Made this in an arena thread but thought we could chat here about it. A few small changes and we’d be GTG:
Outlaw
Dispatch damage increased 200%
Avast! Poisons and rupture has made its return to outlaw!
Own the Bones: single-dice rolls increases your chance of getting two or more dice on your next roll by 10%, stacking
This would help outlaw’s ST in PVE, and smooth out their burst and sustain in PVP. Otherwise just get rid of dispatch (replace with rupture) and double SS damage and/or bring back a real sword spec proc.
What map? If I get pocket heals or am left alone to blade flurry mid at netherstorm for example my total DMG will be awesome. It’s all useless pad DMG, but it will look neat I guess.
It’s a good point - let’s noodle this. A few thoughts:
“Opening the Wound”: rupture increases in power based on CP spent up to 20-25. Think of it acting similar to how unstable affliction stacks - you keep getting 5CP and dump it into rupture on the same guy/mob. It would create this really interesting ramping damage wave where if you get a good roll you can pop AR and race to 5 stacks which would absolutely melt single target. You’d have to model it to see if you could get away with resetting timer on each stack (or adding say “rupture duration will increase by 1 second per CP spent on “opening the wound” “ etc)
different version of “Open the Wound”: spend up to 5CP to reduce the timer on Rupture by 3 seconds per CP spent, dealt instantly. This would create an interesting swap dynamic where you could setup opposing kill windows in PvP, but also give you more consistent ST damage if you get bad rolls - you let rupture tick while you reroll etc. It also gives you the ability to dump damage of the stars align as you keep instant-hitting ruptures until AR or your wicked roll runs out
Both of these would give outlaw the one thing it really misses - ramping damage in PVP and more sustain DMG in PVE.
Unstable Affliction has a much lower duration, and caps to 5 stacks. A large issue being that Rogue CP generation is much, much faster, and no where near as RNG, makes it very difficult to effectively compare mechanics.
At which point of running for a stackable, lengthy bleed, we’d be tuned around that ramp, and again limited low health mobs (ones that die quickly in low level content), or simply at maximum stacks with nothing else to spend CP on.
If there are instead endless rupture stacks, we’d be tuned around that, causing even bigger issues with ramp, and being tuned around that potential output.
At which point, you’re setting up another CP spender for a bleed mechanic that just isn’t what Combat (Outlaw) is about. This would be great for talent option for Mut or a redesign on Sub’s base mechanics.
How about getting rid of RtB altogether? It’s a horrible skill that makes outlaw the most RNG-dependent spec in the game. I’d love to see rupture and poisons back, don’t get me wrong. But until RtB goes away or SnD is buffed to be competitive, I’ll never main a rogue again.
I’d absolutely be keen to replace RtB for a bleed mechanic that’d stack to a limit (as above), or even just a dot/player buff. The RNG, while improved over time, can be tiresome.