Vortex Gaming

· News has been shared about the upcoming class balance changes with the next major update.
· Necromancer players, in particular, are expressing dissatisfaction with the nerf to the dash and damage build based on rat form.
· The rat form build was a meta that allowed players to evade damage with high mobility, inflict silence and sustained damage, and then disengage.
· With this change, the damage and shield gain of this build will be reduced.

· The nerf to the Wizard's stealth ability will affect certain playstyles.
· The playstyle of only revealing oneself when casting Meteor and remaining invulnerable otherwise may still be useful.
· However, the detection range will increase from 3 yards to 4 yards, and using skills and basic attacks simultaneously will briefly reveal the Wizard.
· Skill cast animations will now be displayed on the opponent's screen, making stealth play more difficult than before.

· Monk players are expressing dissatisfaction with this nerf, claiming that a community manager decided on the nerf after seeing Reddit posts.
· However, it was true that if a Monk continuously attacked, it was very difficult for 2-3 players to hit them.
· This nerf will provide a small window of opportunity to stun, crowd control, or damage Monks.

· The Necromancer will receive the biggest nerf to their Rat Form.
· While transforming into Rat Form will reduce damage by 40%, movement speed will increase by 60%.
· However, if movement speed is already high, it's possible the movement speed cap cannot be exceeded.
· The range of the 'Deep Absorption' skill, which grants a shield by absorbing enemies, will be reduced from 10 yards to 5 yards. Since 10 yards was a very wide range, reducing it to 5 yards may be reasonable.

· Barbarians will need a more tactical approach when using skills.
· However, their survivability will remain largely unchanged, and they will still be very difficult to kill.
· Damage will also remain the same, so with proper skill timing, they can maintain their power without major issues.

· The community is largely enraged by the Necromancer nerf, pointing out that the Barbarian was not nerfed.
· There is significant concern about Rat Form and Fear damage each being reduced by 40% when the Fear skill has already been nerfed.
· Many players expect Necromancers to be abandoned and Barbarians to dominate PvP again.
· However, Necromancers have consistently ranked high in PvP charts since July, and their population has continued to grow thanks to new builds that inflict both silence and sustained damage.
· The playstyle of dashing in with Rat Form, dealing damage, and escaping was very difficult for opponents to counter.
· After this nerf, Crusaders, Demon Hunters, and Druids may rise to the top again, and Barbarians are still expected to be powerful.

· One Necromancer player analyzed that this nerf will have a greater impact on specific PvP builds.
· Rat Form dash builds that use AoE Bone Spirit damage, fear, and silence, or builds that utilize line of sight, will be most affected.
· However, the 'Standoff Kiting Build,' a popular recent meta used by many players, involves Wizards dealing fear and silence damage with Bone Spirit.
· In this build, Rat Form is primarily used for escaping or dashing to the rear, so the impact of the damage reduction is limited.
· The duration of reduced damage in Rat Form is short, and Wizards can still crowd control in Rat Form and gain additional movement speed when escaping.
· The reduction in 'Deep Absorption' shield range is also not too bad for Necromancers, as they can manually cast a 25% shield on cooldown.
· Therefore, the prevailing opinion is that this nerf is not fatal to Necromancers and will only affect specific builds.

· Despite this nerf, Necromancers are still expected to remain an excellent class.
· We might even see Golem Necromancer builds make a comeback, providing a support role.
· Golem builds were quite solid in the past, but for some reason, players stopped using them.
· Necromancer players who manage their skills well should be able to continue playing without much concern.