Patch Notes 18/12/2025

[SpacestarKid]

- Ruthless Assault - Range reduced from 30 to 5 ft.

Errr

WE's use daggers.

They just literally removed this class from the game.

[zgolec]

So... Now WE got leap w/o shadows and WH still have 0 gap closer...?

Mkay...

[Skayrimets]

no bg buffs?...

[Unionofchaos]

no bg buffs?...

You maybe can’t read ? It’s balance patch for mdps class not for useless TANK dps.

So really nice to see Mara nerf more to the ground now PB again nerfed a 10 sec on impale ! This class losing more his identity. I think you don’t even play this class to do those kind of nerf ffs.

All those balance patch are fail to fail in general only rework for rvr and other things are good. You really should fire the balance team

[Akalukz]

So basically, fake nerf to WL aoe (less armor pen to 2 skills) offset by a larger nerf to Mara aoe and single target (all skills requiring mutations)

Good to see that the bias is still there. Was there anything in the patch pro destro?

[Ruin]

So basically, fake nerf to WL aoe (less armor pen to 2 skills) offset by a larger nerf to Mara aoe and single target (all skills requiring mutations)

Good to see that the bias is still there. Was there anything in the patch pro destro?

why do you say fake nefr for WL, those 2 skills are 85% of WL AOE, as lion only have 3 aoe skills

[Shieldslam]

After reading all the complaints over the past few months about various classes I didn't have too much hope going into this rework since there seem to be way too different opinions on certain topics that it's hard to find a middle ground that'd fit everyone, especially since tank rebalance made me stop playing my beloved BG. Anyway, based on my findings and a day of playing here's the wall of text about what I think so far:

Spoiler:

Regarding White Lion:
1. Damage for ST didn't get touched too much besides a bit of petdmg (which is fine, it should be a PET not the main dps unless you spec into right tree in which the petdmg is still absolutely fine)
2. Obviously AOE got tuned down but I think it's more or less universally agreed upon that AOE WL just had a bit too much dmg
3. Pull adjustment is acceptable too, it was a bit too oppressing at certain times
4. Petheal change is an amazing change, especially in the combination with the new tactic for it

As a WL player myself I'm really happy with the changes (well, mostly pet heal tbh). However, there are also some things I think could have been looked at:
1. Left tree (path of the hunter) 3 pt tactic. It increases Lion's Fury damage from 568 to 735 (for me, that's an increase of 29,4%) and reduces AP cost by 15. It has not been changed and has absolutely no use, the entire class apart from Echoing Roar and Lion's Fury is entirely physical and as such is being built on weapon skill. It's not the case like it is with some other classes (like Chosen or WE) where focusing on magical damage is even remotely viable. On top of that it's a 5 second cd ability doing nothing but damage, no additional effect. It's practically a dead tactic. For some reason it also happens to be in the tree which is SPECIFICALLY meant to be stacking WS for AOE.
2. Left tree (path of the hunter) 7 pt tactic has been reworked to now grant all groupmembers the ability to have a 20% chance (10% without) to apply the DoT from "Trained to Hunt" which sounds really nice but if you consider a 2/2/2 setup you end up with only 4 people who could possibly procc it (if tanks aren't using HTL) and it scales off of THEIR stats so since the damage is physical as far as I know your tanks will apply the DoT for practically negative dmg. I really, really was hoping this'd simply be a base tactic and the 7 pt would instead be something you can actually use when going right tree (pet build) too. It certainly will add scoreboard damage but the damage is so low with a 20% procc that it'll seem like "a lot" (same as Engi/Magus spreading DoTs) but doesn't help at all. Would have been so much better if middle tree (Axeman) 7 pt or 11 pt were left tree 6 pt, that'd give a lot more variety to the class.
3. Middle tree (Axeman) 3 pt tactic still has no use ever either. Makes your 9 sec DoT apply a 50% build up reduction, sounds acceptable if it wasn't for the fact that WL literally eats any kind of caster in seconds, having this in a path with an execute AND healing debuff just doesn't add up. It was, and still will be, a tactic without use that could have been entirely reworked.
4. Right tree (Guardian, pet one) 11 pt tactic provides a 10% chance to disrupt and ~550 armor for 15s when using Baiting Strike - it has its uses and it's not a horrible tactic due to the armor alone but I was hoping it'd either give 10% parry as well to you AND your lion or instead of disrupt, that'd possibly make a parry build for WL viable (2x 10% tactic for 20% total). Though as a 11 pt it feels rather weak and it'd be much more thematic for the tree if it was to provide some kind of defensive buff (like it is right now, armor) to yourself and at the same time a buff (like str/ws) to your pet.
5. Overall I think WL suffers from lack of useable talents. I constantly find myself wanting to change something but there just isn't much to choose from since they are seperated into ST/AOE/Pet focused ones.

As for the other classes, the only ones I can talk about are WH/WE. WH seems to basically not have many changes besides AOE stuff, people were excited about the new ranged meme builder but after trying it on test server and seeing a 10s cd I knew it'd not be viable as a standalone thing. For solo they're still practically tied to left/right tree because of RB and KD/Oil, mid wasn't and still isn't viable in smallscale sadly which is unfortunate.

On the contrary I'm VERY worried about WE, I see a lot of doomposting here calling the class dead because of RA range reduction but I'm on the other end thinking it'll be way too strong. Gapcloser on 30s cd, resets on entering stealth is so damn valueable. Heartrender out of stealth gives you a guaranteed burst of like 2k with autoattacks included due to wounds reduction. They certainly lost some things like absorb when leaving stealth which is great, though still have the silly absorb on being crit so def WE is still a thing just with more dmg (why?) unfortunately. With the change of when Frenzy decays (30s now instead of 20s) it means it's even easier to abuse Witch Brew before a fight, I won't explain how exactly to not give anyone ideas but those who know know. Though going through my scoreboard fights from yesterday I haven't seen a single WE use Heartrender yet, do people not realise how strong it is now or does it work differently than described in the notes? The class gets A LOT of free stats now (even before) so I'm not sure if the changes went overboard on it but to an extend I'm almost jealous of all the amazing tactics WE have now. Oh also, reaaaally cool new "excute" finisher in Blade Spin, I'm thinking about playing WE next to be honest since they now have multiple viable builds and not just WB/EB spam. Wish all the classes got a rework as diverse and fitting as WE, so really well done. Might need some adjustments but overall a great foundation to work with in the future.

[normanis]

in guild we done some maths and new version of flurry with accuracy is shitter than previous.
p.s maby there is wrong describtion in patch notes.
''The wording here. Previously it reduced the base dmg before bonuses applied, now it reduces the total dmg by 15% after all the other bonuses have been applied''
is it just misunderstended reading patch notes or its changed formula?
also bonus damage is 1.0 instead off 1.2

[Krima]

The Carnage tree for Witch Elf (WE) currently feels like a total mess. Is this tree supposed to be the AoE specialization? Many players historically used it as a single-target spec.

Why was Ruthless Assault damage nerfed, and why was its range reduced to 5 feet? This feels very inconsistent compared to Trial by Pain, which has access to the same armor penetration tools as WE (25% from a tactic + 25% from elixir).

Slice damage is also very low. Can both classes have a version of Slice / Razor Strike reverted closer to their original values? Please note that this ability costs 40 AP and does not ignore armor. Its base damage should be higher than Torment / Agonizing Wounds.

Tactics

Sharpened Edge
Damage increased from 225 to 262. Internal cooldown reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second.
Despite this change, almost nobody is using it. The damage still needs to be increased.

Elixir of Insane Power
Armor Penetration reduced from 50% to 25%. Now additionally increases movement speed by 50% for 7 seconds. If any ability is used, the movement speed effect immediately ends.
I would much rather keep the 50% armor penetration, or have straight movement speed without it breaking on ability use. This feels like a very strange mix of effects in a single skill.

With all these changes combined, the Carnage tree feels significantly weaker and lacks a clear role.

[Shogun4138]

The Carnage tree for Witch Elf (WE) currently feels like a total mess. Is this tree supposed to be the AoE specialization? Many players historically used it as a single-target spec.

Why was Ruthless Assault damage nerfed, and why was its range reduced to 5 feet? This feels very inconsistent compared to Trial by Pain, which has access to the same armor penetration tools as WE (25% from a tactic + 25% from elixir).

Slice damage is also very low. Can both classes have a version of Slice / Razor Strike reverted closer to their original values? Please note that this ability costs 40 AP and does not ignore armor. Its base damage should be higher than Torment / Agonizing Wounds.

Tactics

Sharpened Edge
Damage increased from 225 to 262. Internal cooldown reduced from 2 seconds to 1 second.
Despite this change, almost nobody is using it. The damage still needs to be increased.

Elixir of Insane Power
Armor Penetration reduced from 50% to 25%. Now additionally increases movement speed by 50% for 7 seconds. If any ability is used, the movement speed effect immediately ends.
I would much rather keep the 50% armor penetration, or have straight movement speed without it breaking on ability use. This feels like a very strange mix of effects in a single skill.

With all these changes combined, the Carnage tree feels significantly weaker and lacks a clear role.

This is accurate. As well as other tactics not stacking with abilities. I thought that was changed.