Werewolf Rework Idea 10/23/2024

Silvains_Demon

I think when it comes to the Werewolf, there isn't much to be reworked. The more mainline players for werewolves would have a better understanding of what they would want, but this is just my idea for it. As with Vampire Rework 09/29/2024, I think the werewolf could benefit from mechanics I talked about there as well as some things I talked about in the Home Post. As I make this, I may end up giving the Vampire Rework a boost for the Perfect Scion since that is the magic-based equivalent of werewolves (especially with the damage and defense buffs).

Now, let's get into the details:

Ultimate Abilities:

Werewolf Transformation (base):
- As an ability itself, let's go over what it can actually do currently. At activation, the transformation fears nearby enemies for 3 seconds. While transformed, your Max Stamina is also increased by 30%. The final affect of this Ult is that while slotted, Stamina Recovery is increased by 15% (this only affects the bar it is on. It would be nice if it affected both bars, even if it was on one bar). With the rework, this would add some changes. For the base ability in itself, I would simply add the toggle mechanic from what I talked about in the Vampire rework (Player goes into settings to determine how this mechanic works and if the ult needs to be held or tapped to transform). As for the states called "Starved" and "Fed" I mentioned in the Home Post, it will be in the Passive Ability called Devour. As for the mechanic I introduced for vampires (the transformation is not the full Ult), it will be explored below. It is also where the true Ult will be for the Werewolf Transformation will be (the base version at the very least).

Pack Leader (Werewolf Ult morph):
- The current ability adds a 10% damage reduction, grants you and your group Minor Courage (+215 Weapon/Spell Damage), and 2 perm pet direwolves. The alteration I would make is that the player would gain a new feature, in which a Pack Leader howls at a targeted individual, and afflicting that target and those within 6 meters, with "Marked for Slaughter". This status effect would make the target more vulnerable to the attacks of werewolves (players) and direwolves (their pets). The effect is themed to be around a leader giving orders to their pack to kill a target (or those made targets around the leader). This gives the player a more advanced role based around leadership by marking targets for their "pack". The percentage of that increased damage would have to be tested out to ensure it would not be too overpowered.

Werewolf Berserker (Werewolf Ult Morph):
- This current ability grants the player 2 effects, their Light Attacks gain a 4 second bleed, and their Heavy Attacks become able to deal damage in a frontal cone (for 50% damage caused). I notice that for all the attacks in the Active Abilities, the werewolf lacks a bite attack. I think it needs one. For the Ult outside of the transformation, I believe it should be a bite that applies the Hemorrhaging and Diseased status affects as the Berserker bites into a target and rips, pulling back at an angle instead of straight on as they bite as if their mouth was a blade, twisting the blade before pulling out for horrendous damage. The damage would have to be tested as well to make sure the attack is not overpowered.

Active Abilities

Pounce (and it's morphs):
- I would make sure the player is more aware that the secondary ability that can be activated in the 5 seconds after the ability's first time activation is called "Carnage" in the Skill's description to avoid confusion for players who didn't know. Also, no advised changes to it's morphs.

Hircine's Bounty (and it's morphs):
- No changes.

Roar (and it's morphs):
- No changes.

Piercing Howl (and it's morphs):
- No changes.

Infectious Claws (and it's morphs):
- No changes.

Passive Abilities

Note: As you may notice, so far, I only added in around 3 to 4 changes. This is where I would rework things for the Werewolves, in the passives. Since I introduced the ability to toggle into the form without time limit, it needs some alterations here to make it work.

Devour:
- This passive is something akin to the Vampire's "Feed" passive. It has no ability to be "pointed" and is a mandatory passive. This passive gives you the ability to devour corpses for up to 4 seconds, adding 3 seconds to the transformation timer, and healing you by 8% of your Max Health. I would rework this slightly. The first thing I would do is link the "Feed Bar" to activate when the Ult is used (not linked to the transformation itself). For the Ult morphs above, it would be the Pack Leader's "Marked for Slaughter" and the Werewolf Berserker's new bite attack. For the base version, it would just be a normal howl. I am not sure if the Ults need more attention than that, be it if the Ult should still induce fear in nearby targets. It makes since if it does though. I will leave the fear mechanic here in Devour. As for when this bar runs out, the player enters the "Starved" state. This state would just turn off the certain buffs below, such as Savage Strength. When you activate the Ult, it would refill the Feed Bar to full, cancelling out "Starved" until the player runs out of time. For convenience's sake, let's call the state opposite of Starved the Fed state.

Pursuit:
- It adds 30% to Movement Speed and increases the restored Stamina from Heavy Attacks by 50%. I would make one change... if the player enters "Stealth", they become able to see invisible targets for up to a limited range, similar to the vampire's ability to see through walls. This is based around actually taking time to sniff and perceive their surroundings. This extra feature is part of the Fed/Starved states in that being Fed decreases the range (since being Starved would make an apex predator be more perceptive for potential meals).

Blood Rage:
- No change. Having the ability to stay longer in the Fed state is a boon.

Savage Strength:
- No changes but that it would be affected by the Fed (turned on) and Starved (turned off) states.

Bloodmoon:
- Obviously no changes here.

Call of the Pack:
- No changes here. It makes sense that a pack of wolves would keep each other Fed..... sorry, bad pun lol!

Added Details

The only thing I would change after this is the Werewolf's ability to use Stealth. They crucially need it and it would be advantageous.

I had a lot of fun writing this and hope it is something you may enjoy. It could use some revisions but I won't know unless talked about. I definitely need to buff the Perfect Scion in my vampire rework idea though when compared to there more furred counterparts lol!

URL to the Home Post
- https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/666989/home-post-whiterun-vampire-rework-werewolf-rework-new-skill-line-idea#latest

Rohamad_Ali

Werewolf should definitely be able to sneak IMO too.

Silvains_Demon

@Rohamad_Ali IKR! I saw someone else put a post as such and was like "Yes! That is a need to be added!"

The_Isatope8

There's some interesting stuff here, but the only thing I really want to see changed is the application of passives outside of the actual werewolf form in a similar way to vampires since lycanthropes can retain some of the traits from their beast form according to the lore. To counterbalance this some more negative effects need to be added to werewolves so as to give them more risk and reward like vampires.

I think the best way to do this is by giving some of their passives extra effects that only apply while not transformed that act like a lesser version of their original passive.

With a change like this a new passive called "Lycanthropy" will need to be added to clarify the immediate drawbacks and benefits of being a werewolf. This passive would function similarly to vampires' 'Feed' passive in that it is unlocked by default and always active. The Stamina recovery would also be moved to the new passive to remove the 1 bar while slotted bonus of the transform ultimate.

• Lycanthropy
  You take 25% more damage from poison attacks, 20% more damage from Fighters Guild abilities and 10% more damage from weapon enchantments
  
  your Stamina recovery is increased by 15%, your movement speed is increased by 6% and you take 10% less damage from melee weapon attacks.
  Developer Comment:
  You can find the debuffs associated with werewolves in the character sheet, but having them be in the skill line itself helps the player better understand the benefits and drawbacks of the skill line immediately.
  
  The penalty of taking more damage from enchantments is inspired by lycanthropes being susceptible to enchanted weapons and the bonus of taking 10% less damage from weapon attacks is inspired by their innate resistance to non-magical weapons in the lore. Weapon skills and class skills are unaffected, but the fact that light weaving is also important in PvP in addition to the susceptibility to weapon enchantments make werewolves slightly tankier when facing a melee opponent.
  
  Extra movement speed has been added to give werewolves more utility outside of their transformation in keeping with the theme of the rework. The tooltip will update to say "your movement speed is increased by 6% while not transformed" when the 'Pursuit' passive is unlocked since it gives 30% more movement speed while transformed. This clarification is made to inform the player that the speed bonuses don't stack.
• Blood Rage
  When you deal damage while transformed, the duration of your Werewolf Transformation is increased by 4 seconds. This effect can occur once every 5 seconds.
  
  When you deal damage while not transformed, you gain a stack of Blood Rage for 5 seconds, reducing the cost of your Werewolf Transformation by 3 ultimate, stacking up to 10 times. You can gain a stack once every 4 seconds. You lose 1 stack of Blood Rage every 3 seconds when not dealing damage.
  The new added function of this passive is to allow werewolves to transform more often so long as they are reveling in carnage. Lore wise, some of the werewolves with less control over their lycanthropy can go berserk and transform when they're bloodthirsty. The transform ultimate is rather expensive and a 30 ultimate cost reduction over the course of 40 seconds can be a boon in PvP where engagements are usually quick, but in the event that the fight is drawn out the werewolf will be able to do more
• Pursuit
  While transformed, increases your movement Speed by 30% and increase the Stamina your Heavy Attacks restore by 50%. Invisible enemies within 18 meters of you are marked for 10 seconds.
  
  While crouched and not transformed, you mark invisible enemies within 12 meters of you after 1 second. Enemies revealed in this way are marked for 4 seconds.
  Developer Comment:
  Being able to detect stealthed enemies as a werewolf is a very interesting idea, but needs to work in a way that makes it unique and requires a little awareness to use. To this end, marking an enemy doesn't reveal their character model as with a stealth detection potion or pull them out of stealth like Magelight, instead it puts a large, thick haze in their approximate location to represent their scent. This effect is to counterbalance the fact that the stealth detection is permanent while transformed.
  
  Lycanthropes can sometimes retain some of the traits of their beast form, such as slightly heightened hearing and smell. Having passive stealth detection is all well and good, but shouldn't be limited just to their beast form. Having the ability to still detect enemies while not transformed would be useful in PvP and provide players with more utility while they're building up ultimate to transform. The effect can't be as strong as when transformed so you have to actively "sniff them out" to gain the benefit.
• Savage Strength
  While transformed, increase your Weapon and Spell Damage by 18% and gain Major Resolve, increasing your Physical and Spell Resistance by 5948.
  
  When you deal damage while not transformed, increase your weapon and spell damage by 2% and armor by 500 for 6 seconds up to 3 times. This effect can occur once every 4 seconds.

sneakymitchell

I just want the stam recovery to effect on both bars. Its kind of annoying to setup to have werewolf on your off hand bar. while your main damage source is the front bar.

got to need more double bar setup in how sloting skills work. People are tired of double bar skills.