But if it’s too castery, then I have to say that Ring of Steel and Blade Spirit must also fall into that category. They are no more weapons based attacks than Swarm is.
Balancing, yes, that is a problem if it’s that overpowered.
I know the devs don’t want pure caster types, but after all this is a world that’s been altered from its norm. In the same way that an Occultist has been altered by the power unleashed on Cairn to be able to conjure pets and Witchfire is it inconceivable that a Nightblade has also been altered to be able to cast a variety of ranged knife attacks?
It’s not so much that they don’t want pure caster types (see the occultist), but that I think as medierra and others have pointed out, the caster type doesn’t really fit for the nightblade. When you think of nightblade you imagine a ninja/assassin thingy I guess right? (I always envisioned nightblade as a caster where the focus was knives, but eh) In that situation where it was a ninja, having a swarm of knives that you had to spam on enemies was extremely casterish and not so much as a melee assassin.
I agree with Blade Spirit as well, I don’t get that either but whatever. Maybe its easier to balance that. I don’t’ think people have even used it much, from what I’ve seen it wasn’t a very good skill, not worth the investment. Ring of Steel is different though, I could see it working as a melee spin, like whirlwind from TQIT or even just like a melee range of Phantasm Blades. It’s not so castery as blade swarm.
If Blade Trap is made into an AoE, then it’s nearly equivalent to Blade Swarm; one of them has to go. Even with the removal of the latter, ranged builds are still viable with Blade Trap and Phantasmal Blades.
Ring of Steel is a close-range AoE, so I wouldn’t consider it a caster skill. If I recall correctly, it’s considered a Weapon Attack by the game…
Agree with this…the concept of Blade Spirit is cool, but the actual skill feels very weak and even broken/unfinished. Perhaps it will get a rework in the future?
Someone said long time ago, the Nightblade has abilities to go in and out of combat… Since shadow strike is target only spell, you can only go from one enemy to another, never actually leaving combat. Instead of Blade Swarm, how about making a spell that will make our character invisible for x seconds, it will increase our movement speed and HP regen, and in the place where we were before it will cast an illusion that will agro the enemies and will fight for x seconds, detonating upon death with low pierce and cold damage. For a singery, more illusion can be cast and damage output will be moderately increased.
I think this skill fits the Nightblade description.
As for Nightblade attack skill… I don’t think it needs any.
Hey, now there’s an idea! You’re right, that doesn’t make much sense…shouldn’t poison application work similarly to Solael’s Witchfire? Here’s what I’ve got in mind:
Phantasmal Blades remains in T1.
New skill is placed in T2, and functions similarly to Solael’s Witchfire: reserves and/or drains energy, adds poison DoT damage to weapon attacks. Merciless Repertoire already buffs poison damage, so instead of a global % buff to poison, maybe adds Acid damage as well? Even though MR doesn’t seem to buff that damage type.
Modifier adds a low-% slow, placed in T4. Not sure what other bonuses this mod should grant; I’m leaning towards Cold/Frostburn damage, but then poison’s presence might feel less powerful considering the quantity of existing cold/frostburn modifiers. Stun would be way OP. +% Acid and/or Poison damage? Maybe some Vitality damage, even? :undecided:
Nidalla’s Hidden Hand is removed for obvious reasons.
Nidalla’s Justifiable Ends is either removed or renamed and damage type changed to Cold. If removed, cooldown reduction moved to Nightfall. The artwork for this skill could be used for the new skill’s modifier, perhaps?
Because Nidalla seems to be the Nightblade accociated with poison, her name would be used in the new skill’s title, of course!
Thanks for inspiring this idea, Gem - it was fun pondering this concept.
Yes, I would say my initial expectations of Nightblade was that it would be a ninja/assassin type similar to TQ’s Rogue mastery. But now we have it I like the fact that it’s more of a caster focussing on knives. With Ring of Steel, Blade Trap, Blade Barrier, Blade Swam and Blade Spirit there’s a good range of different knife wielding options to call upon. If you lose Swam and Spirit then you’re left with two AoE attacks and two close range, assuming Barrier isn’t also considered as being too castery.
Obviously the devs have definite ideas on how they want each mastery to be, but the idea of a caster assassin instead of melee would be an interesting take on an old RPG favourite. Assassin types are always melee orientated. Why not be different and go more of a caster route with this one?
I’d better get on with playing my Nightblade so I can reach Blade Swarm and give it a go - before it disappears.
A counter attack. To be more accurate a parry and follow up precision strike that does bleeding damage over time with some frost damage around the edges of the wounds. With parry you take reduced damage and not fully block an attack.
Additional passive around mastery lvl40 allow for a shadow copy of yourself to temporarily assist. I really miss simple summons at higher levels. Such as Ancestral Horn and what not.
And I don’t think a short dash attack will be considered since there already is Shadow Strike and Blitz if you make a Blade Master though I would also like something in lines of that. Having the character dash forward a few steps with both blades (or blade/shield) extended dealing AoE damage to any enemies and then have both blades/blade shield converge upon on target dealing some more single target damage. That is something I can picture with that example.
Otherwise I still think some sort of hybrid between single target and AoE damage would be useful and give an option if players don’t want to go Dual Wielding (which contains 2 AoE abilities).
This is a great idea. A single target trap is never useful, it’s hard to aim at specific enemies in a group and bosses have too high resistances.
Another vote for the passive damage tree ala Witchfire. I think the Envenom Weapon tree from Rogue in TQ is a perfect fit for the Nightblade. At level 1 the extra poison damage provides a nice damage boost, then at higher levels the modifiers provide good utility with Fumble, Confusion and Slow.
I would really like to see more ways to inflict Confusion and Fumble on enemies. It adds a flavorful ‘defense by offense’ theme to the Nightblade.
Then we lose the option to completely override the normal attack with one of the passives, the maximum would be 80% chance for a special attack (4 passives that can trigger left).
Overriding the normal skill is an interesting different way to implement a LMB skill, you get a bonus on every attack but can’t predict which one it will be. It would be sad to see that possibility go.
Nightblade has a passive that buffs poison damage.
Adding another passive when we already have Veil of Shadow, Pneumatic Burst, Phantasmal Armor, Anatomy of Murder, and Merciless Repertoire.
Nightblade damage types are far more centered on Physical Damage, Bleeding Damage, and Pierce Damage. Both Poison and Cold/Frostburn damage are more minor damage types.
Dual Mastery wise the Occultist at least offers some poison attacks but other then that and weapon component skills there aren’t any additions to Cold/Frostburn attacks.
This is why I think a cold/frostburn based attack might be a good idea unless that is planned for the future in which case the same answer applies to more poison based skills. Sticking with skills that amplify the already strong presence of bleed/physical/pierce damage types can also work if later mastery’s do not have many of those damage types for skills.
Don’t you think we’re gonna see more elemental damage based skills in Arcanist? Logically i think we will, so i would prefer to keep Nightblade pure with Physical, Bleeding and Pierce based skills, that makes sense for the class.
There is a small poison damage theme in the Nightblade skills: Nidella’s Hidden Hand, Nidella’s Justifiable Ends, Merciless Repertoire. So I think another poison skill can be justified.
But it doesn’t have to be poison damage, frostburn can work too (or bleeding, pierce, cold). I just would prefer an aura at tier 1 instead of a new active skill. And then at higher levels have modifiers that provide interesting effects instead of more damage boost, like a slow added onto frostburn.
I think I read somewhere that the Occultist originally had plenty more poison/acid spells, but that they changed these in order to save them for a possible expansion class (Alchemist?). With that in mind, maybe a Poison Aura would be more suited for the Alchemist, if we ever get to see such a class.
Furthermore, the NB already has one aura, and in pneumatic burst a self buff that you can keep active all the time. I think another aura on top of these two would just promote a very passive playstyle. I’d much rather see an active skill added to the mix.
Honestly, I think Arcanist will be more centered around Aether damage perhaps. Arcanist is a pure mage class, at least it sounds like it would be and from the tidbits the devs have dropped here and there, it sure sounds like it. Ever seen the items that drop that are “arcanist” items? They buff up aether damage and skills like arcane missiles and aether rays… it adds up.
But a short cooldown, short duration buff would be fun and active.
Something like a 6 second cooldown but 1-2 second duration, for a weapon frenzy, gives you massive attack speed buff and then you can remove that from pburst or maybe a Riposte, reflects all damage incoming for a duration and lowers the damage you take.
I’m sure 100% of the people who play TL2 hate them as well, right?
If its a short duration buff, its an active effect. It makes the class less passive.
I mean hell, you could say the same thing about pneumatic burst. It fits in the same category as a short cooldown, short duration buff. Clearly, it cannot decide what it wants to be either.
Well, a charge skill dissipates, isn’t that sort of a cooldown? You get a self buff over time spent actively fighting. Are you saying a CD on top of that?
Plus it could benefit crossbows, which I feel a bit neglected right now. PB boosts them nicely, but you’re not really suppossed to exploit that.
It was a love hate relationship with the short duration constant buff stuff in TL2. It really helps you specialize as I don’t want tons of stuff to constantly key through every fight. Fights shouldn’t be click fests. The skills should be there to shape the fights and IMO that means skills in the 3-6 seconds can be used occasionally in combat and do what I need them to do.
