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Two Sides to Smoke Bomb [PvP]

rustlordrustlord Member Posts: 1,454 Arc User
edited January 2017 in The Thieves' Den
It's been exactly two days since I went about running Shocking Execution. I know. I know. I just upgraded my new weapons and it's just begging to be used! But it's only been two days and I'm already getting a lot of grief. Bugs, exploits, what have you. So in perspective, I just wanted to put some information out there for maybe half of the player base who doesn't really understand how the TR meta works in PvP.

Case in point, we got a Smoke Bomb + Shocking Execution + Shadow of Demise interaction.

You might call this is a bug because you don't really get how it works. So I'd like to explain what I've observed in bite-sized pieces.

Exhibit A: If you're a PvP'r you must already know that Smoke Bomb has a built-in delay. Means when the TR drops Smoke Bomb, the animation kicks in first and the damage, and all of its effects, activate only on the first tick, 1~1.5 sec after. It's a terrible feature because once you drop it, the target hears the audio queue and is able to dodge out of it before being dazed. It only consumes/procs buffs on the first tick too.

Exhibit B: During this delay mentioned in Exhibit A you get to keep your First Strike buff. The moment you hit Stealth, you have Shadowborn for less than 1 second before it's wasted by the first tick of Smoke Bomb. That's when you hit Shocking Execution so it will, instead, benefit from your one-off buffs.

Exhibit C: Shocking Execution has a long animation and audio queue, so it's pretty dodgeable if the target has dodge. But that long cast time is also a part of this tricky bit. As you cast the daily in mid-air, the initial tick of Smoke Bomb will now hit. Yes, one second has passed. Let's see where we're at: In stealth, check; Encounter power hit, check. All conditions a GO, we have Shadow of Demise. In the remaining milliseconds of your cast, you finally land your hit and 6 seconds later, another big hit from SoD.

Where, in all of this, was there a bug? If you ask me nowhere, it's a bit overpowered yeah. But if you put it along side the meta with HR, GF in PvP, and insignias-- You might begin to understand it's a necessary evil.

TLDR

My suggestion after the fact, if you want this power interaction gone, all you do is remove the built-in delay from Smoke Bomb. Not only will this improve QoL on your victims, but it will bring back some form of competitive gameplay to the TR class-- where you can reliably daze and hit targets with your melee power and at wills. Complement this with increased base damage across the board.

That's about it. Don't mean to step on toes if I did. Comments, thoughts, feel free.
Post edited by rustlord on

Comments

  • demonmongerdemonmonger Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 3,350 Arc User
    Instant daze and attacks from smoke bomb are more than welcome on my end.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
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  • blur#5900 blur Member Posts: 490 Arc User
    Smoke bomb stun delay is annoying in PVE as well, in CN for example first grp of mobs, Glabrezu likes to ohko me bcs stun didnt activate yet, unless i dodge.
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  • zarark6zarark6 Member Posts: 6 Arc User
    That's only one scenario where you see it being useful. Not every Tr is one shot build, not all tr's are executioner. You cant count on one scenario to win you a pvp. If you miss the shocking, you have to run and fill up your ap to use it the same way again. Which is also a waste of time.
  • rustlordrustlord Member Posts: 1,454 Arc User
    edited January 2017
    zarark6 said:

    That's only one scenario where you see it being useful. Not every Tr is one shot build, not all tr's are executioner. You cant count on one scenario to win you a pvp. If you miss the shocking, you have to run and fill up your ap to use it the same way again. Which is also a waste of time.

    It's plenty useful if you just want to set up an SoD. Kinda works well with a piercing bloodbath wk build I tried to run at some point, but went nah cus bloody insignias. It still irritates me to see TRs play hit'n'run while can't keep/take a node for HAMSTER. You can't one shot everyone, even in my case (check sig) I can't. But I sure as heck can spit a daily 3~4 a minute and be such a TR in between. Tells you much about the cheese in this game huh?
  • sweatapodimassweatapodimas Member Posts: 257 Arc User
    edited January 2017
    I concur with Rustlord :D

    This build is just another role, i.e. anti-tank. With the new set I can hit with 200k+ at the start of the match to kill DC/GWF/SW/Hr (non-fox's cunning). High recovery/AP spammeister can take care of CW/TR/GF/HR. It's about roles on the team. If you dare to think different in pvp you get grief.

    BTW ExecTR can easily switch out for high ArP/Recovery (axebeak/snail/tenser's...lesser versions of each...whatever) and actually do some damage sans first strike. I usually don't bother unless in a serious match where 2v1 on blue node, and I need to get a kill, or 1v1 after a gg.

    I agree also that if they fix the FS/SoD/SE interaction (or SE in general) then they need to buff that tree somehow. I welcome that. I'm just stubborn and hate playing that other build (I have the mount/enchants to switch at anytime, I just won't give in).
    "Jazz isn't dead, it just smells funny" - Frank Zappa
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