[Fanmade] Iron Claw Rework

[eu7Ka]

KFM 3rd spec has been out for ages and for a good while it has been overshadowed by other specs and classes. KR has pretty much left the spec alone besides the minor buff from upgrading to the tier 3 bracelet found in CC. Instead of complaining, I've decided to come up with some ideas based on my experiences playing the spec and its apparent weaknesses/major flaws. I will try to make this unbiased and fair as possible without making it extremely overpowered. If you have any criticism or questions please reply.

 

Skills

• Simple mode priority in human form is now Iron Elbow > Twin Palm > Feral Palm
• Combined Master of War and Fist of Iron
• Thirst for Blood
  • Titan Stance grants 10% extra movement speed
  • Titan Surge combos are usable within a 5m radius and no longer deal additional player damage
  • Titan Surge damage decreased significantly
  • Tiger's Pounce now has a 9 second cooldown
• First row, talent #3 is renamed to Iron Hammer
  • Searing Stomp will now knock up targets
    • Searing Stomp damage is significantly decreased on Iron Hammer spec
  • Rising Kick and Falling Star damage increased on Iron Hammer spec
  • Smite is available for use on Iron Hammer spec
  • Flying Slam is available for use on Iron Hammer spec
  • Titan Stance grants 10% extra movement speed
  • Titan Surge combos are usable within a 5m radius and no longer deal additional player damage
  • Titan Surge damage decreased significantly
• Beast Within passive effect reworked, renamed to Iron Beast
  • Removed 65 boss AP while in Wolf Form
  • Iron Beast now activates 25% damage reduction, 10% increase of movement speed, 10% critical hit rate, and 5% critical damage
• Dire Wolf, Blood Wolf, and Timber Wolf
  • Wolf Form is now available on the 'TAB' key instead of the 'V' key on use of Fighting Spirit or Counter
  • Removed damage reduction from Dire Wolf, Blood Wolf, and Timber Wolf
  • All forms of Wolf now increase movement speed by 50% instead of 60%
  • Dire Wolf now resists status and damage effects for 5 times throughout its duration
    • Usage of Chase and Prowl now requires a distance of 5m instead of 3m
  • Blood Wolf now resists status and damage effects for 3 times throughout its duration
  • Timber Wolf resists status and damage effects for 1.5 seconds on use of Chase and Prowl
  • Fighting Spirit is now available on the 'TAB' key
  • Howl now has a faster animation
  • Claw's equalized PvP value is set to x0.80
  • Iron Paw's equalized PvP value is set to x0.80
  • Pack Frenzy
    • Activates the Iron Beast effect for 10 seconds on hit (each successful hit out of 20 counts)
    • Is able to transition into other skills more quickly
    • Equalized PvP value is set to x0.80
  • "Roar" is available on the 'Z' key
    • Increases movement speed and damage reduction by 15% for 10 seconds and resets the cooldown of Maul
    • 15 second cooldown, unable to reset cooldown
    • Deals damage (half of Howl's) in a 16m radius, pierces defense and parry
  • "Taunt" is available on the 'X' key 
    • Increases threat by 250% for 3 minutes
    • 30 second cooldown
  • "Hunt" is available on the 'C' key
    • Dash 8m forwards, knocks hostile targets down for 2 seconds within a 3m radius of the dash
    • Pierces parry
    • 18 second cooldown, shares cooldown with Leg Sweep
  • "Human Form" (change stance) is now available on the 'V' key
  • Roll Over now moves back 4m instead of 9m
  • All forms of Wolf are now able to be reset by Alpha Call
• Titan Stance
  • Rebinded to 'V'
  • Activates Iron Beast for 20 seconds on use
  • Chakra is now gained on use of Dire Fist instead of on hit
  • Resists damage and status effects for 1 second on activation
  • Counter is now usable instead of Iron Arm
  • Strong Right now has a slightly faster animation and is unaffected by chill, freeze, block approach, and parry
  • Twisted Metal combos resist knockback and knockup, removed additional player damage
  • Any variation of Dire Fist no longer disappears after a successful combo (bug fix)
  • Any variation of Dire Fist no longer disappears after skill use (bug fix)
• Rising Dragon now procs Rampage stage 2 instead of stage 1
• Searing Stomp now procs Rampage stage 2 instead of stage 1
• Rampage
  • All stages of Rampage now inflict 1 stack of bleed
  • All stages of Rampage now stack 3 Titan Ire when Iron Beast is active
  • All stages of Rampage transition into other animations more fluidly and cast faster
  • Rampage stage 1 no longer displaces the player to the left or right (bug fix)
  • Rampage stage 1 now pierces parry
  • All variations of Rampage stage 2 and 3 are usable from 5m
  • Resist variation has decreased damage
  • Rampage stage 2 and 3 have priority over Titan Stance
• War Cry now has priority over Feral Palm when simple mode is active (bug fix)
• Shadow Dance left dash radius is now 4m and now activates Iron Beast on resist for 8 seconds
• Footwork right dash radius is now 4m and now activates Iron Beast on resist for 8 seconds
• Backstep now activates Iron Beast on resist for 8 seconds

 

Gear

• Raid weapons now have an extra 50% of attack power as additional damage on Iron Paw for all tiers
• Avenging Palm and and Fearless Dragon Soulshields
  • Now increases damage by 110% per set effect on Incinerate, Searing Stomp, and Pack Frenzy, down from 120% per set effect
  • Now increases Iron Paw damage by 40% per set effect, down from 50% per set effect
  • Now increases Claw damage by 20% per set effect
• All effects and modifiers from Incinerate also apply to Backhammer
• Prowess and Exhilaration Soul Badges increase the duration of Titan Stance to 10 seconds
• Soul Badge effects will now properly apply to the Wrath of the Titan talent (bug fix)
• Retaliation Soul Badge
  • No longer grants invincibility for 10 seconds
  • Grants an additional 20% damage reduction to the Iron Beast passive
  • Flurry and Howl resist damage and status effect throughout their duration when the Thirst for Blood talent is active

 

Visuals

• Decreased particle effects from Wolf form and Legendary Mystic Badges
• Wolf animations now have more weight
• Removed dog-like noises from Wolf form
• Wolf forms no longer have the colored circle effect
• Wolf appearance is now leaner and no longer affected by race
  • Dire Wolf = light
  • Blood Wolf = dark
  • Timber = neutral/mixed/gray

 

For PvE, I've emphasized more sustain damage since Iron Claw's burst is pretty decent. The new passive and slight raid weapon buff should increase the burst a decent amount while still keeping it balanced and in-line with other classes. Titan Stance does a lot of damage (it's one trick) and is essential to the rotation but it's a nuisance to use especially for tanking. I took a property from Wolf and added it to the Twisted Metal combos and activated the passive on use for easier tanking; in exchange I've removed additional player damage for PvP reasons. I've reworked Exhilaration as well to be more compatible with Titan Stance (2x 7-hit combos with decent ping!!) and to surpass Exemplar. The damage outside of Wolf and Titan was also extremely lacking mainly because people mash lmb, rmb, and F in no apparent order. I've revamped the first row of talents to streamline the rotation and make it more obvious on what to prioritize. Rampage also sucks, all it does is a bit more damage and positions you awkwardly. With my changes to Rampage, it enables an overall smoother and straightforward rotation without "fluff", it's also more compatible with the Exhilaration badge (since that kinda sucks as well due to an average of 2 less Titan Stances per rotation currently). The 20 sec passive grants more damage while making it less dependent on RNG due to crits and Titan Ire. The Wolf reset on Alpha Call and Dire Fist's chakra stacks on use instead of hit is huge in a party setting since Wolf suffers greatly in those scenarios. 

 

For PvP, Wolf is trash except for the absurdly high situational PvE damage and being a cc sponge. Using Wolf and Titan Stance is extremely punishing since those stances are extremely lackluster besides the crazy ass dps. I've added more utility and survivability to Wolf but decreased its damage in PvP. I've made some aspects of it accessible through cooldowns so you don't get rewarded instantly. Its neutral game needed a lot of work so I made the passive have some damage reduction and movement speed. I've made iframe Rampage and Titan Surge combos 5m to aid with desync but decreased their damage to make it more fair against certain classes. I've made Rampage pierce parry because using the approach version is punishing since it's so sluggish and glitchy. I've also put the SS KD back to it's original cooldown because it's just awkward when you're fighting spin classes and they mostly kite everything you throw. For 6v6, its strengths and weaknesses are magnified so these changes help balance it out. I've lowered cheese damage, added utility, and reworked a useless badge while still maintaining pressure in team fights and 1v1s.

 

Let me know what you guys think.

Edited March 27, 2020 by eu7Ka
cleanup, grammar

[yitty10]

/shy