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Warlock Changes - Feats - DPS
silverwolf
Member Posts: 187 Arc User
Feats for any class should be there to really compliment the class and work in a synergistic fashion with the classes abilities and shoud cover at least one of the following characteristics :
Single Target
AoE
Utility
Buff
Additional Hit
Cooldown Reduction
AP Gain
Critical Class Mechanic
Additional Class Mechanic
The Warlock Critical Class Mechanic is Cursing and its Additional Class Mechanic is Soul Investiture.
https://imgur.com/a/RCxZEZX
The above graphic shows that the Warlock has feats covering most of the areas but doesn't have any in AP Gain or its Additional Class Mechanic.
Double Scorch : It's a radiating DoT, so essentially AoE and you'll get a 10% damage increase to the DoT. The DoT strikes with a magnitude of 1 per Soul Spark used on the target, 6 sparks = magnitude of 6 for the DoT, 12 sparks = 12 magnitude for the DoT. To put it bluntly - this is a LOW LOW magnitude and 10% of this is really bad.
Suggested Rework : Increases the DoT magnitude to 4 per spark used and gives a 10% damage increase to the initial hit.
Power of the Nine Hells : This gives the Warlock 12 sparks when using a daily power. Your big daily gives the same amount of sparks as 12 At-Wills (less if you're using No Pity No Mercy). The Warlock would want to cast their biggest damage dealing power when at maximum buffs to get the most damage they can, that means that the Warlock is going to get to full sparks before they cast their Daily power. This feat would not give them anything. If we imagined that a Warlock used this to gain 12 sparks to get quicker buffs for using their encounters, they're using a daily to gain a (0.15 * 12) = 1.8% self buff.
Suggested Rework : Summons a Soul Puppet if one is not already summoned and put the Warlock to 5 stacks of Soul Investiture.
Reasoning : This gives the Warlock an interesting choice, neither of which are wrong choices but instead dictate play-style. They can either choose more damage from Soul Scorch but need to work on their Soul Investiture at a much slower rate or they gain a lot of Souls up front but have now lost their biggest damage dealer.
Risky Investment : The Warlock can invest Souls into the Soul Puppet and gain a self-buff. Unfortunately, there's currently only 2 ways of gaining Soul Investiture, Hadar's Grasp and the kill-shot from Killing Flames.
If a Warlock uses Killing Flames on an enemy and the resultant damage is enough to ensure that the enemy is killed, the Warlock is NOT actually guaranteed to get the kill-shot if there's also a DoT or even an initial strike from another player. The DoT from Icy Terrain (example) can result in the kill-shot even if the Warlock used Killing Flames; result - no Soul Investiture for the Warlock.
If we look at Hadar's Grasp, this has a big cooldown 16.1 seconds; the Warlock needs to cast Hadar's Grasp to summon a Soul Puppet and then 5 more times to get full Soul Investiture. That's 6 * 16.1 = 96.6 seconds to get to full buff - mobs are already dead and bosses become target immune within this time-frame which causes the Soul Puppet to dissipate and the Warlock must start again.
It's worse when the Puppet doesn't get through gated content or stands in the red area and is one-shotted by bosses.
Suggested Rework : Increasing the options for the Warlock to gain and perhaps spend their Soul Investiture would be helpful to the class. Some options have already been provided in the "Warlock Changes - Powers - DPS" thread and the "Warlock Changes - Class Feats - DPS" thread. Should the changes from those two thread be implemented then this feat could then be reworked into one of the following two options:
1 - Give the Warlock the ability to tell the Soul Puppet to instantly teleport near to the players location then attack the next enemy that the Warlock attacks.
2.1 - Control an enemy (like the Ghost Companion power) for 5 seconds per stack of Soul Investiture resulting in the loss of the Soul Puppet at the end of the control period.
-OR-
2.2 - Disable the enemy for 3 seconds per Soul Investiture stack resulting in the loss of the Soul Puppet at the end of the disable period.
Reasoning : The suggested reworks in the other threads mentioned would allow the Warlock to gain and use their Souls, so what needs to be tackled is the Soul Puppet itself. Losing the Soul Puppet because it will not move out of harms way if a player frustration that they cannot solve; it's not like running out of inventory space and buying a new bag to solve the issue. The Warlock is losing their self-buff and cannot do anything about it. The player can get themselves out of harms way and summon the puppet to their side helping to alleviate this frustration. The teleport location should always be the same position relative to the Warlock e.g. always 1' behind and right of the player so that the Puppet doesn't teleport to the player but stand in the red. (Only select a different relative position if the resultant teleportation would put the Puppet inside a wall).
With either 2.1 or 2.2 the Warlock gets to "use" their Puppet and it's Soul Investiture; it gives a great mechanic and more flexibility for the class. It's helpful for the levelling Warlock as they rank up their character but also sees some interesting uses for the end-game player too; taking control of a Yuan-Ti dancer which then applies "charm" to the mob would create some interesting and unique support capabilities for this class.
Creeping Death : Creeping Death was the biggest source of damage for the Warlock pre-Mod 16. It was what made the Warlock a boss killer, now it's a completely useless feat. When you attack a target, Creeping Death will do 5 additional hits for 2% each of the hit that procced it. So if I hit for 2000 damage, then 2000 * 10% = 200 / 5 hits = 40 damage per tick. Again this is one of those, looks-great-on-paper-but-fails-to-deliver feats. For the Warlock to get this damage, they can't attack the target until Creeping Death has expired, if they do then the currently running Creeping Death will stop and be replaced by a new Creeping Death starting with the value of the last hit that procced it, this includes DoTs !!
So let's suppose that we had 18 sparks the 1000 Test Weapon and 50k power.
I'd deal an initial hit of 2162.862.
10% would be 216.2862 which is 43.25 per tick for 5 ticks.
The first tick of Creeping Death would proc and we'd get 43.25 (2% of the Soul Scorch initial hit that procced it)
BUT then the DoT portion of Soul Scorch kicks in and that is 18 Mag (1 per spark).
This will strike for 360.477 per tick and will proc Creeping Death resulting in
360.477 * 10% / 5 = 7.20954 damage per tick
So we lost 43.25 and got 7.2 instead
If I use Soul Scorch then Killing Flames, the Soul Scorch DoT will over-ride the Creeping Death from Killing Flames.
Suggested Rework :
1.1 Creeping Death should either deal 1 additional hit for 10% of the damage that procced it in 1 tick
-OR-
1.2 DoTs cannot proc Creeping Death and Creeping Death will run concurrently with other ticks of Creeping Death meaning that if the Warlock was to cast Soul Scorch then Killing Flames there will be 2 Creeping Death stacks running in parallel on the enemy at the same time, one for Soul Scorch and one for Killing Flames. Limited to a maximum of 5 concurrent Creeping Deaths to be running on an enemy (per Warlock, I'd hate for my Creeping Death to be cancelled out by another Warlock's Creeping Death).
Reasoning : The only way that a Warlock can get the full 10% damage promised from the Feat in it's current state is if they don't use a power that has a DoT and also don't attack the target until Creeping Death has expired.
Executioner's Gift : In its current form it's good.
Suggested Rework : If Creeping Death remains unchanged, then this feat should also remain unchanged. That being said, if Creeping Death is reworked to be much better than how it currently performs then Executioner's Gift should be reworked to cover the increased AP gain gap that this class has.
You gain an additional 10% AP Gain from your powers as the target's health diminishes. Can only be applied to a single target and has a 10 second cooldown once the target has been defeated.
Reasoning : The class has an AP Gain gap and a "gift" would be the gain of Action Points. The AP gain could be 1% per 9% enemy HP lost allowing the player to actually gain 10% once the enemy is nearly dead (if it was 1:10 then the Warlock would never get 10% as the enemy is dead).
This change gives the player another interesting choice when compared to the reworked Creeping Death, one gives the additional hit and could be really useful against enemies with high HP but would that be better or worse than the increased AP and the ability to push out one extra daily power ? Neither choice is a build-breaker; there's no wrong choice between the two but there is a choice with both offering unique differences in how players approach combat.
Single Target
AoE
Utility
Buff
Additional Hit
Cooldown Reduction
AP Gain
Critical Class Mechanic
Additional Class Mechanic
The Warlock Critical Class Mechanic is Cursing and its Additional Class Mechanic is Soul Investiture.
https://imgur.com/a/RCxZEZX
The above graphic shows that the Warlock has feats covering most of the areas but doesn't have any in AP Gain or its Additional Class Mechanic.
Double Scorch : It's a radiating DoT, so essentially AoE and you'll get a 10% damage increase to the DoT. The DoT strikes with a magnitude of 1 per Soul Spark used on the target, 6 sparks = magnitude of 6 for the DoT, 12 sparks = 12 magnitude for the DoT. To put it bluntly - this is a LOW LOW magnitude and 10% of this is really bad.
Suggested Rework : Increases the DoT magnitude to 4 per spark used and gives a 10% damage increase to the initial hit.
Power of the Nine Hells : This gives the Warlock 12 sparks when using a daily power. Your big daily gives the same amount of sparks as 12 At-Wills (less if you're using No Pity No Mercy). The Warlock would want to cast their biggest damage dealing power when at maximum buffs to get the most damage they can, that means that the Warlock is going to get to full sparks before they cast their Daily power. This feat would not give them anything. If we imagined that a Warlock used this to gain 12 sparks to get quicker buffs for using their encounters, they're using a daily to gain a (0.15 * 12) = 1.8% self buff.
Suggested Rework : Summons a Soul Puppet if one is not already summoned and put the Warlock to 5 stacks of Soul Investiture.
Reasoning : This gives the Warlock an interesting choice, neither of which are wrong choices but instead dictate play-style. They can either choose more damage from Soul Scorch but need to work on their Soul Investiture at a much slower rate or they gain a lot of Souls up front but have now lost their biggest damage dealer.
Risky Investment : The Warlock can invest Souls into the Soul Puppet and gain a self-buff. Unfortunately, there's currently only 2 ways of gaining Soul Investiture, Hadar's Grasp and the kill-shot from Killing Flames.
If a Warlock uses Killing Flames on an enemy and the resultant damage is enough to ensure that the enemy is killed, the Warlock is NOT actually guaranteed to get the kill-shot if there's also a DoT or even an initial strike from another player. The DoT from Icy Terrain (example) can result in the kill-shot even if the Warlock used Killing Flames; result - no Soul Investiture for the Warlock.
If we look at Hadar's Grasp, this has a big cooldown 16.1 seconds; the Warlock needs to cast Hadar's Grasp to summon a Soul Puppet and then 5 more times to get full Soul Investiture. That's 6 * 16.1 = 96.6 seconds to get to full buff - mobs are already dead and bosses become target immune within this time-frame which causes the Soul Puppet to dissipate and the Warlock must start again.
It's worse when the Puppet doesn't get through gated content or stands in the red area and is one-shotted by bosses.
Suggested Rework : Increasing the options for the Warlock to gain and perhaps spend their Soul Investiture would be helpful to the class. Some options have already been provided in the "Warlock Changes - Powers - DPS" thread and the "Warlock Changes - Class Feats - DPS" thread. Should the changes from those two thread be implemented then this feat could then be reworked into one of the following two options:
1 - Give the Warlock the ability to tell the Soul Puppet to instantly teleport near to the players location then attack the next enemy that the Warlock attacks.
2.1 - Control an enemy (like the Ghost Companion power) for 5 seconds per stack of Soul Investiture resulting in the loss of the Soul Puppet at the end of the control period.
-OR-
2.2 - Disable the enemy for 3 seconds per Soul Investiture stack resulting in the loss of the Soul Puppet at the end of the disable period.
Reasoning : The suggested reworks in the other threads mentioned would allow the Warlock to gain and use their Souls, so what needs to be tackled is the Soul Puppet itself. Losing the Soul Puppet because it will not move out of harms way if a player frustration that they cannot solve; it's not like running out of inventory space and buying a new bag to solve the issue. The Warlock is losing their self-buff and cannot do anything about it. The player can get themselves out of harms way and summon the puppet to their side helping to alleviate this frustration. The teleport location should always be the same position relative to the Warlock e.g. always 1' behind and right of the player so that the Puppet doesn't teleport to the player but stand in the red. (Only select a different relative position if the resultant teleportation would put the Puppet inside a wall).
With either 2.1 or 2.2 the Warlock gets to "use" their Puppet and it's Soul Investiture; it gives a great mechanic and more flexibility for the class. It's helpful for the levelling Warlock as they rank up their character but also sees some interesting uses for the end-game player too; taking control of a Yuan-Ti dancer which then applies "charm" to the mob would create some interesting and unique support capabilities for this class.
Creeping Death : Creeping Death was the biggest source of damage for the Warlock pre-Mod 16. It was what made the Warlock a boss killer, now it's a completely useless feat. When you attack a target, Creeping Death will do 5 additional hits for 2% each of the hit that procced it. So if I hit for 2000 damage, then 2000 * 10% = 200 / 5 hits = 40 damage per tick. Again this is one of those, looks-great-on-paper-but-fails-to-deliver feats. For the Warlock to get this damage, they can't attack the target until Creeping Death has expired, if they do then the currently running Creeping Death will stop and be replaced by a new Creeping Death starting with the value of the last hit that procced it, this includes DoTs !!
So let's suppose that we had 18 sparks the 1000 Test Weapon and 50k power.
I'd deal an initial hit of 2162.862.
10% would be 216.2862 which is 43.25 per tick for 5 ticks.
The first tick of Creeping Death would proc and we'd get 43.25 (2% of the Soul Scorch initial hit that procced it)
BUT then the DoT portion of Soul Scorch kicks in and that is 18 Mag (1 per spark).
This will strike for 360.477 per tick and will proc Creeping Death resulting in
360.477 * 10% / 5 = 7.20954 damage per tick
So we lost 43.25 and got 7.2 instead
If I use Soul Scorch then Killing Flames, the Soul Scorch DoT will over-ride the Creeping Death from Killing Flames.
Suggested Rework :
1.1 Creeping Death should either deal 1 additional hit for 10% of the damage that procced it in 1 tick
-OR-
1.2 DoTs cannot proc Creeping Death and Creeping Death will run concurrently with other ticks of Creeping Death meaning that if the Warlock was to cast Soul Scorch then Killing Flames there will be 2 Creeping Death stacks running in parallel on the enemy at the same time, one for Soul Scorch and one for Killing Flames. Limited to a maximum of 5 concurrent Creeping Deaths to be running on an enemy (per Warlock, I'd hate for my Creeping Death to be cancelled out by another Warlock's Creeping Death).
Reasoning : The only way that a Warlock can get the full 10% damage promised from the Feat in it's current state is if they don't use a power that has a DoT and also don't attack the target until Creeping Death has expired.
Executioner's Gift : In its current form it's good.
Suggested Rework : If Creeping Death remains unchanged, then this feat should also remain unchanged. That being said, if Creeping Death is reworked to be much better than how it currently performs then Executioner's Gift should be reworked to cover the increased AP gain gap that this class has.
You gain an additional 10% AP Gain from your powers as the target's health diminishes. Can only be applied to a single target and has a 10 second cooldown once the target has been defeated.
Reasoning : The class has an AP Gain gap and a "gift" would be the gain of Action Points. The AP gain could be 1% per 9% enemy HP lost allowing the player to actually gain 10% once the enemy is nearly dead (if it was 1:10 then the Warlock would never get 10% as the enemy is dead).
This change gives the player another interesting choice when compared to the reworked Creeping Death, one gives the additional hit and could be really useful against enemies with high HP but would that be better or worse than the increased AP and the ability to push out one extra daily power ? Neither choice is a build-breaker; there's no wrong choice between the two but there is a choice with both offering unique differences in how players approach combat.
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Comments
Soul Spark Recovery : The player is supposed to get a 1 second cooldown per 6 soul sparks spent (max 18) but due to the time it takes for data to be processed, the player doesn't actually receive a 1 second cooldown. I recorded video and slowed it down to the 1000th of a second and spent the best part of 2 days just noting the times.
Suggested Rework : When the Warlock casts 30 sparks resulting in a 5 second cooldown. Casting Soul Scorch with anything less than 30 sparks will not result in a cooldown being applied.
Reasoning : The time-factor is always going to be an issue, there's not much that can be done to affect it. To mitigate it you'd just need to increase the amount of time that is reduced but make the cost higher; make this feat all-or-nothing.
Wrathful Souls : Every attack from the Soul Puppet should result in a 0.5 second cooldown reduction. Given the processing time it only yields approx 60% to 85% of that time. If the Soul Puppet is spawned right next to the target, it takes 0.9463 seconds per Soul Puppet Strike, it also seems to take nearly 1.5 seconds before it actually starts to fight. If I used Hadar's Grasp with a 16.1 second cooldown, waited 1.5 seconds for the puppet to attack and then got a 0.5 second cooldown then the Hadar's Grasp should have been available in approx 11.7 seconds but it actually isn't available until approx 13.8 seconds.
It's a good idea but doesn't deliver the goods.
Suggested Rework : Avatar of Death - When attacking a target afflicted with a Synergised Curse (see other Warlock Changes threads) you gain a stack of Deaths Avatar. At 30 stacks the Warlock will become the Avatar of Death for 10 seconds, all encounter powers will have a 1 second cooldown but will damage the Warlock for 10% of their Max HP per encounter used. If the player dies while they are the Avatar of Death they will not be able to be resurrected.
Reasoning : The rework for Soul Spark Recovery has given the Warlock a cooldown option this gives the class an option to deal great damage but at a significant cost. I'm sure the Clerics recognise this one
These are suggestions and some I hope would be thought provoking enough that @noworries#8859 @asterdahl and the others look into the options and really see what they can do to make the Warlock a diverse and interesting mechanic-driven class.