All other weapons are possible but meta wise for those who want medium and be S1 it will be GS+Hatchet-Spear.
Bruiser 1v1:
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Hatchet got mega gutted. Spear is a better option or hell even Ice Gauntlet.
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Yep I agree with @NWShotty. After the newest defy death nerf, hatchet is nowhere near s-tier.
It just goes to show how much of a crutch defy death was to a hatchet’s effectiveness.
Hatchet onlys offers great mobility and decent damage on a per second basis, post patch. Not anything else of note.
It’s ranged attacks give good utility but aren’t threatening, it gives almost no cc and minimal weaken and exhaust.
It has now become only a good weapon for quick rotation/engage/disengage and not much else.
The engage disengage playstyle will still be strong in certain game modes (opr/arena). It is a strong nerf since they can now be affected by healing reduction. They should still be able to disengage whenever they want/need to and avoid death. but will be much much harder with the light nerfs as well.
@Xagarok I would disagree that the playstyle it excels at will be strong in arenas. Burst dmg, sustain and CC is still meta in arena. Can’t see mobility getting anywhere near those 3.
But I do agree that it is a strong nerf and it is up there with musket as one of the hardest hit of the incoming balance changes.
I understand why they did it, defy death was such a big crutch and even after the original nerf in PTR 1, the 50 max hp defy death boost for 500 con tanks was too much.
2500 hp buff at 50 base health is a bit low tho. Defy death has gone from being an s-tier ability to a b-tier ability and it was the main thing propping up hatchet as a staple in pve and PvP.
IMO spear/axe is superior to hatchet in most situations post patch.
The only combination build I can still see getting big success is bow and hatchet. Hatchet is now a c-tier weapon at best.
In pve which was once hatchets most popular domain, I can see spear becoming the defacto DPS wep.
still useful in pve as you avoid death and heal back up again, maybe even better with the heal, as i don’t feel like that 3sec immortality was the key factor for pve, it’s just to avoid dying from a potential oneshots.
Stop coping , there is no way defy death is a B tier skill , EVERY hatchet player will still use defy death over other skills . Hatchet defy death been OP in m10 mutation till mutation came out , same with pvp. Hatchet will still be a S+ weapon in PVE and for assassin PvP , not sure what you smoking. Spear doesn’t have cleave on AA so hatchet is still way ahead dps wise
@Kresos.Zora There is no need to be insulting, if you disagree then plz explain. I’m more than happy to discuss. We can have a discussion about it. That is what these forums are for.
To expand on my initial point:
Defy death is no longer unquestionably s-tier.
Void gauntlets ultimate is easily better, I’d argue bloodlust is also. Leadership on SnS I’d also argue is better. I just don’t rate invulnerability for 1 second and a 2500 hp regen as high as you do.
There are probably other mastery skill abilities I’d rate higher than defy death. But I’m not on the game ATM, and I can’t remember all of them.
@Revelate I’d argue that the duration of immortality was the most OP variable of defy death. The new duration amount is far less forgiving. And this is a welcome balance change.
why do you asnwer with pvp on what i said about defy death for pve…
@Revelate what I said was for pve. The play against part was just to expand more on the benefit of lowering the invulnerability duration.
And no I don’t agree the new defy death is in anyway superior to the old one. Have you tested on PTR?
Edit: I edited it for you. Just to make it clearer for you.
obviously when you have the reaction time of a potato, that’s a nerf.
i just cant think of when you need 3 seconds immortality in pve, the only difference is literally that when hatchet procced you could do dps for 2 more seconds and then take action and heal back up, while now you should heal back up again immediately.
but idc, pve died last year for me.
All I can say is from my experience on ptr, the duration of invulnerability was noticeable and is a significant downgrade. The heal is inferior also.
As voidblade main not sure if it’s better . I like it for the dps gain and good survivability if it proc with ur voidblade perk under 50% hp . but not a life saver like defy death since it make you immortal and hatchet got the great haste to escape
Even new Defy death better in alot of situations cuz it save your life + it cooldowns being reduced . The backside is u can’t treat it as extra 3s dps and gain half of ur hp back or even more.
Both of them are good but can’t compare between them because they are totally different and have different purpose
Hatchet is dead
@Mel95 As someone who has tested it on PTR, the new hatchet defy death is nothing compared to the old one. The situations in which it saves your life are only a fraction compared to the amount of situations previously.
It is seemingly an ability that sounds better than it actually is.
And as someone who regularly plays against hatchet and voidblade now, voidblade with void ulti is far more difficult to play against than a hatchet user with defy death.
Defy death just normally extends the fight, it doesn’t swing it. I’ll still kill them, just takes a bit longer. And that time extension wil be even shorter now. Where as void ultimate can swing the fight and so can other abilities in other trees.