Grading At-Will Powers

[keterys]

This exercise was primarily focused on establishing guidelines for power design. It generated some interesting debate and is probably useful for DMs and players alike for comparing powers. While this post deals with at-wills, you may be interested in the daily or encounter powers here.

All powers are graded assuming they are used effectively - if a power requires a second person in melee to work, don't take it in a party with no other melee. In many cases you'll find that personal preference varies from these grades - while a power may be extraordinary in theory or combined with the right build or party, take the power that is most fun for you!

Grades
A - Excellent. This power brings something special to the table in terms of tactical ability or damage output. It may be too powerful, especially in the hands of the wrong class.
B - Good. This is a solid power. Most powers should fall into this grade.
C - Okay. This power is certainly adequate but pales somewhat in comparison to other powers.
D - Poor. This power is certainly usable (and may even excel in certain rare situations), but is definitely lacking compared to other options.
F - Compares extremely poorly to other powers and should likely be improved or ignored.

A+ powers in particular are at a dangerous balance level. If designing a new power and it is on par, or better, than an A+, most likely you should go back to the drawing board and tweak some things.

B- is what I considered the baseline for comparison of powers. A bit worse and it's in the C territory, but a fair amount of distance to get into the A range.

*CLERIC*
B+ / Lance of Faith
C- / Priest's Shield
A+ / Righteous Brand
A- / Sacred Flame

*FIGHTER*
B- / Cleave
B- / Reaping Strike
F / Sure Strike (could be worked into a build that lets you use at-wills for OAs or purely as a minion killing maneuver)
B / Tide of Iron

*PALADIN*
B- / Bolstering Strike
B / Enfeebling Strike
B+ / Holy Strike
B / Valiant Strike

*RANGER*
F / Careful Strike
C- / Hit and Run
B / Nimble Strike
A+ / Twin Strike

*ROGUE*
B- / Deft Strike
B+ / Piercing Strike
B- / Riposte Strike
B- / Sly Flourish

*WARLOCK*
B+ / Dire Radiance
B- / Eldritch Blast
B+ / Eyebite
B+ / Hellish Rebuke

*WARLORD*
B- / Commander's Strike
B+ / Furious Smash
B- / Viper's Strike
B / Wolf Pack Tactics

*WIZARD*
B+ / Cloud of Daggers
B- / Magic Missile
B- / Ray of Frost
A / Scorching Burst
A / Thunderwave
B / Illusionary Ambush

 

[Puggins]

Great thread!

My comments on the wizard dailies, which are the ones I'm most familiar with:

* Cloud of Daggers (you: 7, Me: 6) Good spell for control wizards- you'll get a fairly reasonable hit, and you create an obstacle. Perfectly viable, just not spectacular.

* Magic Missile (you: 6, Me: 4) Sorry, the "basic missile attack" property on this one isn't enough of a perk to save this one. It's the clunker of the lot.

* Ray of Frost (you: 6, Me: 7) I like ray of frost quite a bit. Slowing an opponent prevents a melee attack from him a nice chunk of the time. Lots of tactical possibilities. Perfect to prevent someone from fleeing.

* Scorching Burst (you: 8, Me: 9) This is the winner of the bunch, as far as I'm concerned. At-will minion-clearing combined with comparable damage to the other at-wills. Awesome.

* Thunderwave (you: 9, Me: 7) Very good spell- one that I'll experiment with, I'm sure. But there are a couple of warning lights here: it's a close burst, which makes it an CYA power more than anything else (not that there's anything wrong with that); It's also an attack versus fortitude, which isn't optimal against brutes, who tend to have low reflex but high fortitude saves. Several that I've seen have forts higher than their AC. Since this is the class you'd most want to push away, I wouldn't call this ideal.

* Illusionary Foes (You: 7, Me: 7) It's the wizard's only will attack in at-will powers. That alone gives it a nudge. The -2 attacks is nice to help out your front line. I think it's a notch below ray of frost, but barely so, and the two spells occupy different niches anyway.

 

[Falling Icicle]

* Magic Missile (you: 6, Me: 4) Sorry, the "basic missile attack" property on this one isn't enough of a perk to save this one. It's the clunker of the lot.

I disagree with you about Magic Missile. The most important advantage it has is not the ability to be used as a ranged basic attack, but rather its 20 square range. That's double the range of all the other wizard ranged at-wills! It's also 2nd highest in damage potential (exceeded only by cloud of daggers if one has a really good Wisdom). My Wizard picked Magic Missile and Scorching Burst and has never looked back. We've only been playing a couple weeaks and that 20 square range has been useful several times already.

 

[Pickles JG]

Twin strike is an 11

 

[Falling Icicle]

Twin strike is an 11

Nah, if you look carefully, you don't add your ability modifier to the damage of either attack, so it's actually kinda crappy, IMO. Once your ability modifier exceeds 5, on average you'll be doing more damage with a basic attack than with Twin Strike...

 

[Minigiant]

I disagree with the wizard at wills

3/ Cloud of Daggers (it's a decent obstacle but very situational)
4/ Magic Missile (Ranged 20 is overrated. You'll eventually have to move up for the other powers)
10/ Ray of Frost (At will spammable slow? Mr. Brute ain't doing diddly 'til turn 4)
7/ Scorching Burst (AOE damage for minions and spamming)
9 / Thunderwave (Push everyone in the same direction and AOE)
7 / Illusionary Foes (Only vs Will and actually does something to artilleries)

Careful Strike is a 1. Twin Strike is a 9.

 

[Pickles JG]

I think that Piercing Strike & Sly Flourish are both good too - extra to hit sometimes & extra damage (in that build).

I think Furious Smash & Commanders Strike are both rather poor. Warlords are really strength dependent & if you rely on giving allies extra attacks it implies theirs are better than yours which implies yours are pretty terrible - which has implications for all of your other powers. The odd Commanders Strike for a rogue/ranger that has not sneak attacked would be an exception, so better for humans who can carry a sitiational power. Mind you they are all situational.

I think you are right for fighters & I have no feel for the others at all (must play more)

Nah, if you look carefully, you don't add your ability modifier to the damage of either attack, so it's actually kinda crappy, IMO. Once your ability modifier exceeds 5, on average you'll be doing more damage with a basic attack than with Twin Strike...

It's the most damaging at will there is once you factor in quarry.

Longbow basic attack does d10+5
Longbow twin strike does 2d10 but you have twice the chance of getting your quarry bonus. (or at 50% hit rate actually 25% more - it's less good against really easy targets.)

It doubles the benefits from all damage buffs that are not attrribute modifiers.

It will kill precisely twice as many minions as any at will except Cleave & the wizard ones.

 

[DemonLord57]

Nah, if you look carefully, you don't add your ability modifier to the damage of either attack, so it's actually kinda crappy, IMO. Once your ability modifier exceeds 5, on average you'll be doing more damage with a basic attack than with Twin Strike...

You are dismissing all of the other bonuses to damage rolls. This is not a good idea, as it can be (and likely will be) extremely significant.

As for my evaluations:
Cleric
Lance of Faith - 6
Priest's Shield - 5
Righteous Brand - 10
Sacred Flame - 9

Fighter
Cleave - 4
Reaping Strike - 4
Sure Strike - 2
Tide of Iron - 6

Paladin
Bolstering Strike - 7
Enfeebling Strike - 7
Holy Strike - 4
Valiant Strike - 5

Ranger
Careful Strike - 1 (they have Twin Strike, Fighters do not)
Hit and Run - 6
Nimble Strike - 7
Twin Strike - 9

RogueDeft Strike - 5
Piercing Strike - 5
Riposte Strike - 4
Sly Flourish - 4

Warlock
Dire Radiance- 4
Eldritch Blast - 5
Eyebite - 5
Hellish Rebuke - 4

Warlord
Commander's Strike - 6
Furious Smash - 8
Viper's Strike - 7
Wolf Pack Tactics - 7

Wizard
Cloud of Daggers - 3
Magic Missile - 3
Ray of Frost - 5
Scorching Burst - 7
Thunderwave - 8
Illusory Ambush - 7

 

[Mengu]

You have them mostly in the same ballpark I would grade them in. The ones I somewhat disagree with:

Score / Power
*CLERIC*
6 / Lance of Faith - should be a 7, as good as Sacred Flame, frequently better.
10 / Righteous Brand - should be a 9, not quite the best at-will.
*FIGHTER*
6 / Reaping Strike - should be 7 or 8, since it results in very high expected damage values.
*PALADIN*
6 / Valiant Strike - should be higher than Holy Strike, 7 is good
*RANGER*
8 / Twin Strike - if any at-will deserves a 10, this is it.
*ROGUE*
5 / Deft Strike - at least a 6, if not a 7. Being able to combine extra movement with a move action is fantastic.
6 / Piercing Strike - at least a 7, if not an 8. No other at-will targeting reflex gains weapon proficiency bonuses.
6 / Riposte Strike - should probably be a 7, extra attacks aren't easy to come by.
*WARLOCK*
6 / Dire Radiance - should be a 7, it puts an enemy between a rock and a hard place.
*WIZARD*
6 / Ray of Frost - should be a 5, slow very situationally comes into play.
9 / Thunderwave - should be lower, maybe 7, Close blasts are scary for the wizard, Scorching Burst is much more convenient to use.

 

[bganon]

I just want to second that Piercing Strike is very good. A 1st-level rogue can fairly easily get a +8 vs Ref attack with this (18 Dex, use a dagger), which is pretty amazing.