Elemental Blockade needs a buff

MindOfTheSwarm · April 2021

Right now Unstable gives best DPS by far while blockade is barely used outside of healers and tanks when using a lightning staff. I propose that it needs a buff... but not a damage buff. I propose making its duration longer so that over the course of its duration it deals more damage total than unstable. This would mean for DPS unstable would remain best choice but blockade would be better for sustained damage and cheaper on resources.
Alternatively, unstable’s dot damage could be reduced with its burst buffed to compensate while blockade would deal more damage on its dot ticks but have no burst option. Blockade has been left behind and it needs some love.

Septimus_Magna · April 2021

I agree, it would also be nice if blockade had an increased chance to proc the status effect to make it more suitable for support classes.

Parrot1986 · April 2021

Im not sure what the purpose of this is? By doing the proposed you’ll likely make blockade the best dps and everyone will start using this drop unstable dot then unstable will need a buff going by your logic.

Although going by your proposal we will do less damage but have better sustain and sustain is fine just now anyways so it’s seems like an overall nerf for no reason.

I’d be for giving it an extra or better effect to align more with support class usage but trying to make it the better or same dps as the other morph is pointless as one will always better the other and be the 99% used morph for damage.

Andre_Noir · April 2021

You are way too obsessed by pure damage. I'm using blockade on my mNB and happy with it.
But I'll be even more happy if ZOS decide to remove this ground-DOT-based gameplay completely. And the staff from vMA is one of the biggest mistakes ever made by them

Evil_Rurouni · April 2021

The main reason blockade is less used is the need for smooth rotations.
If most of your DoTs are in the 8-12 second duration range, extending elemental from 10 seconds to 14 just makes things needlesly finnicky.

You'd need to jack blockade up to around 16- 24 seconds so that it could be cast every second rotation in order to make it a valid alternitive for most magDPS builds.
Doubt that's gonna happen.

14 second blockade works pretty well on a mDK BTW, because several of their class DoTs are either boosted to 14 seconds by their searing heat passives, or are around that duration by default.
What you lose by not having the explosion you regain (give or take a little bit) from smoother rotations, better maelstrom staff uptime, burning uptime, and more hits on spread out mobs.

Blockade isn't completely ignored by magDPS.

Chilly-McFreeze · April 2021

Andre_Noir wrote: »

You are way too obsessed by pure damage. I'm using blockade on my mNB and happy with it.
But I'll be even more happy if ZOS decide to remove this ground-DOT-based gameplay completely. And the staff from vMA is one of the biggest mistakes ever made by them

Just out of curiosity. What makes you think that? What is your issue with ground dots?

zvavi · April 2021

Blockade is ok-ish on mag dk where you can line up you dots... It also has bigger range so it is better sometimes.

MindOfTheSwarm · April 2021

On a side not which I’m gonna do in another post Unstable also deals more damage as an AOE spammable than Elemental Ring.

zvavi · April 2021

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

On a side not which I’m gonna do in another post Unstable also deals more damage as an AOE spammable than Elemental Ring.

It deals less damage than unstable+ring though

MindOfTheSwarm · April 2021

zvavi wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

On a side not which I’m gonna do in another post Unstable also deals more damage as an AOE spammable than Elemental Ring.

It deals less damage than unstable+ring though

You’re saying 1 tick of dot plus ring deals more? Not sure about that.

danno8 · April 2021

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

zvavi wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

On a side not which I’m gonna do in another post Unstable also deals more damage as an AOE spammable than Elemental Ring.

It deals less damage than unstable+ring though

You’re saying 1 tick of dot plus ring deals more? Not sure about that.

It is strange that unstable's backloaded explosion goes off when recasted. I can't remember if it's always been that way but it feels wrong.

Like maybe the longer you leave it the greater proportion of the explosion it does if recasted early, but getting the full explosion immediately seems broken.

I'm not really complaining though, lol.

phaneub17_ESO · April 2021

Unstable for my MagDDs, Blockade for my MagTanks.

MindOfTheSwarm · April 2021

danno8 wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

zvavi wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

On a side not which I’m gonna do in another post Unstable also deals more damage as an AOE spammable than Elemental Ring.

It deals less damage than unstable+ring though

You’re saying 1 tick of dot plus ring deals more? Not sure about that.

It is strange that unstable's backloaded explosion goes off when recasted. I can't remember if it's always been that way but it feels wrong.

Like maybe the longer you leave it the greater proportion of the explosion it does if recasted early, but getting the full explosion immediately seems broken.

I'm not really complaining though, lol.

Another idea would be if skills had synergy between them. For example Elemental Ring could trigger Unstable Wall to explode, but the wall would not disappear allowing you to spam Elemental Ring and cause your wall to explode multiple times in a single cast. Obviously the explosion of wall damage would need a little nerf to compensate but could be fun. This synergistic idea could apply to other skill lines too.

MindOfTheSwarm · April 2021

Alternatively you could simple have Elemental Ring deal more damage against enemies inside Wall of Elements.

Stevie6 · April 2021

This game needs a damage buff all over...feels like weak sauce.

danno8 · April 2021

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

danno8 wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

zvavi wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

On a side not which I’m gonna do in another post Unstable also deals more damage as an AOE spammable than Elemental Ring.

It deals less damage than unstable+ring though

You’re saying 1 tick of dot plus ring deals more? Not sure about that.

It is strange that unstable's backloaded explosion goes off when recasted. I can't remember if it's always been that way but it feels wrong.

Like maybe the longer you leave it the greater proportion of the explosion it does if recasted early, but getting the full explosion immediately seems broken.

I'm not really complaining though, lol.

Another idea would be if skills had synergy between them. For example Elemental Ring could trigger Unstable Wall to explode, but the wall would not disappear allowing you to spam Elemental Ring and cause your wall to explode multiple times in a single cast. Obviously the explosion of wall damage would need a little nerf to compensate but could be fun. This synergistic idea could apply to other skill lines too.

I would love if there was more synergy between skills in this game. Skill combos and fields are one thing I really like about GW2 skill system. In ESO it's just stack your buffs/debuffs then spam the highest damage skills in descending order.

ESO_Nightingale · April 2021

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

I agree, it would also be nice if blockade had an increased chance to proc the status effect to make it more suitable for support classes.

I'm definitely of the opinion that blockade should provide more support while unstable provides more damage. I enjoy using unstable far more because of the explosion.

Andre_Noir · April 2021

ESO_Nightingale wrote: »

Septimus_Magna wrote: »

I agree, it would also be nice if blockade had an increased chance to proc the status effect to make it more suitable for support classes.

I'm definitely of the opinion that blockade should provide more support while unstable provides more damage. I enjoy using unstable far more because of the explosion.

May be the ONLY ONE offensive magical weapon should be about DAMAGE options ? Move support options to bow, 2h etc instead ? And make 3/4 of their morfs useless as destro staff right now.

Chilly-McFreeze wrote: »

Andre_Noir wrote: »

You are way too obsessed by pure damage. I'm using blockade on my mNB and happy with it.
But I'll be even more happy if ZOS decide to remove this ground-DOT-based gameplay completely. And the staff from vMA is one of the biggest mistakes ever made by them

Just out of curiosity. What makes you think that? What is your issue with ground dots?

MY issue ? LOL There is clearly no issue when AoE ground based DOT vastly superior almost any single-target DOT (even on a single target) and all direct AoE spells in every aspect.

Snow_White · April 2021

Andre_Noir wrote: »

MY issue ? LOL There is clearly no issue when AoE ground based DOT vastly superior almost any single-target DOT (even on a single target) and all direct AoE spells in every aspect.

One thing I liked about my 2 hander was the interaction between brawler, wrecking blow and executioner. It forced a decision between cleave, ST and execute, and going for high ST damage meant giving up defence (brawler’s shield). I found that kind of dynamic risk/reward decision making to be fun.

On my MagCrow all my abilities are cleave, ST and execute. Not a lot of need for decision making.

Everest_Lionheart · April 2021

Evil_Rurouni wrote: »

The main reason blockade is less used is the need for smooth rotations.
If most of your DoTs are in the 8-12 second duration range, extending elemental from 10 seconds to 14 just makes things needlesly finnicky.

You'd need to jack blockade up to around 16- 24 seconds so that it could be cast every second rotation in order to make it a valid alternitive for most magDPS builds.
Doubt that's gonna happen.

14 second blockade works pretty well on a mDK BTW, because several of their class DoTs are either boosted to 14 seconds by their searing heat passives, or are around that duration by default.
What you lose by not having the explosion you regain (give or take a little bit) from smoother rotations, better maelstrom staff uptime, burning uptime, and more hits on spread out mobs.

Blockade isn't completely ignored by magDPS.

Was going to say exactly this. The 10 second lines up neatly with most rotations with MagDK being the one exception. With the 14 second wall lining up neatly with all my other ardent flame abilities plus scalding rune that gives me a tone of extra whips to make up for the loss of the explosion at the end. I’ve tried running both and it’s a 1-2K difference between unstable and blockade with unstable being the higher of the two, but ease of use makes blockade win in my book almost every single time. Especially when running Zen’s. It’s way easier to maintain the uptimes.

I also play magblade and unstable is one of my few AOE spamable’s that I do have because of the explosion. Pretty much everything else is ST damage so when it’s time to fight trash packs I spam the hell out of it. It’s mag intensive but if you heavy attack weave it works pretty well because you just hold down attack and click the skill every second.

Athan1 · April 2021

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Right now Unstable gives best DPS by far while blockade is barely used outside of healers and tanks

You said it all. DD use unstable, rest use Blockade. Nuff said.

MindOfTheSwarm · April 2021

Athan1 wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Right now Unstable gives best DPS by far while blockade is barely used outside of healers and tanks

You said it all. DD use unstable, rest use Blockade. Nuff said.

Isn't that a bit of a shame though? I mean why restrict blockade to just a few roles. Why not increase its DoT damage but keep the burst on Unstable? seems like a fair trade.

zvavi · April 2021

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Athan1 wrote: »

MindOfTheSwarm wrote: »

Right now Unstable gives best DPS by far while blockade is barely used outside of healers and tanks

You said it all. DD use unstable, rest use Blockade. Nuff said.

Isn't that a bit of a shame though? I mean why restrict blockade to just a few roles. Why not increase its DoT damage but keep the burst on Unstable? seems like a fair trade.

Long ago, blockade was stronger. Nobody used unstable. Now we have those who use unstable, and ones who use blockade, I don't understand the issue.

YandereGirlfriend · April 2021

I very much like the idea of extending Blockade's duration to be every-other rotation.

Elemental Ring, as you mention, also desperately needs a buff. Give it a cost reduction at the very least to allow classes access to a somewhat decent universal elemental spammable (though BRP Destro is probably the best place to make this change).

Zodiarkslayer · April 2021

Keep in mind, that Ele Blockade is a much larger Area of damage. I believe it is 12x18m instead of Unstable Walls 8x18? Could be 6x18m, though. Most skill book sources online only list the 18 metre range, not the width. Which is missleading.
So, more area means more damage to more enemies.

And the longer duration means also, that your damage glyph on the backbar ticks more often. Means also higher uptime of the buff and also more time on frontbar for spammable spamming. Which usually means higher DPS.

Most extreme example for this is the (admittedly, not ELE Blockade, but you should get the point) Stamplar with the choice betweeen time for more Jabs with Endless Hail, than with any other backbar AoE DoT. I get about 11 Jabs per one Endless Hail and only 7 to (maybe) 8 when using Arrow Barrage, Stampede or Deadly Cloack. In a 140 sec fight, one gets about four more Jabs off when using Endless Hail, than with Arrow Barrage.

That principle applies to Ele Drain, too.
The stronger your Spammable and the longer the fight, the more you want the longer duration Morphs.

Septimus_Magna · April 2021

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

Keep in mind, that Ele Blockade is a much larger Area of damage. I believe it is 12x18m instead of Unstable Walls 8x18? Could be 6x18m, though. Most skill book sources online only list the 18 metre range, not the width. Which is missleading.
So, more area means more damage to more enemies.

And the longer duration means also, that your damage glyph on the backbar ticks more often. Means also higher uptime of the buff and also more time on frontbar for spammable spamming. Which usually means higher DPS.

Most extreme example for this is the (admittedly, not ELE Blockade, but you should get the point) Stamplar with the choice betweeen time for more Jabs with Endless Hail, than with any other backbar AoE DoT. I get about 11 Jabs per one Endless Hail and only 7 to (maybe) 8 when using Arrow Barrage, Stampede or Deadly Cloack. In a 140 sec fight, one gets about four more Jabs off when using Endless Hail, than with Arrow Barrage.

That principle applies to Ele Drain, too.
The stronger your Spammable and the longer the fight, the more you want the longer duration Morphs.

It comes down to dmg per cast (or GCD), spammables often deal moderate dmg per cast and DOTs often deal high dmg per cast but it takes longer to deliver all the dmg. So you apply DOTs and in the time it takes to deliver the dmg you use a spammable skill.

Templar is the exception here because Jabs is a very strong spammable so its often better to cast jabs than a DOT for example.