Shade dd and snd mostly used. Hoping to see lvl 30 talents allow variation for other weapons to be used as well

[Greyknight654]

Hello, Grey here.

I just want to discuss something about shade. I think a lot of people have mentioned details related to Shade. Particularly about their career special, dual daggers, and sword and dagger.

What I want to discuss might be very inaccurate as it is just my opinion on the current shade. Also I am only talking about official realm.

So, I notice a lot of players use dual daggers or sword and dagger. Which I find relatively unfair towards the other weapons considering elf has good weapons in general. However, because of shade lvl 30 talents most weapons are not as effective to use.

The best shade I ever played was sometime during the chaos wastes before Belakor update. Where shimmer strike was not dependent on getting elite or special kills and you had a decent amount of stealth time to actually consistently crit your enemies. I actually used dual swords and javelin and it was the best shade experience I ever had.

To get to the point, there is cloak of pain for example, which is most effective with dual daggers and sword and dagger (therefore making other weapons not viable to use). Then there is shimmer strike which could work with any weapon theoretically but on the condition that you slay elites and specials to maintain stealth. Which might be great for skaven patrols but that’s about it. For the rest of the map I do not see shimmer strike being remotely as useful as cloak of pain. I will not make any comments on hungry wind as I do not see anyone use it either.

My actual point is that I would like to see shade built with different weapons and talents. I think it is a shame, that most shade builds all look very similar (dual dagger, sword and dagger, and cloak of pain for the most part).

As a potential suggestion for shimmer strike: Technically, removing critical backstabs instantly slay man sized enemies (for shimmer strike only) as well as removing the dependency on maintaining stealth with elites and specials so it is just remain in stealth as well as maintaining crits during stealth, could allow shade to use a greater variety of weapons as well as crit dependent traits. Perhaps it might be too overpowered to remain in stealth, so surely a debuff on stealth could be added as well (maybe even increase cooldown time by 25-50% for shimmer strike).

Also, since I almost never see anyone use hungry wind, its a great potential slot for a different talent for shade. Hopefully to make weapons other than dual daggers or sword and dagger viable to use.

I simply wish to play shade as well as see shade with other build types and weapons. I mean yes shade is a boss killer, but it would be amazing, and fun to play, to see shade be built in various ways and not just dual daggers or sword and dagger with cloak of pain.

Again, this is just my opinion on current shade. A lot of the stuff I have said may be very inaccurate as well as untrue, because I am writing this topic based on what I see in official realm from my experience only.

Thank you for reading, and have a pleasant day.

Greyknight654

[BtheLee]

the original reason for using the dual weapons over anything else was that it applied your ult effects twice, i believe it still does but it can be a little buggy since it can count both dagger strikes as both of your attacks and remove your stealth (i think this happens if you hit more than one enemy with the charged attack). Outside of that this isn’t really just an issue with shade, it’s an issue with the Elf in general. All her builds are very static from class to class. Unless you’re playing handmaiden it’s generally always a best option to take either the S/D or D/D depending on how much AP you need/want. The other weapons don’t provide the safety/utility that the dual weapons do. Spear can’t stagger for crap so unless you’re hitting constant headshots you’re putting yourself in a lot of dangerous situations with the spear as a shade (and even as other elf classes, the elven spear just doesn’t perform even close to the same level as the dual weapons even S/S). Glaive is actually decent but i don’t like its heavy attack, the last strike of the heavy attack is a nice big overhead, but that first strike is a wimpy little cross strike that can easily break your stealth as a shade if you’re not careful (don’t see many glaive shade but i guess that’s why). As for her single handed weapons they’re just trash, no stagger, little to no cleave, no range, dodge range is okay but as a shade you can mitigate that easily. This is kinda similar to the dwarf’s dual hammers/axes vs his single hammer/axe. Though the dwarf doesn’t seem to completely have this problem as the combos between the weapons are different enough to give them their own playstyle and personality, rather than just copy and pasting the the heavy and light strikes and just doubling up the animation

The other weapons in the Elf’s kit need buffs, the dual weapons need to be left alone as they’re actually in a good spot. I know some people say the S/D is just overpowered but i think everything else in her kit is just underpowered and provides nothing to her. The only melees that i will say i actually run outside of S/D and D/D on elf is Spear and shield on handmaiden as it’s just too good to pass up. Great stagger, good enough cleave, a good headshot combo if you need it (with meddling damage sure but oddly enough you can stagger elites one handed with a spear but you can’t do it 2 handed with a spear), and the range to keep you at a distance. This is the only time that i will run another weapon outside of S/D or D/D unless i’m just goofing off. Even then though, when i’m goofing off and trying her other weapons i’m quickly reminded why i don’t use them. There’s literally no saving grace to her other weapons.