WHC is moderately overtuned. This is because of both Killing Shot and Flense. The purpose of these proposed ideas is to bring under and over performing talents inline with balanced ones. Important changes are surrounded by brackets. Here are my suggestions for a rework:
Note: If a talent is not listed it had no modifications.
Condensed List of Suggestions
- Killing Shot ‒ No longer effects range attacks that have passed their effective range.
- Power of Sigmar ‒ Made visible to the player. No longer effects range attacks that have passed their effective range.
- Sigmar’s Charm ‒ Made visible to the player.
- [Riposte] ‒ Riposte is added to Deathknell. Talent slot fulled by Heretic-Hunt, “Tagging an enemy causes nearby enemies to also be effected by Witch-Hunt.” Turns tag into a small aoe. Enemies that cannot normally be tagged are also effected, but receive a fainter outline.
- Deathknell ‒ No longer effects range attacks that have passed their effective range. Riposte has been added to Deathknell.
- [Flense] ‒ Now only stacks two bleed stacks instead of three.
- [Templar’s Knowledge] ‒ Increases the damage the WHC does to tagged enemies to 35% and increases it to 30% for allies (both increased from 25%).
- Cast Away ‒ Stamina recovery on push adjusted to 35% from 40%.
- Always Prepared ‒ If out of ammo when a special spawns, you receive two shots.
- I Shall Judge You All ‒ Additional effects of a radius increase of 20% and a duration increase to 8 seconds.
- [Fervency] ‒ No longer staggers enemies.
- Unending Hunt ‒ Now requires hitting 15 enemies.
Explanations/detailed
Passives
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Killing Shot
No longer effects range attacks that past effective range. This is true for Deathknell and Power of Sigmar. Adjusted to define WHC as a primarily close-quarters combat career. -
Power of Sigmar
“Increases headshot bonus damage by 25%. No effect on ranged attacks past effective range.”
Passive is now visible to the player. No effect on ranged attacks past effective range. -
Sigmar’s Charm
“Increases critical strike chance by 5%.”
Passive is now visible to the player.
Level 10 Talents
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[Riposte]
New talent, “Tagging an enemy causes nearby enemies to also be effected by Witch-Hunt.” Called Heretic-Hunt. Essentially turns the tag into a small aoe that affects all enemy types. Enemies that cannot normally be tagged are also effected, but receive a fainter outline. -
Deathknell
“Increases headshot bonus damage by 50%. No bonus on ranged attacks past effective range. Parrying causes your next melee attack within 2 seconds to be a critical hit.”
No effect on ranged attacks past effective range. Riposte has been added as it is not strong enough to be an independent talent. This makes for a high skill talent. -
[Flense]
“Enemies hit by melee attacks bleed for extra damage. Stacks twice.”
Adjusted from 3 to 2 bleed stacks (credit to @Rebel for the idea). This is to reign in its damage and make Deathknell the more rewarding option on single targets for the headshot inclined.
Level 20/25 Talents
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[Templar’s Knowledge]
“Witch-Hunt causes enemies to take an additional 15% damage from Victor and 10% from allies.”
Originally a flat 5% for everyone. Adjusted to 10% for allies. For the WHC it is 15%. High synergy with I Shall Judge You All. Adjusted as 5% was too low. -
Cast Away
"Pushing an enemy enemy increases stamina regeneration by 35% for 2 seconds."
Stamina recovery on push adjusted to 35% from 40%. This is to bring WHC’s level of cc more inline with the career’s identity and damage potential. -
Always Prepared
“If you have no ammunition when a special spawns, you receive 2 shots.”
Inline with the theme of an always prepared WHC. Decent potential with non-ammo sustain ranged weapon traits.
Level 30 Talents
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I Shall Judge You All!
“Applies Witch Hunt to enemies hit by Animosity. Radius increased by 20%. Duration of Animosity increase to 8 seconds.”
Radius increase furthers usefulness against patrols, hordes, and is inline with the talent’s theme. Duration furthers team-oriented burst damage aspect (contrasts with Fervency’s solo burst and Unending Hunt’s lower but continual damage). -
[Fervency]
“Animosity grants Victor guaranteed melee critical strikes for its duration. Animosity no longer pushes back enemies, affects range attacks or allies.”
Removal of stagger defines Fervency as a dps talent. Removal of crit chance for allies text that is lacking in game added. -
Unending Hunt
“Hitting 15 or more enemies with Animosity refunds 40% cooldown.”
Increased requirement from 10 to 15 enemies. Encourages more thoughtful usage of Animosity.
Here’s a link to the polls I made for this topic: Witch Hunter Captain Rebalance Poll