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Ele drain should have a cost too for the same reason Ele sus should

XVestigeXx
XVestigeXx
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Its weird we have these free skills that apply debuffs to enemies. There should be some sort of cost on both morphs of the destruction staff's major breach skill. Its already far better to run ice staff for the blocking aspect of it over a bow. Elemental sus and elemental Drain both make Ice staff BiS purely because they are free and last for 30-60 seconds. Ele drain should have a cost on it as well. Its a 60 second debuff that gives magicka steal the entire time. This is better than some class major breach skills. I would run ele drain over any morph of mark target on nb for example as there is nothing redeeming about mark target, it has a cost, and not to mention the biggest and loudest VFX on mark target in the game. Its weird we are just making these offensive skills free while class skills that do the same thing are worse and have a cost

Edit: I mean BiS in terms of back bar weapons
Edited by XVestigeXx on August 31, 2026 12:16PM
  • Luneca
    Luneca
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    XVestigeXx wrote: »
    Its weird we have these free skills that apply debuffs to enemies. There should be some sort of cost on both morphs of the destruction staff's major breach skill. Its already far better to run ice staff for the blocking aspect of it over a bow. Elemental sus and elemental Drain both make Ice staff BiS purely because they are free and last for 30-60 seconds. Ele drain should have a cost on it as well. Its a 60 second debuff that gives magicka steal the entire time. This is better than some class major breach skills. I would run ele drain over any morph of mark target on nb for example as there is nothing redeeming about mark target, it has a cost, and not to mention the biggest and loudest VFX on mark target in the game. Its weird we are just making these offensive skills free while class skills that do the same thing are worse and have a cost

    There is a disadvantage: you have to use a destro staff, which isn't the best weapon choice at least in terms of the abilities it has slottable.

    The secondary effect is also of questionable utility. And, like always, if you do truly believe it's powerful then explain a few things:

    1. Why no one bothers to actually slot it on Live outside a group scenario
    2. Why we cannot find an instance where it's OP, or maybe you do know one and can show it?

    Not having to slot a specific weapon is actually a massive advantage for a skill line because it lets you choose where to gain power or have the option to do so elsewhere. If I don't have to choose staves and can choose another weapon, I will do that and choose whichever one gives me access to buffs that are missing on my build.

    Mark also provides more effects, interacts with the healing system, has a longer range. And don't forget you also have the option to run the staff if you wanted, which you apparently do not because you realize that Mark is better and the Magicka Steal doesn't matter in actual (PvP) combat where you can die in 3 seconds.

    I seriously doubt anyone will be running that skill in PvP environments unless they already were. In PvE, the cost and utility can be provided by others and in a solo situation it's a bar slot that isn't doing damage. Seems balanced to me.
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Luneca wrote: »
    XVestigeXx wrote: »
    Its weird we have these free skills that apply debuffs to enemies. There should be some sort of cost on both morphs of the destruction staff's major breach skill. Its already far better to run ice staff for the blocking aspect of it over a bow. Elemental sus and elemental Drain both make Ice staff BiS purely because they are free and last for 30-60 seconds. Ele drain should have a cost on it as well. Its a 60 second debuff that gives magicka steal the entire time. This is better than some class major breach skills. I would run ele drain over any morph of mark target on nb for example as there is nothing redeeming about mark target, it has a cost, and not to mention the biggest and loudest VFX on mark target in the game. Its weird we are just making these offensive skills free while class skills that do the same thing are worse and have a cost

    There is a disadvantage: you have to use a destro staff, which isn't the best weapon choice at least in terms of the abilities it has slottable.

    The secondary effect is also of questionable utility. And, like always, if you do truly believe it's powerful then explain a few things:

    1. Why no one bothers to actually slot it on Live outside a group scenario
    2. Why we cannot find an instance where it's OP, or maybe you do know one and can show it?

    Not having to slot a specific weapon is actually a massive advantage for a skill line because it lets you choose where to gain power or have the option to do so elsewhere. If I don't have to choose staves and can choose another weapon, I will do that and choose whichever one gives me access to buffs that are missing on my build.

    Mark also provides more effects, interacts with the healing system, has a longer range. And don't forget you also have the option to run the staff if you wanted, which you apparently do not because you realize that Mark is better and the Magicka Steal doesn't matter in actual (PvP) combat where you can die in 3 seconds.

    I seriously doubt anyone will be running that skill in PvP environments unless they already were. In PvE, the cost and utility can be provided by others and in a solo situation it's a bar slot that isn't doing damage. Seems balanced to me.

    I meant to say that ele drain is better than class breach options in terms of backbar abilities and backbar weapons. Typically its ice staff BiS as a back bar weapon for the blocking passives and because its ranged and because of skills like ele sus and ele drain over a resto staff, sword and board, and bow. Ice staff is kind of best of both worlds between bow and sword and board and then a free major breach option is just goated. I would like to see these abilities have some form of a cost even if its cheap because I don't think anything should be free to cast offensively like major breach
    Edited by XVestigeXx on August 31, 2026 12:16PM
  • Elendildur
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    Ele sus is getting a cost because of the damage it does, not because of the Major Breach. The damage from status effects is strong enough, even with Shattered Path, that Ele sus desperately needs a cost, especially since those status procs can trigger other effects when combined with Wall of Elements (Minor Breach on Wall of Frost, Off Balance on Wall of Storms) that it being free makes no sense. That logic doesn't apply to Ele drain, since it only applies Major Breach and Minor Magickasteal
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Elendildur wrote: »
    Ele sus is getting a cost because of the damage it does, not because of the Major Breach. The damage from status effects is strong enough, even with Shattered Path, that Ele sus desperately needs a cost, especially since those status procs can trigger other effects when combined with Wall of Elements (Minor Breach on Wall of Frost, Off Balance on Wall of Storms) that it being free makes no sense. That logic doesn't apply to Ele drain, since it only applies Major Breach and Minor Magickasteal

    I think that logic doesn't go far enough and that ele drain should have a cost even if it was 1k mag
  • playsforfun
    playsforfun
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    Another PvP nerf thread...
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    Another PvP nerf thread...

    you can be upset all you want every time someone says something should be tweaked down rather than incessantly buffed up but its not gonna do anything. Both Nerfs and buffs are called for and needed all the time. Maybe you should make a thread that PVP nerfs shouldn't effect pvp if it bothers you so much
  • joergino
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    XVestigeXx wrote: »
    Another PvP nerf thread...

    you can be upset all you want every time someone says something should be tweaked down rather than incessantly buffed up but its not gonna do anything. Both Nerfs and buffs are called for and needed all the time. Maybe you should make a thread that PVP nerfs shouldn't effect pvp if it bothers you so much

    PvP nerfs not affecting PvP? Now that would be hilarious indeed. ;) Yeah, let's only have everything nerfed for PvE players!
    Edited by joergino on September 1, 2026 12:25PM
  • Daoin
    Daoin
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    Elendildur wrote: »
    Ele sus is getting a cost because of the damage it does, not because of the Major Breach. The damage from status effects is strong enough, even with Shattered Path, that Ele sus desperately needs a cost, especially since those status procs can trigger other effects when combined with Wall of Elements (Minor Breach on Wall of Frost, Off Balance on Wall of Storms) that it being free makes no sense. That logic doesn't apply to Ele drain, since it only applies Major Breach and Minor Magickasteal

    why change one of the oldest skills in the book nobody ever complained about until now ? remove shattered paths completely is a better idea than doing anything to sus, not like there are tons of back bar weapons to choose from but yes destro staff is number one choice still for any class and ele sus just works as is and dont need no balancing lol, pvp is a dead game anyway nobody goes uless they have to
    Edited by Daoin on September 1, 2026 9:23AM
  • BahometZ
    BahometZ
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    Or maybe they should just nerf status effects, then when they do that they can forget all the things they changed along the way so that everything is worse. Sounds familiar...
    Pact Magplar - Max CP (NA XB)
  • Major_Mangle
    Major_Mangle
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    Never understood why any skill should be free of cost to be honest. Never made sense for either PvP or PvE. Doesn't have to be super expensive but free, nah.
    Edited by Major_Mangle on September 1, 2026 2:02PM
    Ps4 EU 2016-2020
    PC/EU: 2020 -
  • XVestigeXx
    XVestigeXx
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    joergino wrote: »
    XVestigeXx wrote: »
    Another PvP nerf thread...

    you can be upset all you want every time someone says something should be tweaked down rather than incessantly buffed up but its not gonna do anything. Both Nerfs and buffs are called for and needed all the time. Maybe you should make a thread that PVP nerfs shouldn't effect pvp if it bothers you so much

    PvP nerfs not affecting PvP? Now that would be hilarious indeed. ;) Yeah, let's only have everything nerfed for PvE players!

    Lol Woops
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