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Traveling Knife cost
Someone_Unknown
Soul Shriven
NOT IMPORTANT PART:
I really would like to thank the ZoS team on behalf of every warden enjoyer for reanimating the warden and making it a strong DPS option after several years of indisputable weakness.
After the introduction of the Shattered Paths Signet mythic and several reworks of the warden passives, its damage is truly impressive nowadays.
On top of that, the upcoming changes to the Aerie's Cry set make it one of the strongest sets for damage dealers.
IMPORTANT PART:
It seems that, according to the upcoming warden meta, the spammable of choice will be Chilling Knife. I wouldn't like to complain about its damage or its ability to increase ailment proc chances — those are genuinely great.
The only concern is its steep cost of 3,500 Magicka. I understand that from a developer's/balancer's perspective, anyone choosing to play a Magicka spec is expected to face certain trade-offs. However, in comparison, Stamina spec characters playing any Traveling Knife stamina-based morph benefit from the default cost reduction applied to Stamina-based skills, as well as from the Controlled Fury passive — which does not apply to the Magicka morphs of Traveling Knife (I know this is clearly specified in the description and works as intended). Wearing 7 Medium Armor pieces — which is also the most meta-friendly setup — reduces the cost to an acceptable 2,800 Stamina.
At the same time, the only option for a Magicka-based character is to wear up to 7 Light Armor pieces (which is an anti-meta choice) to reduce the base cost from 3,500 to just 3,300 Magicka — roughly as expensive as Pulsar or other notoriously costly Magicka spammables, which are typically reserved for niche setups or very short fights. From a personal (and admittedly subjective) standpoint, sustaining a rotation that includes Chilling Knife as a spammable is only barely feasible while wearing at least 5 Light Armor pieces and maintaining Blue Betty uptime without interruption.
PROPOSED SOLUTION:
I think it would be fair and balanced to extend the Controlled Fury passive to benefit both morphs. Mathematically, even after this change the cost would still be somewhat high for a spammable, and wardens would likely still need to run 2–3 Light Armor pieces — but Chilling Knife-based rotations would at least become viable in actual content, rather than only on the parse dummy where you can hit 190–195k in sterile conditions with a full suite of sustain passives. Even on the parse dummy, sustain is a constant struggle — you find yourself watching the potion cooldown and hoping it comes back up as soon as possible.
I really would like to thank the ZoS team on behalf of every warden enjoyer for reanimating the warden and making it a strong DPS option after several years of indisputable weakness.
After the introduction of the Shattered Paths Signet mythic and several reworks of the warden passives, its damage is truly impressive nowadays.
On top of that, the upcoming changes to the Aerie's Cry set make it one of the strongest sets for damage dealers.
IMPORTANT PART:
It seems that, according to the upcoming warden meta, the spammable of choice will be Chilling Knife. I wouldn't like to complain about its damage or its ability to increase ailment proc chances — those are genuinely great.
The only concern is its steep cost of 3,500 Magicka. I understand that from a developer's/balancer's perspective, anyone choosing to play a Magicka spec is expected to face certain trade-offs. However, in comparison, Stamina spec characters playing any Traveling Knife stamina-based morph benefit from the default cost reduction applied to Stamina-based skills, as well as from the Controlled Fury passive — which does not apply to the Magicka morphs of Traveling Knife (I know this is clearly specified in the description and works as intended). Wearing 7 Medium Armor pieces — which is also the most meta-friendly setup — reduces the cost to an acceptable 2,800 Stamina.
At the same time, the only option for a Magicka-based character is to wear up to 7 Light Armor pieces (which is an anti-meta choice) to reduce the base cost from 3,500 to just 3,300 Magicka — roughly as expensive as Pulsar or other notoriously costly Magicka spammables, which are typically reserved for niche setups or very short fights. From a personal (and admittedly subjective) standpoint, sustaining a rotation that includes Chilling Knife as a spammable is only barely feasible while wearing at least 5 Light Armor pieces and maintaining Blue Betty uptime without interruption.
PROPOSED SOLUTION:
I think it would be fair and balanced to extend the Controlled Fury passive to benefit both morphs. Mathematically, even after this change the cost would still be somewhat high for a spammable, and wardens would likely still need to run 2–3 Light Armor pieces — but Chilling Knife-based rotations would at least become viable in actual content, rather than only on the parse dummy where you can hit 190–195k in sterile conditions with a full suite of sustain passives. Even on the parse dummy, sustain is a constant struggle — you find yourself watching the potion cooldown and hoping it comes back up as soon as possible.
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