WE/WH stealth limits.
Posted: Fri Aug 07, 2026 4:19 am
Revert the hard 30s duration/CD and 10-hit drop on Incognito / Shadow Prowler — the first two stealth changes already solved the real problems
The recent stealth changes to Witch Hunter (Incognito) and Witch Elf (Shadow Prowler) included four main adjustments:
Detection based on initiative
Cannot enter stealth while being hit
Hard-capped at 30 seconds duration with a 30-second cooldown
Automatically drops after taking 10 hits while stealthed
The first two are fair and healthy. Initiative detection rewards gear and awareness. Preventing stealth while under attack stops the old “pop stealth mid-fight whenever you want” cheese. Those changes already remove the most frustrating and abusive parts of the old system.
The third and fourth changes go too far and should be reverted (or at least heavily softened). Here’s why:
These are light-armor glass-cannon classes.
Witch Hunters and Witch Elves have among the lowest armor and survivability in the game. Their entire kit is built around positioning, burst windows, and the ability to choose when and how they engage. Once they are forced into a prolonged, unfavorable fight, they melt extremely quickly. Stealth is not a luxury or a “gank button” for them — it is their primary defensive and tactical tool. Removing reliable access to it leaves them with far fewer options than other melee DPS who have heavier armor, better self-sustain, or safer engagement tools.
The 30s hard duration + 30s cooldown turns a skillful resource into a rigid timer.
Previously, stealth duration was limited by Action Points (roughly 5 AP per second). This created meaningful decisions: how long do I stay stealthed, how much AP do I save for the opener and follow-up, do I risk running dry, etc. A skilled player could manage longer or shorter windows depending on the situation.
A hard 30-second cap with a matching cooldown removes that skill expression. It forces a predictable “stealth for 30 → wait 30 → repeat” cycle that is both less interesting to play and easier to play around. In dynamic RvR (especially small-to-medium scale and roaming), 30 seconds is frequently not enough time to wait for the right moment, reposition around a warband, or re-engage after a failed opener. The cooldown then locks you out of your core mechanic at the worst possible times.
The 10-hit drop is overly punitive in the actual game environment.
In any non-trivial fight, hits come from multiple sources: auto-attacks, AoE, DoTs, pets, splash damage, etc. Ten hits can accumulate very quickly even when the stealther is not the primary focus. This turns stealth into something that is easily stripped by incidental damage rather than deliberate counterplay. Combined with the already-fair “cannot stealth while being hit” rule, the 10-hit threshold makes the ability unreliable exactly when a light-armor class most needs a way to disengage or re-position.
These two changes stack on top of the good nerfs and over-correct.
Initiative detection and the “cannot stealth while hit” rule already address the major pain points of the old system (being unfindable for long periods and being able to vanish mid-fight at will). Adding a hard short duration, a matching cooldown, and a hit-based drop creates a situation where the classes’ signature mechanic feels fragile and restricted rather than skillful and high-risk/high-reward.
Class fantasy and role.
Both careers are thematically stalkers and infiltrators. The fantasy is prolonged, careful hunting followed by a decisive strike, not a short timed invisibility with a long lockout. The first two changes preserve counterplay without gutting that fantasy. The duration/CD and 10-hit rules undermine it.
Suggested direction:
Keep the initiative detection and the restriction on entering stealth while under attack. Revert (or significantly lengthen) the hard duration cap and remove or raise the 10-hit threshold. If a duration limit is still desired for balance, restore the old AP-drain model or give a longer fixed duration with no (or a much shorter) cooldown so that the ability remains a meaningful, manageable resource instead of a rigid on/off timer.
These two changes are the ones that most directly reduce the classes’ ability to function as the fragile, high-skill positional melee they were designed to be. The first two changes already delivered the needed counterplay. Reverting the third and fourth would restore healthy identity and playability without bringing back the old frustrations.
The recent stealth changes to Witch Hunter (Incognito) and Witch Elf (Shadow Prowler) included four main adjustments:
Detection based on initiative
Cannot enter stealth while being hit
Hard-capped at 30 seconds duration with a 30-second cooldown
Automatically drops after taking 10 hits while stealthed
The first two are fair and healthy. Initiative detection rewards gear and awareness. Preventing stealth while under attack stops the old “pop stealth mid-fight whenever you want” cheese. Those changes already remove the most frustrating and abusive parts of the old system.
The third and fourth changes go too far and should be reverted (or at least heavily softened). Here’s why:
These are light-armor glass-cannon classes.
Witch Hunters and Witch Elves have among the lowest armor and survivability in the game. Their entire kit is built around positioning, burst windows, and the ability to choose when and how they engage. Once they are forced into a prolonged, unfavorable fight, they melt extremely quickly. Stealth is not a luxury or a “gank button” for them — it is their primary defensive and tactical tool. Removing reliable access to it leaves them with far fewer options than other melee DPS who have heavier armor, better self-sustain, or safer engagement tools.
The 30s hard duration + 30s cooldown turns a skillful resource into a rigid timer.
Previously, stealth duration was limited by Action Points (roughly 5 AP per second). This created meaningful decisions: how long do I stay stealthed, how much AP do I save for the opener and follow-up, do I risk running dry, etc. A skilled player could manage longer or shorter windows depending on the situation.
A hard 30-second cap with a matching cooldown removes that skill expression. It forces a predictable “stealth for 30 → wait 30 → repeat” cycle that is both less interesting to play and easier to play around. In dynamic RvR (especially small-to-medium scale and roaming), 30 seconds is frequently not enough time to wait for the right moment, reposition around a warband, or re-engage after a failed opener. The cooldown then locks you out of your core mechanic at the worst possible times.
The 10-hit drop is overly punitive in the actual game environment.
In any non-trivial fight, hits come from multiple sources: auto-attacks, AoE, DoTs, pets, splash damage, etc. Ten hits can accumulate very quickly even when the stealther is not the primary focus. This turns stealth into something that is easily stripped by incidental damage rather than deliberate counterplay. Combined with the already-fair “cannot stealth while being hit” rule, the 10-hit threshold makes the ability unreliable exactly when a light-armor class most needs a way to disengage or re-position.
These two changes stack on top of the good nerfs and over-correct.
Initiative detection and the “cannot stealth while hit” rule already address the major pain points of the old system (being unfindable for long periods and being able to vanish mid-fight at will). Adding a hard short duration, a matching cooldown, and a hit-based drop creates a situation where the classes’ signature mechanic feels fragile and restricted rather than skillful and high-risk/high-reward.
Class fantasy and role.
Both careers are thematically stalkers and infiltrators. The fantasy is prolonged, careful hunting followed by a decisive strike, not a short timed invisibility with a long lockout. The first two changes preserve counterplay without gutting that fantasy. The duration/CD and 10-hit rules undermine it.
Suggested direction:
Keep the initiative detection and the restriction on entering stealth while under attack. Revert (or significantly lengthen) the hard duration cap and remove or raise the 10-hit threshold. If a duration limit is still desired for balance, restore the old AP-drain model or give a longer fixed duration with no (or a much shorter) cooldown so that the ability remains a meaningful, manageable resource instead of a rigid on/off timer.
These two changes are the ones that most directly reduce the classes’ ability to function as the fragile, high-skill positional melee they were designed to be. The first two changes already delivered the needed counterplay. Reverting the third and fourth would restore healthy identity and playability without bringing back the old frustrations.
