Deadpoet wrote: Sun Sep 28, 2025 7:40 pm
[...] Some ppl think that double armor is by itself a huge survivability factor, but even that is questionable as, apparently, iirc, double armor is double armor debuffed, so the advantage turns to nothing, and theres no toughness to fall back to, especially if u take certain tactic that sacrifices the little tough you can get.
Imho assault SW needs something to honor the class name and incorporate some kind of mini stealth (Shadowstep clearly is a fail, as it lands you were the target no longer is any more). Maybe an ability like the infamous midfight speed stealth (sanctified oil/WE equivalent), or something that really works.
Fully agree with you, I didnt even know armour debuff is applied to base armor before doubling up. If anything this should clearly be reworked, otherwise armour debuff will be twice the effect and it's very unfair especially for a Melee class.
Same for Bloodlord weapon, which is applying debuff on base armor, leading to double the debuff when assault stance ; it's about -500 armour malus on assault wich is very, very hard (same malus of a tank using Bloodlord weapon for instance).
Armour debuffs should always be applied at the end, not from start.
Also, I noticed SH got +100 Toughness/Wounds buff in armour stance, on top of its self-healing abilities (core wound buff and lifetap channel in Melee tree), which in turns is pretty unfair for aSW, even if we can still use some ranged skills it wont adds up in the end.
I'm also advocating for the replacement of shadowstep with the exact replicate of Sanctified Oil/Elixir of shadows, with increased speed/defenses for some seconds + brief stealth. Maybe increase CD accordingly to make up for the power of the skill and/or move it upper in assault tree (not on top as before, please :p).
Because right now is very unreliable as gap close skill, confers no speed boost to make up for the target moves, and is also slower than a flee/charge, leaving absolutely no room for any burst on moving target (I find often missing my kd/channel because target is moving towards me at the same time, and end up being hit in the back because I cant change my orientation the whole "flight time" of skill).
Or make Shadowstep like a long jump like the WL (which is moving very fast in the air when using Pounce), a pretty much instant teleport to target, with small speed increase (15-20% max) for 3-4s and very brief vanish, I'll be honestly very happy.
That and ofc a self-sustain (small HP gain on crit, to synergize with Bullseye or something like this ? With ICD of course).
My Ideas :
1. Simply reworking "Blood-soaked war" tactic for level-scaled HP on crit should be enough,
2. OR one skill getting HP gain effect while under VoN buff (why not change Swift Strike VoN-buff to 25% lifetap for 3s, instead duration increase ?
It would be perfect, got counterplays with interrupt/kd/moving behind/etc, will scale with crit and damages, also adding Damage/healing bonuses against channeling targets, rewarding smart uses of the skill, and being hardlocked behind VoN effect will also restrict the uptime of lifetap.
This could make for the cruel lack of Toughness I understand being a fatality, given how stats on gear are distributed (evend in defensive gear it's very low as soon you want to do meaningful damage, i.e. slotting Instinctive Aim).