7.3 Balance Changes

Updated May 10, 2023! Look for New! items and new Notes from Devs given by Shabir Dhillon in his post.

(May 10 updates for Sniper/Gunslinger & Powertech/Vanguard)

Class Balance Changes

Assassin / Shadow

Hatred / Serenity:

Reduced the damage bonus given from Inevitable Demise / Aching Mind from 30% to 25%.

Deception/Infiltration:

Increased the damage bonus given by Executioner / Judgement while an opponent is below 30% max health from 3% to 5%.

Sorcerer / Sage

Madness/Balance:

Dark Echo’s / Resonating Pulse’s chance to reapply Death Brand’s / Shifted Balance’s slow has been reduced to 30%.
Vitiates Malice / Warden’s Vigor – Life Steal on Force Lightning / Telekinetic Throw has been reduced to 15% down from 20%.
New! Death Brand/Shifted Balance’s Slow Effect should no longer reapply to players that have been defeated and respawn.

Lightning/Telekinetics:

Increased the Stormwatch tactical’s duration to 15 seconds up from 10 seconds.
Increased the damage of Halted Offensive / Power of the Force by 7%.
New! Lightning Flash/Telekinetic Gust’s damage is increased by 5%.

Marauder / Sentinel

Annihilation:

The focus / rage generation of the Bloodlust / Burning focus passive has been modified. It now reads: “Your direct damage attacks that hit a bleeding / burning target build 1 rage / focus. This effect cannot occur more than once every 3 seconds.” The rest of the passive’s effect remains the same.

Powertech / Vanguard

Adjusted timing of some ability grants to smooth out the leveling experience.
Stealth Scan has been redesigned and renamed “Terminator Droid”. In addition to revealing stealthed enemies it also slows them and decreases their accuracy
- New! Terminator Droid/Suppression Droid – Fires off a Terminator Droid to scan the area for 15, revealing stealthed opponents and immobilizing them for 3 seconds. In addition, all enemies inside the field of the Terminator Droid have their accuracy reduced by 20% and are slowed by 30%.
New! Stealth Scan has its cooldown increased to 20 seconds up from 15.
- Notes from Devs:
  - This is the full tooltip for the Stealth Scan change for Powertechs/Vanguards, hopefully this clears up any confusion anyone has on the effects of the ability.
Neural Trigger tactical now roots the target instead of stuns.

Advanced Prototype/Tactics:

Prototype Rail / High Friction Bolts now restore 6 heat / energy when their effect is triggered (up from 5).
New! Prototype Weapon Systems/Havoc Training – Increases the critical strike damage bonus of Rocket Punch, Rail Shot, Magnetic Blast, Retractable Blade, Thermal Detonator, and Energy Burst by 15% up from 10%.
Energized Blade Tactical has been redesigned and renamed Energized Vambrace It does the following:
- New Change in Wording! Gaining an Energy Lode stack increases the damage on Retractable Blade’s / Gut’s bleed and increases the damage of Magnetic Blast / Tactical Surge 5% for 10 seconds. Stacks up to 4 times.
- Note from Devs:
  - After looking through some feedback, data, and some experimentation on PTS with the tactical, it had become clear that too much power was placed on it. To compensate, we removed Energy Burst and Rail Shot from the damage bonus and shifted a buff to the critical damage on various abilities. This should help keep the power distributed and open the door for more itemization for Advanced Prototype/Tactics.

Note from Devs:
- Powertech/Vanguards effects are also being applied with the same goal of making Stealth Scan less niche and provide more benefits in a wider variety of scenarios. Powertech/Vanguards lean more toward a support buff with the reduced accuracy because of their class identity as a tank.
- “Terminator Droid” is competing with fairly strong defensive and offensive choices across the skill trees for the Powertech/Vanguard. The accuracy reduction will not apply to Operation Bosses.

Mercenary / Commando

Adjusted timing of some ability grants to smooth out the leveling experience.
Stealth Scan has been redesigned and renamed “Hunter Killer Droid”. In addition to revealing stealthed enemies, it also reduces the casters damage taken while stunned.
- New! Hunter Killer Droid / Advanced Recon Droid – Fires off probes that scan the area for stealth opponents for 15 seconds and grants Droid Overwatch which increases your damage reduction while stunned by 30%. Revealed targets are immobilized and all enemies within the field are slowed by 30%.
- Note from Devs:
  - The damage reduction while stunned is designed to have a lengthy uptime for the following reasons:
    - The other options it is competing with are all also strong.
    - We wanted this mod to be a anti-stealth choice for players and provide some additional benefits beyond revealing a stealth player and a slow that does not apply any hindrance to the target.
    - The immobilization effect only occurs if the Mercenary/Commando reveals the target.
  - This change is also targeted at making Stealth Scan less of a niche option and have more application in more scenarios in PVP.
New! Stealth Scan’s cooldown is increased by 20 seconds up from 15.
- Notes from Devs:
  - This is the full tooltip for the Stealth Scan change for Mercenary/Commandos, hopefully this clears up any confusion anyone has on the effects of the ability.
The Random Charge Legendary has been redesigned and renamed to Overcharged Cells. It now does the following:
- Priming Shot / Vortex Bolt, Thermal Detonator / Assault Plastique, and Healing Scan / Advanced Medical Probe generate 3 Supercharges. This effect has a rate limit of 15 seconds.
- Note from Devs:
  - Thermal Detonator applies the 3 charges of Supercharge when it deals direct damage. Also the rate limit will adjust to the abilities cooldown for Priming Shot and Thermal Detonator.

Arsenal/Gunnery:

Supercharged Gas / Supercharged Cells has been renamed to High Velocity Supercharged Gas / High Velocity Supercharged Cells
Duration of High Velocity Supercharged Gas / High Velocity Supercharged Cells has been increased by 4 seconds.

Bodyguard/Combat Medic:

Supercharged Gas has been renamed to Supercharged Kolto Gas.

Sniper / Gunslinger

New Change! Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement is now granted at level 43 for all Snipers / Gunslingers, and the knockback effect has been moved to Sniper Pillbox/Lay Low utility choice.
New! The knockback for Series of Shots/Speed shot and Penetrating Blasts/Penetrating Rounds has been moved to Sniper Pillbox/Lay Low from Ruthless Efficiency/ Efficient Ammo.
- Notes from Devs:
  - After looking through the feedback and seeing some data from PTS we found that the knockback changes synergize better on Sniper Pillbox/Lay Low over Ruthless Efficiency/Efficient Ammo for both PvE and PvP players.
Reestablish Range / Reset Engagement has been replaced by Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure as the level 64 choice on the ability tree for all snipers.
New! Vital Regulators / Cool Under Pressure will have its healing increased to 3% of your maximum HP every 2 seconds while in cover.
The knockback effect that used to be Reestablished Range will be placed on Ruthless Efficiency.
- Notes from Devs:
  - Our intent for the change to the knockback was primarily done so that players in PVE would not accidentally move mobs out of the group’s range or into dangerous spots that could potentially kill the group.
  - We shifted this effect to the utility Ruthless Efficiency, so that players can opt into the previous playstyle with the knockback, the heal while in cover, or Damage Reduction.
***Some notes may override others. As the main list on the forums gets corrected, I will also update here.

Marksmanship/Sharpshooter:

Targeted Ambush / Hotshot now trigger from killing an enemy within three seconds of damaging them with Ambush / Aimed Shot.

Virulence/Dirty Fighting:

Corrosive Refund / Scrounging has been redesigned. It now causes Corrosive Grenade / Shrap Bomb to refund 2 energy each time it ticks.

Operative / Scoundrel

Medicine/Sawbones:

Medicine Operative’s / Sawbones Scoundrel’s version of Tactical Overdrive / Hot Streak now grants interrupt immunity while it is active.

Lethality/Ruffian:

Corrosive Return / Brutal Return no longer extends the duration of Stim Boost / Pugnacity by 5 seconds.
The Viral Elements tactical no longer causes Lethal Strike / Point Blank Shot to hit the primary target twice.

Concealment/Scrapper:

The Best Defense mod’s lifesteal effect has been improved.