Harbinger and Blight..my idea

[Vaxian.4138]

I think we all have the same thought about Harbinger:  Largely pretty cool but lacks a certain je ne sais quoi in  regards to blight.  Here are my thoughts on what to do to fix it.  Since blight reduced our total health there should be some kinds of real trade off for the true glass-cannon playstyle, something like this: 

 

Here's what I think for ever 10 blight stacks you get the necromancer gains the following boos depending on power, condi or healing(edited)

power: +5% strike damage +5% ferocity (max 25%)

support: +5% Healing Power +5% Concentration (rough idea, not 100% where to go with the support spec tbh)

condi: +5% condi damage +5% expertise (max 25%)

That way when you are at 50 blight stacks (aka 50% health) you become the ultimate glass cannon for either power or condi and a massive healer/ boonbot for your team

 

There is my two cents feel free to critique, complain, comment or just outright hate it.  just a quick thought that I know needs some refining

[Dadnir.5038]

I have a feeling that you got a shallow grasp of the blight mechanism...

- Each stack of blight reduce the maximum health by 2%.

- You can stack up to 25 blight.

 

What the e-spec lack, related to blight, is more interaction than just build it for more damage/support. What you suggest only expend on what make the spec not so exciting. What would be needed is more:

- Some way to share blight with your foes (either purely as blight or as a debuff to vitality like Grim specter does)

- Some way to play with the amount of blight you have, sacrificing these bonus that already exist for either short burst of self defense or damage/support burst and possibly a longer CD to the shroud as drawback.

 

Blight as it is is very simple and boring. Also, it doesn't make you a "glass canon", as we could experience in the beta test that the survivability is pretty good and even close to be over the top when built for it.

[Asum.4960]

31 minutes ago, Dadnir.5038 said:

Also, it doesn't make you a "glass canon", as we could experience in the beta test that the survivability is pretty good and even close to be over the top when built for it.

Having stress tested Harbinger quite a bit during the Beta, I don't quite agree with this. Harbinger's sustain can be really, really good, but it's tankyness/overall survivability is fairly abysmal under any sort of proper pressure. 

 

Granted, the vast majority of the game doesn't provide proper pressure, but the few points where it does Harbinger (even in full Celestial or Trailblazer) just completely folds in places where I could walk through without even getting scratched while paying less than half as much attention on other Specs. 

 

The worst part about it, it's not a matter of skill, game knowledge or counterplay. 

While on something like a Weaver I could pack Stone Resonance, grab Obsidian Flesh, Mist Form etc., on Scourge I could time massive Barriers, Reaper/Core Shroud, spam Aegis+Shield of Wrath etc. on Guard, keep up Protection and on to easily overcome big pressure moments in tough solo challenges, Harbinger just flops over in any scenario where 2 dodges and Voracious Arc aren't enough and there isn't time to resustain. 

 

Harbinger either takes little pressure and instantly resustains, or is dead. And contrary to similar/previous glass cannons, it doesn't have the array of optional tools to play around and compensate for that either. 

 

Even with full Celestial and DM/Perma prot, Harbinger folded on me in places where Scourge walked through never dipping below 90% HP/ever being even remotely in risk of not being able to solo said content on higher damage solo builds. 

In a way Harbinger is both high risk and low skill. It either can just walk through things, or just dies.

 

I do agree on the blandness of Blight though.

Edited September 17, 2021 by Asum.4960