Warlord and Berserker are getting buffed in Update 3.7 Summer Solstice! Read on for how we’re approaching these upgrades and why we picked these Souls to update.
Warlord
Warlord has been perceived as a more complicated alternative to Paragon that wasn’t rewarding enough for the extra effort it took to play. We wanted to make it into a brutal damage dealer that was every bit as good as its sibling, as well as providing a completely alternative playstyle.
To accomplish this, we improved the “feel” of the abilities, while also making the choices about what power to use, and when, much clearer. Of course we needed to give it a bit of a boost as well; everyone likes to do more damage! Making the rotation of abilities more rewarding and fun to play was a central theme that traveled throughout or changes to this Soul.
A major changes to Warlord soul is that Surges are no longer finishers that have to be manually maintained. They are all passively activated any time a finisher is cast, which makes them powerful tools to increase damage over time. This allows the Warlord to feel great as long as they keep fighting. Additionally, Piercing Thrust hits much harder now, making it very important as a follow upaction. Missing a Piercing Thrust will hurt a lot.
Adding more DPS options opens up many of the hybrids that formerly always used Paragon by giving them access to more utility focused abilities from Warlord. This probably won’t drastically alter the hybrid landscape for warriors, but will make selecting Warlord as a second or third Soul a better choice.
Berserker
With Berserker, the buffs coming in RIFT Update 3.7 were much simpler than with some of the other Souls we’ve featured. We simply wanted to improve sustained damage over time. Berserker is still a Soul that can throw out a lot of damage in a very short period of time, but when its buffs are down it should now do better overall. Reducing Berserker’s reliance on abilities with a 1 minute cooldown was very important. as well as making the shift from Cunning to Fury feel more impactful and interesting.
To do that, Icefall and Corpsefall have been merged into a single ability called Wrathfall. This will activate Icefall in Fury mode and Corpsefall in Cunning mode. We also added a new AoE ability called Shatterfrost to deals drastically increased damage on foes who have recently been damaged by Icefall. Managing your Cunning and Fury will be even more important, so that your abilities will synergize to even greater effect! We also made sure to increase many of Berserker’s single target damage abilities, for single target situations.
The best part is that most builds that incorporate Berserker as a second or third Soul will continue to function identically; the only difference is doing more damage!
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