So, most Revenant players know the latest patch left a lot to be desired, as it basically just nerfed a few things and didn’t touch the rest of the class. Thus, I propose some basic changes be made to the problem areas of the class, namely: Ventari, Jalis, Sword-Offhand, Salvation and some other traits, along with some clunky skills.
This is all heavily based on my personal use, so I’m very open to suggestions, but I’d ask only actual Revenant players to provide input here, since most other threads here keep attracting many non-rev players who seemingly want the class nerfed to oblivion or can’t see beyond sword’s pre-patch strong auto-attack.
Jalis
Jalis as a whole is meant to be the “tanky, brawly, in your face” legend. He’s meant to allow you to go full ham and wail on the enemy in melee range, however it falls kind of short in this regard, largely to two skills. Keep in mind, I have some minor changes I’d recommend to the Retribution line which should maintain some balance, if thing seem a little OP at first.
Inspiring Reinforcement
In short, this skill is too clunky and hard to use for it’s primary purpose, stability.
I propose it be adjusted to a very short, bursty AoE stability skill, alongside becoming a stunbreak.
30 Energy, 10s Recharge, Instant Cast
Break stun and grant yourself and nearby allies stability for a short time.
2 Stability (3s).
The idea is that you have some fairly decent stability up-time and an accessible stunbreaker, but it should be fairly costly, making it somewhat difficult to keep-up, but still usable when you need it.
Rite of the Great Dwarf
This skill is really just too hard to access when you need it. The cast time is too long for the duration you get. I understand this is partially due to the AoE nature of the skill and I’d like to keep that there without making it too strong, thus.
50 Energy, Instant Cast
50% Damage Reduction (inc. Condis if traited) on nearby allies for Four (4) seconds.
Essentially I removed the stunbreaker, because it was useless and reduced the uptime by a second, so you can use it when you need a quick save. Keeping it at 5 might be worth-while, but it is an AoE skill.
Forced Engagement
The projectile speed is just a little too slow. Increasing it 25 – 50% would see it be a little more reliable.
Soothing Stone
Only major change here is making the Condition Clear fire off first, to clear poison and make the heal more reliable.
Summary of Jalis
Basically what I did here was give Revenant a little better access to emergency buttons, like other classes have. I feel this is where Jalis’ strength comes in, alongside it’s potent heal and the Vengeful Hammers upkeep. It allows a variety of defensive options, while still offering some nice group support.
Retribution
This line feels a little messy, so my goal here is to make it a little more consistent and balance it out with the above changes.
Improved Aggression
This trait is just a little too niche for anyone to really take, especially when you have close quarters available too. I’m personally not a huge fan of having a trait for one very specific skill, but if you’re going for a taunt build, I’d say buffing/nerfing this to a flat 25% on everything would be better, also including Slow, maybe even bumping up the damage reduction, since Taunt/Slow are so hard to access on Revenant, it’s a powerful trait but only in a very specific circumstance.
“Taunted foes deal less damage to you. Taunt and Slow have an increased duration”
Damage Reduced: 30% (could maybe even stay at 20)
Duration Increase: 25%
Essentially we end up with Taunt and Slow lasting for 2.5 seconds, instead of the flat 2. I thought about 50%, but that resulted in a 3 second taunt, which is not fun.
Unwavering Avoidance
This trait as a whole doesn’t sit well with me, especially now that it has an ICD. I’m generally not a fan of on-dodge traits as they’re too passive. Instead, I think this skill should give Jalis more Retaliation, in a similar way that Mallyx gets Resistance from Corruption. This should also buff Empowering Vengeance, since Rev will have better Retal uptime, instead of just from dodging or from Soothing Stone.
“Gain Retaliation when using a dwarf stance skill”
Retaliation (2s) (maybe even a little higher)
Steadfast Rejuvenation
This skill just can’t stand up to the other two GM traits in the line. My suggestion here is just to lower the ICD, perhaps by a second or two.
Ventari
The first thing I’ll say is my use of Ventari is kind of limited, largely due to it being completely useless in just about every gamemode and just being generally too clunky.
The tablet effect is cool and I like that, but it needs just a tiny, tiny amount of AI.
General Use
First thing, when you swap to Ventari, the tablet should automatically appear. That or allow us to have “non tablet” skills, similar to how Druid has it’s Glyphs. Personally I’m going with it just auto-activating.
Secondly, the tablet should automatically follow you to an extent, while still allowing placement. The tablet should stay close to the player, similar to how Pets, Gyros, etc. do.
Ventari’s Will
This skill needs a rework.
“Will the tablet to target location for 3 seconds, healing nearby allies along it’s path. The tablet will automatically return to you after this time.”
5 Energy, 4s Cooldown, Instant Cast
Healing: 500
Targets: 5
Radius: 240
Range: 900
This skill should then flip over
Ventari’s Return
Or call it whatever, I don’t care
“Return the tablet to your position, healing nearby allies along it’s path.”
5 Energy, 4s Cooldown (essentially global cooldown of 4s for the whole skill), Instant Cast
Healing: 500
Radius: 240
Range: 900
The idea here is to allow the tablet to require a little less effort to control, but still allow you to have that control should you need it. So you can either have the tablet sit at a place for 3 seconds and have it automatically return to you, or you can have it manually return, for an extra energy cost.
Protective Solace
Just make it a kitten water field already.
Purifying Essence
Lower the energy cost to 25. Allows for an emergency burst condi clear upon switching to Ventari if you spam it, at the cost of all your energy.
Energy Expulsion
Basically keep this skill the same, but obviously don’t destroy the tablet. Instead, “daze” or disable the tablet for 3 seconds.
Essentially my goal here is to maintain the theme of the tablet, but make it easier to access certain skills, and make it generally less clunky.
Salvation
This line is just a mess. It’s pretty much entirely useless unless you’re using a staff heal ventari build. It has little to no application outside of this, unlike almost every other legend. My goal is to retain it’s support and blind aspects, but allow it a little more flexibility.
Blinding Truths
Move this to Master, in place of Tranquil Benediction and change it to the following
“Centaur stance skills blind foes near the tablet”
Blind (2s), 10s ICD.
This is kind of a nerf, if you were spamming the heal skill currently, but this means you have a little more access to the blinds.
Tranquil Benediction
Completely revamp this trait. In principle it’s nice, but the healing orbs on staff are largely useless in actual gameplay. I propose using this to give Revenant a little more condition clear that it sorely needs. Not so much to make it OP, but enough to actually make a dent, also move to adept tier.
“Healing skills also clear one conditon (15s ICD)”
A simple trait that allows some condition management. The ICD might need to be played with a bit due to it’s extreme synergy with Ventari (one condi every 15s might be a bit strong for Rev), but in other builds it’s actually quite viable.
Hardened Foundation
This trait is too hard to actually make use of. This should be changed to something that benefits allies standing near the tablet.
“Allies near the Tablet gain 5% damage reduction”
We don’t want to step into Jalis territory, but we do want to encourage people to be near the tablet for things other than heals.
Eluding Nullification
Remove the ICD, it isn’t really necessary.
Selfless Amplification
Perhaps it’s my personal taste, but I’ve never been a fan of traits that rely on stats to be effective. I propose something that will synergize with both Herald and other traits in the line.
“Regeneration you apply is 30% more effective”
This is similar to a couple other traits out there, but gives Salvation users a little boost to their Regen, a boon that isn’t exactly super powerful unless you have copious amounts of healing power. It also gives a reason for flat power users to want to take this line.
Momentary Pacification
This trait just conflicts with too many elites. The Ventari elite itself conflicts with it too much, along with Jade Winds and Chaotic Release. Since most Revenant elites have short/non-existent CDs, it’s my assumption that a high amount of daze was expected, so I’d like to go with this theme.
“25% chance to daze target when attacking, 20s ICD”
Again, numbers may need tweaking here, but the principle is that you want to be able to throw out some dazes once in a while.
Summary
Basically with this line, I wanted to still allow the big healing buffs to be there for that playstyle, but also to give some condition clear play and some denial play to the line, that it’s clearly trying to achieve.
(edited by mexay.3902)