What’s going on guys?!
I have been silent since the last build about MM but with little time between work and the family, it’s tough. Nonetheless, I’m excited to talk about the new upcoming changes.
I’m leaning towards Wailing Arrow (WA) working in PVP. It is utility and a defensive.
For Context,
Marksmanship:
- Dead Eye now also reduces the cooldown of Kill Shot.
- Windrunner’s Guidance has been lowered to 25% critical strike damage bonus.
- New choice node below Wailing Arrow:
- Wailing Arrow resets the cooldown of Rapid Fire and grants a charge of Aimed Shot.
- Wailing Arrow now fires 5 wind arrows at your primary target, and up to 10 split between any secondary targets.
- Crack Shot lowered to a 1-point talent.
- Calling the Shots and Eagletalon’s True Focus have swapped spots.
An extra Aimed Shot and a Rapid Fire reset sounds like the better choice but for PVP the 5 wind arrows may be the go-to so that you don’t lose out on damage being that the 1st choice mentioned will be harder to set up correctly 100% of the time.
This is coming from a PvP perspective as, Imo, the ST builds that MM can get into for PVE have opened up and seem like it will flow very well. Though I understand there are little details that can use some work, overall, I think it’s MUCH better and has come a long way from the initial release.
With the new choice node to Wailing Arrow, I see why making Crack Shot 1 point alleviates choice making within the tree and allow access to this new talent (Is it enough though?) This new choice node also unlocks a specific playstyle that Wailing Arrow will be used primarily for its damage rather than its utility which is fine and interesting.
While envisioning how this would fit in our rotation for burst damage or regular damage within a fight I ran into some issues.
Wailing Arrow as Utility,
You will use it as needed to blanket silence a kill window. Using WA in this manner undermines the power gain from this new choice node. The reason for this is you won’t ALWAYS have Rapid Fire on CD and it is very common to have 1 charge of Aimed Shot. 5 wind arrows (modified) will do comparable damage within the kill window (Passive direct damage vs GCD ability damage)
I’m inclined to say that choosing the new WA choice node will hard swap WA into a strict throughput ability. I guess this is the entire point of this choice node. Just feels weird that we gain a silence but then this silence is undermined by power. It reminds me of investing points into Nessingwary’s to get Steel Trap but reverse/inverted.
Wailing Arrow as Damage,
The other issue I came across is that MM has the ability to stack CD’s to get big damage. Double Tap, Trueshot, and probably Sentinel for example, and most likely Freezing/Scatter/Intimidation beforehand. This eats a lot of global cooldowns. Including WA in this with the new Choice Node will be highly beneficial for sure but it doesn’t change the fact that WA is a 2s cast and has a “best way” of using it.
You can use it before a go but then you telegraph your kill attempt (WA is a 2s cast) and if chosen you may waste the RapidFire cd reset and the extra charge of AS. A 2s cast for basically a non-modified Aimed Shot for damage (sacrificing all the damage modifiers and cast reduction of Aimed Shot) doesn’t sound appealing. Or you can use WA on the healer for utility but lose out on the extra damage for the Kill Target.
I predict that this 2-second cast will feel janky in PVP. It will feel very similar to back when Shadow Priests would lose ALL their haste after leaving Voidform (but in reverse) which felt horrible in that when you’re ready to go ham with damage you are instead having to hard cast WA which will halt the satisfaction of doing damage during your go. I’m not saying that WA and its choice node will not be a thing in DF, I’m saying that in a gameplay sense it might not be worth taking because you lose out on damage within the kill window, especially being that Chimaeral Shot does a much better job at this.
I’m writing this because it is obvious that this new choice node for WA is meant to add a new ST build that sets itself apart from what we’ve become familiar with by adding throughput and synergy with our Wind Arrows. A Wind Arrows build if you will.
A great solution to making WA feel much better in PVP is to bake a cast reduction to WA in Trueshot. With this, you solve both the long cast time, and relieve the urgency of casting this during a go. It emphasizes and solidifies that WA is now a throughput ability after picking the new choice node.
Ok so with that out the way I want to briefly mention other feedback to MM for PVP.
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First, Serpent Sting, Latent Poison Injectors and Serpenstalker’s Trickery.
If I pick the ones from the class tree do I really need Serpenstalker’s Trickery when all it does is have me cast Serpent Sting less. And while I can simply ignore Serpent Sting, choosing Serpenstalker’s Trickery makes me wish I had Latent Poison but I cannot choose it. What’s the deal with this mess? Why must it be this way? It feels off EVERY TIME I try and make a new build. -
The MM Tree needs a lot of work to make it feel and look streamlined. In other words cohesive.
There are many times I have to go back up the tree to grab something on the other side that I may not particularly want so it’s like I’m dotting random stuff to get lower in the tree. The MM tree looks a mess when you first look at it AND after you’re done choosing your talents. The only side that feels good and looks cohesive is the AoE side because it’s all self-explanatory and straightforward. -
Must take Steady Focus in order to gain access to Trueshot.
This may not be such a bad thing in PVE, I actually like having to maintain a buff in pve but Trueshot is a MUST in PVP, and having to maintain this by casting 2 steady shots in a row in PVP is not satisfying and may not be worthwhile especially since Trueshot does exactly the same thing by reducing the cast time of Aimed Shot in an instant. I’m not sure why this is a prerequisite to Trueshot but it feels bad from a PVP perspective. Consecutive Concussion may make this a synergistic pick in PVP but MM now has an instant stun with intimidation. -
Must take Bullseye to grab Windrunner’s Guidance.
In PVP this talent is a massive waste. A 6s duration on this proc is way too low to really take it seriously. On top of that when a target is below 20% health they’re either going to die in the next 1-3 globals or will instantly be healed above 20% which will negate it. You will never gain more than 2-3 stacks unless you are playing in an epic BG where you can somewhat better control it. This being a prerequisite to Windrunner’s Guidance without a doubt makes the point feel like a waste in PVP. -
Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire has the most out-of-the-way or awkward positioning in the talent tree than any other talent in DF. You can make an ST build without RF. You can Make an AOE build without RF. The Rapid Fire enhancing nodes ONLY add damage to it and synergizes very little with the rest of MM’s kit with the exception of Aimed Shot resetting its cd and Trickshots. And while I can make a build that makes RF super deadly, I lose out on ALL the capstones for ST.
A lot of issues are apparent because of it.
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If Rapid Fire doesn’t need to be taken for st or aoe, why is it there? For flavor? For build variance? Why does it feel like booty to spec into RF? Why do I lose out on the Capstones if I take RF, Streamline and Surging Shots? If this combo is too strong then why is so high in the tree?
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If Rapid Fire (on its own) IS integral to MM’s kit then why not make it accessible to every build in a way that we can choose it AND our capstones but not necessarily streamline and surging shot talents.
If Rapid Fire is too strong to combine with the capstone talents (Eagletalon’s, Calling, Windrunner’s, Unnering and Wailing Arrow) make rapid fire’s perk talents into a new capstone.
Another issue relating to Rapid Fire is that it does not have anything that enhances our rotation on its own. You have to choose streamline and surging shots to bring some synergy to our rotation but again this completely removes the chance of accessing any Trueshot Capstones, especially Windrunner’s Guidance (for ST).
This does not feel right as everything related to Rapid Fire OBVIOUSLY feels and behaves like a pseudo capstone in itself but higher up in the tree leaving the bottom bare.
So far the changes and new additions have been really good but only compared to the last. Overall though the hunter trees need work in many ways and I hope that they continue improving upon it even when they feel like they added everything that will be added.