Temptation Scourge Warlock: False Life!

arakk00 · February 2017

Currently, Temptation Scourge Warlocks aren't as desirable as they could be. DC and OP both make better healers, DC is better at buffing- while Temptation doesn't even really deliver -DAMAGE- to the table, much less anything relevant enough to make them a valuable addition to a party. Most of this has to do with their capstone, Soul Bonding, which heals for a percentage of your damage equal to your lifesteal chance. While yes, this CAN put out some substantial healing, this invalidates part of the role of a DC or Devotion OP, with which Temptation otherwise synergizes with thanks to Dark Revelry and Aura of Despair. In short, it doesn't 'stack'. The capstone also lacks synergy with any other classes, as opposed to the Renegade capstone. I feel I have a blanket solution to fix all of this, including improving the self-synergy of the Temptation capstone. It entails changing two feats:

Compounded Soul: No longer grants temp hp. Instead: "Striking cursed foes (ALWAYS/high chance) heals the warlock nearby allies for 1.6/3.2/4.8/6.4/8% of the warlock's maximum health. Can only occur once per second."
-Should proc burning guidance
-Healing should scale with power, but not crit.

Soul Bonding: REPLACED with "False Life"

False Life: When you lifesteal, grant yourself and allies within 20' stacking temporary hitpoints equal to 25% of the amount stolen- up to 30% of the target's max health.
-Scales with Lifesteal and Lifesteal Severity as well as damage.
-Does not interfere with OP shields; compliments instead of overbearing healers; provides certain feats higher uptime.
-Grants benefit to the warlock, not just his party. Opens up 'tank' paths as well as 'support healer'.
-Functions MUCH closer to tabletop SW play.
-Provides an extra measure of 'oneshot survivability' for low to mid-gear parties, a mechanic that both OP and DC healers have available through different paths.

And there you go. You have a potent capstone that fits much better with the theme of the rest of the tree, a t2 that doesn't just interfere with other classes' superior temphp generation while still adding 'some small survivability elements', an improvement for the personal survivability of Temptation to make up for the damage you give up, a reason for Temptation warlocks to get LS severity, and a test case for a niche mechanic encouraging more varied party compositions.

arakk00 · February 2017

In addition to the main thread, I'll add a couple of 'bug notes'.
SW: Wraith's Shadow: The outgoing damage reduction doesn't work.
SW: Aura of Despair: Doesn't work.
Guardian Fighter: Protector Capstone only stacks up to one time, for a total of 5% DR when it should be 20%

gabrieldourden · February 2017

I proposed to have an aura that transforms all damage taken by allies in the area in a DoT over X seconds instead of being applied instantly. It could replace the BoVA damage debuff feat. High enough in the tree not to be used by other trees and synergizing with the heals.

akta · February 2017

Temptation still heals good on console with both +4 under dark life steal rings on companion and r12 bonding. I don't see any mod 11 companion gear being able to make up for that amount of life steal being lost so when nerf 11 hits I'll just respec to fury

arakk00 · February 2017

Akta, even with 'good heals', Temptation doesn't bring nearly enough to the table to be a support, and the prerequisite lifesteal investment means you're not going to be effective as a DPS, either. Temptation is honestly... Really pathetic right now, even if you get a ton of healing from it; it's like a discount Healadin except you offer your allies fewer buffs and no form of death prevention. Dark Revelry doesn't even compete with Power of the Nine Hells until nearly 3.5k gear score, and nothing after it is worth the crappy capstone.

Temptation Scourge Warlock: False Life!

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