[Suggestion] Upgrade Scourge Strike
by Ysabell | 17/08/2008 04:27:15 As I see it, one of the lacks of Unholy (from a play style standpoint, not a mechanics one) is that it has no defining rotation of its own. Epidemic certainly provides the flexibility for new rotations, but does not provide new options on its own - to get that, Unholy has to go 13 points deep into Blood or Frost and "borrow" the rotation of that tree: Blood: Death Rune Mastery allows Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Blood Strike *2 -> Death Strike to be followed by Blood Strike *4 -> Obliterate. Frost: Annihilation allows Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Obliterate -> Blood Strike *2 to be followed by Obliterate *2 -> Blood Strike *2. Without Death Rune Mastery or Annihilation there's no good use for the Unholy and Frost rune that's "saved" by Epidemic, so I can't see any deep Unholy build not getting one of those talents (and almost certainly most will get Annihilation, considering the synergy with Desecration and likely higher damage output). Cross-tree utility is good, certainly, but having one specific talent be required to make an Unholy spec work is not. In addition, it seems a little odd that we get Scourge Strike, a replacement for an ability that's only used once every two rune refresh cycles, as a 41-point talent. Compare that to Heart Strike - even ignoring the anti-haste, it's a significant boost to a strike that's the bread and butter DPS ability. My suggestion is to make Scourge Strike not simply an upgrade to Plague Strike. Boost its cost to 1 Unholy and 1 Frost to fill the rotation gap left by Epidemic and boost its power accordingly. 100% of weapon damage as shadow damage might be enough, perhaps with some additional effect that scales with the number of diseases on the target - the stat decrease that Crypt Fever used to apply, maybe. This would give deep Unholy specs a unique ability rotation, but still allow the use of the Blood or Frost-based rotations for those who want that. |
by Ghostcrawler | 19/08/2008 16:13:39 We will probably add an Unholy talent to reliably generate Death Runes. That has proven to be a pretty fun mechanic. At the moment it would probably really only benefit a DK with Bone Shield and / or Corpse Explosion. The idea of having Scourge Strike be an Obliterate upgrade has come up a few times, and it does have some benefits (especially if you do something like have Scourge Strike not remove diseases). It does turn Unholy into a rotation a little like Frost though, with the double FU ability on every other rotation. I have had trouble figuring out how Scourge Strike as BU would work. It would be nice on times when you had Death Runes, but with a normal rotation, I'm concerned you'd see something like: Icy Touch -> Plague Strike -> Scourge Strike -> Blood Strike... er Icy Touch again? You'd have a similar problem with the proposal to have Scourge Strike renew Frost Fever. Freeing up a Frost Rune doesn't help you that much unless you want to Chains of Ice. There is also an idea to make Scourge Strike FU but apply both diseases. Then you could do Scourge Strike -> Blood Strike -> Blood Strike -> Obliterate, at least when in melee. But... Heart Strike is pretty fun as a pure replacement for Blood Strike, so there is also a pretty decent reason to leave Scourge Strike as is. :) |
| by Ghostcrawler | 20/08/2008 19:29:58 I am personally not convinced Annihilation is mandatory. If you remove diseases with Obliterate, you can reapply them again with Icy Touch and Plague Strike. The only time it feels really necessary is if you are Frost and want to get two Oblits in a row, or you are in a raid sitation where you can't afford to let Ebon Plague fall off. At this point, we are leaning towards Scourge Strike as an Obliterate replacer that hits for Shadow damage and doesn't remove diseases. With it, you wouldn't need Annihilation as Unholy so that point is moot. You would still have Plague Strike (and Blood Plague in general) for the hot removal effect. Desecration would be changed to work off Plague Strike, since the compulsion is to open with it anyway. All other talents that currently affect Plague Strike and Scourge Strike would continue to do so. Then we'd add a talent that converts Blood Runes used in Blood Boil to Death Runes. Blood Boil's AE damage feels good for Unholy. It has already been changed to a non-taunt with no cooldown, so it is basically an AE Blood Strike. With this new talent you could do: Icy Touch (F) -> Plague Strike (U) -> Scourge Strike (FU) -> Scourge Strike (FU) That one is a little like Frost. But with Epidemic, you could sometimes do: Scourge Strike (FU) x3 And if you had Corpse Explosion and / or Bone Armor, you could sometimes do: Icy Touch (F) -> Plague Strike (U) -> U -> U -> Scourge Strike (FU) The Unholy Blight idea is interesting too, but we finally got the current version in a place where it feels fun, so we are inclined to keep it there. |
News
Spam
Hot: Latest blues on Class changes in patch 2.4
Most Viewed 
Recent Blizzard Announcements
