We all know that the Deadeye in its current version feels clunky and that the damage isnt rewarding enough for such a high mobility sacrifice.

So lets start with his

Core Mechanics

Mark has issues with Line of Sight, i cant count how many times i wasted a mark because the enemy was standing on a rock or so. Meanwhile my projectiles hop around like seeker missiles.The change i would like for this is to remove the LoS restriction and just place it on my target. Lorewise its nothing physical, its a "Contract" you accept.Blocking the mark is another thing, its like a childs game "hey i hit you, you are now marked" "No you didnt lalalalala" ... what? How can someone block a "Contract"?Marking your target is essential for the deadeye to even work, so remove those restrictions.

Kneel It feels clunky since its an ability you need to use. In a high mobility game like this it doesnt fit. Still its essential for reaching the maximum potential on Rifles (which currently isnt much, but later more)So, instead of being an ability i would like to see it as a "passive" when using a Rifle.You initiate combat or draw your weapon manually, as soon as you stand still you automatically kneel down to get access to all the kneeling abilities. This could take like 1/2 to 3/4 seconds to setup, so that hopping in and out of Kneel would be balanced (which would not prevent you from just walking or shooting, its just that the kneel abilities become active after standing still for that time).That way the kneeling would feel more responsive and less clunky. You would still have a mobility disadvantage because you cant just hop around and throw out your abilities like other classes, but it wouldnt be such a pain anymore.

Malice Is an interesting concept that is sadly not used so much with deadeyes abilities at all. Its only real effect is with Deaths Judgement where it massively increases the damage. Others skills? No effect at all besides the global damage buff.So for malice i would like to see a "reward" for reaching the Max Malice (MM) on other skills, buffing them for the duration of having it, basically turning the Malice Cap into finishers for all abilities and not just DJ.

Abilities

Brutal Aim/Deadly AimThis just needs a damage buff. Deadeye was announced as a class that can deal "melee damage at range as a trade for less mobility"Yet Brutal Aim is listed with 253 Damage and Deadly Aim with 337.Meanwhile a Longbow ranger with the same (or even higher) range deals between 270 (at <500) and 347 (>1000). Even a Warrior has 338 with his Longbow and 255 with a Rifle. Both have full mobility.So "Melee Damage" isnt really true here isnt it?Also remove the recharge time from "Cursed Bullet".

As a MM Bonus then i would love to see some form of area damage on it since DE has basically nothing of it. And singletarget damage in a game where Mobgroups or Playerzergs are a thing...doesnt really work.So, at MM maybe a "Cone" behind the hit target would work. Basically shrapnells that pass through the target to hit others behind it.

Skirmishers Shot/Spotters ShotCurrently the only ability that can hit more than one target. Again with 337 Damage its not "melee damage" but in this case its fine. Also why is Spotters shot slower (3/4 so 0.75s activation time) than Skirmishers (1/2 or 0.5s)? Both deal the same amount of damage, Spotters has just some minor buffs attached to it. Thats not a reward for sacrificing mobility.So here an adjustment for the activation time would make sense since this is mainly a skill to prevent enemies from reaching you.

Malice should be integrated into this skill aswell. More Malice = Longer CC. Max Malice could even add a Knockback effect, turning this into an ability that can break defiance.

Double Tap/Three Round BurstJust revert the 20% day one nerf...its the only skill other than DJ that can actually deal "burst damage". If Deaths Judgment wasnt used so much, why not buff it instead? Atleast in PVE? Remember, PVE is still the biggest part of this game, so dont let PVP balance dominate it.

As a Max Malice bonus this ability could refund energy just like Unload does. That way you cant spam it while charging up your malice, but once you reach the cap you can use it as a finisher.

Deaths Retreat/Deaths JudgmentRetreat is fine as it is, Deaths Judgment on the other hand isnt.As mentioned above allready, if DJ wasnt used and instead TRB dominated, why not buff it instead? DJ is a hard hitting ability that you cant spam and that you can only use in a very limited timeframe. If you use other abilities too you can maybe use it just once or twice before your Mark resets.

Also as a Max Malice reward this ability should Pierce until it reaches its target, making it more rewarding to wait instead of maybe wasting a shot that then hits a critter.

NEW Rifle GrenadeSince in this idea Kneel is a passive, we have a slot free for a new ability. And since Deadeye has basically no way to deal area damage, this could be its spot.While standing this ability would only deal damage in the area, so an ability to use against for example Pocket Raptors.While kneeling it would then instead throw a Shadow field that Blinds enemies too.

As a Max Malice bonus this ability could detonate a second time after a few seconds. The second explosion would then deal much more damage and since its an explosion it would trigger a shadow-explosion combo.

Skills

Most of them are fine as they are, there is just one that bothers me.Shadow FlareWhat was even the idea behind it? Yet another shadowstep? For what? We have Shadow Trap, Infiltrator Signet and Shadowstep (skill) allready.Shadowstep and Shadowtrap both have a 10s timeframe for the teleport, not sure if "Destroy Shadow Trap" can be used whenever you want during the 120s its active.So whats the reason for a 4s Shadowstep ability that deals a bit of damage?

Currently Malice only increases the damage of the pulses, but what if each stack of malice would increase its duration instead? From 4s up to 9 or even 11 with Malicious Seven?

I strongly agree with auto atacks being trash. Sneak atack is not even a trash its complete radioactive waste.

Deadeye grandmaster and master basic traits are garbage in pvp and pve. They never activte. All because malice generates too slow.

Rifle 4 cost too much for small teleport and 1 condi removal.

In my build i kinda managed to get fast Malice generation by using these traitsShadow Arts: Concealed Defeat, Hidden Thief, Rending ShadeDeadly Arts: Mug, Revealed Training, ExecutionerDeadeye: Revealed Malice, Silent Scope, Be Quick or Be KilledBecause Hidden Thief triggers after mug, so you deal damage on marking, stealth, attack to get revealed which then gives you Malice and you get 200 Power from Revealed Training and another 200 Power and Precision from BQoBK. After the revealed status runs out you can kneel to get the same effect again, which then most of the time fills malice to 5 allready.

anything for some more mobility maybe or something for better survive because its annyoing how fast it is getting destroyed by just easy mode fast, mobile daredevilsI think enough will be with lower cooldow on some deadeye skills in utility etc and take away cast time from mark because as against any other class this wont make to much difference but especially against other daredevils wil help more with just survive their ambus as they can use insta steal on you while stunned to interrupt them and you cannot cast mark on them without stopping your action and also be more vulnerable on their attack/interruptas its to easy to do it for them

By 'next' you mean.. next year's balance patch?Upcoming patch is reserved exclusively for bugfixes, QoL improv like.. we could DJ while jumping on air(That's what hinders DE from reaching the full potential).The next one I expect some tweaking to rending shade.Next up is TRB re-buff, followed by its split in pve. In two patchnotes, of course.

..Phew.Now that i've got rid of those salt..

@LazerusKI.7485 said:So, instead of being an ability i would like to see it as a "passive" when using a Rifle.You initiate combat or draw your weapon manually, as soon as you stand still you automatically kneel down to get access to all the kneeling abilities. This could take like 1/2 to 3/4 seconds to setup, so that hopping in and out of Kneel would be balanced (which would not prevent you from just walking or shooting, its just that the kneel abilities become active after standing still for that time).

This isn't bad, but passive kneel has its problem :"I want to kneel right here, right now. Oh, i need to stand still for another second? this might be my only chance to land a DJ!"I think waiting for a passive to kicks in is more clunky than active one, at least for thief..

Double Tap/Three Round BurstJust revert the 20% day one nerf...its the only skill other than DJ that can actually deal "burst damage". If Deaths Judgment wasnt used so much, why not buff it instead? Atleast in PVE? Remember, PVE is still the biggest part of this game, so dont let PVP balance dominate it.

Either this, or just move said damage(accordingly) to DJ.

As a Max Malice bonus this ability could refund energy just like Unload does. That way you cant spam it while charging up your malice, but once you reach the cap you can use it as a finisher.

This would encourage TRB spam, and DJ left in the dust.. which is the last thing they wantIt makes TRB damage back-loaded like DJ.

The rest are good, especially the autoattack :)

But we already have reached Deadeye's full potential... we can now use stolen abilities while airborne, what more could we possibly ask for!Joking aside I sincerely don't think that things will change for the better for thieves. Deadeye might as well be more of a support than dps spec, but then it really needs to give something unique to a group to justify bringing one and granting might just isn't enough when it's being thrown around in every game mode with little to no thought put in whatsoever.

FYI Mark cannot be blocked, dodged, obstructed or negated in any way (including invulns such as RF, Mistform, etc.). As far as I have been able to tell, as long as you start the cast while the target is in line of sight (the stipulation that allows the start of the cast to activate), the Mark will be placed and you will start generating malice.

Offensive traits associated with the Mark can be negated in those ways. (Mug, Bountiful Theft, Serpent's Touch, Slight of Hand).

@Turk.5460 said:FYI Mark cannot be blocked, dodged, obstructed or negated in any way (including invulns such as RF, Mistform, etc.). As far as I have been able to tell, as long as you start the cast while the target is in line of sight (the stipulation that allows the start of the cast to activate), the Mark will be placed and you will start generating malice.

Offensive traits associated with the Mark can be negated in those ways. (Mug, Bountiful Theft, Serpent's Touch, Slight of Hand).

Can confirm this 100%

Another problem i have with marking a target is that you can interrupt the mark if you use another ability during the cast. This is a problem because sometimes for unknown reasons (maybe lag) it can take FAR longer than 0.5s to put a mark on a target upwards to say 3-5s. During this time if you attack an enemy it will not mark your target.

Concerning los now, its sometimes hard to know if a target is out of line of sight or not just by looking at obstacles. Enemies can be standing near environmental objects and my projectiles are blocked when they shouldnt be imo. I dont like the cooldown penalty when mark is LoS. I prefer it even, if marking a target wasnt treated as a traditional 'steal' giving lootable buffs but still works with mug and provides initiative return if traited. Then there would be absolutely no reason why marking a target necessitates the delay it does.

This would require some drastic redesign though and terminates the boon share build as it is right now. Or maybe simply just leave it as is but make it so if your mark is LoS'ed you dont incur a cooldown penalty and you also cant interrupt your mark by using another ability, this lets you buffer actions safely.

@Riddle.2714 said:By 'next' you mean.. next year's balance patch?Upcoming patch is reserved exclusively for bugfixes, QoL improv like.. we could DJ while jumping on air(That's what hinders DE from reaching the full potential).

Yes, next balance patch, obviously next year since we jsut got one (ha ha)

@Riddle.2714 said:This isn't bad, but passive kneel has its problem :"I want to kneel right here, right now. Oh, i need to stand still for another second? this might be my only chance to land a DJ!"I think waiting for a passive to kicks in is more clunky than active one, at least for thief..Not an issue at all since even the Kneel-Skill has a 0.5s delay between button press and kneeling.Staying still for the same time with the ability to just move in and out of the kneeling state wouldnt change a thing, it would make it actually a lot more flexible than it is now.

@Riddle.2714 said:

As a Max Malice bonus this ability could refund energy just like Unload does. That way you cant spam it while charging up your malice, but once you reach the cap you can use it as a finisher.

well, i have seen the opposite.i have seen it several times now that my target is obstructed, mainly in the jungle maps, where it set my mark on cooldown without giving me a stolen skill or malice.also i thought that you can block it, i think that was mentioned in the introduction stream back then. if that is not the case then thats good.anyway, as i said the los is a problem. projectiles act as guided missiles and a non-physical mark can get obstructed...thats stupid.

@LazerusKI.7485 said:

@Riddle.2714 said:By 'next' you mean.. next year's balance patch?Upcoming patch is reserved exclusively for bugfixes, QoL improv like.. we could DJ while jumping on air(That's what hinders DE from reaching the full potential).

Yeah, sorry for using your post. Got too much salt from last patchnotes..Infrequent balancing is fine, as long as it hit the mark.

@Riddle.2714 said:This isn't bad, but passive kneel has its problem :"I want to kneel right here, right now. Oh, i need to stand still for another second? this might be my only chance to land a DJ!"I think waiting for a passive to kicks in is more clunky than active one, at least for thief..Not an issue at all since even the Kneel-Skill has a 0.5s delay between button press and kneeling.Staying still for the same time with the ability to just move in and out of the kneeling state wouldnt change a thing, it would make it actually a lot more flexible than it is now.

Didn't you said earlier passive kneel need 1-2s activation time at least? Because 0.5 to 1-2 seconds is quite a difference.And having my character kneel unintentionally everytime, everywhere would be tiresome to watch.There's also potential issue when using retreat since we can't choose directly when to kneel/stand.

@Riddle.2714 said:

As a Max Malice bonus this ability could refund energy just like Unload does. That way you cant spam it while charging up your malice, but once you reach the cap you can use it as a finisher.

Or just make it unblockable at MM?I get DE doesn;t have many AoE, but piercing DJ seems too OP.

That said, I totally agree with the idea to give MM bonus to rifle skills. It won't affect other weaponset, gives clear rewards for reaching MM which is the point of using rifle.Rifle needs love :(

@LazerusKI.7485 said:well, i have seen the opposite.i have seen it several times now that my target is obstructed, mainly in the jungle maps, where it set my mark on cooldown without giving me a stolen skill or malice.also i thought that you can block it, i think that was mentioned in the introduction stream back then. if that is not the case then thats good.anyway, as i said the los is a problem. projectiles act as guided missiles and a non-physical mark can get obstructed...thats stupid.

The "obstructed" message is for the offensive traits trying to activate. You are correct regarding the stolen ability, I forgot to add that earlier, you wont get that if it is obstructed or blocked, etc. But the actual mark will still be on your target, and your malice bullets will fire up, and a few second later you'll get your first malice stack.Give it a try on someone about to enter a structure. If the castbar appears, and you let it finish the cast (even if they enter the structure before it's finished), you'll see obstructed, but they will still have the bulls-eye over them and your malice bar will be active.

As for the original topic, a change I'd like to see is make it so your Death's Retreat will target the edge of whatever ledge is behind you, regardless of how close you are to the ledge from below (as long as it is normally a possibly shadowstep location). Right now, if you are too close, it won't vertically port you. You have to try to get the max range of Death's Retreat to be on the edge of the ledge - very frustrating when you have no visual indicator of it's range/target.