by Ferret » Wed Jun 15, 2016 4:54 am
Long answer:
It's a fairly brief effect (randomized from 3-6 turns, which is true of all Mute effects), but also a fairly powerful one: Most targets with magic worth shutting down don't have much else they can do of note while Muted.
For comparison, a direct cast Mute effect (from the Silence ability) only has a 50% chance to land, and does zilch if that fails, unlike Throat Slash which still hits for 70 Power even if the Mute is resisted. Mute in general tends to require a high Cunning investment if you want to bring the %s up to anything truly reliable. That definitely won't be something every melee build can do (given they also have reasons to invest in Strength, Agility, and Vitality), but a "rogue" build that utilizes the low SP cost nature of physical status appliers and just focuses on Vit, Agl, and, especially, Cunning could potentially have great success with things like Throat Slash. (A 1 Vit, 1 Agl, 3 Cun build would bring it up to a base success rate of 52%. If you add in Silver Hand, which adds a base 20% (30% with 3 Cun/level) Mute chance to all physicals, you'd have a really reliable way of muting any number of melee targets you wish for 10 SP each, and only taking up two ability slots.
Short answer:
Throat Slash may not be particularly awesome in a vacuum... but it can be pretty amazing if you're built for it, and is pretty in line with other Mute effects, all of which are a bit iffy to land since Mute is so nasty.