, Exploit weakness, Counterstrike, Brutal assault, Sweeping Slash) will do 50% extra critical damage. The DoT (Draw Blood) and channel ability (Swift Strikes) have a 25% increased chance to critically hit. (technical reasons for the split functionality) is also useless? Im not quite sure what you are smoking but it sounds potent......

- 25% chance of a Melee AA speed proc to 33%
- Increased Melee AA damage while in Assault stance by 65%
- 10% parry

I visit the forum 30 times a day and did not know about it. I believe in what is written on skills.
If it's like you say it's cool. It's good that someone told me that.

[Ramas]

One thing I may lack at melee SW is melee detaunt. I know about tactic. But it could be better if we can have something like this:
Distracting Shot - (When in Assault Stance) detaunts all enemies withing 30 ft for 15 sec. CD 30 sec.