Melandru's Arrows: possible buff ideas

WhiteAsIce

WhiteAsIce

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2008

R/

Looking at Melandru's Arrows, it seems like a greatly inferior mix of Glass Arrows and Barbed Arrows. There is definitely room for improvement. Going by the theme of the skill's name, it should punish foes affected by an enchantment and possibly a hex.

Changes to implement:
1) Increase duration to 24 seconds
2) Increasre energy cost to 10
3) Arrows deal +1..8..10 damage unconditionally
(keep the Bleeding part)

Against enchanted or hexed foes, your arrows:
A) Deal +7..16..18 damage
B) Are unblockable
C) Cause 1..2..3 energy loss

I think it may be overpowered in PvP if it had all three of the latter changes, so it should have one or two of the three changes I listed. (C) can be particular unfair in PvP if combined with the others, so that could stand on its own, while (A) and (B) can possibly go together.

Marty Silverblade

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

From a PvE point of view, you might as well give all 3 of those bonuses. It'll help Rangers be useful. Energy loss is basically useless though, maybe increase the +damage instead or give it some other effect. Maybe even scale the +damage according to how many hexes/enchants the foe has.

WhiteAsIce

WhiteAsIce

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2008

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade View Post
From a PvE point of view, you might as well give all 3 of those bonuses. It'll help Rangers be useful. Energy loss is basically useless though, maybe increase the +damage instead or give it some other effect. Maybe even scale the +damage according to how many hexes/enchants the foe has.
The energy loss part, I took it from Deb Shot. I'm going to decrease the numbers to make that part fair.
The current +damage for MA is +8...24 on enchanted foes. I simply split it so that part of the damage is unconditional, while the bonus is the same.
+damage for each enchantment or hex? That can be insanely powerful, especially in hex-heavy teams.

Eragon Zarroc

Eragon Zarroc

Atra estern?? ono thelduin

Join Date: Jan 2008

Madness Incarnate

[Duo]

W/P

that is an awful lot of bonuses you get against hexed/enchanted foes. prolly just pick one of em. each is powerful in it's own right, especially in pvp. 3 energy loss every hit would be too much. the unblockable, maybe. the most useful one in pve though would be the +dmg against hexed/enchanted foes.

Olle

Olle

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Aug 2008

Ign: Miniature Julia

Teh Academy[PhD]

W/

Since its melandru, and we got the avatar making you get no conditions, make it each attack "shoots" 1...2 conditions to target..

Divine Ashes

Divine Ashes

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2006

Chicago

LFG

R/

I always thought Melandru's Arrows was fine. I use it as my elite when I'm running discordway. Easy low upkeep spammable condition. Combine that with Asuran scan and you got a good set up for Discord.

Xsiriss

Xsiriss

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2008

I personally wouldn't mind seeing it turn into a sort of IA but with bleeding and + damage.


But yeah as a preparation it should be at least 24 seconds long. In theme with the natural/melandru thang work against. That's probably enough of a buff actually, that and keeping it at 5e. Coolies.

Morphy

Morphy

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2009

The Netherlands

Not going to keep up with that anymore

R/

Barbed Arrows is overpowered and needs a nerf, powercreeping Mel Arroos can only end in tears.

ac1inferno

ac1inferno

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

Boston

We D Shot Your Stances [GODS]

A/W

[[Melandru's Arrows] could use a buff. When compared to [[Glass Arrows], it just isn't as good. The advantages aren't that good. Unconditional bleeding doesn't help that much and while it does provide higher bonus damage, it is only against enchanted foes, which could very well mean all ready protted.

I like your ideas and for me it would be the combination of:

- last 24 seconds
- Deal +1..8 damage unconditionally
- Unblockable by enchanted or hexed foes

Marty Silverblade

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by WhiteAsIce View Post
+damage for each enchantment or hex? That can be insanely powerful, especially in hex-heavy teams.
I didn't necessarily mean +8..16 damage. Numbers can be tweaked. The point behind the suggestion was to try and find a niche for Rangers to deal decent damage in. Besides, you don't generally stack that many hexes onto a foe anyway. There is usually a key hex or two, like MoP and perhaps AP, but hex stacking isn't really PvE-meta.

Tenebrae

Tenebrae

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Spain

LHV

R/N

18 sec is enough. I would change it to make an easy condition to met and a good bonus one for the enchanted/hexed part , something like :
MArrows [E] preparation 5e , 2 , 12sec
- Your arrows deal +5 ... 15 damage against Enchanted/Hexed foes. If foe has a condition too , your bow skills hit for +5 ...15 damage.

Compared to glass arrows ..... expertise , easy to max ( unlike Wildernesss pfff , who has WS 15 lol ? ) uncondt max damage +20 ( yeah , MA would have 30 but needs 2 condt and second is only on bow skills , not infinite energy ) effect if blocked ,( MA would have none ), and its duration is almost double ( 35 vs 18 ).

Amy Awien

Amy Awien

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

R/

It has to move out of Wilderness Survival and into Marksmanship or Expertise. It's just not good enough to (a) use the elite and (b) warrant spending points into WS. Glass Arrows is more effective, not because of it's bonus damage but because it is in Expertise and that leaves more options open.

Xsiriss

Xsiriss

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2008

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenebrae View Post
18 sec is enough. I would change it to make an easy condition to met and a good bonus one for the enchanted/hexed part , something like :
MArrows [E] preparation 5e , 2 , 12sec
- Your arrows deal +5 ... 15 damage against Enchanted/Hexed foes. If foe has a condition too , your bow skills hit for +5 ...15 damage.

That use to be scavenger's niche, hitting for +damage against conditioned foes. They then scrapped it, with reason. It has to be 24 seconds long because it's elite for god's sake, that's one of its biggest weakness'.

Tenebrae

Tenebrae

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Spain

LHV

R/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xsiriss View Post
That use to be scavenger's niche, hitting for +damage against conditioned foes. They then scrapped it, with reason.
No, you cant mantain scavenger but you can mantain mel arrows. Scavenger is a skill so allows a prep , this one doesnt.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Xsiriss View Post
t has to be 24 seconds long because it's elite for god's sake, that's one of its biggest weakness'.
6 seconds is a big weakness ? i dont think so . The other reasons why glass arrows is superior are far more important than those 6 sec imo.

It shouldnt be moved to marks or exp , meladru resilence is also in WS , both belong there. I dont think a change is coming but bleh , why not imagine.

Amy Awien

Amy Awien

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

R/

I share your 'feeling' on Melandru and Wilderness Survival, but Melandru's Shot is in Marksmanship and Melandru's Assault in Beastmastery... MA in WS consumes the third attribute line, and rules out Beastmastery and Conjures - which can be combined with Glass Arrows - and there's not much else in WS for a damage oriented build (which is why you'd pick MA).

Melandru's skills used to have a link with 'enchantments', maybe something completely different, make it a skill and have it remove enchantment (for x arrows) from foes.

Btw, I assume you meant arrows for the part with foes suffering from a conditions, not skills. Though restricting it to bowskills could make for an interesting way to tone it down, if so desired; Your next 1...9 bowskills ....

distilledwill

distilledwill

Forge Runner

Join Date: Sep 2006

Blighty

The Legion of the Blue Blade

R/Mo

I like the idea of removing energy. Perhaps something like -1 with each attack (whilst suffering from a hex) or -4 with each attack skill (whilst suffering from a hex). Then put in the +damage and I think its a fairly good skill, its balanced (from what I can see - it can be negated with all the normal physical counters and also from decent hex removal).

headlesshobbs

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Apr 2006

I was giving thought on interrupting spells if foe was suffering from a condition. This would make a hell of a fun skill against casters.

Amy Awien

Amy Awien

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

R/

Mhh, that'd be strong. The functional equivalent requires two skills - {Practiced Stance} +Choking Gas - to be maintainable. That one is AoE though.

Jade Zephyr

Jade Zephyr

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

GWFC

Nerf RC and WoH to appropriate levels and it will be fine.

WhiteAsIce

WhiteAsIce

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2008

R/

Well, consider that Mel's Arrows is in the WS line. Incendiary Arrows is in the WS line, and it's still good, but it just requires heavy speccing into WS. Since Mel's Arrows is a WS elite, it needs to be so good that it becomes worth it to spec into WS. Also consider that means any profession would be able to use it, which is why I said to increase the energy cost to 10 to discourage other professions from using it.

Tenebrae

Tenebrae

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2007

Spain

LHV

R/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Amy Awien View Post
Btw, I assume you meant arrows for the part with foes suffering from a conditions, not skills. Though restricting it to bowskills could make for an interesting way to tone it down, if so desired; Your next 1...9 bowskills ....
Nope , i meant Bow Skills. As you said , its to prevent abusing from fast recharging bowskills with low cost and good damage ( we all know them ). Since you have no energy management skill available ( prep shot is elite and exp focus is a prep ) you cant spam them like hell but yep , using a number as a limit works too ( in case someone takes BR on a N hero just to spam bowskills lol ).
Needling doing +30 ( in my MArrows version max bonus ), +7..10 ( from Ebsoh ) and 26..30 ( regular marks invest ) + Asuran scan bonus ( just in case ) would be a little too much.