First I have a small question about how Lethal assault works. The added damage are flat damage, which adds to the weapon damage right? Which means it is multiplied by any %WD on skills (Like Fire Strike or the ABB from the base skill), right?
Now the real question: how good is it? I mean, one could see it like cadence: you “replace” your base attack with it (and it seems it can also proc DW) and get a burst of damage (on good AoE) every now and then. Just that it is not based on attack speed, but on a cool down (actually it is good; it allows you to proc WPS in the mean time). And you benefit from Lethal assault almost permanently. It doesn’t requires so much skill points and (an important point I think) can be easily overcapped (many items exists for, I find it easier than overcapping Fire Strike!).
What is your opinion about it? How and when do you use it?
It’s fantastic. Builds involving the NB class tend to get ABB just for LA. heck, the OA itself is incredible.
Just be sure to combine the NB class with another which makes use of either cold or acid damage
EDIT: just realized I didn’t answer the question. Yes, you could use ABB as an attack replacer but it’ll require a time of modifiers to become viable. You should check out cthon’s DW hagarddian enforcer breaker.
Ugdenbog bike launcher, nightshade’s reach + vileblade set, are also great options.
Just be sure to get the conduit which adds acid damage to ABB if you go the acid route, or to get iceskorn talons if you prefer cold.
I see. I tried to use it RMB and use normal attack on cooldown to benefit from skills like Fire Strike, but I did not manage. I keep hitting the wrong button and I lose the pace, which means less efficient usage. Finally I kept using it on LMB. It is a pity, as combined with a Shard of Beronath it would be even more awesome.
As you said, getting a modifier would be great.
Would love to see that. Best typo since a long time :D:D:D
ABB itself is a pretty decent damage skill for 2H melee builds. especially if you use a 2H weapon that has some cooldown reduction built in (nightshade reach or soulrend come to mind).
it’s kinda weak for DW melee builds since it only scales with weapon damage of the offhand weapon (at least used to be like this last time i checked). afaik for DW ranged it scales with both pistols, though.
the lethal assault modifier is the real deal for DW builds (bigger impact on DW since flat damage applies to both weapons). guess it can be worthwhile to just use it every 4 seconds as a secondary attack to trigger the buff in a dw build (and leave the ABB skill itself at 1 skillpoint).
Are you sure about that? During my testing, it seems that it can proc DW like a normal attack. And the description states both Main hand and off hand damage. So 50% chance both hands, 25% chance for either one of the two hands.
Could any Grim-Dawn-mechanics-god confirm that please?
With ranged weapons it deals damage with both weapons. The last melee build i used ABB was an Acid Reaper and it said in the descrption that it only hits with the offhand and it sure felt like it because the damage wasn’t very high compared to the ranged one.
Now i’m not 100% sure if actually hits with both hands in melee and it’s just a mistake in the description.
The ABB damage isn’t really what we’re going for, as mentioned. LA plus BH for both the proccs, and then SS/RoS. Has completely facerolled normal, starting Elite Friday.
But yeah, ABB is clunky to integrate with Fire Strike/Cadence etc.
@drokalypso, and OP: The thing about ABB is that you gotta find a way to stack CDR for it to be useful. Bear in mind that at 26/16, it has ~half the weapon damage of cadence.
EDIT: I personally LOVE ABB, and really hope that it gets buffed to a point where you can make a top tier build revolving around it.
I do agree with you. It would be good to have it closer to classic LMB attack from other masteries. But maybe we should not forget it is a low level skill. You access it early in the tree, maybe it is normal that it is not better than a lvl50 skill. I don’t know.
I’d love a transmuter that actually increases the cool-down period and then steps up the LA damage - basically a boost to WPS similar to Deadly Momentum. Seriously, that reaper has been gonzo. I oneshot heroes and mini-bosses.
