SM tweek ideas

[Edenwolf]

Let's hear how you'd tweek the SM(minor stuff mostly).

-For starters I'd change pheonix wing to do spirit damage. Another idea is to put it on a 10 second cooldown, deal spirit damage and have it deal x amount of spirit damage over 5-10 seconds.

-Phatoms blade should also proc a shield on group members within 10 feet when it procs for the user.

-Eagles flight should last 10 second instead of 5 with a 10-15 second cooldown

-Dragon's talon should last 8 seconds instead of 4

[Coryphaus]

unless some drastic changes are made sm will never be able to compete with IB

blade enchant buffs arnt enough

[Rilos]

What I'm wondering is, do the Devs have the right knowledge and power to re-balance a class outside of Live.

I'm just curious of their influence over the game itself.

[wargrimnir]

What I'm wondering, is do the Devs have the right knowledge and power to re-balance a class outside of Live.

Compared to what Mythic ever did to classes?

Take a look at some of the class specific threads. Devs are taking most ideas from the community if they're sound and reasonable. When they don't work out, we get to blame you guys and try something else. Beats the hell out of leaving a class broken for years. Much of the balancing will take place in T4 however. Small/obvious issues to be addressed along the way.

[Rilos]

If that's the case, I haven't played a SM, but I remember the class was nerfed into the ground a few months after Mythic's went live.

I believe the class deserves some attention since the class was always meant to be a dps tank, but was too good at the time.

That was before Knights were implemented into the game and SMs fell through the cracks.

[Wraithedge]

What are the various tank gimmicks? KotBS have auras, Iron Breakers have...beards, What is teh SM supposed to be, what is it supposed to have?

[Greatwarden]

WALL OF TEXT WARNING! WALL OF TEXT WARNING

Class: Swordmaster

Problems:

1. Lack of clear role compared to other tanks.
2. Lack of group utility.
3. Being one of the careers most vulnerable to 'global' balance changes.
4. Lack of unifying 'theme' as a career.


SMs have the dubious distinction of being the tank that 'just made the release date'.

Whereas Iron Breakers and Chosen were lovingly crafted prior to release and Black Guards and Knights of the Blazing Sun were held back until they were good and ready, SM's (and to a slightly lesser degree Black Orcs) still give an impression of being rushed and incomplete.


A glance through our abilities will give you a sense of the 'unfinished' nature of the
class:

1. snares and hate generation in our DPS tree;
2. an absorb shield sitting in our AOE tree rather than the tanking tree;
3. healing tactics that achieve very little; and
4. being described as more 2-hander focused, but still having skills and abilities that require shields to use.


My impression is that no one knew what our intended role was during the design process.

Are we the 'group utility' tank? We have about the same group utility as some MDPS and less compared to marauders.

Are we the 'anti-caster' tank like the Black Guard? 1 tactic and a tiny AP drain over time do not even begin to compare to the real thing.

Eventually, SMs became known as 3 things:

1. the DOT tank (we have LOTS of tactics which give us DOTS);
2. the 'bubble' tank (we have LOTS of bubbles); and
3. the 'selfish' tank.

Then the global war on DOT tactics and bubbles came along.

Tactics which apply DOTs no longer crit and bubbles now only take toughness into consideration and can no longer stack. These global changes were justified and were introduced to address valid issues.

The problem is that SMs suffered greater collateral damage than more conventional careers since we relied on DOT tactics and bubbles the most.

Hello, my name is "Greedie McSelfish". Let me join your pre-made.



Solutions:

Please note that I don't expect that any of the following suggestions should be implemented without due consideration as to balance. They are merely intended to be something that helps developers consider new ways of doing things. Ideas are suggested based on 'Fun' or 'Cool' or 'Inventive'. You have been warned.

Themes/goals to the changes:

1. To turn the balance mechanic into something beneficial rather than a handicap.
2. To increase the group utility of the SM.
3. To get rid of all the damn bubbles (which are great at rank 10 but much less impressive by RR80).
4. To change non-useful tactics into something that is worth considering.
5. To give the SM a new distinctive role in ORVR and group play other than as a Whispering Wind bot.


The Balance Mechanic change

Balance
Change #1
Effect:
1. Normal Balanced Abilities can be used in both Improved and Perfect Balance.
2. Improved Balance Abilities can be used in Perfect Balance
3. Perfect Balance Abilities can only be used in Perfect Balance

Explanation:
You're not locked out of Improved Balance abilities just because you're in Perfect Balance.


Balance Change #2
Effect:
Perfect Balance abilities now return 50 AP on use

Explanation:
The main issue with the balance mechanic is that it has no pay-off for jumping through the restrictions that it imposes. All our useful stuff is crammed into Perfect Balance but they're not actually better than the stuff that other tanks can use without jumping-through-hoops. Most of the time our Perfect Balance abilities are worse than that of
other tanks due to the fact that they last a fraction of the time (I'd imagine that this is to encourage us to jump-through-hoops quicker). Also, the Mythic made jumping-through-hoops harder by increasing the AP cost of all Improved Balance abilities. By giving us an AP reward at Perfect Balance, following the steps of the balance mechanic becomes beneficial, rather than an arbitrary handy-cap. I am tempted to increase the AP reward to 100 AP, but make abilities that are NOT part of the balance mechanic cost roughly 30% more AP so that SMs are AP-efficient when following the balance mechanic and AP-hogs when we deviate from it.



Balance Change #3

Effect:
Your chance to crit is increased by 10% in Improved Balance and 25% in Perfect Balance

Explanation:
The tactics 'Balanced Accuracy', 'Perfect Defences' and ' Calming Winds' are being removed. Tying in the old 'Balanced Accuracy' into the mechanic itself means that our mechanic actually benefits us rather than just punish us.




Bubbles

Bubbles suffer from three flaws:

1. They don't scale well.
2. The only stat that make bubbles last longer is toughness, which is completely ignored by melee power.
3. Bubbles don't stack. In a class that can have up to four their bubbles up at any one time, the fact that having four bubbles up doesn't actually increase the amount of damage absorbed is not good.
4. Unlike a straight-up self-heal, bubbles only last for 5-10 seconds.

The only advantage that bubbles have over a heal health is that DOKs can't heal off a bubble. Since tanks are the target of last resort for a melee healer, this is only useful in duels.

Any tweaking of the bubble mechanic will have wide-ranging effects on almost all careers and history has shown that SMs suffer badly from global changes to fundamental game mechanics. I believe that SMs would be better off if ALL bubbles are removed from the career.


Crowd Control Suggestions

If you examine our abilities, you will realise that we have very limited access to HARD crowd-control ability (knock-downs, disarms, silences and staggers). Our single-target silence is found 13 points up the Hoeth tree while our single-target knockdown is found 13 points up the Vaul tree. Clearly Mythic does not want us to be able shut people down completely.

On the other hand, the SM career has been gifted with a variety of SOFT crowd-control abilities such as our:

AOE punts (Gusting Winds, perfect balance),
single-target punt (Blurring Shock, perfect balance and only if you slot a tactic),
AOE snare (Wings of Heaven, morale 2),
single-target, 5-second, disorient (Dazzling Strike, perfect balance),
AP drain (Sapping Strike, 50AP over 5 seconds)
single-target snare (Quick Incision, improved balance).


I believe that this game already has enough HARD crowd-control abilities and I propose that SMs are changed so that they have with ZERO hard crowd-control.

In return, I would like our SOFT crowd-control abilities (punts, slows, AP drains ect.) buffed.


Blade Enchantments

I have doubled the number of blade enchantments to 2 for each master tree. Each mastery tree will have 1 'group-friendly' blade enchantment and 1 'selfish' blade enchantment:

1. Khaine gets 'Heaven's Blade' and 'Blade of Leaping Gold';
2. Vaul gets 'Phantom's Blade' and 'Blade of the Anvil'; and
3. Hoeth gets 'Nature's Blade' and 'Blade of the Vortex'.

I have also changed how blade enchantments stack. The general idea is that each item in your hand can hold a single blade enchantment. A Greatweapon can carry 1 enchantment while a Sword and a Shield allows you to have 2 enchantments at once. The oldest blade enchantment is replaced when a new one is cast.

This set-up initially favours Sword and Shield users over Greatweapon users. However, there will be a speccable tactic in the Hoeth tree that equalises this.



Marks and Sigils

I have replaced all the morale 4 abilities with 'Marks' representing the god that the tree is dedicated to (Mark of Khaine, Mark of Vaul and Mark of Hoeth). I have also replaced all 13-point abilities in the trees with 'Sigils' which are the signature moves for the tree (Sigil of Blood, Sigil of Artifice and Sigil of the Vortex). All Sigils have a 30 second cool down, a hefty AP cost and are not part of the balance mechanic. It costs you to use these abilities and, correspondingly, they are quite potent...

Without further ado, I present to you the new mastery trees. The top of each list is the morale 4, then the 13-point ability, then the 11-point tactic, then the 9-point ability and so on. You'll probably need to refer to a picture of the current mastery tree to understand it better.
(http://www.waronlinebuilder.org/#career=sm; )


KHAINE TREE

Mark of Khaine (M4)
Sigil of Blood (13 pts)
Great Weapon Mastery (tactic)
Ether Dance (9 pts)
Speed of Asuryan (tactic)
Sapping Strike (5 pts)
Deep Incision (tactic)

CORE KHAINE ABILITIES

Griffon's Lash
Quick Incision
BlurringShock
Wall of Darting Steel
Heaven's Blade
Blade of Leaping Gold


KHAINE TREE

Mark of Khaine
Morale 4, range 5 feet.
Effect: "Your target is Marked for death by the god of murder and all their stats (except wounds), run speed and armour reduced to 25%. Heals on the target are 25% as effective."
Explanation: In-line with the selfish and single-target nature of the Khaine Tree, this morale 4 has no group utility other than to virtually ensure one lucky target a quick and brutal death.


Sigil of Fury
50AP, no balance, range 65 feet, 30 second cool-down
Effect: "With a hissed word, the target suffers X damage and all damage caused to it within the next 10 seconds will be increased by 15%. In addition, you will be healed by 50% of all damage dealt by you on the target during those 10 seconds."
Explanation: Like the other two 'sigil' abilities, this ability has no balance and has a hefty cool-down and AP cost. Also like the other 'sigil' abilities, the ability provides decent group utility. The synergy between this ability and Ether Dance is similar to the channels self-heals of DoKs, Slayers, Choppas and Warrior Priests, although not nearly as potent.


Great Weapon Mastery (tactic)
This tactic is unchanged.


Ether Dance
This ability is unchanged


Speed of Asuryan (tactic)
Effect: "This tactic increases your movement speed by 20% and damage by 10% whilst decreasing your armour by 20%."
Explanation: High Elves are supposed to be fast and the run speed bonus specifically could be a decent replacement for the useless tactic 'Centuries of Training'. You will notice that the ability is like a less costly Focussed Offence. This is because this is a spec'ed tactic rather than a core tactic.

Sapping Strike
25 AP, normal balance, range 5 feet, 20 second cool-down
Effect: "A targeted strike that deals X damage and causes your target to spend an additional 20 AP whenever they activate an ability for the next 10 seconds."
Explanation: A straight copy-and-paste from the Black Guard ability 'Choking Fury'. I would argue that the damage should be the same too. This ability is better than the current 10 AP per second for 5 seconds while the cooldown and balance requirements mean that it cannot be spammed.


Deep Incision (tactic)
Effect: "This tactic reduces the duration of the DOT component of Quick Incision to 5 seconds whilst maintaining the damage dealt."
Explanation: Quick Incision is being changed from a snare with instant damage to a snare with DOT damage. When read with the new Quick Incision, this new tactic shortens the duration of that DOT from 10 seconds to 5 seconds. The shorter duration of the DOT means that much of the damage will occur while the SM is in perfect balance.



CORE KHAINE ABILITIES

Griffon's Lash
40 AP, normal balance, range 65 feet, no cool-down
Effect: "The target is lifted by a sudden updraft as the force of the attack flies skywards. The victim will suffer X (physical) damage after 5 seconds when the force of the attack comes crashing back down."
Explanation: This ability is a mix of both a ranged interrupt and delayed damage. The interrupt bit is the same as the effect of the Black Orc ability 'Right in the Jibblies', a little bounce that doesn't cause immunity. This could be imagined as the
updraft from a griffon ascending. The delayed damage bit can be visualised as the same griffon dive-bombing the target 5 seconds later. The little bounce gives the SM some utility at range while the delayed damage adds to the SM's ability to save some of the damage caused in normal balance so that it hits when the SM is in perfect balance. The undefendable nature of the original griffon's lash is lost and the high cost of the ability means that spamming it is impossible. This ability is affected by the core tactic 'Ensorcelled Agony'.


Quick Incision
35 AP, improved balance, range 5 feet, no cool-down
Effect: "A rapid slash of your opponent’s legs that deals X damage over 10 seconds and snares them by 40%."
Explanation: A direct copy of the Black Guard snare 'Crippling Anger'. Like all non-tactic DOTs effects each tick can now crit. This ability is designed to work hand-in-hand with the tactic 'Deep Incision' which will halve the duration of the DOT to 5 seconds.


Blurring
Shock
Perfect Balance, range 5 feet, no cool-down
Effect: "A powerful slash that deals X Spirit damage. Eldritch power makes movement painful, causing X/12 spirit damage for every half second the target is moving, which increases to X/2 spirit damage if the target moves for more than 3 seconds."
Explanation: A vicious movement barb that goes from negligible damage to really painful if the target keeps moving. Damage starts at 1/12th the damage of the initial attack (which is equal to the current damage of Blurring Shock) and increases to 1/10th, 1/8th, 1/6th, 1/4th all the way to 1/2 initial application damage.


Wall of Darting Steel
Effect: "This ability remains unchanged except for one difference. The spirit damage reflected back will by 1/3rd of the damage of an auto-attack."
Explanation: All abilities MUST scale, or run a risk of being obsolete as the game evolves.


Heaven's Blade
This ability remains unchanged (except for the move from the Hoeth tree to the
Khaine tree).


Blade of Leaping Gold
55 AP, no cooldown
Effect: "You enchant your blade with the spirit of war. All your melee attacks gain a 25% chance to cause an extra auto-attack on the target. This effect can only proc once every global cooldown."
Explanation: Damage wise, this enchantment is intended to be equivalent to a 25% auto-attack increase (which is half as much as the one from the DOK's 'Khaine's Blessing' and the Black Guard's 'Hastened Doom'). However, Blade of Leaping Gold benefits from being a blade enchantment rather than a tactic and for being a bit more 'bursty'. The fact that it can proc from AOE damage (although the proc'ed damage will only affect on your current offensive target) is a plus and also the reason why the proc is limited to once ever global cooldown.





VAUL TREE
Mark of Vaul (M4)
Sigil of Artifice (13 pts)
Vaul's Blessing (tactic)
Chains of Fate (9 pts)
Sword Sage (tactic)
Siphon Force (5 pts)
Blade Lord (tactic)


CORE VAUL ABILITIES
Graceful Strike
Intimidating Blow
Dragon's Fury
Eagle's Flight
Phantom's Blade
Blade of the Anvil


VAUL TREE
Mark of Vaul
Morale 4, range 10 feet
Effect: "The ground in front of you is marked for protection by the god of crafting. An impenetrable wall of force appears in front of you that lasts for 15 seconds and will not allow the enemy through. Allies can pass through the wall unhindered."
Explanation: The wall itself is a transparent semi-circle with a radius of 30 feet with the concave end facing you. There are some NPC mages casting a similar wall near a chapter hub in Chrace. With strategic use, this ability can be used to: protect
allies, delay enemies from advancing and trap enemies against a wall or cliff-edge. You can move as soon as the ability is cast.


Sigil of Artifice
50AP, no balance, range 65 feet, 30 second cool-down
Effect: "The hand of the blind god shrouds the friendly target from the sight of the enemy for 5 seconds and increases their chance to defend against attacks by 50%. Monsters can still see the shrouded target."
Explanation: 5 seconds of unbreakable stealth and a hefty defensive bonus to one target every 30 seconds. The stealthed target can still be detected as normal, but damage to and non-damaging abilities used by the target will not break the stealth. This stealth breaks the WH stealth without granting them the bonuses they usual get from leaving stealth. The main point of this ability is GROUP UTILITY. Melee train running towards the Archmage? Not a problem, the Archmage is more defensive for 5 seconds and may just be able to sneak away. Want to make sure the Knight can pull off a stagger without raising the alarm? Your steel-plated friend is now hidden for 5 seconds.


Vaul's Blessing (tactic)
Effect: "When using this tactic, every time you successfully defend against an attack you regain 3.3% of your total health (increasing by 0.3% for each point specced into the Vaul tree beyond the initial 11-point investment) and the attacker
loses 10 AP. If the attacker is a monster, a defended attack generates extra hate towards you."
Explanation: The heal component is intended to replace the current 'Vaul's Buffer' tactic with one that scales with mastery points while replacing the absorb bubble with a straight up heal. The AP drain proc acts as a deterrent towards excessive AOE damage.


Chains of Fate
Perfect balance, range 65 feet, 30 seconds cool-down, 2.0 second cast time
Effect: "Extends a golden chain of energy that does X damage and pulls an opposing player towards you. Monsters targeted will be dragged to the ground. Your group members within 100 feet become unstoppable for 10 seconds, granting immunity to all Stun, Knockdown, Disarm or Silence effects."
Explanation: The marauder pull, except it must be specced and is only castable in perfect stance. SM are losing their only knock-down (Crashing Wave) in exchange, so we won't be doing that pull-and-knock-down trick that Marauders delight in. On the other hand, the unstoppable immunity buff time has been increased to 10 seconds to compensate for the fact that Crashing Wave (which this ability is intended to replace) had a 20 second cool-down rather than 30 seconds.


Sword Sage (tactic)
Effect: "Your chance to parry is increased by 10% and you gain the ability to parry spells and ranged attacks."
Explanation: At 7 points up the Vaul tree, this is the tactic which ( when combined with the 'Blessed Edge' tactic that is 7 points up the Hoeth tree and 'Blade Lord', which is 3 points up the Vaul tree) makes defensive great-weapon builds almost as good as using a sword and shield. With 13 mastery points locked-in and slotting 3 spec'ed tactics, the argument between 'Sword Masters' and 'Shield Masters' is at least partially resolved. Note that the mastery cost investment is restrictive enough to mean that the SM can only chose a single 13-point mastery ability in either the Vaul or the Hoeth tree. Note: it's still possible to get 'Sword Sage', 'Blade Lord', 'Blessed Edge' and 'Greatweapon Mastery' for a full great-weapon tank, although you would be using 4 spec'ed tactics and no spec'ed abilities. You'll also have to drop 'Blessed Edge' for 'Menace' for PvE tanking.


Siphon Force
30 AP, normal balance, 5 feet range, 5 second cool-down
Effect: "An attack dealing X damage and makes 25% of all incoming and outgoing heals cast on or by the target to mis-cast for 10 seconds. Mis-cast heals are instead cast on you."
Explanation: This is a blend of the Marauder ability 'Tainted claw' and the tactic 'Deadly Clutch'. This ability is not so much a heal-debuff as a heal-divert and, even when a healer casting on themselves will heal more compared to the straight 50% heal debuff that 'Tainted Claw/Deadly Clutch' imposes. The unique part about this ability is that, since it is a heal-divert rather than a heal-debuff, there is chance that heals reach the SM rather than the intended target.


Blade Lord (tactic)
Effect: "Your chance to parry is increased by 5% and you take 15% less damage when wielding a Greatweapon and 10% less damage when wielding a Shield."
Explanation: This ability in the tanking tree gives a little something for both Greatweapons and Shields while favouring the Greatweapon.

CORE VAUL ABILITIES
Graceful Strike
This ability is unchanged.


Intimidating Blow
35 AP, improved balance, 5 feet range, 10 second cool-down
Effect: "A forceful strike dealing X damage and reduces the critical chance of all abilities used by the target by 100% for
10 seconds."
Explanation: The damage dealt by the ability remains unchanged whilst the morale drain is completely removed. Instead, the ability removes all chance for the target's abilities (including both attacks and heals) to crit. This debuff is useful against both DPS and healers."


Dragon's Fury
Perfect balance, 4 feet range, no cooldown
Effect: "A ferocious attack which deals X spirit damage and fills your group mates with the rage of dragons. Within the next 5 seconds, each group mate within 100 feet will deal an additional Y spirit damage on their next attack and the hate generated by that attack will go to you."
Explanation: This new ability is adapted from the White Lion's 'Pack Assault' and gives the SM some extra hate generation now that Blurring Shock has been changed. While running solo, the damage is low but it shines when in a group of 3 or more people hitting the same target.


Eagle's Flight
This ability is unchanged save for the parry buff occurring regardless of whether or not the attack has been defended and lasting 15 seconds rather than the current 4 seconds.


Phantom's Blade
55 AP, no cooldown
Effect: "You enchant your blade with the spirits of dead. All your attacks gain a 25% chance to empower you for 5 seconds, letting you shrug off your enemy's armour penetration."
Explanation: See the 'Gift of Monstrosity' buff, except it's a blade enchantment and doesn't heal the SM. This change is part of a program to get rid of the non-scaling absorb bubbles. This blade enchantment is unrepentantly selfish in nature.


Blade of the Anvil
55 AP, no cooldown
Effect: "You enchant your blade with the spirit of the chained god. All your attacks gain a 25% chance to place a 20% movement debuff on all enemies within 30 feet from you for 9 seconds."
Explanation: This blade enchantment provides extra group utility to the SM class. I consider it as Order's response to the DOK's 'Covenant of Celerity', which is not mirrored with the Warrior Priest. 'Covenant of Celerity' is still better, though, since there is not damage proc with this ability.




HOETH TREE

Mark of Hoeth (M4)
Sigil of the Vortex (13 pts)
Guardian Winds (tactic)
Crashing Wind (9 pts)
Blessed Edge (tactic)
White Sword of Hoeth (5 pts)
Implacable Foe (tactic)



HOETH CORE ABILITIES
Ensorcelled Blow
Wrath of Hoeth
Gusting Winds
Dazzling Strike
Nature's Blade
Blade of the Vortex




HOETH TREE
Mark of Hoeth
Morale 4, range 10 feet
Effect: "The ground within 30 feet of you is sanctified by Hoeth's mark, draining 40 AP per second from enemies and granting 40 AP per second to allies for 10 seconds."
Explanation: As a morale 4, it's arguable whether or not this ability is worth speccing or losing 'Immaculate Defence' for. It has its uses in warband situation but will probably not be used in party situations.


Sigil of the Vortex
50AP, no balance, range 65 feet, 30 second cool-down
Effect: "For 10 seconds, all enemies within 20 feet of a spot that you select will have the range of their abilities reduced to 50% and become snared, reducing their run speed by 60%."
Explanation: Sticky Feetz and Mistress of the Marsh, only with a range debuff rather than an initiative debuff. A copy of the range debuff already exists as the debuff from the Colossus in Land of the Dead. Like the other two 'sigil' abilities, this ability has no balance and has both a hefty cool-down and AP cost. The 'Vortex' referred to is the one cast by Caledor dragon-tamer at the Isle of the Dead. The tactical applications of this 13 point mastery ability are profound.


Guardian Winds (tactic)
Effect: "Gusting Winds and Crashing Wind no longer grant immunity."
Explanation: Please see the Zealot ability 'Wind of Insanity'. Slotting this tactic will cause Gusting Winds (amended below) to act in the same way as the Zealot's 'Wind of Insanity'.


Crashing Wind
Perfect balance, 100 feet range, 20 second cool-down
Effect: "You call a furious wind that deals X Spirit damage to your target and knocks them back a Very Long distance. The wind then aids group members within 100 feet for the next 10 seconds by decreasing the cooldown of abilities used by 5 seconds."
Explanation: "The silence ability of the original Whispering Wind is replaced with a ranged, single-target knockback. The punt itself should have a very small Z-axis (about as high as a player can jump) but a very substantial X-axis movement, meaning that tactical positioning is vital since it's likely to be stopped by rocks, twigs and small rodents. Note the range.


Blessed Edge (tactic)
Effect: "Greatweapons can now hold up to two blade enchantments, with the older enchantments being over-written by newer ones."
Explanation: For an 8-point investment up the Hoeth tree and a tactic slot a Greatweapon can now hold as many blade enchantments as a sword and shield combo.


White Sword of Hoeth
35 AP, no balance, no cooldown
Effect: "The god of spellcraft blesses your weapons. All your attacks now cause Spirit damage."
Explanation: 5 points up the Hoeth tree, this ability is a replacement for Aethyric Armour. Aethyric Armour gave a non-stacking armour buff and 5% chance to resist attacks (effects which should have been in tanking tree (Vaul)). While this buff sounds powerful, closer examination is merited. ALL our perfect balance abilities are already Spirit damage. There are 4 normal balance abilities (Ensorcelled Blow, Graceful Strike, Griffon's Lash and Sapping Strike) but Ensorcelled Blow is the only one that gets used in RvR since it does Sprit Damage. Changing all normal balance abilities to Sprit damage would encourage players to choose to use something other than Ensorcelled Blow since makes each of them would be desirable in different situations.


Implacable Foe (tactic)
Effect: "Detaunts are dispelled automatically when applied to you."
Explanation: Like 'Unstoppable Fury' for Black Guards, except the name is 300% cooler.



HOETH CORE ABILITIES
Ensorcelled Blow
This ability remains unchanged.


Wrath of Hoeth
This ability remains unchanged.


Gusting Winds
Perfect balance, 6 second channelled ability, 30 second cool-down
Effect: "You call forth ferocious winds for up to 6 seconds that inflict X Spirit damage every second to targets within 30 feet of you. The winds will knock back players a short distance and knock down monsters for 2 seconds."
Explanation: This ability is the same as the Zealot ability 'Winds of Insanity' except that it obeys conventional knockback immunities unless you slot the tactic 'Guardian Winds'. Being able to generate an 'enemy-exclusion-zone' to protect an ally is a good bit of group utility.


Dazzling Strike
The daze component of this ability is increased to 10 seconds.


Nature's Blade
This blade enchantment remains unchanged save for being moved from the Khaine tree into the Hoeth tree (i.e. the AOE buff/debuff tree).


Blade of the Vortex
55 AP, no cooldown
Effect: "You enchant your blade with the essence of the Vortex. All your attacks gain a 25% chance to drain 50 AP from the target and give you the same amount of AP drained."
Explanation: Each tree now has 2 blade enchants, 1 with group utility and 1 for being a selfish bastard. This is the selfish bastard enchant for the Hoeth tree. Note that I'm satisfied with how it synergises with the (EXPENSIVE) 'Wrath of Hoeth' but nervous about how it would work with the new-and-improved 'Gusting Wind' (now call 'Gusting Winds'). This blade enchantment stacks well with 'Sapping Strike' (Khaine), 'Sigil of the Vortext (Hoeth), 'Vaul's Blessing' (Vaul) and 'Mark of Hoeth' (morale 4) to really drain the AP from the enemy.




SWORDMASTER SPECIFIC CORE TACTICS
Adept Movements
Ensorcelled Agony
Dazzling Force (replacing the terrible Forceful Shock)
Beguiling Strikes (replacing Dampening Talon)
Poised Attacks
Potent Enchantments
Impeccable Reactions



RACIAL CORE TACTICS
Centuries of Training
Discerning Offence
Bend the Winds



ARCHTYPE CORE TACTICS
Focused Offence
Rugged
Unstoppable Juggernaut
Menace



SWORDMASTER SPECIFIC CORE TACTICS

Adept Movements
This tactic remains unchanged.


Ensorcelled Agony
Effect: "This tactic now applies to all normal balance abilities rather than just 'Ensorcelled Blow'."
Explanation: Putting to one side the new 'Sapping Strike' (which does relatively low damage anyway in return for a good debuff), we now have 3 normal balance attacks with 3 different ways of applying damage:

1. 'Ensorcelled Blow' deals Spirit damage immediately.
2. 'Graceful Strike' now does no initial damage, but places a DOT that lasts 5 seconds.
3. 'Griffon's Lash' does no initial damage, but deals a solid 'tick' 5 seconds after it's applied.

With the speccable buff 'White Blade of Hoeth' in the Hoeth tree, the last two abilities will now also do Spirit damage. I would imagine that all three abilities would do roughly the same damage (with 'Ensorcelled Blow' doing slightly less damage due to the immediate pay-off, 'Graceful Strike' doing the most damage over the 5 seconds and 'Griffon's Lash' doing something in between). Unless 'Ensorcelled Agony' affects all three normal balance attacks'Ensorcelled Blow' would always do the most damage.


Dazzling Force (replacing the execrable Forceful Shock)
Effect: "Dazzling Strike will now add a 5 second cool-down increaser on the target."
Explanation: A cool-down increaser AND a cool-down decreaser (see Crashing Wind above) in the same career? Choppa's have it too. As things currently stand, Order has 2 cool-down increasers ('Shattered Limbs' (Slayer) and the 'Shield of Reprisal'/'Furious Reprisal' combo (Iron Breaker) while destro has 3 ('Not in Da Face' (Black Orc), 'Bad Gas' (Squig Hunter) and 'Tired Already?' (Choppa)). Both realms have 1 cool-down decreaser each.

Beguiling Strikes (replacing Dampening Talon)
Effect: "Blade enchantments also cause the enemy to only deal 80% damage."
Explanation: I attempted to copy 'Crippling Strikes' from the Chosen but realised that SM's don't actually have many useful AOE
abilities to throw around. Tying it to blade enchantments made it easier to use, so I made it a 15% damage reduction rather than the 25% damage reduction from 'Crippling Strikes'. The idea is that all the sparkly magic flying around distracts the enemy from dealing damage.


Poised Attacks
Effect: "Your morale generation is doubled while in combat and you do not lose morale until 10 seconds after combat ends."
Explanation: The original tactic is so horrible that even "this tactic gives you a nice blue glow" would be preferable. Discerning Offense does the job better and that's one of the 'almost never used' tactics.


Potent Enchantments
Effect: "Blade enchantments will also cause X damage whenever they trigger."
Explanation: At some stage, DOTS were changed so that their ticks would not longer be able to crit or refresh themselves. To be more precise: DOTS you had to slot a TACTIC for would no longer crit or refresh themselves. No one actually knows why they changed it but SMs were gutted by the change and 'Potent Enchantments' went from 2nd-most-useful-DOT to worse-than-'Centuries of (bloody) Training'. This time, there will be no more muckin' about with DOTS, it's just a single damage proc.

The ability currently deals 540 damage over 9 seconds. I would suggest that the damage proc should do 1/6th an auto-attack's worth of damage (which would be about 166.66 damage if your auto-attacks do 1000 damage per hit) with the ability to crit. No internal cool-down and it must scale.


Impeccable Reactions
Effect: "Increases your chance to parry by 10% and increases the hate generated by you by 50%."
Explanation: People underestimate how much a SM's aggro is generated by 'Blurring Shock'. Changing 'Blurring Shock' into a movement barb (whic is much more in-character for the Khaine tree since you don't want the target running away when you're in the middle of a kiling spree) makes me worried about hate generation, hence the change to this ability.




RACIAL CORE TACTICS
Centuries of Training
Effect: "The range of all your abilities is increased by 5 feet or 10%, whichever is greater."
Explanation: You train for over CENTURIES years and all you get is the worst excuse for a paper-cut in the entire game? Those goblins must be soiling themselves in fear! In the table-top game, all High Elves get the special rule 'Speed of Asuryan' which basically means 'we hit first'. WhilE it's too much to ask that the average Black Orc to wait his turn in this game, a nice little bonus to our ability to 'reach out and touch' someone would be nice.


Discerning Offence
It's an odd tactic, but it can stay the way it is since some of the less conventional specs use it.


Bend the Winds
Elemental resistance? It'll be handy when those Bright Wizards try to stab us in the back
with fire-balls, at least.



ARCHTYPE CORE TACTICS
Focused Offence
No change.


Rugged
No change.


Unstoppable Juggernaut
No change.


Menace
No change.



MORALE

Morale 1: Blinding Speed (replacing 'Guard of Steel')
Morale 2: Howler Wind (replacing 'Wings of Heaven')
Morale 3: Bladeshield




SWORDMASTER MORALES

Morale 1: Blinding Speed (replacing 'Guard of Steel')
Effect: "You tap into your hidden potential, increasing your speed by 900% for 10 seconds."
Explanation: I have used 'Guard of Steel' exactly once since I've rolled the SM and I have to admit, the animation is quite pretty. However, the actual effect does not justify the morale 1 slot. The core morale 1 'Demolishing Strike' was nerfed by armour debuffs no longer stacking and I am STILL 6-7 times more likely to slot it rather than 'Guard of Steel'.

The new 'Blinding Speed' is partially tied to the removal of our morale 2 ability 'Wings of Heaven'. The effect fir Blinding Speed itself is already in the game: the buff known as the 'Curse of Diaf' that you randomly get when opening the quest reward bags during the 'Daemon Moon Rising' annual live event. Using exactly the same buff and animation (with maybe white fire rather than the orange fire of 'Curse of Diaf') makes the change easier.


Morale 2: Howler Wind (replacing 'Wings of Heaven')
Effect: "You summon an fierce gale, knocking projectiles and spells away from the area around you."
Explanation: 'Wings of Heaven' is a very nice morale, but it gets broken every second patch. The AOE unbreakable snare was also very nice, but I can understand why Destro hates it. With the addition of 'Blinding Speed', we can afford to substitute 'Wings of Heaven' with a morale ability that has better group utility. I really liked the animation for 'Guard of Steel', so it can be recycled for 'Howler Wind'. Allies and enemies within the (small) area of effect cannot be targeted by your enemy's ranged abilities from the outside. If you are inside the (small) area of effect, you can target others as normal. Also, non-targeted AOE abilities are unaffected.


Morale 3: Bladeshield
Effect: "You will strike back for 450 damage at anyone that attacks you or your guarded target for 20 seconds."
Explanation: The 3600 absorb shield is removed completely since absorb shields are just not worth it any more. Also, the damage proc is reduced from 600 damage. In return, the duration is increased and the damage proc also works on attacks to your guard target. (The actual damage procs from attacks on you guard target is attributed to you, not your guard target, which means that is does not break their detaunt.) This morale ability is intended to be a deterrent. Not from people attacking you or your guard target (the damage is marginal for single-target attacks and can be mitigate by a single HOT). This ability is intended to make AOE classes think twice before running in and letting loose AOE damage willy-nilly. A Choppa that spams his 'Lotsa Choppin' into a crowd with 4 people with this buff is going to regret it. The damage proc will occur on any attack, regardless of whether the attack is defended or not.

[Razid1987]

Since Black Orcs are mainly mirrored by Swordmasters, are you going to make sure similar changes are being made to them, as well?

[Razid1987]

Small/obvious issues to be addressed along the way.

*cough BWs Sorcs Chosens and Knights! *cough *cough*

[normanis]

http://waronlinebuilder.org/#career=bo;
well black orc is better than sword master, byff up debuffs to enemy also healing and da greenest. black orc maby lack some styff what chosen /bg have.
swordmaster is weakest tank with selfish not group based abilities ;-(