As an avid Warlock player who has thoroughly tested the class in various scenarios, including solo, duo, and trio setups with diverse compositions, I've gained valuable insights into its mechanics. I believe there are several avenues for enhancing the Warlock's gameplay and creating more viable options by making a few changes. Let's start by examining some crucial facts about the current perks and skills:
- Dark Magic is currently limited to Dark Reflection, a perk, which means it's not affected by the 10% damage boost from Dark Enhancement. Blow of Corruption is also unaffected since it's a skill dealing regular magic damage, not dark magic damage. There are currently no Dark Magic spells in the game, rendering Dark Enhancement ineffective.
- Soul Collector currently doesn't function as intended because it only buffs Dark Magic and doesn't impact Dark Reflection.
- Magical Healing synergizes with Torture Mastery, and Power of Sacrifice triggers healing on damage ticks. With sufficient Magical Healing, casting Power of Sacrifice on yourself doesn't drain your HP and even grants additional HP based on Strength.
Given these facts, it's evident that there are distinct styles of play that could be further emphasized for the Warlock:
- Dark Magic Caster: A primarily magic-based build centered around Hellfire and casting spells for area denial.
- Curse Hybrid: A hybrid build that excels in mid-range melee and ranged combat, focused on stacking Curse of Pain and, if you have enough Magical Healing, utilizing Power of Sacrifice as a lifesteal melee DPS.
- Bladelock: A primarily melee build utilizing two-handed weapons, such as a longsword, and Blow of Corruption to deliver significant damage spikes. This build maintains a DPS focus while also acting as an off-tank or Barbarian.
Each of these builds has the potential to be viable, but there are currently some missing skills, perks, spells, and minor adjustments needed to fully realize the Warlock's potential as a distinct class. Currently, only the hybrid build is viable due to the limitations of working perks. With that in mind, here are my suggestions to enable the three described archetypes:
- Modify Dark Enhancement to affect both Skills and Perks, providing a 10% damage bonus to Dark Magic.
- Adjust Soul Collector to affect both Skills and Perks, granting a 5% bonus to Dark Magic upon killing an enemy. This bonus stacks up to 6 times and is consumed on the next use of Dark Magic.
- Convert Blow of Corruption to deal Dark Magic damage (20 Dark Magic) while reducing healing received by 70%.
- Adapt Curse of Pain to inflict Dark Magic Damage.
- Transform Hellfire to deal Dark Magic Damage.
- Revise Curse of Weakness to impose a 35% base stat reduction for 10 seconds.
- Introduce a new Skill: "Death's Grasp" – This melee range skill has a 0.75-second cast time, dealing 10 Dark Magic damage and healing the caster for the same amount of damage dealt.
- Introduce a new Spell: "Torrent of Hellfire" – This spell allows the caster to channel for 3 seconds, emitting a 7.5m cone of fire that inflicts 5 Dark Magic Damage per second to all targets within. Casting this spell costs 5HP per second and can be terminated prematurely.
These proposed changes would transform the Warlock into a fully-fledged class, accommodating all three playstyles mentioned above:
- Dark Magic Caster: This build gains relevance with the ability to boost Hellfire's damage and use Torrent of Hellfire for area control. Importantly, this doesn't overlap with the Wizard, as it involves short-range AoE damage. The perks for Hellfire now offer meaningful benefits.
- Curse Hybrid: The introduction of "Death's Grasp" provides this class with an alternative skill for melee combat, enhancing the concept of a lifesteal vampire build. By making Curse of Pain a Dark Magic skill, it can benefit from perks, and players have meaningful choices regarding whether to invest in Soul Collector for amplified curses. Additionally, there's now a valid reason to cast Curse of Weakness, as it can reduce enemy damage output while slowing them, potentially offsetting the self-slow during casting.
- Bladelock: These changes fully unlock the Bladelock playstyle, as both Dark Reflection and Blow of Corruption can now be enhanced as Dark Magic abilities. A more DPS-focused build can consider using "Death's Grasp" as an alternative to Phantomize, trading lifesteal for escape potential. Dark Reflection serves as a deterrent and a means to return damage when attacked, and this build can opt not to use spells at all, relying on Blow of Corruption and Phantomize/Death's Grasp as its two primary skills.
As a passionate Warlock player, I would welcome these changes with open arms. I was disappointed that there was no way to play a Bladelock without penalizing myself due to the incompatibility of the current Dark Magic perks. These suggestions bring to life the Hexblade/Pact of the Blade Warlock concept from Dungeons & Dragons and provide an exciting way to experience it in Dark and Darker.
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