So.. How Stamblades fare now?

hakan · May 2019

Since i cant play the game nowadays, i wonder how does snb feels now?

Nerfed heavily but also got some neat buffs. So im ignoring all the doomsayers.

Grim focus doesnt seem bad. it looks interesting tho, cant wait to try it out.

What about Incap and Surp. Attack?

Lorkhan · May 2019

Honestly , it feels the same imo. The new fear is way better thou

hakan · May 2019

Lorkhan wrote: »

Honestly , it feels the same imo. The new fear is way better thou

yeah sounds about right. a little less damage output, a little tankiness buffs.

LordTareq · May 2019

From a pvp standpoint: less burst and less overall melee damage but more overall ranged damage. Also noticeably less snares and roots. Not quite sure yet if we are better at surviving this patch.

Surprise Attack is the thing I'm most bothered about, its nerf is quite significant and the 5% armor decrease it now gives is absolutely rubbish, versus most players that is less than 1k armor removed. And we don't have a good alternative to replace it with. I find it really hard to burst through sorcerer shields now, it was hard before but now its almost just an exercise in futility. They can just dance around stacking shields while their pets eat you alive.

Incapacitating Strike nerf is annoying too, but at least there we have good alternatives in DBoS or Onslaught, or even Soul Harvest or Soul Tether.

Deathlord92 · May 2019

Less damage mean useless rogue as rogues all about damage rip stamblade 💀

deepseamk20b14_ESO · May 2019

Not as bad as people are going on about. Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

Losing minor berserk and minor endurance sucks but I find I’m still doing fine with DPS and sustain. Though sustain loss hit harder than the loss of berserk in my opinion as far as PvP goes.

Cloak heal is absolutely terrible.

Shades changeable were good.

I’m okay with incap changes. Personally have sword and board on back bar for major defile now in PvP.

What I will say, is it’s like whoever talked ZoS into the changes favors a tacky brawler style than hard hitting glass cannon. I like brawler style PvP over ganking any day, but they went a tiny bit to far in some respects.

TL/DR: keep playing the class, it’s still good.

red_emu · May 2019

Fare UA? By stamblades? ☠️

russelmmendoza · May 2019

Its so much harder for me now, I main a stamblade for better or worst, I guess I dont use my stamblade the way they want me to use it.

Loss a lot of good thing, didnt get enough to make it as good as it was, its just me.

xXNesTXx · May 2019

So....another class to play rushing with 2H like idiot spamming vigor and rally while dodging? what kind of assassins class is that?

I can still playing PvE (like an assassins, not like a rhino) with my main at least?

Maybe Zeni wants a PvP only with Sorcs, with those infinite shields and their broken pets...

Narvuntien · May 2019

I gave my Gankblade a run in PVP yesterday not as bad as I thought it would be.

Thoughts
The Snipe is a lot smoother to spam now, I felt like I could fire multiple smoothly now. although the low pop helped with lag.
I slotted Camo Hunter over Relentless Focus so I could keep up my Bezerk. Was easy and gives me more WD.
The vulnerability on Ambush amps my damage but if I am not quick on my fear players can easily get out of the way before I can pull off my combo.
Using Mark Target is always a double-edged sword but since it's free now I can just spam it to keep people scared which is fun. A lot of people are using it so I like being able to benefit from others players use of it.

Overall about the same to be honest. I had removed surprise attack earlier when I heard about the PTS changes.

Anyron · May 2019

xXNesTXx wrote: »

So....another class to play rushing with 2H like idiot spamming vigor and rally while dodging? what kind of assassins class is that?

I can still playing PvE (like an assassins, not like a rhino) with my main at least?

Maybe Zeni wants a PvP only with Sorcs, with those infinite shields and their broken pets...

after several nerfs for mainly magicka players they finally fixed stamblade overperforming.
btw sorc got another shield nerf this patch. but i dont seem any sorc crying here on forums

wishlist14 · May 2019

I refuse to play a 2h on my dw/ bow stamblade. Ain't gonna happen. I'd have to rewire my brain. I play 2h on my stamplar but it's different style of play it just doesn't work for my night blade. It's just not her style.

hakan · May 2019

xXNesTXx wrote: »

So....another class to play rushing with 2H like idiot spamming vigor and rally while dodging? what kind of assassins class is that?

I can still playing PvE (like an assassins, not like a rhino) with my main at least?

Maybe Zeni wants a PvP only with Sorcs, with those infinite shields and their broken pets...

that would be rogue. dodging attacks and brawling kind of..

assassin is more like hit and run.

anyway. i wonder the most about is surprise attack since the nerf it got is quite big.

i was thinking of morphing it into concealed weapon on backbar with cloak for speed and using executioner for spammable. i like having lots of choices

xXNesTXx · May 2019

.

Anyron wrote: »

xXNesTXx wrote: »

So....another class to play rushing with 2H like idiot spamming vigor and rally while dodging? what kind of assassins class is that?

I can still playing PvE (like an assassins, not like a rhino) with my main at least?

Maybe Zeni wants a PvP only with Sorcs, with those infinite shields and their broken pets...

after several nerfs for mainly magicka players they finally fixed stamblade overperforming.
btw sorc got another shield nerf this patch. but i dont seem any sorc crying here on forums

Several nerfs? Lmao sorcs still being tanks and Dps at the same time, their pets have more dmg than any NB skill...they not cry, because they not have any reason to cry....but they was crying about NB's cloak during this last 5 years...and probably they still crying about NB after this patch...

xXNesTXx · May 2019

hakan wrote: »

xXNesTXx wrote: »

So....another class to play rushing with 2H like idiot spamming vigor and rally while dodging? what kind of assassins class is that?

I can still playing PvE (like an assassins, not like a rhino) with my main at least?

Maybe Zeni wants a PvP only with Sorcs, with those infinite shields and their broken pets...

that would be rogue. dodging attacks and brawling kind of..

assassin is more like hit and run.

anyway. i wonder the most about is surprise attack since the nerf it got is quite big.

i was thinking of morphing it into concealed weapon on backbar with cloak for speed and using executioner for spammable. i like having lots of choices

No, assassins class is exactly that...hit and run...low armor, no shields, no heals, only a high dmg burst and one chance to flee...and if you are catched, you must be prepared to die...that is the only way to play an assassins class....other ways are simply a standard dps for a frontal (and freaking boring) combats

datgladiatah · May 2019

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Not as bad as people are going on about. Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

Losing minor berserk and minor endurance sucks but I find I’m still doing fine with DPS and sustain. Though sustain loss hit harder than the loss of berserk in my opinion as far as PvP goes.

Cloak heal is absolutely terrible.

Shades changeable were good.

I’m okay with incap changes. Personally have sword and board on back bar for major defile now in PvP.

What I will say, is it’s like whoever talked ZoS into the changes favors a tacky brawler style than hard hitting glass cannon. I like brawler style PvP over ganking any day, but they went a tiny bit to far in some respects.

TL/DR: keep playing the class, it’s still good.

While I feel the same way about glass cannon being fun over a tankier brawler, I think it's more about the antigameplay effect. It isn't fun to get ganked and killed with no counterplay, especially if it seems like it's coming from one class design. I think the changes avoid more toxic gimping that seemed to keep happening with stamblades. In that way I have to agree with their gameplay standpoint

SidraWillowsky · May 2019

Well... I went from 44k on my stamblade pre-Elsweyr to not even 38k post, until yesterday...

I was (and maybe still am) in the "all is lost"camp, but for some reason I'm back at 44k. I added Mark Target to the rotation, but I'd been trying that for the past few days as well. Yesterday I did probably 15 parses on a 3 mil dummy trying different gear setups and different skills (swapping Blade Cloak in for Relentless Focus, trying AY/Twice-Fanged/Deadly Strike, etc) and had managed 40k by adding Blade Cloak and Mark Target to the rotation and removing Focus. One of my guildies added the iron atronauch dummy so I swapped back to my old setup/rotation and had a go. I hit 70k DPS on that and for whatever reason went back to the 3 mil to try again...

...and was back at 44k, using my original rotation + Mark Target. I tried a few different dummies in different guild halls and am now apparently able to consistently hit what I was at pre-Elsweyr. I want to be happy about this but I'm way too apprehensive about the prospect of this being some glitch. Unless the significant DPS drop was purely psychological, which I suppose isn't outside of the realm of possibility.

I worked a lot with my magblade last night too, and she unfortunately didn't show the same improvements.

Royalthought · May 2019

datgladiatah wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Not as bad as people are going on about. Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

Losing minor berserk and minor endurance sucks but I find I’m still doing fine with DPS and sustain. Though sustain loss hit harder than the loss of berserk in my opinion as far as PvP goes.

Cloak heal is absolutely terrible.

Shades changeable were good.

I’m okay with incap changes. Personally have sword and board on back bar for major defile now in PvP.

What I will say, is it’s like whoever talked ZoS into the changes favors a tacky brawler style than hard hitting glass cannon. I like brawler style PvP over ganking any day, but they went a tiny bit to far in some respects.

TL/DR: keep playing the class, it’s still good.

While I feel the same way about glass cannon being fun over a tankier brawler, I think it's more about the antigameplay effect. It isn't fun to get ganked and killed with no counterplay, especially if it seems like it's coming from one class design. I think the changes avoid more toxic gimping that seemed to keep happening with stamblades. In that way I have to agree with their gameplay standpoint

The real question is who's getting ganked and killed with no counterplay?

There are arlready builds that shrug off ganks and kill gankers in seconds. Those builds require high, well timed burst after a hard fought battle to be killed.

At that level nightblades have to already be well built and skilled vs good players to kill.

Nerfing a class for the sake of low resist, pve builds means ruining balance at the high end.

Iskiab · May 2019

Royalthought wrote: »

datgladiatah wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Not as bad as people are going on about. Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

Losing minor berserk and minor endurance sucks but I find I’m still doing fine with DPS and sustain. Though sustain loss hit harder than the loss of berserk in my opinion as far as PvP goes.

Cloak heal is absolutely terrible.

Shades changeable were good.

I’m okay with incap changes. Personally have sword and board on back bar for major defile now in PvP.

What I will say, is it’s like whoever talked ZoS into the changes favors a tacky brawler style than hard hitting glass cannon. I like brawler style PvP over ganking any day, but they went a tiny bit to far in some respects.

TL/DR: keep playing the class, it’s still good.

While I feel the same way about glass cannon being fun over a tankier brawler, I think it's more about the antigameplay effect. It isn't fun to get ganked and killed with no counterplay, especially if it seems like it's coming from one class design. I think the changes avoid more toxic gimping that seemed to keep happening with stamblades. In that way I have to agree with their gameplay standpoint

The real question is who's getting ganked and killed with no counterplay?

There are arlready builds that shrug off ganks and kill gankers in seconds. Those builds require high, well timed burst after a hard fought battle to be killed.

At that level nightblades have to already be well built and skilled vs good players to kill.

Nerfing a class for the sake of low resist, pve builds means ruining balance at the high end.

I’ve been saying this for a while, I main a healer and Stamblades are the least of my worries. The high burst classes are magsorc and stamwarden, Stamblades are only high burst against people who are caught unaware without buffs who rely on proc’d mitigation.

That’s why sorcs hate Stamblades so much, most are glass canon and rely on precasting their shields. So many people are Sorcs on the forums it’s distorted forum perceptions from what’s actually happening in the game.

It’s getting ridiculous, ‘Nightblades OP’ and at the same time people are rerollling and playing their sorcs en mass.

Nostrabar · May 2019

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

So much this.

xXNesTXx · May 2019

I was reading the patch notes...the “only” nerf on Surprise Attack is the Major fracture turned in a 5% debuff? the stun buff and the dmg amount still being the same?

In that case I can still using it....but the rework of Grim focus....omfg...what the hell have Zenimax devs inside of their heads? Air? I've been playing mmo rpgs and mobas during years and this is the first time when I see a dmg buff turned into a defensive buff....in a mainly dps class

Silver_Strider · May 2019

Nostrabar wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

So much this.

I'd argue the difference between Minor Fracture and 5% Armor Pen is too insignificant to really matter in relation to PvE content. Both are negligible in most solo content and are about only 500-800 resistances apart, depending on if Major Fracture is implemented elsewhere. Both have positives and negatives to them (Minor Fracture is meaningless if PotL is in play and the 5% is irrelevant if you're already over penetrating without it). The only place where it would matter is PvP and there, 5% pen will amount to more pen on someone with 27k-28k resistances than Minor Fracture and less on those with lower resistances and considering the current Tank Meta in PvP right now, that 5% is on par with Minor Fracture there.

Besides, Stamplar doesn't need to lose more utility. Giving Stamblade the only real utility Stamplar bring would be salt in the wound for them.

Royalthought · May 2019

Silver_Strider wrote: »

Nostrabar wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

So much this.

I'd argue the difference between Minor Fracture and 5% Armor Pen is too insignificant to really matter in relation to PvE content. Both are negligible in most solo content and are about only 500-800 resistances apart, depending on if Major Fracture is implemented elsewhere. Both have positives and negatives to them (Minor Fracture is meaningless if PotL is in play and the 5% is irrelevant if you're already over penetrating without it). The only place where it would matter is PvP and there, 5% pen will amount to more pen on someone with 27k-28k resistances than Minor Fracture and less on those with lower resistances and considering the current Tank Meta in PvP right now, that 5% is on par with Minor Fracture there.

Besides, Stamplar doesn't need to lose more utility. Giving Stamblade the only real utility Stamplar bring would be salt in the wound for them.

That 5% is only from the sides/back.

That condition is a contradicton to the brawler vs ganker reasoning. Id agree with you if that wasnt the case. (Zos, make your mind up.)

Secondly, salt in the wound for stamplar? Have you noticed everything a nightblade lost on their single target skills, another class has in aoe and range? lol

deepseamk20b14_ESO · May 2019

Royalthought wrote: »

That 5% is only from the sides/back.

That condition is a contradicton to the brawler vs ganker reasoning. Id agree with you if that wasnt the case. (Zos, make your mind up.)

Secondly, salt in the wound for stamplar? Have you noticed everything a nightblade lost on their single target skills, another class has in aoe and range? lol

Exactly what I was going to say. Those this positional stuff is a “fun” idea, it’s bound to not work well in PvP at all.

I’d also like to add, even with a tank meta there are plenty of non tanks that NB simply doesn’t get a benefit from this 5%

And sure, a 500-800 difference isn’t a lot in PvE but every bit counts when trying to get good DPS numbers and considering they also took minor berserk from NB at the same time it’s a bit much.

I won’t argue the fact that surprise attacks original major fracture was overpowered. It was. I also understand there is piercing Mark/reapers mark but that’s not really a good trade off when you then have to take something off the bar just for that. But, I suppose that’s just how the cookie crumbles, sometimes you have to mix it up a bit.

xXNesTXx · May 2019

Iskiab wrote: »

I’ve been saying this for a while, I main a healer and Stamblades are the least of my worries. The high burst classes are magsorc and stamwarden, Stamblades are only high burst against people who are caught unaware without buffs who rely on proc’d mitigation.

That’s why sorcs hate Stamblades so much, most are glass canon and rely on precasting their shields. So many people are Sorcs on the forums it’s distorted forum perceptions from what’s actually happening in the game.

It’s getting ridiculous, ‘Nightblades OP’ and at the same time people are rerollling and playing their sorcs en mass.

Few days ago, A sorc was capturing a flag in Cropsford looking at menu without any shield (you must be idiot to do that because a flag is the best place to be ganked) so I throw him a couple of arrows and when he was almost done, he got a chance to shield and recover himself, so we starts a 1v1 having in mind my low rate of posibilities of victory, but these guy was a terrible sorc and I was killing him when without notice....I die....and my dear sorc starts to tbag me...so I asked him why do that if he can't kill me in 1v1 and he answer me “because you are a bowtard NB”...and was very funny because was another “bowtard NB” of their team who killed me, saving his insolent life...

Royalthought · May 2019

CV

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Royalthought wrote: »

That 5% is only from the sides/back.

That condition is a contradicton to the brawler vs ganker reasoning. Id agree with you if that wasnt the case. (Zos, make your mind up.)

Secondly, salt in the wound for stamplar? Have you noticed everything a nightblade lost on their single target skills, another class has in aoe and range? lol

Exactly what I was going to say. Those this positional stuff is a “fun” idea, it’s bound to not work well in PvP at all.

I’d also like to add, even with a tank meta there are plenty of non tanks that NB simply doesn’t get a benefit from this 5%

And sure, a 500-800 difference isn’t a lot in PvE but every bit counts when trying to get good DPS numbers and considering they also took minor berserk from NB at the same time it’s a bit much.

I won’t argue the fact that surprise attacks original major fracture was overpowered. It was. I also understand there is piercing Mark/reapers mark but that’s not really a good trade off when you then have to take something off the bar just for that. But, I suppose that’s just how the cookie crumbles, sometimes you have to mix it up a bit.

Yea. That positional thing is a bad idea. As if the nerf wasnt bad enough.

As for suprise attack, theres no way id ever claim a single target skill as being overpowered when theres a ranged Aoe skill that does the same thing.

In fact many aoe skills are starting to rival single target as a spammables. Being dodgable and limited to one person warrants higher burst compared to aoe.

russelmmendoza · May 2019

xXNesTXx wrote: »

hakan wrote: »

xXNesTXx wrote: »

So....another class to play rushing with 2H like idiot spamming vigor and rally while dodging? what kind of assassins class is that?

I can still playing PvE (like an assassins, not like a rhino) with my main at least?

Maybe Zeni wants a PvP only with Sorcs, with those infinite shields and their broken pets...

that would be rogue. dodging attacks and brawling kind of..

assassin is more like hit and run.

anyway. i wonder the most about is surprise attack since the nerf it got is quite big.

i was thinking of morphing it into concealed weapon on backbar with cloak for speed and using executioner for spammable. i like having lots of choices

No, assassins class is exactly that...hit and run...low armor, no shields, no heals, only a high dmg burst and one chance to flee...and if you are catched, you must be prepared to die...that is the only way to play an assassins class....other ways are simply a standard dps for a frontal (and freaking boring) combats

This is what I think of when I play my nightblade.

Hit and run, prepare to die when you failed to kill your target in one go.

LordTareq · May 2019

I would go with flee to live and fight another day rather than dying after failing to kill the target in one go.

Silver_Strider · May 2019

Royalthought wrote: »

Silver_Strider wrote: »

Nostrabar wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

So much this.

I'd argue the difference between Minor Fracture and 5% Armor Pen is too insignificant to really matter in relation to PvE content. Both are negligible in most solo content and are about only 500-800 resistances apart, depending on if Major Fracture is implemented elsewhere. Both have positives and negatives to them (Minor Fracture is meaningless if PotL is in play and the 5% is irrelevant if you're already over penetrating without it). The only place where it would matter is PvP and there, 5% pen will amount to more pen on someone with 27k-28k resistances than Minor Fracture and less on those with lower resistances and considering the current Tank Meta in PvP right now, that 5% is on par with Minor Fracture there.

Besides, Stamplar doesn't need to lose more utility. Giving Stamblade the only real utility Stamplar bring would be salt in the wound for them.

That 5% is only from the sides/back.

That condition is a contradicton to the brawler vs ganker reasoning. Id agree with you if that wasnt the case. (Zos, make your mind up.)

Secondly, salt in the wound for stamplar? Have you noticed everything a nightblade lost on their single target skills, another class has in aoe and range? lol

Puncture/Heroic Slash for Brawler.
Surprise Attack for Ganker.
Where is the contradiction?

Grim Focus is the only contradictory skill for NB atm since it can both be used for defensive or offensive purposes so it overlaps both playstyles and although the removal of Minor Berserk makes it lean more towards the Brawler Playstyle, it's still one of the strongest non-Ultimate damage skills in the game.

I main NB. I have a NB of every spec and even I'm not so ignorant to ignore that Stamplar came off worse after the patch as well. Yes, Cleansing Ritual scaling off of Max Stamina is great for them but giving Minor Fracture to NB's spammable would make PotL pretty redundant and without that, what exactly does Stamplar bring to the table to make it relevant? NB lost Major Fracture from Surprise Attack, Minor Berserk/Endurance from Grim Focus and Stun/Defile from Incap. They gained a powerful AoE in Power Extraction, a worthwhile DoT in Shade, Mitigation/Heal plus a longer duration on Grim Focus and got some extra sustain from Incap.

Honestly, you're making a mountain out of a molehill here. The hysteria being thrown around is ludicrous IMHO. Some people don't like the changes, and that's fine, people have differing opinions but trying to make them seem like they've destroyed the class in anyway is just silly when that's far from the truth. The class still plays fine (bugged Crippling Blast and Teleport Shade notwithstanding), and the sooner people drop the Doom and Gloom act, the sooner they can adapt to the changes and see all the good things NB got this patch so that ZOS can actually try to help out the other classes a bit more.

evoniee · May 2019

i am as a stamnb, duel 2 different ep stamnb grand overlord in cyro. @Sarkari (if im not wrong) with 2h bow and another one that i forget the name with SnB 2H.
guess what?

duel last like 10 mins, no kill. basically no one deal damage to kill even the same class.
less damage(major fracture + minor berserk) + no finishing moves (incap stun) + less pressure (major defile, minor endurance) = dead class.

my other duel with stamdk and stamsorc too, always ended like 10 mins, sometimes i win sometimes i lose.

but, guess what? magdk get the same kit like nb last patch with the leap + whip finishing move (stun + massive damage).
zos clearly dont know what they are doing.

Royalthought · May 2019

Silver_Strider wrote: »

Royalthought wrote: »

Silver_Strider wrote: »

Nostrabar wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

Surprise attack should get minor fracture not this 5% crap.

So much this.

I'd argue the difference between Minor Fracture and 5% Armor Pen is too insignificant to really matter in relation to PvE content. Both are negligible in most solo content and are about only 500-800 resistances apart, depending on if Major Fracture is implemented elsewhere. Both have positives and negatives to them (Minor Fracture is meaningless if PotL is in play and the 5% is irrelevant if you're already over penetrating without it). The only place where it would matter is PvP and there, 5% pen will amount to more pen on someone with 27k-28k resistances than Minor Fracture and less on those with lower resistances and considering the current Tank Meta in PvP right now, that 5% is on par with Minor Fracture there.

Besides, Stamplar doesn't need to lose more utility. Giving Stamblade the only real utility Stamplar bring would be salt in the wound for them.

That 5% is only from the sides/back.

That condition is a contradicton to the brawler vs ganker reasoning. Id agree with you if that wasnt the case. (Zos, make your mind up.)

Secondly, salt in the wound for stamplar? Have you noticed everything a nightblade lost on their single target skills, another class has in aoe and range? lol

Puncture/Heroic Slash for Brawler.
Surprise Attack for Ganker.
Where is the contradiction?

Grim Focus is the only contradictory skill for NB atm since it can both be used for defensive or offensive purposes so it overlaps both playstyles and although the removal of Minor Berserk makes it lean more towards the Brawler Playstyle, it's still one of the strongest non-Ultimate damage skills in the game.

I main NB. I have a NB of every spec and even I'm not so ignorant to ignore that Stamplar came off worse after the patch as well. Yes, Cleansing Ritual scaling off of Max Stamina is great for them but giving Minor Fracture to NB's spammable would make PotL pretty redundant and without that, what exactly does Stamplar bring to the table to make it relevant? NB lost Major Fracture from Surprise Attack, Minor Berserk/Endurance from Grim Focus and Stun/Defile from Incap. They gained a powerful AoE in Power Extraction, a worthwhile DoT in Shade, Mitigation/Heal plus a longer duration on Grim Focus and got some extra sustain from Incap.

Honestly, you're making a mountain out of a molehill here. The hysteria being thrown around is ludicrous IMHO. Some people don't like the changes, and that's fine, people have differing opinions but trying to make them seem like they've destroyed the class in anyway is just silly when that's far from the truth. The class still plays fine (bugged Crippling Blast and Teleport Shade notwithstanding), and the sooner people drop the Doom and Gloom act, the sooner they can adapt to the changes and see all the good things NB got this patch so that ZOS can actually try to help out the other classes a bit more.

The nerfs can be viewed as promoting a brawler playstyle as opposed to a ganker playstyle.

Yet the suprise attack penetration requires nightblades to attack from the sides and/or behind is contradictory.

What on earth are you ranting about?