Bladesworn Changes

[Ezikeo.5047]

Thoughts:

This Elite spec needs a few tweaks to make it viable and on the same playing field as other professions.

 

- Flow/Adrenaline needs to be addressed, it is extremely slow to generate, add more passive Flow regen, make all attacks generate Flow and damage taken generate Flow.

 

- Dragon Trigger requires a lot of investment and setup, however it is too punishing when it doesn't go off, due to being interrupted or easily dodged because of the obvious telegraph.

 

- Entering and exiting Dragon stance should always be guaranteed, uninterruptable.
 

 

Weapon:

- Gunsaber #1 Auto-Attack Chain: Add might to the attack chain. Also change auto-attack animation.(Current male Human Greatsword animation is identical to Gunsaber)
- Gunsaber #4 Cyclone Trigger: Needs to be 2 seconds, also add reflect projectile to it.
- Gunsaber #5 Break Step: An evasion frame of 1/2 sec needs to be added to the dash.

 

 

Stance:

- Dragon Trigger #4 Triggerguard: This needs to be changed into a 3 second block(Shield Stance).
- Dragon Trigger #5 Flicker Step: Range needs to be increased to 450.

 

 

Traits:

- Minor Master Dragonscale Defense: On top of the stability, add 3 seconds of Aegis.

 

 

Utility:

- Bulletproof Barrier: Cast time needs to be shorten to 1/4 sec.
- Dragonspike Mine: Needs to remove crippled, chilled, and immobilized and gain 25 Flow. This would match Revenants "Riposting Shadows" and Thiefs "Roll for Initiative." 

Also this skill needs to be treated like a ammo skill, hence interacting with Unshakable Mountain, Fierce as Fire and Lush Forest.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Ezikeo.5047

[Infusion.7149]

There's already might gain in Dragon Trigger via Unyielding Dragon. The primary issue with Dragon Trigger is the damage scaling in competitive modes. Full charge should be at least on par with core bursts and Berserker bursts. Right now it isn't , even for the melee bursts (Force, Boost). It is understandable Dragon Slash - Reach would be less damage as well but you can jump over it.

Dragon Slash - Force is 1.295 max coefficient in PVP/WVW ... it could easily be 2.0 or something akin to Arc Divider or Eviscerate or Flaming Flurry
Dragon Slash - Boost is 1.037 max coefficient in PVP/WVW ... it could easily be 1.3+ akin to whirlwind attack , 1.8+ as on Dash in Rampage mode
Dragon Slash - Reach is 0.9075 max coefficient in PVP/WVW

Entering Dragon Trigger has a 0.25s cast time, if someone can interrupt it then they have either amazing reflexes, a  bot, or preemptively interrupting you. Required flow has been cut in half and it is 0.25s per charge.

The funny part is Cyclone Trigger has 1.25 coefficient in PVP/WVW meaning you are better off using that than Dragon-Slash Force unless you can somehow full charge Dragon Trigger and not miss with it.
 The same goes for Artillery Slash which is ranged and is 1.15 coefficient. It really begs the question why is Dragon Slash so underpowered?

Triggerguard is probably going to remain aegis  for the simple fact most channeled blocks don't allow you to perform any other action.

Flickerstep range is 300 because that is dodge range.

If you change everything around the issue but not the issue it won't solve the problem.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Infusion.7149

[oscuro.9720]

5 hours ago, Infusion.7149 said:

There's already might gain in Dragon Trigger via Unyielding Dragon. The primary issue with Dragon Trigger is the damage scaling in competitive modes. Full charge should be at least on par with core bursts and Berserker bursts. Right now it isn't , even for the melee bursts (Force, Boost). It is understandable Dragon Slash - Reach would be less damage as well but you can jump over it.

Dragon Slash - Force is 1.295 max coefficient in PVP/WVW ... it could easily be 2.0 or something akin to Arc Divider or Eviscerate or Flaming Flurry
Dragon Slash - Boost is 1.037 max coefficient in PVP/WVW ... it could easily be 1.3+ akin to whirlwind attack , 1.8+ as on Dash in Rampage mode
Dragon Slash - Reach is 0.9075 max coefficient in PVP/WVW

Entering Dragon Trigger has a 0.25s cast time, if someone can interrupt it then they have either amazing reflexes, a  bot, or preemptively interrupting you. Required flow has been cut in half and it is 0.25s per charge.

The funny part is Cyclone Trigger has 1.25 coefficient in PVP/WVW meaning you are better off using that than Dragon-Slash Force unless you can somehow full charge Dragon Trigger and not miss with it.
 The same goes for Artillery Slash which is ranged and is 1.15 coefficient. It really begs the question why is Dragon Slash so underpowered?

Triggerguard is probably going to remain aegis  for the simple fact most channeled blocks don't allow you to perform any other action.

Flickerstep range is 300 because that is dodge range.

If you change everything around the issue but not the issue it won't solve the problem.

This summarizes the issue with dragon trigger very well. The entire spec’s problem in general is low damage relative to cast and low mitigation rates.

In addition to DT damage alterations; Blooming Fire is like hitting someone with a flower bud, Artillery Slash could use Weakness over Cripple, Cyclone Trigger should be a full block, and Break Step  needs to be longer range and would be significantly improved if it gave aegis or super speed after. 

Increasing the duration of the projectile hate on Cyclone would make it ridiculously oppressive to range, being an ammo skill, and doesn’t address the lack of melee mitigation the spec lacks imo. Break step evade would be nice, but the bigger issue (again, imo) is that the short range and stop-and-start cast makes it hard to kite with it now that the speed was reduced. Increasing it to 600 and giving a secondary boon would work better IMO.

Dragon Scale defense doesn’t need more of a buff imo. It’s supposed to be an inherently risky burst skill by standing still. The 1 stab stack is, imo, exactly what it needs to be. High CC classes or groups of enemies can still interrupt, but it prevents really low CD CC or misc CC from blocking you from ever using DT. Again, just my opinion.

I can’t say anything about the utilities though. They were not good so I didn’t try them very long. 

Edited December 23, 2021 by oscuro.9720