Pickyfan

Thanks for the response. I think I should explain the situations I'm seeing more clearly.

Let me explain two scenarios I'm seeing through my testing.

Scenario A

1. My character is below 50% hp, the passive shield is ready (it's cool down is 0)
2. I don't take damage, so the shield doesn't trigger
3. I have the lethal defense talent and I get a combo kill
4. Lethal defense doesn't trigger. No extra cool down reduction is granted.

Even I get multiple kills in succession with a combo, the talent won't trigger unless the passive seal shield triggers

Scenario B

1. My character is below 50% hp, the passive shield is ready (it's cool down is 0)
2. I take damage once, enough to trigger the shielding from the Seal.
3. I have the lethal defense talent, I get a combo kill
4. Lethal defense triggers and the cool down reduction starts stacking. Multiple combo kills properly reduce the cool down for the shield.

This is very consistent for me

I also noticed that even when the shield is on cooldown, if a combo kills multiple enemies, or if the shield could further decrease cool down reduction, it just doesn't.

This might be intended, but just in case

For example

Scenario C

1. My character is below 50% hp, and the passive shield from the seal is at a cooldown of 50 turns
2. I have the lethal defense +3 talent and I get a combo kill, which according to the talent should reduce the warriors shielding by a flat 100%
3. Instead of reducing the 50 turns and an extra 50 turns, it just refreshes the shielding cool down back to 0.

After that happens, then scenario A will keep happening if I don't take damage, or scenario B will happen if I take even a bit of damage

Scenario D

Same circumstances as the previous scenario, but I use the Crush ability and successfully kill multiple enemies. This should give me cooldown for each enemy killed, but as of now, it just refreshes the cool down to 0.

The shield persisting through the Combo would be a great addition, it would definitely feel better. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm wondering though

The fact that we can't begin stacking Lethal defense until the passive shield triggers. Is it intended? Would it be too strong if the passive had full uptime on top of the Gladiator talent?

I've been doing a LOT of intensive testing myself, and I agree with you on so many points. Your analysis of the playstyle shift is spot-on.

For the Berserker, I think it's in a very good state right now. Its shielding from the passive and the Berserker ability stack perfectly, ensuring not a single point of cooldown goes to waste.

Your points on the Gladiator really resonate with me, I know exactly what you are talking about. I've had similar frustrations with Lethal Defense. My testing shows that the Gladiator is in a bit of a weird state right now because its shielding cooldowns fail to stack in an intuitive way. For example, if the Warrior's passive shield is on its default 100-turn cooldown and you've waited about 90 turns, and then you trigger Lethal Defense +3 (which reduces cooldown by a flat 100%) with a combo kill, it just resets the passive shield's cooldown back to 0. All that passive cooldown progress you had, all those 90 turns, seems to go to waste.

This creates some sort of "shackle" effect. You're either waiting for the passive shield to come off its 100-turn cooldown (and for you to be below 50% HP), or you're using Lethal Defense, which then negates any progress toward that passive shield. It feels like you're constantly fighting against your own defensive mechanics, rather than having them synergize.

Also, another issue is that, even if the shield is off cooldown, you cannot stack shielding unless the shield activates at least once. This also puts some unnecessary risk, which is fine in terms of game difficulty, but it's very counterintuitive.

On a positive note, I did confirm that the Crush ability does trigger Lethal Defense for every enemy killed in its splash radius, which is a great way to get to the -100% cooldown reduction.

I'm not sure whether any of this behavior is intended, or if it's not working properly at the moment, but I want to bring it to Evan's attention. I feel this could use some improvements, especially considering how well the Berserker works now.

I see, I'm looking forward to that. Ferret tufts "dooked" has gotta be my favorite indicator so far.

Thank you so much for the answers, it was very informative.

Yeah, it looks really good, it's a nice addition to the game. I'm excited to see what you do next with accuracy and evasion

I also have some questions if you don't mind

Does the green ribbon actually appear when the item helps a player or enemy avoid an attack? I've seen it appear a surprising amount of times, I didn't know extra evasion triggered that often.

I've noticed the green ribbon icon from the Ferret Tufts also appears with the "Blocked" message in the combat log. Could you explain what the "Blocked" message means in the context of combat mechanics?

Are there plans to expand this kind of visual feedback (like the Ferret Tufts icon) to other item categories or mechanics beyond accuracy/evasion effects in the future?"

Oh yeah, that is true.

Oh yeah, I do remember that. But buffs are always displayed like that.

I meant like some more decorative icons like the ones above, maybe some flavor text as well

Thanks for the answer

That sounds really good. It gives us some good strategic options

I'm loving the new changes to the warrior. This beta is awesome

I understand the passive, and I think it's really good, but I'm trying to figure out how the "Lethal Defense" talent works. I understand that killing with a combo reduces the Seal's cooldown, and that seems to be working well.

But the second part of the talent, I'm having trouble understanding it. It says it reduces cool down by up to -100%, what does that mean exactly? Does it reduce the cool down in a way that it can be activated two times in a row?

I tried it out in a game, andI'm finding it very difficult to test.

I can sort of get the -100% buff but it takes like 3 consecutive kills, all with a combo in order for me to do it. I'm pretty sure I'm doing it wrong.

I also tried just saving my combo and using it to instakill an enemy, but doing that doesn't seem to give me the -100% reduction

Can you help me understand how the talent is supposed to be used?

Awesome

i love this

I see, thank you for the answer 😌

Ooou, I like that, that's really good

I know we are close to the updates so I don't want to ask too many questions, but I am wondering, how will interact with instant shielding abilities like the Gladiator's lethal defense and Liquid willpower? The fading effect will slightly nerf those

Interesting 🤔

Will the shield still be permanent?