August 28 Ranger patch notes

[DuckDuckBOOM.4097]

> @"Lazze.9870" said:

> The dagger buffs actually makes dagger on par with sword when using the MM BM SB power build against the golem. The poison life steal adds up, and it also got two fairly good damaging skills unlike sword which is only auto.

>

> I don't mind the dagger being a viable power choice, I would even prefer it granted they're not gonna give it any utility to make it useful in pvp anyway. But it really does make the sword look bad.

 

I was hoping this would be the case but it's not there yet.

~18.8k just sword auto attacking with raid buffs/cripple+vuln on golem.

~17.0k just dagger auto

~17.9k dagger 2 every 4th auto chain

~17.0k with dagger 2 and 3

~16.8k with dagger 3 and auto

These are all first attempts so I'm not grinding them but I don't see dagger 3 being worth it. Biggest problem is that sic'em doesn't buff the condition damage nor the poison life steal. I'm not flawless enough to compare full rotations but I doubt it will end up being a DPS increase for the meta build. If they buff/PvE split dagger 3 to around 1.4 coeff, I think you could fit a d3/2/3 into the rotation before sic'em wears off and then dagger would be worth it.

 

Edit: I still might use it for casual PvE so I can self buff quickness and have a leap finisher that goes forward though.

[Lazze.9870]

> @"DuckDuckBOOM.4097" said:

> > @"Lazze.9870" said:

> > The dagger buffs actually makes dagger on par with sword when using the MM BM SB power build against the golem. The poison life steal adds up, and it also got two fairly good damaging skills unlike sword which is only auto.

> >

> > I don't mind the dagger being a viable power choice, I would even prefer it granted they're not gonna give it any utility to make it useful in pvp anyway. But it really does make the sword look bad.

>

> I was hoping this would be the case but it's not there yet.

> ~18.8k just sword auto attacking with raid buffs/cripple+vuln on golem.

> ~17.0k just dagger auto

> ~17.9k dagger 2 every 4th auto chain

> ~17.0k with dagger 2 and 3

> ~16.8k with dagger 3 and auto

> These are all first attempts so I'm not grinding them but I don't see dagger 3 being worth it. Biggest problem is that sic'em doesn't buff the condition damage nor the poison life steal. I'm not flawless enough to compare full rotations but I doubt it will end up being a DPS increase for the meta build. If they buff/PvE split dagger 3 to around 1.4 coeff, I think you could fit a d3/2/3 into the rotation before sic'em wears off and then dagger would be worth it.

>

> Edit: I still might use it for casual PvE so I can self buff quickness and have a leap finisher that goes forward though.

 

I was just wacking the golem for fun myself, and noticed it was close. Close enough to say on par. If it was better I would have said that.

 

It was more meant to illustrate the entire problem though. Why can't they just make this a pure power specialization instead, give the dagger proper power coefficients on the autos instead of the bleeds, and swap the poison on dagger 2 for a CC. Remove the few actual condi stuff from SB and put some utility for pvp in place of it. Refine the power stuff that's already there.

 

And then obviously the second problem, if they intend to continue to buff the dagger like they just did, it leaves the sword in awkward spot. I don't want another off-hand dagger and sword to become just a pvp evade tool. If they're gonna keep this hybrid thing they got going on with SB and its dagger, then buff sword already. Full cleaves on the autos, coefficients that are actually close to other professions sword autos, make the #2 skill smoother etc.

[Lunateric.3708]

To anyone wondering about benchmarks:

 

 

Buffs to dagger made it a competitive choice compared to sword for the power build. I think that's awesome, I also think you could buff it a bit more so you're less dependent on Sic Em and One Wolf Pack procs.

 

Definitively a step on the right direction, hoping they keep going for a truly hybrid weapon with dagger.

[DuckDuckBOOM.4097]

> @"Lunateric.3708" said:

> To anyone wondering about benchmarks:

>

>

>

> Buffs to dagger made it a competitive choice compared to sword for the power build. I think that's awesome, I also think you could buff it a bit more so you're less dependent on Sic Em and One Wolf Pack procs.

>

> Definitively a step on the right direction, hoping they keep going for a truly hybrid weapon with dagger.

 

Looks like I underestimated how much better dagger auto was at triggering owp compared to sword: 7.7% compared to 6.9% which is the biggest change in the top hitters.

> @"Lazze.9870" said:

> > @"DuckDuckBOOM.4097" said:

> > > @"Lazze.9870" said:

> > > The dagger buffs actually makes dagger on par with sword when using the MM BM SB power build against the golem. The poison life steal adds up, and it also got two fairly good damaging skills unlike sword which is only auto.

> > >

> > > I don't mind the dagger being a viable power choice, I would even prefer it granted they're not gonna give it any utility to make it useful in pvp anyway. But it really does make the sword look bad.

> >

> > I was hoping this would be the case but it's not there yet.

> > ~18.8k just sword auto attacking with raid buffs/cripple+vuln on golem.

> > ~17.0k just dagger auto

> > ~17.9k dagger 2 every 4th auto chain

> > ~17.0k with dagger 2 and 3

> > ~16.8k with dagger 3 and auto

> > These are all first attempts so I'm not grinding them but I don't see dagger 3 being worth it. Biggest problem is that sic'em doesn't buff the condition damage nor the poison life steal. I'm not flawless enough to compare full rotations but I doubt it will end up being a DPS increase for the meta build. If they buff/PvE split dagger 3 to around 1.4 coeff, I think you could fit a d3/2/3 into the rotation before sic'em wears off and then dagger would be worth it.

> >

> > Edit: I still might use it for casual PvE so I can self buff quickness and have a leap finisher that goes forward though.

>

> I was just wacking the golem for fun myself, and noticed it was close. Close enough to say on par. If it was better I would have said that.

>

> It was more meant to illustrate the entire problem though. Why can't they just make this a pure power specialization instead, give the dagger proper power coefficients on the autos instead of the bleeds, and swap the poison on dagger 2 for a CC. Remove the few actual condi stuff from SB and put some utility for pvp in place of it. Refine the power stuff that's already there.

>

> And then obviously the second problem, if they intend to continue to buff the dagger like they just did, it leaves the sword in awkward spot. I don't want another off-hand dagger and sword to become just a pvp evade tool. If they're gonna keep this hybrid thing they got going on with SB and its dagger, then buff sword already. Full cleaves on the autos, coefficients that are actually close to other professions sword autos, make the #2 skill smoother etc.

 

There is no reason that SB has to be power only nor is it being held back in PvP by the presence of condi skills. Those changes to sword affect base ranger and should be ironed out regardless of whether SB dagger is power, condi or hybrid. I run sword on power druid and would appreciate those changes. The idea of MH dagger being better at proccing utilities that come with the elite spec is actually a good way to make it feel unique to SB. Sword isn't in an awkward spot otherwise. Both dagger and sword are just auto attack tools in these PvE rotations. If I don't have a trusted source of aegis, which I rarely do, I'm still using the sword 3 to evade boss attacks. It's nice that I don't need to waste the evade during my rotation. So it's also a PvE evade tool. If I'm standing on a ledge and I don't feel like fat fingering sword 2 off a cliff, I'll swap to dagger ^^. I'll still swap to dagger for casual stuff. I like that both of these weapons are viable for power.