Reinforcing class identity with damage types

The_Isatope8

Class identity is an interesting topic to discuss since ESO has some great examples and some less than stellar ones as well. Dragon Knight is a great example of good class identity with its aesthetics and skills, while classes like Templar and Necromancer are somewhat confused classes that are unsure of what they are meant to be. If each class were to have its own unique set of featured damage types, I believe that the classes would feel more unique and have some of their awkwardness alleviated.

Each class should have it's own set of 2 damage types that feature heavily in their skills. Different damage types can still be seen in their kit of course, but the overwhelming majority should be one of 2 types, 1 magical type and 1 physical type. Having the classes focus heavily on their specific damage types helps create more separation between them and helps with the feeling of uniqueness between the classes.

As it stands the current predominant damage types in each class are as follows:

• Dragon Knight: Fire/ Poison
• Sorcerer: Shock/ Physical, Magic
• Nightblade: Magic/ Physical/ Disease
• Templar: Magic/ Physical
• Warden Frost/Bleed
• Necromancer: All
• Arcanist: Magic/ Physical

A problem that can be seen easily is the lack of uniqueness in some classes. Arcanist, Templar and Nightblade mostly have magical and physical damage in their kits, while Dragon Knight and Warden have unique featured damage types in their kits which makes them stand out.

In the interest of giving each class their own featured damage types, a new damage type will need to be created for Templar since they share Magic and Physical damage with Arcanist and Nightblade. my idea for the new damage type is explained below:

Radiant damage type

• Designated as a Magic damage type for resistances.
• Color in tooltips is golden yellow.
• New associated status effect: Smite.
  • Smite status effect:
    Instant damage, increases damage done with light and heavy attacks by 10% for 4 seconds.

Templar is heavily influenced by the fantasy 'Paladin' and 'Cleric' tropes, so why not lean into it more to help their identity crisis a little. With the advent of a new damage type there also needs to be a way for all classes to have access to it, so Dawnbreaker and its morphs would deal Radiant damage. Additionally, a new essence rune would be needed so that weapons can be enchanted to deal Radiant damage. As such I would like to introduce the 'Hakkoma' (Radiance) rune for this purpose.

In the interest of making classes more adherent to their themes/ aesthetics with damage types, several skills will need to be changed and renamed to reflect this. Some classes will have more skills that need to be changed than others, but they should remain mostly the same mechanically while providing a greater sense of individuality with their skills. I will list the changes under the classes where they are needed.

If the classes were to be changed to all feature different damage types predominantly, below are my ideas on the damage types the classes should be associated with:

• Dragon Knight: Fire/ Poison
  Great class identity with damage types, no changes.
• Sorcerer: Shock/ Physical
  Skill changes
  Sorcerer is very close to being perfect with their damage types, but only 1 skill needs to change to make their kit feature mostly shock and Physical damage.

  • Suppression Field (Dark Magic Ultimate)
    Deals Shock damage, was Magic damage. The skill icon literally has lightning in it.
• Nightblade: Magic/ Bleed
  Skill changes
  As it currently stands, the 2 types of non-magical damage Nightblades use in their kit are physical and disease damage. Their skill descriptions mention blood a few times and they literally have a passive called 'Hemorrhage', so having Bleed damage feature in their kit seems like a logical choice.
  Skills changed to bleed damage

  • Power Extraction (Siphoning)
  • Incapacitating Strike (Assassination Ultimate)
  • Surprise Attack (Assassination)
  • Ambush (Assassination)
  • Killer's Blade (Assassination)
  • Relentless Focus (Assassination)
• Templar: Radiant/ Physical
  Skill changes
  Damage types like Radiant damage have existed in previous TES games (Sun damage in Skyrim), so it seems fitting to bring it back and give Templar the easiest access to it. Dealing Radiant damage instead of Magic damage will also differentiate Templar more from other magic users with their unique aesthetic and themes.
  Skills changed to Radiant Damage

  • Radial Sweep + Crescent Sweep (Aedric Spear Ultimate)
  • Puncturing Strikes + Puncturing Sweeps (Aedric Spear)
  • Piercing Javelin + Aurora Javelin (Aedric Spear)
  • Focused Charge + Morphs (Aedric Spear)
  • Spear Shards + Morphs (Aedric Spear)
  • Sun Shield and Morphs (Aedric Spear)
  • Burning Light (Aedric Spear Passive)
  • Nova + Morphs (Dawn's Wrath)
  • Solar Flare (Dawn's Wrath)
  • Backlash + Purifying Light (Dawn's Wrath)
  • Unstable Core (Dawn's Wrath)
  • Radiant Destruction (Dawn's Wrath)
  • Ritual of Retribution (Restoring Light)
• Warden: Frost/ Bleed
  Skill changes
  Warden already features bleed and frost damage in abundance, but there are some skills that need to be changed to bring their kit more in line with their predominant damage types.
  Skills changed to Bleed damage

  • Feral Guardian + Eternal Guardian (Animal Companions ultimate)
  • Slashing Assault (Subterranean Assault renamed, Animal Companions)

  Skills changed to Frost damage

  • Subterranean Assault ('Scorch' renamed to fit damage type) + Deep Fissure (Animal Companions)
• Necromancer: Frost/ Disease
  Skill changes
  Necromancer having access to all normal damage types in their kit is certainly unique, but also makes them feel disjointed due to the lack of obvious direction. I believe that Frost and Disease damage would fit the theme and aesthetic of necro the best due to their association with death and decay.
  Skills changed to Frost damage

  • Ravenous Goliath (Bone Tyrant ultimate)
  • Death Scythe + Hungry Scythe (Bone Tyrant)
  • Agony Totem synergy (Bone Tyrant)
  • Sepulchral Visage + Ricochet Skull('Flame Skull' renamed to fit new damage type, Grave Lord)
  • Skeletal mage + Skeletal Arcanist (Grave Lord)
  • Frigid Siphon + Mystic Siphon ('Shocking Siphon' renamed to fit new damage type, Grave Lord)

  Skills changed to disease damage

  • Ruinous Scythe (Bone Tyrant)
  • Cadaverous Visage ('Venom Skull' renamed to fit new damage type, Grave Lord)
  • Skeletal Archer (Grave Lord)
• Arcanist: Magic/ Physical
  Skill changes
  Skills changed to Magic damage

  • Tentacular Dread (Herald of the Tome)
  • Imperfect Ring + Morphs (Herald of the Tome)
    • DOT deals Magic damage normally, but secondary explosion and synergy dealt frost damage.

AnduinTryggva

I really like this.

The only modification I would suggest is to have the Templar cause daedric damage. That is ok as they get their force from a (D)Aedra (Azura)...
Similarly, the arcanist could also get daedric damage instead of physical.

BasP

It would be cool if Radiant damage would be added to the game! I also like the rest of your suggestions, though I'd prefer it if the Eternal Guardian would be turned into a polar bear that dealt Frost Damage instead (and its attacks could have a chance to proc Minor Brittle without having to use a Frost Staff or something). It could be renamed to "Glacial Guardian".

Speaking of new damage types, the other day I was thinking that it could be cool if Necrotic damage would be added to the game. I hadn't thought of a corresponding status effect yet, but the name seemed fitting for the Necromancer's magical abilities (making Frost Damage just something Wardens specialize in).

Faulgor

May I ask, considering you mention Sun damage yourself - why not use that name instead of Radiant?

NotaDaedraWorshipper

Faulgor wrote: »

May I ask, considering you mention Sun damage yourself - why not use that name instead of Radiant?

Would more make sense to call it light magic since we already have shadow and dark magic

Turtle_Bot

FYI: There are quite a few more sorc abilities that would need adjusting on top of just suppression field to better fit the dual typing of the class "shock/physical":

Frags (mag morph) - is magical damage
Curse (both morphs) - are magical damage
Shattering Spines - is magical damage
Rune cage - is magical damage
Daedric Tomb - is magical damage

Frags and curse have become synonymous with sorcs (especially those that don't run pets), so at the bare minimum those 2 abilities should also be shock damage to better fit the "shock/physical" types that sorc would focus on.

Apart from this, I like OP's idea for focusing the classes more on their themed damage types instead of just giving them generic magic + physical types for majority of their abilities.
Outside of status effects, the differences between damage types are extremely minimal and mostly cosmetic, but it would be nice for the remaining small differences such as class passives, sets, etc. that do boost specific damage types (such as energized passive on sorc that boosts shock/physical damage) would actually boost the majority of their class abilities (especially the main ones) instead of just some of them.

TankHealz2015

Love it!!!