WE - Rutheless Assault

[Krima]

Since:

**Ruthless Assault** had its range reduced from **30 ft to 5 ft**, it has become extremely difficult to consistently land a full channel. 83% range reduction

There is simply too much movement and disruption in fights, and **Witch Elf** lacks the tools needed to reliably keep targets within range for the duration of the channel. Unlike many other careers, WE does not have access to a core snare that can help secure a channel ability. As a result, investing mechanics into **Ruthless Assault** often feels unrewarding, as targets can easily move out of range before the channel completes.

Yes, pounce + ra looks good only on paper, does not help land RA, very low snare 3secs, and you land a bit far from target.

The current range reduction has left the ability significantly underperforming compared to other options. In addition, the base damage of **Ruthless Assault** is comparable to **Witch Hunter's** mirrored ability, **Trial By Pain**, yet Trial By Pain benefits from guaranteed bullet procs, providing additional damage, consistency, and utility. It also retains its **30 ft range**, making it considerably easier to use effectively.

Suggested Solution:

Increase the range of Ruthless Assault from **5 ft to 15 ft**. This would make the ability more practical and reliable without reverting it to its previous 30 ft range, while helping bring it closer in effectiveness to its mirror counterpart.

[Narfii]

RA was a trap even before the patch. Takes a full commitment to build for it and if it gets cancelled early, you lose all that damage. Probably your least efficient ability out of all of them.

[gersy]

Since:

**Ruthless Assault** had its range reduced from **30 ft to 5 ft**, it has become extremely difficult to consistently land a full channel. 83% range reduction

The current range reduction has left the ability significantly underperforming compared to other options. In addition, the base damage of **Ruthless Assault** is comparable to **Witch Hunter's** mirrored ability, **Trial By Pain**, yet Trial By Pain benefits from guaranteed bullet procs, providing additional damage, consistency, and utility. It also retains its **30 ft range**, making it considerably easier to use effectively.

yet many other mdps (sl, choppa, mara, asw, dok, wp, msh, etc) have single target 5ft channels and they function just fine or at least no one skilled really complains about them ^^. could mention the cone of fire change of 2023 making ST channels worse but most probably forgot about that by now. as for RA, like the other channels, i don't think it needs more range in all honesty - players are just acclimated to how it used to be and many fail to adapt as is the classic situation with RoR community after something in their class changes

TbP is also sitting as an underutilized ability itself, significantly worse than all other finishers. it's really only used in 1v1s when spacing and we as know this game isn't balanced for 1v1. when going for kill vs competent opponents in a group setting (like SCs) this ability is virtually never used unless you are looking to grief yourself and your teammates - in single target situations that are not a 1v1 duel it's always better to use absolution, exit wound or BAL as a finisher depending on which build you are using

additionally TbP has basically always been weaker than RA because WH does not have access to such tactics like Frenzied Mayhem to add good damage modifiers to it. some players probably remember the 100% arpen PA/RA focused build which was very meta in the past. mirroring RA's range to TbP's to begin with was a mistake by a stealth class obsessed dev from an age long past and it's finally been corrected - never made sense thematically. WE always had the better channeling build but in general this tree (for both classes) has been butchered to make way for an aoe build (even though half the abilities in those trees are single target still )

all that being said I do agree that RA needs something to make it competitive with the other finishers, especially stab and brew which just dominate the build meta for WE atm (you can even take both completely viable in same build with 6sov, furthering the issue). i would like to see RA buffed and stab/brew nerfed but i think the devs are already very aware of this. similarly a EW/TbP buff and BAL nerf are definitely in order. we'll just need to wait and see, hopefully it doesn't pan out like WL change where it took ~18 months to fix them

[Endari]

[
yet many other mdps (sl, choppa, mara, asw, dok, wp, msh, etc) have single target 5ft channels and they function just fine or at least no one skilled really complains about them ^^.

There have been MANY DoK/WP posts on how bad the heal channel is now, from some of the best on the server as well, why do you all lie to make your point. ST 5ft. channels are all bad especially with any lag.

[coldhunter]

The only one thing that devs must give WEs if they want them to stay on target - its slow. Just take bloody "Puncture" (which is most USELESS finisher in game, which no one using...) and add slow to it. Like 10% for each combo point for 12sec.
And jump must be reverted back, to be used only from stealth. That all.

yet many other mdps (sl, choppa, mara, asw, dok, wp, msh, etc) have single target 5ft channels and they function just fine or at least no one skilled really complains about them ^^

Well, the first of all, they dont need to BUILD they channeling abilitys.
Second - other mdpes has slow, which made channeling much easier.
Third - i dont know what devs done to RA, but its breaking much easier then other melee channelers. I have 2hSM and aSW, so i compare with them. Cant say anything about borks and others.

Right now RA cancled even if u target just move for 5ft in side direction. You can check all top WEs kills and you will see, that no one using RA right now. Try to guess why.
Also WE just dont have any basic finisher which is good enough, puncture doing baby dmg and dont give any debuffs/buffs, RA canceling from any movement, AoE ... well, its good (no) for aoe, not for ST. So you will use only finishers in trees and not the basic one.

[Krima]

The only one thing that devs must give WEs if they want them to stay on target - its slow. Just take bloody "Puncture" (which is most USELESS finisher in game, which no one using...) and add slow to it. Like 10% for each combo point for 12sec.
And jump must be reverted back, to be used only from stealth. That all.

yet many other mdps (sl, choppa, mara, asw, dok, wp, msh, etc) have single target 5ft channels and they function just fine or at least no one skilled really complains about them ^^

Well, the first of all, they dont need to BUILD they channeling abilitys.
Second - other mdpes has slow, which made channeling much easier.
Third - i dont know what devs done to RA, but its breaking much easier then other melee channelers. I have 2hSM and aSW, so i compare with them. Cant say anything about borks and others.

Right now RA cancled even if u target just move for 5ft in side direction. You can check all top WEs kills and you will see, that no one using RA right now. Try to guess why.
Also WE just dont have any basic finisher which is good enough, puncture doing baby dmg and dont give any debuffs/buffs, RA canceling from any movement, AoE ... well, its good (no) for aoe, not for ST. So you will use only finishers in trees and not the basic one.

Agree 100%. I never understood the idea behind Pounce or the reset after stealth. It always felt like some psychedelic design choices.

They should have kept the core gameplay intact and simply added a straightforward snare ability as core skill.

[Kyouaku]

[
yet many other mdps (sl, choppa, mara, asw, dok, wp, msh, etc) have single target 5ft channels and they function just fine or at least no one skilled really complains about them ^^.

There have been MANY DoK/WP posts on how bad the heal channel is now, from some of the best on the server as well, why do you all lie to make your point. ST 5ft. channels are all bad especially with any lag.

Yeah, I can only use it reliably on pets or engee turrets now with NA connection, the cone change does not work for people who live else ware around the world