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Ok , gonna give my impression of the Soul Blader after playing it since the new update. This post isn't about bashing other classes or anything like that so I'd appreciate the same in any comments that may get posted. I'll try and keep this short so there's no wall of text etc
Old skills with an update!
Tyrant Strike 3 - Doesn't really fit in with the new way this class should be played, has it's perk in the fact the extra crit (once invoked) aids subsequent skills and basic attacks by hitting the higher end of the players attack more often, fixed amount of bonus damage is a bit, meh. I would use this if I needed more skills on a rotation but for now I see no point as it doesn't actually help the class overall. CD is fine.
Accelerated Chop 3 - An extra 5% attack speed over its predecessor at max rank would be nice if CTS was still in it's original form as it would synergise, as it stands the skill isn't as effective because the defence/damage abs debuffs the Soul Blader can apply don't land often enough and make very little difference to any damage dealt. I used AC2 when Chilled Tempest Slash was the way it should be, now I would only use AC3 if I needed more skills on a rotation. CD is fine.
Chilled Slash 3 - Hated it's predecessor for the low invoke chance, hate this for the same reason. If it had a % bonus damage instead of a fixed amount I'd probably like it more but I use it because 15% damage abs is just too much to pass up. CD is fine.
Edit: Sedy has changed the invoke chance and increased it.
Tempest Slash 3 - No comments here, fine the way it is and I love the temp silence effect. CD is fine.
Divided Slash 3 and it's partner skill, Annihilate 3 - Divided Slash should have the chance of landing the debuff increased cus it sucks at the moment, the amount of eva it reduces is a good amount and it's on a decent CD. Annihilate 3 is still as good as ever and I like the 40% bonus damage boost but I don't know why it's CD is 2 second longer than it's predecessor, because of the fact this skill relies on an eva debuff being on a target it should be between 10-12 seconds CD, not 14.
CTP 2 - Nice effects, bit too long of a CD seeing as it's not 100% chance to land, maybe reduce to 14 seconds? Because of this being an update of CTP (the old Chilled Tempest Slash), I would like to see CTP back to it's 15 sec, 75% ITD buff on a 45% chance of invoke and perhaps a 9 second CD, this would make the user think of 'what's better for the team, debuffing a hard to kill enemy/runner or being greedy and trying to kill them and lose the kill'. The fact both skills are on a 10 sec + CD and share the same CD makes it not as easy to spam either skill and greatly limits the attempts of 'perma ITD' of before.
Tempest Slice 2 - Nice update of TS but I dunno why the hell this requires Chilled Slash to be ranked in order to level the skill, it doesn't share the same tree O.O. CD is fine.
Subdue - Never used it, I don't build eva and most melee classes have a considerable hit chance. No comment on this skill, sorry ;/
Ok, new skills time!
Glacial Spike - Finally our first skill paralysis! And a decent AOE to boot! Skill CD is waaaayyyyy too long at 36 seconds, even though it combines 3 awesome effects it's CD is too high at 36 secs, I'd like to see this on a 24 sec CD seeing as it's not 100% and the effects don't warrant 36 secs. With some other more powerful skills in other classes sitting at 21 sec CDs I think 24 is perfect for GP.
Vampiric Curse - I like this skill, works well but the CD is too long, should be 16 secs seeing as the life transference isn't awesome sitting at 2% and 1k hp every sec.
Aeolian Strike - I like this skill too, first of our new direct ITDs but CD is feckin huge at 24 secs, I know it has a chance to reduce damage abs by 20% but the CD should be 21 secs MAX.
Iron Grip - I'd like to use this but I'm not gonna put ALL those freakin points into Subdue 1, 2 and 3 just to get a pull/root. Don't know why it's in that tree tbh, doesn't make sense. CD for that skill type is too high, 24 secs would be good seein as it only affects 1 target and roots for 1 sec (I know it sets off a combo of skills but still, way to high CD).
Mass Subdue - See subdue 3
Finally, the skill series that defines the new class!
Soul Blade: Assemble - Awesome temporary buff that increases melee range and physical hit, duration runs fine at 15 secs and cd is fine at 25 secs. Dunno why it gives range though, maybe me being silly but well. This skill is also used to activate some of the other SB skills in the tree which is a nice idea.
Path of Oblivion/Eternity - Updates of focus attack/protection from both fighter and merc. I love these skills and would change nothing about them, awesome buff for 1 and all!
Soul Blade: Omen - Awesome little skill, no corrections need to be made to this at all.
Soul Blade: Abyss - Same as above
Soul Blade: Flash - I love the fact 1 min was shaved off the CD and I love this skill, no corrections at all.
Soul Blade: Promise - The 60% reflect is a bit too much, 40-45% would be balanced given the other effects the skill has but I love this skill and the improvements it brings to the class.
Soul Blade: Ruin - Should have it's ITD increased to 30% seeing as it can only be used with SB: Assemble active.
Soul Blade: Execute - I don't like the fact this is on a 1 min CD at all. The skill itself requires SB: Assemble be active which it can be once every 25 secs, it has no other effect than 100% ITD which whilst good is not enough to warrant the 1m CD this skill has. I would like to see this skill on a 35 second CD as it allows it to be used once every 2 rotations of SB: Assemble rather than once every 3.
Edit: Sedy has now changed Soul Blade: Execute to a 35 sec CD which has improved the skill dramatically.
Overall the Soul Blader class has some nice skills in it which would compliment the Mercenary skill set and allow for a varied style of play if the class from Mercenary -> SB was rethought from the ground up or if CTS was put back in. The Mercenary class was built around utilising Chilled Tempest Slash and gambling for that buff whilst using AS skills and buffs to up AS in order to effectively dish out sustained DPS and using Annihilate to finish the job, the removal of the buff hurt the class.
The Soul Blader is seemingly built around applying defence reducing debuffs in order to utilise the same method of dealing damage as before, instead of ignoring 75% defence then finishing with annihilate we are tasked with reducing defence in order to make normal strikes deal more damage, utilising mini spikes from the instant ITDs then finishing with SB: Execute. I like the idea of this, I really do but unfortunately it doesn't work as well as perhaps was hoped, the Mercenary was always a sustained DPS class and not a suicide spike class like the Zerker, making the Soul Blader a sustained anything was going to be extremely difficult if the skills weren't created properly. No point in being hard to kill if you can't actually do anything. At the moment the Soul Blader is like a mix between a tank and a damage dealer with being effective in neither.
The debuffs don't land often enough to actually increase the damage dealt by normal strikes and actually make the ITD spikes hit for less because there is less defence to penetrate so damage output is lowered and cannot be avoided as Ruin lowers def by 20k at max rank and Glacial Spike lowers base defence by 50% so it's a toss up between not using those skills in direct pvp or using them to try and dish out some extra damage and help the team if the debuff(s) land(s). The combination of trans cards and pots also make it quite difficult to pull of the required amount of work to actually be reliable in group PvP as we have no DPS and limited spikes.
I also found that I dealt less damage when I reduced my opponents defence to 0 than if they had a normal amount of defence and I used an ITD which is wrong... This is probably unintentional and a by-product of Iris' crappy coding.
Ultimately I would like to see Chilled back as it was before in order to put the class back in the place it should be, the skill synergises with a lot of Merc and SB skills and compliments the gameplay, I'd also like to see the corrections in CDs and skill placement within the trees if possible =). I doubt I'll get many takers from the SB players here because there are only a handful of us who actually pvp or bother to comment on the new changes and I'll probably get quite a few flames but ah well
Thanks for reading
Tachi ~
Old skills with an update!
Tyrant Strike 3 - Doesn't really fit in with the new way this class should be played, has it's perk in the fact the extra crit (once invoked) aids subsequent skills and basic attacks by hitting the higher end of the players attack more often, fixed amount of bonus damage is a bit, meh. I would use this if I needed more skills on a rotation but for now I see no point as it doesn't actually help the class overall. CD is fine.
Accelerated Chop 3 - An extra 5% attack speed over its predecessor at max rank would be nice if CTS was still in it's original form as it would synergise, as it stands the skill isn't as effective because the defence/damage abs debuffs the Soul Blader can apply don't land often enough and make very little difference to any damage dealt. I used AC2 when Chilled Tempest Slash was the way it should be, now I would only use AC3 if I needed more skills on a rotation. CD is fine.
Chilled Slash 3 - Hated it's predecessor for the low invoke chance, hate this for the same reason. If it had a % bonus damage instead of a fixed amount I'd probably like it more but I use it because 15% damage abs is just too much to pass up. CD is fine.
Edit: Sedy has changed the invoke chance and increased it.
Tempest Slash 3 - No comments here, fine the way it is and I love the temp silence effect. CD is fine.
Divided Slash 3 and it's partner skill, Annihilate 3 - Divided Slash should have the chance of landing the debuff increased cus it sucks at the moment, the amount of eva it reduces is a good amount and it's on a decent CD. Annihilate 3 is still as good as ever and I like the 40% bonus damage boost but I don't know why it's CD is 2 second longer than it's predecessor, because of the fact this skill relies on an eva debuff being on a target it should be between 10-12 seconds CD, not 14.
CTP 2 - Nice effects, bit too long of a CD seeing as it's not 100% chance to land, maybe reduce to 14 seconds? Because of this being an update of CTP (the old Chilled Tempest Slash), I would like to see CTP back to it's 15 sec, 75% ITD buff on a 45% chance of invoke and perhaps a 9 second CD, this would make the user think of 'what's better for the team, debuffing a hard to kill enemy/runner or being greedy and trying to kill them and lose the kill'. The fact both skills are on a 10 sec + CD and share the same CD makes it not as easy to spam either skill and greatly limits the attempts of 'perma ITD' of before.
Tempest Slice 2 - Nice update of TS but I dunno why the hell this requires Chilled Slash to be ranked in order to level the skill, it doesn't share the same tree O.O. CD is fine.
Subdue - Never used it, I don't build eva and most melee classes have a considerable hit chance. No comment on this skill, sorry ;/
Ok, new skills time!
Glacial Spike - Finally our first skill paralysis! And a decent AOE to boot! Skill CD is waaaayyyyy too long at 36 seconds, even though it combines 3 awesome effects it's CD is too high at 36 secs, I'd like to see this on a 24 sec CD seeing as it's not 100% and the effects don't warrant 36 secs. With some other more powerful skills in other classes sitting at 21 sec CDs I think 24 is perfect for GP.
Vampiric Curse - I like this skill, works well but the CD is too long, should be 16 secs seeing as the life transference isn't awesome sitting at 2% and 1k hp every sec.
Aeolian Strike - I like this skill too, first of our new direct ITDs but CD is feckin huge at 24 secs, I know it has a chance to reduce damage abs by 20% but the CD should be 21 secs MAX.
Iron Grip - I'd like to use this but I'm not gonna put ALL those freakin points into Subdue 1, 2 and 3 just to get a pull/root. Don't know why it's in that tree tbh, doesn't make sense. CD for that skill type is too high, 24 secs would be good seein as it only affects 1 target and roots for 1 sec (I know it sets off a combo of skills but still, way to high CD).
Mass Subdue - See subdue 3
Finally, the skill series that defines the new class!
Soul Blade: Assemble - Awesome temporary buff that increases melee range and physical hit, duration runs fine at 15 secs and cd is fine at 25 secs. Dunno why it gives range though, maybe me being silly but well. This skill is also used to activate some of the other SB skills in the tree which is a nice idea.
Path of Oblivion/Eternity - Updates of focus attack/protection from both fighter and merc. I love these skills and would change nothing about them, awesome buff for 1 and all!
Soul Blade: Omen - Awesome little skill, no corrections need to be made to this at all.
Soul Blade: Abyss - Same as above
Soul Blade: Flash - I love the fact 1 min was shaved off the CD and I love this skill, no corrections at all.
Soul Blade: Promise - The 60% reflect is a bit too much, 40-45% would be balanced given the other effects the skill has but I love this skill and the improvements it brings to the class.
Soul Blade: Ruin - Should have it's ITD increased to 30% seeing as it can only be used with SB: Assemble active.
Soul Blade: Execute - I don't like the fact this is on a 1 min CD at all. The skill itself requires SB: Assemble be active which it can be once every 25 secs, it has no other effect than 100% ITD which whilst good is not enough to warrant the 1m CD this skill has. I would like to see this skill on a 35 second CD as it allows it to be used once every 2 rotations of SB: Assemble rather than once every 3.
Edit: Sedy has now changed Soul Blade: Execute to a 35 sec CD which has improved the skill dramatically.
Overall the Soul Blader class has some nice skills in it which would compliment the Mercenary skill set and allow for a varied style of play if the class from Mercenary -> SB was rethought from the ground up or if CTS was put back in. The Mercenary class was built around utilising Chilled Tempest Slash and gambling for that buff whilst using AS skills and buffs to up AS in order to effectively dish out sustained DPS and using Annihilate to finish the job, the removal of the buff hurt the class.
The Soul Blader is seemingly built around applying defence reducing debuffs in order to utilise the same method of dealing damage as before, instead of ignoring 75% defence then finishing with annihilate we are tasked with reducing defence in order to make normal strikes deal more damage, utilising mini spikes from the instant ITDs then finishing with SB: Execute. I like the idea of this, I really do but unfortunately it doesn't work as well as perhaps was hoped, the Mercenary was always a sustained DPS class and not a suicide spike class like the Zerker, making the Soul Blader a sustained anything was going to be extremely difficult if the skills weren't created properly. No point in being hard to kill if you can't actually do anything. At the moment the Soul Blader is like a mix between a tank and a damage dealer with being effective in neither.
The debuffs don't land often enough to actually increase the damage dealt by normal strikes and actually make the ITD spikes hit for less because there is less defence to penetrate so damage output is lowered and cannot be avoided as Ruin lowers def by 20k at max rank and Glacial Spike lowers base defence by 50% so it's a toss up between not using those skills in direct pvp or using them to try and dish out some extra damage and help the team if the debuff(s) land(s). The combination of trans cards and pots also make it quite difficult to pull of the required amount of work to actually be reliable in group PvP as we have no DPS and limited spikes.
I also found that I dealt less damage when I reduced my opponents defence to 0 than if they had a normal amount of defence and I used an ITD which is wrong... This is probably unintentional and a by-product of Iris' crappy coding.
Ultimately I would like to see Chilled back as it was before in order to put the class back in the place it should be, the skill synergises with a lot of Merc and SB skills and compliments the gameplay, I'd also like to see the corrections in CDs and skill placement within the trees if possible =). I doubt I'll get many takers from the SB players here because there are only a handful of us who actually pvp or bother to comment on the new changes and I'll probably get quite a few flames but ah well
Thanks for reading
Tachi ~
Responses (8)
-
Accepted Answer
This is old but my character is old as well and playing now i agree to an extent. So far i guess there has been some changes to this class and nothing can always be perfect but after decking this class out way back when. I feel that even now nothing that the changes won't make it even as close to good as it used to be. The new base skills are fine except for the fact that its a dps class and the cooldowns are to high to remedy that fact. The actual Soul blader skill are how you say it unique but um... im wondering why anyone thought being being ranged for such a limited amount of time was ok when your overall damage depends on it but its so short u might as well just use base skills and you will eventually balance out on that damage you lost from using those skills.
Which is to say, when you have to use the range buff just to use the rest of your shiny new skills. It becomes pointless to use if the duration is too short and to make things worst an attack speed buff is only available upon use of said range buff... If all your doing is auto attacking while trying to use these skills whats the point? -
Accepted Answer
Maybe I'm being cynical in a sense but in order to give my unbiased opinion on this you have to clarify the main problem overall in order to make any sense of what is left. To be fair what i am saying is i liked the idea of this new set up but its too limited for practical use i know the ends and out of the class because it was something i worked on for a long time. The new base skills like i said are fine except for some cooldowns are too long and you will end up auto attacking alot on your 2nd rotation. Even trying to string in the Soul Blade: Assemble skill along all with the other ones that require you to use this skill will cause an extended moment of Auto attacks.
If anything i would rather making this skill duration 10mins to 30mins making the cooldown almost even exp. 20min active = 20min and 30 seconds or so cooldown and then nerfing the phyical hit increase and adding that hit increase into a passive or otherwise
Now that would be more than accomplishable and far accepted than 15 secs well technically not even that cause the first sec your gonna use the attack speed buff next.
In my opinion other than that 1 skill, Soul Blade: Assemble, all the other skills are practical except the few that have gone from 5 secs to 7 from 7 to 8 or 12 its crazy especially when practically none of these skills have 100% buff chance or debuff chance
To end this i want to say if someone were to test all of these skills in tandem. You'll see from experience its lacking in comparison to Mercenary skills alone. If all Soul Bladers skills have cooldowns anyway whats the harm in just making it practically ranged than a limited range, when it doesn't add attack damage but instead it adds physical hit. The disadvantage is being semi ranged is that is such a small time consuming frame. That in the long run your better off using the skills that don't require Soul Blade: Assemble at all. It would be the opposite if the skill it was much much longer and the physical increase was redistributed through other passives and such -
Accepted Answer
I am happy to discuss SB skills and make necessary changes but it's probably best to make a new post as this one is well over 3 years old and much has changed with Soul Blader skills since then. It could be confusing to others reading this or wanting to join the discussion - even you yourself have mentioned some things that have since been changed or fixed.
Thanks. Locking this.
Sorry, the post is currently locked. You will not be able to post a reply at the moment.
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