New ganker strat - spamming Surprise Attack

CaffeinatedMayhem

What am I missing with this? Every ganker in IC has been spamming Surprise Attack, even magblades. Interestingly enough, Raidant Magelight doesn't prevent their stuns from stealth and I'm being stunned immediately after breaking free from the stun on Surprise Attack. Is that it? Infinite stun without cooldown? It's effective, but seems... off.

tsaescishoeshiner

Radiant Magelight won't stop it because the skill stuns when flanking. It's not a sneak attack

The multistun thing just sounds like latency tho. I've been getting it from other stuns, especially when trying to cast ultimates with cast times

CaffeinatedMayhem

I wasn't implying Radiant would stop the stun from Surprise Attack, but it's not always blocking the stun from stealth either.

There's something wrong with CC immunity/break free. I need to break free about 3x from fossilze to actually be able to move (once to break stun, once to stand up, and again to move) It's latency, but then it's also everywhere in the game, including when I'm soloing dungeons.

ealdwin

As others have stated, something seems off with CC immunity and break free. I've noticed an increase in the times when I cannot seem to break free or move my character in BGs. It also seems to be affecting knockbacks where immediately after getting up I can get knocked back again. It's made dealing with bowblades expecially fun.

As far as surprise attack, I would assume it has to do with the Stuhns set, since it can cause Off Balance, proccing the 5th piece bonus. For reference:

(5 items) When you deal damage to an enemy who is Off Balance, your Physical and Spell Penetration is increased by 5312 for 10 seconds.

Though I have no clue why Magblades would use that morph over Surprise Attack.

CaffeinatedMayhem

ealdwin wrote: »

surprise attack, I would assume it has to do with the Stuhns set, since it can cause Off Balance, proccing the 5th piece bonus. For reference:

(5 items) When you deal damage to an enemy who is Off Balance, your Physical and Spell Penetration is increased by 5312 for 10 seconds.

Though I have no clue why Magblades would use that morph over Surprise Attack.

I use Stuhn's on my templar, and there's no reason to spam your off-balance skill repeatedly. Toppling Charge once every 10 seconds is plenty to have 100% uptime on Stuhn's. I think there's something else going on.

nesakinter

It is a *spammable*, duh... in fact one of the best ones in the game. It is meant to be spammed.

Stahlor

...new non ganker strat, spamming carve and executioner?

ClawOfTheTwoMoons

Detect pots are your friend. Use them when approaching doors and watch the nightblade squirm.

CaffeinatedMayhem

ClawOfTheTwoMoons wrote: »

Detect pots are your friend. Use them when approaching doors and watch the nightblade squirm.

Not anymore. Surprise attack stuns from flank so they’ll attack you with magelight on.

MashmalloMan

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

ClawOfTheTwoMoons wrote: »

Detect pots are your friend. Use them when approaching doors and watch the nightblade squirm.

Not anymore. Surprise attack stuns from flank so they’ll attack you with magelight on.

Doesn't that make them more of a brawler than a ganker?

If they don't gtfo after their burst and have time to spam you with a detect pot on, they're probably not using ganking build to begin with.

But idk, I don't play Cyro and Hurricane pulls the NB's out for me.

CaffeinatedMayhem

I think I figured this out... NBs must be wearing Sheer Venom. I put my stamden in Sheer Venom last night and found myself spaming spin to win far more often than necessary, just to make sure the poison was applied. The green is hard to see in the sewers, and I don't think it shows up in death recap.

katorga

Surprise Attack is a spammable, so it makes sense to spam it.

That said, ZOS made a big todo about removing CC from spammables like Crystal Frags, Dizzy, etc., then turned around and put CC on a spammable.

catnamedwill

CaffeinatedMayhem wrote: »

I think I figured this out... NBs must be wearing Sheer Venom. I put my stamden in Sheer Venom last night and found myself spaming spin to win far more often than necessary, just to make sure the poison was applied. The green is hard to see in the sewers, and I don't think it shows up in death recap.

Sheer Venom is procced by executes and Surprise Attack ain't one so it does not proc Sheer Venom. In fact, NBs using Sheer Venom generally proc it with Poison Injection.

Surprise Attack is spammed because it is a spammable. Most NBs dont use executes like Executioner or Killer's Blade so unless Ultimate or bow proc is up, it is their go to damage skill.

CaffeinatedMayhem

catnamedwill wrote: »

rise Attack ain't one so it does not proc Sheer Venom. In fact, NBs using Sheer Venom generally proc it with Poison Injection.

Surprise Attack is spammed because it is a spammable. Most NBs dont use executes like Executioner or Killer's Blade so unless Ultimate or bow proc is up, it is their go to damage skill.

Which is funny because until Update 27 most NBs hit me with Lethal Arrow a few times from stealth.