Elemental Blockade - A morph that has very little appeal.

MindOfTheSwarm

Elemental Blockade literally offers nothing over Unstable other than increased duration which may help with sustain. However, sustain isn't hard with Unstable and the amount of damage it gives is too good to pass up.

I know that some may argue that Blockade is better for keeping up status effects such as concussed but again Unstable does this just fine.

Another point is that even a Frost Tank is better off running Unstable Wall due to the fact it gives 2 shields instead of one and it deals burst damage which is another pro in favor of it.

I would argue that Blockade needs some kind of buff or perk to make it a valid option for quite honestly any build.

My preposition is to have its DoT damage increase over its duration. This way it offers something that unstable does not outside of its minimal sustain benefit.


Summary:

Unstable Pros:

• Way more Damage.
• Can act as an AoE spammable and in the case of Frost DD is better than Impulse.
• Best for Frost Tanks, DD and Healer due to it giving 2 shields instead of one.

Unstable Cons:

• Less duration and thus less sustainable.
• Slightly smaller area of effect.

Blockade Pros:

• Increased duration for slightly better resource management.
• Slightly increased area of effect.
• Minor Case for easier uptime of Concussed and Brittle on non-Warden's (Brittle is a non-issue for a Warden with Winter's Revenge).

Blockade Cons:

• Way Less Damage.
• Most of its benefits are taken care of by Unstable anyway.
• Does not offer something as impactful as Unstable. Sustain isn't really an issue.
• Status effects are easily maintained on Unstable.

So if you add up the pros and cons you can see that Unstable is the clear winner here, no matter what build you are running. This is why I suggest giving blockade something that makes the choice harder, as right now it is pretty much a no brainer.

jaws343

Eh, I prefer Blockade for the increased size and duration.

Especially in solo play, like soloing dungeons or solo arenas.

I think you vastly underestimate the increased size of the effect for blockade, it is pretty significant and covers a more much favorable area.

Necrotech_Master

the dmg difference isnt that much, just that unstable can apply the dmg slightly faster

the duration difference is 4 seconds, so thats 4 extra ticks of dot from blockade, which is almost the same as unstable, but unstable takes only 10 seconds to cap its dmg vs 14

the other benefit to unstable is the wall explodes if it is recast early, essentially almost turning it into a spammable, where as blockade is actually much less efficient if recast early (accidentally or intentionally)

Vaoh

Increase Blockade duration to 16 seconds, and no longer cause it to cancel itself out on recast.

This allows Unstable Wall to be a strong DoT+serve as an AoE instant damage spammable, while Blockade serves as a stronger wide-area ground DoT that can be built up to high damage, and allows you to have two bars of different Blockade elements.

MindOfTheSwarm

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the dmg difference isnt that much, just that unstable can apply the dmg slightly faster

the duration difference is 4 seconds, so thats 4 extra ticks of dot from blockade, which is almost the same as unstable, but unstable takes only 10 seconds to cap its dmg vs 14

the other benefit to unstable is the wall explodes if it is recast early, essentially almost turning it into a spammable, where as blockade is actually much less efficient if recast early (accidentally or intentionally)

You've made my point for me. 10 seconds to reach better DPS is still a net gain in DPS output in a rotation. Also, the synergy with other skills on your bar makes it better too. Many other Dot's last 10 seconds and so in a smooth rotation you should be just about coming to CD on Unstable and the other skills as you switch to your backbar. Whereas Blockade as you say is inefficient to cast early, and you can't really use those 4 seconds to cast 2 more spammables as you will lose uptime on your 10 second DoT's otherwise.

I mean yeah, you could cast it earlier in a rotation to compensate for this but even then, why? You're still losing out in terms of DPS. There is a reason it is the only choice for serious DPS. I mean even a slight DoT buff would help.

It wouldn't take much to be honest, like even a 40 base DoT increase would probably be enough without it surpassing Unstable.

I am not asking for a massive buff, just something small to give it more appeal. I do not think that extra AoE or duration on its own is really that big of an appeal given the fact it isn't a particularly strong DoT to begin with.

Especially after the recent nerf to Thaumaturge which makes it even less appealing. Blockade lost even more value than Unstable because of this nerf.

Necrotech_Master

i think the larger area was more mean to serve assisting in a maelstrom staff build, as its easier to keep enemies in the area (such as pvping in close quarters) for like a heavy attack setup, so it wasnt necessarily used for its dmg, just to boost the maelstrom lightning staff heavy attack

at least that is a viable use case ive heard for blockade

Zodiarkslayer

Okay, here are some facts:

1. The base damage is 5908 on Blockade and 6620 on Unstable. 12% more per cast on Unstable
2. The size is 216 m² on Blockade and 144m² on Unstable. 50% more on Blockade
3. Blockade procs the Weapon Glyph one more time on Blockade at exactly 14s (assuming Infused Trait)
4. Base Cost is the same at 3780 Magicka. That means 378.9 Mag/s on Unstable and 270 Mag/s on Blockade

What I take away is that both have their place. I use Unstable for DPS and Blockade for Tanks and Healers.

Other than that, i.e. in SOLO environment, I take a look at the duration of all other DoTs and effects (Buffs and Debuffs), that I will be running in conjunction with Wall of Elements. If they are 10s long, I'll take Unstable, if they are 12s, 14s or longer, Blockade is my choice. After all, a tight rotation is always better.

MindOfTheSwarm

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Okay, here are some facts:

1. The base damage is 5908 on Blockade and 6620 on Unstable. 12% more per cast on Unstable
2. The size is 216 m² on Blockade and 144m² on Unstable. 50% more on Blockade
3. Blockade procs the Weapon Glyph one more time on Blockade at exactly 14s (assuming Infused Trait)
4. Base Cost is the same at 3780 Magicka. That means 378.9 Mag/s on Unstable and 270 Mag/s on Blockade

What I take away is that both have their place. I use Unstable for DPS and Blockade for Tanks and Healers.

Other than that, i.e. in SOLO environment, I take a look at the duration of all other DoTs and effects (Buffs and Debuffs), that I will be running in conjunction with Wall of Elements. If they are 10s long, I'll take Unstable, if they are 12s, 14s or longer, Blockade is my choice. After all, a tight rotation is always better.

This is good information but don’t forget the extra perks of Unstable.

Can be used as an AoE spammable.

Frost Wall gives 2 shields instead of one.

Also, your point about DoT duration is also worked around. For example a DK tends to have longer dot’s but you can always have unstable a bit later in your rotation, you just need have them near your other 10’s. As an example on my MagDk I have unstable wall as the last thing I cast on my backbar.

On my warden however I have it in the middle of my backbar.

Also, the duration matters here. Even if both morphs did exactly the same damage, Unstable would still amount to more DPS due it reaching that amount in shorter time.

Blockade should do at bare minimum do the same amount of damage over its duration to account for the perks that it loses over Unstable.

Having it double as a ground dot and AoE spammable is just too good to pass up. Saves bar space as another perk.

AinSoph

Don't forget that unstable can basically be used as an AoE spammable for trash/overland bc of the destro staff mag return and 20% more damage on burning targets or brittle or an aoe vuln.

MindOfTheSwarm

AinSoph wrote: »

Don't forget that unstable can basically be used as an AoE spammable for trash/overland bc of the destro staff mag return and 20% more damage on burning targets or brittle or an aoe vuln.

Exactly. This is the biggest selling point for it. It even does more damage than Impulse if running a Frost Staff.

I think if they boosted Blockade DoT by about 1000 total it would be more balanced.

This would result in 300 more damage overall but still less DPS on a full parse due to the shorter time on Unstable.

Zodiarkslayer

I think damage comparison is beside the point.
What we have at the moment is a real CHOICE. Options to optimize to your needs.
Blockade is the reliability option over Unstables higher risk, higher damage.
Is that not enough?

BXR_Lonestar

Honestly, Wall should be tweaked to be the morph of choice for supports, where unstable wall is the morph for DPS. For that to happen, Wall should be bigger and have a much longer duration, with increased chance to proc status effects, where unstable wall loses status effect proc chance and duration in favor of damage. Simple change.

Foxtrot39

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

[...]

This is good information but don’t forget the extra perks of Unstable.

Can be used as an AoE spammable.

Frost Wall gives 2 shields instead of one.

[...]

Where does that double shield part come from? for all I know both proc one projectiel shield only

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Okay, here are some facts:

1. The base damage is 5908 on Blockade and 6620 on Unstable. 12% more per cast on Unstable
2. The size is 216 m² on Blockade and 144m² on Unstable. 50% more on Blockade
3. Blockade procs the Weapon Glyph one more time on Blockade at exactly 14s (assuming Infused Trait)
4. Base Cost is the same at 3780 Magicka. That means 378.9 Mag/s on Unstable and 270 Mag/s on Blockade

[...]

Also 216-144m² is bigger than DSA's arenas

MindOfTheSwarm

Foxtrot39 wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

[...]

This is good information but don’t forget the extra perks of Unstable.

Can be used as an AoE spammable.

Frost Wall gives 2 shields instead of one.

[...]

Where does that double shield part come from? for all I know both proc one projectiel shield only

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Okay, here are some facts:

1. The base damage is 5908 on Blockade and 6620 on Unstable. 12% more per cast on Unstable
2. The size is 216 m² on Blockade and 144m² on Unstable. 50% more on Blockade
3. Blockade procs the Weapon Glyph one more time on Blockade at exactly 14s (assuming Infused Trait)
4. Base Cost is the same at 3780 Magicka. That means 378.9 Mag/s on Unstable and 270 Mag/s on Blockade

[...]

Also 216-144m² is bigger than DSA's arenas

Frost Unstable does one shield on cast and another when it explodes.

Necrotech_Master

Foxtrot39 wrote: »

Also 216-144m² is bigger than DSA's arenas

the size values are correct

unstable wall of elements is listed as 18x8 meters, which would be 144 square meters of total area

blockade is listed as 18x12 meters, or 216 square meters of area

since both of these skills cover a "rectangle" effectively, and the calculation of area is length x width

ESO_Nightingale

BXR_Lonestar wrote: »

Honestly, Wall should be tweaked to be the morph of choice for supports, where unstable wall is the morph for DPS. For that to happen, Wall should be bigger and have a much longer duration, with increased chance to proc status effects, where unstable wall loses status effect proc chance and duration in favor of damage. Simple change.

It doesn't have a paticularly high status proc chance anyway. Did you mean the effects based on the status? To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Zodiarkslayer

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

...To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Do you mean, the wall does 20% additional damage to enemies affected by the corresponding status effect? That would indeed close the gap to flame damage for frost and shock damage a little. Mhmm, interesting.

Then in return, Blockade would have increased chance to proc the corresponding status effect or do an additional effect like now, with brittle to chilled enemies and off balance to concussed ones. We would only need some effect for blockade of flames to burning enemies.

I love it. That's the best idea, that has come up on the forums, since the frost damage needs a frost spammable, about a year ago! It would have so many positive side effects on the game. For tanking and healing. And maybe we would see some frost dps or shock dps.

merpins

It's an antiquated skill. 6+ years ago, it was the better morph for most content. But unstable got a couple buffs and interesting interactions, more sets that supported the other morph came out, and people moved away from Blockade. It's not a bad morph, it's just not as good as the other. It got power-creeped, and just hasn't had any TLC. It's not on my priority list of skills that need buffs, since there's tons of dead skills in the game that just see no use at all and could be remade entirely, and some morphs that have similar problems. But it's one to address eventually.

ESO_Nightingale

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

...To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Do you mean, the wall does 20% additional damage to enemies affected by the corresponding status effect? That would indeed close the gap to flame damage for frost and shock damage a little. Mhmm, interesting.

Then in return, Blockade would have increased chance to proc the corresponding status effect or do an additional effect like now, with brittle to chilled enemies and off balance to concussed ones. We would only need some effect for blockade of flames to burning enemies.

I love it. That's the best idea, that has come up on the forums, since the frost damage needs a frost spammable, about a year ago! It would have so many positive side effects on the game. For tanking and healing. And maybe we would see some frost dps or shock dps.

Yep. Flame wall still beats the others because of the 20% damage increase it gets. You'll always do more damage with flame wall even if you stack warden and frostbite's bonuses even without engulfing flames and/or encratis. It's silly. The damage morphs of wall deserve to do the same damage so that you can take a different wall based on your build/class's best element. The frost damage shield is what it is, but i don't want that as a dps. my job is to do damage. I think blockade is fine to keep that, but it's not okay for unstable wall of frost to also have it.

MindOfTheSwarm

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

...To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Do you mean, the wall does 20% additional damage to enemies affected by the corresponding status effect? That would indeed close the gap to flame damage for frost and shock damage a little. Mhmm, interesting.

Then in return, Blockade would have increased chance to proc the corresponding status effect or do an additional effect like now, with brittle to chilled enemies and off balance to concussed ones. We would only need some effect for blockade of flames to burning enemies.

I love it. That's the best idea, that has come up on the forums, since the frost damage needs a frost spammable, about a year ago! It would have so many positive side effects on the game. For tanking and healing. And maybe we would see some frost dps or shock dps.

Yep. Flame wall still beats the others because of the 20% damage increase it gets. You'll always do more damage with flame wall even if you stack warden and frostbite's bonuses even without engulfing flames and/or encratis. It's silly. The damage morphs of wall deserve to do the same damage so that you can take a different wall based on your build/class's best element. The frost damage shield is what it is, but i don't want that as a dps. my job is to do damage. I think blockade is fine to keep that, but it's not okay for unstable wall of frost to also have it.

Simple solution for all Blockade morphs is to have increased chance to apply their relative Status effects. Maybe like 300% increased chance or something. This way both morphs are closer and it is not so simple of a choice. It would benefit tanks and healers too.

ESO_Nightingale

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

...To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Do you mean, the wall does 20% additional damage to enemies affected by the corresponding status effect? That would indeed close the gap to flame damage for frost and shock damage a little. Mhmm, interesting.

Then in return, Blockade would have increased chance to proc the corresponding status effect or do an additional effect like now, with brittle to chilled enemies and off balance to concussed ones. We would only need some effect for blockade of flames to burning enemies.

I love it. That's the best idea, that has come up on the forums, since the frost damage needs a frost spammable, about a year ago! It would have so many positive side effects on the game. For tanking and healing. And maybe we would see some frost dps or shock dps.

Yep. Flame wall still beats the others because of the 20% damage increase it gets. You'll always do more damage with flame wall even if you stack warden and frostbite's bonuses even without engulfing flames and/or encratis. It's silly. The damage morphs of wall deserve to do the same damage so that you can take a different wall based on your build/class's best element. The frost damage shield is what it is, but i don't want that as a dps. my job is to do damage. I think blockade is fine to keep that, but it's not okay for unstable wall of frost to also have it.

Simple solution for all Blockade morphs is to have increased chance to apply their relative Status effects. Maybe like 300% increased chance or something. This way both morphs are closer and it is not so simple of a choice. It would benefit tanks and healers too.

i think blockade should have various support based effects. you don't care about 300% more burning proc on a tank, the other 2 effects are nice i guess but on frost, it hurts frost dps's chances to be used over tank, but i think more defined support effects would be better.

MindOfTheSwarm

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

...To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Do you mean, the wall does 20% additional damage to enemies affected by the corresponding status effect? That would indeed close the gap to flame damage for frost and shock damage a little. Mhmm, interesting.

Then in return, Blockade would have increased chance to proc the corresponding status effect or do an additional effect like now, with brittle to chilled enemies and off balance to concussed ones. We would only need some effect for blockade of flames to burning enemies.

I love it. That's the best idea, that has come up on the forums, since the frost damage needs a frost spammable, about a year ago! It would have so many positive side effects on the game. For tanking and healing. And maybe we would see some frost dps or shock dps.

Yep. Flame wall still beats the others because of the 20% damage increase it gets. You'll always do more damage with flame wall even if you stack warden and frostbite's bonuses even without engulfing flames and/or encratis. It's silly. The damage morphs of wall deserve to do the same damage so that you can take a different wall based on your build/class's best element. The frost damage shield is what it is, but i don't want that as a dps. my job is to do damage. I think blockade is fine to keep that, but it's not okay for unstable wall of frost to also have it.

Simple solution for all Blockade morphs is to have increased chance to apply their relative Status effects. Maybe like 300% increased chance or something. This way both morphs are closer and it is not so simple of a choice. It would benefit tanks and healers too.

i think blockade should have various support based effects. you don't care about 300% more burning proc on a tank, the other 2 effects are nice i guess but on frost, it hurts frost dps's chances to be used over tank, but i think more defined support effects would be better.

Why would it hurt Frost DPS? Say your tooltip was about 1200 per tick on Blockade. With 300% extra Chilled chance that could potentially lead to an extra 800 damage per tick. If it ticked every time (it wouldn’t in practice) that is an extra 11k damage over the full 14 seconds. That’s actually more than Unstable, but assume the likely scenario that four or five ticks don’t Chill. That’s brings it on a par with Unstable. To be honest I actually think that 300% might be too strong.

Yes, Unstable can apply Chill but without added Chance it would be far less likely. Thus balancing the two morphs out.

As for Shock and Flame, Shock would act the same way but applying Concussed. Flame on the other hand would refresh the Burning status if they are already Burning. And who is to say that Blockade has to be the Tank morph? People don’t tank with Fire staff generally, so high Burning up time would be tempting particularly for DoT focused DK.

ESO_Nightingale

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

...To be honest i think they should just copy-paste flame wall's effect on unstable wall of elements so that theres actual options in backbar destro for dps.

Do you mean, the wall does 20% additional damage to enemies affected by the corresponding status effect? That would indeed close the gap to flame damage for frost and shock damage a little. Mhmm, interesting.

Then in return, Blockade would have increased chance to proc the corresponding status effect or do an additional effect like now, with brittle to chilled enemies and off balance to concussed ones. We would only need some effect for blockade of flames to burning enemies.

I love it. That's the best idea, that has come up on the forums, since the frost damage needs a frost spammable, about a year ago! It would have so many positive side effects on the game. For tanking and healing. And maybe we would see some frost dps or shock dps.

Yep. Flame wall still beats the others because of the 20% damage increase it gets. You'll always do more damage with flame wall even if you stack warden and frostbite's bonuses even without engulfing flames and/or encratis. It's silly. The damage morphs of wall deserve to do the same damage so that you can take a different wall based on your build/class's best element. The frost damage shield is what it is, but i don't want that as a dps. my job is to do damage. I think blockade is fine to keep that, but it's not okay for unstable wall of frost to also have it.

Simple solution for all Blockade morphs is to have increased chance to apply their relative Status effects. Maybe like 300% increased chance or something. This way both morphs are closer and it is not so simple of a choice. It would benefit tanks and healers too.

i think blockade should have various support based effects. you don't care about 300% more burning proc on a tank, the other 2 effects are nice i guess but on frost, it hurts frost dps's chances to be used over tank, but i think more defined support effects would be better.

Why would it hurt Frost DPS? Say your tooltip was about 1200 per tick on Blockade. With 300% extra Chilled chance that could potentially lead to an extra 800 damage per tick. If it ticked every time (it wouldn’t in practice) that is an extra 11k damage over the full 14 seconds. That’s actually more than Unstable, but assume the likely scenario that four or five ticks don’t Chill. That’s brings it on a par with Unstable. To be honest I actually think that 300% might be too strong.

Yes, Unstable can apply Chill but without added Chance it would be far less likely. Thus balancing the two morphs out.

As for Shock and Flame, Shock would act the same way but applying Concussed. Flame on the other hand would refresh the Burning status if they are already Burning. And who is to say that Blockade has to be the Tank morph? People don’t tank with Fire staff generally, so high Burning up time would be tempting particularly for DoT focused DK.

the more consistent aoe chance to apply chilled using non dps morphs, the less reason to use a frost dps with a frost staff. it's a contested thing at the moment. there's not too much reason to use them as is, and anything that hurts that chance by making it easier to apply chilled for non dps, makes things ever so slightly worse.

MindOfTheSwarm

The problem is, that Chilled is tied to the Frost as a damage type and not stats. However, the damage tick of Chill does indeed scale as does Burning or Overcharged. High stats means higher Chill tooltips.
Yes, a healer or tank can apply Chill and apply Brittle and Maim just as easily as a DD, but the damage they get from the Chill hits will be lower especially for a Tank.
A DD is always going to deal more damage with Chill, especially when wearing a set like Frostbite or Ysgramor that specifically target Frost Damage. Frostbite in particular will get 14% more damage with every Chill tick on targets with Brittle.
This is why Frost Reach absolutely slaps when wearing Frostbite with a Master’s Staff. You have your Frost Reach tool tip of about 10k give or take, but then you got to throw in another 1k from the guaranteed chill hit. Now factor Light Attack weaving and that applying Chill plus all your DoT’s. Chill makes for a huge part of a Frost DD’s damage. This is why Charged trait is best for Frost DD, you want that extra damage from Chill hitting as often as possible.

ESO_Nightingale

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

The problem is, that Chilled is tied to the Frost as a damage type and not stats. However, the damage tick of Chill does indeed scale as does Burning or Overcharged. High stats means higher Chill tooltips.
Yes, a healer or tank can apply Chill and apply Brittle and Maim just as easily as a DD, but the damage they get from the Chill hits will be lower especially for a Tank.
A DD is always going to deal more damage with Chill, especially when wearing a set like Frostbite or Ysgramor that specifically target Frost Damage. Frostbite in particular will get 14% more damage with every Chill tick on targets with Brittle.
This is why Frost Reach absolutely slaps when wearing Frostbite with a Master’s Staff. You have your Frost Reach tool tip of about 10k give or take, but then you got to throw in another 1k from the guaranteed chill hit. Now factor Light Attack weaving and that applying Chill plus all your DoT’s. Chill makes for a huge part of a Frost DD’s damage. This is why Charged trait is best for Frost DD, you want that extra damage from Chill hitting as often as possible.

that's true but not exactly relavant to what i'm talking about. no-one applies chilled for the damage, at least not yet. they apply it for minor brittle. the more chance you give in aoe without having to work for it, the less reason to use frost dps who are naturally the best at applying it in single target and aoe. that's already hugely niche. i see no reason to randomly increase proc chance of status effects on blockade. i think instead, they should all have support utility like what frost wall has with it's shield.

FrancisCrawford

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

the other benefit to unstable is the wall explodes if it is recast early, essentially almost turning it into a spammable, where as blockade is actually much less efficient if recast early (accidentally or intentionally)

That's the key point that flipped Unstable into being the superior morph.

And of course generally making the AoE much bigger is what made the skill good in the first place after being useless early on.

Jpk0012

jaws343 wrote: »

Eh, I prefer Blockade for the increased size and duration.

Especially in solo play, like soloing dungeons or solo arenas.

I think you vastly underestimate the increased size of the effect for blockade, it is pretty significant and covers a more much favorable area.

What AOE hits harder than Unstable? You can recast it and wreck stuff. Perfect for mowing down trash.

MindOfTheSwarm

Or just change Unstable so that it does not explode if cast early. Controversial option but it would make Impulse more relevant.

ESO_Nightingale

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Or just change Unstable so that it does not explode if cast early. Controversial option but it would make Impulse more relevant.

it's really not an issue since impulse offers mangle and additional damage related effects that make it come out on top. while you can make an argument for frost impulse from a damage dealer's perspective, having the ability for unstable to tick while also having more aoe chilled proc and minor mangle puts it above. it also just costs more to spam than impulse.

frost impulse needs to be changed to have a damage effect and elemental ring needs improvements to make it do something unique over pulsar other than being a wonky ranged aoe ground skill.

MindOfTheSwarm

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Or just change Unstable so that it does not explode if cast early. Controversial option but it would make Impulse more relevant.

it's really not an issue since impulse offers mangle and additional damage related effects that make it come out on top. while you can make an argument for frost impulse from a damage dealer's perspective, having the ability for unstable to tick while also having more aoe chilled proc and minor mangle puts it above. it also just costs more to spam than impulse.

frost impulse needs to be changed to have a damage effect and elemental ring needs improvements to make it do something unique over pulsar other than being a wonky ranged aoe ground skill.

But it doesn’t cost more. I was playing just the other day and the Mag costs were exactly the same.

Ratzkifal

Elemental Blockade is actually better than Unstable Wall on Elfbane DKs because it allows for an easier rotation as all of your dots line up better with the duration increase from Blockade than they would if you used Unstable Wall. Sure, Unstable Wall theoretically deals more damage, but if you mess up your weird uptimes due to the mismatch of skill duration then you'll end up losing more damage.
Elemental Blockade is admittedly very niche, but there is at least one use case where you want it over the other morph. Of course I wouldn't mind some buffs if the duration is kept the same (or increased by a multiple that accounts for Elfbane rotations).

And yes, I am aware that Elfbane isn't exactly meta anymore. It's still a fun set and not that weak.