Worst / most underused skill in the game?

Waffennacht · September 2016

Has anyone used equilibrium in combat? Has anyone used it and gone, "nice!"

newtinmpls · September 2016

kylewwefan wrote: »

Blood Alter!

Used to be really good, then they connected it to damage... now it's crap

newtinmpls · September 2016

scorpiodog wrote: »

Blood Alter
Trapping webs

Completely Useless.

The only time I ever used them was when I was new I though using them would increase those skill lines, lmao.

There I was, spamming blood alter and trapping webs in every fight.

I have a character that overlaps Trapping webs, wall of elements and then mow them down with venom arrow. Works fairly well.

OrphanHelgen · September 2016

kylewwefan wrote: »

Blood Alter!

lol, you and those who pressed "agree", clearly do not pay attention to the end game meta.

OrphanHelgen · September 2016

Soul trap

Vaoh · September 2016

Dracane wrote: »

The most underrated ability is Drain Essence
It would be overpowered, if it had more than 12 meters range. I recently discovered this as an option for dual wield Sorcs.

The most useless ability in my opinion are cleanse and blood altar.
And scalding rune, probably the worst of all.

Cleanse is a zerger ability.

Efficient Purge is weak but also a skill which has saved my Mag Sorc from tons of zergers and helped me win so many 1vXes because I can (sometimes) removes snares. Should remove 4-5 effects from self instead of two though.

Mark Target itself applies 3 negative effects

Brrrofski · September 2016

Agony - I fail to see why you would use this over fear

Both morphs of inner fire.

The templar 2 second cast time heal

That different morph to repentance.

Stone fist/giant, whatever it's called.

Equilibrium.

Joy_Division · September 2016

Autolycus wrote: »

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

the underwhelming morph of dark flare....solar flare

Solar Barrage is useful, actually, for a magicka templar tank. The use of Solar Barrage at the start of a pull (pve obviously) almost guarantees that all adds within range will be targeting the tank immediately. Actual taunts, of course, always follow this initial aoe pull strategy. Regardless of whether its use is wide-spread or not, it provides a useful function. It's the Templar equivalent of using Sap Essence on a NB, or Talons on a DK, at the start of a pull.

I really wish corner-case examples weren't used as a justification for poor skills. You do realize the skill could perform that same specific limited function useful only in a solitary part of a much longer fight and only for tank specs if Solar Barrage was actually as good as Sap Essence and Talons?

DocFrost72 · September 2016

Joy_Division wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

the underwhelming morph of dark flare....solar flare

Solar Barrage is useful, actually, for a magicka templar tank. The use of Solar Barrage at the start of a pull (pve obviously) almost guarantees that all adds within range will be targeting the tank immediately. Actual taunts, of course, always follow this initial aoe pull strategy. Regardless of whether its use is wide-spread or not, it provides a useful function. It's the Templar equivalent of using Sap Essence on a NB, or Talons on a DK, at the start of a pull.

I really wish corner-case examples weren't used as a justification for poor skills. You do realize the skill could perform that same specific limited function useful only in a solitary part of a much longer fight and only for tank specs if Solar Barrage was actually as good as Sap Essence and Talons?

I was under the impression that because of the empower, solar barrage > pulsar/ele ring? Not something to sneeze at.

Kelces · September 2016

Healing ritual as far as templars are concerned, closely followed by backlash.

Mr_Nobody wrote: »

Eclipse. Anyone remembers that templars have that skill?

I actually killed a few sorcerers with the "total dark" morph a few days ago.

Joy_Division · September 2016

DocFrost72 wrote: »

Joy_Division wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

the underwhelming morph of dark flare....solar flare

Solar Barrage is useful, actually, for a magicka templar tank. The use of Solar Barrage at the start of a pull (pve obviously) almost guarantees that all adds within range will be targeting the tank immediately. Actual taunts, of course, always follow this initial aoe pull strategy. Regardless of whether its use is wide-spread or not, it provides a useful function. It's the Templar equivalent of using Sap Essence on a NB, or Talons on a DK, at the start of a pull.

I really wish corner-case examples weren't used as a justification for poor skills. You do realize the skill could perform that same specific limited function useful only in a solitary part of a much longer fight and only for tank specs if Solar Barrage was actually as good as Sap Essence and Talons?

I was under the impression that because of the empower, solar barrage > pulsar/ele ring? Not something to sneeze at.

Barage is better than elemental ring (perhaps, perhaps not...you get spell pen with a destro staff), but that isnt saying much as all it does is damage and at melee range and not a lot of it.

Temps are better off slotting 1 ability, blazing spear, which they will probably be asked to run anyway for the stam return that does the same function and can be used at range, aside from providing a stun, a ground DoT for skoria slots, + 10% crit damage, and burning light procs.

Kelces · September 2016

Waffennacht wrote: »

Has anyone used equilibrium in combat? Has anyone used it and gone, "nice!"

It can be quite useful, if you are a healer in PvE at the very least. I have yet to test it though, but the mages guild passive is always nice to have in any case there. Currently I have magelight, but that's more for PvP and the crit bonus is negligible due to my quick switching of bars.

ryanborror · September 2016

Underrated- stamina morph of drain power
Useless/unused- whirling blades

Toast_STS · September 2016

I use blood altar on my overload bar in PvP. Strictly for trolling purposes of course but it's pretty effective for the lols.

FeaR Turbo · September 2016

Templar Aedric Spear Ult for DPS crescent sweep is horrible dps

Asardes · September 2016

Sturdy Warhorn - nobody picks that morph

WhiteMage · September 2016

Elemental Storm, the new destruction staff ultimate

Asardes · September 2016

Well, that doesn't officially qualify yet, since it hasn't been on live. But I agree that it looks pretty underwhelming. I have 2 mage characters that have plenty of skill points available so I'll spec and try it once it goes live.

Autolycus · September 2016

Joy_Division wrote: »

Autolycus wrote: »

UppGRAYxDD wrote: »

the underwhelming morph of dark flare....solar flare

Solar Barrage is useful, actually, for a magicka templar tank. The use of Solar Barrage at the start of a pull (pve obviously) almost guarantees that all adds within range will be targeting the tank immediately. Actual taunts, of course, always follow this initial aoe pull strategy. Regardless of whether its use is wide-spread or not, it provides a useful function. It's the Templar equivalent of using Sap Essence on a NB, or Talons on a DK, at the start of a pull.

I really wish corner-case examples weren't used as a justification for poor skills. You do realize the skill could perform that same specific limited function useful only in a solitary part of a much longer fight and only for tank specs if Solar Barrage was actually as good as Sap Essence and Talons?

It works for me. I gave you an example of a situation in which it is effective and useful. Every single vet dungeon and trial with any trash is an example of where it could be used. It's completely irrelevant as to whether or not it's common practice or popular. If it's viable in all of these situations, it's not a corner-case example.

I have no desire to argue with you. I get it; you don't like the skill. Thanks for sharing.

Xvorg · September 2016

Brrrofski wrote: »

Agony - I fail to see why you would use this over fear

.

Meteor -> agony at 41 mts. Most people tends to block once they see the circle, so agony before that is a good way to make them eat the nuke. Even if they're able to break CC, they have little to no time for blocking

Xvorg · September 2016

Regarding equilibrium, I tried to use it with ward ally and strife once in my mageblade and worked but I was too lazy to create a rotation. The shield was quite stronk in PvE at half life

Then I realized that strife heal is not considered a self heal, but a heal done by the enemy (quite weird), because the HoT worked despite the equilibrium requirement. IDK if they changed that.

Maybe if I put some effort I could give it a use with permafrost/whitestrakes, but the magicka returned is... lame.

DRXHarbinger · September 2016

Agony. Last round in maelstrom. Put it on a summoner and never have to worry about killing them. Boss will be dead before they get there and a 2nd one won't spawn until it's dead.

Moat underrated. Scorching flare. Clocking vamp blades will die with one of these and a frag to the face. It's immensely powerful.

Most useless. Dragon blood. Respeccd my DK to take it off and get me 2 skill points back.

Xvorg · September 2016

The_Outsider wrote: »

Evil Hunter

You get a few neat passives for slotting it, but the morph mechanic itself is so utterly useless. "Reduce the cost of Fighter's guild abilities by 20%. For 5 seconds."

Yup... Cammo is to good.

Xvorg · September 2016

As a NB, I have to say that Manifestation of Terror is the most useless skill in game, in PVP and PVE. It is a Volcanic rune that fears 1 enemy and with a stronk delay.

ZOS just ruined the skill with the last change since if you use it from afar, you have no control where the mob/enemy is going to run and if it is close to you, then you just should use mass hysteria. The second trap, at you location is pointless because you have mass hysteria morph, which does almost the same, just better. It is the only skill in game which its version WITHOUT morphing (aspect of terror) is better than the morph.

my 2 cents

DaveMoeDee · September 2016

Smasherx74 wrote: »

Disagree with everything in this thread. I've effectively used basically all of the skills, including equilibrium back when it increased health regen.

Blood alter also works just fine, it's basically a AOE version of the resto staff skill that gives health back on damage dealt.

I don't get the point of this reply. Which skill is the worst? All you are saying is "you are all wrong". Okay, then what skill is the least useful?

As other have also said, "back in the day" is irrelevant if you are talking about a different version of the skill.

DaveMoeDee · September 2016

I don't think it makes sense to call a morph useless just because the other morph is clearly better. This is also why usage is not the best metric since a decent morph might never get used because it is competing with an amazing morph.

Perhaps slotting the lesser morph instead of the better morph is a poor choice, but slotting the lesser morph instead of a complete different skill could still be a good choice.

Personofsecrets · September 2016

kylewwefan wrote: »

Blood Alter!

blood altar is really good

Personofsecrets · September 2016

immovable brute

Liofa · September 2016

I strongly disagree with everyone that voted for ''Equilibrium'' and ''Blood Altar'' .

Equilibrium gives infinite sustain for DK Tanks if you be smart with it and Blood Altar is a 40 second of small but sustained healing to all DDs if combat is stable . Both are really good and I am using them actively in most raids .

My vote goes for Whirling Blades .

Xvorg · September 2016

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

I don't think it makes sense to call a morph useless just because the other morph is clearly better. This is also why usage is not the best metric since a decent morph might never get used because it is competing with an amazing morph.

Perhaps slotting the lesser morph instead of the better morph is a poor choice, but slotting the lesser morph instead of a complete different skill could still be a good choice.

In my opinion, all morphs do something different that can be worked on with the correct build. Even the weakest ones... except manifestation of terror. That one has nothing that could be combinable.

1- it fears 1 enemy (while its pre-morph version fears 2)
2- has a 4 secs delay
3- after the effect ends, reduces movement speed in a 50% for 4 secs... we are talking about the class that has lotus fan, which reduces movement speed in 60% for 8 secs, cripple which reduces movement speed 40% for 8 secs while giving you major exp for 4 secs, and consuming darkness that reduces movement speed a 70% while inside the area).
4- being a ground targeted skill, takes you out of stealth.

It use to be an option when it was a trap casted at your position.