Combat Balance Changes: Rogue Frontier Patch 3 - Version 28.030.1 - March 12, 2025
March 12, 2025
Combat Balance Changes: Rogue Frontier Patch 3 - Version 28.030.1 - March 12, 2025
Arcane Staffs
Evensong has offered powerful offensive utility but is almost always used with plate armor. Its base damage has been increased to help players who want to lean more into being a DPS threat.
Axe players in ZvZs have been overperforming, frequently hitting more than 10 enemies. To address this, the damage and complexity of Raging Blades have been reduced.
Giant Steps has been far from its previously overwhelming state. A portion of its slowing aura has been restored to reinforce Forge Hammers as a tanky disruptor.
Great Holy Staff has been underperforming, so part of its resistance increase has been restored.
Fling has struggled to find success. To improve its effectiveness, its stand time and cooldown have been reduced, making it easier to confirm an Impaler hit.
Swords already have strong chase potential due to their passive movement speed bonuses. To balance this, Heroic Strike’s above-average range has been reduced.
Fleet Footwork has provided War Gloves users with a solid mobility option while also serving as an exceptional DPS tool. Its damage output has been reduced to bring it more in line with alternatives.
Ambush has remained a top-tier damage boost while also offering great defensive capabilities. Its maximum damage bonus has been reduced to allow other aggressive chest armors to be more competitive.
A few underused shoe abilities with restrictive conditions and mobility trade-offs have been improved. Giant’s cooldown and uptime have been adjusted to make Guardian Boots a more available defensive option.
This patch addresses top performers in the Mists and improves abilities that have underperformed after previous nerfs.
Arcane Staffs
Evensong has offered powerful offensive utility but is almost always used with plate armor. Its base damage has been increased to help players who want to lean more into being a DPS threat.
- Dark Sphere (Evensong)
- Damage: 100 → 112
- Damage: 100 → 112
Axe players in ZvZs have been overperforming, frequently hitting more than 10 enemies. To address this, the damage and complexity of Raging Blades have been reduced.
- Raging Blades (all Axes)
- Removed: Targets within 2 meters take no damage
- Damage per tick: 26 → 22
- Removed: Targets within 2 meters take no damage
Giant Steps has been far from its previously overwhelming state. A portion of its slowing aura has been restored to reinforce Forge Hammers as a tanky disruptor.
- Giant Steps (Forge Hammers)
- Slow: 20% → 35%
- Slow: 20% → 35%
Great Holy Staff has been underperforming, so part of its resistance increase has been restored.
- Holy Explosion (Great Holy Staff)
- Resistance increase: 0.12 → 0.16
- Resistance increase: 0.12 → 0.16
- Holy Touch (Lifetouch Staff)
- Added: Target is immune to all crowd-control (unless self-targeting)
- Range: 6m → 9m
- Added: Target is immune to all crowd-control (unless self-targeting)
Fling has struggled to find success. To improve its effectiveness, its stand time and cooldown have been reduced, making it easier to confirm an Impaler hit.
- Fling (Glaive)
- Standtime: 0.85s → 0.6s
- Cooldown: 20s → 18s
- Standtime: 0.85s → 0.6s
Swords already have strong chase potential due to their passive movement speed bonuses. To balance this, Heroic Strike’s above-average range has been reduced.
- Heroic Strike (all Swords)
- Range: 4m → 3.5m
- Range: 4m → 3.5m
Fleet Footwork has provided War Gloves users with a solid mobility option while also serving as an exceptional DPS tool. Its damage output has been reduced to bring it more in line with alternatives.
- Fleet Footwork (all War Gloves)
- Auto-attack damage buff: 150% → 125%
- Auto-attack damage buff: 150% → 125%
Ambush has remained a top-tier damage boost while also offering great defensive capabilities. Its maximum damage bonus has been reduced to allow other aggressive chest armors to be more competitive.
- Ambush (Assassin Jacket)
- Damage buff per stack: 4% → 5%
- Max buff stacks: 10 → 6 (max damage bonus 40% → 30%)
- Stack rate: 0.5s → 1s (time to max stacks: unchanged)
- Damage buff per stack: 4% → 5%
A few underused shoe abilities with restrictive conditions and mobility trade-offs have been improved. Giant’s cooldown and uptime have been adjusted to make Guardian Boots a more available defensive option.
- Giant (Guardian Boots)
- Cooldown: 60s → 40s
- Duration: 8s → 6s
- Cooldown: 60s → 40s
- Mark of Sacrifice (Hellion Shoes)
- Range: 12m → 15m
- Range: 12m → 15m
- Shield Charge (Knight Boots)
- Cooldown: 20s → 18s
- Cooldown: 20s → 18s
- Swift Cut (Assassin Shoes)
- Range: 11m → 15m
- Range: 11m → 15m