[State of Rogue 3rd spell] // imbalance since start of S0

We can clearly see currently that the phantom dagger changes have absolutely changed nothing in the balance and overall usage of the 3 rogue spells (Phantom dagger - grapple - visage)

Even though phantom dagger recieved a (relatively) significant nerf on the root system, which we can now dodge (unreliably); it recieved several buffs that had no reason to even be :
- 2 pips instead of 1 (when grapple used to be the only spell out of the three to deal 2 pip damage, indirect nerf to grapple)
- Stealth when tping on the target : On top of making it “safer” to tp on an ennemy because now you get stealthed; unaware players will not even be able to spot you; it also now regens adrenaline because of the stealth status. (grapple used to be the only spell able to regen adrenaline while casting it, another indirect nerf to grapple)

Now let’s compare the strenghts and weaknesses of each spell :

Phantom dagger strengths :
- Instant cast

- no commitment required on cast, deals roughly 250 damage, up to 350 in epics
- Invulnerability while tping to target
- quite decent pip damage from range
- good chase and gap closer
- abiility to wait out / pressure ennemy for 10 seconds before commiting
- Adrenaline regen (can even be to full adrenaline if you stay in stealth on a dodged root)
- Can regen mana even without commiting to the spell, effectively making it a 0 mana cost spell if you wait out 10 seconds.
- no cooldown if tp isn’t used
- Strong in both ranged and melee matchups
- can teleport through any structure and walls, effectively making it impossible for the ennemy to react and dodge
- Pretty much the easier and safest choice into any matchup currently

Phantom dagger weaknesses :
- can be blocked

Grapple strenghts :
- Decent chase, even if blocked
- no cooldown
- decent pip damage
- Can knockdown if ennemy is in the air
- Unstoppable near the end of the spell

Grapple weaknesses :
- 2 step attack that is very telegraphed and easy to dodge the main damage

- animation lock on cast and on arrival
- no invulnerability during the cast and fly time, means any class can just counter cast in our face and we will eat full damage.
- basically no damage on the first tick
- forced to commit on the spell once casted
- second tick can be blocked, nullifying totally the damage and making it only a 1 pip dmg spell if the first tick wasn’t blocked.
- Weak in melee matchups (mainly due to long animation time)

Visage strengths
- Strong into melee matchups
- Can regen mana while visage is running away
- instant cast
- strong survivability / reset potential
- cannot destroy the clone / counter the tp

Visage weaknesses
- No utility in ranged matchups (very easy to dodge)
- the location of the tp is easily readable
- need to be in melee to use it, potentially putting yourself at risk.
- no pip damage
- can be blocked

Conclusion : it seems like the change to the root system of PD didn’t affect at all it’s overall usage over the other 2 spells. and it even recieved unnecessary buffs on the adrenaline regen and pip damage department.
It is still the favored choice in 90% matchups because of how easy and safe it is to use, making it a decent damage spell even if there is no commitment to teleporting on the ennemy.

Phantom dagger is just overperforming in too many departments when other spells feel like they have clear positives and negatives, phantom dagger simply doesn’t have drawbacks currently.

Future of rogue spells ? :
The state of phantom dagger clearly makes it look like it needs some small but significative nerfs to it’s quality of life usage; while Visage (which feels decently balanced) and Grapple do feel really left behind in term of quality of life and features.

Phantom dagger has everything going for it, and in it’s current state it will always remain the default choice, effectively deleting any gameplay variety in the rogue loop.
There needs to be some quality of life changes (and obviously buf fixes) made to visage and grapple, making them actually attractive choices both for beginners and seasoned veterans. Hopefully this would be accompanied by some soft nerfs to phantom dagger, which is currently a nobrainer in overall any matchup.

Thank you for reading !