SW feedback 2026/7/23 Patch Nite

[FeelFreeToDie]

We lose the previous no positional requirement on Brutal Assault given by VoN, AND the armor bonus... I guess in real combat position, Brutal assault will not connect so easily against high parry targets, especially since facetanking is very easy...

The inconvenient with this patch is 3s CD is "too short" to be used considering the amount of debuffs and DoTs aSW need to place within a 10s rotation window :
- Crosscut
- Draw Blood
- Grim Slash (if you play with Wrist slash) every 20s
- Shadow Sting
- Now Opportunistic Strike

So trying to spam Brutal assault because it's 3s cd under VoN will lock you out of 1.Possible debuffs/DoTs refresh and 2.hit windows because you cannot use BA from front now, leading into not so useful cd reduction.

I honestly prefered the old "no positional" under VoN because you could at least connect 2-3 hits of brutal assault into a 15s window, instead of trying to hit from facetanking enemy and losing a ton of seconds trying to make BA work.

Draw blood, shadow sting, grim slash and crosscut(after patch) should be used before you use VoN. Opportunistic strike should be used after kd, then ba, then swift strikes and after that another ba(with snare from new kd and movespeed from swift strikes you can easily get your opponent back)

Why would i do that rotation ? If i can deal with everything with rotation on the video.

I didn't watch it because i can't right now :> whats in there?you hitting a target dummy or person who stand still without turning his toon or detaunt your burst? I was talking about real fight tests, but dont get me wrong, im not trying to teach you or something. Its just whats work for me. You do you :> Whats your aSW name at Live btw ? :>

[Fenris78]

Recording a particularly lucky construct combat with 50%+ crit on average is not what I call representative of global efficiency of the class.

I could already do this amount of DPS with the actual aSW without using any ranged skill outside of shadow sting. And with 26% crit chances without bullseye.

[Rugal]

Recording a particularly lucky construct combat with 50%+ crit on average is not what I call representative of global efficiency of the class.

It's not lucky, it's a consistent result of 1350-1450 DPS with 6.5k 3sec burst and 4.5k 1sec burst. That's my problem.

I could already do this amount of DPS with the actual aSW without using any ranged skill outside of shadow sting. And with 26% crit chances without bullseye.

I highly doubt.

No Bull's Eye. Instinctive Aim, Merciless Soldier, No Respite, Sinister Assault are my tactics.
Critical hit Chance is 43%, Damage Bonus is 224, armor pen is 51.1%.

Also still available for 1v1 on PTS, just contact me and we allign testing. Any career, any build.

[Orontes]

I don't think much of the original post. Just pure emotion. SW AOE spam was overpowered and mindless. Scout stance was boring and FESTERING arrow didn't fester. It was an instant damage. Shouldn't FESTERING arrow, um, fester? I'm only disappointed it can't be on the move now. Lileath's Arrow was hitting too hard. Glass Arrow hit too hard and makes better sense being an early scout mastery. Flame arrow hit too hard and makes better sense in scout (bc lighting an arrow on fire isn't a quick shot). Steady Aim makes more sense on a single target. It actually makes no sense that it would be AOE. Assault SW disarm was redundant SW shouldn't have an armor buff if there's no logical reason for it. SW is an agile elf class that parry increase makes a lot more sense for. Like a lot more. Just as SH makes since with + armor since it's inside an ARMORED SQUIG.

From a design standpoint skirmish should not be the armor pen style. It should be the quicker draw/shoot on the move style. Armor pen and quick shooting on the move never should have been paired up. Scout makes more sense for armor pen. Long draw= harder shot=armor pen. I don't recall if they actually moved armor pen to scout but it def doesn't make sense in skirmish.

Your opinion that it's too strong lacks any logic; it's just your emotion. Could you please explain more logically what it's strong compared to, and what it's being compared to? I agree with the AoE adjustments.

As I've stated many times, I'm arguing that we've lost so much without gaining anything. Furthermore, we're forced into meaningless stance changes, which doesn't lead to smooth gameplay. The adjustments also force melee attacks, but since defensive capabilities are eliminated and there are many counters, it's not the "high risk, high return" the developers claim, but rather "high risk, no return."

The damage is too high compared to the rest of the game. It's not a mystery. It's too easy to spam glass arrow, which is supposed to be a special effect ability, instantly and hit for 1100. It's too easy to spam Lileath's Arrow and hit for 1200 damage on 5 targets. I don't agree with every change, but a lot of them do have seemly good design intention. The stance changes won't be meaningless from what I've read. If you have a marauder they will be using similar design changes for stance swapping.

Glass Arrow has a 5 second cooldown. Liteath's Arros has a 5 second cooldown. Something with a 5 second cooldown is not spammable by definition. The Dev's behind the SW changes do not understand the class. It is patch by spread sheet modeling.

[M0rw47h]

Anything with 5 CD is spammable, as long as WW exists. By definition.

[salazarn]

Hmm, can't find anyone talking about nerfing Brutal Assault. It's not ok as it is right now.
One or more solutions required to tone DPS of Brutal Assault. Here are my suggestions:
- Remove Brutal Assault from Merciless Soldier tactic.
- Sinister Assault tactic: change to 15% Armor Penetration to all Path of Assault.
- Reduce base Damage and/or Scaling to land in a 25-30% reduced damage.

Here is small demonstartion of what it is doing right now

Click here to watch on YouTube

Damn, thats actually really scary... SM-WL-aSW will literally delete stuff, thats gonna be none counterable oneshot. 1,8k average and 5,5k total and all that within 6 seconds just by aSW plus AAs which you can further boost...

Nothing about brutal assault has changed at all. By your logic sw assault should be 'insane' now, when it is not.

Witch elves can spam an armor ignore ability every global and not require a tactic to do it, Personally i do not see why any SW would take sinsister assault over 15% dmg boost

[M0rw47h]

Call me crazy, but I will say, if you're fightining anyone competent, doing such "rotations" is huge red flag to enemy team. Puting all the dots before shadowstep is like sending everyone a tell who you gonna try to burst.

It most cases when you Shadowstep, your target will have hots from both healers or stuff cleansed, person ready to pre-detaunt or pre-kite and Champion Challenge ready to keep aSW in place once he goes in.

Ofc, against pugs its decent way of doing things.

P.S.
Whenever thinking burst, think of 3 GCDs you can synchronize with other DPS to 100%->0% someone. Like what 3 buttons you press after shadowstep when you 3...2...1... shadowstep+pounce with WL on someone, rather than build complex rotations.

[Orontes]

Anything with 5 CD is spammable, as long as WW exists. By definition.

WW is on a 30 second cooldown and dependent on another class being in the same group. It is not consistent and it is time laden. WW appeals are not a marker for any real argument.

[FeelFreeToDie]

Hmm, can't find anyone talking about nerfing Brutal Assault. It's not ok as it is right now.
One or more solutions required to tone DPS of Brutal Assault. Here are my suggestions:
- Remove Brutal Assault from Merciless Soldier tactic.
- Sinister Assault tactic: change to 15% Armor Penetration to all Path of Assault.
- Reduce base Damage and/or Scaling to land in a 25-30% reduced damage.

Here is small demonstartion of what it is doing right now

Click here to watch on YouTube

Its the most unrealistic scenario in this video. between VoN and KD there is 3 seconds for your target to react to obvious burst with detaunt/CC or tank to swap guard(if in group play) and there is no chance any sane player will give you an opportunity to staying at their back after KD(even 1st BA can be easily avoided). as a demonstration of aSW damage possibilities? its ok.

[M0rw47h]

Anything with 5 CD is spammable, as long as WW exists. By definition.

WW is on a 30 second cooldown and dependent on another class being in the same group. It is not consistent and it is time laden. WW appeals are not a marker for any real argument.

It's how you balance things. Around all tools avalible.
Why damage in the game is so high? Because its balanced around guard, heals, morales etc.