Originally Posted by
soulholder
Someone else said otherwise a few days ago, so I just assumed this was the case. They also cut sepa viability dramatically if this is the case given the potency of the evolve passives and how things like hp/mp leech cannot be achieved otherwise in-game without the ludicrously-expensive options, not to mention overall reducing the number of important skills separation utilized. The Evolve passives really just needed to be made baseline or buffs, sadly. I think evolve running a dagger is probably better-off still over separation, particularly when studying the cut defensive stats.
The big differences here are Toxic Pot, Silence Shot, and Cataclysm's utility gains and how skills now are applied within Siege Shot's bonus damage (it boosts RA directly now). Speed Wind is seemingly a waste of points with how poor the attack speed on the crossbow is despite the increase. It definitively makes DPH on skills huge when added onto Death Chaser. Root + Ensnare means 12s of straight immob to your target enabling a safe 1v1 siege shot, allowing for Toxic Pot -> Silence -> Cataclysm -> DC -> 1pt Bleeding/PPierce -> Murder Shot -> Double Strike -> Strip Shot -> Crit Shot back into another Root -> Double Strike with intermittent AA's and PPierces. It's a huge sum of damage to say the least. The lack of any good defense is a major issue however, especially considering the aforementioned abilities only have purpose in PvP environments against isolated targets, and make the ranger itself pretty much a sitting duck for anything more than a 1v1.