The initial-blast-mechanic of Hellish Rebuke is not working as intended (currently no cooldown)

tonyvincent

Hi

I would like to point out that the mechanic of the initial damage of Hellish Rebuke for Scourge Warlocks (at-will) is not working as intended. For those who didn't know, whenever a target affected by Hellish Rebuke attacks the Scourge Warlock, the target should receive the initial blast or tick from Hellish Rebuke once a second. However, there is no cooldown to it at the moment. Consequently, in i.e. PvP, the initial-blast-mechanic from Hellish Rebuke can do way more damage than supposed to, as it procs from any incoming damage, whether small or big, continuously. It also causes severe lag at times, because Hellish Rebuke acts as a reflective power with no cooldown.

Simply put:
1. Apply Hellish Rebuke (preferably on targets that do a lot of damage over time or targets who apply damage from different sources (powers) continuously like Scourge Warlocks applying Warlock Bargain and Hellish Rebuke or Paladins applying Divine Call (protection))

Observed result:
Target receives the initial blast of Hellish Rebuke continuously not respecting the 1 second cooldown.

Expected result:
Target receives the initial blast of Hellish Rebuke once a second.

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Supposedly, this is how the initial-blast-mechanic of Hellish Rebuke should function, according to the Storm King's Thunder Class Balance patch notes:

'No longer refreshes the duration of the debuff when the target attacks you. Instead, deals another blast of damage equal to the initial damage dealt by the power. This additional damage can only be dealt to a target once every 2 seconds.'

'The damage reflect component of this power can now be triggered on each target once per second, up from once per 2 seconds.'

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Could we see a fix to the initial-blast-mechanic of Hellish Rebuke, whereas the proper cooldown of 1 second will be applied?

Thanks!

Unknown

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tonyvincent

I'll have to disagree. If I am wrong, please convince me otherwise, because this doesn't add up for me.

First off, this is how Hellish Rebuke and No Pity No Mercy work, according to the class balance changes:

Hellish Rebuke
DoT damage increased another 50%.
No longer refreshes the duration of the debuff when the target attacks you. Instead, deals another blast of damage equal to the initial damage dealt by the power. This additional damage can only be dealt to a target once every 2 seconds.
Quadrupled the damage of the initial hit, and reduced the damage of the DoT by 20%. Overall, this increases the damage dealt by this power by ~10%.
Reduced the activation time to 0.8s, down from 1.2s.
The damage reflect component of this power can now be triggered on each target once per second, up from once per 2 seconds.

No Pity, No Mercy: In addition to its current effect on Combat Advantage, this power now changes the way Hellish Rebuke functions. With this Class Feature slotted, Hellish Rebuke no longer deals damage over time. Instead, the initial hit of damage and any damage reflects caused by Hellish Rebuke deal 50% more damage.

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As I read it, the reflect component has a one second cooldown. Also, No Pity, No Mercy says the initial damage and the reflect damage is increased by 50% more. It says nothing about taking away the cooldown.

I ran with Hellish Rebuke without No Pity, No Mercy, and it was clear that the reflective damage procced multiple times within a short amount of time (i.e. 1 sec) on a single target, according to the combat log. I looked at the tooltips of Hellish Rebuke and No Pity No Mercy as well, but they do not hint to anything about the reflective damage having no cooldown. From the class balance notes, it says that the additional damage that applies when being attacked can only happen every two sec. Later in the notes, it says the reflect component now happens once a second (still talking about the same thing, because it can't be anything else). The only thing No Pity No Mercy does to Hellish Rebuke, is give the initial blast and the reflective component a 50% damage boost. However, it seems the reflective component doesn't respect the one second cooldown. Could be that Hellish Rebuke stacks, but it doesn't seem like it. Could be that the reflective component actually doesn't have a cooldown, which I think is the case, but that it's not working as intended according to the patch notes and tooltips.

I'd love to get some insight though. It doesn't make sense with the notes, and I think it can be very unbalanced in certain circumstances. Would love a confirmation or a response if possible.

flowcyto

If something reflective is procing w/o an icd, then that's generally gonna lead to bad things. If that's what's happening to HRebuke in effect, despite the tooltips or notes, then yea they prob should look into that.

darkstarrfoff

I can verify it has no ICD. I've recorded it in ACT while on OP running Vengeance and it causes a feedback loop. SW hits me with Rebuke, Vengeance procs on it then Rebuke and so on back and forth. I've seen it hit 3/4x per second and the instance started lagging and characters started having a hard time moving.​​

tonyvincent

Yes, I have experienced this many times too darkstarrfoff. Hellish Rebuke is an at-will, so it doesn't have a cooldown in activating it. Furthermore, the reflect component doesn't have a cooldown, which is clear. Though, I think encounter powers that reflect damage, whereas the reflecting damage is a % of the incoming damage, are fine, because the opponent can then choose when to use big burst damage, so that they don't kill themselves. With Hellish Rebuke, however, the reflecting damage isn't based on incoming damage. It has a base damage. Because the reflective component doesn't have a cooldown, every smallest tick of damage done to a Warlock who uses Hellish Rebuke will trigger Helligh Rebuke and you will receive the initial blast of a Hellish Rebuke at-will, and you will not receive that initial blast once a second, which the patch notes states, but you will infact receive it from every tick of damage done to the warlock. It's not working as intended I believe, and it's unbalanced, especially in PvP. It's unbalanced, because you cannot apply any CC or powers that apply debuffs, because almost all powers deal damage, which in turn will trigger Hellish Rebuke's reflective component, which doesn't have a cooldown, but should, according to the class patch notes.

I'd be very happy, if the Hellish Rebuke's reflective component gets the one second cooldown applied/fixed, as intended by the class patch notes.