I got pretty decent gear on my level 83 SK, including a Grandfather 2h sword, and I'm struggling hard to do even 5k DPS in hell mode. That's barely hacking it IMO.

I've tried a bunch of different setups for SK, and I still haven't decided what I'm gonna stick with. I've done more talent resets with this SK than with all my other characters combined.

Am I doing something wrong here?

http://nevergrind.com/nevergrounds/inde ... r=Rathdaar

Because if 5K is the best SK can do with the gear I'm equipped with then it needs a slight buff. Lowering some of the CDs on his melee attacks would help a little. If this class is supposedly OP, I'm not seeing it. The biggest issue with SK DPS seems to be they burn out of DPS CD's really quickly, and I'm left to tapping crescent cleave most of the time (which makes it sorta boring to play). When other melee classes got other, higher damaging attacks they can keep cycling through, or with minimal down time.

No, you're right, SK damage is pretty bad. Loaded up with end game gear, the best I've done is 5-8k dmg. I think it's mainly that none of the talents really increase your damage at all. Heat blood might be fine on bosses, but when other classes can get through regular mobs in a few seconds, it feels like a waste of time to cast dots. I mentioned on another thread that SK autoattack only hits 1 target, and that contributes to the problem as well. With no flurry or haste skills, they feel like gimped warriors.

Its sorta pointless to make gasping fury do more hits @ lower HP, because SK can leech easily. My HP almost never gets below 3/4. I think it should do more hits at higher HP, but 18 hits is probably too many. If it was to do 12 hits at full HP, with the CD lowered to 12 secs instead of 20, that would help. I could probably squeeze closer to 8k DPS then. Or something else could be done like lower the CD's and make the melee skills cost % HP to use.

I agree, the SK's biggest potential damage ability is based on being low HP, but with innate life leech its hard to reliably get that low. And if you're that low, its more like an "oh shit" move, making you want to not use it for dps, but save it for emergencies. So in the end you just stand there and Crescent Cleave over and over

Same feelings here, stopped playing my SK 'cause it was really frustrating, low dps and long CDs leave you with only Crescent Cleave for most of the fight, which is kinda boring too...

Yeah, SKs could use some love... when I get around to it

Hurrah! now I have faith again - that I can beat Hell Nalatos in hc

That would be great, I was going to delete him, but I might just leave him in reserve for awhile.

In games like this class balance will ebb and flow over time.

Attempt #2 at gearing out a SK.

https://nevergrind.com/nevergrounds/ind ... r=Rathdaar

As you can see I went for critical hit % and critical hit damage %, 62.7% to hit for 175.2% in an attempt to squeeze every drop of DPS I could out of SK without gimping defenses. There could be room for some minor improvements with gear I don't possess yet, or with gear I got on one of my other characters, but I just used what I had in storage. I took a look at what gear setups other SKs were using and mine is considerably better geared than most.

I can do 5000-7000dps with the above gear. I've done 5k+ on a single target just with auto attack & crescent cleave depending on if I get favorable crit and double attack activations.

I know people say SK dps is low, and it is especially after the bleed fix, but do you not value the survivability of the class? I mean, now that I know how to play the SK, I nearly NEVER die and only get close when I do something stupid.....

Some classes have better dps AND better survivability imo (e.g. Shaman) ...

My monk is nearly unkillable and does like 50k burst and 30k sustained and I haven't even tested using the full warrior set on him yet which is massively overpowered lol.

^Monks Op (that's why I didn't say Monks as an example previously), SK still in need of love!

Ahh ok guys, I really only play my SK (all I have time for right now) and in single player I did Ranger so I am not as informed as some of you others!

I'm just saying, SK survivability really isn't that big of a deal compared to some classes who have similar and also decimate everything. I agree they need a bit of a rework and a boost, but Mael said he's looking into it so

My Rogue doesn't get killed anymore, and he does double SK's DPS. I got a couple moves with rogue that can hit for damage cap, or 99999. The only time I see 5 digits with SK is on a 2 minute cooldown.

Yea SK DPS was awesome with the bleed damage, after that, its been low. I just thought other classes were that low.