Curse

Skye Marin · Apr 11, 2007, 01:47 PM // 13:47

Let's take a solid look at all the Elite Disenchantment options out there right now, compare them, and see if we can't buff a few under-used and/or underpowered ones. The baseline for non-elite disenchantment is close to 5/1/10 with a downside (Rip Enchantment, Rending Sweep, Lyssa's Balance) or 10/1/25 with an upside (Drain Enchantment, Shatter Enchantment). An elite version should either reverse the roles to give a cheap and fast enchantment removal, or add some value to the skill, like removing more than one enchantment. Few of the current elite enchantment skills do this well. Some are obviously better than others. Let's get started:

[skill]Corrupt Enchantment[/skill]
This skill is most similar to Rip Enchantment, making it elite by causing degeneration instead of saccing health. The downside is, the degeneration lasts only 10 seconds. Decreasing the degeneration to -5 and then increasing the duration to something like 5..25 seconds would make it more popular choice in pressure builds. The strength in most Necro Hexes is their duration and spamability. Just make this a necro hex that happens to remove an enchantment.

[skill]Lingering Curse[/skill]
This skill gives the highest possible denial of healing in the game, and removes all enchants. The recharge is really nice, but the cost is too prohibitive, especially with the changes to GoLE. If we were to decrease the cost to 15, then something must change to make up for it. Most likely the recharge being increased from 10 to 15. A skill that is both elite and cost 25 energy would have to be pretty exceptional.

[skill]Order of Apostasy[/skill]
This skill just seems out of control. It costs a crazy amount of energy and health to maintain, and gives a very small window of opportunity. I'd prefer a skill that costs less (15 energy), but only gives each physical attacker the ability to remove one or two enchantments before it ends.

[skill]Hex Eater Vortex[/skill]
An elite version of Shatter Hex, this skill is more passive enchantment removal than active.

[skill]Air of Disenchantment[/skill]
This skill just isn't reliable when it comes to disenchantment, and it's main function really isn't worth much. To improve the main function, increase casting time of enchantments to a solid 1..2 seconds instead of a percentage. To improve the secondary, you could add a clause like "Every time that foe casts an enchantment, he loses one off of himself."

[skill]Shattering Assault[/skill]
I've been enjoying this skill recently. The low recharge is handy for the black lotus, black spider off-hand combo, and black lotus takes care of the energy cost. I wouldn't mind the damage to be +damage, instead of just plain armor ignoring damage, but that's a minor gripe.

[skill]Assault Enchantments[/skill]
The best part of this skill is, once you have made your dual attack, you can stand back and use it repeatedly, every two seconds. It's underused because enchantment removal is most effective at the begining of a combo, not the end.

[skill]Dark Apostasy[/skill]
This skill costs too much energy to maintain, and activating the enchantment is clumsy. Even if you decrease casting time to 1/4, and decrease energy lost to 10..2, it wouldn't be overpowered. A 10 energy short-duration elite enchantment is a lot for an assassin to prepare his bar for, especially if it removes his main form of energy management.

[skill]Avatar of Grenth[/skill]
Because of semi-recent buffs and nerfs, I won't be talking about this one.

[skill]Shatter Storm[/skill]
The common theme for all these skills is that they either have some secondary purpose, or are just underpowered. Here, I'd like to tweak this skill to be a little more potent, especially when removing more than two enchantments off a single target.

10/1/Instant
"Target foe loses all Enchantments. For each Enchantment removed this way, Shatter Storm is disabled for an additional 7 seconds."

Change to:

10/1/5
"Target foe loses all Enchantments. For each Enchantment removed this way, Shatter Storm is disabled for an additional 5 seconds (maximum 15)."

What are your thoughts?

Thomas.knbk · Apr 11, 2007, 02:40 PM // 14:40

My thoughts? That another Reaper's Mark is the last thing we need.
Lingering could use a buff to 15 energy.
Shattering Assault would actually be very good if that reterded bug was just fixed.
Hex eater vortex is a great spike assist. Removing a Spirit Bond is priceless.
Air of Disenchantment is outclassed by the non-elite Arcane Conundrum as it is. I think this should remove all enchants when it ends.
Dark Apostapy should have its cast time reduced to 1 second.
I like your change to Shatter Storm.

Div · Apr 11, 2007, 02:56 PM // 14:56

Corrupt enchantment seems good enough, but may benefit from making it a 8 second recharge.
Lingering curse is fine, as the health sac is actually only 10%.
OoA is fine as is. They're already very powerful when run on thumper teams in HA.
Hex eater vortex is a great skill that serves as good util. If anything, damage needs to be reduced slightly.
Air of disenchantment sucks, and definitely needs a good buff.
Shattering assault and assault enchantments are two great solid skills that don't really need changing.
Dark apostapy could benefit from a lower casting time, with maybe a 20 second recharge.
Shatter storm definitely needs a buff. I like the suggestion, but maybe have it cap at 20 additional recharge instead and make it 3/4 cast.