End of Abyss Season Feedback. Tactician

I only played shotgun crossbow Tactician this season of the beta so I thought I would share my feedback and thoughts on the experience.

Crossbow "jamming" has been fixed since my last feedback. So thank you for that.

I also seem to have no more targeting issues in Chaos Ascension.

When it comes to the Tactician I have a few things to bring up: I tried to play a Companion and Totem based build. Playing with all the nodes as best I could. (I didnt make it to maps so keep that in mind)

Cannons Ready! can be a very powerful node. To say otherwise would be disingenuous. However as is, I think it and Strategic Embankments needs to trade places. I feel as though in this particular instance, having Tacticians who want to do totems being forced into the gameplay of Cannons Ready! especially as a first rank ascension node is a misplacement and can leave totems to feel really lackluster because of them being so intrinsically tied to your own attack rate. My overall feeling is that it should be an option. Not a mandatory path node.

I did not get to test if I was correct in my assumption so I am gonna go off the implication the keywords system gives me for this next piece of feedback. I have a concern with Unleash Hell! being tagged as a Minion skill. There are a couple of companion nodes that do not work if you have minions other than companion minions. This does help define themes and I do not mind their existence. However, this makes Unleash Hell! an anti-synergy skill with all such nodes. The easy fix would be to make Unleash Hell! a companion skill. This way it benefits not only from the companion skills and nodes but minion nodes and gems as well. Also suffering the consequences of having other non companion minions where applicable.

On the opposite side of that, I am also of the opinion Unleash Hell! should not be a minion or companion skill as it is.. It's a skill that by all rights, should just come from the player and scale directly off the player. Most supporting gems for minions do not seem to work with the skill itself and scales off mostly generic support gems. There is no visual representation for the skill being a minion skill at all either. Its animation just behaves like a cascading version of Siege Ballista (not bad, just an observation). Long story short i guess is that it feels really out of place with how it's presented. Perhaps turning Unleash Hell!'s functionality to that of Cannons Ready! and replacing Cannons Ready! with something all together is the right answer?

If a node were to be replaced I would suggest a companion support themed node being the replacement. with how much closer companion nodes are to Mercenary support compared to the majority of minion support nodes. In such an instance, I would like to see an additional companion so long as all your companions are unique. basically another non mutually exclusive Trusted Kinship.(making the total potential Companions 3 for Tactician)

I did not play with Whoever Pays Best because I do not care to try and mix banner and totem and companion playstyle at this time and consequently i do not have any positive or negative feedback for it.

The immobilization and Pin Build up line feels fair while leveling. Not entirely sure about in endgame (cause i did not get to maps)

Watch How I Do it is poorly designed in an exclusionary sense. If You wield a two handed weapon with a flat 1000 added phys damage to it that is a 250 base added. Basically giving your allies a one handed weapon of level 60 quality. However, If you are wielding a one handed weapon (or even dual wielding) it is Drastically worse. Giving them the equivlant to basically a level 20 item in extra damgage. As the game progresses in developement, this Node *will* need to be changed. (Perhaps put it on an "ally support" themed Bow/Crossbow/Quarterstaff/Staff/talisman).


Non tactician stuff I tested:
Part way through the season I rolled up a sorceress and tried Hollow Palm. Most quarterstaff skills feel good and are responsive. Both With a Quarterstaff and Hollow Palm enabled. Though, I do think the forward momentum of Tempest Flurry feels a little slow. Especially Compared to Ice Strike. That short lunge on Ice Strike helps you keep the pressure up really nicely (please never take that away)

All that being said, I do really think the Quarterstaff needs a "workhorse" Chaos skill. Not having one is what i believe is what is genuinely hurting the build potential of Acolytes of Chyula at this time.


All in all, mostly satisfied with what i played this league. Looking forward to Druid. Keep up the great work.