Black Flame is very awkward to play

Since both skills supported by the set are getting a pass, i tried this set out for the first time in a long while and… wow. I tried both Warlock and Mage Hunter. Both are not like super weak but veeery awkward to play. The full set skill looks like smth from another century or another game: 3m radius yoga mat with 25 sec cooldown. In a game where you constantly reposition and both supported skills require you to reposition even more.

Too many buttons to mash as well. Chaos needs at least 3 free procers for Abom, God and Revenant. Press one button, press another, do an extra jump with a rune, - now you can channel for a bit.

Warlock needs to press the sigil every 2.1 sec, to not lose dmg and passive sustain. Mage hunter is too squishy for initial impact (no phys res, no da, no armor on the entire set, no second %absorb to fallback on) and can’t live without the seal - that’s another button to press.

Overall felt very disappointed by the gameplay. Decent paper stats in reality turn into a headache with below avg results.

Suggestions:

  • Rework the set skill into spawn on attack seal with larger area that focuses on defence
  • Give the set like 16-18 flat rr somewhere to allow the channeler not to use extra buttons to activate flat rr in devos
  • 2 sec cd sigil just doesn’t work with either of channeling skills. Maybe +cd, +area and tdm for it? would be smth unique and synergetic with channeling
6 Likes

Just curious. How many buttons is too much?

For a channeling focused build? One extra skill feels ok, like mines on Cyclone SB. Everything above +1 button takes away from the core gameplay too much. It’s just the nature of channeling and transitions between cd skills and channeling.

And in this game correct positioning with FoI and AAR itself is already more complicated than most multibutton builds.

2 Likes

i tried/wanted so badly to make the skill useable so did the good old “Aeon+Eternity” combo
even tried a deceiver setup not using sigils(didnt’ need the sustain for regular contain), and even with that 1 less button press, it was just… not fun
Felt like there was just too much defensive gains relying on the skill, and you can’t control the skill “proper” even with cdr resets, so it just gets wasted or wont be up when you “need” it.

Logic dictates the skill would get nerfed if uptime was better/100%, which just makes it less attractive/less the shiny bauble,
but i don’t know how deal with BlackFlame without dealing with Ritual Circle, since without it what’s the point of going (full) black flame anyway?

For the longest time it’s probably been one of the main reasons i wished item granted skills was affected by regular CDR, because that just seemed like it would fit so well here.

Sigil mods i’m indifferent about, it’s not really necessary “for me” in the context of AAR or FoI focus

This game has a lot of skill templates you can use to give the set some cool effects. But just making it spawn on attack without this strange tdm and various defensive attributes instead would be good imo. And additional challenge in gameplay here: you would need to monitor the ground, where you seals spawned to make sure to stay inside of them for said defensive bonuses. Don’t think we have anything like that in the game.

2 Likes

ye i think that’s the point,
like the skill is the main attraction of the set, but the skill is just… annoying right now atm, so it needs to be changed,
but at teh same time can’t be changed in a manner that “Nerfs” it to teh ground" too much/attraction wise, since otherwise the full set carries no real shiny reason to use without additional set changes
(and i’m fine with a granted skill being the main attraction, it just needs to be nice to use :sweat_smile:)

I dont really have a preference about what happens to the skill but it absolutely needs to be on attack. We’ve seen a lot of such changes on previously active skills that streamline the gameplay of a lot of builds. But AAR and FoI are like the first things in the line you need to provide such help to.

3 Likes

God no. The game likes to cast procs in random places too much, and against any area denial boss positioning skill dictated by RNG is a terrible, terrible idea. Just trim the CD on the thing.

1 Like

If it has low cooldown i don’t see a problem, you’ll have 2 or 3 spots on the field to choose from. It’s challenging and demands attention. An active skill to recieve the set bonuses on a set for channeling skills just doesn’t work in the curresnt state of the game, it is what it is.

I view it as a preparatory skill more than an active one. You drop it with seal, you start channeling and then you don’t really need to recast until you’re forced out of position. Which is where 20+ or what was it CD becomes an issue.

My issue with your proposal is that the game starts dictating positioning for the player. Which it already does heavily, no need to extend it to core set buffs. Imagine the joy of the circle spawning on top of Gargaban eruption. Or in the middle of Ben’s minefield. At this point you might as well not have the skill, and it will always be enemy-centered.

1 Like

I mean, you can make it spawn under the player, can you not?

Even if its cd is reduced to 5 to match the seal, it’s just bad gameplay, there is no way around it.

Why do i have to go through a piano off buttons to “prepare” my main gameplay? When other channelers like Clair Binder or lightning Druid have a single fire and forget Corruption and enjoy their AAR in any situation.

3 Likes