I know Sentinel is in for re-works for the next patch (or few). I am curious if one of the things being reworked is lunge. Having the primary movement skill linked to targeting an enemy makes it very bad for getting out of harms way, which, to me, is the primary function of a movement skill - your ‘oh shit’ button. Even if its worked into the passives and requires skill tree investment.
Smite’s node which transforms it into a movement skill suffers from the same issue. So the only move-quickly skill Sentinel has in it’s tool kit that doesn’t need to target an enemy is Shield Rush which… is… also not ideal for quickly dodging.
Just curious if this has come across the table at all.
You can also target other things. If a barrel is nearby for instance you can lunge it. Lunge should need a target, because that’s the point of the skill. If you compare it to skills in PoE, it’s ambush. It’s not meant to be used to escape, it’s meant to be used to get into the fight.
I’m not opposed to the idea of having just a button that does a generic movement like they do in Wolcen though. They have it setup to have charges so you can’t just spam it, without needing it to be a skill.
As @Revelasti pointed out, the way you are trying to use Lunge does not line up with what Lunge’s purpose is. It is a combat initiator. It is for getting into harm’s way, not out of it.
Personally, I’d rather see fewer targetless movement skills - not more. I think it’s healthier for the game in the long run. Prominent use of movement skills to dodge mechanics says, to me, that the mechanics have been designed poorly. But I’ve not encountered anything in LE so far that was both too ugly to survive and too poorly telegraphed to run away from.
