Shadow warrior

[Lesnoj]

Hi! I was just wondering if there is still any plans in the pipeline for changes to us ranged SWs or is the ranged specs staying "as is"?

I hope not ! ranged SW is a disaster

[Fenris78]

Ranged SW should be able to land sequences in order to kill a single target, like Sorcerer/Magus can do with ease.
Currently there is absolutely no synergies in SW abilities, mediocre damage values on single target ones that prevent any decent burst to finish off a target, and AoE is summarized by one ability spam while moving (Lileath Arrow).

No way to set up any sort of combo to rise damages up, and any decent damage is strongly tied to the crit rate (which is vastly lowered by the full anticrit builds everywhere anyways).

In WB play the SW is absolutely garbage, has to expose self too much to get decent AoE damage (LA), and cannot compete with superior ranges of opponents.
Plus, support spells are barely here (AP regen, that's all folks), and apart from Leading Shot tactic (maybe Pierce defences, on single target), support is very weak for the group (whereas Inge/BW are far superior in that regard).

I'm still trying to get something decent with skirmish+assault, but asault stance give nearly zero survivability (it's not with medium armor and +10% parry we can do anything in close combat) and close combat skills are redundant at best, useless at worst.

Finally, there is also no insta-cast insta-damage ranged skill (like a "finisher" skill) aside from Fell the Weak, only ailments that arent doing anything with the weak damage values (no, 2000 dmg over 15 sec is not good at all, even if spammable).

[Sulorie]

Finally, there is also no insta-cast insta-damage ranged skill (like a "finisher" skill) aside from Fell the Weak, only ailments that arent doing anything with the weak damage values (no, 2000 dmg over 15 sec is not good at all, even if spammable).

I see 3 other instant range direct dmg skills besides Fell The Weak, I am sure, you will find them too.

[Manatikik]

Finally, there is also no insta-cast insta-damage ranged skill (like a "finisher" skill) aside from Fell the Weak, only ailments that arent doing anything with the weak damage values (no, 2000 dmg over 15 sec is not good at all, even if spammable).

I see 3 other instant range direct dmg skills besides Fell The Weak, I am sure, you will find them too.

I'm just curious, are you counting Barrage as your third or Flame Arrow?

[Sulorie]

Finally, there is also no insta-cast insta-damage ranged skill (like a "finisher" skill) aside from Fell the Weak, only ailments that arent doing anything with the weak damage values (no, 2000 dmg over 15 sec is not good at all, even if spammable).

I see 3 other instant range direct dmg skills besides Fell The Weak, I am sure, you will find them too.

I'm just curious, are you counting Barrage as your third or Flame Arrow?

Oh, then you have even 4 instant range direct dmg skills. Thanks for giving me that hint. I hope you don't assume, that all are considered viable by me to deal dmg.

[Manatikik]

I see 3 other instant range direct dmg skills besides Fell The Weak, I am sure, you will find them too.

I'm just curious, are you counting Barrage as your third or Flame Arrow?

Oh, then you have even 4 instant range direct dmg skills. Thanks for giving me that hint. I hope you don't assume, that all are considered viable by me to deal dmg.

Well Flame Does like no damage on it's instant and is honestly pretty crappy. Barrage isn't bad but it's pretty much melee range.

[Fenris78]

Finally, there is also no insta-cast insta-damage ranged skill (like a "finisher" skill) aside from Fell the Weak, only ailments that arent doing anything with the weak damage values (no, 2000 dmg over 15 sec is not good at all, even if spammable).

I see 3 other instant range direct dmg skills besides Fell The Weak, I am sure, you will find them too.

An insta-cast, basic direct (full) damage ranged attack without cooldown (like Grim Slash) ? There is none.
The only comparable skill is spiral-fetched arrow, wich is awful with its low range, insignificant damage and long casting time.

Cannot we have a simple core "finisher" ranged attack, with moderate damage and maybe requirements ("target must be ailing", for instance, at least it will got some synergy), with insta-cast, no cd, and no DoT ?
Like grim slash, but ranged.

The thing is, SW may be mobile, but without significant damages, and lack an "basic" ranged attack that may be cast without too much hassle (meaning no specific stance at least).
If the SW is going to stay in that "meh" state (doing pew pew without many effect), at least give us a spammable basic ranged attack to work with...

And more synergies between abilities, like added/worsen effects on some skills under some conditions.
The only synergic one is Shadow Sting, wich require the target to be ailing ; actually it's more a prerequisite than a bonus, but if SW playstyle is meant to be based on ailments, give more skills bonuses when this condition is fulfilled.
We then could play more strategically, and begin to think about "sequences" and synergies from wich this class is totally lacking...

Actually, the ennemy is totally laughing at our ailments, even if we spam them everywhere and inflict both Brodhead arrow + Shadow Sting, and there are no added benefits aside the healdebuff (as said earlier mostly inefficient).

Added to that, survivability is very low ; skills are enticing to play mid-distance, so we are constantly exposed, and mobility came with the price of doing mostly no damage (when static scout abilities takes years to cast and are mostly avoided by retreating ennemies), and none of the stance bonuses/skills are going to save us from any fight.
I'm in pain each time I see how easy it is for Dest ranged dps classes (Sorc and Magus ame in mind first, maybe shaman too) to cast a crapload of hexes on our face, while moving (thus, escaping our arrows that we have to staticly cast for instance), and boom everything explode and we're dead.
The SW, on his side, can put 2 miserable ailments that do virtually nothing (9 and 15 sec, with about 150 dmg at best per tick, it's awful and far too long to be any danger at all), then rush into them with lileath arrow or spiral-fetched every 2-4 sec... so much dps, so much burst... :p

No worthy tanking/evade abilities (aside from M1), single target detaunt is a joke as the Whirling Pin ability wich saves you from absolutely nothing.

So either find some synergies for this class to make it useful again as sniper (so, giving it the tools to reliably bring down a single target, at the very least) since it's clear AoE is not meant to dominate its gameplay, or give it more use in WB environment (more skills to buff the group/debuff ennemy for the group, skills like the AP aura, there are so many options aside the 1 or 2 existing "group" tactics).

[CountTalabecland]

I don’t play SW but as a tank I have to say SW is lowest priority for guard in scens. I know SW isn’t dropping damage like a BW and the melee build just isn’t survivable/useful enough to run in their with guard and take a ton of damage that will mostly kill me as the SW dies quickly. Which means they really aren’t even worth guarding.

This is also compounded by there always being at least 4 SWs per pug scen who due to their lack of dmg or utility are dead weight. The class definitely needs help or something to do in group play. I guess they are good enough in zergband play but then again all that takes is being alive and spamming whatever aoe ya got.

[Sulorie]

Ask some of the decent SW how to play the class.

[live4treasure]

Some SW make due and bust out good numbers, but they'd do far better with basically any other rdps class, this is true.

As for ASW being useless, I strongly disagree actually. ASW damage is quite high and they provide a number of useful debuffs. Their issue is their low survivability, in particular to classes like Magus or Sorc. Their damage on the other hand is quite nice. They can instantly put out decently high burst damage, certainly enough to one shot something like a DPS DoK or a WE within the span of their knockdown.