SW feedback 2026/7/23 Patch Nite

[rorswar]

RT86 SW. Solely play Assault, either solo roam or 6-men roam.

I played a bit on the PTS. Well, “played” … I tinkered with gear, renown points and talismans and then whacked the dummy. I didn’t get to do any solo roaming, as it’s late and I’m tired so my “conclusions” are inconclusive at best.

It has proper burst potential, but it’ll need careful management by lining up DOTs and Eye Shot from Skirmish to soften up a target at range, and then move in via Shadow Step for melee.

The new abilities are FUN, Shadow Step is an improvement, and damage overall got buffed a bit. In return, we took a big hit in passive defenses, so now really need to actively manage them or we are at risk of getting rekt.

Still figuring out the best rotations but so far I like it. 6pc Tri / 3pc Off Sov still seems best for burst in 6-men, whilst I personally would pick 6pc Vic / 3pc Def Sov for solo roaming.

TL:DR - aSW seems fun, and viable but to make it work requires proper stance dancing and active management of defenses. Skill ceiling went wayyyy up.

NOTE TO DEVS - I do feel +100 INI for Assault stance isn’t enough to compensate for loss of 2x armour.

[noronn]

Assault- Changes seem interesting. You are not gonna be able to compete with Mara/witch elf/blorc in scs with an ASW of equal playing skill.

Genuine question: what makes you think that? Not compete on what levels exactly?

[Shineobi]

Assault- Changes seem interesting. You are not gonna be able to compete with Mara/witch elf/blorc in scs with an ASW of equal playing skill.

Genuine question: what makes you think that? Not compete on what levels exactly?

This is my opinion, based on facing "Lord of the locker room" premades that ran this.

You can pull it of sometimes; but if they are pressing their buttons right and so are you; I think you lose 90% of the engagments. I think it's more that ASW is 75% a mdps class and that alone makes the brawl lean toward two full mdps classes.

I could do a whole ability breakdown but i don't care enough to do that. The not having morale 1 (Dodge/parry) and now having even less armor; vs mdps who can gear defensively and have very good burst/sustain will most likely prevail over a glass cannon ASW.

I could be wrong, that's just my first impression.

EDIT: the stance dancing to make the ASW work in theory seems interesting, but really with the exception of the initial engagement that chances you are going to switch mid MELEE fight to skirmish for eyeshot and then switch back after 5 seconds seems farfetched. Doable but prolly will end up lowering your sustain dps for too long. Dont forget your self-punt keeps you in range of pull and w/e pounce. IF you're snared they just gonna catch within a gcd.

[ponko22]

SW has been completely destroyed.

While the weakening of AoE is understandable, the changes to SW are so terrible that you really need to read them carefully. Has any other class been weakened this thoroughly? The developers' adjustments focused solely on damage reduction, transforming it into a high-risk, no-return class.

[Skirmish has gained nothing and is simply weaker]
Not only has AoE been weakened, but the removal of TACs that increase Armor Penetration has weakened all Skirmish skills. Furthermore, the damage of the skills themselves has been reduced.

- Main skill adjusted from 100ft to 65ft.

- Powerful Draw's Skirmish's 15% Armor Penetration has been changed to a 15ft range increase. Other TACs still increase Armor Penetration, but only Barrage and Lilith's Arrow. This means all other Skirmish skills have had their damage weakened.

- Steady Aim (+25% critical damage) effect changed to target-only, weakened. Barrage and Lileath's Arrow weakened.

- Spirit Arrows weakened from 20% less damage to 30% less damage. It was weakened by the Powerful Draw changes, but is it being weakened even further?

- Lileath's Arrow damage adjusted, weakened. It was weakened by Steady Aim, but is it being weakened even further?

- Flame Arrow's attack power decreased, and it moved to Scout, further reducing the damage increase from points.

- Glass Arrow's damage decreased. Furthermore, it moved to Scout, further reducing the damage increase from points.

- However, the AP cost remains high.

[Scout]
- Festering Arrow: This is also terrible. It was changed to a skill that deals damage at the beginning and after 9 seconds, but to get the damage increase from the final attack, you need to attack with another skill, making it a very cumbersome design. It may also be removed. And just when I thought I could finally deal the same damage as before, the resistance ignore of Festering Arrow due to TAC's No Quarter was changed, and now TAC reduces the resistance of Acid Arrow. Did you know? Festering Arrow is the only skill that deals Corporeal damage. This means that to deal the same damage as before, you have to use Acid Arrow for 1.5 seconds and keep landing skills until the damage activates, which is a tedious process. Actually, it's even lower damage.


[Assult]
I won't say anything more. Armor increase and Disarm are gone, and skills that increase 5-second AoE Detaunt and 5-second Parry by 35% have been added? This just makes things more tedious, and you melt away in about 5 seconds.


[Minimum Request]
-If Steady Aim isn't applied to AoE, increase the AP Cost from 25% to 15%. This also causes problems with the use of Festering Arrow.

- Regarding Powerful Draw, since you nerfed Steady Aim, please keep the Armor Penetration at 15%. How much damage reduction are you going to do? It's ridiculous to reduce the range of your main skill and then change it to TAC, which increases the range to compensate. SH increases by 15ft just by using Pet, but it's not a mirror at all.

Alternatively, change Keen Arrow Heads' Armor Penetration increase to affect the entire Skirmish.

- Flame Arrow is AoE, so please keep it as Skirmish. Why make it so cumbersome to use?

- Is it necessary to increase the damage reduction of Spirit Arrows from 20% to 30%?

- If you're going to apply the No Quarter effect to Acid Arrow, please reduce Acid Arrow's cast time to 1 second so it can be used while running. Nobody uses it normally.

- Please don't remove Assult's armor increase and Disarm.

Sadly that's the state of it, hopefully they change SW to less worse before release. But what to expect? Teefz is on balance team, Squig doesn't seem to have been nerfed a fraction like SW was.

Teefz, who mains SH, is part of the balancing team. That explains why SH remains so strong these days.
When developers let their own interpretations interfere, the game really gets messed up.

It seems we'll continue to have these annoying SCs full of SH and PETs.
https://killboard.returnofreckoning.com ... 870d0bf832

[Aisha]

Funny how you guys keep spreading lies about Teefz, very amusing.

[Shineobi]

Funny how you guys keep spreading lies about Teefz, very amusing.

Teefz doesnt deserve any of this hate.

[Shineobi]

Assault- Changes seem interesting. You are not gonna be able to compete with Mara/witch elf/blorc in scs with an ASW of equal playing skill.

Genuine question: what makes you think that? Not compete on what levels exactly?

This is my opinion, based on facing "Lord of the locker room" premades that ran this.

You can pull it of sometimes; but if they are pressing their buttons right and so are you; I think you lose 90% of the engagments. I think it's more that ASW is 75% a mdps class and that alone makes the brawl lean toward two full mdps classes.

I could do a whole ability breakdown but i don't care enough to do that. The not having morale 1 (Dodge/parry) and now having even less armor; vs mdps who can gear defensively and have very good burst/sustain will most likely prevail over a glass cannon ASW.

I could be wrong, that's just my first impression.

EDIT: the stance dancing to make the ASW work in theory seems interesting, but really with the exception of the initial engagement; the chances you are going to switch mid MELEE fight to skirmish for eyeshot and then switch back after 5 seconds seems farfetched. Doable but prolly will end up lowering your sustain dps for too long. Dont forget your self-punt keeps you in range of pull and w/e pounce. IF you're snared they just gonna catch within a gcd.