An Arms Rework Inspired by Our Very Own Lan Deathrider. Hybrid Focus With a Theme of Vuln and Crit Chance.

[Zuko.7132]

Lan recently suggested this change for the furious trait in arms:

 

Critical hits grant bonus adrenaline and gain a stacking damage effect.

  Furious Surge (10s): +1% condition damage and 1% increased critical hit damage

  Adrenaline: 1

 Stacks up to 25 times. Stacks refresh on application.

 

That got me thinking that arms as a whole should be hybrid with a theme of crit chance and vulnerability with options for both power and condi. Not sure what the numbers should be, so I'm just using variables for now and if I don't, all number are up for debate.

 

Minor Traits

1. Furious Burst: This is pretty decent, especially after the crit chance increase.
2. Deep Strikes: 50% chance on crit to apply X seconds of vulnerability. Vulnerability you apply lasts 25% longer.
3. Bloodlust: Steal life when you apply vulnerability. X life steal per stack.

 

Tier 1 Traits

1. Wounding Precision: Apply X seconds of torment when you apply vulnerability. This would be the condition option.
2. Opportunist: Gain 3 seconds of Fury on a critical hit and gain 3 adrenaline 5 second cooldown. Fury grants X condition damage and X ferocity. This is the option if you need more fury, want to run condi without vuln focus or power without signet focus, or just hybrid.
3. Signet Mastery: Already good. Power option.

 

Tier 2 Traits

1. Sundering Burst: This is already decent and will be better with the new vuln focus. Will provide a condi burst through wounding precision and added sustain for all builds through lifesteal.
2. Unsuspecting Foe: Gain X% crit chance against vulnerable foes. Disabling a foe applies X Vulnerability. Shouldn't provide as much vuln as sundering burst but should be a more aggressive option for power builds through increased crit chance.
3. Blademaster: Gain 120 expertise and condition damage. Double these bonuses when wielding a sword. Reduce sword cooldowns and apply X burning when immobilizing a foe. Should provide more damage then the torment from sundering burst, since it will lose the lifesteal and only work with immob. Should have synergy with longbow pindown too. Sword will still need a rework.

 

Tier 3 Traits

1. Burst Precision: Burst skills have 100% chance to crit and provide 2, 4, 6 seconds of X% crit chance after landing a burst based on adrenaline level. Should enable warriors to run stuff like valkyrie if they want in combination with furious burst, opportunitst, and unsuspecting foe.
2. Furious: Credit to Lan Deathrider. Critical hits grant 1 bonus adrenaline and a stacking effect that refreshes upon application. Stacks up to 25 times.   Furious Surge (10s): +1% condition damage and 1% increased critical hit damage. This will be the max damage option for both condi and power.
3. Dual Wielding: I hate this trait. Replace with Precision Expert. After you gain fury, your next attacks applies X vuln. This would be the sustain trait through lifesteal as well as party utility by providing more vuln for your team.

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Zuko.7132

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

I have to say, I'm glad I inspired you to take a crack at Arms.

It really is supposed to be a hybrid traitline, but has somehow always ended up a traitline full of misfit traits. I really hope that when Anet reworks Arms, that they pull inspiration from several of the rework suggestions as all of them are full of great ideas.

[Zuko.7132]

The biggest offenders are the minor traits which are 100% useless for power.

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

24 minutes ago, Zuko.7132 said:

The biggest offenders are the minor traits which are 100% useless for power.

I know, and they didn't use to be. The specialization rework for HoT kinda FUBARed Arms hard, and they never really fixed it since. They've tweaked it certainly, but not fixed any of it's issues.

[CalmTheStorm.2364]

11 hours ago, Zuko.7132 said:

Lan recently suggested this change for the furious trait in arms:

 

Critical hits grant bonus adrenaline and gain a stacking damage effect.

  Furious Surge (10s): +1% condition damage and 1% increased critical hit damage

  Adrenaline: 1

 Stacks up to 25 times. Stacks refresh on application.

 

That got me thinking that arms as a whole should be hybrid with a theme of crit chance and vulnerability with options for both power and condi. Not sure what the numbers should be, so I'm just using variables for now and if I don't, all number are up for debate.

 

Minor Traits

1. Furious Burst: This is pretty decent, especially after the crit chance increase.
2. Deep Strikes: 50% chance on crit to apply X seconds of vulnerability. Vulnerability you apply lasts 25% longer.
3. Bloodlust: Steal life when you apply vulnerability. X life steal per stack.

 

Tier 1 Traits

1. Wounding Precision: Apply X seconds of torment when you apply vulnerability. This would be the condition option.
2. Opportunist: Gain 3 seconds of Fury on a critical hit and gain 3 adrenaline 5 second cooldown. Fury grants X condition damage and X ferocity. This is the option if you need more fury, want to run condi without vuln focus or power without signet focus, or just hybrid.
3. Signet Mastery: Already good. Power option.

 

Tier 2 Traits

1. Sundering Burst: This is already decent and will be better with the new vuln focus. Will provide a condi burst through wounding precision and added sustain for all builds through lifesteal.
2. Unsuspecting Foe: Gain X% crit chance against vulnerable foes. Disabling a foe applies X Vulnerability. Shouldn't provide as much vuln as sundering burst but should be a more aggressive option for power builds through increased crit chance.
3. Blademaster: Gain 120 expertise and condition damage. Double these bonuses when wielding a sword. Reduce sword cooldowns and apply X burning when immobilizing a foe. Should provide more damage then the torment from sundering burst, since it will lose the lifesteal and only work with immob. Should have synergy with longbow pindown too. Sword will still need a rework.

 

Tier 3 Traits

1. Burst Precision: Burst skills have 100% chance to crit and provide 2, 4, 6 seconds of X% crit chance after landing a burst based on adrenaline level. Should enable warriors to run stuff like valkyrie if they want in combination with furious burst, opportunitst, and unsuspecting foe.
2. Furious: Credit to Lan Deathrider. Critical hits grant 1 bonus adrenaline and a stacking effect that refreshes upon application. Stacks up to 25 times.   Furious Surge (10s): +1% condition damage and 1% increased critical hit damage. This will be the max damage option for both condi and power.
3. Dual Wielding: I hate this trait. Replace with Precision Expert. After you gain fury, your next attacks applies X vuln. This would be the sustain trait through lifesteal as well as party utility by providing more vuln for your team.

 

Really clever use of tying multiple traits to apply/grant effects based on vulnerability, especially since vuln benefits both power and condi builds, and arms is essentially a hybrid trait line.  Great ideas!

 

Regarding burst precision:

@DanAlcedo.3281 had suggested something like this previously. This is my take inspired by him:

 

Burst skills gain+100% crit chance.

Gain +5% critical chance (15s) for each bar of adrenaline spent. Max 3 stacks (Think: a precision version of Berserker's Power).

[Zuko.7132]

7 hours ago, CalmTheStorm.2364 said:

Really clever use of tying multiple traits to apply/grant effects based on vulnerability, especially since vuln benefits both power and condi builds, and arms is essentially a hybrid trait line.  Great ideas!

 

Regarding burst precision:

@DanAlcedo.3281 had suggested something like this previously. This is my take inspired by him:

 

Burst skills gain+100% crit chance.

Gain +5% critical chance (15s) for each bar of adrenaline spent. Max 3 stacks (Think: a precision version of Berserker's Power).

Ya, I thought vuln was perfect for arms due to its hybrid nature. It seems like anet agrees to some degree since they already put sundering burst in there, but I wanted to double down on that. Also, trait interactions are just fun.

[Vancho.8750]

@Zuko.7132

Here is another idea for Dual wield, while dual wielding you have increased attack speed, under the effects of quickness you get 20% bonus damage.
 Add you do not lose the passive on signet mastery, this buffs the sustain on arms to usable levels in pvp/wvw.
Maybe put somewhere "you do more damage to vulnerable targets" like the Strength Might stack bonus.
Wounding precision is good trait since it lets you hit the condi duration 100% and warrior tends to have to pull allot of math gymnastics to get the 100% caps already so there should be some crit to condi duration thing in the traitline, maybe with enough tweaking in that direction the Grieving stats might get the hybrid damage dealer slot over Viper. 

 

[Lighter.5631]

warrior needs a trait to stop adrenaline from depreciating.

 

like for real, warrior the only class needs to actually hit some thing in order to actually burst instead of straight into burst.

which is so pigeonhole and limiting.

one of many things that makes warrior less diverse and less fun.

like gameplay is so fixed, it's unreal, no matter how you build it.

warrior needs to have some way to stop adrenaline from depreciating off combat, so it can straight burst people, given how already low damage warrior overall is in terms of burst damage in pvp.

Edited August 18, 2022 by Lighter.5631

[Kalthea.4326]

I like a few of these changes, though I certainly wouldn't put torment into the trait line. I'd replace it with burn or bleed, to go along with the rest of our condi builds. Torment just isn't a good option on warrior, as we're mostly melee, and pve-wise, it isn't too great.

 

However, I also think that speculating for a single trait-line rework without considering how it will affect the entirety if warrior can go awry. I'd be far more concerned with the overall balance of the class instead of one line, especially considering how poorly laid out all of the warrior trait lines are. But, this is good as a concept, I'd just like arms to have definitive lines for what you need from it. A line for crit, a line for condi, and a line for hybridization.

[Opopanax.1803]

On 8/13/2022 at 4:18 PM, Lan Deathrider.5910 said:

I have to say, I'm glad I inspired you to take a crack at Arms.

It really is supposed to be a hybrid traitline, but has somehow always ended up a traitline full of misfit traits. I really hope that when Anet reworks Arms, that they pull inspiration from several of the rework suggestions as all of them are full of great ideas.

I think Arm's chief issue is that it needs to just be condi and not hybrid.  Here is a possible solution.

1. burning on LB autos are default

2. traits

• Signet Mastery >>> now Bleeder.  Bleeding you cause is 33% more damaging. Every second of immobilize you apply adds equal stacks of Torment
• Opportunist >>> add to trait: Proc 2 second of quickness on immobilize.

 

• Unsuspecting Foe >>> now Snared Target: When you apply bleeding to a foe who is crippled or immobilized, proc 1 additional stack of bleeding (2 sec)
• Sundering Burst >>> now Flaming Burst: When you execute a Adrenaline Finisher, also proc a burst of flames in a 100 unit radius that applies 1 stack of burning (6 sec).  Longbow CDs now reduced 20%.  No ICD

 

• Bursting Precision >>> now Bursting Torment: Apply 3 stacks of torment when hitting with a Finisher.
• Dual Wielding >>> now Fast Strikes: 3 consecutive successful attacks now grants increased attack speed (20%, 5 seconds).  This stacks with quickness.    Any successful 4 or 5 skill attack grants 2 seconds of quickness