Dark cloak NERF - seriously!?

Prionyx · July 17

It used to be one of the worst healing abilities in one of the worst skill lines in the game, there was almost no reason to use it ever, yet you give it 2 massive nerfs? What??? Making it only heal you when you're standing still was a massive nerf that made it useless, now you need to be HOLDING BLOCK for it to heal you??? So you can't even get it's healing when you're stunned, when you need it the most, and on top of that it's duratin is decreased to 3 seconds... You could increase it's duration to 10 seconds at this point and it would still be a bad skill, but you make it 3... At this point this hot is soo bad that it's not worth pressing because it will heal you less than a burst heal and will cost just sligtly less

Tonturri · July 17

Super edit: I am apparently very stupid and it's a 2.5x multiplier for the stationary (or block, on PTS) bonus and not 1.5x. I will let the numbers remain unedited as a monument to my stupid and because I am very lazy.

Some fun numbers to consider.

Using UESP's build editor, my NB build with 42,454 HP has the following values.

Dark Cloak: Cost 3616 mag, heals for 2762/sec for 5 seconds for 13,810 total. 20,715 with the 1.5x buff corrected: 34.5k

Vigor: Cost 2924 stam, heals for 21864 over 5 seconds (4,373/sec).

Healthy Offering: Cost 3108 mag, heals for 14,583 (we'll ignore the ~3k HP drain).

Coagulating Blood: Costs 3869 mag, heals for 11,841 up to 17,761

Green Dragon Blood: 3869 mag, 40% of missing hp + 1656/sec for 5 seconds. So that's 8,280 for the base HoT, and at 42,454 HP I have 21,227 HP if I'm at 50% health, adding an extra 8,491. 16,771 healing total if cast at 50% HP.

Hungry Scythe: 2600 mag, deals damage, 8,285 healing base and 2760 per additional enemy, then 3,423 HP every 2 sec for 10 seconds. That's about 17k from the HoT and 25k total.

Hardened Ward: 19,433 damage absorbed. Also honorable mention, on the same build the twilight heals for 14,209 on one target.

Polar Wind: 16,050 HP base and 4,420 every 2 sec for 10 sec. That's 22,100 healing from the HoT and 38k healing total.

Restoring Focus (since it restores stam and increases healing): 1,337 per seond, 2,674 every two seconds, 13,370 over 10 seconds and 26k over the full duration of 20 seconds. This is an interesting one since it's the closest in function to Dark Cloak (HoTs and armor buff), but on a class with different design as NB is designed around any Shadow skill givin the armor buff. Still, worth a mention.

Of course, these numbers can vary depending on buffs and whatnot.

Rapid Regeneration: 14,208 over 5 seconds. 2347 mag.

Now, Dark Cloak on PTS is getting a reduction from 5 seconds to 3 seconds to no longer benefit from the duration increase passive. This is a 40% duration reduction and would reduce the healng from:

2762/sec for 5 seconds for 13,810 total. 20,715 with the 1.5x buff. corrected: 34.5k

To...

2762/sec for 3 seconds for 8,286 total. 12,429 with the 1.5x buff. corrected: 20.7k.

Do note that this is on a UESP build editor setup meant as a generalist - I use it on my NB to tank a lil, do PvP, open world, etc. It is much more invested into offense than a typical tank build would. However, I think the numbers between health based skills would consistently compare to each other. I just included Vigor and Rapid Regeneration as points of comparison, as they show how the skill measures up against the numbers you get with even comparatively moderate amounts of investment into stats like weapon/spell damage.

In short, Dark Cloak is currently one of the weakest health based heals for tanks (I think Green Dragon Blood could also use some love) and it's going to be even worse than Green Dragon Blood if the duration is reduced. Objectively the worst, beating the GDB heal by 6 HP if at max health and losing at all other times.

It currently costs more and does less than the other options and it's getting nerfed to do even less. It's also a pure HoT with no burst heal component, but still loses out to skills that have both a burst heal and HoT component.

It could be changed to heal for 5k, 4k, and 3k on the first, second and third ticks of the HoT for a total of 12k while moving and 18k stationary and it would still be bad.

Ideally, I would like to see the skill be a psuedo-burst+HoT - sort of a halfway point between Green Dragon Blood and Polar Wind. Give it a 10 second duration or something, then make the first tick heal for 7k, then 5k, then 3k, 3k, 3k, etc. This would make it feasible - but expensive and not optimized - to use as a burst heal but make it much stronger over time. It would give it a unique place in the assortment of health-scaling based tank skills.

Also, please stop trying to add additional requirements for the 1.5x buff. It's making the skill really clunky and unpleasant/unfun to use. None of the other skills. At 7k, 5k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, (1 tick of 7k hp, one tick of 5k, and 7 ticks of 3k) would put it at 33k HP total and *still* be behind Polar Winds.

There are plenty of ways to make it more unique without enforcing clunky mechanics, like being stationary or blocking (which, unlike every other option, limits the builds that can use it, since for example high HP wardens can still use Polar Winds in pvp but don't have to block to get good value from the skill).

Each HoT tick could require taking damage to be empowered. The last tick could be the strongest, to disincentivise spamming it as a burst heal. It could be a skill that can be held down and channeled, even while blocking, for increasing amounts of HP and then have a HoT after release (please don't do this one I'm just spitballing here).

TLDR: Dark Cloak is currently numerically inferior the vast majority of the time to every other option and the nerf will make it worse. At the very least it needs its healing heavily buffed, and ideally would also get some unique interactions that don't require blocking so the skill can be used by high health builds that don't also block heavily.

Edit: Disclaimer. Generated all this with the UESP build editor as I don't have every single tank line available on a single character. Build is Umbral Edge backbar, soulcleaver front bar, bloodspawn, markyn mythic, 2 spell dmg glyphs and 1 mag cost reduction, stats are about 43k HP, 25k mag, 23k stam, yaddayadda. Not a pure tank build, but not super hard into DPS either, so I wanted to show that even Vigor clearly outperforms Dark Cloak in this scenario, but is definitely closer on a full tank build without as much weapon/spell damage stats.

Prionyx · July 17

Tonturri wrote: »

Some fun numbers to consider.

Using UESP's build editor, my NB build with 42,454 HP has the following values.

Dark Cloak: Cost 3616 mag, heals for 2762/sec for 5 seconds for 13,810 total. 20,715 with the 1.5x buff.

Vigor: Cost 2924 stam, heals for 21864 over 5 seconds (4,373/sec).

Healthy Offering: Cost 3108 mag, heals for 14,583 (we'll ignore the ~3k HP drain).

Coagulating Blood: Costs 3869 mag, heals for 11,841 up to 17,761

Green Dragon Blood: 3869 mag, 40% of missing hp + 1656/sec for 5 seconds. So that's 8,280 for the base HoT, and at 42,454 HP I have 21,227 HP if I'm at 50% health, adding an extra 8,491. 16,771 healing total if cast at 50% HP.

Hungry Scythe: 2600 mag, deals damage, 8,285 healing base and 2760 per additional enemy, then 3,423 HP every 2 sec for 10 seconds. That's about 17k from the HoT and 25k total.

Hardened Ward: 19,433 damage absorbed. Also honorable mention, on the same build the twilight heals for 14,209 on one target.

Polar Wind: 16,050 HP base and 4,420 every 2 sec for 10 sec. That's 22,100 healing from the HoT and 38k healing total.

Restoring Focus (since it restores stam and increases healing): 1,337 per seond, 2,674 every two seconds, 13,370 over 10 seconds and 26k over the full duration of 20 seconds. This is an interesting one since it's the closest in function to Dark Cloak (HoTs and armor buff), but on a class with different design as NB is designed around any Shadow skill givin the armor buff. Still, worth a mention.

Of course, these numbers can vary depending on buffs and whatnot.

Rapid Regeneration: 14,208 over 5 seconds. 2347 mag.

Now, Dark Cloak on PTS is getting a reduction from 5 seconds to 3 seconds to no longer benefit from the duration increase passive. This is a 40% duration reduction and would reduce the healng from:

2762/sec for 5 seconds for 13,810 total. 20,715 with the 1.5x buff.

To...

2762/sec for 3 seconds for 8,286 total. 12,429 with the 1.5x buff.

Do note that this is on a UESP build editor setup meant as a generalist - I use it on my NB to tank a lil, do PvP, open world, etc. It is much more invested into offense than a typical tank build would. However, I think the numbers between health based skills would consistently compare to each other. I just included Vigor and Rapid Regeneration as points of comparison, as they show how the skill measures up against the numbers you get with even comparatively moderate amounts of investment into stats like weapon/spell damage.

In short, Dark Cloak is currently one of the weakest health based heals for tanks (I think Green Dragon Blood could also use some love) and it's going to be even worse than Green Dragon Blood if the duration is reduced. Objectively the worst, beating the GDB heal by 6 HP if at max health and losing at all other times.

It currently costs more and does less than the other options and it's getting nerfed to do even less. It's also a pure HoT with no burst heal component, but still loses out to skills that have both a burst heal and HoT component.

It could be changed to heal for 5k, 4k, and 3k on the first, second and third ticks of the HoT for a total of 12k while moving and 18k stationary and it would still be bad.

Ideally, I would like to see the skill be a psuedo-burst+HoT - sort of a halfway point between Green Dragon Blood and Polar Wind. Give it a 10 second duration or something, then make the first tick heal for 7k, then 5k, then 3k, 3k, 3k, etc. This would make it feasible - but expensive and not optimized - to use as a burst heal but make it much stronger over time. It would give it a unique place in the assortment of health-scaling based tank skills.

Also, please stop trying to add additional requirements for the 1.5x buff. It's making the skill really clunky and unpleasant/unfun to use. None of the other skills. At 7k, 5k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, 3k, (1 tick of 7k hp, one tick of 5k, and 7 ticks of 3k) would put it at 33k HP total and *still* be behind Polar Winds.

There are plenty of ways to make it more unique without enforcing clunky mechanics, like being stationary or blocking (which, unlike every other option, limits the builds that can use it, since for example high HP wardens can still use Polar Winds in pvp but don't have to block to get good value from the skill).

Each HoT tick could require taking damage to be empowered. The last tick could be the strongest, to disincentivise spamming it as a burst heal. It could be a skill that can be held down and channeled, even while blocking, for increasing amounts of HP and then have a HoT after release (please don't do this one I'm just spitballing here).

TLDR: Dark Cloak is currently numerically inferior the vast majority of the time to every other option and the nerf will make it worse. At the very least it needs its healing heavily buffed, and ideally would also get some unique interactions that don't require blocking so the skill can be used by high health builds that don't also block heavily.

Edit: Disclaimer. Generated all this with the UESP build editor as I don't have every single tank line available on a single character. Build is Umbral Edge backbar, soulcleaver front bar, bloodspawn, markyn mythic, 2 spell dmg glyphs and 1 mag cost reduction, stats are about 43k HP, 25k mag, 23k stam, yaddayadda. Not a pure tank build, but not super hard into DPS either, so I wanted to show that even Vigor clearly outperforms Dark Cloak in this scenario, but is definitely closer on a full tank build without as much weapon/spell damage stats.

Just adding a comparison of how they would heal with PVP stats, which is where shadow is more likely to be used considering shadow doesn't really give anything useful to a PvE group so no point it using it for a tank

code65536 · July 17

@Tonturri The 150% bonus is an additional bonus. So a 3K heal tick that gets the bonus will be 7.5K, not 4.5K.

As someone who mains a NB tank and who has used Dark Cloak for over half a decade, it's fine in its current form, and I'm confused by why it's being changed.

So, first problem is the duration nerf. Originally, Dark Cloak healed for 8s. This was later cut down to 5s, but this was accompanied by an increase in the size of the heal ticks, so that the total heal per cast remained the same, and the heal was just a little more bursty.

But with this duration change from 5s to 3s, there's no accompanying increase in heal strength. It's a straight-up nerf. These are the tooltips that I see on Live vs. PTS, on the exact same character wearing the exact same gear with the exact same food, CP, etc.
Live:

PTS:

The second problem is that I'm not sure the bracing change is really that helpful. Oftentimes, when I'm moving, I'm not bracing. For example, if I'm targeted by Z'Maja's Crushing Darkness, I'm dropping block to kite that and only re-engage block as needed if she casts her heavy attack.

Yes, there are situations where I'm block-moving, e.g., to sidestep and AoE that was just dropped, but in these cases, the movements are generally short, and I'm back to standing still after walking out of the red. I can't think any situations off the top of my head where I'm constantly block-walking. We either make big movements without block, or we do short start-and-stop movements with block.

And there are situations where this change negatively impacts us. For example, if my partner in IA dies, I'll cast Dark Cloak immediately before attempting to rez. Now not only will the heal cover less of that rez duration due to the duration nerf, but I'll also be getting less healing per tick during that time. Sure, this isn't exactly a common scenario, but neither is constant block-walking.

The problem with NB's tank heal toolkit isn't the movement restriction. It's the lack of burst. If you want to cut the duration down to 3s, then do what you did with the 8s->5s cut and give us a bigger ticks (or at least a bigger initial tick).

The final point that I want to make is the reason why I as a NB tank main waited almost two weeks to protest this change, and that's because with subclassing, the few NB tanks that exist in this game have already abandoned Shadow.

@ZOS_Gilliam Tell me why I should take the first option when the second and third options exist?

At the very least, if you're going to axe the duration, then give us something back. Either a bigger initial tick or a lower cost that's more in line with Scythe.

tsaescishoeshiner · July 17

Being able to move seemed like a big buff to me. At least when I tank, I spend more time blocking and moving than I do standing completely still. It depends on the encounter/boss/adds. Still, I think they could come up with a better rework to make it stand up to other health-based heals.

code65536 · July 17

tsaescishoeshiner wrote: »

Being able to move seemed like a big buff to me. At least when I tank, I spend more time blocking and moving than I do standing completely still. It depends on the encounter/boss/adds. Still, I think they could come up with a better rework to make it stand up to other health-based heals.

If we were to ignore the duration change,

Moving without blocking: no change
Blocking while standing still: no change
Blocking while walking: PTS is a buff
Standing still without blocking: PTS is a nerf

In my experience, the vast majority of tanking fall under the two "no change" scenarios.

If I'm block-walking, I'm usually taking only a few steps, usually to side-step an AoE, and then stopping. After all, you do want to hold the boss steady. So I'd get one or two reduced ticks and then back to full ticks.

The movement-vs.-bracing change is, in my view, largely a wash. Arguably a slight buff, but certainly not a buff large enough to justify the huge duration nerf (or to justify the use of Shadow over another class line). If I were to block-walk out of an AoE on Live, I'd get something like 2 small ticks and 3 big ticks (or more realistically, 1 small tick and 4 big ticks--most AoEs can be block-walked out in under a second), but with the changes on PTS, I'd just get 3 big ticks.

robpr · July 17

Would making Dark Cloak a toggle like Invis cloak with constant mag drain be better in this case? Assuming the 150% part would go into the base value and drop the bracing/not moving requirement.

Not sure how to not make it abusable in pvp tho.

code65536 · July 17

robpr wrote: »

Would making Dark Cloak a toggle like Invis cloak with constant mag drain be better in this case? Assuming the 150% part would go into the base value and drop the bracing/not moving requirement.

Not sure how to not make it abusable in pvp tho.

Well, the duration nerf has two implications: It's lower heals per cast, and lower heals per magicka cost, and I think that the latter is a bigger problem than the former. As I said in my earlier post, bringing the cost down to something in line with Scythe would help justify the duration nerf.

madmufffin · July 17

Was this skill ever even a problem? I don't NB tank often, but when I do I rarely feel that it is overwhelming in any capacity, especially since you had to stand still with it active.

YandereGirlfriend · July 17

madmufffin wrote: »

Was this skill ever even a problem? I don't NB tank often, but when I do I rarely feel that it is overwhelming in any capacity, especially since you had to stand still with it active.

People used to complain about Brawlblades in PvP way back in the day. They used Dark Cloak. But that was a respectable playstyle and it was unfortunate when it got nerfed to mandating that the player stand still.

But in its current form. It's absolutely fine. This nerf is completely random and unnecessary. There was no problem to be solved here.

madmufffin · July 17

Brawlblade. A proper pvp build.

Tonturri · July 17

@code65536 Thank for the correction, always get the values mixed up on what's a 1.5x and what's 2.5x. Edited my original post at the top to note that. I just hope that the skill can make tanks feel good about taking it instead of swapping Shadow out for a different skill line, while maybe letting the skill be a little more usable for builds that don't rely on block, too. Having 'move slower/stand still' as a requirement to get the maximum benefit on a heal on a nightblade of all classes always felt bad, especially when nobody else has to deal with an extra requirement. Possible exception being DK, and insofar as I know GDB has somewhat fallen from favor.

gc0018 · July 20

Because nobody is using it, nerf it will cause no complain and show everyone ZOS are working hard.

pinkpom · July 20

They thinks the shadow skill line is a very popular skill line that needs to be nerfed.
Because users of shadow skill line don't complain about shadow skill line.

Hazorix · July 20

Both conditions on Live and PTS are awful in practice. The block condition is bad if you have to res, and the no-moving condition is bad if you have to step out of an AOE. If it's intended to be Nightblades version of a self heal, and they want to separate it's effectiveness in PvE vs PVP, they need to make the condition to simply have a taunt active on a monster. I just don't understand the point in nerfing one of the least used classes for PvE tanking.

code65536 · July 21

Hazorix wrote: »

If it's intended to be Nightblades version of a self heal, and they want to separate it's effectiveness in PvE vs PVP, they need to make the condition to simply have a taunt active on a monster.

Dark Cloak was last changed in 2022, and that was when it gained the movement penalty. This was done as a way to give it some power for PvE tanking without giving it too much power in PvP.

Back then, I had made that exact same suggestion as an alternative way to differentiate between PvE and PvP. The response that I received was that skills like Puncture are used in PvP because they have powerful debuff / buff potential, and when I asked about checking for taunted NPC vs. taunted player, the response was that it would be expensive for the server to check for that kind of thing.

My best guess is that, for this PTS cycle, they decided that instead of checking for movement, it would be better to check for block, since it means that you're actively giving up offensive capability for the heal. And I suspect that ZOS decided that this change was enough of a buff to the skill that it was necessary to extract a penalty in order to not have this change be too strong of a buff, hence the duration reduction.

I think the main point of contention here is whether or not this change is enough of a buff to the skill (as I argued in my earlier post, I believe that it is largely a wash) to warrant the duration reduction.

Kaelthorn_Nightbloom · July 21

3 second duration is way too short to justify the cost.

Hazorix · July 21

code65536 wrote: »

Hazorix wrote: »

If it's intended to be Nightblades version of a self heal, and they want to separate it's effectiveness in PvE vs PVP, they need to make the condition to simply have a taunt active on a monster.

Dark Cloak was last changed in 2022, and that was when it gained the movement penalty. This was done as a way to give it some power for PvE tanking without giving it too much power in PvP.

In light of that, I made that exact same suggestion as an alternative way to differentiate between PvE and PvP. The response that I received was that skills like Puncture are used in PvP because they have powerful debuff / buff potential, and when I asked about checking for taunted NPC vs. taunted player, the response was that it would be expensive for the server to check for that kind of thing.

My best guess is that, for this PTS cycle, they decided that instead of checking for movement, it would be better to check for block, since it means that you're actively giving up offensive capability for the heal. And I suspect that ZOS decided that this change was enough of a buff to the skill that it was necessary to extract a penalty in order to not have this change be too strong of a buff, hence the duration reduction.

I think the main point of contention here is whether or not this change is enough of a buff to the skill (as I argued in my earlier post, I believe that it is largely a wash) to warrant the duration reduction.

There are many dungeon and trial mechanics that already check for an active taunt. That's why the player with the active taunt never gets flare on Yolnahkriin, Soul Split on Zelvraak, Deluge on Taleria, etc. The coding is there. They just need to apply it to the skill.

code65536 · July 21

Hazorix wrote: »

There are many dungeon and trial mechanics that already check for an active taunt. That's why the player with the active taunt never gets flare on Yolnahkriin, Soul Split on Zelvraak, Deluge on Taleria, etc. The coding is there. They just need to apply it to the skill.

That's not the same thing.

Let's say Yolnahkriin is about to target someone with flare. So it checks if Yoln has a taunt effect, and then exclude the source of that taunt effect from the target selection. Easy.

Let's say you cast Dark Cloak. Alright, let's check enemy #1 to see if they have a taunt effect from you. Then enemy #2 if they have a taunt effect from you, etc. If there are 10 enemies in the area and you haven't taunted a single one of them, then the game needs to check every one of those 10 enemies to make sure that they don't have a taunt from you.

See the difference? If you're answering the question, "who has taunt on the boss", you only care about the taunt effect for one enemy. If you're answering the question, "have I taunted anyone?", you now need to check the taunt effect for every enemy, and that is indeed expensive.

(Alright, one way around this is to give the player a buff effect, call it something like "Shadow Has Just Taunted" and grant that buff to the player each time they taunt a non-player enemy. Okay, this will get rid of the scaling problem of answering "have I taunted anyone?", but now you've introduced a whole new tracking effect, just for this one morph of a skill. So my guess is that they won't be thrilled with this idea either.)

SkaraMinoc wrote: »

3 second duration is way too short to justify the cost.

That's the main issue. There can be some quibbling about whether blocking is better than moving or if some other thing like taunt is viable, but the big, giant issue here is that there's a 40% nerf in duration.

YandereGirlfriend · July 21

Honestly, the whole mechanic of trying to kludge this into a PvE tank skill feels weird and misguided. Like, we don't do this with literally any other class heal or even green Vigor. Why is NB coming in for the bizarre niche provisos that are massively limiting even to PvE tanks, the core constituency of this skill?

If it must be done, can we simply not just scale it off of Armor Rating or something as well? You already have to stack Health to get a meaningful potential heal (which, to repeat, does not need to be done for green Vigor...), so we may as well stack another tank-signifier as well.

Vaqual · July 21

Dark Veil is just a horrible passive and needs to be replaced anyway, with all the necessary adjustments to timers.

YandereGirlfriend · July 21

Vaqual wrote: »

Dark Veil is just a horrible passive and needs to be replaced anyway, with all the necessary adjustments to timers.

Indeed.

All of the +duration passives in class skills need to be stripped and added into the skills themselves. Then replace them with something actually unique and useful. They are pure dead weight in every line that they are present in.

Or make them buff things outside of the class toolkit, like DK increases all Flame and Poison DOTs, like an in-class Elf Bane, etc.

Markytous · July 21

I'm sick and tired of this. Grim Focus deals more damage than Ultimates, but Dark Cloak, not only losing its Minor Protection identity to Shadowy Disguise, also gets the heal gutted because how dare a Major Resolve skill do more than tiny direct damage or also get Minor Resolve. Someones gonna sit there and tell me that compared to Hurricane or something Dark Cloak is overpowered. I don't care. Come back when you sign a petition for Grim Focus to get gutted.

With Subclassing and Scribing, Minor/Major Defiling is just a few clicks away. Really have a problem with this skill? Run Snake in the Stars with your Grim Focus and Blast Bones. Happened to me the other night! Thats on Live. Dark Cloak isn't a problem and if it ever is considered a problem its funny how it takes priority over obviously overperforming skills/skill lines.

How about making other Major Resolve buffs actually do something instead? Some players are completely dropping their Major Resolve to engage in delayed burst cringe anyways. Can we actually BUFF Dark Cloak, Ice Fortress, Lightning Form, Spiked Armor, etc.?

Also the Dark Veil passive removal is the icing on the cake. Shadowy Disguise is the real winner here because anyone using invisibility is going to use Grim Focus! Let them have Minor Protection AND Major Savagery/Prophecy for free without adjusting their build at all.

Shoutouts to Ice Fortress users. The real MVPs just cooking with nothing but a long duration. Golly.

ArctosCethlenn · July 22

This'd be a good time to reintroduce a minor purge on disguise and dark cloak, honestly. Shadowy Disguise removes one debuff every 3 seconds while toggled, dark cloak removes three on cast, something like that?

Tonturri · July 22

ArctosCethlenn wrote: »

This'd be a good time to reintroduce a minor purge on disguise and dark cloak, honestly. Shadowy Disguise removes one debuff every 3 seconds while toggled, dark cloak removes three on cast, something like that?

I could go for something like this. I like how the netch has a purge, but if it doesn't purge it increases damage. Kind of a decent way to differentiate btwn PvE and PvP effectiveness since PvE purging is p much always a boss mechanic of some sort and not something you need a super high regen healer to deal with by spamming the Alliance skill line purge.

Gardarik · July 23

Even on my bash NB this skill kind of was meh with 49k. I had to stand still whereas everyone was either kiting away or treating me like a practice target. Bash warden can stay crazily mobile with his bird of prey and polar wind healing the same amount of hp. Why gutting already underperforming in PvP skill - idk, shadow is such a "popular" line following the subclassing change, after all.