So I was looking through some of the old patch notes and noticed something interesting. In patch 1.005 you called ABB an auto attack replacer. But at the same time, there is very little available to the skill that makes that a viable option. And the biggest reason for that is the cooldown attached to the skill. So I wondered, why not just add a modifier to remove the cooldown like other AA replacers? Seems like such a simple fix to make a rather unviable skill (other than the LA attached to it) to something that could create new builds. Anyone else here think the same?
I wouldn’t say Blade Burst is nonviable, but it’s not very versatile. It only really works for Spellbreakers (or oddball Blademasters like mine :p), because it’s only really good for doing cold damage. If it were up to me, I’d add some flat pierce damage to it so that Cunning based builds can benefit from it more than they do (and maybe remove the acid damage from Lethal Assault to compensate).
But to answer your question: it’s an okay idea but I don’t think having a cooldown is necessarily the problem. I mean, Cadence has a de facto cooldown since you need to charge it up, and look how great that skill is. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Blade Burst that can’t be fixed with some simple damage tweaks.
Only thing I think it needs is to use both main and off hand weapon for damage. That’s it. No other changes should be done to it then that, except maybe adjusting the base values on it’s damage to account for the fact it will automatically hit twice.
Yeah, this actually reminds me of another point; Blade Burst doesn’t synergize well with the other Nightblade skills because it doesn’t hit with both weapons, and it’s not great for cross-class variety either since it does a damage type that only Nightblades can deal in large amounts. This is another good change that would make it more versatile.
I’ve actually long wanted ABB to have default attack replacer status. Not sure nipping the cooldown specifically would do much for that tho. Instead I wouldn’t mind seeing it have a Cadence-like approach (it’s already very similar mechanics-wise) and maybe add a 3rd modifier down the line.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk
Amarasta’s Blade Burst (previously known as Lethal Gambit) isn’t really an auto-attack replacer per se…but it does work well in the auto-attack slot for melee Nightblade builds. It’s kind of like Cadence, except instead of going off every third strike, it’s cooldown-based so (like Cadence) it feels like it has a rhythm to it in combat. Another perk is that you can almost always open a fight with ABB as it cools between battles.
In my opinion it’s definitely viable, but it needs more support and alternative attack skills than other auto-attack replacers do. You kinda have to make a combo instead of just auto-attacking, e.g. ABB (Lethal Assault buff) --> Shadow Strike (Nightfall) --> Ring of Frost, something like that. You could also add as many WPS skills as possible and have those pick up the slack between ABB strikes.
I find ABB to be very strong when combined with the Venomblade set. I mix it with Beronath’s Fury and use it to give me a high damage AoE attack and take advantage of the Lethal Assault buff to amplify beronath’s fury and the Dual wield WPS procs. It clears packs and bosses alike extremely fast.
Venomblade set is practically build for it though, so does that count?
To me Cadence is a bit different since you can spam it. Same with cooldowns on procs, you don’t have to wait for them to recharge, you can just wail at an enemy and have them kick in appropriately.
Cooldown skills kind of make me miserable since we have to wait for them to recharge and get “Skill not ready” if they’re not ready just yet.
It’s not really an effectiveness issue for me but just kind of dull if I’m looking at circular cooldown progress bars all day long. I often wish we had more stuff without cooldown so I kinda like the no-CD transmuter idea or making it a third strike attack like Cadence for ABB just from a fun factor.
I don’t think it’s much like cadence at all. Cadence is dependent on attack speed, the big hits can come really fast if you build for it. With ABB it’s cooldown, which yes you can reduce, but never comes close to the speed of cadence.
Honestly I want to some day make a character that uses ABB effectively but every time I think about it I look at ABB and think “meh” and build something else instead.
You can still do that with Blade Burst, especially if you have some weapon pool skills. It’s what I do with my Blademaster.
You stick it on LMB/RMB? I tried to play with it on mouse thumb button which gives the “skill not ready” so I didn’t try it as like an auto-attack. I might like it much better if I control it that way.
Say, that got me thinking (I should just go and try), what happens if you do something like put Pneumatic Burst on LMB? Would it just use your WPS when the skill is on cooldown?
Oh well, I go try! I never thought to put CD skills of this sort on LMB/RMB so much.
Yeah if you bind it to mouse 1 or 2, you’ll do basic attacks if you try to activate BB while it’s on cooldown.
And it won’t work with Pneumatic Burst since it’s not an attack skill. 
Yeah if you bind it to mouse 1 or 2, you’ll do basic attacks if you try to activate BB while it’s on cooldown.
And it won’t work with Pneumatic Burst since it’s not an attack skill.
Just gave it a try and like that control scheme much better with ABB!
And yeah, found out the hard way just now that P.Burst can’t work that way. I got a bit excited about that idea of not even having to worry about mashing it all the time during combat, but no go on that idea.
The only problem is I assume that when you have ABB on LMB and it goes on cooldown it will only use the basic auto attack and not the shard of beronath you’d be using if you are a melee build which really hurts dps.
So if you want to weave ABB with Beronath, put Beronath on LMB and ABB on RMB. Hold down LMB while tapping RMB every 2 or 4 seconds. Works fine.