My goals for this rework:
- move traits to better places, combining traits when appropriate
- make the warrior stronger
- increase build diversity
I wanted to make the warrior less reliant on specific specializations for certain things (i.e. you don’t NEED Defense to have good sustain, you don’t NEED Strength to deal great damage, etc) so that we could see a lot more build diversity. I also wanted to make the warrior less reliant on particular weapons or combinations (such as Forceful Greatsword + Phalanx Strength), instead making each weapon usable in more situations and making them each great in their own right.
Base Warrior
Make the warrior less kite-able, and increasingly dangerous as a battle goes on. Address adrenaline decay. Increase the ‘reward’ part of Vengeance’s risk-reward nature.
Warrior’s Sprint buffed & baseline – Warriors move 25% faster by default. Weapon skills, utility skills, bursts, and primal bursts which removed immobilized with the previous Warrior’s Sprint now remove immobilized by default.
Battle Momentum – spending adrenaline gives you 1 stack of Battle Momentum per bar of adrenaline spent. Each stack reduces weapon swap speed by 1.25 seconds, up to a maximum of 5 second reduction total (this cannot stack with Fast Hands). Battle Momentum can also have other effects based on traits. Maximum of 20 stacks.
Adrenaline decay – adrenaline doesn’t begin decaying until all stacks of Battle Momentum are gone. Battle Momentum decays at a rate of 1 stack per second once the warrior is out of combat.
Vengeful Return buffed & baseline – getting a down or kill while in Vengeance makes you rally with increased endurance and health.
Specializations / Traits
Strength
Increase number of effective weaponry (decrease Greatsword favoritism). Increase effectiveness of interrupt-based builds. Swapped some traits around: Body Blow was buffed and swapped with Distracting Strikes; Forceful Greatsword was replaced with Forceful Weaponry and swapped with Axe Mastery. Merciless Hammer effects moved from Discipline to here (Forceful Weaponry). Might generation moved to Tactics.
Minors:
Reckless Dodge – no changes
Building Momentum – endurance gain increased to 25
Stick and Move – no changes
Major Adepts:
Death from Above – no changes
Peak Performance – damage boost is now based on stacks of Battle Momentum, instead of bars of adrenaline. 10% damage increase for each stack of Battle Momentum, up to 100%
Restorative Strength – now also gives you a small heal whenever you gain Might
Major Master:
Distracting Strikes – no changes (other than it was moved to Major Master)
Axe Mastery – no changes (other than it was moved to Major Master)
Great Fortitude – no changes
Major Grandmaster:
Forceful Weaponry – 2-handed melee weapons deal 10% increased damage, and have their skill recharge reduced by 20%. This damage bonus is increased to 20% when attacking a dazed, knocked down, launched, or stunned enemy
Body Blow – stuns, dazes, knockbacks, pulls, pushes, and launches inflict bleeding, weakness, and confusion. When you successfully inflict conditions due to Body Blow, the attack that inflicted the conditions has its recharge reduced (20%)
Berserker’s Power – now also increases all critical damage done by 1% per stack of Battle Momentum
Arms
Added the effects of Leg Specialist to Deep Strike. Buffed some weaker traits. Replaced Dual Wielding with Blood Breaker, giving a new option for power builds.
Minors:
Precise Strikes – no change
Rending Strikes – no change
Bloodlust – no change
Major Adepts:
Berserker’s Fury – increase the health threshold to 50%
Opportunist – no change
Signet Mastery – no change
Major Master:
Blademaster – no changes
Deep Strike – now also inflicts Immobilize whenever you inflict Cripple (5 sec ICD)
Unsuspecting Foe – no change
Major Grandmaster:
Burst Precision – no change
Furious – now also increases your condition damage by +10 per stack of Battle Momentum
Blood Breaker – Bleeding damage scales from power instead of condition damage. Bleeding damage and duration increased by 33%
Defense
Made weaker traits more powerful, and made Defy Pain a minor to allow for more variety in the Major Master tier. Also increased the sustain (over time) offered by Adrenal Health and Cleansing Ire.
Minors:
Thick Skin – reduces incoming damage and condition damage by 10% while your health is above the threshold, and by 5% while your health is below the threshold (75%)
Adrenal Health – now provides healing based off Battle Momentum, instead of current adrenaline
Defy Pain – no change (except moved to Minor Grandmaster)
Major Adepts:
Cull the Weak – health activation threshold increased to 50%
Dogged March – ICD lowered to 5 seconds
Shield Master – no change
Major Master:
Armored Attack – no change
Spiked Armor – ICD lowered to 10 seconds; moved to Major Master
Sundering Mace – now also inflicts the vulnerability with mace attacks that daze or stun
Major Grandmaster:
Cleansing Ire – hitting with a burst skill removes 1 condition. For every 2 stacks of Battle Momentum you have, 1 additional condition is removed whenever you remove a condition. Still gives you adrenaline when you are hit
Last Stand – no change
Rousing Resilience – no change
Tactics
Is now filled to the brim with useful traits, following 3 general paths – empowering allies, shouts/warhorn usage, and defensive traits (to give an alternative to Defense). Weaker traits were buffed. Empowered, Leg Specialist, and Burning Arrows have been removed to make way for new defensive traits. Leg Specialist and Burning Arrows have had their effects move to traits in other lines.
Minors:
Determined Revival – also gives you the toughness when you are downed or in Vengeance.
Reviver’s Might – also gives you 2 stacks of Battle Momentum whenever you revive an ally or rally.
Inspiring Presence – the bonus given by Inspiring Presence is increased for each stack of Battle Momentum you have.
Major Adepts:
Inspiring Battle Standard – now also reduces banner cooldowns (20%)
Quick Breathing – now also causes Shouts to recharge faster (akin to Alacrity) for a few seconds upon using a warhorn skill
Reactive Parry – after attacking with a burst skill, block the next incoming attack against you
Major Master:
Empower Allies – no changes
Shrug it Off – now also reduces effectiveness of incoming conditions on affected allies (20%) for a few seconds (6)
Evasive Momentum – after evading an attack, evade all attacks for 1 second. Duration is increased by 0.1 seconds per stack of Battle Momentum
Major Grandmaster:
Phalanx Strength – grant yourself might whenever you critically hit. When you grant yourself might, grant might to up to 5 allies within range (600)
Vigorous Shouts – increase healing by 50% and adrenaline gain by 5; now also causes Warhorn skills to recharge faster (akin to Alacrity) for a few seconds upon using a shout
Powerful Synergy – grants you a powerful effect whenever you complete a power combo, based on the combo finisher. Each effect has its own ICD.
Leap: power combo activates twice; 1 second ICD.
Blast: you cannot have conditions applied to you; 5 second duration; 30 sec ICD.
Whirl: invulnerable to direct damage; 5 second duration; 30 second ICD.
Projectile: heal yourself for a large amount; 30 second ICD.
Discipline
More movement and defensive options were added. Also added traits to optimize the use of ranged weapons, making Discipline the go-to line for ranged combat.
Minors:
Versatile Rage – no changes
Fast Hands – no changes
Versatile Power – no changes
Major Adepts:
Brawler’s Recovery – no changes (other than being moved to Major Adept)
Crack Shot – now grants pierce to the attacks of all ranged weapons (harpoon gun, rifle, longbow). No longer offers reduced recharge of any kind
Warrior’s Sprint – while wielding a melee weapon, grant yourself swiftness (1 sec duration, 1 sec interval)
Major Master:
Burst Mastery – no changes (other than being moved to Major Master)
Clear Shot – activating a burst skill gives you Resistance (1.25 seconds)
Warrior’s Advance – when you are attacked from a distance (600+), gain superspeed (3 seconds) and clear movement-impairing conditions. ICD 15 seconds
Major Grandmaster:
Brawler’s Mastery – you break stuns on weapon swap
Power Shot – ranged weapons (Harpoon Gun, Longbow, Rifle) have reduced recharge (20%). Burst skills of ranged weapons are unblockable.
Heightened Focus – ICD decreased to 10 seconds.
Berserker
Overall boosts which provide a more effective Berserker, as well as offering some synergy with other trait lines. Burning Arrows (the burning portion) was significantly expanded and put into King of Fires.
Minors:
Primal Rage – no change
Always Angry – now also makes stacks of Battle Momentum take twice as long to decay outside of combat
Fatal Frenzy – now also gives Resistance alongside the other boons it gives
Major Adepts:
Last Blaze – double the adrenaline gained and burning stacks inflicted (from this trait) when you use a Rage skill
Savage Instinct – remove 1 condition when you break a stun. Activating Berserk mode breaks stuns
Smash Brawler – no changes
Major Master:
Blood Reaction – no changes
Dead or Alive – double the healing; now also makes Vengeance available as soon as you are downed
Heat the Soul – now applies the condition damage bonus whenever you are wielding a weapon that can apply burning
Major Grandmaster:
Bloody Roar – range increased to 900. Once while Berserk is active, you can hit F2 to roar again
Eternal Champion – now also increases Berserk by 3 seconds for each bar of adrenaline spent in Berserk
King of Fires – now also applies 1 stack of burning on all weapon attacks
Weapon Skills
Weapon changes mostly consist of adding combo finishers to weapon skills and adjusting attack ranges.
Greatsword
Arcing Slice & Arc Divider – are now whirl finishers
Hundred Blades – now does a blast finisher on the last hit
Rush – is now a leap finisher. Significantly increase speed to make it more reliable.
Hammer
Earthshaker & Rupturing Smash – the ‘leap’ portion of the animation is now a leap finisher
Hammer Shock – now a projectile finisher
Longbow
no changes
Rifle
Increase range on all attacks to 1500, offering a range advantage over Longbow.
Gun Flame – the explosion is a blast finisher
Axe
Eviscerate – normalized damage values, so it deals high damage consistently
Mace
Skull Crack – is now a blast finisher
Skull Grinder – the ‘leap’ portion of the animation is now a leap finisher
Sword
Flurry – dazes the opponent at the start of the flurry for 0.25 seconds
Flaming Flurry – is now a projectile finisher
Shield
no changes
Torch
Blaze Breaker – increase number of targets to 5
Warhorn
no changes
Final Notes
I’ll end my rework here. Although more work needs done (Bull Rush could use the same treatment as Rush above, healing skills could get looked at, etc.) I feel the above changes would be a good enough starting point to put the warrior in a good spot, and that these are the more important changes.
(edited by castem.5936)