Mercy Stroke pretty useless for WAR?

[TheodoreMcIntyre]

In WAR's case, it's damn near impossible to time it so that Mercy Stroke to be the final hit, especially now that the average level 50 DPS is going up and up and up. I get that it's useful on other classes like Dragoon, but, on WAR?
The added damage is so incredibly negligible when you factor in that you can only use it the last 20% of the fight and you almost never get it to go off for an added heal.
Mercy Stroke has two main uses as a skill:
Added damage
A healing factor

But WAR doesn't really get to make use of either of those, so what's the point of it? It seems like a pretty big waste of a skill. Especially when you consider that the two skills you get before and after it are Berserk and Butcher's Block, two incredibly useful skills that actually help with tanking.
So can Mercy Stroke get a buff or different effect that would actually make it useful for warriors? Something that would actually help with tanking?

[SpookyGhost]

It's an absolutely 0 cost 200 potency attack on a 40s recast. The heal is pretty useless because of it's requirement, but the extra damage is nothing to scoff at. It would be nice to see a buff to Enhanced Mercy Stroke that moves the healing mechanic to the attack itself rather than only the killing blow.

[TheodoreMcIntyre]

I wouldn't scoff so much at the extra damage if it wasn't so horribly limited by two things:
WAR's extremely low attack strength (At least, compared to classes who really get to make use of it, like MNK or DRG)
The fact that you can only use it for 1/5th of the fight and only every 40s.
The combination of these things means you only get a little bit of damage out in the short period you can use it in most dungeons or instances. I mean, on a fight like Levi EX, 20% means you'll only be in that fight for a couple more minutes. You'll end up using it only about three times, in my experience.
That vastly limits the amount of extra damage it actually is worth and still doesn't really change that, for WAR, it's a pretty underwhelming skill and doesn't help Warriors tank much at all.

[SpookyGhost]

As it is an offensive ability, it does tend to lend itself better to DPS jobs, that's true. Though there are a few things to note:

1.) Cross-classed Mercy Stroke has a 90s recast time, whereas with the trait from MRD it has a 40s recast. In the time that it will take a MNK/DRG's Mercy Stroke to be back up for a second go, the WAR will have already done 2 and 10s into building a 3rd.
2.) While it does only become active at 1/5th of the fight, this doesn't take into account hard hitting adds. Getting those killed ASAP is pertinent to maintaining up time on the boss. So the quicker the adds die, the quicker the DPS and yourself can get back to the boss.
3.) Typically a boss nearing the end of it's life is when it's at its most dangerous. Bursting it down at this point is a good idea and Mercy Stroke really shines at this point of the fight. If you could just use it whenever it'd need to be retooled or it would be an incredibly large DPS increase over the entire fight at 0 cost (similar to Heavy Swing, but imagine a free 150 pot attack every 15s and a free 200 potency attack every 40s. That adds up fairly quickly).

I think adding an actually useful buff to the ability is fine, but I don't think we'd get a very useful one if they had to retool it to be used the entire fight. 20% of your max HP is a pretty large heal and I'd rather have that and the limitations on the damage, than a much smaller heal every 40s throughout the fight. It would at least give us a reason to maybe hang on to Mercy Stroke for that extra heal rather than using it every time it's up.

[TheodoreMcIntyre]

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I think that if they were to retool it, they should go into the Enhanced Mercy Stroke trait and have it do one of two things:
1) Debuff the enemy, either their outgoing damage or with a small vulnerability up debuff or something
2) Heal you at least a little bit without having to be the last attack
I mean, I'm sure there's other, better ways. Those are just the ones that seem like the most obvious to me , though.
As it stands, it's not a great tank skill.
A good DPS skill, sure. And it's worth using whenever it's off cooldown, yeah.
But it doesn't do anything for WAR's ability to tank, so it makes it a pretty underwhelming tank skill.

[Haprimac]

I like it simply for the fact that some of my DD friends like to leave mobs with 1% health, because they "don't wanna waste their skills on a near dead mob", so I get to finish them off without wasting TP on overpower or something. x')

[MartaDemireux]

Don't forget that added DPS is also a direct increase in your enmity. The more you DPS the more enmity you gain. Look at it that way instead of a mitigation ability. It's a quick off GCD burst of added enmity when the DPS will be really hammering out their numbers to get the job done, making it somewhat easier to maintain the target's aggression, especially during a non-enhanced-enmity combo.

[Steady]

The art of using Mercy Stroke for healing reminds me of timing Ripostes/Parry in Dark Souls/Demon Souls. I get the most use of it in dungeons, the rest of the time it's just kinda there.

[TheodoreMcIntyre]

Don't forget that added DPS is also a direct increase in your enmity. The more you DPS the more enmity you gain. Look at it that way instead of a mitigation ability. It's a quick off GCD burst of added enmity when the DPS will be really hammering out their numbers to get the job done, making it somewhat easier to maintain the target's aggression, especially during a non-enhanced-enmity combo.

Well sure, but the amount of enmity it actually adds is wholly negligible, practically nothing at the last 20% of a fight.
I mean in my experience, in a fight like Levi EX or Ifrit EX, my aggro is already well-established at the 20% mark. The tiny amount of hate it generates at that point probably wouldn't even show up on the bar.

[MartaDemireux]

But you then also have to take into account that perhaps you weren't main tank for the fight and the healer derped letting the main tank die and you have to pick up where they left off. Any extra enmity at all is much welcomed then after the initial provoke, especially off GCD.