Alrighty then Trevor, lets bite.
Does the DH LB have more DPS than a ranger LB?
Definitely.
Here’s the issue, though. It does more damage, but is less flexible. True shot only works after you’ve baited all of your target’s dodges, blocks, reflects, blinds. The same could be said about rapid fire, but you’re capable of moving with rapid fire and its only possible to dodge once you’ve already taken a few hits. Its possible for a DH to land 0 shots with this true shot while ranger can consistently land a partial amount of his rapid fires.
LB3 for DH is very tricky to get off. As is the problem with actively defending in this game, a lot of skills have little to no telegraph. Making it so that you can consistently destroy a projectile requires for you to be at range. At range, the enemy has no excuse for getting hit by it. A DH would not waste a CC to land that skill. Destroying a projectile at close range without a reasonable tell is incredibly difficult and almost feels like RNG (it isn’t) at times.
We can agree that DH LB4 is only good when dropped at his own feet, unless it into a team fight but even then, that’s DH’s only source of vigor, so I doubt he’d waste it (I wouldn’t).
Hunters ward and barrage suffer from the same issues, but hunters ward (when completed) is a lot more powerful.
Personally, I’d trade heavy light for point blank shot any time of the day. Build heavy light right into LB3 for DH and give rangers heavy light proc on all range attacks. Trust me, you’ll want to redo the trade immediately.
If it was LB vs LB, ranger’s LB wins every time thanks to sheer flexibility. What tips it into the guardian’s favour is what the guardian is known for, which is his defenses. Naturally, in a fight, you can’t have one without the other, which is why DH has a much higher win rate VS ranger, but you can’t nerf the LB for DH without breaking it entirely. If guardian lacked anything when it came to building offensively, its mobility. Now that guard doesn’t have to worry about mobility, its almost as if they don’t have any weaknesses.
Honestly speaking though, I believe giving LB to guardian was a bad move, but its here and its happening so we all just have to adapt.
If we absolutely HAD to discuss a nerf for DH, I’d recommend adding a secondary function to true shot. Have it start at about 60% of its current damage, then give it a ramp up effect. For every properly executed true shot, the damage for every true shot after that increases by a set 3-5% (without decay). If they miss, that bonus is decreased by 1-2%. If they keep missing, they could go less than the base. With this, if they just spam it to burn dodges, they’ll do a lot less damage when they finally land it. Make test of faith’s wall undodgeable and unblockable, then reduce the damage it deals by about 10-15%. This way, if the guard traps you in the circle, you can either escape his true shot (which would have its velocity increased by 100%) and take the trap damage and then have a reduced risk of being hit by the true shot, or you could have faith (geddit, cuz test of faith) in your ability to dodge in this small circle and render his attacks useless, thus forcing him to swap to a more reliable melee weapon.
People simply need to stop thinking about damage and numbers. Let’s think of more mechanics, how to make the game more complex and rewarding for those who get good at it and less rewarding for people who want to face roll.
