As the second balance pass for the expansion is very likely coming, I’d like to give four trait ideas that would make Strength specialization even more so of a viable alternative to Defense by updating or re-working some of them. You can find all suggestion in attachements. Numbers are just to convey the general idea.
1. Restorative Strength:
Why would I change it
Warrior, especially in specialization loosely-focused on endurance play, could use a way to target-remove Weakness with one of traits. Looking at all options in the specialization, I came to conclusion that the best shot at it would be slightly buffing Restorative Strength. The name of the trait already suggests restoring power, so shrugging off weaknesses and converting them into even more Might certainly fits the theme.
How does the change work?
Weakness conversion uses the standard condition->boon table, from Contemplation of Purity and other such skills. In this case, Weakness is converted into 3 stacks of Might that last 10 seconds each.
Synergies
Target-removing Weakness has possible use in setting-up damage bursts. Bonus Might from the skill not only helps with damage, but brings even greater synergy with Might Makes Right trait. Stronger Restorative Strength is an indirect buff to Mending, which happens to be the lowest cooldown heal Warrior has access to and doesn’t mind using on cooldown (unlike Healing Signet).
2. Brave Stride -> Mocking Strikes
Why would I change it
Brave Stride is one of the newest traits added in the latest balance update, however, without a way to re-activate it during combat it falls into very, very thin niche of traits. Warriors looking for more stability usually look toward other traits.
The trait slot occupied by Brave Stride could be used to create a complete “line” of adept, master and grandmaster traits focused on interruption and disruption in Strength specialization and that’s what Mocking Strikes brings.
How does the change work?
Mocking Strikes offers an unique, thematic ability to remove small portions of foes’ Endurance (big theme of the specialization) on your successful interrupts. As an additional reward comes the cooldown reduction. A skilled player could use this trait to lower cooldowns on key weapon skills by planning his interrupts ahead.
Synergies
Mocking Strikes synergises with my proposition of Body Blow change and helps with general disruption, opressing foes who are not aware. While one interrupt may not be a heavy punishment, a chain of interrupts from the Warrior would put struck foes in a situation when they can no longer easily avoid dangerous telegraphed Warrior’s attacks.
Because of how cooldown reduction works, Mocking Strikes could also encourage underused utility skills such as Kick, as they would not mess up the more significant cooldown reduction combos like using CC abilities on weapons could.
3. Body Blow
Why would I change it
Rewards from interrupting foes with Body Blow equipped are currently, in my view, a bit too low. To get the best potential out of the trait Warrior should likely slot weapons that are mainly Power-oriented, such as maces or hammer. Those weapons bring little to none sustained condition pressure, so it’s important for the trait to make the worthwhile impact. Slightly increasing power of the trait is also the answer to ever-widening access to condition removal and/or resistance, added since the initial Specialization patch.
How does the change work?
The change comes in two parts.
The first part is lightly increasing the duration of Weakness applied and upping the Bleed application from 2 to 3 stacks, with overall duration reduced from 6 seconds to 5 seconds. These changes make the trait have more immediate impact and value.
The second part is related to the endurance theme of Strength specialization. If, after interrupting a foe, your endurance is higher than his/hers, the duration of conditions applied with Body Blow is greatly increased. This change provides an extra layer of gameplay and possible optimisation, when keeping up with the power level and staying competitive.
Synergies
Mocking Strikes, Might makes Right, Signet of Stamina, Building Momentum, Weakness, Vigor. Synergizes with other interrupt-focused effects/traits/skills/utilities as well as ones related to endurance manipulation.
This conversion trait is, from my experience, rarely seen slotted. It tries to increase the defensive potential of Strength line, but a bit more Vitality is rarely the most important thing. If Strength is to be a viable alternative to Defense, for example, as the third specialization in non-core Warrior builds, it has to supply condition-defense mechanisms. When looking at traits in the specialization, Great Fortitude struck me as the perfect place to locate such mechanism. Competing with Forceful Greatsword for Might Makes Right builds, it would remove that easy Might generation tool in favour of more condition removal when chosen.
How does the change work?
Great Fortitude is not the usual condition removal trait. Instead of removing a condition or two on dodge, it reduces durations of all conditions on you by a flat amount when you successfully dodge an attack.
It’s a perfect defense mechanism against condition overloads, so present in current PvP, when removing the important conditions is made harder by a lot of cover, not as-important, “trash” conditions. What’s a common theme among many builds applying many conditions is that the conditions themselves are usually quite short and bursty, since players don’t invest into improving their durations in favour of getting more defensive or hybrid stats.
Therefore, Great Fortitude is a good answer to them, while it’s far less effective against builds that are willing to increase their conditions’ duration. It’s a less “1 or 0” approach to condition removal I would probably like to see in-game in some form.
Synergies
Traits/effects that generate Endurance. In Strength line it would greatly synergize with Might Makes Right builds and benefit from Building Momentum minor. Vigor.
I tried to make presentation and explanation of each trait as clear as possible for easy reading and feedback. I might do more of such short, well-explained compilations for other areas of Warrior in the future.
Current Strength specialization has even less options for such builds. Axe has great synergy with Might Makes Right, but if you are looking for more Axe synergy tou have it in Discipline.
Current Strength specialization has even less options for such builds. Axe has great synergy with Might Makes Right, but if you are looking for more Axe synergy tou have it in Discipline.
Except the master tier and adept tier doesn’t really synergize all that well. And the point is, none of the traits you propose is what I want.
