[Slayer] DPS Rework Wishlist

[nebelwerfer]

Spoiler:

Disclaimer this post was assisted by Ai

[Slayer] DPS Rework Wishlist

Hey everyone,

With the ongoing DPS Rework and inspired by the Bright Wizard Wishlist, here’s a summary of proposed ideas for improving the Slayer — focusing on class identity, flow, and impactful finishers.

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Throwing Axe (New Finisher)
A ranged finisher that scales with enemy HP. Can apply Knockdown or Snare.
Gives the Slayer a way to punish kiting and stay dangerous even outside melee.

Deathblow
+50% crit damage, guaranteed crit under 50% HP.
Finishers restore Rage if they kill an enemy, keeping momentum rolling.

Wild Swing
Higher base damage, strikethrough, better chance to crit low enemies, more range.

Exhaustive Blow System
Only 3 Exhaustives remain — Throwing Axe, Deathblow, Wild Swing.
Everything else freed from Exhaustive restrictions.

Even the Odds
Scales Toughness based on direct hits received.
Adds Disrupt for Slayer, Dodge for Choppa counterpart.

Mobility / Inevitable Doom Replacement
If ID is removed, replace it with a Leap + AoE impact + mini-punt —
a thematic mirror to Choppa’s pull, improving mobility and utility.

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These changes aim to make Slayer feel faster, freer, and more ferocious,
while keeping the spirit of a relentless, risk-driven melee DPS alive.

Full details in the post below

[nebelwerfer]

I wanted to share some thoughts on how the Slayer could be refined during the upcoming DPS overhaul.

The goal is to strengthen the Slayer’s identity as a relentless melee powerhouse — one who becomes stronger and more dangerous the closer he gets to death — while also making his core abilities more impactful and reducing the mechanical restrictions that currently hold him back.

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1. New Finisher: Throwing Axe

The Slayer needs a strong finisher with a ranged component — something that lets him strike down an escaping enemy and feel the full weight of his rage even when out of melee reach.

Concept:

• A Throwing Axe Finisher that hits enemies outside melee range.
• Scaling damage based on the target’s current HP — the lower their health, the higher the damage.
• Includes a crowd control element: Snare and/or knockdown (depending on rage level).
• Serves as the signature finisher of the Trollslayer tree — flashy, brutal, and unmistakably “Slayer”.

This gives the class a much-needed answer to kiting while enhancing its fantasy — a dwarf who will have your head, no matter how far you run.

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2. Exhaustive Blow System Revision

Right now, too many of the Slayer’s utility tools are locked behind the Exhaustive Blow system, which limits creativity and flexibility.

Proposal:

• Only three abilities remain Exhaustive, one per mastery tree:
  - Throwing Axe (Trollslayer)
  - Deathblow (Giantslayer)
  - Wild Swing (Skavenslayer)
• All other utilities become non-Exhaustive, freeing up the class flow.

This keeps the system meaningful but removes unnecessary friction from the gameplay loop.

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3. Deathblow – The True Slayer Finisher

Deathblow should feel like the ultimate execution strike of a Slayer pushed to his limits.

Proposal:

• Berserk grants +50% Critical Damage Bonus
• Guaranteed Critical Hit if the target is below 50% HP
• Finisher abilities restore Rage if they kill an enemy, maintaining the Slayer’s momentum
• Visually and audibly impactful — a true moment of rage and release

This makes Deathblow feel like the climactic “moment” every Slayer build should strive toward.

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4. Wild Swing – Brutal, Relentless, Rewarding

Wild Swing should capture the chaotic fury of a Slayer who loses himself in battle.

Proposal:

• Increased base damage and higher chance to critically hit <25% health.
• +25%, +50% strikethrough depending on rage.
• Further increased AoE while Berserk

A satisfying and thematic Skavenslayer finisher — wild, reckless, and brutally effective against weakened foes.

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5. Fierceness – Risk and Reward, Simplified

Fierceness already fits the Slayer’s high-risk design, but it can be tuned to make the tradeoff more meaningful in the current meta.

Proposal:

• Increases Critical Hit Chance
• Increases chance to receive critical hits

A straightforward risk–reward buff that fits perfectly with the Slayer fantasy.

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6. Even the Odds – Reactive and Thematic

Currently, Even the Odds feels outdated and disconnected from the Slayer’s defensive theme.
It should provide reactive, short-term survivability that fits Dwarf resilience.

Proposal:

• Instead of scaling Toughness by nearby enemies, it now scales based on the number of direct hits taken within it's duration.
• Grants a secondary defensive bonus:
  - Slayer: +Disrupt (reflecting dwarfs’ natural magical resistance)
  - Choppa counterpart: +Dodge (fits their physical, agile theme)

This makes the ability reactive, flavorful, and lore-consistent.

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7. Mobility & Inevitable Doom Replacement

If the current community consensus remains that Inevitable Doom is overtuned or unhealthy for the game, it could be replaced with a new, more dynamic mobility tool:

Proposal:

• Replace Inevitable Doom with a Leap Ability.
• On impact, causes a small AoE damage burst and a mini-punt / interrupt.
• Functions as the Slayer’s answer to the Choppa’s pull.

This would dramatically improve Slayer’s mobility and teamfight presence, while preserving balance and role symmetry with his Greenskin counterpart.

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Summary Table

| Ability | Change | Purpose |
|----------|---------|----------|
| Throwing Axe (new) | Ranged finisher, scaling damage + knockdown/snare | Solves kiting issues |
| Deathblow | +50% crit dmg, guaranteed crit <50% HP, restores Rage on kill | Core Giantslayer finisher |
| Wild Swing | More strikethrough, better chance to crit low health enemies, more range | Core Skavenslayer finisher |
| Exhaustive Blow System | Only 3 Exhaustives (1 per tree) | Frees utility, keeps structure |
| Fierceness | +Crit chance / +Crit vulnerability | Classic Slayer risk–reward buff |
| Even the Odds | Toughness + Disrupt (Slayer) / Dodge (Choppa) based on hits | Reactive defense, lore-consistent |
| Inevitable Doom (rework) | Replaced by AoE Leap with mini-punt | Mobility and symmetry with Choppa |

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Closing Thoughts

These changes aim to:

• Strengthen Slayer’s identity as an unrelenting berserker;
• Make his finishers truly satisfying and skill-defining;
• Remove needless mechanical friction from his kit; and
• Provide a more dynamic and reactive playstyle that rewards aggression and precision.

This isn’t about power creep — it’s about clarity, impact, and flavor.
Each mastery tree gets one signature finisher, while the class as a whole becomes more fluid, responsive, and faithful to the Slayer ideal.

WAAAGH? No. GRUDGES.

[Vri]

Disclaimer this post was assisted by Ai

Should have started with this ^

[nebelwerfer]

Disclaimer this post was assisted by Ai

Should have started with this ^

Fine by me, last thing I want is people feeling fooled if they make it to the end of the post

[lemao]

Throwing Axe (New Finisher)

Why it could be bad:

Undermines class weakness: Slayer is designed to be a high-pressure melee glass cannon. Giving him a reliable ranged finisher removes one of his few clear counters — kiting.

Punishes positioning disproportionately: Ranged snare/knockdown on a class already hitting hard in melee would make life miserable for healers, ranged DPS, and solo roamers.

Encroaches on other classes’ niche: Ranged punish tools are part of what gives ranged DPS and hybrid classes value. If Slayer gets that too, the meta narrows.

Deathblow Buffs

Why it could be bad:

Guaranteed crit under 50% HP is oppressive: Squishy targets would have even less counterplay when low, making fights feel “binary” — either you’re fine or you’re deleted instantly.

Rage restoration on kill rewards zerging: In large-scale fights, Slayers would sustain their Rage almost endlessly, creating a snowball effect.

Too much burst reliability: Slayer already has some of the best melee pressure; guaranteeing critical finishers would tilt kill trades heavily in their favor.

Wild Swing Upgrade

Why it could be bad:

Strikethrough + high base damage = AoE monster: This could push Slayer damage in warbands to absurd levels, rivaling or outshining dedicated AoE classes.

Longer range AoE on a melee class breaks spacing: It reduces the skill required to maintain positioning and punishes defensive play.

Power creep risk: Any flat buffs to a core spam skill can spiral quickly without nerfs elsewhere.

Exhaustive Blow System Slimdown

Why it could be bad:

Removes a built-in balancing limiter: Exhaustive Blow mechanics force decision-making and pacing. Cutting them down lets Slayers spam finishers with fewer consequences.

Less skill expression: With fewer restrictions, the skill ceiling lowers — making the class easier to play but harder to balance.

Risk of spam-rotation gameplay: Could lead to monotonous, high-output “one rotation fits all” builds.

Even the Odds (Defense Scaling)

Why it could be bad:

Erodes the glass cannon identity: If Slayer gets toughness scaling, it’s no longer living on the edge — which is the point of the class.

Blurs class lines with off-tanks: Giving a pure DPS access to scaling mitigation risks making actual tanks less relevant in certain comps.

Encourages bad play: If you get tougher just by being hit, some players might ignore positioning, expecting the passive defense to bail them out.

Mobility / Inevitable Doom Replacement (Leap)

Why it could be bad:

Mobility is already a pain point for counterplay: Adding a leap to one of the hardest-hitting melee DPS in the game removes one of the only escape tools defenders have.

Mirroring Choppa’s pull isn’t a good 1:1 trade: A leap + punt could actually be stronger, letting Slayers bypass frontline and isolate backliners freely.

Creates dive-overload comps: If multiple Slayers leap in simultaneously, fights could become nearly unwinnable for ranged groups.

Summary of why this whole rework could backfire:

It erases the Slayer’s intended weaknesses (kite vulnerability, fragility, dependence on smart Rage management).

It pushes the class toward hybrid burst + utility, which can warp both smallscale and large-scale metas.

It increases the class’ power floor so much that either it dominates or gets nerfed into frustration.

It makes other melee DPS (especially Choppa and White Lion) less unique or less desirable.

If you presented these changes to a balance team, this is exactly the type of pushback they’d give: the ideas might be fun to play as a Slayer, but they’d be terrible to play against and could destabilize the ecosystem.

[cairlaith]

I haven't been following news very well, and many people are talking about the dps rework. Could someone please tell me what exactly is going on and what developers is working on?

[gersy]

"Disclaimer this post was assisted by AI"

yeah, no. disregarded immediately sorry. slayer doesn't need 2 execute abilities lmao. these changes in general would just make the class immediately god tier, and it's already A or S tier depending on the content. most just haven't adapted or learned to play it after OP rampage was nerfed,

[Toshutkidup]

"Disclaimer this post was assisted by AI"

yeah, no. disregarded immediately sorry. slayer doesn't need 2 execute abilities lmao. these changes in general would just make the class immediately god tier, and it's already A or S tier depending on the content. most just haven't adapted or learned to play it after OP rampage was nerfed,

In no way is Slayer now A or S tier in solo. But yes I know ur gonna say it's WB game play in WB.

[Gunlinger]

Oh he will tell you Slayer is S tier all day long. That is part of his Roleplay of an Order Player.
Slayer got stripped off of it's class unique melee blob counter ability. Choppa has his unique Pull, double Channel aoe, self aoe wave dot.
But they were all after rampage. And they got what they wanted.

Right now slayer is more or less B tier. Lions clear the fights while slayers still wait to get rage up and be able to use their rage requiring skills just to then have their exhaustive blows been denied by deference moral 2 or seeing that the fight is already over.

Slayer needs a rework, not a total class change. No need to replace everything. Order already has a melee with range finishers.

Slayer needs adjustments. The changes to Accuracy at the last slayer change took out some of the classes build options. 2H slayer can no longer use 24 target flurry without bricking down his auto attack dmg by 20%. ID can no longer be used without Accuracy because of the high cooldown it gets without it. That alone deleted 2 more build options.

What the slayer needs is first of the undoing of some nerfs and limitations it had before the Accuracy change.
- ID needs to get rid of the horrible RNG duration factor since we are now forced to spend a tactic slot for this ability. So guaranteed 8 sec duration instead of 4 to 8.

- Wild swings no more RNG dmg. fix dmg number and most important a buff to its dmg. Wild Swings is an exaustive blow with 5 sec cooldown and got its dmg nerfed hard in the past.

- Pulverizing Strike and Spine Crusher finally need to switch places in the trees. The Taktic ''The bigger they are...'' reduces the cost of Spine Crusher and Deathblow. They belong in the same tree, to make use of this tactic.
Trollslayer path is about long duration fights Giantslayer path is 2H high impact attacks. Having the debuff attack and the high impact attack placed like now is just wrong.

- Buff ''Incapacitate'' knockdown. 3 sec single target knockdown that requires berserk state and exhausts rage and sits on a 20 sec Cooldown, is way to weak. Either make it last
longer, require only furious rage and or lower the cooldown.

- FIX and REPAIR!!! Runic Blessing tactic. Or just change it to be something useful like turning Shatter limbs into a self target 6 sec AOE wave like Choppas Furius stomping.


And maybe a change to Firceness. Nobody uses it anyway right now because the self debuff is not worth the buff it provides to WS. Keep the CD on 60 sec and turn it into a self boost to get instantly into first Rage stage. That way Slayer could finally take part in fights from the beginning and not have to wait 15 sec to be able to use exhaustive blows, when most of the fight is already over doe to the ever faster ttk.

[Scragmuncher]

Oh he will tell you Slayer is S tier all day long. That is part of his Roleplay of an Order Player.
Slayer got stripped off of it's class unique melee blob counter ability. Choppa has his unique Pull, double Channel aoe, self aoe wave dot.
But they were all after rampage. And they got what they wanted.

Right now slayer is more or less B tier. Lions clear the fights while slayers still wait to get rage up and be able to use their rage requiring skills just to then have their exhaustive blows been denied by deference moral 2 or seeing that the fight is already over.

Slayer needs a rework, not a total class change. No need to replace everything. Order already has a melee with range finishers.

Slayer needs adjustments. The changes to Accuracy at the last slayer change took out some of the classes build options. 2H slayer can no longer use 24 target flurry without bricking down his auto attack dmg by 20%. ID can no longer be used without Accuracy because of the high cooldown it gets without it. That alone deleted 2 more build options.

What the slayer needs is first of the undoing of some nerfs and limitations it had before the Accuracy change.
- ID needs to get rid of the horrible RNG duration factor since we are now forced to spend a tactic slot for this ability. So guaranteed 8 sec duration instead of 4 to 8.

- Wild swings no more RNG dmg. fix dmg number and most important a buff to its dmg. Wild Swings is an exaustive blow with 5 sec cooldown and got its dmg nerfed hard in the past.

- Pulverizing Strike and Spine Crusher finally need to switch places in the trees. The Taktic ''The bigger they are...'' reduces the cost of Spine Crusher and Deathblow. They belong in the same tree, to make use of this tactic.
Trollslayer path is about long duration fights Giantslayer path is 2H high impact attacks. Having the debuff attack and the high impact attack placed like now is just wrong.

- Buff ''Incapacitate'' knockdown. 3 sec single target knockdown that requires berserk state and exhausts rage and sits on a 20 sec Cooldown, is way to weak. Either make it last
longer, require only furious rage and or lower the cooldown.

- FIX and REPAIR!!! Runic Blessing tactic. Or just change it to be something useful like turning Shatter limbs into a self target 6 sec AOE wave like Choppas Furius stomping.


And maybe a change to Firceness. Nobody uses it anyway right now because the self debuff is not worth the buff it provides to WS. Keep the CD on 60 sec and turn it into a self boost to get instantly into first Rage stage. That way Slayer could finally take part in fights from the beginning and not have to wait 15 sec to be able to use exhaustive blows, when most of the fight is already over doe to the ever faster ttk.

While I disagree with Slayer being B tier, I agree with most of what was said here.
The loss of the rage build-dump with rampage, build back up for big dmg really hurt the class identity and makes it feel more of just an aoe spam class.
It's clear for the recent healer changes that the devs are interested in making sure each class has a clear identity, so I am hopeful for a solid rework for SL.
As for the changes posted above, they are cool ideas but not particularly viable unless they redesigned the class from the ground up all over again.

I would like to see a better use of the rage mechanic, a much better offensive M2, and a buff to baseline defensive stats for SL. These fairly small changes would make SL much more engaging to play and more accessible for newer players.