Dear ANet: Please Re-work the Sword

[Grand Marshal.4098]

So you're saying that you get to life leech per bleed huh. 

Reminds me of Battle Scars. 

It sounds lovely and probs the best idea to add as a trait in Arms for self sustain. 

But idk man, like I am afraid it would be nerfed very quickly and stuck with heal on crit percentage, which is probably easier to balance. 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

6 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

So you're saying that you get to life leech per bleed huh. 

Reminds me of Battle Scars. 

It sounds lovely and probs the best idea to add as a trait in Arms for self sustain. 

But idk man, like I am afraid it would be nerfed very quickly and stuck with heal on crit percentage, which is probably easier to balance. 

*Shrug* maybe. If it were overperforming, you could just reduce the life siphon dmg/healing numbers. Soulbeast has a similar trait that does life siphon on poison, and, to my knowledge, that isn't overperforming... 🤷‍♂️

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

Also, healing on crit is WAY harder to balance b/c ANYTHING can crit, and the dmg on crit varies wildly depending on your gear/build, whereas only a few warrior weapons apply bleeding and the healing/dmg is always the same on life siphon. 

[Grand Marshal.4098]

1 hour ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

Also, healing on crit is WAY harder to balance b/c ANYTHING can crit, and the dmg on crit varies wildly depending on your gear/build, whereas only a few warrior weapons apply bleeding and the healing/dmg is always the same on life siphon. 

True true. Can you do me a favor and write down the trait and how it works. I will implement it in the arms rework.

[oscuro.9720]

1 hour ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

My friend, you must give condizerker a try! Flaming flurry is such a great skill and the play style is tons of fun (and lots of room for high IQ plays b/c you're managing your fire auras for king of fires procs, timing your reflects, baiting dodges to land your skull grinders... So good!).

 

Anyway, to answer your question, here are a few takes (note that they are not mutually exclusive; indeed I would recommend all 3 in my dream scenario):

 

1) the bloodlust trait I proposed (life siphon on bleed) would make Flurry worth using a CC to land, even in it's current state. It already does Ok power dmg, and if you tacked on an additional 1375 dmg (11 bleeds x 125 siphon dmg per hit) from the trait, plus the bleeding itself, AND factored in that you're healing yourself 1100 HP while doing so... That's a pretty good deal.

 

2.) The immobilize should be applied if ANY of the strikes land, not just the first attack. This allows it to still be effective even if the channel is partially derailed by blind, aegis, evasion, etc.

 

3.) I would ideally unroot Flurry by just using the animation for flaming flurry instead (without the fireballs, of course).

 

The combination of these things would make Flurry at least a decent skill, and probably a very good one.

 

ALTERNATIVE TAKE:

move Flurry (level 1 version, preferably unrooted as described above) to Sword 3.

 

New Burst: Final thrust

450 range leap finisher

3/4s cast

Same power dmg as it currently does (both above and below 50%); same at all adrenaline levels.

Applies bleeding: 

Level 1: 3 stacks (6s) if target above 50%; 6 stacks if below

Level 2: 4 stacks (8s) /8 stacks

Level 3: 5 stacks (10s) /10 stacks

 

This is what I really want to see. This would be SO much fun to use.  Channel your inner Saito and let loose!

 

https://youtu.be/8OAjKqcID4M

The changing flurry with final thrust sounds real fun! I could definitely see savage leap with a shorter aftercast going right into flurry being a real smooth way of playing the kit. If I may add something; a reworked, restructured final thrust should be a 450 range dash that’s ground targeted like Whirlwind, allowing it to strike everyone along its path. It might have more versatility and balance the kit a little better. (Plus I love ground targeted “skill shots” 🙂 )
 

As for the changes, that’s a very good explanation. Honestly can’t say I would play sword. Something about savage leap and final thrust is really clunky and off putting to me when compared to other warrior weapons. But those changes would definitely make flurry a more functional skill 🙂

Edited July 7, 2022 by oscuro.9720

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

6 minutes ago, Grand Marshal.4098 said:

True true. Can you do me a favor and write down the trait and how it works. I will implement it in the arms rework.

Sure thing! 

 

Bloodlust:

Steal health when you inflict bleeding. 

Life siphon damage: 125

LS healing: 100

 

*LS is proc'd for each stack of bleeding applied; e.g. riposte inflicts 8 stacks of bleeding, and therefore 8x LS. 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

2 minutes ago, oscuro.9720 said:

The changing flurry with final thrust sounds real fun! I could definitely see savage leap with a shorter aftercast going right into flurry being a real smooth way of playing the kit. If I may add something; a reworked, restructured final thrust should be a 450 range dash that’s ground targeted like Whirlwind, allowing it to strike everyone along its path. It might have more versatility and balance the kit a little better. (Plus I love ground targeted “skill shots” 🙂 )
 

As for the changes, that’s a very good explanation. Honestly can’t say I would play sword. Something about savage leap and final thrust is really clunky and off putting to me when compared to other warrior weapons. But those changes would definitely make flurry a more functional skill 🙂

I think sword would feel phenomenal with movement skills on F1 and the burst. You'd be so fast! Excellent for rotating around the map and chasing people down (or doing the usual warrior thing and running for your life).

 

A ground targeted attack could be lots of fun, too. That's a good idea! 

[Mikali.9651]

I would really like it if Savage Leap would also have evade mechanic.

That just feels right to me, especially when it is so awkward  to use it in a close proximity to the target, at least one would gain evade during the animation duration, and it would be huge for a Warrior.

Ofc, other skills also need changes, mainly Final Thrust, as most already mentioned it, it needs to apply bleeding even on targets with >50% health.

And I even agree to have it as a burst skill, it once was a burst skill, and then bleeding stacks can scale both with 50% health condition, and level of burst.
The problem is with Flurry being so good in Berserker spec, so that kinda makes it harder to switch Final Thrust to a burst skill.

In anyway, I would actually want to see Flurry gone the way it is as a core warrior, remove immob for all I care if that means one can move while using it.

For Impale I would add Daze, so it can be range interrupt and do a bit of Defiance bar dmg too, to modernize a skill.

Rip I would change to a 900 range skill, and Rip to also apply Daze. Having both daze on Impale and on Rip would make for an interesting playstyle IMO. 
Now, I don't care about Rip doing dmg or giving might at all, mostly because might gain seems clunky to use AFTER you apply all stacks of Torment, rather make it inflict bleeding or vulnerability stacks - that just seems thematically right for me.

Regarding Riposte, I totally agree that it should be a 2 second channeled block, and it should flip if you block attack, but instead of more bleeding, I would like it to apply other conditions, like Slow/Weakness for example, and even Taunt would be nice.

I think having these changes would make Sword/Sword such a nice playmaking build, and could even help Warrior to have a tank role for PvE. 

Having Daze on Impale/Rip would also give Warrior access to interesting runes, like Superior Sigil of Absorption to remove boons, or to even apply Vulnerability with Rending or have personal Quickness with Celerity for easier Final Thrust, etc. 

Now, regarding traits, I kinda would like to see Furious Burst being replaced with Leg Specialist.
Furious Burst just doesn't seem right for Sword while Leg Specialist would synergize far more with other traits in Arms.

Another trait I would like to see gone is Signet Mastery, and instead have Crack Shot, so one can actually use Bow with Arms, and even Rifle could work nicely with Arms trait then

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Mikali.9651

[Gorem.8104]

Actually, you know how cool it would be is S+B actually worked well on Warrior, could finally use some normal size sword skins on a character. 

 

That would require Anet to give Warrior some candy though. 

[LeoAP.8534]

Sword F1 has to be one of the worst abilities in the game, at least in PvP. The only guaranteed root is yourself. You would think based on its design that it would be useful to lock someone down, but it's almost impossible to hit a running enemy with a half second cast time, self rooting, melee range skill (it sounds so stupid described). That's if they weren't immune in the first place and if they're not they often just break out of it. That's what people do in PvP, they break out of CC and meanwhile YOU are rooted. I feel it's particularly egregious when berserker has had a mobile sword flurry burst for years. Sword F1 feels like something they designed very early against PvE and then never thought about again. Core sword needs more changes, but fixing the F1 is one of the very easiest ways to address some of its problems. 

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

Bump.

 

Dear ANet, please consider reworking the sword for the November patch!

 

I stand by all the suggestions in the OP, as well as this alternative take for Final Thrust:

Quote

move Flurry (level 1 version, preferably unrooted as described above) to Sword 3.

 

New Burst: Final thrust

450 range leap finisher

3/4s cast

Same power dmg as it currently does (both above and below 50%); same at all adrenaline levels.

Applies bleeding: 

Level 1: 3 stacks (6s) if target above 50%; 6 stacks if below

Level 2: 4 stacks (8s) /8 stacks

Level 3: 5 stacks (10s) /10 stacks

 

This is what I really want to see. This would be SO much fun to use.  Channel your inner Saito and let loose!

 

Thanks for considering it!