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[Mod14] Scourge Warlock Needs a Buff [PvE] Proposed Changes
ibz4ez
Member Posts: 117 Arc User
Recently, there has been a positive effort to revitalise the SW class for use as a buffer/debuffer support role in dungeons.
But in all honestly, nobody in their right mind is going to take an end-game dungeon of players through Castle Ravenloft with a SW as main DPS, especially when the outstanding burst DPS of GF, or all round solid DPS of GWF, still exists.
So I'd like to propose some small changes to the Fury Feat line of SW Hellbringer paragon in order to bring it up to standard with the rest of the DPS classes, especially seeing as the description of this class is "You want to deal damage."
Current Change list:
Firstly, unlike GFs and GWFs SW abilities still don't all crit. Therefore my first change would be to Creeping Death
- Enable this feat's DoT effect to crit.
The power Killing Flames seems to be on a really crazy DPS multiplier as the target's health decreases, but is a pee shooter when the target is at 50% HP of more.
- Flatten out the curve of this power so it doesn't go completely overboard on damage when targets have very little HP and increase the damage it does to targets above 50% HP.
9 times out of 10 in Neverwinter these days you're facing enemies that are CC resistant.
This sort of puts Hadar's Grasp totally out of range for boss fights and actually most situations. So the proposed change is:
- If the target is CC immune the target takes the full damage of this power instantly, cooldown is reduced by [Rank 1/2/3/4 (1s/2s/3s/4s)]
- This effect should not work in PvP including the cooldown reduction
- Tooltip should now read: "You lift your foe into the air, dealing damage to them over time and stunning them. If your foe is CC resistant, deal this power's damage instantly and reduce the cooldown by 1s. (Does not affect CC resistant targets in PvP)".
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I'm hoping these changes will help put SW near Tier 1 for HDPS.
If you have any other suggestions, or think some of these changes are a little overpowered, do let me know in the comments.
#MakingSWGreatAgain...Again
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But in all honestly, nobody in their right mind is going to take an end-game dungeon of players through Castle Ravenloft with a SW as main DPS, especially when the outstanding burst DPS of GF, or all round solid DPS of GWF, still exists.
So I'd like to propose some small changes to the Fury Feat line of SW Hellbringer paragon in order to bring it up to standard with the rest of the DPS classes, especially seeing as the description of this class is "You want to deal damage."
Current Change list:
Firstly, unlike GFs and GWFs SW abilities still don't all crit. Therefore my first change would be to Creeping Death
- Enable this feat's DoT effect to crit.
The power Killing Flames seems to be on a really crazy DPS multiplier as the target's health decreases, but is a pee shooter when the target is at 50% HP of more.
- Flatten out the curve of this power so it doesn't go completely overboard on damage when targets have very little HP and increase the damage it does to targets above 50% HP.
9 times out of 10 in Neverwinter these days you're facing enemies that are CC resistant.
This sort of puts Hadar's Grasp totally out of range for boss fights and actually most situations. So the proposed change is:
- If the target is CC immune the target takes the full damage of this power instantly, cooldown is reduced by [Rank 1/2/3/4 (1s/2s/3s/4s)]
- This effect should not work in PvP including the cooldown reduction
- Tooltip should now read: "You lift your foe into the air, dealing damage to them over time and stunning them. If your foe is CC resistant, deal this power's damage instantly and reduce the cooldown by 1s. (Does not affect CC resistant targets in PvP)".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm hoping these changes will help put SW near Tier 1 for HDPS.
If you have any other suggestions, or think some of these changes are a little overpowered, do let me know in the comments.
#MakingSWGreatAgain...Again
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2
Comments
Then they are those so called SW's "underperforming problems"
- Lack of burst damage, it's a Game-Design problem due to 'power creep'/'foes blowing up when you barely look at them', so when "competing" (is that even a competition?) against fast/bursting classes then SW will be "underperforming" due to SW DPS mechanics
- Lots of DoT (Damage Over Time) mechanics, example SW-Fury capstone feat add 75% of done DPS on 8 seconds
- Slow casting times (you can even easily fail a casting...)
- Long recharge times
- Lack of self-buff, it's a Game-Design problem due to 'base statistics maxed up against diminishing returns vs debuff/buff having no diminished return', so when competing against classes with a bit more self-buff (or party-buff) then SW will be (slightly) "underperforming". In fact, as those debuff/buff mainly come from support classes the difference isn't great enough to really care.
As you see it's a Game-Design progression 'forgetting' some classes when evolving and adding imperfectly balanced fixes.There come brainless players taking those imperfectly balanced classes and reinventing segregation...
The real problem of the SW class is inconsistencies at all levels: Paragon, Trees, Feats, Powers, Mechanics, background...
Nothing match really with nothing, it's a big mess with no synergy. --> It can only increase handicaps of the class as time flow.
So let's look at your very specific suggestions
There is good intent to 'fix' the class, but this game and players have evolved in such a strange way that you can't address problems with some buff on top of dubious game mechanics.
I've also changed added a little bit more to some of the points.
But as a general reply what was going through my head when thinking about the Hadar's Grasp change was to make it similar to how Soul Scorch works where you can have a power that can hit repeated damage on short notice against bosses.
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On a separate note, Creeping Death would seem like a logical place to start if you wanted to give the SW some self buffs.
In the new post over on the class forums I suggested two improvements:
- Make Creeping Death crit
- Accelerate the tick speed proportional to the number of stacks on a target.
If you wanted to add SW buffs that are in-keeping with the general play-style why not add one more change to creeping death:
- Each stack of Creeping Death increases the damage you deal by x%
Anyway do hop over to the class forums and have a look at the other updated suggestions as well.