Curse

Mercury Angel · Jan 25, 2006, 07:42 PM // 19:42

I unlocked no assassin skills during the PvP weekend, but there was one in particular that caught my eyes. A skill so amazing, I can't believe it exists:

Seeping Wound- 5 en, 1 cast, 10 recharge
Elite Hex Spell. For 5...17 seconds, if target foe is suffering from bleeding or from poison, that foe suffers Health degeneration of -2.

Umm, what?
Skill variety and balance is one thing, but is there any point at all to this?
It's a lot like taking Searing Heat, returning Exhaustion to it, adding the Elite label to it, and reducing the damage to below that of Rodgort's Invocation.

It has a minimal conditional effect, it's only degeneration, the duration is not great, the recharge is average... How in the high heavens did this get an elite tag?

I'll concede that it might be poorly written. Maybe it's really, "If target foe is suffering from bleeding, that foe is poisoned and suffers additional Health degeneration of -2", adding constant poison to a bleeding foe, giving them a total of -9 health degeneration all stacked. But even if that were the case, only -6 would be attributable to the skill itself, making it only slightly more impressive than Conjure Phantasm (5 unconditional degeneration, but for less time, and more energy). Otherwise, I'd rather have even Parasitic Bond than this.

I just can't see how this skill ever made it out of even the pre-alpha concept phase, unless it were too powerful at the time, and a hit by the nerf stick pushed it into uselessness.

Regardless, it needs significant improvements, or dropped elite status. (Maybe eliting it was an accident in implementation?) If I see the exact same skill unchanged upon release, I'll be sorely disappointed. It's not a gamebreaker, by any means, nor would I be forced to buy or use the skill, let alone the game. It's just that, to see such an obviously underpowered elite make it to release would be a powerful negative testament to the balancing abilities of ArenaNet.

actionjack · Jan 25, 2006, 08:26 PM // 20:26

actually, I did notice this skill too. At first look, it seem like a great skill, but now you explain it, yes, it does seem a bit underpower, escpically it is part of the primary attribute. One use I guess would be as a combo (since it is hex, and some of assassin's skill require a pre-condition of target being hex).

I would rework it to:

Seeping Wound- 5 en, 1 cast, 10 recharge
Hex Spell. For 3...14 seconds, if target foe is suffering from bleeding or from poison, that foe suffers Health degeneration of -2.
(make it none elite)

Draining Wound- 5 en, 2 cast, 20 recharge
Elite Hex Spell. For 5...17 seconds, if target foe is suffering from bleeding, deseas, and/or poison, that foe suffers an extra Health degeneration of -2.
(thus at max, if that target is deseased, posion, and bleeding, it will get extra -6 hp degen)

flawless650 · Jan 25, 2006, 08:31 PM // 20:31

If this elite became a stance or an enchantment, then it would be more deserving of its elite status. However, it is a hex spell that causes -2 degen for poison or bleed which makes it a horrible elite. You are probably better off just throwing on conjure phant on the target than using this.

perfect · Jan 25, 2006, 08:32 PM // 20:32

True, I wouldn't use this skill as it stands but it does have some utility.

Thinking in a PVP perspective, it would be an asset to a heavy hex/degen team. If you have an Assassin running around casting Seeping Wound on everyone and perhaps a Poison Arrow Ranger following up, throw in a necro or mesmer spamming hexes; you can overwhelm a team's monks with the degen and hexes.

Since Assassins can dish out the conditions, a degen Assassin could be useful against a team that has a lot of protection skills (aegis, gaurdian) that can screwup your chain combos halfway through.

This skill still needs a little boost though.

fallot · Jan 25, 2006, 08:47 PM // 20:47

Looks like a bad cover hex to me. It needs the elite status removed and a recharge of about 5 seconds to be a reasonable skill.

Sereng Amaranth · Jan 25, 2006, 08:56 PM // 20:56

It requires condition AND hex removal.

twicky_kid · Jan 25, 2006, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Parasitic bond does a better job than this skill and is a non elite. Its junk in its current form.