So, in prior patches since the start of the beta, the zealot’s ult has been working contrary to the description. What was actually happening was zealot was getting gauranteed boosted crits for about 4 seconds after ulting instead of only the first hit. I fiured the description was wrong and didnt think the current behavior was overpowered at all. That was put to bed this patch as zealot ult behavior now matches the description.
While i cant complain about this too much since this is basically a bug fix, zealot was not very strong at all even with that bug active, and now it feels like zealot was nerfed even though it was technichally a fix.
I found that the gauranteed crits for 4 seconds was balanced since it allowed faster weapons to get multiple smaller hits in whereas chain weapons and the thunder hammer pretty much got 1 big boosted hit out of it, sort of balancing the weapons out. As it is now, the ult only really boosts the thunder hammer in the same way as pre patch. Chain weapons only have the first tick of damage boosted resulting in a huge nerf when using your ult then sawing an enemy. Fast attacking weapons like the swords, daggers, and axes were hit hard by this too as they only get 1 boosted attack ass opposed to 6 or 7.
I suggest you revert the ult back to its old “bugged” state as funnily enough i think it was more balanced that way. I think zealot really needs it too.
I’m inclined to agree with all the points you’ve raised here. Zealot seems like the most underpowered class at the moment and this change further entrenches that.
For the “melee” class of the game, they really seem to want the class to struggle in melee.
One guaranteed crit and a lowly 50% toughness gain is not enough to play the class the way it’s meant to be played. At this point, it’s just a glorified escape instead of an initiator. It really just encourages zealots to use it to run away from fights instead of using it to engage in melee.
I’m personally tired of having to hunt for the most broken builds while utilizing exploits to stay relevant in level 4 and 5 difficulty.
I don’t even use it for its intended purpose of melee on diff 4/5.
It’s a mobility repositioning tool to regen toughness between all the hordes of ranged aimbot spam. Which lets me bolter snipe from behind cover more just like I do on my vet.
With the dodge-slide nerfs and hordes of aimbots (who strafe/advance while shooting on 5), using it to get into melee is stunlock suicide.
Worst part is that unless you’re level 30 the ability is extremely bad. So spending ~40 hours to make the ability usable is pretty bad if you just want to have any amount of survivability on higher levels.
Also, let’s not forget about the fact that Until Death is only useful after you get the healing feat on level 20.
Overall, Zealot is becoming the least enjoyable class to play for anyone who isn’t already max level with the best gear and build.
I have moved to sharpshooter after this nerf, zealot’s ult is just gutted without the gauranteed crits beyond the first hit. Its not like this is cloak of mist shade we are dealing with. With one ult you could take out 1 elite, maybe 2. now? ehhhh. The class isnt completely useless, but im not having fun playing it anymore after this fix combined with the many other issues people have enumerated with the class.
Yeah, guaranteed crits for 4 seconds was pretty fun, and not particularity strong either. It’s comparable to WHC’s guaranteed crit ability but except you trade a shorter buff time for a charge and no crowd control.
I’m inclined to agree with all the points you’ve raised here. Zealot seems like the most underpowered class at the moment and this change further entrenches that."
What ?
Zealot is the new Kerillian, what are you even on about.
Have you played other classes at all ?
I tried all the classes and zealot had the easiest time of all.
Their damage is unmatched and ability to survive is great.
Meanwhile veterans do feel like a glass cannon for their potential, psykers got obliterated and broken in the process for, reasons, and Ogryn damage is relatively low for how slow they are, lower than zealots for sure and stuck with one weapon set.
I don’t see any weakness to zealots right now.
Some talents might not work but they are already the highest damage melee class with great survavibility as they are supposed to be.
People begging for clutch ability and soloing and such are pretty much zealots. The gamers of yesterday being edgy playing V2 zealots yesterday are the new Kerillian COD/MW born players of yore.
They sure aint the highest damage melee class anymore after this fix lol. But most would agree that veteran is far and away the strongest class. Vet has highest toughness, best grenade, good toughness regen, very high damage with ult that does not require you to get into melee range. Need i say more? With a single veteran ult you can clear an area of elites and specials. With a single zealot ult pre nerf you could kill 1, MAYBE 2 elites because the durations of the crits was very short. Not to mention zealot gets completely pooped on by the ranged firing squads on the higher difficulties and without proper ranged support cant do much, though this has been improved somewhat with recent ai changes.
People who believe that zealot is most underpowered class seems they haven’t played other class enough.
Zealot lost their dps potential after the bug fix, but still zealot is very variable class with its survivabilty and single melee dps.
It just losing potential of carring game alone.
I do agree that fatshark need some more adjustment on zealot’s talents in a good way, but surely zealot isn’t worst class in the game, and still best melee dps in the game.
Also, why people pretend that zealot cannot use boltgun just like vet does?
Combination of two-handed chainsword and boltgun can melt everything in front of zealot.
Let’s not get into an is Zealot under-powered/over-powered discussion because that’s sort of besides the point. OP is rightly pointing out that the previous behaviour actually felt good to play with and gave the zealot options even if the 4 seconds of crit was unintended.
I think 3 seconds of crit would still feel good but the current ‘fix’ makes it significantly harder for Zealot to do his job of high burst melee DPS against priority targets which you run into all the time on Damnation and Heresy Endless Horde. Between this and the dodge nerfs Zealot’s ability to bob and weave through a frontline, skillfully dispatching dangerous specials and high-armor targets has been made noticeably harder and feels much less rewarding.
Don’t get me started on chip damage making Martydom stacks not worth playing around. Recent balance changes are becoming a bad joke.
I tried all the classes and zealot had the easiest time of all.
Meanwhile veterans do feel like a glass cannon
I’m a 30 SS and 25 Zealot. I have no idea what game you are playing.
I love my SS, but there’s no denying they are easier than zealot and tankier than zealot, on top of not having to get into close range to play to their class strength, or deal with constant melee chip damage, which makes the toughness regen of the zealot when in melee with enemies basically useless.
The SS has more toughness, and it’s compounded by each point of toughness being more useful to the SS, because it protects 100% against ranged damage - SS takes more ranged damaged than melee compared to a zealot.
If I go down as a zealot, it’s quite frequently the case that I just lost hp over time to melee chip damage without my toughness ever breaking.
It is NOT an escape repositionning tool.
The skill has greatly increased reach IF you target an enemy.
Otherwise if you just use it as such, it’s barely a dash. Which makes it terrible.
Would be nice to get the extra range if targeting an ally too. (Teamwork!)
This skill, was designed as an offensive one. Having a garanteed melee crit is confirmation. Not the “cherry on top”
