I didn’t have as much time as I’d have liked this weekend (the days are gone where I could sit in my pants for Friday, Saturday and Sunday) but what I did play was incredibly fun. I’ve still yet to truly get to grips with the dragonhunter and berserker and before I reach a decision on both, I want to revisit them. 

Undoubtedly the stars of the show of this weekend were the reaper and the herald, two elite specializations that are not only outrageous fun, but ones that might truly tempt me away from my main. As a ranger player, in the event that the druid fails to live up to expectations (my standards are high after the reaper and herald) there’s every chance I’ll make a decision on launch day as to which profession I want to switch to. 

Below are my updated impressions for each elite specialization I played over the weekend.

Herald

Having already played the revenant twice, I’d like to think my last feedback on the profession was positive if not critical of where I felt it was lacking. Fortunately for us, the revenant designer, Roy Cronacher, is not only receptive to such feedback, but implemented so many improvements that the profession feels very different this time around. So much so that I’d have to say it’s not only one of my favourite professions in the game, but one that offers a playstyle that is both engaging, satisfying and flexible. Despite improvements to the profession’s raw numbers (certainly a damage boost across the board has helped) and some trait refinements, it’s the herald that has brought the profession together.

Although it might appear simplistic or passive with its on/off boons, I think there’s a great deal of nuance with the herald that not only makes it an engaging elite specialization but one that’s invaluable at supporting other Legends that you choose. I would argue that the herald compliments every single Legend so well that it seems bizarre to not pursue the elite specialization (is that a good or a bad thing?). Access to fury, swiftness and might stacking is formidable and as a legend that you can use before switching to Shiro or Mallyx, the boons provide significant benefits to you and your party.

Facet of Nature is an incredible profession mechanic and it’s the synergy between all the Facet’s make the herald so powerful. Turning on Facet of Darkness, Elements and Strength, followed by One with Nature elongates your boons long enough so that it’s more than possible to switch legend’s and build on the boons you have. My rotation reached the point where I could comfortably maintain 20 stacks of might (thanks Shiro!) and nearly 1 minute of fury. There’s no doubting it’s formidable and when spiking an enemy - thanks to access to such boons - the herald is capable of dealing huge damage.

I’ll admit I spent most of my time using Mace/Axe and Staff before the combination of conditions, damage and mobility is an attractive prospect in PvE and sPvP. Using Sinister gear or Carrion Amulet, there were few professions I couldn’t destroy 1 on 1 and even though some caused me a prolonged encounter (notably elementalist or reaper) I usually came out on top. My typical rotation below, lasting mere seconds, is incredible.

1. Elemental Blast
2. Burst of Strength
3. Chaotic Release
4. Switch to Shiro
5. Jade Winds
6. Frigid Blitz
7. Searing Fissure
8. Echoing Eruption
9. Temporal Rift
10. Switch to Staff
11. Surge of the Mists

Although I tried to make the shield work and I know several friends who enjoyed using it, I really think it’s very limited. The heal and protection on Envoy of Exuberance is good but to get anything significant out of it, especially when it comes to the heal, you have to invest so much into healing power you cripple your damage. It’s probably a fair trade off considering the protection but it’s Crystal Hibernation that concerns me the most. The breakbar can be instantly broken with the smallest amount of crowd control and once broken, the self stun has often caused my death rather than prevent it. For it to be a viable defensive skill, it shouldn’t be punishing. Either make the breakbar difficult to crack, or just have the skill function as an immunity similar to Signet of Stone and adjust the cooldown accordingly.

That sort of brings me onto herald traits and for the most part, I think they’re all pretty solid and offer a variety of choices. It’s the Grandmaster traits that I find particularly drab because outside of the damage bonus, gaining additional stacks of stability or crystal hibernation (which pretty much guarantees your death) really doesn’t get me excited.  

I mentioned previously about the fact that the herald compliments every legend and I have to say that my only worry at this point is that it’s so good the likelihood of players not running herald is very slim. With access to such powerful boons and an incredible mechanic, why pursue two “standard” legends? For the sake of me sacrificing Mallyx, all I’ve really lost is some condition management and replaced it with some of the best group support in the game.

If I was to make any further changes to the revenant, it’d have to be to Mallyx on the basis that despite me loving the legend, its reliance on conditions to be effective (as well as the resistance boon) means it’s crippled if boon stripped, but it’s also at odds with your party and its role. You cannot avoid being cleansed by your allies and so when you do want to hold onto conditions to pass onto your enemy, it isn’t always possible. Worse, if you are boon stripped the entire legend is near useless.

Finally, please can we have the Ventari tablet automatically summon and follow us? It’s absolutely crazy to not only micro-manage the tablet, but having to summon it and then move it around. I’d recommend taking a look at Aisling in Gigantic for inspiration.

Reaper

My impressions on the reaper are going to be much shorter than that of the herald because for the first time in a long time, the necromancer might actually be up there in the big league. Although the reaper needed a few tweaks here and there during the last beta weekend, I have to say that it has gone from strength to strength. Its damage, mobility and fun-factor is through the roof to the point where I spent most of the weekend manically laughing at the numbers I was dealing. Even in structured PvP, the reaper is a monster due to its use of Chill and the relentlessness of Reaper’s Shroud. Is there still room for improvement? I suspect so, but it still mostly revolves around the heal, “Rise!” and “Chilled to the Bone!”.

The heal simply provides too little healing whilst the minions in “Rise!” die near instantly and deal too little damage (I also thought they were supposed to have a new model?). As for “Chilled to the Bone!”, its cooldown is still too long at 120 seconds. I can’t fathom the reasoning behind it.

Finally and when it comes to the greatsword, there’s no doubting it packs a punch. Regularly critically hitting players and enemies for over 10,000 damage never gets old and in defence of those numbers, I actually think it’s a well balanced weapon set. Do I miss the utility of dagger and warhorn? Yes, but the greatsword offers me reliable damage in PvE over sPvP. Having said that, I’ve actually had success with the greatsword in sPvP it just requires a different playstyle. Grasping Darkness isn’t an entirely reliable pull, but if you do happen to perfect its use it can be invaluable at allowing you to fire off your skills and deal massive damage.

If I could have any improvement to the greatsword it would be to improve the reliability of Grasping Darkness and to also increase the radius of Nightfall. Other than that, I think it’s in a fairly good spot.

Daredevil

I’m going to freely admit that I’ve mixed feelings towards the daredevil. On one hand I love the thought of a staff wielding assassin, on the other the execution of it is a little...clunky. Two of my favourite ever professions are the Friar from Dark Age of Camelot and the Monk from Diablo. I was hoping that the daredevil would feel like a merging between both of these concepts and although it’s fun, it feels neither agile or satisfying. I don’t get the impression I’m an evasive elite specialization and instead, I feel like a thief (maybe that's the point?) with a worse weapon and an additional dodge.

I appreciate what Karl is trying to do with the daredevil, but most of the animations feel protracted and the staff animations lack originality. Most also seem recycled from the hammer or revenant. One of the main things I find bizarre is the fact that dodging no longer functions as a dodge and instead acts as a skill (whilst still providing evasion). It’s fine on paper but results in strange movement, especially when facing forwards but dodging backwards: your character turns around and runs at the camera, rather than rolling. I’m struggling to understand why the third dodge wasn’t just made a dodge, with the additional skill effects from traits acting similarly to the elementalist’s Evasive arcana.

I actually think the biggest issue is the flavour of the elite specialization is lacking. None of the staff skills feel exciting or agile and as a result, it all feels rather sterile. A leap, a spin forwards or backwards is hardly going to get the blood pumping. What frustrates me the most is the fact the Monkey King tonic is instantly more appealing. Heck, it even has an amazing idle animation.

Although I don’t think the daredevil needs a rework, the very least that could be done is to provide a fresh set of animations to make it feel agile. If that were to happen, it’d simply be a case of cleaning up some of the skills so that they don’t feel clunky. Even though I want more time with the elite specialization to see if it's viable over the existing meta thief builds, I still can't help but feel that a condition heavy weaponset would have been much more welcome. 

Final Thoughts

Although I’ve spelled out my brief thoughts on some of the elite specialization's, I honestly need more time with each across every game mode. I’m awaiting the next patch for the dragonhunter as it’ll see some significant improvements and I need to really have a lot more time with the berserker because my first impressions were that it was surprisingly unexciting. As for the reaper and revenant, I can only see them getting better and better. Finally, the Chronomancer is already pretty perfect and very little has changed this time around. All I really want at this point, then, is to get my hands on is the druid and forge.