A critical flaw with new NB skill grim focus in PvP

Wahee · January 2015

Re-post to the PTS forum...

Grim focus replaces haste and procs a large hit (bigger than snipe) after 8 light or heavy attacks.

There is a huge problem with this skill in pvp though. Light/heavy attacks against enemies that use damage shields do not count towards the 8 count if they do not break the shield and land actual damage. I spent several hours dueling and against opponents that stack shields i was unable to ever get grim focus to proc over the course of a 1-2 minute fight. In my hours of dueling I never once got grim focus to proc against any opponent that used a damage shield, and I was intentionally trying to get it to proc.

Shields are extremely popular in pvp and light attacks will almost never do enough damage to drop the shield and cause any damage. You might get a few actual damaging hits in, but not 8 in the 20 second time window.

TLDR: Grim focus is worthless in PvP against anyone using a damage shield, which is almost everyone.

Shuichi · January 2015

I absolutely agree, and half of the time I'm not even sure if I should reapply Grim Focus or try and get the proc, this skill is very poorly thought out and I'm still forced to use it for stamina regeneration.

DDuke · January 2015

Shuichi wrote: »

I absolutely agree, and half of the time I'm not even sure if I should reapply Grim Focus or try and get the proc, this skill is very poorly thought out and I'm still forced to use it for stamina regeneration.

I think the skill is ok. It could use a slightly longer duration, but otherwise it's ok.

What isn't ok however, is how dmg shields work at the moment.

No weapon procs, no crits, no Minor Heroism, Grim Focus not working on them, stackable, more cost effective than damaging abilities, spammable...

Valnas · January 2015

nm redundant.

Helluin · January 2015

Longer duration or less hits would be better.
For PvP is not the best for the reasons you wrote here.

I'd improve also the graphic effect and animation.

TheBucket · January 2015

Man. Damage shields are destroying things atm. There has to be a solution

c0rp · January 2015

The skill is terrible. From the moment I read it I knew this.

heystreethawk · January 2015

Yeah - I'm primarily a PvPer, and I wish it was more viable in Cyrodiil. Maybe it will be, down the road; we don't know what will change between now and live. Nonetheless! I did a few Craglorn quests for the first time on 1.6 today, and I found a good use for Grim Focus there.

In the most recent iterations of my build, I've been making use of Siphoning Strikes to replenish my resources. It's been tough to keep my damage up with it, though, in 1.5. But here's what I've been doing in my limited 1.6 PvE experience, which seems like a good balance:

Toggle SS when I'm low on resources. Pop off a sap. Pop a bone shield. Toggle grim focus. Drop block and whack or zap x8. Toggle off SS. Ambush or entropy. Special bow thing.

Boom! Light attack pseudo-downtime that I would have gone through anyway, to replenish my pools, but with a special bow thing at the end. Not too shabby.

Edit: it occurs to me I should do entropy right before the light attacks too, but I'm not going to pretend I figured that out before now

Orihara_Izaya · January 2015

I totally agree with you this skill needs a rework, it looks cool on paper and may work in PvE. But in PvP it's still just as useless. They need to reduce the charges, and allow it to work with barriers cause right now it doesn't deserve a slot on your bar.

franka38rwb17_ESO · January 2015

Same deal for many things - Critical Surge heals for example.

bosmern_ESO · January 2015

Stacking shields shouldn't even be a thing, it should be 1 shield at a time, whatever gives the largest take priority