Blade Cloak - do the ranks actually DO anything?

Varicite

So I have Quick Cloak unlocked, and for the life of me, I cannot tell if it is actually gaining anything when it levels up to the next rank. AoE damage is based on weapon damage (tested this w/ Momentum buff), cost does not go down, duration has stayed the same since Blade Cloak I, damage reduction has stayed the same since Blade Cloak I.

In fact, other than the speed boost from Quick Cloak, nothing at all has changed by gaining higher ranks of this ability.

I looked on Esohead as well to see if they have anything documented as changing, but the tooltips stay exactly the same. Of course, this is not really conclusive of anything, but I was curious if anyone else has tried using Quick Cloak or the other morph of Blade Cloak.

What do higher ranks of this ability actually DO?

There doesn't seem to be any point whatsoever to actually trying to max out this skill now that it's morphed to Quick Cloak, as none of the ranks actually seem to do anything.

Varicite

So nobody as ANY idea what the ranks actually do for this ability?

Or just nobody uses it?

CP5

Varicite wrote: »

So nobody as ANY idea what the ranks actually do for this ability?

Or just nobody uses it?

Both I think.

Varicite

CP5 wrote: »

Varicite wrote: »

So nobody as ANY idea what the ranks actually do for this ability?

Or just nobody uses it?

Both I think.

I think you may be right.

A shame, it's not a bad little ability. Decent AoE DoT + unique damage mitigation effect + 5 second speed boost for an extremely cheap cost.

I'm using it as a poor man's Double Take on my DK atm (dodge is still better, but there's still a lot of AoE in Cyro).

It would be awesome if the buff duration could be bumped up to 20 seconds, though. I originally thought that this might happen when leveling the skill up, but... nothing happened. At all.

Maybe @ZOS_JessicaFolsom or @ZOS_GinaBruno or somebody could have the devs look into whether this skill is actually working as intended?

I know that not many people actually use it and less people probably pay attention to their tooltips while leveling a skill, but this is the first skill that I've come across in the year+ I've played that just doesn't do anything when leveling it up to a new rank.

Dositheus

It's not worth it with it's current rather short duration. There are just better things you can toss in the slot. I leveled the skill up, hoping to make use of it with an aoe pvp build, but honestly it's just a waste right now. If it were 20... minimum, maybe 25 seconds? I MIGHT use it. Probably not though, unless it was 30 seconds.

Jar_Ek

If the expedition buff was longer and the skill provided something more generally useful than a damage reduction vs aoe abilities I might use it...atm it just doesn't seem to have much real utility - especially not for survivability which is what you might have thought the point of this was. Currently it just doesn't seem worthwhile.

Varicite

I can agree w/ that. At the moment, I'm just using it as an extremely cheap expedition buff on a class that lacks mobility (DK). Probably because I'm so used to Double-Take on my NBs.

I 100% agree that the buff duration is way too short at 15 seconds and had HOPED that this would go up when leveling the skill, but... nothing changes from rank to rank at all, from what I can tell.

The damage that it does is about half of what my light attacks hit for, but only once every 3 seconds. The damage can crit, which is nice; I basically use it on my AoE bar w/ Steel Tornado + Burning Talons for some pretty decent numbers.

It's more or less a flex slot though, and I'm trying to figure out if I like the speed boost there better than Evasion (still don't know if I want to morph this to Elude or Shuffle). Up until now, I've just had Rapid Maneuver in that slot, which is nice, but costly for anything outside of just riding on my mount.

Glurin

It's not a bad skill per se. It just kind of falls short of what it is intended to do.

Alcast

I always have quick cloak on my bar because there is literally nothing else to put there. And its a good speedboost
And you get 20% AOE mitigation

Varicite

Glurin wrote: »

It's not a bad skill per se. It just kind of falls short of what it is intended to do.

I think of it as a skill that has a really good speed boost and 2 other mediocre effects, finally culminating in an "okay" skill.

But as far as Major Expedition goes, it's duration is longer than Double Take and costs about as much as 1 Executioner. Not too shabby if you're looking for mobility.

This ability could definitely use a bit more tuning to make it feel more worthwhile, especially when compared to other flex skills that could go in that slot, such as Double-Take, Evasion, Evil Hunter, etc.

1) The DoT component could stand to have its cooldown lowered by at least 30% (to every 2 seconds, instead of 3), though I'd be more comfortable w/ a 1.5 second cooldown. Then at least it would give you the equivalent of 1 extra light attack every 3 seconds.

If the cooldown is lowered on the DoT component, then its damage is pretty much fine. If not, then bump the damage up a bit to compensate.

2) I think that the damage reduction could also stand to be raised a bit, to ~30%, as it is an extremely situational buff. People are always using single-target abilities on you, making the 20% of dodge very attractive. However, you actively try to avoid standing in AoE and most AoE is telegraphed, meaning that you actually get less use out of Blade Cloak the more skilled you are at avoiding telegraphed damage.

Cody

It does nothing as it ranks up.

a shame too.

Obscure

Blade Cloak I = Blade Cloak IV

Blade Cloak I = Quick Cloak IV - Major Expedition

Blade Cloak I = Deadly Cloak IV - Free Dagger Throw

A proper thing to scale up for the skill is the Time delay for the AoE (rank I is 3 seconds, rank II is 2.5 seconds, rank III is 2 seconds, rank IV is 1.5 seconds), and for the morphs Quick Cloak major expedition buff scales in duration (rank I is 5 seconds, rank II is 8 seconds, rank III is 11 seconds, rank IV is 14 seconds [just shy of the skills duration in general]), and Deadly Cloak scales up the number of Deadly Throws you get (rank I is 1, rank II is 2, rank III is 3, rank IV is 4) and you have the full 15 seconds of the buffs duration to throw them.

To be honest I'd prefer they change Deadly Cloak to something less effin' assinine, and something actually deadly. The free attack barely hits for 6k from stealth. Make it snare foes hit by the AoE and give bonus damage for attacks made against snared targets, that would be a reason to consider it over Quick Cloak which is just plain better (if I wanted a ranged attack I'd be using Hidden Blade and spamming it).

Varicite

I like those ideas, though I don't think that ZOS would ever be quite so generous w/ the scaling, lol.

Also, I agree that "Deadly Cloak" is anything but. If it were up to me, I'd have simply called it "Enduring Cloak" and let this morph scale the duration of the buff up to 30 seconds.

That might actually be worthwhile.

Jar_Ek

Blade cloak is a replacement for sparks don't forget, which was the only dw survivability skill. Blade cloak has next to no survivability aspect (you shouldn't stand in the red anyway) and very poor damage. Only the speed buff makes it worth taking imho. I think it should be dumped and replaced with a parry + riposte skill.

Varicite

Jar_Ek wrote: »

Blade cloak is a replacement for sparks don't forget, which was the only dw survivability skill. Blade cloak has next to no survivability aspect (you shouldn't stand in the red anyway) and very poor damage. Only the speed buff makes it worth taking imho. I think it should be dumped and replaced with a parry + riposte skill.

The saddest part of this is that, in the current meta of stamina builds wreaking havoc w/ huge damage, Sparks would actually be a huge asset, unlike the time that it was complained about where magicka builds were basically the only viable build in PvP outside of stealth ganking.

Alas, it died too young.

maryriv

It's one of many junk skills that no one uses not likely you will get an answer.

Varicite

maryriv wrote: »

It's one of many junk skills that no one uses not likely you will get an answer.

Then maybe they will tweak it when somebody realizes that it's the only skill in the game that never gets better than the moment you unlock it, no matter how much you increase the rank.

Or replace it w/ something better. Like Sparks, lol.

Varicite

ZOS_JasonLeavey wrote: »

Blade Cloak - I noticed that when leveling up this ability, none of the ranks actually seem to do anything (no duration change, no cost change, no damage change, nothing.) This is the only ability that I know of that exhibits no change from Ranks I-IV or even after morphing the ability (I chose Quick Cloak.) Is this intended or a bug? – Varicite
You are correct. All abilities should increase in some aspect as they rank up. With Blade Cloak there was a minor bug we just fixed where the increase was smaller than expected and sometimes not seen at lower levels.

From the latest Ask Us Anything post.

I'm still unsure what the actual increase is supposed to be, especially now that I have it leveled up. : /

Tankqull

Dositheus wrote: »

It's not worth it with it's current rather short duration. There are just better things you can toss in the slot. I leveled the skill up, hoping to make use of it with an aoe pvp build, but honestly it's just a waste right now. If it were 20... minimum, maybe 25 seconds? I MIGHT use it. Probably not though, unless it was 30 seconds.

its great against siege wepons

Varicite

Tankqull wrote: »

Dositheus wrote: »

It's not worth it with it's current rather short duration. There are just better things you can toss in the slot. I leveled the skill up, hoping to make use of it with an aoe pvp build, but honestly it's just a waste right now. If it were 20... minimum, maybe 25 seconds? I MIGHT use it. Probably not though, unless it was 30 seconds.

its great against siege wepons

Aaaand this is why it's on my bar, since it pulls triple duty.

OdinForge

RIP Sparks, i might have been in the 1% who actually used that skill, in the previous long lasting skirt and staff meta.

But let's be honest, sparks could be OP as hell in the current game. But if they did it right, they could have kept it in the game to entice people to play a bit more defensively with DW.

Instead of running 2H like every stamina player in this game.

Varicite

OdinForge wrote: »

RIP Sparks, i might have been in the 1% who actually used that skill, in the previous long lasting skirt and staff meta.

But let's be honest, sparks could be OP as hell in the current game. But if they did it right, they could have kept it in the game to entice people to play a bit more defensively with DW.

Instead of running 2H like every stamina player in this game.

Agreed. I even said pretty much the same thing above, lol.

yake82

I used it regularly when i was specced to stamina dmg.

Rally -> Evil Hunter -> Quick Cloak -> Steel Tornados

Probably should have gotten Caltrops on the bar too...
What else there is to put on dualwield trash pull bar?

Varicite

So, uh, after trying to figure this out...

I STILL have no idea what is supposed to be increasing per rank. I'm having to base this on Quick Cloak II, since it's already upgraded past Rank I-IV Blade Cloak.

The duration is still 15 seconds, the duration of the Major Expedition buff is still 5 seconds, the damage reduction is still 20%, and the damage of the ability still seems to be based on my Weapon Power stat.

@ZOS_JasonLeavey I don't suppose you could clarify this a little more, since nobody saw fit to actually put this in the 2.0.8 patch notes and I am STILL completely at a loss for what it SHOULD be doing when gaining ranks?

Victus

I guess the only thing increasing ranks does now is increase the cost of the ability?

baconsizzler13

It's to situational to be worth putting any skill points into it.

Varicite

Victus wrote: »

I guess the only thing increasing ranks does now is increase the cost of the ability?

lol, this seems to be the case.

Varicite

miss-post : /

Bouvin

Shows how well thought out the 1.6 skills were....

Valymer

@Varicite take a look at these two posts:

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/1700231/

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/162239/should-zos-add-more-tiers-to-the-buffs

Valymer

Also on the topic of Blade Cloak specifically, I've been using Quick Cloak a lot in PvP instead of Rapid Maneuvers. The speed buff only lasts four seconds but with 2k stamina regen I can spam it indefinitely, it really helps catching kiters and also getting away from zergs chasing me.