hogun wrote: Thu Jan 22, 2026 4:19 pm
Hello,
it’s terrible to read so many false claims.
the skill that gives 25% extra auto-attack (Blood of Grimnir) is a complete joke. For one thing, the IB already had this buff personally at 50% auto-attack (Stubborn as Stone) in the base skill set.
Additionally, this skill buffs auto-attack over 50 feet in the group: in practice, it generally affects two melee DPS, or even fewer. Spending 13 points for that… seriously, is that supposed to be strong?
No IB will take this skill if they know the other options are much more useful. Ask your DPS: do they prefer 150 Strength + 10% Crit, or 25% auto-attack, knowing that today force buffs now stack?
The parade buff went from 25% to 20%, and the Weapon Skill self buff no longer buffs parade like it used to. And now IB is the only tank that can’t heal itself.
It's really funny that you begin this by saying "false claims" then make so many yourself.
Stubborn is AA speed buff, Blood is AA damage buff. It synergizes very well.
The range of 50ft is fine, it's meant to be played in double melee 6man comps, and easily buffs both tanks and both melee.
13 points for an ability which buffs AA damage of yourself and party members by 25% is actually quite strong.
No IB will take this skill? Not sure what universe you are living in but IB (especially SnB IB with blood of grimnir) has been a core pick in many of order's best 6man comps since it received this ability. 5/5/13 build has been a staple for double melee parties in SC, city and roaming parties for a while now. It's the same case for SnB BO too, with their "mirror" of this ability being a pickup in many of the best double melee comps.
The parry buff (Oathbound) received a buff when initiative was reworked (ini's scaling was heavily buffed and WS from parry was converted to ini), which arguably makes it better than before. It provides somewhere between 112 and 150 ini depending on how many point you have in mid tree. This effectively makes the ability actually grant 23-25% parry, 5-6% reduced chance to be crit and 3-4% dodge if my rough maths are correct (it's probably slightly more, but I'm round down for simplicity). I'm not sure how you can construe this as worse than before. Makes up for the WS buff losing the parry component while adding extra anticrit vs before to both you and 2 of your party members if you switch oathbuddy around properly. One of the most powerful abilities in the game for how little investment is required to obtain it (only 5pt mastery) and low cost to cast it (25 grudge, 20s duration 10s cd).
"IB is the only tank that cannot heal himself" - I don't really understand this. IB has disrupt healing tactic (Avalanche) and Avenging the Debt. Both can heal the IB.
As far as losing the self heal I'm not sure why this is always an argument when IB chatting comes up. The game is not balanced around solo play, 1v1, etc (despite how many seem to think it is a solo game). It is balanced around you having 2 healers in your party, and 2-6 more healers in your off parties who can also heal you. No other tank can realistically heal themselves either with abilities available in their kit, at most you have very small healing like chosen/kotbs aura and chosen disrupt tactic (small healing, and IB has same disrupt tactic which heals him and is used a lot in 12/18/24man warband builds for kiting and punt fishing), SM/BO have tactics for a small heal over time, afaik BG has nothing besides a 75% lifetap on an ability with 150 base damage. These heals don't really do much in grand scheme of the game, only really mattering in 1v1 which again the game is not balanced around.
My IB is just 70rr.
