Eclipse just keeps getting worse

Joy_Division

Nobody on the NA server has used this skill more than I have. It gets used on me maybe once every other night. I use it against every single opponent I face. I know what it can do, what makes it effective, and why the changes since the IC update have eroded the effectiveness of this skill.

First off, a little history. Back in July 2105, Eclipse could:

• Be casted against an unlimited amount of opponents.
• Both morphs offered the templar reflect.
• Allowed a templar to double reflect projectiles and thus defeat defenses such as DK wings
• Reflected a far greater amount of enemy attacks than is commonly imagined. Reflect all "spells" encompassed a wide variety of effect including soul tethers, axe bleeds, weapon enchantments, dawnbreakers, procced stuff like the Maelstrom two-handed charge DoT, etc., all of this damaged the attacker and healed me.
• The time bomb exploded on opponents when the spell expired.
• DESPITE this extensive list of benefits, most templars felt the skill was too expensive, was lacking in practicality/flexibility, was too easy for an opponent to defeat via CC breaking (which didn't CC by the way), and this is going to sound stupid, was hard to use because you actually had to aim the spell and hit a desired target. L2P issue indeed BUT ... no such skill was needed with the sword and shield reflect.
• Those other templars were correct. I used the spell to be different and primarily as an offensive tool as it was hard for templars to get burst DPS.

Then the IC update came and even though it was not used very much or complained about by the community, Zenimax nerfed this spell by limiting it to a single target. A nerf, by the way, that was not listed in the patch notes or ever elaborated upon despite the many questions directed as ZoS whether or not this was intended and why. It's a pretty sad state of affairs when players from other classes are like, "yeah, your skill is pretty bad, no idea why ZoS nerfed it." This was 100% unnecessary and not asked for. Yet it happened anyway. If you are wondering why the templar feedback thread is 60 pages while the other classes are like 15, it is because of repeated episodes like this: a gratuitous and unexplained nerf not listed in the patch notes.

Now the Thieves Guild is out and once again the spell has been changed and once again it was made worse because whoever did/approved these changes does not have extensive experience with this skill in PvP.

What Zos has done is made it so

• Split the spell between an offensive morph and a defensive morph.
• The defensive morph is still restricted to a single target.
• The offensive morph lost its ability to reflect.
• The defensive morph was altered to reflect projectiles. This sounds like a buff because it could now reflect physical projectiles whereas the original could not. This perception, however logically intuitive, is incorrect. I have used this on the PTS and the number of times you think you are going to eclipse the hidden sniper further away than the range of this spell approaches zero. Now that DK who flame lash spams you is utterly unaffected by eclipse. This "normal" consideration does not even take into account all the soul tethers, axe bleeds, weapon procs, melee spells, and channels (read: Radiant Destruction) etc., that this spell used to reflect which damaged the enemy and healed you. The spell is now only useful against a magicka sorcerer opponent and still runs into the same fundamental problem that was there from the very beginning: the sorcerer will simply break the bubble and have 8 seconds when you cannot debuff her again.
• The time bomb no longer explodes when the duration of this spell expires. Nor does it explode on opponents who had CC immunity. Perhaps a bug. I reported it. Still relevant. Toppling charge is deemed bugged but this detraction of power is a very real thing templars have to deal with on Live.
• The offensive morph gains extra damage and a fair amount of it and can be cast on an unlimited amount of targets. Not a bad idea and I think the better morph, but it's still not nearly as good as it once was because I could already do this ... while defending myself.

In effect, a templar who still wants to use this spell defensively to protect their "house" is still compromised by the one target restriction and now loses much of the spells power against melee oriented magicka builds as well as many of the procs stam opponents that did not bother breaking this fed templars (as well as rare but amusing times when they would ultimate themselves).

A templar who wants to use this spell offensively ala velocious curse is giving up all and any defensive benefits for a spell that does less damage than the sorcerer spell with twice the wait time. I don't think it's a bad morph, but the spell isn't as good as it once was. Consider, back in July 2015:

• I could cast as many of these as I wanted, had the time bomb and the reflect capability.
• Eclipse is a low damage spell. Thus the modified damage isn't going to be that significant considering the offensive alternative you could be doing. I would not trade the ability to reflect crystal frags, soul tethers, axe bleeds, crushing shocks, weapon procs, overloads, etc. for about 3.5K (which Cyrodiil will reduce in half) extra damage over 7.2 seconds.
• My eclipses could also heal me. The new offensive morph can't.
• Nothing has changed that makes it a zerg buster as it will be purge by a coordinated ball group.

The main problem here is that ZoS decided to adjust the spell from its terrible and nerfed state on Live now, rather than using what it could do back in July 2015 as a baseline.

The other problem is the defensive morph has had its heart cut out from it with the projectile restriction. Templars have either lost or had many defensive abilities in their arsenal nerfed ... and yet are still, somehow, expected to defend their "house." No blinding flashes, no purifying projectiles, one less breath heal, a still inadequate class shield, and now eclipse. If I did slot this spell, and I'm not sure I would, I'd take the offensive morph, which continues an unsettling trend since 1.5: templars are sacrificing their defensive stature and becoming better DPS. Eric Wrobel says the ZoS vision for templars is to stay in their "house" and things will go bad for opponents who enter. But the more successful templars in Cyrodiil are already playing aggressively and offensively precisely because they lack the tools to protect their "house" in the traditional "tank" sense (and I would argue that is the case for the game as a whole). It's a direction that doesn't hamper my play-style as I am more inclined to attack rather than defend, but it's something that makes the game less interesting, less diverse, and overall less appealing as not everyone wants to play that way.

The bottom line is this spell was superior and more versatile before the nerf and subsequent ZoS attempt to adjust the skill. It highlights what I think is wrong with ZoS's philosophy of game balance.

*********

If templars are unanimous in our critiques against Healing Ritual, Radiant Aura, Rite of Passage, Light Weaver, etc, and how to fix them (which, by the war, have gone unanswered despite months and months of many incisive analyses), this spell is something we tend to throw spaghetti against the wall hoping something sticks. We all have different ideas of what would make this spell adequately fulfill its intended function. The most common is making it something akin to the Dragon Knight's Reflective Scales spell, which solves the problem of opponent's simply breaking/cleansing the debuff, but creates additional problems of homogenization and losing the damage/offensive capability of the original spell. It's an easy solution, but not ideal. I'm not saying if ZoS changed it such a way I wouldn't use it. Not at all, I and every Templar would immediately slot it as on demand reflect is extremely good. Rather it makes us quasi-DKs and such an ability should be reserved for them.

I am leery offering insights and identifying what I think are problematic issues because it has become clear that the whole PTS feedback process is just a means for ZoS to outsource Quality Control and finding bugs. In the 1.6 patch, the feedback warning of the dangers of removing softcaps and problems inherent in the Champion System were not heeded. Over the summer major reservations were given regarding the flat 50% adjustment to Battlespirit and the 100% removal of stamina regeneration while blocking and nothing was adjusted. And after a year of telling ZoS that templars won't use Healing Ritual because the spell has a cast time, ZoS decides that we are wrong and gave us Healing Ritual with a cast time and told us to use this as an alternative to breath of life. And this doesn't even go into AoE caps where 87% of the community has spoken against them. It's clear to me that ZoS wants to do all of its game-balancing in-house with no transparency and present us with a fait accompli with little willingness to make any more than token changes. So this will be the last time. And I am only doing it because I understand the frustration many templars have with the erosion of their class identity and I highly doubt anyone on the NA server has used this spell more than I have.

Premises:

• The spell's capability during July 2015 is the absolute baseline standard and minimum. Anything that fails to reach this level of effectiveness should be discarded.
• The spell's capability during July 2015 was not good enough. It was deemed inadequate by most templars who would have preferred the Defensive Posture skill. My use of the spell was a niche case-example.
• The skill should be unique and no way mimic the mechanics of DK Reflective Scales.

The spell at it core has a solid mechanic in a debuff-reflect. It is a common fantasy and RPG staple. The main problem is twofold:

• The specific single target debuff is not appreciably stronger than a general reflect everything in Cryodiil buff. You will take more damage attacking a DK or get stunned attacking someone using defensive posture.
• The debuff is too easy to remove. The consequences for doing so are marginal and anyone in a zerg gets this removed by doing nothing. Also the templar gets no buff or residual aftereffect debuffs on the enemy. Both absolutely should be implemented in order to grant the templar legitimate protection instead of a very expensive low damaging spell. Forcing the actual target to self-purge / purify would help templars fight groups of enemy players.

If someone is dumb or careless enough to attack a templar with a big bubble on them, I do not see this issue with them taking 50% or even 100% extra damage.

What should get reflected? At a minimum: all "spells," including stuff like soul tether, weapon procs, etc. Plus: Think of a scale from "Nothing else" to "Everything directed at anybody" and couple that with a inversely related proportionate backlash damage for CC breaking the effect, i.e. the less stuff is reflected the larger the damage from breaking it. The modest damage from July 2015 ought to be the baseline for "Everything directed at anybody."

What should the difference between the defensive / offensive morph be? The difference in damage on the Thieves Guild seems about right. The defense still should heal and probably confer an additional buff to the templar. Maybe have the offensive one confer an aftereffect debuff on the enemy.

This is not prefect nor is it intended to be. All I am trying to do here is address the biggest things that undermined the spell by providing templars with some guaranteed defensive benefits for casting this spell, which I think most templars could live with coupled with a larger penalty to attackers for simply CC-breaking this in the form of damage and debuffs. I'm not changing the mechanics or intent of the original spell.

Millerman34n

Agreed

Cinbri

Sadly, but after removal of double reflect, this skill is useless even more since Scales/snb reflect negating Eclipse now.

Zheg

The npc guards spam it like there's no tomorrow, so clearly it must be OP, because you only spam OP skills in cyrodiil - that's how you pvp brah.

Minno

Agreed.
#BringHomeTheBacon

Dread_Guy

it's really sad how Eclipse went from a tactical skill to complete uselessness. I actually benefited from the slow travel speed of dark flare because i could cast eclipse on a dk before it landed on them and watch the flare get empowered on the DK's own wings.

also i didn't know eclipse was from the year 2105

Ashamray

Toppling charge
Aura
Blazing Shield
Healing Ritual
Backlash

and now Eclipse

Too many broken spoiled abilities. Shame.

Cinbri

With all negative regarding this skill thats why revamp it to self-buff with absorbing 4 projectiles would be nice.

Minno

Zheg wrote: »

The npc guards spam it like there's no tomorrow, so clearly it must be OP, because you only spam OP skills in cyrodiil - that's how you pvp brah.

Remember when the reflect morph they used was changed to the animation the dmg morph uses now? Fun times.

bikerangelo

Personally, I never found much use with the skill as it's highly situational and I could never find a good spot for it in my offensive rotation. Now that reflects are limited to just one rather than two, it's even less appealing. The Unstable Core morph is a joke, it's made worse by the Enduring Rays passive and is literally the same thing as Velocious Curse.

I admire the time and thought you put into your posts, and it's a shame that the moderators might be the only ones from ZOS who read them.

driosketch

Good write up. Sadly, it looks like the reflect morph is hit multiple ways that makes it utterly impractical for most fights now.

Nothing has changed that makes it a zerg buster as it will be purge by a coordinated ball group.

I use Unstable Core along with Inevitable Detenation versus big groups. Earlier patch notes said the latter should explode on purge now, though I don't know if this is true. Purge is also supposed to be group only, so at least versus random pugs, it may still be useful.

danno8

I was arguing the same thing in another thread a couple days ago.

It was a skill with virtually no complaints against it, strong but not too strong with the ability to always cc break it anyway.

And then it got nerfed, how many times? 3, 4? Just crazy.

And yes, if the devs or other players ever wonder why Templars are a bit hot under the collar right now, they should look to this skill as just one example of the continuous mind- boggling nerfs the class keeps receiving.

Spacemonkey

I started using Eclipse right before IC, and was like, 'oh this is actually nasty useful in some situations, nice I found a templar skill I can use again!!!!!' - and then the following week , IC

Xeven

Interesting thread. Good post Joy.

Carry on Templar nerds.

Solariken

Great thoughts @Joy_Division. This skill has been reduced to complete uselessness and for reasons completely unknown to players. There was never anything overpowered with this ability! At this point I just want it gone. Replace it with an ability that just spews confetti into the air for all I care - at least then I would consider slotting it for the lol's.

AriBoh

So if we are to 'defend our house' rework eclipse entirely -

Eclipse - You place a 10m area of protection around you that absorbs the damage of any projectile in the radius.

Total Dark - You place a 10m area of protection around you that absorbs the damage of any projectile in the radius and heals allies standing in the area for 25% of the absorbed amount.

Unstable Core - You place a 10m area of protection around you that absorbs the damage of any projectile in the radius and damages any enemy in the area for 50% of the absorbed amount.

OP? Idk but it keeps us 'in our house' and adds unique group utility.

AfkNinja

AriBoh wrote: »

So if we are to 'defend our house' rework eclipse entirely -

Eclipse - You place a 10m area of protection around you that absorbs the damage of any projectile in the radius.

Total Dark - You place a 10m area of protection around you that absorbs the damage of any projectile in the radius and heals allies standing in the area for 25% of the absorbed amount.

Unstable Core - You place a 10m area of protection around you that absorbs the damage of any projectile in the radius and damages any enemy in the area for 50% of the absorbed amount.

OP? Idk but it keeps us 'in our house' and adds unique group utility.

Ding ding ding, we have a winner. That would make defending our House viable if not slightly OP... depends on how many attacks it absorbs and the cost.

Neoauspex

Solariken wrote: »

Replace it with an ability that just spews confetti into the air for all I care

They probably tried to but couldn't get the animation to work unless you pop a potion. I'm kinda surprised that's not already a Templar passive... explode into confetti when killed.

danno8

Solariken wrote: »

Great thoughts @Joy_Division. This skill has been reduced to complete uselessness and for reasons completely unknown to players. There was never anything overpowered with this ability! At this point I just want it gone. Replace it with an ability that just spews confetti into the air for all I care - at least then I would consider slotting it for the lol's.

I suggested in a different thread about a month ago that if they replaced the skill with an ability that caused a rainbow trail following your opponent it would get more use than it does now.

That continues to be my assertion.

Lexxypwns

This is an amazing and detailed write-up on the issues with this skill, I really hope ZoS takes heed

Edit: Add short snare immunity to the Defensive morph? in case you step outside of your tiny little house you'll need something to stop someone from letting you back in it. this would also give stamplars a good magika dump, since that's a fairly common complaint.

dodgehopper_ESO

@Joy_Division

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I want to say around the Middle of 2014, ZoS created CC Immunity. This was actually the beginning of many Templar skills turning sour. Eclipse was one such skill. By putting Eclipse on the cc table it nullified the whole purpose of using this skill, and I tried using this skill, sometimes effectively sometimes not. The problem was simply that it angered me how often I couldn't actually hit someone with the ability because they were immune. I couldn't pre-empt battles with it, and more often than not I was just giving people free immunity. This was not the only element of the Templar class that really messed us up when they instituted their cc immunity. Immunity meant that skills like Jabs were just too easy to avoid, thereby killing the dps on Jabs. Other skills which can be easily clipped don't fall prey to this issue (like cloaked dagger for instance). Immunity is the whole reason the Templar community has been up in arms about trying to get them to change the type of cc we have on jabs, the class' main dps skill. I'm not entirely certain the snare is necessarily a fully positive thing either, but at least it means we will have greater control on how we use our cc's now. The loss of Blinding Flashes as well means the Templar has the infamous distinction of being the only class no Area CC, and Blinding Flashes was pretty situational in its use, requiring more skill than something like NB Fear for instance. Without an AOE CC the Templar class is relegated to essentially using Caltrops/Fire Rune for cc when trying to control crowds as a Tank. There are reasons why either option are fairly inefficient with respect to other classes.

I appreciate you making your post Joy and I hope that we see some of these core skills get repair, for me the main ones that need serious looking into are: Remembrance, Radiant Aura, Charge, Eclipse, Backlash, AoE CC (maybe add this to Solar Barrage with Blinding Flashes like?/defile-like qualities?), and passive recovery.

Edit: Oh and I am actually fine with them giving us a Golden Runed Dragon Scales, in large part because I've really lost hope on them making Eclipse anywhere near what it use to be. At least they can balance a Scale-like skill to something that already exists, and considering we're a "House Class" it stands to reason we're supposed to exist as tanky-creatures.

Animal_Mother

Zheg wrote: »

The npc guards spam it like there's no tomorrow, so clearly it must be OP, because you only spam OP skills in cyrodiil - that's how you pvp brah.

Coming soon - Lawrence Welk Bubble build...

Thanks @Joy_Division

I really miss how the old version of Eclipse used to work. It really enabled my bowplar to complete some content that he otherwise would have had to bypass. If ZOS ever switches the ability back to usefullness, I would love to see some indication when casting the ability if was going to work or not. One of the most annoying things about Eclipse was casting on a mob that completely immune to it's affects and yet, it always worked on the guard mobs in Cyrodiil.

ub17_ESO

Joy_Division wrote: »

Nobody on the NA server has used this skill more than I have. It gets used on me maybe once every other night. I use it against every single opponent I face. I know what it can do, what makes it effective, and why the changes since the IC update have eroded the effectiveness of this skill.

First off, a little history. Back in July 2105, Eclipse could:

• Be casted against an unlimited amount of opponents.
• Both morphs offered the templar reflect.
• Allowed a templar to double reflect projectiles and thus defeat defenses such as DK wings
• Reflected a far greater amount of enemy attacks than is commonly imagined. Reflect all "spells" encompassed a wide variety of effect including soul tethers, axe bleeds, weapon enchantments, dawnbreakers, procced stuff like the Maelstrom two-handed charge DoT, etc., all of this damaged the attacker and healed me.
• The time bomb exploded on opponents when the spell expired.
• DESPITE this extensive list of benefits, most templars felt the skill was too expensive, was lacking in practicality/flexibility, was too easy for an opponent to defeat via CC breaking (which didn't CC by the way), and this is going to sound stupid, was hard to use because you actually had to aim the spell and hit a desired target. L2P issue indeed BUT ... no such skill was needed with the sword and shield reflect.
• Those other templars were correct. I used the spell to be different and primarily as an offensive tool as it was hard for templars to get burst DPS.

Premises:

• The spell's capability during July 2015 is the absolute baseline standard and minimum. Anything that fails to reach this level of effectiveness should be discarded.
• The spell's capability during July 2015 was not good enough. It was deemed inadequate by most templars who would have preferred the Defensive Posture skill. My use of the spell was a niche case-example.
• The skill should be unique and no way mimic the mechanics of DK Reflective Scales.

I mostly agree with you. I definitely agree that the skill used to be alot better. I miss this skill more in PvE bc the mobs would not CC break, but I liked it in PvP as well. You and me might have been the only templars running blinding flash Can we trade eclipse to get that back?? Also, thank you for taking the time to put this on the forum, your effort is obvious.
The one part I cant agree is with what exactly should be reflected. I dont think weapon procs, axe bleeds, or AOE skills like dawnbreaker should be reflected. I would think single target projectiles whether magic or stam based should be reflected. Forgive me, I havnt installed PTS on my new PC so I am only guessing that this is what is advertised on PTS. If that is the case then I like the change, but the effect should not be able to be CC broken. BC afterall, if it can be broken then what is the point other than giving your enemy free CC immunity?? I would even be ok with all single target spells + range projectiles if the effect can be CC broken. Or shorter duration if the effect cannot be broken, maybe 4 sec instead of 8. I dont think we should get a skill that nearly eliminates the offensive capability of 1 or more people for a significant period of time. I think they have to find the right balance with this skill and at the rate ZOS is going it may take a few years... a couple things that have to be balanced or I guess questions that need to be answered:
-single tgt or unlimited
-CC breakable or not
-what exactly can be reflected (can we get an accurate tooltip please!!)
-damage of the explosion
-duration of the skill

I think though, if as you say in PTS the one that explodes does not reflect but can be cast on multiple tgts...for this to be a skill that makes the DPS bar its damage must be on par with other class AOE abilities such as but of course not limited to: Blazing spear, Liquid Lightning, Sap essence, etc... you get the point.

Cheers!

SeptimusDova

After getting Joyously introduced to Eclipse I used the hell out of it at the Alessia bridge fights. Now I think deer can even shrug it off.

Joy_Division

@dodgehopper_ESO -

I started using Eclipse in PvP around the Autumn of 2014 so cannot comment on what it was like before than. I know CC immunity is a pain with this spell, but it's kind of necessary otherwise it would be OP. I think you are right that the CC mechanic has hurt templars more than any other class. It is what is is. There are ways around them (charge before jabs, eclipse then charge, etc). It's part of what makes templars difficult to play well. I also agree the lack of an area CC is a curious ommission form the templar arsenal, especially since every other class one one (and a good one at that).

@ub17_ESO -

It doesn't matter whether I or you think stuff lime weapon procs and dawbreakers should be reflectable, the fact of that matter is that for two years they *have been* reflectable and are part of the class balance equation. If this stuff is just taken away because it is deemed a bug - which is debatable, many of these effects are listed in ZoS's code as spells for good reason - it's a flat out nerf to the skill and templars since both are weaker for it.

I can assure you, ZoS, and everyone that not being able to break it would be OP. Also, as much as I dislike it, CC immunity has to be granted because CC break is very expensive. That stuff has to stay. What is needed is to incentivize the templar to cast this even though they know the opponent will CC break: an accompanying buff to the templar, higher damage, aftereffect debuff on the enemy, etc. I know that kind of sounds meh because the actual reflect is difficult to make "stick," but as someone who has used this thing 1000s of times, I can most assure templars if that stuff was given on top of what the spell was in July 2015, it still would be an effective and versatile ability that they ought to use. Any CC/debuff you put on an opponent is going to prompt them to break it, yet they are still deemed worthwhile. I put the July 2015 version of this skill in the same category.

@SeptimusDova

@ everyone else - I do appreciate the kind words. I have no idea how ZoS can be so unreceptive tp a 60+ page thread of obvious frustration and unfulfilled expectations. Heck, the only reason I offered ZoS my insights into eclipse is because I see the passion templars have for their characters and I would feel as if I let you down if I just kept the experience of thousands of eclipse casts to myself because of ZoS's dubious process when to comes to rebalancing its game. Hopefully things will change!

Husan

@Joy_Division don't forget our passive enduring rays reduces the effectiveness of the offensive morph of eclipse. Eventhough they have removed its effect on 3 of the 6 skills in the tree already it STILL reduces the effectiveness of one of the morphs of the 3 skills left. I'd really like to see that passive replaced, but after 5 months of complaining they will probably just remove eclipse from it too because apparently that's good enough for a templar. Just have a look at the light weaver passive. Increases the duration of restoring aura by 20%. Ah, too bad everyone uses repentance, which has NO duration. GG ZoS. Healing ritual grants 2 ultimates to allies under 60%. Hahahah, healing ritual. Since no good templar is going to use it, there is no way to benefit from the passive. Same with the third component. Channeling rite of passage grants 16500 bonus to your armor. No good templar is going to use that either. Don't believe me? Ask ANY famous templar about rite of passage and it's morphs, healing ritual and it's morphs and radiant aura morph of restoring aura. No competent templar uses them, which means that no competent templar gets ANYTHING AT ALL from that stupid passive. Don't even get me started on how balanced warrior is not balanced at all, how spear wall is another *** tier passive, burning light has a hidden 1 second cooldown, and master ritualist does NOTHING FOR THE TEMPLAR, which if you have noticed by now is a staple in templar passives.

Oh my, I seem to have veered off topic. I should probably make a separate thread just to focus on the templar passives. They are seriously messed up now that I really look at it.

Brrrofski

No matter how much they buffed it, I can't get passed the cc immunity part of it.

Being able to actually cc them and burst them while defenceless is so much more useful imo.

Mr_Nobody

I used eclipse on 1.6 almost all the time. It did wonders, except some bugs for channeled spells & talons.

It died with IC release, and they made a worthless thing - completely useless. I have never had any problems with enemies casting eclipse on me. I guess that was L2P issue of Young DKs/Sorcs killing them.

I guess devs missed a point that Eclipse was the only choice for a range-caster kind of magicka Templar to get himself a small window of time to counter attack if under pressure.

Mumyo

Thats basically describing the templar issues, good work!

SeptimusDova

Time for us to forge a new path with what little we have left. We can call it Homepath.. Oh wait fannie mae already has that name. it's a program for first time templar house buyer's!!

staracino_ESO

Here is what I have for Eclipse in my fan-fic rewrite of Templar class:

Eclipse - An ability that has no pratical function in PVE should not be in the game. I struggle to think of 1 reason anyone would use this in PvE, since bosses are immune to the reflect and trash doesn't need to be reflected.

Base - Self buff for Templar that lasts 10 seconds or 5 projectiles. Templar takes 50% damage from incoming projectiles, and fires a ray of light (which looks like a real-life solar flare) dealing the other 50% of projectile damage back to attacker as magic damage.

Total Dark - Templar takes no damage, is healed for 10-25% (needs balance testing) of projectile damage, and fires ray of light back at attacker for 50% of projectiles' damage as magic damage.

Unstable Core - Costs/scales from Stamina. Templar takes 50% damage from projectiles. No longer fires retaliation rays. After timer expires or once 5 projectile limit hit, bubble explodes dealing an amount of physical damage equal to the amount the Templar took from the absorbed projectiles to enemies within 6-8 meters. Imagine it as the shield spraying the projectiles everywhere when it bursts.

No longer the wonkiest spell in the game! Offers Templars their own unique reflect that is based on them, not a target. It does not reflect 100% of the damage, so it is not as brutishly powerful as Reflective Scale. The Stamina morph is no longer a reflect but sort of a reverse Backlash that puts pressure in melee range. Smart enemies will know to get away before it bursts, but anyone caught in it will certainly pay the price.