Alright Crate. It is time we sit down and talk about this skill. What it is, what it isn’t and what it should be.
I’ve been working on a build that I find hilarious and aura of censure was a big part of it. I spent quite a lot of time farming for the key stone piece to make the build really shine. I didn’t create it for crucible, just for fun. I have run it through crucible and I am a little disappointed. Why is that you ask? Because aura of censure, while great especially with the gaze helmet is still underpowered, underwhelming and lacklustre. So what does aura of censure do well? All of the skills on it are great. No, legitimately, they are actually great. I have been tweaking the build to maximise the effect of a triple stacked aura. Aura of censure, Vindictive flame and the mythical tainted ruby of Gar’dal ability. I’ve run the build through challenger up to wave 149 but always die on 150. I switched to aura of conviction and where I struggled with censure I had no issue with conviction. Is this evidence anecdotal? Sure, but essentially the enemies you face on certain waves are always the same. I made no gear or stat changes between the run with censure and the run with conviction.
Now we come to my beef with your choice. Aura of conviction outstrips aura of censure by a margin so great it is absurd. Aura of conviction has 9 outstanding buffs on it. Boosts damage, boosts offensive ability and most importantly boosts physical resistance. Now we look at censure. Censure has 1 reasonable buff and the others aren’t even worth mentioning because of the way they apply. The flat fire damage as far as I can tell doesn’t apply to any damage other than the aura itself. The elemental resist reduction is decent but the aura only extends 7 feet.
My suggestion is to make the aura of censure the inverse of the aura of conviction. Give it the same physical resist or strip conviction of the physical resist and give it another ability that makes it an offensive aura and put the phys resist on censure. Maybe give it a small health regen buff as well to put it in line with seal and the defensive nature of it. Boost the burn damage a bit and make the flat fire damage apply the same way other buffs apply it and not just to the aura damage itself. I’m not asking for you to overpower it. I’m simply asking you to make it as good a choice or better choice for certain builds than conviction.
Or maybe not make Aura of Censure exclusive. Other classes get non exclusive -RR. Nightblade gets one, and theirs debuffs more than just resistances, but speed and offense, and it’s not exclusive. Occultists get one that works at range, with slow and more resistant types as well as an DA debuff. Why not Inquisitor?
As a Mage Hunter, I do mainly elemental damage with Word of Pain, runes and Sky Shard.
Death Sentence is great for the extra damage but not really that great for resistance reduction in my opinion since Inquisitor deals mostly elemental damage unless someone specifically pick the modifier for stormbox and flame.
I am having difficulty getting access to resistance reduction due to most common reduction only applies to skills that uses the weapon. The only source of reduction I have now is Elemental Storm and from Tome of Names proc.
If Aura of Censure can be made to affect caster skill, that would make it useful.
Aura of Censure doesn’t need weapon damage to apply its resist reduction. The enemies just need to in the area of the aura to get debuffed.
And i agree with the OP that Aura of Censure needs something else besides just Resist Reduction (Skill Disruption and damage is too minor to be anything of note). Maybe Damage Absorption? Defensive Ability? I think adding something defensive would be nice.
I like the idea of making Aura of Censure more defensive. If you want to keep it unique, you could give it a good amount of +% Maximum Elemental Resistance, say 5% at 12/12 and 8% at 22/12. Or is that maybe too much?
Unless something changed, the last time I use it the RR only applies if the enemy is within the range of the aura’s burn, once they are outside the RR drops.
This is how it works, yes. Your earlier comment implied that it doesn’t work for caster abilities at all, not that it is inconvenient for ranged casters.
This is how it works and that’s why everyone hates it
I’d say it should be apply debuff over “x” seconds to enemy within range so that even when we move outside the enemy’s range the debuff remains active for a few seconds
It’d be cool if it gave %DA (no exclusive gives this)
Inquisitor already got flat absorption via the seal, I think some %less damage taken against inhuman enemies (eldritchs, chthonics, aetherials) would be nice and it also fits the skill’s DemonSlayer theme.
I meant % damage absorption, not flat. And Steel Resolve already gives less damage from chthonians and eldritch.
I think adding % DA would be the best in my opinion. It would help the more squishy builds who want to use this, but can’t or have struggle using it because the enemies need to be in area of effect.
Wait, that’s true, Steel Resolve increases your damage against Chthonians and Eldritch instead. And I was just playing a Purifier today and somehow mixed them the two up. :rolleyes:
