Is Animate Blastbones now dead in pvp?

StarOfElyon

With the corpse and pet limit in PvP zones, is the most fun and necromancer-ish ultimate now dead? Is this class now officially only good as a subclass? Anyone playing into the necromancer power fantasy has taken a fat nerf, as if the class wasn't already bottom tier.

My outstanding issues:

Redguards:

StarOfElyon wrote: »

These are some tweaks I would like to see made to the Redguards's passives. Hopefully, they will be seen as reasonable among the devs. They keep in mind the Redguards's reputation for endurance (stamina return) and discipline (reduced ability cost).

"The Redguards of Hammerfell are talented and athletic warriors, born to battle. A desert people, their ancestors migrated to Tamriel from the lost continent of Yokuda. Their culture is based on preserving ancient traditions and defying their harsh environment. They prize honor and dignity above all else, combining a deep reverence for the divine with a suspicion of all things magical. Their capital is the merchant port of Sentinel, but their roots are deep in the sands of the Alik'r Desert. In their youth, Redguards endure a rite of passage in the desolate wastes of Alik'r as a test of endurance and discipline. Only the strongest survive." https://elderscrollsonline.wiki.fextralife.com/Redguard

PASSIVES:

Wayfarer - Increases your experience gain with the One Hand and Shield skill line by 15%. Increases the duration of any eaten food by 15 minutes.

*Martial Training - Reduces the stamina cost of your abilities by 6%. Reduces the effectiveness of snares applied to you by 15%.

Redguards need help as a stamina sustain race. Reduced stamina cost across the board seems fitting.

Conditioning - Increases your Max Stamina by 2000.

*Adrenaline Rush - Increases your stamina recovery by 130. When you deal or take damage, you restore 248 Stamina. This effect can occur once every 3 seconds.

A big problem with the old version of this passive is that it was way too active, requiring you to spend resources to get resources back. It causes problems when you're not in a position to deal damage. No damage; no sustain. This change makes the "adrenaline rush" passive more "passive" and is still tied to being in combat. This also reinforces their reputation for endurance, "the ability to withstand hardship or adversity."

Necromancer:

StarOfElyon wrote: »

This is an updated version of my Necro ideas thread from 2023 (https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/633137/suggestions-for-necromancer-changes) with adjustments accounting for the Update 43 patch notes.

Death Scythe: (both morphs)
Deals more damage based on the enemy's missing health.
- Hungry Scythe: should also apply life steal to all enemies hit, in addition to healing the caster over time.

Shocking Siphon: The AOE should remain on the ground even if the tether breaks early. (Increase the radius size too)
- Mystic Siphon: the increased Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery persists even if the tether breaks early.

Flame Skull:
- Riccochet Skull/Venom Skull: applies burning/poisoned status effects. (Increase travel speed)

Bone Totem: summons an effigy of bones up to 28 meters away. After 1 second, the totem begins fearing nearby enemies every 2 seconds, causing them to cower in place for 4 seconds. (Changed to allow both morphs to be targeted)

Restoring Tether: the effects persist on the player character even if the tether breaks early.

Grave Grasp:
- Empowering Grasp: Summon three patches of skeletal claws from the ground in front of you dealing 898 frost damage. Enemies in the first area are stunned for 3 seconds, immobilized in the second area for 4 seconds, and snared in the final area by 50% for 5 seconds. Each patch applies Minor Maim to enemies hit for 10 seconds, reducing their damage done by 5%. Each area applies Minor Maim to enemies, Empower to your allies, and enhances the damage and healing of your summons by 1000. Each effect lasts 10 seconds.

- Ghostly Embrace: Summon three patches of skeletal claws from the ground in front of you, dealing 1742 Frost Damage and an additional 1635 Frost Damage over 5 seconds. The initial hit applies the Chilled status effect. The final area creates a corpse if at least one enemy was hit.

Expunge: reduces the cost of all your abilities by 3% while slotted on either bar.

Bitter Harvest: when slotted on either bar, reduces your damage taken by 3%.

Boneyard increase the radius to 8 meters.

PASSIVES:
Corpse Consumption: When you consume a corpse, you generate 10 Ultimate. This effect can occur once every 16 seconds. You also gain Major Savagery and Prophecy for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Critical rating by 2629.

Undead Confederate: While you have a Sacrificial Bones, Skeletal Mage, or Spirit Mender active, your Health, Magicka, and Stamina Recovery is increased by 200. You also gain Major Brutality and Sorcery for 20 seconds, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 20%.

ULTIMATES:
Frozen Colossus: Unleash a decayed Flesh Colossus to pulverize enemies in the area. The Colossus smashes the ground three times over 3 seconds. Dealing damage applies Major Vulnerability to any enemy hit for 12 seconds.
- Glacial Colossus: does frost damage and stuns enemies on the second hit instead of the third.
- Pestilent Colossus: smashes the ground only once and does disease damage. Afflicts enemies with a pestilence that does damage over time.

Vampires:

These changes are very much needed. The suggested changes are in italics:

Rather than revert the changes to the Undeath passive, I believe it would be better to increase the power of Vampires (while being careful not to passively boost the power of the Nightblade class).

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PASSIVES
==========

Strike from the Shadows: When you leave Mist Form or activate Unnatural Movement your Weapon and Spell Damage is increased by 300 for 6 seconds.

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SKILLS
=========
:
Vampiric Drain: Siphon away your enemies' vitality, dealing 870 Magic Damage and healing you for 25% of your missing Health every 1 second for 3 seconds. Activating this ability grants you Major Protection and Major Berserk for 10 seconds.

Mesmerize: Subdue enemies in front of you with your baleful gaze, stunning them for 5 seconds if they are facing your direction. This stun cannot be blocked.
- Hypnosis: Subdue enemies around you with your baleful gaze, stunning them for 5 seconds. This stun cannot be blocked. Enemies are no longer required to be facing your direction.

Mist Form: Disperse into a dark mist, causing the next 3 projectiles to deal no damage to you for 1 second while you dash forward and reappear at your target location after a short duration. Casting again within 4 seconds costs 33% more Magicka. Activating the skill removes snares and immobilizations.

Snare removal would make mist form a fantastic ability, instead of a frustrating one. It's really a no-brainer.

Blood Frenzy:
Allow your monstrous appetites to take hold, increasing your Weapon and Spell Damage by 60 every 2 seconds, up to 5 times. While toggled on, the Health cost of this ability increases by 360 per stack and you cannot be healed by anyone but yourself, your pets, or your Companions. All damage you deal heals you for 1250 Health, up to once every 1 second.


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SETS
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Hopefully ZOS revisits all sets in the game and I have a few proposals for the vampire themed sets here:

Vampire Cloak:
(2 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(3 items) Adds 1206 Maximum Health
(4 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(5 items) Adds 171 Weapon and Spell Damage. Removes the penalties of your Vampire stages.

I believe these changes will make this set worth choosing for vampire themed builds over sets that are stronger in general.

Vampire Lord:
(2 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(3 items) Adds 129 Weapon and Spell Damage
(4 items) Adds 657 Critical Chance
(5 items) Increases the bonuses of your Vampire Stage, depending on how far you've progressed. Stage 1/2/3/4: 5%/10%/15%/20% reduced Vampire Ability cost.

Vampirism is already punishing enough already.

I want to add to the list of sets that I feel are connected to Vampires (or maybe specifically characters who are Vampire hunters).

Meridia's Blessed Armor:
(2 items) Adds 1487 Armor
(3 items) Adds 129 Stamina Recovery
(4 items) Adds 1487 Armor
(5 items) Gain Minor Protection at all times. When you Block, you gain Meridia's Blessed Armor for 5 seconds, causing you to dodge all incoming attacks. This effect can occur once every 25 seconds.

Considering the changes I'm proposing for Vampire's Cloak, I think adding the Minor Protection to Meridia's Blessed Armor makes it a suitable replacement. Minor Protection is easy to source but I think it fits the theme of this set being protective.

Stendarr's Embrace:
(2 items) Adds 129 Magicka Recovery
(3 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(4 items) Adds 1096 Maximum Magicka
(5 items) You take 10% less damage from undead enemies, Vampires, and Werewolves. When you heal yourself or an ally, you remove all negative effects from them. This effect can occur once every 30 seconds per target.

CordingOnyx

so if i read the notes right, only the corpses dropped by pets are limited since they are still counted as pets even after they drop. corpses that drop off of enemys and players dont count towards the cap. i might have read that wrong but that's at least how i read it.

CameraBeardThePirate

CordingOnyx wrote: »

so if i read the notes right, only the corpses dropped by pets are limited since they are still counted as pets even after they drop. corpses that drop off of enemys and players dont count towards the cap. i might have read that wrong but that's at least how i read it.

While this is true, you almost never get to use corpses dropped by enemy players because those corpses disappear as soon as the enemy player respawns or releases.

While Animate isn't fully dead, you can no longer use Animate with 3 pets in PvP (so for example, you'll only be able to use Blastbones + either Skeletal Minion or Ghost), as if you use 3 pets you will only be able to create 2 corpses.

On top of that, they reduced the duration of most corpses, which is a huge blow to Animate, the class script, and Deaden Pain/Potency, as it gives you far less time to actually interact with corpses.

Overall an utterly terrible change to a class that was already clunky and underperforming in PvP.

@ZOS_Kevin Corpse abilities need to be changed completely if theyre causing such a massive performance issue that they need to be nerfed inadvertently.

StarOfElyon

Indeed, in order to use animate blastbones in pvp, you must intentionally leave as many corpses on the ground as possible. If they're constantly dropping off, it's going to be almost impossible to time it right.

It's even more punishing to someone like me who tries to play the necromancer class using necromancer skills (MIND BLOWN). If I'm using spirit mender, skeletal arcanist, and blastbones, this ultimate is now trash when it used to be a fun challenge for someone who wanted to play the necromancer power fantasy.