Merciless resolve is the most frustrating skill ever

WacArnold · December 2016

Anybody feel this way? I swear I have activated that skill then find myself hitting 4 light attacks only to realize it didn't get activated. I usually give this skill about 90% of my attention in fights just trying to get it active, its a huge distraction and pain in the ass. Then even if I do manage to get it active, dodge roll and shuffle shut that skill down.

And the fact its such a necessary skill for a mageblade sucks so bad. By the time I get my nuke skill even available to work I have been hit by 2 or 3 crystal frags. Which is another point. This is a time skill, and you would think that 20 seconds would be long enough but by the time you hit 4 light attacks because they have all been dodged, and you have broken out of all the cc's, maybe even had to do some healing and what not, then your only going to have a short time left to get it active and set up your combo. But then you finally did it, your skills ready and your combo is set you hit it...... MISSED. Try again ass hole.

I would like to see the 8% be gone and this skill treated like crystal frags, or keep the 8% and make it where you don't have to activate it, it just becomes active after 4 light attacks. Am I right or wrong on this one?

Calboy · December 2016

Agreed. It's ultimately what made me give up on my mnb.

FriedEggSandwich · December 2016

What so you have to take another step after proccing with 4 light attacks just to activate it? Sounds proper clunky. Tbh I always thought it was just 4x LA, and that sounds clunky enough. I've always wondered actually; do they have to be consecutive light attacks or can you weave them?

leepalmer95 · December 2016

It is a bit annoying to get off sometimes, if they dodge the light attack either by rolling or shuffle it doesn't count.

20s isn't a long as people think it is in pvp. Because while it's seems like a long time to get light attacks off this doesn't include the dodges, heal,s rolls, line of sights, you playing defensive etc...

I was hoping they'd increase the timer by like 4-5s so it gives a bit of thinking time on how to use it when you actually have it proc'd.

Also i was hoping that when you use the proc it would count as recasting the skill so it'll cost you resources like usual but it stops the need to you to cast the proc then recast the skill and then get it to proc again.

Pretty sure it would increase the dps on mag/stam nb in pve without actually increasing any toolitp dmg of skills. I believe there both still bottom of both stamina builds and magicka builds in pve dps but i could be wrong.

Izaki · December 2016

Only one change needs to be made to this skill: when you fire off the bow, the buff refreshes. Magicka and stamina NBs are both great in PvE again. Magicka NBs are great in PvP again.

Koolio · December 2016

IzakiBrotheSs wrote: »

Only one change needs to be made to this skill: when you fire off the bow, the buff refreshes. Magicka and stamina NBs are both great in PvE again. Magicka NBs are great in PvP again.

Maybe proc again if it hits the target. Or toggle (nobody wants that). There would have to be a limit.
Plus mine never actually fires when I have one ready. The animation plays but not the arrow and no damage/dodge.

WacArnold · December 2016

Please ZOS re-think this skill

Kram8ion · December 2016

I use it for stam regen and 8% damage haven't used the 4 light attack arrow thing for about a year because it never triggers

nordsavage · December 2016

No. This skill is easy to use once you understand how it works and that you need to properly connect your weapon attacks to enemies. It is easily weaved with weapon attacks on activation, proc and reactivate. Make sure you are activating and firing off the proc before the 20 second timer expires and that you reactivate for the minor berserk. You should also time your proc to be near the end of the 20 seconds to maximize your damage output. A good rotation already factors this in. A great skill should not be ruined because some players have no finesse.

WacArnold · December 2016

nordsavage wrote: »

No. This skill is easy to use once you understand how it works and that you need to properly connect your weapon attacks to enemies. It is easily weaved with weapon attacks on activation, proc and reactivate. Make sure you are activating and firing off the proc before the 20 second timer expires and that you reactivate for the minor berserk. You should also time your proc to be near the end of the 20 seconds to maximize your damage output. A good rotation already factors this in. A great skill should not be ruined because some players have no finesse.

I understand how it works, my point is its a poor skill for pvp compared to other classes high damage skills for example a sorcs crystal frags requires you to look at your sorcs hands. This skill sounds easy enough, but when your being dpsed down or in cc constantly, or going against a stam build this skill is horrible and extremely frustrating. Also do you pvp with mage blade what I suggested would not ruin this skill in anyway only make a good skill in theory more practical.

Paraflex · December 2016

Skills fine clearly people above using it can't be very skilled because it's great for burst damage....leave it the way it is...it's unique and serves a good purpose.

Kram8ion · December 2016

Paraflex wrote: »

Skills fine clearly people above using it can't be very skilled because it's great for burst damage....leave it the way it is...it's unique and serves a good purpose.

Well yeah it's probably fine now idk haven't tried to fire 4 light attacks since 1.5
But your skilled uniqueness is impressive

Bakven · December 2016

The skill is fine. It adds a buff and when you weave properly it's proc'd quite a lot. If you're using DW instead of Destro, just use your Resto staff and weave medium attacks. The great part is that if you activate the skill and it's proc'd you can hold on to it to time your burst and you still have the buff. Even after you use it, you still have the buff. Yes it requires both timing and practice but it's an extremely solid skill that requires you to do something specific to proc it and deal massive damage.

Remember, you're dealing a massive amount of damage so it's not surprising you have to do something specific. Imo it's one of the few things in the game that's actually balanced

ninjaguyman · December 2016

its definitely annoying, especially for me since i play sword and board so I have to get light attacks off at melee range. and then sometimes i get the 4 light attacks but I animation cancel wrong and I cancel the assassin's will proc and have to recast...

as for your suggestions, I don't think I'd want to have a percent chance for assassin's will to proc tbh. that's just a bit unimaginative imo as it would just be crystal frags with a different animation. your suggestion on not even needing to cast merciless is an interesting one though, but that would probably warrant a damage nerf if that change were to happen( or an increase in light attacks needed). I'd just want a few seconds of duration increase of the buff, maybe 25s total and a recast on the skill when you use the proc.

also keep the minor beserk buff as we would wouldn't get it anywhere else unless we slotted combat prayer. well idk about other mag nb's but i dont use it. I guess i could swap my healing ward for combat prayer though. its really only a problem in pve where healer's would be giving you the buff and even then I'd only expect that in a trial setting. could always make it an 8% damage increase on it's own so it stacks.

Adenoma · December 2016

It seems fair to have casting the proc recast the buff. Charge the resources, restart the timer. I think that this would be a significant buff to NBs. More importantly, for more casual players I think this change to mechanics is a lot more intuitive than proc --> recast.

And saying that this is more intuitive and more straightforward isn't catering to casuals. It's making gameplay more fluid and natural.

zuto40 · December 2016

just make it so if the LA is dodge or missed in someway it still counts, its extremely frustrating missing 5 LA's in a row cause shuffle decided to take a few steroids right then

leepalmer95 · December 2016

zuto40 wrote: »

just make it so if the LA is dodge or missed in someway it still counts, its extremely frustrating missing 5 LA's in a row cause shuffle decided to take a few steroids right then

It's annoying even setting up the burst and even more annoying when it's shuffle dodged

SRASinister · December 2016

The only thing that really needs to change is so that fires 100% of the time during the 20s when proc'd because it doesn't it just disappears in my weave a lot of time.

KenCleanAirSystem · December 2016

I use both the stamina and magicka morphs of this with a stam and magblade, respectively, and agree this skill is clunky as hell to use. I seem to get the proc more reliably on my stamblade for some reason, but that may be just because I play him a lot more frequently.

It would be nice if dodged attacks counted for the proc, but in my opinion, the biggest thing wrong with this skill is that it has to be reactivated after using the proc. Firing the spectral arrow should absolutely refresh the buff and reset the counter. Having to recast the skill after firing the bow is stupid and the reason I mainly slot this skill for the 8% damage buff, and the extra stam regen (for stamblade).

Auricle · December 2016

This skill is definitely clunky. I would be psyched if they would make one of two changes: Either make the proc auto-fire after four (or hell, even five) light attacks, or make it auto-renew if you get the proc off. The way it is now, even with a proper rotation and lots of practice, makes the whole class feel unintuitive. I've played every magic class at endgame and, while I love my magNB for lots of reasons, Merciless makes the NB rotation feel the least natural. My opinion, obviously, but I really would like to see this changed.

Artis · December 2016

Yeah the skill could be reworked. Reapplying it when the minor berserk buff is still on feels counter-intuitive. And you can't animation cancel it reliably too, sometimes the arrow is lost or the weapon attack is lost. The animation is too long even though it looks shorts (most of it is static and doesnt' look like anything on the screen, but you still can't attack).

ostrapz · December 2016

If you try to animation cancel it it won't shoot, helps to know

arkansas_ESO · December 2016

FriedEggSandwich wrote: »

What so you have to take another step after proccing with 4 light attacks just to activate it? Sounds proper clunky. Tbh I always thought it was just 4x LA, and that sounds clunky enough. I've always wondered actually; do they have to be consecutive light attacks or can you weave them?

You can weave them, but it doesn't count light attacks that are dodged. Everybody runs a dodge chance skill like Shuffle, and there's really no way to tell if one of your light attacks got dodged (the very subtle dodging animation is easily covered up by every other skill effect), so knowing when Merciless Resolve is procced is kind of a guessing game.

mtwiggz · December 2016

Merciless Resolve is a super broken skill. These needed to be revisited over a year ago when they changed the skill initially. Of course those at ZoS never did anything about it.

Would like to see the skill actually WORK even with it's intended mechanics. As of right now even have 4 LAs it doesn't always fire, or when you hit the button to fire it it will just give you the buff again instead of firing the arrow - even with time left remaining on the skill.

Another bug falls through the cracks... @Wrobel @ZOS_RichLambert

Metemsycosis · December 2016

In pvp I have some luck with this skill but I too use it mostly for 8% damage boost. My trick is to also activate siphoning attacks and top myself off with a couple of resto-heavy attacks, between them a poke or so. When on the defense bar I can keep shields up, apply cripple or whatever, build ultimate, regain resources, and the bow is nearly ready. And yeah, if you don't use this when opponent is cc'd - almost 100% a waste.

ETA: it is buggy though. No denying it.

Bakven · December 2016

One issue I've noticed recently is it'll say/show it's proc'd and when I go to fire, it'll recast it instead and still show as it's ready to fire

bubbygink · December 2016

Not only is it clunky when it's working but it seems so broken to me. I've had all of following happen:

1) I fire the bow and my character does the animation but the bow doesn't actually fire.

2) The icon shows it's proced (shows the purple bow) but when I click the button it just recasts merciless resolve. Sometimes in the heat of combat I don't notice this and I will accidenty recast merciless 2-3 times all while it shows the bow being proced on the UI.

3) I fire the bow and don't recast merciless but then it actually procs again anyway. This is a good one I guess and how I think it should always work (recast on firing the bow) but it's definitely some sorta of bug based on the current intended mechanics.

Others have mentioned my favored change which is recast upon firing the bow. But I think for us console users one big help would be to put a little number counter over the skill icon to indicate how many light attacks have landed. It can often be tough to count because if you're hitting your opponent with a lot of things at once you may not know if it's the light attack or something else that's being shuffle dodged.

Curtdogg47 · December 2016

I use the Stam version for the 8% buff. On boss fights I use the full ability as part of my rotation. It works very nice. PVP it just takes to long to proc.

Lexxypwns · December 2016

The skill is clunky for sure, but just some advice, you don't only have to light attack weave with offensive skills and you can animation cancel a light attack with dodgeroll. My wife and I both play mageblades(she mains one) and I feel like we proc that bow more often than most nbs I play against.

The synergy between this skill and siphoning attacks is one of the absolute best things about NB, you get limitless sustain and the hardest hitting non-ult in the game, all we have to do is light attack before EVERY single skill, even if its healing ward. Unfortunately, it also puts us in a situation where, because of said synergy, a buff to this skill could make it too strong. I think the simplest thing to do is make it auto reactivate after a successful proc.

The dodge issue is a problem I'm still trying to find a work around for, my wife runs resto front bar so she can drop healing ward and stay offensive, this allows a small channel to get your "light" attacks off, its horribly inefficient, but considering you're not bursting anyone without that bow, its actually kinda mandatory when you go up against people using dodge roll a lot. Just keep merciless, meteor, and fear or agony on back bar, GG.

WacArnold · December 2016

I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this subject maybe with a little luck zos will take another look at this skill.

Metemsycosis · December 2016

Lexxypwns wrote: »

The skill is clunky for sure, but just some advice, you don't only have to light attack weave with offensive skills and you can animation cancel a light attack with dodgeroll. My wife and I both play mageblades(she mains one) and I feel like we proc that bow more often than most nbs I play against.

The synergy between this skill and siphoning attacks is one of the absolute best things about NB, you get limitless sustain and the hardest hitting non-ult in the game, all we have to do is light attack before EVERY single skill, even if its healing ward. Unfortunately, it also puts us in a situation where, because of said synergy, a buff to this skill could make it too strong. I think the simplest thing to do is make it auto reactivate after a successful proc.

The dodge issue is a problem I'm still trying to find a work around for, my wife runs resto front bar so she can drop healing ward and stay offensive, this allows a small channel to get your "light" attacks off, its horribly inefficient, but considering you're not bursting anyone without that bow, its actually kinda mandatory when you go up against people using dodge roll a lot. Just keep merciless, meteor, and fear or agony on back bar, GG.

Nice. I'd only add using a frost staff wears down opponents' stamina quickly. Lightning or restoration staff v. Dodge rollers