Home/Specialisation Deep-Dives/Demolitionist
Specialisation Deep-Dives

Demolitionist

Review signals

Start with the scale and shape of the thread before reading the asks.

13 Messages excluding OP
9 Participants unique contributors
9 Reactions thread total
5 Primary asks Balance Change / Rework Request

Summary and sentiment

The short read before diving into the detailed asks and evidence.

Overall summary

Players broadly agree that Demolitionist underperforms relative to other specializations, particularly in the HE Munitions and Field Grenadier specs.

Feedback splits into two camps: general damage/cooldown buffs to bring Demo in line with other DPS classes, and a deeper rework of Field Grenadier's talent tree, which players argue is internally inconsistent — its playstyle relies on skill casts, but its talents are proc-chance-based and its cooldowns are too long to reliably trigger those procs.

Sentiment read

Players who main Demolitionist are genuinely frustrated. @tibballt notes that Vanguards "blow us out the water with no effort" and that Pharma feels meaningfully better without optimization. @imajes flags a concerning balance signal: switching to Field Grenadier with completely wrong gear only costs 200 power, implying spec investment has minimal impact.

The most composed and analytical post comes from @sedoi3143, who argues Demo is actually the most balanced class but suffers because other classes have broken mechanics — a minority view, but a thoughtful one that a dev should weigh.

The Grenade Launcher ult being overpowered in PvP is the only contrary data point (one player thinks it's too strong; everyone else thinks the class is too weak in PvE).

Primary asks

Actionable requests extracted from the synthesis.

#01
Balance

Increase overall damage output for Demolitionist (turret, seeker mine, grenade launcher) to close the gap with Vanguard and other DPS specs

Raised by
tib
Echoed by
Revoker, zoner41der, liekong, Sedoidead
#02
Rework

Rework Field Grenadier's talent tree to align with the spec's actual playstyle (skill-cast-centric, not proc-chance-based)

Raised by
zoner41der
Echoed by
iRaze
#03
Balance

Allow Field Grenadier / Firepower-scaling skills (grenades, mortar) to benefit from Firepower stat rather than only Engineering

Raised by
zoner41der
Echoed by
(implicit in @imajes's observation that power delta between specs is too small)
#04
Bug / Balance

Fix drop rates for Demo skill-triggered kills to match weapon kills

Raised by
imajes
Echoed by
(not echoed explicitly)
#05
Balance

Add a second turret, or increase the turret's attack speed / damage to compensate for it being both slow and weak

Raised by
Sedoidead
Echoed by
Terror (rate of fire angle), liekong

Community voices

Representative comments preserved from the synthesis.

Voice 01 Discord message
Demo HE definitely feels lacking when compared to other dps classes. I would like to see more damage or better frequency of skills to help us keep up with other classes. As it stands vanguards blow us out the water with no effort and from my testing pharma feels much better to use.
tib Jun 4, 2026
Why it matters

Frames the core complaint and provides a specific benchmark (Vanguard outperforming Demo with "no effort").

Voice 02 Discord message
I have a fine tuned HE Munitions build: correct gear sets and skill mods, etc. When i switch to Field Grenadier, with the completely wrong gear, bad skill sets... my power only drops by 200. That seems far too small.
imajes Jun 4, 2026
Why it matters

A concrete, testable observation that suggests spec differentiation is broken at a mechanical level.

Voice 03 Discord message
in FIELD GRENADIER, There is a talent called (Air Burst), it says 'Grants 27% chance of adding 1 additional stack(s) of FIERY when hitting an enemy with a Skill or Grenade.' Bruh as if Demolitionist Skills has low cooldowns to proc this 27% chance?
iRaze Jun 14, 2026 2 reactions
Why it matters

The clearest articulation of the Field Grenadier design contradiction: the talent tree assumes frequent skill casts, but the actual cooldowns make that impossible.

Voice 04 Discord message
The problem with this class is that it's actually balanced, unlike all the others... Either Demos needs to be improved or everyone else needs to be leveled up against him, because, again, if your game didn't have such powerful characters and builds with DBS, all classes would be at least equal.
Sedoidead Jun 17, 2026
Why it matters

A dissenting but well-reasoned view: Demo's issues may be systemic rather than class-specific. Worth flagging for balance discussion.

Dev notes

Editorial synthesis for developer review.

The Demolitionist thread reveals two distinct but related problems. The first is a general damage deficit across the class — turrets, seeker mines, and grenade skills all feel underpowered compared to equivalent investment in other specs. This is broadly agreed upon and would be addressed by targeted damage buffs.

The second is a deeper design problem with Field Grenadier specifically: its talent tree is built around proc-chance triggers that assume frequent skill activations, but the spec's own cooldown structure prevents those procs from firing reliably.

This is a coherence issue, not just a numbers issue, and @ecoboi articulates it precisely.

The one complicating factor is the PvP outlier: @contracept believes the Grenade Launcher ult is overpowered in PvP due to its stun + damage combination. A dev would need to consider whether buffs to the class's general damage output could make this ult even more problematic in PvP, potentially requiring the PvP balance to be handled separately.

The low reaction count suggests this thread reached Demo mains but didn't spill over into the broader community — likely because casual players don't feel the pain as acutely or are playing other specs. The feedback here should be weighted as specialist input from engaged class players rather than broad community consensus.