Removal of Ice Staff passive for Warden is a good thing

VixxVexx · July 2024

Removing the Ice Staff bonus from Warden is a good thing. The way they did it is rather lacking though, and it makes it far worse than what we currently have.
We'll just see more DW and 2H Polar Wind specs. On live, the Ice Staff is slightly behind Dual Wield and 2H but makes up for it for being a lot more defensive.

Let's not force Wardens into having to use an Ice Staff. Make it a more appealing dps option for everyone and specifically more so for Warden.
Ice Staves should be a viable dps option compared to the other destro staves. I think the current offensive bonuses the Destro line offers are not quite there yet when comparing it to Dual Wield.

I would add Crit Chance to Ice Staves vs the DD and DOT damage of the other staves. This would tie in with Ice Staves' focus on Minor Brittle and would work well with Warden passives like Advanced Species. I would also revert Piercing Cold to % Frost Damage or just general % Damage when you've dealt Frost Damage recently. Have this passive increased if you proc Minor Brittle so Ice Staff becomes even more appealing.

Skjaldbjorn · July 2024

As a Warden main, I have no issue seeing Ice Staves be competitive. However, until 2h has a crit weapon, I would never support staves having one. Crit damage maybe, but not crit chance. We need more crit chance options for sure, but 2h has suffered way too long from that.

Skjaldbjorn · July 2024

VixxVexx wrote: »

I would also revert Piercing Cold to % Frost Damage or just general % Damage when you've dealt Frost Damage recently. Have this passive increased if you proc Minor Brittle so Ice Staff becomes even more appealing.

Dear god no. That just kills Stamden all over again. Why do people so desperately want Stamden dead? lmao

LunaFlora · July 2024

a bonus to Bleed and Frost damage would be useful for warden damage dealers

VixxVexx · July 2024

Skjaldbjorn wrote: »

Dear god no. That just kills Stamden all over again. Why do people so desperately want Stamden dead? lmao

Kill Stamden lmao, hardly. Right now stamden is getting a staggering 2% from the passive. 2H and Dual Wield on Warden is still more damage than Ice Staff, simply higher stats.

Skjaldbjorn · July 2024

LunaFlora wrote: »

a bonus to Bleed and Frost damage would be useful for warden damage dealers

Sadly, not really. As far as functionally used skills (at least in PVE), it'd miss about half the skills in our kit, including our best DPS skill.

Skjaldbjorn · July 2024

VixxVexx wrote: »

Skjaldbjorn wrote: »

Dear god no. That just kills Stamden all over again. Why do people so desperately want Stamden dead? lmao

Kill Stamden lmao, hardly. Right now stamden is getting a staggering 2% from the passive. 2H and Dual Wield on Warden is still more damage than Ice Staff, simply higher stats.

Yes, a "staggering" 2% and absolutely god awful. Master/Maelstrom was by MILES the top DPS for Warden. No other options were even that close.

xylena_lazarow · July 2024

Horrible change for PvP Warden DD, better off running DW or Lightning now, rip class identity.

LunaFlora · July 2024

Skjaldbjorn wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

a bonus to Bleed and Frost damage would be useful for warden damage dealers

Sadly, not really. As far as functionally used skills (at least in PVE), it'd miss about half the skills in our kit, including our best DPS skill.

what is our best skill?

Skjaldbjorn · July 2024

LunaFlora wrote: »

Skjaldbjorn wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

a bonus to Bleed and Frost damage would be useful for warden damage dealers

Sadly, not really. As far as functionally used skills (at least in PVE), it'd miss about half the skills in our kit, including our best DPS skill.

what is our best skill?

Shalks.

VixxVexx · July 2024

My post was mostly PVP related, maybe I should've specified. Warden would need quite a lot more than a single passive change to be competitive.

Skjaldbjorn wrote: »

Yes, a "staggering" 2% and absolutely god awful. Master/Maelstrom was by MILES the top DPS for Warden. No other options were even that close.

That's what I am saying? Anyway if a single passive makes you think it'll kill stamden (in PVE you say) then you are simply exaggerating. That's OK, I think it's a *** too. Stamden and Warden in general would need ability reworks, not one passive change if it wants to get even close to Arc/DK dps. Your argument for crit dmg vs crit chance is wrong if you are talking PVE. Crit dmg cap is easier, crit chance, not so much. I picked crit chance because you already get the crit damage from brittle and it would be the only twohander that'd give crit chance, filling in that spot.

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Horrible change for PvP Warden DD, better off running DW or Lightning now, rip class identity.

Yes exactly, back to DW and Polar Wind spam instead of the occasional Ice Staves and Arctic gamers.

Skjaldbjorn wrote: »

Shalks.

That morph of Scorch should be bleed damage anyway. But even then, it would need bigger changes to be comparable to other classes' cleave if you're talking PVE. It could be like a conal AoE that applies a dot on hit.

Skjaldbjorn · July 2024

VixxVexx wrote: »

That's what I am saying? Anyway if a single passive makes you think it'll kill stamden (in PVE you say) then you are simply exaggerating. That's OK, I think it's a *** too. Stamden and Warden in general would need ability reworks, not one passive change if it wants to get even close to Arc/DK dps. Your argument for crit dmg vs crit chance is wrong if you are talking PVE. Crit dmg cap is easier, crit chance, not so much. I picked crit chance because you already get the crit damage from brittle and it would be the only twohander that'd give crit chance, filling in that spot.

I mean, the AC change literally killed Warden. The buff to 3% with the bear nerf was terrific, then they reverted to 2% and left the bear nerf. Warden, meet basement. Warden was already underperforming when they changed the 6% piercing cold passive to be 2/12% with a frost staff. If you think that isn't damaging, I'm not sure how to help you. Yes, crit dmg is easier to cap, and that's why Frost staff should not be getting crit chance before 2H. 2H axe makes way more sense as a crit weapon.

VixxVexx wrote: »

That morph of Scorch should be bleed damage anyway. But even then, it would need bigger changes to be comparable to other classes' cleave if you're talking PVE. It could be like a conal AoE that applies a dot on hit.

I agree, it should be bleed. But it isn't.

Durham · July 2024

xylena_lazarow wrote: »

Horrible change for PvP Warden DD, better off running DW or Lightning now, rip class identity.[/

Lighting staff just run a spec
Duel wield run a nightblade.

There is absolutely no reason to run a warden in pvp after this patch unless your running polar two handler build. Super Tanky with a slow burst spamable that is really good at killing new players but you will struggle 1v1 angainst anyone that knows a warden. Shalks easy to avoid, Dizzy is slow burst that misses often.

Nightblade gets huge buffs when you add the stealth bug fixes lol.

Nightblade and Sorc meta is staying and just getting stronger.