Though I generally try to avoid using terms such as “meta” (let’s face it, GD is not a MOBA) there are indeed forces that crystalize preferences within the playerbase toward opting for one playstyle instead of another that must be acknowledged. Historically, from B30 to 1.0.0.4. it was DW shadow strike/execution builds that represented the “meta”, while 1.0.0.5.-1.0.0.8 was the era of S&B characters. Today, one might argue, is the era of CDR caster builds, since they excel at dealing high AoE damage and (therefore) farming the Crucible in a reliable manner. There was, however, no point in time in which ranged builds dominated the build compendium and while this situation should be avoided at all costs, it is also important to look at the facts and address their possible shortcomings in order to maintain the wonderful evolution course build viability has exhibited in the last few months. To do that, of course, would require us to be as objective as possible, disconnecting our analysis from the desire to make skill “X” OP because we are in love with it or we happen to have a character on our hands that would massively benefit from the buffs. With this being said, let us start with the facts:
FACT 1 : For 60% of the game (i.e. Veteran + Elite), ranged builds are superior to melee characters and casters. This is mostly because they are subject only to ambient damage, a fact which allows the player to maximize dps without having to pay close attention to his defensive stats. Starting with late Elite, however, ranged builds (especially riflemen) start to fall off. Why is that ? Well, I believe there are mainly three reasons for that:
a) Their damage output is not high enough to destroy big charging enemies in due time (e.g. Aether Hulks, Colossi). This means that even shotgun builds will have to take hits and, given the fact that most ranged characters will use medium armour, those hits will hurt… a lot.
b) All mobs have increased speed in Ultimate and increased resistances to CC. Suddenly, ranged characters are thus forced to rethink their strategy for avoiding damage because not only Hero Mobs can’t be frozen or slowed/confused anymore, but they take steroids which makes them 15-20% faster.
c) Deflection. Most important mobs (i.e. heroes, nemeses) have 19% deflection on Ultimate, but only around 8% dodge chance. While this may not seem important, it results in a massive Dps loss because ranged characters have to battle not only increased resistance and armour, but also DEFLECTION.
Suggestion : While gun damage can be tweeked either through increased AS or increased base damage and mob CC resistance can be reduced I do NOT believe these options are good for the game.
The fact that bosses and nemeses are massively resistant to CC should remain in place and the same disparity should be maintained between 2h melee weapons and rifles / crossbows when it comes to base damage. Deflection chance, however, can be addressed, lowering the percentage to a more “humane” 10%. The downside, ofc, would be that caster P-Blades builds will become even stronger if this is implemented and we don’t want that! Therefore, if deflection chance decreases, the +2P-blade bonus given by the Demonslayer set would have to be reduced to +1. This will maintain the DPS, while helping all ranged builds in return. Is not like caster P-blades need 8 f*****g blades – they can already face-tank everything and destroy the dummy in less than 20 seconds.
FACT 2: There are very few ranged nukes. In fact, there are no ranged nukes except for Cadence and the active ability granted by Oleron’s Blood. Problem is…there are few defensive options available to a ranged character, so most players can’t afford to take Oleron’s Blood. The fact that Cadence is the ONLY ranged nuke available through the masteries creates, however, other unfortunate consequences. One of them, for example, is the fact that that poison Witchblade is superior to ranged poison WH because Cadence amplifies all flat DoTs you stack through gear and devotions to astronomical levels. All that, while providing exactly the same damage output as a 3s CD 26/26 P-blades shotgun.
Suggestion: There is no need to nerf Cadence. If anything, scaling at ultimate levels could be adjusted such that 26/16 is 460% WD or 450% instead of 500%. The problem is not Cadence, however, but the fact that the alternative for ranged nukes is mostly CD P-Blades or skills that are ranged-independent - and thus – better with CDR shields or caster off-hands. Let’s take a moment and look at the items we got in AoM. We have a lot of ranged items that buff Amarasta’s Blade burst (bad skill), a lot of items that buff Fire Strike by giving extra WD or +% burn and even items that buff Primal Strike. There is no item that decreases base CD on P-Blades. Even a -0.2-0.3 s would be enough given the fact that comparable damage skills (e.g. Shadowstrike) have inherent CD reduction modifiers within the Nightblade mastery. Should I also remind all that even S&B builds have the privilege of CD reduction nukes now, since there are two sets that give flat reduction to Blitz (Krieg + Mythical Justicar), as well as a nice relic (Korvaak) that basically acts as a second blitz?
Our analysis, however, should not stop here. First, I pointed out that 20% of your dps would already be negated by deflect chance. As such, having 6 P-blades means you actually have only 5 in reality. For casters this is not a big problem, because you can easily reach 200% cast speed or comparable values and your ADctH sustain is, more or less, constant. The Demonslayer set further gives you another 2 blades …CD P-blades on the other hand – they have borderline zero support (it is actually 0 but I am being nice here).
What I suggest is simple: taking deflect into account, the broad damage spectrum (1/3 cunning +2/3 spirit), as well as lack of real item support, I believe some rifles or items should at least pretend to support this underdeveloped and underused skill that is CD P-Blades. Mythical Silverbolt, for example, could easily have a -0.3 or even -0.2s cooldown reduction to P-blades. Another badly designed item – the Venomlance – could also have such skill modifier instead of the sub-par passive proc that does borderline nothing in Ultimate. In fact, being designed as a WH weapon, I would happily trade the +10% AS for a -0.3s reduction if the proc stays because you would most probably use it in conjunction with ABB, which does not scale off your attack speed.
For Primal Strike and Fire Strike, however, things are different. These skills, have an inherent AoE nature to them, so the approach should be different. The Mythical Raka’Jax, for example, has the right idea, viz. amplify the electrocute DoT of PS. The Ulzuin Flamespreader, however, does NOT. 18% WD to a skill that deals max 125% is not a big boost. Realistically, it represents somewhere around 1k-2k dps increase. Indeed, it is an increase, but when you look at how bad the Ulzuin set performs from a defensive perspective, you realize it doesn’t make you a glass cannon, it makes you just glass. Better take Hellborne instead. I’m not a fan of big, broad changes, of course, but maybe what the set needs – if it is indeed designed as a glass-cannon set, that is – is an active, big %WD active skill instead of more AoE.
I said it before so I will emphasize it once more: ranged characters lack a big nuke. They need to kill big targets before those targets charge them and smashes them to dust. Burst melee builds have them in the form of Shadow Strike / Execution, S&B builds have them in the form of Blitz/ Cadence and Casters have several options at their disposal (Doom Bolt, shotgun skills like RE, Haggarad and Stun Jacks, Grenado, etc.). All these builds can also reposition themselves in a heartbeat by using mobility skills. Ranged characters have only Cadence and Oleron’s. CD P-Blades could be a big nuke, especially since it is a shotgun skill, but there is a massive disparity right now between how useful and well supported the casting variant is opposed to the cooldown one.
FACT 3: Ranged builds have poor defensive options.
Ask yourself this: “How do you survive as a ranged character?”. Most of the time is by using the very same defensive strategies melee and casters build use in order to face-tank. More articulately, you stack DA through the roof and ADctH, you overcap your resistances, you employ some circuit-breakers AND – most importantly – you make sure your armour absorption caps and your stun resistance is around the 80% value. This is not bad per se, of course, but because you can’t use a mobility skill with ranged weapons, you also have to make sure that:
a) your slow resistance is sufficiently high; and
b) your trap resistance is at least 60%.
Things are even more complicated when we factor freeze and petrify into the equation, as well as big “area denial” weapons like chaos and aether pools that mobs throw at you.
Suggestion: Unfortunately, there is no solution for the “no mobility skills on ranged characters problem”. Smart players will probably swap weapons and use either SS or Riftstones. Swaping, however, nullifies whatever aura you might put on your weapon so an inherent shortcoming will always be there. What I suggest is simple and basically comes down to:
a) Extending the amount of slow resistance you find on relics. Korvaak – primarily a S&B relic – is one of the only things in the game that gives you slow resistance with no downside. This creates a very interesting but sad situation in which heavy armour S&B characters end up more mobile than riflemen and Pyromancers take the relic just for the buffs even though they throw away 50% of what makes the relic special. The other items that give slow resistance are primarily trash legendary boots nobody actually uses because the boot slot is primarily reserved for stat sticks.
b) Decreasing the amount of slow effects some mobs apply to your character. This is straightforward. Is not like most characters besides gunmen will notice it or become suddenly OP.
c) Maintain current values for freeze, petrify, sleep and entrapment. The game is already pretty easy – the point is to address the inherent shortcomings of ranged characters, not to turn the game into a noob fest.
There are, of course, more things to talk about when it comes to ranged builds and how to align them to the other archetypes. Just for the record, I made several ranged builds capable of soloing Gladiator and even Ravager so they might be bad as a whole, but they are certainly not UP. Remember, the point is to address inherent imbalances present in the gameplay, not to make some item or skill OP and/or broken. DISCUSS !
