I’ve long been an enjoyer of the Deadshot talent for veteran, which expends 8% stamina per second and 4% stamina per shot. However, in Darktide, stamina regenerates at a flat rate, so any sort of +stamina boost (perks, blessings, talents, or weapons with larger base stamina pools) causes the bar to take longer to fill. Because stamina regens at a flat rate but Deadshot uses a percentage, this causes an inverse relationship with the effectiveness of Deadshot, where taking bonus stamina with a talent that uses stamina as a resource actually makes the talent less effective, which is counterintuitive.
I’ve ignored this issue for a long time, but with the recent talent trees update, the only way to access the lower-middle tree is to go through a +stamina node. Deadshot can be made more intuitive and consistent between weapons by simply changing it to use a flat value instead of a percentage, thereby making +stamina boosts an actual boon instead of a hindrance.
Self-bumping here for visibility, just because I find it intensely annoying that I have to go through a +stamina node to access the center tree, thereby reducing deadshot’s effectiveness. Why is something that is meant to be a buff to my build actually a nerf instead?
Seriously though it makes no sense that it’s percentage based. It should benefit from taking something that increases your stamina, not penalize you for it.
I hope this can be part of the vet rework.
Oh and there should be a floor to the +20% damage at 8m one… something like +2.5% at 1m, 5% at 2m, 10% at 4m, and 20% at 8m+. So it’s not completely useless most of the time, but still preserves the idea of shooting from afar.
In light of the new talent tree changes I also think they should consider removing the constant stamina drain while in ADS and only prevent stamina from regenerating while aiming. Deadshot sells itself as the “super sniper” talent because it boosts stability and accuracy, but at the same time it doesn’t synergize at all with other “sniper” abilities like Surgical because you have to hold the weapon in ADS to charge the weapon blessing and you lose stamina the whole time before you can spend it by shooting.
Because of this the Deadshot “meta” is all about rapid fire weapons that can expend your stamina as quickly as possible before the drain takes it away from you, which is the antithesis of the “careful sniper” who calmly picks their shots and sacrifices rate of fire for precision.
