Change for Soul Scorch on Warlock

sageone

Hey folks,

Would it be possible to have the Soul Scorch encounter power replaced with something similar to Spell Mastery like the wizard? In all the time I have used a warlock I never use Soul Scorch because it doesnt do any real damage. I would imagine if you did make the change to something akin to Spell Mastery the devs would have some fun in figuring out what sort of cool changes they could make to the encounter powers the warlock has.

Just a few suggestions for an encounter power in the Mastery slot:

Dreadtheft - a chain effect is added where instead of a straight line it hits the first enemy and then connect to the next one and then the next etc with each hit doing less and less damage. So if the enemies are in a circle the beam is able to hit all of them up to 5 enemies.

Hadars Grasp - Lifts the enemy into the air doing damage and then slams them into the ground doing additional damage

Fiery Bolt - adds a knock down or knock back effect but hits with a little lower magnitude

Im pretty sure the devs or other players would come up with better ideas than above and i think this would be really good for the warlock players.

Sorry if i offended players who do use Soul Scorch this is just a suggestion. I admit I am not a very good warlock player.

samfandango

I don't think anyone is offended.

Soul Scorch used correctly is actually a very good mechanic. I fear your perception of it being weak actually stems from you not using it appropriately, rather than it being a problem with the class mechanic.

When used at 3 pips (18 sparks) it fires off a 216 magnitude hit, plus a 144 magnitude DoT (24 mag per tick). Since Sparks are very fast to generate, you can be firing this off every few seconds making it one of our biggest personal damage distributions (7% with a BoA, 13% without one [not a reaosn to not farm BoA]). It even ranks higher than Hellfire Ring, perhaps we could change that power instead?

Add to that fact that when it is used in conjuntion with Soul Spark Recovery feat, it reduces our cooldowns by a flat 3 seconds, and outside of proccing other things via Dots/bugs/synergies, is one of the factors that helps keep our class relevant against other dps, and works far better for us than stacking Recharge.

Maybe you should champion changes to the other class mechanic which currently is sub-par; the Soul Puppet. Outside of being a way to stack Soul Investiture, it offers very little to us in terms of damage. It doesn't even benefit from Combat Advantage like other pets, or even our core mechanic Curse!

As for your ideas:

AoE cap is 15, so DT chain link capped at 5 is weak.

Hadar's Grasp, I like this idea but it could just be a part of the base power or Curse Synergy function.

Fiery Bolt, we wrestled with that for long enough to remove a damage reduction penalty. So no, no encouraging that idea.

hadestemplar

sageone#7098 said:

Hey folks,

Would it be possible to have the Soul Scorch encounter power replaced with something similar to Spell Mastery like the wizard? In all the time I have used a warlock I never use Soul Scorch because it doesnt do any real damage. I would imagine if you did make the change to something akin to Spell Mastery the devs would have some fun in figuring out what sort of cool changes they could make to the encounter powers the warlock has.

Just a few suggestions for an encounter power in the Mastery slot:

Dreadtheft - a chain effect is added where instead of a straight line it hits the first enemy and then connect to the next one and then the next etc with each hit doing less and less damage. So if the enemies are in a circle the beam is able to hit all of them up to 5 enemies.

Hadars Grasp - Lifts the enemy into the air doing damage and then slams them into the ground doing additional damage

Fiery Bolt - adds a knock down or knock back effect but hits with a little lower magnitude

Im pretty sure the devs or other players would come up with better ideas than above and i think this would be really good for the warlock players.

Sorry if i offended players who do use Soul Scorch this is just a suggestion. I admit I am not a very good warlock player.

Why you want convert Warlock to wizard?

4 encounters slots are wizards unique trait. As like rogues stealth, Rangers bow/close range stances, barbariant Determination.

SoulScorch where Warlock's Soulbinder paths unique encounter, which in mod 16 become Mechanic.


Other thing consider balancing issues which will present with your suggested implementation..

Wizards advantage is four encounters and and slighly shorter casting time, so its relaying more on rappid power use, while warlocks with three encounters only relaying on harder hitting powers.. It's part of balance, and same method used in other games too.


Now as for Hadar grasp - I think it's already good enough. Now quick history when and why this encounter where added for warlocks.


When warlocks where introduced (mod 4 - Hellbringer, Mod 5- soulbinder)., we had only two CC powers.

Harrowstorm - it was Aoe dps, it created fire huricane.. and did damage to prime target( on which you casted) and also did damage arround prime target. But if target is cursed or you apply curse after you casted this encounter..
It canceled Dps and converted in single target CC ( knock target up in air and slam it down).

Wraith Shadow's - cast Single target DoT on target. If target is not cursed it remain as DoT.. If target is cursed you can active ( cast power again) which converted DoT to Small AoE CC ( similar to spider web).


Thats all what warlocks had then. and lv cap where 60. No Arm of Hadar, no Hadar Grasp..

In mod 6 after life steal adjustment, warlocks where in terrible situation, considering it's main tool to surive where life steal. Also in pvp neither Wraith shadow's neither harrowstorm where capable to counter wizard.. Too long casting and required apply curse, in short it was bad..

So devs with mod 6 release, they added Hadar grasp encounter, single target CC + some dps. Which actually is clone of Wizards
Entangling Force encounter..

And in exchange wizard received Disintegrate encounter ( strong single target dps) which desing based on warlocks' Killing flame encounter..

Arm of Hadar - it's was meant to give warlock AoE CC with some dps.

THe reason is that, wizards where about manipulating field for own advantage,, knock enemies back, slow down, stun, while other mechanics or with Master of flame ( thaumaturge now) also used DoT ( smolder).

Warlocks in other hands where little CC and high Raw damage..


If we add more CC to warlock, then wizards lost its meaning.. Also Fiery bolt don't need any change.. It's purpose is dps not CC. If you add CC , then dps will need to be adjusted.. Also this change remove Arm of hadar encounter purpose.

mongol69

I would ask for inferal spheres to go and replace with decent single target power over changing ss.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

hadestemplar

mongol69 said:

I would ask for inferal spheres to go and replace with decent single target power over changing ss.

I think thats not what we need. What we need is fix lot of warlocks powers and make them meaningfull and worth to use..

For example Flame of Empowerment class feature..

Flames of Empowerment -When you attack a target with your At-Will powers, they are affected by Flames of Empowerment for 10 seconds. Flames of Empowerment Increases your damage against the target by 1% and stacks 3 times.

When we had two paragon paths, Hellbringer and SoulBinder,, FoE where hellbrringer dmg boosting class feature..
The original version which where up to mod 10 worked way. That if player had 100% AP, it was giving 8% outgoing dmg increase.

Via offhand weapon effect you could add another 4% for this class feature. So it was 12% dmg increase, however as you notice, the flaw where that warlocks had keep AP max, and don't use Daily power..

IN mod 10 Former senior lead designer Chris “Amenar” Matz. reworked a lot of hellbringer warlocks powers.. Flame of empowermet got rewoked too.

Flames of Empowerment - When you attack a target with your At-Will powers, they are affected by Flames of Empowerment for 6 seconds. Flames of Empowerment increases the damage you deal to that target by 2% and stacks 3 times.

As you can see it was even stronger than current version. But thats not all, with mod 16, Soulbinder paragon paths got converted as Healer, so dmg boosting class feature got brough to Hellbringer( dps) path.. So what it ended up as two same purpose class features stuck in same place.. So Flames of empowerment got nerfed, to make Dust to Dust relevant..

With this action, flame of empowerment become simply nonsense.. Not only it's bound to At wills, it stacks x3 times and gives just 3% dmg increase.. In AoE fights it's nearly impossible to utilise due fact, that warlock have only one at wil with AoE dmg.. That's Eldritch Blast, more precise it's third hit..

IN short this class feature and dust to dust need rework.
==========================================

Dreadtheft encounter..

Since mod 16 changes, this encounter lost debuffing effect. Old pre mod 16

Dreadtheft - You unleash a dark beam that lances through your enemies. This power will continue to fire for up to 6 seconds.

Curse Synergy: Increases the damage targets take from all sources while they are affected by Dreadtheft, and based on the number of Cursed targets hit, reduces your incoming damage while you are using Dreadtheft. (Max stack of 3)

Mod 16 version

Dreadtheft - Deal necrotic damage to enemies in a line before you.
Magnitude: 510
Duration: 6s

Curse Synergy: Refreshes the duration of your Curse on all targets hit.

You may not execute additional actions while channeling. Channeling ends upon executing another action.

Now quick history of this encounter..

This encounter where one of main warlocks power in combat, bot in AoE and boss fight.. Due its mechanic and debuffing effect and reason it was necrotic power..

Up to mod 10, for warlocks to proc Creeping Death, they needed use Necrocit powers, thats mean, Dark spiral aura, and hand of blight at wills.
Bova , warlocks's bargain( legacy), Wraith shadows, Dreadtheft encounters. And only Brood of hadar and Accursed souls(legacy daily power).
And for soulbinder it where also immolition spirits.

Also there where no limit for Creeping Death.. In one time combined Warlocks bargain, BoVa + Dreadtheft I manage to get 215 stacks of Creeping Death..

WIth mod 16, Dreadtheft lost debuffing effect, also Creeping Death got limited to 10 stacks.. Also with life steal removal also make this encounter pointless.


Should I keep goint about other stuffs??? There are a lot of stuffs which need to be adress and rework.. Game changed, but lot of warlocks powers are just relicts of old days. Even after some got reworked in mod16, none of them fit current situation of the game .

Even feats like.

Soul Desecration -Your Soul Puppet no longer dissipates after 20 seconds, deals 10% more damage, and you will automatically summon a Soul Puppet if one is not active.

It's relict of removed Damnation warlocks build..

Devs gave warlock other feat,

Risky Investment - Soul Investiture now grants you a 4% bonus to Encounter damage for each stack you have.

Which do bring more dmg in fight thatn above mentioned Soul Desecration, but also to make more easier to proc RI and stack them to 5 times( max 20% increase for encounters). Team reworked few other warlocks abilities..

Feat:

Power of the Nine H3lls - Grants your encounter powers without Curse Consume or Curse Synergy the ability to summon a Soul Puppet.

Also class feature:

Dark Prayers - Whenever a target affected by your Curse dies you spawn a Soul Puppet.

With feat and class feature, makes feat: Soul Desecration nonsense. You keep soul puppet up most of time. And even if soul puppet gets 10% dmg increase,, in AoE fights it's useless. You can't controll it, also it's not instant/blink to enemy.
And in boss fight,, Risky investment still outweight Soul Desecration... 20% dmg increase for encounter vs 10% increase for soul puppet..


The list keeps going.. Infernal Spheres should remain as utility though I still prerfer to get it reworked and it would work in slighly diferent way..