here's the tooltip:
Arm yourself with Meridia's sacred sword and dispense her retribution, dealing 1029 Physical Damage to enemies in front of you and an additional 1191 Physical Damage over 5 seconds.
i used to always wonder the same exact thing...
hands down - i've had more dawnbreakers show up on my death recap over the years more than any other ultimate...really sucks if your a vamp or transformed werewolf and the person hitting you has the "skilled tracker" passive...