Now all we need is an exact time when you leap because monarch leap is 600 range but swoop has a total of 1200 and potentially has more leaping time.
LOL. Ok you got me curious enough to play around with this some more. tl;dr version: In a perfectly level jump they’re about the same range, monarch’s leap may go a little further. But if you’re jumping from a higher platform to a lower platform, swoop can take you a couple human bodylengths further. Also, I don’t think swoop will work on certain jumping puzzles.
The running start to swoop isn’t about 100-200 like I thought. It’s closer to 500-600 (I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 550, exactly half of swoop’s range). But you only need that full run distance if the landing point is at the same height as the jumping point. The reason is that if you run off a ledge, you start to fall normally. But as soon as you’ve traveled to where the run would’ve ended, the leap takes over and you start moving horizontally. That is, you run off the edge and start to fall, but the leap takes over in mid-air and you travel straight from that point.
If you start about 500-600 from the edge, swoop can make a jump to a landing point at the same level as your jumping point. Monarch’s leap seems to be better in this case though, as it felt like it gave slightly more distance.
If you start from about 200-300 from the cliff edge, the distance you fall before swoop takes over is only about a half body length – not very large at all. In this case, swoop’s landing point is further than monarch’s leap. So if you’re jumping to a lover level, swoop has a greater range. The best I could manage was about two human bodylengths further. The lower the landing point, the closer you can start swoop from the edge, and the further it’ll go than monarch’s leap.
If you start too close to the edge (I’d say around 100), swoop fails miserably. You’ll fall almost straight down the cliff edge as if you’d run off it at normal speed, and swoop will get “stuck” on the ground. A skill timer bar will appear (counting down to when swoop will be canceled). You can jump off the ground and swoop will resume until this bar disappears.
As for why I don’t think swoop will work on jumping puzzles, I tried to use it in the Mists over the bottomless canyon. If you’re in the leap part of the animation, it will work normally. But the run part seems to depend on there actually being ground underneath. So if you try a running fall, you’ll just fall normally and the leap part of swoop won’t work. So monarch’s leap is probably better for jumping puzzles that are suspended in mid-air. But I suck at jumping puzzles so someone else will have to test it to be sure.
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