Oakensoul desperately needs a buff

QB1 · November 2025

Oblivion_Protocol wrote: »

QB1 wrote: »

Umm yeah? Thanks for agreeing with me? That's exactly my point and the title of this post -- "Oakensoul desperately needs a buff"

Oblivion_Protocol wrote: »

Here’s the thing. You only think Oakensoul is underwhelming because everything else is massively overperforming. It’s like complaining that you have a flamethrower when everyone else has a nuke, but your target is a roach lying on its back. The enemy health bars Oakensoul builds were melting two years ago will still disappear at the same speed that was satisfactory back then.

Added my quote with the part you so conveniently left out in bold for emphasis. I’m not agreeing with you or this sentiment that 95% of the players on this forum disagree with. Player power went up, content difficulty stayed about the same. You can do the same stuff with Oakensoul now that you could do two years ago. And it’s just fine in the new content, as well. Just because other stuff does things better doesn’t mean Oakensoul is worse or needs some kind of buff.

Again, you don’t need a nuke when your flamethrower roasts cockroaches just fine.

I didn’t respond to that part because it makes no sense. Oakensoul doesn’t “roast” anything in pve or pvp

QB1 · November 2025

ShutUpitsRed wrote: »

If they make the old stuff as good as the new stuff, why would people spend $50 for access to the new stuff?

Agree with that. But I’m not asking for it to be as good as the new stuff, just to be somewhat usable like it used to be 👍

novapixel · November 2025

They should nerf it again just to make sure that people start using mythics that aren't openly bad

pelle412 · November 2025

You can do over 100k dps on one bar builds without any mythics at all and even more with other mythics.

skelitun · November 2025

I recognize the frustration on both sides of this issue, oakensoul was NOT fun to deal with on launch, but definitely feels lacking now. Imo the biggest issue with it is the lack of little "secondary effects" you would normally get from keeping your armor and damage buffs active, stuff like heals from crit surge or rune focus, or damage over time from hurricane or degeneration. I really think this mythic just needs a *little* push towards viability, it probably shouldn't be *as* good as a two bar setup, but right now it doesn't even feel close. I would try giving oakensoul a small amount of either healing over time or damage over time to make up for the lack of those "secondary effects." For healing you could do something like eclipse or hist sap where its a non-scaling amount, maybe 1k every 2s. (could also just add a roughly equivalent amount of hp recovery) If you'd rather push the balance towards damage, make it apply a damage proc like plaguebreak. (without the explosion obviously) Maybe whenever you light attack an enemy they get a small dot applied to them.

Oakensoul should have minor expedition, if pve players can get slayer and aegis, PvP players deserve expedition.
Also giving oakensoul innate access to major breach, probably just as a proc off light attacks would do a LOT for opening up the already limited bar space.

Outside the scope of strictly oakensoul balance, though it is somewhat relevant so I'll touch on it here: Why does empower do NOTHING in PvP? Would it be so broken to let it give, say 10-20% more damage on light attacks? Just feels bad to have this buff that used to be decently strong in PvP do nothing now.

YandereGirlfriend · November 2025

skelitun wrote: »

I recognize the frustration on both sides of this issue, oakensoul was NOT fun to deal with on launch, but definitely feels lacking now. Imo the biggest issue with it is the lack of little "secondary effects" you would normally get from keeping your armor and damage buffs active, stuff like heals from crit surge or rune focus, or damage over time from hurricane or degeneration. I really think this mythic just needs a *little* push towards viability, it probably shouldn't be *as* good as a two bar setup, but right now it doesn't even feel close. I would try giving oakensoul a small amount of either healing over time or damage over time to make up for the lack of those "secondary effects." For healing you could do something like eclipse or hist sap where its a non-scaling amount, maybe 1k every 2s. (could also just add a roughly equivalent amount of hp recovery) If you'd rather push the balance towards damage, make it apply a damage proc like plaguebreak. (without the explosion obviously) Maybe whenever you light attack an enemy they get a small dot applied to them.

Oakensoul should have minor expedition, if pve players can get slayer and aegis, PvP players deserve expedition.
Also giving oakensoul innate access to major breach, probably just as a proc off light attacks would do a LOT for opening up the already limited bar space.

Outside the scope of strictly oakensoul balance, though it is somewhat relevant so I'll touch on it here: Why does empower do NOTHING in PvP? Would it be so broken to let it give, say 10-20% more damage on light attacks? Just feels bad to have this buff that used to be decently strong in PvP do nothing now.

Adding health regen and perhaps Minor Expo would be a reasonable buff.

But that's it. One cannot have it all by simply equipping one item. Especially in PvP where competitive balance matters more than in PvE.

mdjessup4906 · November 2025

All this easy/hard talk is so vague. As a pug tank i want oakensoul to be able to pull its weight in any regular vet dungeon including dlc ones. Idk if it can or not becasue i dont usually log pugs, but I do know I been seeing far more non-ass damage heavy attackers lately, which does coincide with voidmantle being released. Oak should pull its weight for those heavy attackers who didnt buy the "pass".

And maybe some esoteric build can do it without oak but tell that to the seo farms that push oak onto new or casual players when they Google "easy heavy attack build". Its a losing battle.

And dont tell me not to pug. I like pugging.

dwolfgheist · December 2025

There are still players using oakensoul and crushing it even in pvp, so I don't see a need for a buff.

MindOfTheSwarm · December 2025

Oakensoul is fine. If you can hit 70k with it, you’re good enough to do all content. You’re not top end DPS, but that’s the price you pay for an easier rotation and defensive bonuses.

Oblivion_Protocol · December 2025

QB1 wrote: »

I didn’t respond to that part because it makes no sense. Oakensoul doesn’t “roast” anything in pve or pvp

Clearly, you haven’t paid much attention, nor have you actually used an Oakensoul build in the current content. My statement about the flamethrower was hyperbole, but since it either went over your head or failed to convey my meaning effectively, let me simplify my point.

Oakensoul does just fine where it is. Just because there are builds that do better doesn’t mean it’s inadequate. You can still clear content relatively easily. As for PvP, that’s a different kettle of fish. Oakensoul builds aren’t meant to be competitive in Cyro. Fun? Sure. Useful? In certain spots. But the odds of going 1vX with an Oakensoul build are slim.

ViggyBoi · January 11

QB1 wrote: »

Zodiarkslayer wrote: »

No. It doesn't need a buff. Oakensoul isn't intended to be top tier competitive.
It's an enabler for low to mid tier players.

Not saying it needs to be top-tier competitive. Just needs to be somewhat competitive. Just because it's an "accessibility" mythic doesn't mean it shouldn't be relevant at all. The two things don't have to be mutually exclusive

Look im not one to crap on people for wanting or needing a more accessible means to play the game, but I believe this is what we call a "skill issue" not an accessibility concern. Oakensoul quite literally already plays half the game for you. It should not be capable of producing any sort of above average results. They are training wheels for newer players, but if you want better results you gotta take the training wheels off and interact with the other half of the game.

JustLovely · January 12

dwolfgheist wrote: »

There are still players using oakensoul and crushing it even in pvp, so I don't see a need for a buff.

Ya, if going to go for easy mode, you shouldn't be doing more damage than two bar builds.

Hood_Prodigy · February 3

Mythic gear should have its own mythic gear slots so you can still wear regular gear

Avran_Sylt · February 3

Given the route it seems they're taking with different abilities providing PvE % damage buffs to amp your rotation, I could certainly see them buffing Oakensoul from Minor Slayer to Major Slayer. Which also provides nice synergy with trials sets.

Drackolus · February 6

The fact that it's not even the best one-bar mythic is proof enough of this. Velothi, Pale Order, or Voidmantle are frequently stronger even if you choose to never use your backbar.
It stinks that it rapidly gets worse the more supports you have. It largely relegates it to a solo mythic, but it doesn't give enough for that either. Just a tank and healer covers everything on it besides Major Savagery/Prophecy (which is extremely easy to get with almost no cost), minor force (which healers only don't supply because it's so frequently gotten through Velothi, but also has multiple powerful sources from guild lines), Empower (can be gotten from -any- mage's guild line, including Contingency to also get Minor Force, or even slotting Magelight for the passive stats and tapping it for off-balance), Minor Heroism and Minor Protection (which actually are often provided as well), and, finally, Minor Slayer and Aegis, which are nice if you don't have any trial gear, but are redundant if you use those sets too. That means it's very possible for it to amount entirely to the 5% damage reduction from Minor Aegis even in a 4 man pug group, and is typically only slightly more than that.
On top of that, it's borderline nonviable for tanks and healers in easy content, and frequently actually nonviable even in moderate content. Just for tanks, losing an infused backbar crushing is substantial, when it's essentially free for normal builds. A healer or tank using it causes a massive damage decrease for the whole group.