Storm Kings Thunder Console Primer: Module 10 Class Balance Changes

Get hyped guys, because it’s patch day for Storm Kings Thunder (SKT) on consoles! In the good tradition of our site, we want to make sure you are properly prepared for your travel to the north. So pack some warm socks and read our Primer!

We already briefed you on some minor fixes and changes that come with SKT, the campaign and Fangbreaker Island as well as gear progression. Today we are conclude our massive primer with the Module 10 class balance changes. A full list of the patch notes is available here.

So many powers and feats have been changes for Scourge Warlock, Guardian Fighter and Hunter Ranger that we can’t detail all of them. Instead we focus on what we think are key changes to popular builds.

Scourge Warlock

DPS builds have to deal with a massive nerf to Tyrannical Threat. It can no longer be applied to multiple targets and hence cause a chain reaction of death. In exchange Warlocks got a nice round of buff and debuff ability through Dreadtheft and Pillars of Power. DPS Scourges are still in a very good spot and for an in-depth review and build we highly recommend our popular guide by Daigotsu.

The class remains problematic for the devs as the issues with Tyrannical Curse haven’t been fixed. It still scales of various buffs and stats leading to absurd damage numbers sometimes. They did however deliver a fix for Damnation builds and their puppys, which no longer get unintended buffs from the environment.

The last notable change is the one to Shadow Slip, which receives a speed upgrade and damage resistance.

Guardian Fighter

The Guardian Fighter’s buff potential is brought down to earth with Storm Kings Thunder. Into the Fray no longer scales with Damage Resistance and instead is a flat buff. This severely messes with all kinds of builds, because it is no longer necessary to overstack defense. The duration of Steel Defense has been reduced as well. So tanks and especially Tacticians can no longer rely on solely getting carried by it.

For PVP the defs tried to reduce the amount of burst damage and slightly increase the sustained damage of the class. As you might know GFs were one-rotating monsters. They were one of the few classes that could actually kill in high level 1 on 1 situations. The Guardian Fighter is still very potent in PVP though and some even claim it has lost none of its dominance.

Hunter Ranger

For our little Archers the Trapper was the only viable choice and the devs tried to bring all trees closer together. As fas as reports go Trappers are still very good, but especially PVP has seen an influx of Combat HRs.

The reason is the change/fix to Piercing Blades. Next to TRs this makes the Ranger the only other class with an access to piercing damage. On certain power levels this can be overpowered vs. what other classes have to offer. That’s why the complains are strong and the devs already promised to look at the class again. This might also be a good idea because the Archery tree is still lacking in certain areas.


This concludes our primer on Storm Kings Thunder and we at Neverwinter:Uncensored wish safe travels to the north today! In case you have any questions or comments, share them below or visit the corresponding thread on our message board!

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