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skills that need to be buffed, suggestion discussion

LittlePinkDot
LittlePinkDot
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There are skill lines that have skills that are underwhelming and need to be buffed. What skills do you want to see buffed and why.
Right now because of subclassing I'm seeing that Earthen heart skill line has a few skill duds. I really really want obsidian shield to have more oomph to it. At least give me major evasion with that. The tiny shield it provides thats halved by battlespirit makes the tiny shield irrelevant. It's a whole skill slot for a few seconds of major mending. It's convenient for procing the minor brutality from the passive, but other than that, why shouldn't I just scribe soul wield that could give me a shield, HoT and a beneficial buff for example.
I think scribing at least provides a good yardstick with which to measure against class skills.
If a particular class skill is always the worst choice in every instance when compared to a scribed option, it means that particular class skill is under performing by a wide margin.


  • spartaxoxo
    spartaxoxo
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    AOE DOTS as a general class of skills. They cost a ton and do very little. It's a shame and has made group fights more tedious than it needs to be.

    I'd also like to see some of the long cast time scribing skills be changed up so that they feel more usable.
    Edited by spartaxoxo on 23 July 2025 03:11
  • Deimus
    Deimus
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    Oh boy skills that I think need to be buffed? Sit down and grab a drink. I'll limit this to the skills that really need updates.

    Bone Tyrant
    • Bone Totem Needs to be turned into the Necromancer's domain. The class has no mobility or reliable cc to lock things down so it needs an area where it holds the advantage. Bone Totem should be 12 meters and lasts 20 seconds. Enemies in the area are snared and inflicted with Major Cowardice and Minor LIfesteal while the caster and allies get Minor Protection and increased recoveries. Increases the damage of your pets in the area by 15%. The morphs additions can stay the same, but I'd like to see the Agony morph work as a self synergy too.
    • Empowering Grasp to Grasp of the Dead A good AoE hard CC with a 8 meter radius centered on the caster. An instant fear with a frost sticky DoT component and guaranteed chilled if those affected can't be feared they are immobilized instead. (The separating damage and cc from U44 dev notes doesn't hold water when you have skills like Streak, Burning Talons, Crystallized Slab, Artic Wind, Warden Charm, Incap, Crippling Grasp, Abyssal Impact, Rune of Displacement, Piercing Javelin, Focused Charge, Unstable Core, Petrify, and I probably missed some. Point is there are more CC with damage than without so why put more restrictions on the Necromancer CC that isn't even guaranteed to land? Give us a reliable CC we've waited long enough.
    Living Death
    • Expunge This skill and morphs needs more value. I'd replace the 3% cost reduction with Minor Intellect and Endurance while slotted on either bar. For Expunge and Modify I'd keep the restoring 515 Magicka/Stamina and add Major Expedition for 4 seconds with an additional 4 seconds for each negative effect removed. For Hexproof it still removes up to 4 negative effects and gives Major Evasion for 5 seconds with an additional 5 seconds for each negative effect removed. You never see this cleanse ran compared to its more bang for your buck contemporaries Betty Netch and Extended Ritual. Why is that? In this era of ESO even more now with subclassing people are slotting skills that do multiple things.

      Betty Netch a free cast and forget periodic purge with sustain, Major Brut/Sorc, unique 5% damage boost, and a heal when it ends or you recast it is amazing value. It can be spammed cast to get rid of multiple affects and gives you a heal each time you cast it.

      Ritual an expensive group purge with a great HoT that last 30 seconds over a large area with a synergy is an amazing tool. Self purge that costs health and only gives you a slight cost reduction when you are on that bar not great value.

      Compared those to Expunge a self purge that costs health and only gives you a slight cost reduction when you are on that bar. That isn't great value, bar space is limited not free real estate can't waste time with a one trick pony in this era. Another is the passive vs active benefit. The other two cleanses do things for a decent duration after you cast them while after you press the button to cast Expunge and its morphs the skill is over.
    • Render Flesh Time to remove the Minor Defile or boost the healing of this skill and its morphs to make the drawback worthwhile. The Curative Curse passive should be changed to when you have a Living Death skill slotted or active your healing done is increased by 12%. With the change to Minor Defile it also discourages Necromancers from running shields since the Curative Curse passive doesn't boost shield strength by 12%. Currently you're better off running Healing Soul as you'll always have a negative effect on you and you can get 12% extra healing + Major Vitality.

    Soul Magic
    I'll start off by saying I'd like to see this skill line fleshed out with 2 more passives and 3 more skills, but that isn't the focus of this thread.
    • Soul Trap This skill and morphs could use either A a damage buff or B execute scaling on the DoTs it could be similar to Anchorite's Cruelty with an Oblivion damage component or scaling up to 100% more damage the lower hp the target is.

    Vampire
    I'll preface this section with the can't be healed by others drawback needs to go. You can lower the amount they receive, but just cutting it entirely shuts out the Vampire playstyles from many areas of gameplay.
    • Blood Frenzy A horrible and too niche of a skill. Only usable by gankers (maybe some bombers) and not everyone who wants to be a Vampire wants to be a Nightblade. Until next patch it gave you the passive bonus weapon and spell damage of Grim Focus does with none of the drawbacks to put in frame how bad of a skill this is.

      So for the base skill remove all of the downsides the health draining and the can't be healed by others. Turn this skill from a toggled skill into the Vampire burst skill. It passively gains up to 7 stacks (for wiggle room) every second in combat while on either bar and gives you a 5% damage bonus to bleeding targets or Increases the damage you deal with Hemorrhaging by 100% (the frenzy). Casting the skill consumes 5 stacks and deals a vampire bite melee ranged burst attack giving you the stated effect for 5 seconds which acts as a HoT. When the HoT ends or you reach full health you start gaining more Blood Frenzy stacks. One morph can increase the healing while the other increases the damage.
    • Mesmerize Remove the facing your direction requirement. That one thing makes it a horrible skill as you can't stop someone that is running away from you. Like with Bone Totem and Grave Grasp NOBODY wants an unreliable CC, it's the subclassing era no room on our bars for unreliable or simplistic skills when there are alternatives that do 2 other things and sticks the landing. Giving us many options, but only one real choice. Options 1 and 2 are half eaten burgers while 3 is an untouched burger that comes with fries and a shake.
    • Mist Form Make it work like Streak. No clunky ground circles that sometime double cast when you have autocast ground abilities turned on. Let us use Mist Form over uneven terrains and gaps just like Streak, we aim in the direction we want and poof. For the base skill and morphs it should have a remove snares and immobilizations and gives you immunity for them for 2 seconds after casting while becoming corporeal. It just doesn't make sense for a cloud of mist to be trapped.

      For the Blood Mist morph the damage needs to be increased and the healing should be scaled to 100% of the damage done. As it is now Blood Mist is hitting players for around 350-600 damage every 2 seconds and healing for around 280-400. That's just too low.

    Honorable Mentions
    Skills that we haven't used in years that need adjustment and updates to match the current power level of the game, but I don't have suggestions other than make them something we could consider slotting.
    • Armor Skills Unstoppable, Evasion, and Annulment All three require an investment of 5 armor pieces of their respective skill lines to be worn before you're able to use the skill. The skill are pretty underwhelming taking this into account especially Unstoppable that comes with the downside of a 65% snare. Out of the group Evasion is probably the best, but still outclassed by skills like Quick Cloak that don't require a 5 armor piece investment.
    • Trapping Webs under the Undaunted skill line might be the worst skill in the game. A 4 meter radius and 10 second delay for burst. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually forgot this skill existed.
    Grave Robber - Robbed
    Harmony - Shattered
    Stalking Blastbones - Sacrificed
    Corpse Consumers - Buried
  • LittlePinkDot
    LittlePinkDot
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    Deimus wrote: »
    Oh boy skills that I think need to be buffed? Sit down and grab a drink. I'll limit this to the skills that really need updates.

    Bone Tyrant
    • Bone Totem Needs to be turned into the Necromancer's domain. The class has no mobility or reliable cc to lock things down so it needs an area where it holds the advantage. Bone Totem should be 12 meters and lasts 20 seconds. Enemies in the area are snared and inflicted with Major Cowardice and Minor LIfesteal while the caster and allies get Minor Protection and increased recoveries. Increases the damage of your pets in the area by 15%. The morphs additions can stay the same, but I'd like to see the Agony morph work as a self synergy too.
    • Empowering Grasp to Grasp of the Dead A good AoE hard CC with a 8 meter radius centered on the caster. An instant fear with a frost sticky DoT component and guaranteed chilled if those affected can't be feared they are immobilized instead. (The separating damage and cc from U44 dev notes doesn't hold water when you have skills like Streak, Burning Talons, Crystallized Slab, Artic Wind, Warden Charm, Incap, Crippling Grasp, Abyssal Impact, Rune of Displacement, Piercing Javelin, Focused Charge, Unstable Core, Petrify, and I probably missed some. Point is there are more CC with damage than without so why put more restrictions on the Necromancer CC that isn't even guaranteed to land? Give us a reliable CC we've waited long enough.
    Living Death
    • Expunge This skill and morphs needs more value. I'd replace the 3% cost reduction with Minor Intellect and Endurance while slotted on either bar. For Expunge and Modify I'd keep the restoring 515 Magicka/Stamina and add Major Expedition for 4 seconds with an additional 4 seconds for each negative effect removed. For Hexproof it still removes up to 4 negative effects and gives Major Evasion for 5 seconds with an additional 5 seconds for each negative effect removed. You never see this cleanse ran compared to its more bang for your buck contemporaries Betty Netch and Extended Ritual. Why is that? In this era of ESO even more now with subclassing people are slotting skills that do multiple things.

      Betty Netch a free cast and forget periodic purge with sustain, Major Brut/Sorc, unique 5% damage boost, and a heal when it ends or you recast it is amazing value. It can be spammed cast to get rid of multiple affects and gives you a heal each time you cast it.

      Ritual an expensive group purge with a great HoT that last 30 seconds over a large area with a synergy is an amazing tool. Self purge that costs health and only gives you a slight cost reduction when you are on that bar not great value.

      Compared those to Expunge a self purge that costs health and only gives you a slight cost reduction when you are on that bar. That isn't great value, bar space is limited not free real estate can't waste time with a one trick pony in this era. Another is the passive vs active benefit. The other two cleanses do things for a decent duration after you cast them while after you press the button to cast Expunge and its morphs the skill is over.
    • Render Flesh Time to remove the Minor Defile or boost the healing of this skill and its morphs to make the drawback worthwhile. The Curative Curse passive should be changed to when you have a Living Death skill slotted or active your healing done is increased by 12%. With the change to Minor Defile it also discourages Necromancers from running shields since the Curative Curse passive doesn't boost shield strength by 12%. Currently you're better off running Healing Soul as you'll always have a negative effect on you and you can get 12% extra healing + Major Vitality.

    Soul Magic
    I'll start off by saying I'd like to see this skill line fleshed out with 2 more passives and 3 more skills, but that isn't the focus of this thread.
    • Soul Trap This skill and morphs could use either A a damage buff or B execute scaling on the DoTs it could be similar to Anchorite's Cruelty with an Oblivion damage component or scaling up to 100% more damage the lower hp the target is.

    Vampire
    I'll preface this section with the can't be healed by others drawback needs to go. You can lower the amount they receive, but just cutting it entirely shuts out the Vampire playstyles from many areas of gameplay.
    • Blood Frenzy A horrible and too niche of a skill. Only usable by gankers (maybe some bombers) and not everyone who wants to be a Vampire wants to be a Nightblade. Until next patch it gave you the passive bonus weapon and spell damage of Grim Focus does with none of the drawbacks to put in frame how bad of a skill this is.

      So for the base skill remove all of the downsides the health draining and the can't be healed by others. Turn this skill from a toggled skill into the Vampire burst skill. It passively gains up to 7 stacks (for wiggle room) every second in combat while on either bar and gives you a 5% damage bonus to bleeding targets or Increases the damage you deal with Hemorrhaging by 100% (the frenzy). Casting the skill consumes 5 stacks and deals a vampire bite melee ranged burst attack giving you the stated effect for 5 seconds which acts as a HoT. When the HoT ends or you reach full health you start gaining more Blood Frenzy stacks. One morph can increase the healing while the other increases the damage.
    • Mesmerize Remove the facing your direction requirement. That one thing makes it a horrible skill as you can't stop someone that is running away from you. Like with Bone Totem and Grave Grasp NOBODY wants an unreliable CC, it's the subclassing era no room on our bars for unreliable or simplistic skills when there are alternatives that do 2 other things and sticks the landing. Giving us many options, but only one real choice. Options 1 and 2 are half eaten burgers while 3 is an untouched burger that comes with fries and a shake.
    • Mist Form Make it work like Streak. No clunky ground circles that sometime double cast when you have autocast ground abilities turned on. Let us use Mist Form over uneven terrains and gaps just like Streak, we aim in the direction we want and poof. For the base skill and morphs it should have a remove snares and immobilizations and gives you immunity for them for 2 seconds after casting while becoming corporeal. It just doesn't make sense for a cloud of mist to be trapped.

      For the Blood Mist morph the damage needs to be increased and the healing should be scaled to 100% of the damage done. As it is now Blood Mist is hitting players for around 350-600 damage every 2 seconds and healing for around 280-400. That's just too low.

    Honorable Mentions
    Skills that we haven't used in years that need adjustment and updates to match the current power level of the game, but I don't have suggestions other than make them something we could consider slotting.
    • Armor Skills Unstoppable, Evasion, and Annulment All three require an investment of 5 armor pieces of their respective skill lines to be worn before you're able to use the skill. The skill are pretty underwhelming taking this into account especially Unstoppable that comes with the downside of a 65% snare. Out of the group Evasion is probably the best, but still outclassed by skills like Quick Cloak that don't require a 5 armor piece investment.
    • Trapping Webs under the Undaunted skill line might be the worst skill in the game. A 4 meter radius and 10 second delay for burst. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually forgot this skill existed.

    This is a perfect example of how some skills don't do enough to warrant a bar slot when compared to other skills that get up to 3 benefits. Exactly what I was saying about Obsidian shield.

    There's zero reason to use living death skill line instead of restoring light.
  • Soarora
    Soarora
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    Seconding empowering grasp -> a much better cc.

    Also, change frenzy back to how it was before where you couldn’t outheal it just by having a single healing skill. It’s impossible to play a low-health vampire build ever since they changed it. Only thing I figured out is having absolutely no heals except for relying on the heal from nb’s bow skill. You can’t use it in group content since it blocks you from being healed anyways, at least let it be fun.

    Warden bear. Immortal morph is useless because bear in PvP is silly and bear generally doesn’t die. Make one morph frost damage and one morph bleed damage. Also, give warden a bleed damage passive for the stamdens out there!!

    Low slash. Sure, its minor heroism, yay… its also a waste of a bar slot. Would rather wear baron zaudrous or use vamp drain, only been asked to run low slash a whole once ever.
    Edited by Soarora on 23 July 2025 19:02
    PC/NA Dungeoneer (Tank/DPS/Heal), Trialist (DPS/Tank/Heal), and amateur Battlegrounder (DPS) with a passion for The Elder Scrolls lore
    • CP 2000+
    • Warden Healer - Arcanist Healer - Warden Brittleden - Stamarc - Sorc Tank - Necro Tank - Templar Tank - Arcanist Tank
    • Trials: 9/12 HMs - 4/8 Tris
    • Dungeons: 32/32 HMs - 24/26 Tris
    • All Veterans completed!

      View my builds!
  • Desiato
    Desiato
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    Earthen Heart is considered on of the best skill lines in the game!!

    Literally every ability is strong and it has strong passives.
    spending a year dead for tax reasons
  • Rkindaleft
    Rkindaleft
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    The Consuming Darkness ult is pretty awful.
    https://youtube.com/@rkindaleft PlayStation NA. I upload parses and trial POVs sometimes.
    All Solo, Dungeon and Arena trifectas.
    8/10 Trial trifectas.
    TTT | IR | GH | GS | DB | PB | DM | Unstoppable
  • Sleep724
    Sleep724
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    Blazing Shield.
  • Erickson9610
    Erickson9610
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    Werewolf Transformation and its morphs should allow you to crouch/sneak while transformed. Crouch+idle pauses the timer, crouch+moving slows the timer, and not crouching has the timer move at normal speed. There should also be "assassination" kill camera moves akin to using the Blade of Woe if you sneak up on an enemy while stealthed.

    This would allow werewolves to complete Thieves Guild Heists and Dark Brotherhood Sacraments, as well as allow werewolves to fight certain bosses (like Tarcyr from March of Sacrifices and Lord Hollowjack from the Witches Festival) and have greater build options in PvP (such as being able to make a stealth/ganker build or use the Sentry set).


    Hircine's Bounty and its morphs should have an added healing over time component at the cost of reducing the initial burst heal.

    Hircine's Rage should scale off of Weapon and Spell Damage, as that's the damage dealer morph of the skill.

    Hircine's Fortitude should continue to scale off of Maximum Health, as that's the tank/support morph of the skill, but it should also heal others near you.
    PC/NA — Lone Werewolf, the EP Templar Khajiit Werewolf

    Werewolf Should be Allowed to Sneak
    Please give us Werewolf Skill Styles (for customizing our fur color), Grimoires/Scribing skills (to fill in the holes in our builds), and Companions (to transform with).
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