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PVDs born of my grind-induced boredom 2: Therakiel Boogaloo
thisiscraftaaa
Posts: 191 Arc User
This is technically a repost, the spam filter automod struck again and decided "no, you're not allowed to edit out a typo, SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR ENTIRE THREAD!" So... guess I'm not allowed to edit at all, here's to hoping I got every single little problem and issue out; I'm not going to edit any more and I'll just leave it all as-is because dear god is it annoying to have everything taken down because you, what, wanted to change two 20%s that were supposed to be 25%? Oh well. If the original thread gets back up, hopefully this can be deleted or merged into it, though it... really, really won't, since the other one (that was half the length of this one) wasn't brought back up either. But enough of my griping, onto the repost!
So! It's been a decent... what, ten, eleven, twelve days since the last? Aaand I got bored again. Four to six hours a day of Serial Missions will do that to you. And in that same time? Noticing the plummeting values of the newly-released PVDs in Red Winter, now down to ~500 and ~900 Globals for Electric Vengeance and Havoc Hammer respectively and still plummeting, and it got me thinking about my favorite event. Therakiel's Temple Alert Week. That one's been around the block a few times, to the point where the value of all the drops that aren't obscenely rare and/or take actual effort to grind for (just Baron's Cane, Therakiel's Blade and the recently-added Brilliant Cleave) have plummeted drastically, facilitated further by the fact that everything else is either an once-an-account deal, or drops often enough on the hunt for the few extra-valuables named there that they've gone from... goodness, I remember being able to sell the Statue Wings from Therakiel for 1.5kG+ back when the event was fresh and now they're 50G-250G depending on how many (by the dozen) there are floating around now. And I thinking about that, I came to the thought: wouldn't it be fun if there were devices that more people would want as part of the lineup for each of the Alerts, as well as more in Therakiel's Rampage for good measure? Admittedly, these weren't born of some strong attempt at balancing; they'll definitely err hard into either overpowered or underpowered, but I wanted to at least stir the pot with some more fun and wild ideas for PVDs. So, I present to you: two potential PVDs for each of the TTAlerts, and three more for Therakiel himself, to bring the number for him up to a more deserved four, all meant to be dope to use and work with each-other to some degree or another.
A quick note, since the original version of my last thread, the AP PVDs one, got shot down by the auto-mod/spam filter for me making too big of an edit to it at once, and this post is even bigger, I'll be posting the different PVDs here, but some of my thought process on them in a separate post below this one, after waiting a little while to be safe. Maybe… dunno… 30 minutes? With that said... enjoy!
"Blinding Wrath" a Vengeance replacer.
"Whether through powerful magicks or the divine blessings, you bring your rage to bear, slamming pillars of celestial energy down on your foes again and again until their wills and bodies crumble."
*0.5sec activate time, 5sec maintain time, self-root while using. Takes VERY large amounts of energy to use.
*100ft range, 15ft sphere with secondary effects out to 25ft, target cap of 5.
*Deals Dimensional Damage slightly below Assault Rifle to the primary target and one half of that to secondary targets within 15ft. All direct damage dealt by Blinding Wrath is increased by 5% per stack of Celestial Enmity. Celestial Enmity also increases the critical chance and critical severity of this power by 2.5%/5% per stack, respectively.
*Upon full maintain, converts one stack of Unforgiving (if any are available courtesy of Vengeance) into one stack of Celestial Enmity, and fully refreshes both remaining Unforgiving and current Celestial Enmity stacks. Celestial Enmity stacks up to three times and lasts 16 seconds, and has no benefit to base Vengeance.
*Each tick has a 10%/20%/30% chance based on rank to Knock targets within the 15ft sphere (any taking actual damage from Blinding Wrath) down. 10%/20%/30% based on rank to Knock secondary targets from 16ft to 25ft of the primary target away. Snares any targets that are Knocked (or that a Knock is attempted on, in the case of targets immune to Knocks.) If the primary target is affected by Illuminated and standing inside a Celestial Field, instead Knocks targets from 16ft to 25ft of the primary target towards the primary target.
*At one stack of Celestial Enmity, Blinding Wrath gains a 10%/15%/20% chance per tick to Knock targets more than 15ft away from the primary targets further back, potentially reaching and Knocking secondary targets that are up to 25ft away from the primary target. The Knock direction is reversed if the primary target is affected by Illuminated. 10%/15%/20% chance per tick to Knock targets within 15ft of the primary target down.
*At two stacks of Celestial Enmity, Blinding Wrath gains a pull effect, comparable in strength to that of Soul Vortex's (albeit ticking every half-second instead of every full second,) and Blinding Wrath's Knocks now Snare.
*At three stacks of Celestial Enmity, each hit of Blinding Wrath is itself now an AoE that deals half-damage around the target hit. The main target deals 50% of Blinding Wrath's damage in an AoE to up to four targets within 5' each strike, and up to four secondary targets deal 25% damage in an AoE to up to four other targets within 5' each strike.
*Upon full maintain, if affected by three stacks of Celestial Enmity, spawns a Celestial Field for 16 seconds underneath the primary target; a R1/R2/R3 Pyre Patch expy that deals matching Dimensional Damage to targets within 15ft once every second and applies an effect similar to Sigils of Ebon Weakness to targets within the Celestial Field: a variable movement speed and damage debuff that scales up to 100% of each depending on both rank and how much Presence the user has which will be minimally low on DPSes (outside of Pre-stacked DPSes which are a high rarity.) Only one such Field can be active at a time, and as a Pyre Patch type effect, it will override- and be overriden by- other Pyre Patch effects.
*If used without Vengeance, the Celestial Field patch is not spawned on a full maintain, and nothing is done regarding Unforgiving and Celestial Emnity, or any of the benefits they would provide.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Vengeance power.
**Rapid-fire fully-charged Vengeances for visuals- perhaps with some Traitorous Aura effects mixed in, more dense the more Celestial Emnity stacks are present on the user- as well as... perhaps... the Conflagration character animation. Celestial Field's definitely going to go heavy on the Traitorous Aura, potentially with some Therakiel sparkles in the mix. A lovely visual.
"Soul Bomb" a Sigils of Arcane Runes replacer.
"Burn your energy to tie the very soul of your foe to a series of highly volatile sigils, which steadily eat away at their lifeforce and detonate after a short time."
*2sec activate time, 24sec toggle time, self-root while activating but NOT while toggled on. Non-toggle powers can be used while this power is toggled on.Each sigil takes a tiny amount of energy from the user every 2 seconds, but a moderate amount of energy every 2 seconds (and 5 at once adds up quickly) if unable to hit any targets. 40sec recharge time (base) that starts when the power is initially toggled on, not when it is toggled off or otherwise expires.
*50ft range, single target, Soul Bombs have 15ft range and a target cap of 5.
*Summons five Soul Bombs within 15ft of your target in random positions around them. Each Soul Bomb can strike up to five targets within 15ft for moderate damage once every two seconds, doing Dimensional Damage equivalent to Sigils of Destruction at the same rank with no arc chance against one target, but 50%/33⅓%/25%/20% damage for 2/3/4/5 targets each. After 24 seconds, each surviving Soul Bomb detonates, dealing Dimensional Damage equivalent to Sigils of Arcane Runes in a 15ft sphere to up to five targets.
*Each tick of each Soul Bomb has a 10%/15%/20% chance to remove a buff from a target, and each can only remove one at a time regardless of how many targets each Soul Bomb hits. Only normal buffs can be removed, not mechanic-centric buffs.
*While requiring 50ft distance or less when initially summoning, you can run further away from them without them despawning.
*If used without Sigils of Arcane Runes, the resulting Soul Bombs detonate instantly upon spawning and do significantly less damage.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Sigils of Arcane Runes power.
**These are literally just tiny baby versions of TT/TTAlert Valerian's "Your souls give me power!" sigils.
"Wild Lunge" a Tear Down replacer. Black Fang's "Cull the weak!" Horn Gore, honestly.
"Pounce on your foe in a feral frenzy, ignoring other foes as you mercilessly hound your chosen target down."
*1.5sec charge time (1.5sec min,) 0.5sec activate time. 30sec cooldown (base.) Takes a large amount of energy to use.
*60ft lunge, single target.
*Apply "Marked" to selected target upon full charge, reducing their defense to all attacks by 8%/10%/12% for 10 seconds. This stacks up to 3x for any given target.
*Apply "Frenzied" to self upon full charge, increasing Knock resistance by 100%/125%/150% and additive layer damage by 15%/20%/25% for 10 seconds.
*Lunge to the target, dealing (half of Teardown's damage) in Crushing Damage, followed by (half of Teardown's damage) in Slashing Damage on a 1-second delay. Apply 1/2/3 stacks of Furious based on rank.
*If used without Tear Down, neither Marked nor Frenzied are applied, and only 1 stack of Furious is applied.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown without Tear Down.
"Feral Cyclone" an Iron Cyclone replacer and Ultimate PVD. And... this is Black Fang's chain spin.
"Whirl a lengthy chain through the air, quickly drawing in your foes and tangling their movements while setting them up for your- or your allies'- next assault."
*0.5sec activate time, 8sec maintain time. Generic Ultimate cooldown time. Self-roots while maintaining. Takes a moderate amount of energy to use, slightly lighter than something like Tornado or Ultimate Sword Cyclone.
*50ft sphere PBAoE, 10 target cap since ult.
*While maintaining this power you become Immune to most forms of Control effects and gain 200% resistance to all Knock effects.
*Deals a moderate amount of Crushing Damage to all targets hit per tick (once every 0.5sec,) larger by far than base Iron Cyclone but not quite as high as something like Ultimate Sword Cyclone.
*Pulls in targets further than 10' away by a strength of 6ft/8ft/10ft per tick based on rank, with a 15%/25%/35% chance per tick to Knock Down any target hit, and a 50%/75%/100% chance per tick to Knock Up any target within 10ft.
*Applies 3 stacks of Furious on tap/on the first tick, and reapplies 3 stacks of Furious on the last tick if successful.
*Cannot be used without Iron Cyclone.
"Pins & Needles" a Flashfire replacer.
"A rather unsettling doll that radiates an ominous aura; foes that stray too close are stricken with toxic maladies and some fall prey to powerful curses."
*0.5sec activate time, identical cooldown to Flashfire. Does not self-root during use. Takes a large amount of energy to use, perhaps around 50% more than Flashfire.
*50ft range, 15ft sphere, target cap of 5.
*When used, spawns a "Pins & Needles" patch on the target in question. As a Pyre Patch type entity, only one can be present at any time, and it will override- and be overriden by- other Pyre Patch type effects. Toxic Damage roughly equivalent to Flashfire is done to all foes the 15ft area of the Pins & Needles once per second, however, instead of having a chance to apply Clinging Flames, several other debuffs apply. As follows...
*Applies Chronic Illness to targets that stand inside the Pins & Needles. This debuff reduces their healing received by 80%/100%/120% based on rank, and is only present while actively standing inside the Pins & Needles.
*Has a 8%/10%/12% chance per tick to apply Cursed to each target each tick based on Pins & Needles' rank. Cursed lasts for 10 seconds, Disabling any enemy affected, preventing them from attacking but still allowing them to move. Upon expiring, Cursed explodes with Toxic Damage on the target, dealing something like 10% of an Expulse or so to the target and 40% or so of an Expulse to up to four other targets within 15ft of the target. Enemies that cannot be Controlled can still be Cursed, but Cursed will not Control them; only wait and rupture once its timer expires. Cursed application chance on Legendaries and Cosmics is 30%/40%/50% instead, as all it would do on them is provide a tiny extra tick of damage once every 10 seconds at the quickest; blown out of the water by Clinging Flames, let alone anything else.
*When used without Flashfire, the damage done is minimal, Chronic Illness only debuffs enemy healing received by 50%, and there is no chance to apply Cursed.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Flashfire power.
"La Danse Macabre" a Madness Aura replacer.
"With powerful voodoo and dark spirits at your beck and call, even the dead dance to your symphony of destruction."
*3sec activate time, unlimited toggle time, 90sec cooldown that starts on detoggle (base.) Takes a moderate amount of energy per second to use and automatically detoggles if running out of energy, but can remain toggled on through Knocks, Interrupts, Control and other such effects.
*20ft/25ft/30ft sphere PBAoE based on rank.
*While active, deal a small fixed (before enemy defenses) amount of Toxic Damage to 5/6/7 enemy targets within your area of effect once every second based on rank. 50/Henchman, 100/Villain, 150/Master Villain or Enforcer and Supervillain (and Nemesis and enemy players,) 200/Legendary and Cosmic. This damage is Indirect and is not affected by anything that increases or decreases damage dealt, whether buffs or debuffs, passives, roles or otherwise.
While active, heal 5/6/7 friendly targets (though not yourself) within your area of effect once every second. 100/sec. This is not affected by anything that increases or decreases healing dealt, see the above.
While active, has a 10%/15%/20% chance based on rank to rez fallen enemies as temporary allies; Henchmen can be rezzed at any rank and last 10sec/15sec/20sec, Villains can be rezzed at R2+ and last 10sec/15sec, and Master Villains and Enforcers can be rezzed at R3 and last 10sec. Enemies that, by chance, are killed by ticks of La Danse Macabre have a 100% chance to be rezzed. Upon expiring, these rezzed villains disintegrate and cannot be resurrected again.
*When used without Madness Aura, uses an OBSCENE amount of power to remain toggled, only has 15' of range, only has a target cap of 3, only has a 5% rez chance on Henchmen only, and does not guarantee a rez on targets killed by La Danse Macabre directly.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Madness Aura power.
"Vampiric Swarm" a controllable Command Animals replacer.
"Call upon swarms of ravenous vampiric bats to brutally savage your foes and leave them weakened and reeling for you and your allies' finishing blows."
*No charge time, 0.5sec activate time (Vlad/Flashfire snap animation.) 30 second cooldown (base.) Takes a moderate amount of energy to use.
*Summons 2/3/4 Vampiric Swarms (based on rank) to fight for you. They will seek out targets and hover on top of them, doing [a small number goes here] Slashing Damage once every second to everything within 10' of them, even while Knocked or Controlled (just like New Shadows bats and Vlad bats.) These bats are fragile and are classified as "Swarm" type creatures as well as Pets, and are also Undead, but in turn also rapidly heal themselves when dealing damage. Ranks do not increase the damage of each Vampiric Swarm at all, but instead spawn more, and add extra effects to them. However, their health is still increased with rank, not that it matters much due to their fragility and Swarm status. Debuffs they apply only stack once per player, and the DoTs they apply stack independently from the DoTs of their owner/user. As these DoTs do not count towards the player's max DoT stacks, cannot be refreshed by the player, and do not count for the purposes of other powers and effects such as Pestilence or various Bleed ruptures.
*At R1, any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm has their Perception reduced by 200%. Each Vampiric Swarm heals approximately 20% of its max health per target hit (base.)
*At R2, any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm has their Perception reduced by 250%. Each Vampiric Swarm heals approximately 25% of its max health per target hit (base.) Each Vampiric Swarm has a 5% chance per tick to apply Bleed and a 5% chance per tick to apply Deadly Poison.
*At R3, any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm has their Perception reduced by 300%. Any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm is affected by Festering Bites, a defense debuff that decreases the target's defense against all damage by 5%, only stacking once per player no matter how many of their bat swarms are hitting the same target, and stacks up to 3x for all players total. Each Vampiric Swarm heals approximately 30% of its max health per target hit (base.) Each Vampiric Swarm has a 10% chance per tick to apply Bleed and a 10% chance per tick to apply Deadly Poison.
*Can be used alongside Command Animals!
*Attempting to use Vampiric Swarm without Command Animals will only spawn one Vampiric Swarm at rank 1 strength.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Command Animals power.
"Life Link" a Soul Mesmerism replacer.
"The vampiric taint in your blood allows you to link your very life to your foes, but weakens you in body and mind if you fail to do so."
*3sec charge time (3min), 0.5sec activate time. 40 seconds recharge (base.) Self-root while using. Uses a large amount of energy (comparable to a Shoulder Launcher or Hand Cannon.)
*50ft range, single target.
*Upon full charge, apply "Life Link" buff to self, and "Life Link" debuff to target enemy for 20 seconds. While active, 15/20/25% of any incoming damage based on rank from any source (after defense calculations) is dealt to the target enemy as Toxic Damage, and 15/20/25% of any healing the target enemy receives is also received by the user. The enemy can dispel either half of the Life Link with any effect that removes buffs or debuffs (used on the appropriate target) to end the effect early. If Life Link's charge is cancelled for any reason, whether being Knocked or Controlled or released early or running out of energy to use it mid-charge, applies the Fractured Essence buff for 20 seconds, which reduces incoming healing by 200%/150%/100%, base damage and healing strength by 20%/15%/10% and Defense by 60%/50%/40% (this effect cannot push Defense below 0%.)
*If used without Soul Mesmerism unlocked, Life Link's focused damage reflect and healing is 10%, and its early-cancel punishment is reducing incoming healing by 250%, base damage and healing strength by 25%, and Defense by 80%.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Soul Mesmerism power.
"Brilliant Arc" an Arc of Ruin replacer.
"Light! Dark! Tremble before Therakiel!"
*1.5sec charge time, 1sec activate time, does not self-root while using.
*15ft sphere PBAoE, target cap of 5.
*Deals a moderate amount of Dimensional Damage to every target hit, less so than Arc of Ruin's crushing damage by a small margin. Has a 20%-50% chance to apply Illuminated to the closest target and a 10%-25% to apply Illuminated to other targets, based on charge time. Has a 40%-100% chance to apply Illuminated if only one target is hit, based on charge time.
*On full charge, any target hit by Brilliant Arc that is affected by Illuminated emits a pulse of Dimensional Damage in a 15ft sphere around them, damaging them and up to four other targets for a third of the damage of Brilliant Arc and consuming Illuminated in the process. Any targets whose Illuminated is ruptured in this manner are affected by Celestial Burnout, a debuff that last 5 seconds, dealing miniscule ticks of Dimensional Damage and preventing Illuminated from being reapplied during that time. I said I wouldn't edit to avoid getting gotten by the awful automod but this bit missing was annoying me too much so I'm taking the gamble of editing just this once, wish me luck-
*If the "Brilliant Cleave" PVD is slotted, on full charge this power (both its primary and any secondary hits) do double damage and Brilliant Arc goes on a 5-second cooldown (not affected by cooldown reduction of any form and not affected by Nanobot Swarm.) Additionally, Illumination is applied to self, and the Brilliant Cleave buff is also applied to self.
*If used without Arc of Ruin, this power cannot rupture and consume Illuminated, and it only deals R1 damage.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Arc of Ruin power.
"Divine Annihilation" an Annihilate replacer.
"I shall stand against Heaven and against Hell!"
*1.17sec charge time, 0.83sec activate time, self-roots during both charge and activate time similarly to Annihilate. Takes somewhat more energy to use than Annihiate, although not very much so.
*15ft range, single target.
*Does Dimensional Damage equivalent to Annihilate. In lieu of innate bonus damage to Knock-immune targets and an adv for bonus damage against Clinging Flames-stricken targets, Divine Annihilation deals 25% more damage to targets afflicted by Illuminated or Celestial Burnout (see Brilliant Arc,) and another 25% more damage to targets afflicted by Fear.
*If used without Annihilate, this power deals greatly diminished damage and does not benefit from the bonus damage against Illuminated targets or the bonus damage against Fear-stricken targets.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Annihilate power.
**Probably the simplest PVD here and probably also the most evenly-balanced, literally just an Annihilate expy with a tiny fraction more damage. Could probably be made wackier with some rupture-y things like what Brilliant Arc has, but I feel like leaving this one as-is for a taste of normalcy amidst the craziness.
"Barred Gates" a Brimstone replacer and Ultimate PVD.
"Lo, the gates of Heaven and Hell swing open; the apocalypse BEGINS!"
*4sec charge time (1sec min,) 1sec activation time, self-roots during charge time but not activation time. 60 second recharge time (base.) Uses however much energy the player currently has.
*30ft sphere PBAoE, 10 target cap since ult.
*While charging this power you become Immune to most forms of Control effects and gain 200% resistance to all Knock effects.
*Reflects 50% of all incoming Direct Damage (after defense calculations) back at attackers in the form of Dimensional Damage while charging.
*While charging this power, applies Waxing Glory, which drains 10% of energy per second down to 0 but does not cancel Barred Gates if hitting 0 energy.
*Deals Dimensional Damage and knocks back all targets hit, scaling up MASSIVELY with charge time. Ideally, in the realm of critting between 40k and 50k on fully geared melee DPSes. On half charge or higher, applies (rank of Brimstone) Dimensional Collapse as well as Illuminated to all targets hit if the player is currently affected by Illumination. On full charge, also apply Devoid to all targets hit if the player is currently affected by Illumination.
*Sets the user's energy to 0 upon activating and applies Waning Glory, which regenerates 10% of max energy per second and lasts for five seconds.
*Cannot be used without Brimstone.
**Uses Therakiel's sword-spin animation for fitting as much cool as physically possible into as compact a space as physically possible.
So! It's been a decent... what, ten, eleven, twelve days since the last? Aaand I got bored again. Four to six hours a day of Serial Missions will do that to you. And in that same time? Noticing the plummeting values of the newly-released PVDs in Red Winter, now down to ~500 and ~900 Globals for Electric Vengeance and Havoc Hammer respectively and still plummeting, and it got me thinking about my favorite event. Therakiel's Temple Alert Week. That one's been around the block a few times, to the point where the value of all the drops that aren't obscenely rare and/or take actual effort to grind for (just Baron's Cane, Therakiel's Blade and the recently-added Brilliant Cleave) have plummeted drastically, facilitated further by the fact that everything else is either an once-an-account deal, or drops often enough on the hunt for the few extra-valuables named there that they've gone from... goodness, I remember being able to sell the Statue Wings from Therakiel for 1.5kG+ back when the event was fresh and now they're 50G-250G depending on how many (by the dozen) there are floating around now. And I thinking about that, I came to the thought: wouldn't it be fun if there were devices that more people would want as part of the lineup for each of the Alerts, as well as more in Therakiel's Rampage for good measure? Admittedly, these weren't born of some strong attempt at balancing; they'll definitely err hard into either overpowered or underpowered, but I wanted to at least stir the pot with some more fun and wild ideas for PVDs. So, I present to you: two potential PVDs for each of the TTAlerts, and three more for Therakiel himself, to bring the number for him up to a more deserved four, all meant to be dope to use and work with each-other to some degree or another.
A quick note, since the original version of my last thread, the AP PVDs one, got shot down by the auto-mod/spam filter for me making too big of an edit to it at once, and this post is even bigger, I'll be posting the different PVDs here, but some of my thought process on them in a separate post below this one, after waiting a little while to be safe. Maybe… dunno… 30 minutes? With that said... enjoy!
-=(Valerian Scarlet, the Traitor)=-
"Blinding Wrath" a Vengeance replacer.
"Whether through powerful magicks or the divine blessings, you bring your rage to bear, slamming pillars of celestial energy down on your foes again and again until their wills and bodies crumble."
*0.5sec activate time, 5sec maintain time, self-root while using. Takes VERY large amounts of energy to use.
*100ft range, 15ft sphere with secondary effects out to 25ft, target cap of 5.
*Deals Dimensional Damage slightly below Assault Rifle to the primary target and one half of that to secondary targets within 15ft. All direct damage dealt by Blinding Wrath is increased by 5% per stack of Celestial Enmity. Celestial Enmity also increases the critical chance and critical severity of this power by 2.5%/5% per stack, respectively.
*Upon full maintain, converts one stack of Unforgiving (if any are available courtesy of Vengeance) into one stack of Celestial Enmity, and fully refreshes both remaining Unforgiving and current Celestial Enmity stacks. Celestial Enmity stacks up to three times and lasts 16 seconds, and has no benefit to base Vengeance.
*Each tick has a 10%/20%/30% chance based on rank to Knock targets within the 15ft sphere (any taking actual damage from Blinding Wrath) down. 10%/20%/30% based on rank to Knock secondary targets from 16ft to 25ft of the primary target away. Snares any targets that are Knocked (or that a Knock is attempted on, in the case of targets immune to Knocks.) If the primary target is affected by Illuminated and standing inside a Celestial Field, instead Knocks targets from 16ft to 25ft of the primary target towards the primary target.
*At one stack of Celestial Enmity, Blinding Wrath gains a 10%/15%/20% chance per tick to Knock targets more than 15ft away from the primary targets further back, potentially reaching and Knocking secondary targets that are up to 25ft away from the primary target. The Knock direction is reversed if the primary target is affected by Illuminated. 10%/15%/20% chance per tick to Knock targets within 15ft of the primary target down.
*At two stacks of Celestial Enmity, Blinding Wrath gains a pull effect, comparable in strength to that of Soul Vortex's (albeit ticking every half-second instead of every full second,) and Blinding Wrath's Knocks now Snare.
*At three stacks of Celestial Enmity, each hit of Blinding Wrath is itself now an AoE that deals half-damage around the target hit. The main target deals 50% of Blinding Wrath's damage in an AoE to up to four targets within 5' each strike, and up to four secondary targets deal 25% damage in an AoE to up to four other targets within 5' each strike.
*Upon full maintain, if affected by three stacks of Celestial Enmity, spawns a Celestial Field for 16 seconds underneath the primary target; a R1/R2/R3 Pyre Patch expy that deals matching Dimensional Damage to targets within 15ft once every second and applies an effect similar to Sigils of Ebon Weakness to targets within the Celestial Field: a variable movement speed and damage debuff that scales up to 100% of each depending on both rank and how much Presence the user has which will be minimally low on DPSes (outside of Pre-stacked DPSes which are a high rarity.) Only one such Field can be active at a time, and as a Pyre Patch type effect, it will override- and be overriden by- other Pyre Patch effects.
*If used without Vengeance, the Celestial Field patch is not spawned on a full maintain, and nothing is done regarding Unforgiving and Celestial Emnity, or any of the benefits they would provide.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Vengeance power.
**Rapid-fire fully-charged Vengeances for visuals- perhaps with some Traitorous Aura effects mixed in, more dense the more Celestial Emnity stacks are present on the user- as well as... perhaps... the Conflagration character animation. Celestial Field's definitely going to go heavy on the Traitorous Aura, potentially with some Therakiel sparkles in the mix. A lovely visual.
"Soul Bomb" a Sigils of Arcane Runes replacer.
"Burn your energy to tie the very soul of your foe to a series of highly volatile sigils, which steadily eat away at their lifeforce and detonate after a short time."
*2sec activate time, 24sec toggle time, self-root while activating but NOT while toggled on. Non-toggle powers can be used while this power is toggled on.Each sigil takes a tiny amount of energy from the user every 2 seconds, but a moderate amount of energy every 2 seconds (and 5 at once adds up quickly) if unable to hit any targets. 40sec recharge time (base) that starts when the power is initially toggled on, not when it is toggled off or otherwise expires.
*50ft range, single target, Soul Bombs have 15ft range and a target cap of 5.
*Summons five Soul Bombs within 15ft of your target in random positions around them. Each Soul Bomb can strike up to five targets within 15ft for moderate damage once every two seconds, doing Dimensional Damage equivalent to Sigils of Destruction at the same rank with no arc chance against one target, but 50%/33⅓%/25%/20% damage for 2/3/4/5 targets each. After 24 seconds, each surviving Soul Bomb detonates, dealing Dimensional Damage equivalent to Sigils of Arcane Runes in a 15ft sphere to up to five targets.
*Each tick of each Soul Bomb has a 10%/15%/20% chance to remove a buff from a target, and each can only remove one at a time regardless of how many targets each Soul Bomb hits. Only normal buffs can be removed, not mechanic-centric buffs.
*While requiring 50ft distance or less when initially summoning, you can run further away from them without them despawning.
*If used without Sigils of Arcane Runes, the resulting Soul Bombs detonate instantly upon spawning and do significantly less damage.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Sigils of Arcane Runes power.
**These are literally just tiny baby versions of TT/TTAlert Valerian's "Your souls give me power!" sigils.
-=(Black Fang, Frenzied Beast)=-
"Wild Lunge" a Tear Down replacer. Black Fang's "Cull the weak!" Horn Gore, honestly.
"Pounce on your foe in a feral frenzy, ignoring other foes as you mercilessly hound your chosen target down."
*1.5sec charge time (1.5sec min,) 0.5sec activate time. 30sec cooldown (base.) Takes a large amount of energy to use.
*60ft lunge, single target.
*Apply "Marked" to selected target upon full charge, reducing their defense to all attacks by 8%/10%/12% for 10 seconds. This stacks up to 3x for any given target.
*Apply "Frenzied" to self upon full charge, increasing Knock resistance by 100%/125%/150% and additive layer damage by 15%/20%/25% for 10 seconds.
*Lunge to the target, dealing (half of Teardown's damage) in Crushing Damage, followed by (half of Teardown's damage) in Slashing Damage on a 1-second delay. Apply 1/2/3 stacks of Furious based on rank.
*If used without Tear Down, neither Marked nor Frenzied are applied, and only 1 stack of Furious is applied.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown without Tear Down.
"Feral Cyclone" an Iron Cyclone replacer and Ultimate PVD. And... this is Black Fang's chain spin.
"Whirl a lengthy chain through the air, quickly drawing in your foes and tangling their movements while setting them up for your- or your allies'- next assault."
*0.5sec activate time, 8sec maintain time. Generic Ultimate cooldown time. Self-roots while maintaining. Takes a moderate amount of energy to use, slightly lighter than something like Tornado or Ultimate Sword Cyclone.
*50ft sphere PBAoE, 10 target cap since ult.
*While maintaining this power you become Immune to most forms of Control effects and gain 200% resistance to all Knock effects.
*Deals a moderate amount of Crushing Damage to all targets hit per tick (once every 0.5sec,) larger by far than base Iron Cyclone but not quite as high as something like Ultimate Sword Cyclone.
*Pulls in targets further than 10' away by a strength of 6ft/8ft/10ft per tick based on rank, with a 15%/25%/35% chance per tick to Knock Down any target hit, and a 50%/75%/100% chance per tick to Knock Up any target within 10ft.
*Applies 3 stacks of Furious on tap/on the first tick, and reapplies 3 stacks of Furious on the last tick if successful.
*Cannot be used without Iron Cyclone.
-=(Baron Cimetiere, Dark Puppeteer)=-
"Pins & Needles" a Flashfire replacer.
"A rather unsettling doll that radiates an ominous aura; foes that stray too close are stricken with toxic maladies and some fall prey to powerful curses."
*0.5sec activate time, identical cooldown to Flashfire. Does not self-root during use. Takes a large amount of energy to use, perhaps around 50% more than Flashfire.
*50ft range, 15ft sphere, target cap of 5.
*When used, spawns a "Pins & Needles" patch on the target in question. As a Pyre Patch type entity, only one can be present at any time, and it will override- and be overriden by- other Pyre Patch type effects. Toxic Damage roughly equivalent to Flashfire is done to all foes the 15ft area of the Pins & Needles once per second, however, instead of having a chance to apply Clinging Flames, several other debuffs apply. As follows...
*Applies Chronic Illness to targets that stand inside the Pins & Needles. This debuff reduces their healing received by 80%/100%/120% based on rank, and is only present while actively standing inside the Pins & Needles.
*Has a 8%/10%/12% chance per tick to apply Cursed to each target each tick based on Pins & Needles' rank. Cursed lasts for 10 seconds, Disabling any enemy affected, preventing them from attacking but still allowing them to move. Upon expiring, Cursed explodes with Toxic Damage on the target, dealing something like 10% of an Expulse or so to the target and 40% or so of an Expulse to up to four other targets within 15ft of the target. Enemies that cannot be Controlled can still be Cursed, but Cursed will not Control them; only wait and rupture once its timer expires. Cursed application chance on Legendaries and Cosmics is 30%/40%/50% instead, as all it would do on them is provide a tiny extra tick of damage once every 10 seconds at the quickest; blown out of the water by Clinging Flames, let alone anything else.
*When used without Flashfire, the damage done is minimal, Chronic Illness only debuffs enemy healing received by 50%, and there is no chance to apply Cursed.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Flashfire power.
"La Danse Macabre" a Madness Aura replacer.
"With powerful voodoo and dark spirits at your beck and call, even the dead dance to your symphony of destruction."
*3sec activate time, unlimited toggle time, 90sec cooldown that starts on detoggle (base.) Takes a moderate amount of energy per second to use and automatically detoggles if running out of energy, but can remain toggled on through Knocks, Interrupts, Control and other such effects.
*20ft/25ft/30ft sphere PBAoE based on rank.
*While active, deal a small fixed (before enemy defenses) amount of Toxic Damage to 5/6/7 enemy targets within your area of effect once every second based on rank. 50/Henchman, 100/Villain, 150/Master Villain or Enforcer and Supervillain (and Nemesis and enemy players,) 200/Legendary and Cosmic. This damage is Indirect and is not affected by anything that increases or decreases damage dealt, whether buffs or debuffs, passives, roles or otherwise.
While active, heal 5/6/7 friendly targets (though not yourself) within your area of effect once every second. 100/sec. This is not affected by anything that increases or decreases healing dealt, see the above.
While active, has a 10%/15%/20% chance based on rank to rez fallen enemies as temporary allies; Henchmen can be rezzed at any rank and last 10sec/15sec/20sec, Villains can be rezzed at R2+ and last 10sec/15sec, and Master Villains and Enforcers can be rezzed at R3 and last 10sec. Enemies that, by chance, are killed by ticks of La Danse Macabre have a 100% chance to be rezzed. Upon expiring, these rezzed villains disintegrate and cannot be resurrected again.
*When used without Madness Aura, uses an OBSCENE amount of power to remain toggled, only has 15' of range, only has a target cap of 3, only has a 5% rez chance on Henchmen only, and does not guarantee a rez on targets killed by La Danse Macabre directly.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Madness Aura power.
-=(Vladic Dracul, Blooded Fiend)=-
"Vampiric Swarm" a controllable Command Animals replacer.
"Call upon swarms of ravenous vampiric bats to brutally savage your foes and leave them weakened and reeling for you and your allies' finishing blows."
*No charge time, 0.5sec activate time (Vlad/Flashfire snap animation.) 30 second cooldown (base.) Takes a moderate amount of energy to use.
*Summons 2/3/4 Vampiric Swarms (based on rank) to fight for you. They will seek out targets and hover on top of them, doing [a small number goes here] Slashing Damage once every second to everything within 10' of them, even while Knocked or Controlled (just like New Shadows bats and Vlad bats.) These bats are fragile and are classified as "Swarm" type creatures as well as Pets, and are also Undead, but in turn also rapidly heal themselves when dealing damage. Ranks do not increase the damage of each Vampiric Swarm at all, but instead spawn more, and add extra effects to them. However, their health is still increased with rank, not that it matters much due to their fragility and Swarm status. Debuffs they apply only stack once per player, and the DoTs they apply stack independently from the DoTs of their owner/user. As these DoTs do not count towards the player's max DoT stacks, cannot be refreshed by the player, and do not count for the purposes of other powers and effects such as Pestilence or various Bleed ruptures.
*At R1, any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm has their Perception reduced by 200%. Each Vampiric Swarm heals approximately 20% of its max health per target hit (base.)
*At R2, any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm has their Perception reduced by 250%. Each Vampiric Swarm heals approximately 25% of its max health per target hit (base.) Each Vampiric Swarm has a 5% chance per tick to apply Bleed and a 5% chance per tick to apply Deadly Poison.
*At R3, any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm has their Perception reduced by 300%. Any enemy within the area of a Vampiric Swarm is affected by Festering Bites, a defense debuff that decreases the target's defense against all damage by 5%, only stacking once per player no matter how many of their bat swarms are hitting the same target, and stacks up to 3x for all players total. Each Vampiric Swarm heals approximately 30% of its max health per target hit (base.) Each Vampiric Swarm has a 10% chance per tick to apply Bleed and a 10% chance per tick to apply Deadly Poison.
*Can be used alongside Command Animals!
*Attempting to use Vampiric Swarm without Command Animals will only spawn one Vampiric Swarm at rank 1 strength.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Command Animals power.
"Life Link" a Soul Mesmerism replacer.
"The vampiric taint in your blood allows you to link your very life to your foes, but weakens you in body and mind if you fail to do so."
*3sec charge time (3min), 0.5sec activate time. 40 seconds recharge (base.) Self-root while using. Uses a large amount of energy (comparable to a Shoulder Launcher or Hand Cannon.)
*50ft range, single target.
*Upon full charge, apply "Life Link" buff to self, and "Life Link" debuff to target enemy for 20 seconds. While active, 15/20/25% of any incoming damage based on rank from any source (after defense calculations) is dealt to the target enemy as Toxic Damage, and 15/20/25% of any healing the target enemy receives is also received by the user. The enemy can dispel either half of the Life Link with any effect that removes buffs or debuffs (used on the appropriate target) to end the effect early. If Life Link's charge is cancelled for any reason, whether being Knocked or Controlled or released early or running out of energy to use it mid-charge, applies the Fractured Essence buff for 20 seconds, which reduces incoming healing by 200%/150%/100%, base damage and healing strength by 20%/15%/10% and Defense by 60%/50%/40% (this effect cannot push Defense below 0%.)
*If used without Soul Mesmerism unlocked, Life Link's focused damage reflect and healing is 10%, and its early-cancel punishment is reducing incoming healing by 250%, base damage and healing strength by 25%, and Defense by 80%.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Soul Mesmerism power.
-=(Therakiel the Bright)=-
"Brilliant Arc" an Arc of Ruin replacer.
"Light! Dark! Tremble before Therakiel!"
*1.5sec charge time, 1sec activate time, does not self-root while using.
*15ft sphere PBAoE, target cap of 5.
*Deals a moderate amount of Dimensional Damage to every target hit, less so than Arc of Ruin's crushing damage by a small margin. Has a 20%-50% chance to apply Illuminated to the closest target and a 10%-25% to apply Illuminated to other targets, based on charge time. Has a 40%-100% chance to apply Illuminated if only one target is hit, based on charge time.
*On full charge, any target hit by Brilliant Arc that is affected by Illuminated emits a pulse of Dimensional Damage in a 15ft sphere around them, damaging them and up to four other targets for a third of the damage of Brilliant Arc and consuming Illuminated in the process. Any targets whose Illuminated is ruptured in this manner are affected by Celestial Burnout, a debuff that last 5 seconds, dealing miniscule ticks of Dimensional Damage and preventing Illuminated from being reapplied during that time. I said I wouldn't edit to avoid getting gotten by the awful automod but this bit missing was annoying me too much so I'm taking the gamble of editing just this once, wish me luck-
*If the "Brilliant Cleave" PVD is slotted, on full charge this power (both its primary and any secondary hits) do double damage and Brilliant Arc goes on a 5-second cooldown (not affected by cooldown reduction of any form and not affected by Nanobot Swarm.) Additionally, Illumination is applied to self, and the Brilliant Cleave buff is also applied to self.
*If used without Arc of Ruin, this power cannot rupture and consume Illuminated, and it only deals R1 damage.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Arc of Ruin power.
"Divine Annihilation" an Annihilate replacer.
"I shall stand against Heaven and against Hell!"
*1.17sec charge time, 0.83sec activate time, self-roots during both charge and activate time similarly to Annihilate. Takes somewhat more energy to use than Annihiate, although not very much so.
*15ft range, single target.
*Does Dimensional Damage equivalent to Annihilate. In lieu of innate bonus damage to Knock-immune targets and an adv for bonus damage against Clinging Flames-stricken targets, Divine Annihilation deals 25% more damage to targets afflicted by Illuminated or Celestial Burnout (see Brilliant Arc,) and another 25% more damage to targets afflicted by Fear.
*If used without Annihilate, this power deals greatly diminished damage and does not benefit from the bonus damage against Illuminated targets or the bonus damage against Fear-stricken targets.
*Goes on a 90 sec cooldown if you do not own the Annihilate power.
**Probably the simplest PVD here and probably also the most evenly-balanced, literally just an Annihilate expy with a tiny fraction more damage. Could probably be made wackier with some rupture-y things like what Brilliant Arc has, but I feel like leaving this one as-is for a taste of normalcy amidst the craziness.
"Barred Gates" a Brimstone replacer and Ultimate PVD.
"Lo, the gates of Heaven and Hell swing open; the apocalypse BEGINS!"
*4sec charge time (1sec min,) 1sec activation time, self-roots during charge time but not activation time. 60 second recharge time (base.) Uses however much energy the player currently has.
*30ft sphere PBAoE, 10 target cap since ult.
*While charging this power you become Immune to most forms of Control effects and gain 200% resistance to all Knock effects.
*Reflects 50% of all incoming Direct Damage (after defense calculations) back at attackers in the form of Dimensional Damage while charging.
*While charging this power, applies Waxing Glory, which drains 10% of energy per second down to 0 but does not cancel Barred Gates if hitting 0 energy.
*Deals Dimensional Damage and knocks back all targets hit, scaling up MASSIVELY with charge time. Ideally, in the realm of critting between 40k and 50k on fully geared melee DPSes. On half charge or higher, applies (rank of Brimstone) Dimensional Collapse as well as Illuminated to all targets hit if the player is currently affected by Illumination. On full charge, also apply Devoid to all targets hit if the player is currently affected by Illumination.
*Sets the user's energy to 0 upon activating and applies Waning Glory, which regenerates 10% of max energy per second and lasts for five seconds.
*Cannot be used without Brimstone.
**Uses Therakiel's sword-spin animation for fitting as much cool as physically possible into as compact a space as physically possible.
Defender save my soul, for I have sinned...
Post edited by thisiscraftaaa on
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Howdy there! If you made it down here then either you skipped a wall of text, or you made it through and want to see what my actual thoughts behind each of these PVDs was. And, so that I don't wind up stupidly repeating myself over and over again for... at least most of these things, the core idea behind (most) of them was "how do I turn one of their mechanics into something the player can use?" There's an exception to that here and there of course, but that was the core of most of these. And on that note, for funsies, the first one I wrote was Barred Gates and the last one was Divine Annihilation. And so it all comes full circle, with the resounding bonk of a big dimensional stick, and then silence. And now? I can't think of anything else to really bring up, so I'll skip right on ahead into actually talking about each of the PVDs individually.
"Blinding Wrath" a Vengeance replacer.
So! Vengeance was born, as some of my past PVD suggestions, from a love of certain powers. Here? U-MD Ghosthunter Phase Rifle's overall utility and flexibility, while still being damaging, in exchange for its cost. And then, the sheer destructive energy that Vengeance feels like it has due to animation and sound design, even though it really doesn't (being the strongest attack of one of the weakest sets in terms of damage by far. In trying to figure out ways of making it more interesting, the thought of incorporating the base Vengeance into Blinding Wrath's functionality arose, and so using Vengeance's Unforgiving stacks to burn into stacks of a buff for Blinding Wrath seemed nice. A bit of Invocation of Storm Calling (or Electric Vengeance, take your pick) sprinkled on top, then softened up a little by making each tick of the pseudo-rupture not apply the extra damage to the target it's emitting from. This, as you can tell, is clearly the "my precious baby! You, you must be the best!" of this PVD lineup. It's got moderate single-target damage (still falling behind something like the Qularr Toxic Rifle) that, funny enough, actually goes up with secondary targets around to hit, and does questionable AoE damage at no Celestial Enmity stacks but actually very high AoE damage at three stacks, as well as having (via Celestial Field) some debuff utility, though negligible on a minmaxed DPS or most tanks (and a healer would need to take a lot of time actually building up to it and maintaining Celestial Enmity stacks to actually use it, not viable in most harder content.) Finally... let's be honest. It's just be sick looking in general. It'd be nice to have something with the visual punch of Vengeance (or even more) that actually does the damage to match, and picks up the pace. I wish to cast Scarlet Weather Rhapsody of All Humankind and yet I cannot. And this makes me sad.
"Soul Bomb" a Sigils of Arcane Runes replacer.
This one's much, much simpler, to be honest! It's what literally everyone has been wanting since... what, the early days of the game? The ability to actually place sigils directly on a target, instead of only around yourself. Considering that's a request that basically everyone's made and that's been shot down time and time again, I figure the only way to """balance""" what should have been a feature in the first place would be to give them a continuous energy cost, and make them eat up a toggle slot, so that they can't be paired up with things like Sparkstorm PB-RDPSes for even more cheesy DPS potential, and don't mix with (though I'm not sure why you'd even try it) PA builds. In return, they can be activated from 50ft away, and behave more as a blend of Arcane Sigils and Destruction, and have a chance of (not like it matters much since most mobs don't really make use of them) stripping buffs... much like Valerian Scarlet's sigils. And, well, that's the idea, isn't it? It's a little baby version of Valerian Scarlet's room-nuking sigils. I can't think of anything else to really say about this one; it's pretty cut-and-dry.
"Wild Lunge" a Tear Down replacer.
I'm going to be honest, I had very, very little in the way of interesting ideas for Black Fang PVDs, so both ended up being really, really basic ports of "Black Fang does a thing." But I'll provide my thoughts on what little I did here at least. So, Wild Lunge! A very, very slow lunge with a large CD for a lunge, especially one without an AoE component, and average lunge range. What's so special about this? The answer is that, since it's mimicking Black Fang's root-and-lunge effect, along with general Black Fang elements, it just throws buffs at you for existing. "Marked" is a defense debuff that only benefits your own attacks, applied to the enemy. Small but technically meaningful. "Frenzied" gives you a small additive layer damage bonus (nowhere near even a R1 Active Offense, really just as strong as a single Toggleform stack) and a small but pleasant knock resistance buff for... when the game decides knock resistance matters (since most endgame mobs, including all TT mobs, have a 50% chance to just ignore knock resistance entirely, even if you have 800% knock resistance AND have been holding block for the last 50 seconds.) Finally, for a tiny bit of healing in combat, and a little extra damage, it's a Furious applier. Of course, to get the most out of all of it, you do have to rank your lunge, which is usually dumb for obvious reasons, so... I'll leave it up to you to decide how worthwhile this even is. (It doesn't feel it to me, but lunges aren't really meant to be good, so "king of the garbage bin" counts for something?)
"Feral Cyclone" an Iron Cyclone replacer and Ultimate PVD.
Okay! Another basic one, but the first of two Ultimate PVDs on this list and the much tamer of the two despite its name, Feral Cyclone is really just Black Fang's giant chain spin. Reverse repels ahoy; this one saves the knocks for tripping up enemies instead of wasting them early, by sucking enemies in close and THEN knocking them up into the air, only to pull them back down with the pull effect, then knock them back up into the air again, until they reach knock resistance, doing moderate damage (though not nearly enough to properly kill Tough Elite mobs running around with 35k, 40k health a piece and fall damage immunity.) Then just chuck on the CC immunity and bonus knock resist, and you have an ult that's meant to be the tank's equivalent to a DPS's Ultimate Sword Cyclone, just like Iron Cyclone (and the other chain cyclones) are usually what a tank runs while a DPS runs Sword Cyclone. And hey, it even gives you three stacks of Furious, how fun! What more is there to say, really?
"Pins & Needles" a Flashfire replacer.
This one, I started writing up immediately after the other Baron Cimetiere replacer, so my mind was on making something both tamer and more... obviously relevant to Baron's mechanics than the other. With that in mind, behold, yet another Flashfire replacer! It isn't like we don't already have Magic Cauldron in the game or anything, which also does toxic damage, or like I suggested a Celestial one built into Blinding Wrath or anything. But here; this is probably one of the most decently-well-balanced PVDs I've suggested, both in this list and in general! "Pins & Needles" does toxic damage, to the same degree as regular Flashfire, but lacks Clinging Flames. Instead? To play into "Baron hates rezzing and probably plays CO in his off-time and runs away from every healer he sees to spite them" Pins & Needles reduces the healing received by anything it's hitting, which... honestly, makes it pretty decent for TT, between being extra fire-and-forget AoE, a Pyre Patch type effect (and those can do some funky things if you have good luck) and probably cussing out Vlad's bats in particular in at least four different languages including French in the process. Finally, though, its most fun (at least to me) gimmick! Giving we-the-player a tool to (admittedly via RNG) apply a Disable effect! Much like Soul Bomb is a baby version of Valerian's sigils, Pins & Needles is a baby version of Baron's curse-doll/curse-pit! The detonation of the Cursed effect it provides is low-damage, doing... what did I describe, a tenth of an Expulse to the primary target and 40% of an Expulse to four secondary targets within 15ft of the primary? But that's decent without being overpowering, especially since the Disable on its own is useful for dealing with lesser mooks and lightening the load a little in both solo and team content, which, along with a little extra fire-and-forget damage, is what Pyre Patch types are best for! That, and this trades the wacky-zany-pretendo-PBR energy of Magic Cauldron for something more reliable. I like this one a lot, and personally, if any of these PVDs were to suddenly be added into the game as-is, I feel like it'd probably this one, and I'd be happy with that. It just sounds of good fun.
"La Danse Macabre" a Madness Aura replacer.
Hooh, this one! This is one of the earlier ones I wrote, and I really let myself go wild with this one while trying to keep it from being... too broken. Early on in writing this, the old pre-nerf Redirected Force came to mind and guided the design choices, where Redirected Force ate a moderate amount of energy but could be maintained forever/indefinitely as long as you kept feeding it more energy to keep it going. The thought of something vaguely akin to Necrullitic Elixir, fittingly death-themed in name, also came to mind. And, finally? Playing around with Baron's "no rezzing" shtick. Sprinkle just a touch of Epidemic on top, and you have La Danse Macabre. Where Madness Aura relies on having objects to throw that can theoretically deal a lot of damage but only, only does anything at all in places with lots of (heavy) objects to throw, La Danse Macabre instead relies on you having lots and lots of spare dead bodies lying around to be useful, and toys around with being a non-Ultimate power with a target cap higher than 5 (which is mostly the territory of Storm of Arrows otherwise.) In exchange for burning a decently large sum of energy once a second, La Danse Macabre can be toggled on- that's right, a toggle, I'm sorry Sparkstorm and Ego Blade Pandemonium lovers, and also PA lovers especially for obvious reasons- nigh-indefinitely. At R1/R2/R3, it's got 20ft/25ft/30ft range, being a PBAoE, and affects 5/6/7 targets, letting it both scale up in targets with each size, and in distance with each size. To avoid just being a free 0-point-power that makes you better at everything, its main gimmick, which is resurrecting dead enemies, including more powerful ones, as temporary allies, scales with rank, necessitating ranking it to 3, both for Henchmen living twice as long (20s instead of 10s) to actually do anything, and for being able to get just ten seconds of Master Villains and Enforcers working alongside you before they turn into unrevivable piles of dust. In turn, to add a little bit of extra functionality and make this power not entirely useless without bodies to use, unlike Madness Aura, La Danse Macabre is also a 1sec-tick DoT and 1sec-tick heal to the same number of potential targets, with both the damage and healing not actually scaling with anything. The damage is there for the fun little effect of guaranteeing a rez on enemies somehow killed by the miniscule amount of damage La Danse Macabre does, and the healing? Well, it's a nice little boost for allies but extremely miniscule; Necrullitic Elixir is almost twice as strong per-target, but what it does do is help make you an aggro magnet in dangerous situations similar to Illumination/Illuminated, making this a risky use in the kinds of situations where you'll be getting a lot of bodies to reanimate in the first place, like Black Fang and Baron Cimetiere, unless you're ready to weather massive waves of incredibly tough mobs to survive. Now, say it with me! Ze dead shall dance... und all of Hell shall sing!
Vampiric Swarm" a controllable Command Animals replacer.
Now, we get to Vlad, and both of the ones I came up with for him are... weird. I'd considered some kind of "trapped in a magic/projected phantom cage" CC power, but that just felt like way too lame a turn of things for a PVD. I mean, come on, a single-target CC power? Even if I souped it up with a bunch of other effects, it'd be way more boring, and fundamentally if I'm even loosely adapting boss mechanics into player powers, it'd just be sticking one mook in a cage and maybe, maybe throwing bat clouds at them (read: just passively dealing toxic damage while they're trapped.) That's both boring and also pointless on tougher enemies. So instead? The bats themselves. God, I hate Vlad bats. God, you hate Vlad bats. We all hate Vlad bats, and if you don't hate Vlad bats, you do, you just don't know it yet. But these? These little fellas are a little more tame. Granted, they'd get eaten alive by actual Vlad bats, but otherwise, otherwise! They're the first pet PVD available, unless you count Pyre Patches as pets, and they let you fart a little bit of Vlad's seething gamer rage clouds (now with black bite-y chunks for added flavor!) at your enemies. Increasing in number rather than damage with each rank, at higher ranks they heal themselves a little more, mess with enemy perception harder, and get a little bit of DoT and debuffing to play with, like if you took all the love and joy out of Support Drones and replaced it with whatever dark, tainted energies naturally house themselves within the body of a particularly twitchy chihuahua. And for a side gimmick to make them a little more useful? They don't override Command Animals. Maybe, maybe this might make petmasters angry, but come on. You're still getting more pets that die in one sneeze from a Mega-Destroid for your four adv points and one power point anyways, and these can help your pets last a little longer in a more subdued fight by virtue of just keeping trash mobs from looking at anything else until the bat clouds die. All in all, definitely not a hardcore meta device, but another one that'd fall more into the realm of "a fun gimmick," if not suited for anything involving AoEs due to... you know... the Swarm status offsetting the AoE resistance bonus of I'm A Pet. So many dead bats.
"Life Link" a Soul Mesmerism replacer.
Now we move onto Vlad's own resident "weird one" PVD, just like Baron's La Danse Macabre before him, Black Fang's Wild Lunge before him, and Valerian Scarlet's Blinding Wrath before him. Life Link is essentially a port of that one annoying vampiric life-link effect that both Immortals and Vlad himself get to throw around. Instead of just some dumb, dinky 50ft-range-single-target Paralyze that cools down slightly faster than Mental Storm in exchange for not having a stun on tap and not getting to do any free extra damage without breaking the CC effect and not having an adv that makes it a must-take for all ego-damage DPSes, instead of such an underwhelming power as base Soul Mesmerism... oh boy. You get to do what those vampires do. Take a target? Reflect a portion of all the damage you take back at them, and also receive a portion of all the healing they receive. Sounds really, really strong, doesn't it? Well, there's a few fixes to that issue so that it isn't disgustingly and bustedly overpowered, even if you can be sure it'd still be amazing for a tank or healer to funnel extra damage onto a boss in lairs if timed right. Firstly, if the enemy has any way of wiping their own debuffs, or player buffs, Life Link goes (safely) out the window. Secondly, if Life Link isn't fully charged (oops, interrupted! (oops, knocked! (oops, CC'd! (oops, energy dipped too low mid-charge! (oops, target went out of range! (Etcetera etcetera etcetera.)))))) then the user is heavily, and I mean heavily debuffed as punishment; getting a nasty 20-second debuff that decreases incoming healing greatly, shaves a bad slice off base damage and healing strength, and shaves off enough Defense that most players will be resting at a true 0% for the duration of the debuff, tanks aside. It's high risk for high reward. Something for our resident gambling addicts when a new Lockbox hasn't been added in the last two weeks. And lets be honest, this would absolutely make for some funny moments of people going for the gamble and failing horribly.
"Brilliant Arc" an Arc of Ruin replacer.
And so we arrive to Therakiel's bunch! This was made with Brilliant Cleave in mind, down to accounting for Medusa's Onslaught (which has the side benefit of making it more of a viable group-nuking rupture when paired with any sort of mass Illuminated applier in general, finally butting in on the territory of Dragon Kick and Sword Cyclone.) Don't have Illumination on a target? This can probably apply it! Have Illumination on a target? This'll eat it to deal an extra spike of damage. It's like a more AoE-oriented Electric Vengeance, or like Arc of Ruin meets Invocation of Storm Calling. It behaves slightly differently if Brilliant Cleave is slotted, even if you aren't actively using Brilliant Cleave, doing double damage on full charge and leaning into that group-nuking rupture but also giving it a cooldown so that it can't be spammed endlessly to instantly annihilate massive crowds of enemies with even less effort than either of the two powers I just named (which are already good benchmarks themselves for "if it's easier than this, it really should take more than one power to pull off.") Now, really, what more is there to say about Brilliant Arc? Because of Illuminated application (and Celestial Burnout) it has some mixing with Divine Annihilation too, though that PVD still ideally wants Dimensional Collapse to function at its best (as all dimensional DPS does, really.)
"Divine Annihilation" an Annihilate replacer.
This one's really dreadfully simple, honestly! If any of these PVDs I named was likely to make it into the game as-is... well, I already said Pins & Needles, but it'd be either that one or this one! This one's just a dimensional Annihilate that takes the L of no innate damage buff just for existing (hitting knock-immune targets) and a less-commonly-used damage type for DPSes (dimensional instead of crushing) for the W a slightly higher technical damage limit (20% R2 + 20% R3 + 25% Illum + 25% Fear = 90% instead of 20% R2 + 30% Adv + 30% KnockImmune = 80%) and the fact that you have an excuse to apply Illumination on a target in the first place, which is always nice for chip healing (and scary in... certain lairs that may or may not be relevant here.) What more is there to say about this one? Divine Annihilation is another dimensional damage big-stick bonk, and that makes both my monkey brain and my gamer brain happy.
"Barred Gates" a Brimstone replacer and Ultimate PVD.
And now, time for the biggest dimensional damage big-stick bonk of them all. Completely changing Brimstone into Therakiel's light-and-dark sword-spin. This? This is my answer to the fact that Vorpal Blade (and to a lesser degree, Meltdown) are objectively the best melee ultimates in the game to an obscene and disgusting degree. Barred Gates doesn't do upwards of 200k damage for a 1-second tap plus whatever 100 stacks of Bleed pans out to if the mobs aren't dead by then. Barred Gates doesn't do a slightly lower but still obscene damage strike plus whatever 100 stacks of Plasma Burn pans out to if the mobs aren't dead by then. Oh no, Barred Gates is here to reward you for timing. It's going to demand 5x the time of Vorpal Blade, or 3⅓x the time of Meltdown. In return, it's going to do twice the damage they'd do (admittedly in a fraction of the time; they still drastically out-DPS this on technicality.) If the user has Illumination on them, it'll slap Dimensional Collapse, Illuminated and Devoid to all targets hit, setting them up for Divine Annihilation, Brilliant Arc and Brilliant Cleave (and getting rid of the need to slot a pesky Shattering Rain for the "ideal" build in most cases.) It also hard-resets your energy with Waxing Glory and Waning Glory, which... can be good or bad depending on the situation! But wait, there's more! There's the usual (most forms of) CC immunity, and 200% knock resistance! And much like Therakiel's bootleg-Baron-block, you get to reflect a portion of incoming damage back at your attackers! Sadly only 50% instead of, what is it, 100% or some crazy junk, though, and it's not an AoE reflect, just single-target to whoever's doing the damage, but that's still a lot compared to those piddly little 15% passive reflect devices, or even the 25% reflect of a R3 Life Link (though that comes ahead in the single-target nuking department for obvious reasons.) All in all? This is what Final Punch wishes it could be, and it's also Vorpal Blade's and Meltdown's doddering middle-aged beer-gut dad. Tremble before his glory. (Seriously, this is meant to be better in a situation where you need an overwhelming guaranteed spike at a specific time and location you can rely on, and trades off the higher DPS of the two ults named in exchange for that higher spike, as well as being a setup for the other two Therakiel PVDs plus the one actual/real one in-game, and let's be honest, using Therakiel's sword-spin animation? Looking way, way cooler in the process. The Brilliant Cleave to... what, Ego Weaponry and Bullet Ballet? How flavorful! What more is there to say, though outside of just selling the idea harder and more aggressively? It's a bigger, slower nuke that does less damage per second than those ults, technically, but does a higher spike, and has some fun Therakiel-y gimmicks thrown in to make it more interesting than just a glorified Shadow Eruption, and make it more useful for using other Therakiel devices, or even Dimensional Damage builds in general (though it being melee does... limit that somewhat, since most dimensional damage is decidedly not melee, but eh, you win some, you lose some!)
Aaand that's all I can think of for these PVDs! I go places when I'm bored. Dumb places. And between yesterday and today, I've arrived here. If you've managed to read through all of that, my congratulations and my condolences! Now, to keep things short because I've typed up three quarters of this today (among a lot of other things as well) and my fingers hurt, do make suggestions of your own down below, yes? Or raise thoughts about the ones I've made here. This is less about getting these exact things into the game as described, and more... stirring up thought about what could be put into the game; pushing and nudging in that direction. So do say something if you think of something to share!