CRITIQUE OF COMMANDO
I think different opinions should be included and this is mine. The fact that commando is ranked so high by one of the most experienced and respected members of this community confuses the F out of me.
In my very humble and possibly misguided opinion, commando is one of the worst classes in the game. How can a single rr class (and retarded single rr - either clunky mines or the long cooldown Warcry with flat rr not mentioning demo already has flat rr) class be extraordinary?
Versatility? There is one commando build that is very good for endgame: Justice Shar’Zul. It’s outperformed by Warlord and iirc also Tactician despite Shar’Zul being designed specifically for demo. There are also some RRtarded Warborns or Markovians with Beronath Sword that are leagues behind Warlords, Death Knights and Witchblades. Ofc there are Archon Warmaul / Kilrian mace gimmicks, you can try Valdun, you can even finish the game with an aether Stun Jacks commando if you so desire. But I can’t think of a single commie build worthy of being called extraordinary that wouldn’t be better on another class.
Potency? How can this be better than a class that currently has the strongest builds in two playstyle categories, and other classes that have always wrecked the game in different modes (pets? paladin? vindicator?). Commando has not a single achievement in anything that wouldn’t be beaten by another class by many orders of magnitude. If you take all possible criteria of what defines a great build one and write down 5 best builds each, I doubt commando will be mentioned even once.
Leveling? Battlemage is also easy to level. Until you choose the second mastery.
HC? OK, there’s Blast Shield and Flashbang. But clearing the game in HC is more about preparation, knowledge, knowing which res to overcap for which chapter and which bosses, etc. And as opposed to other soldier classes, demo doesn’t exactly have much to offer here: no cc res, regular res, health, etc, Many things gotta be acquired from gear and devos which is hard during self-found leveling. Blast Shield, can’t argue, it’s great.
Synergy? Flashbang? Half its power is obsolete in many cases as soldier also has excellent sources of flat da shred. BwC? Shar’Zul, the commie flagship, already has flat oa shred, and soldier already has dmg reduction. RR? There’s no way soldier’s and demo’s rr can stack in any way, demo already has flat rr. The only thing is very good oa and speed. But it’s not something no other classes have. And its more important at endgame when you care about RESULTS. And those, ironically, are better with just about any other class.
This my personal (but very strong) opinion that commando (next to battlemage) is to soldiers what defiler is to necro or saboteur is to nightblades. Saboteur at least has N&O that does not work better on other classes anymore. Demo is second worst support mastery for soldier.
Ironically, memando was my first build ever. Good times.