This may be a dumb question, but I stick to staves almost all the time. Only started experimenting with the dagger recently.
Churning earth says:
“Hold and release to make the earth churn, crippling nearby foes before unleashing a seismic wave that damages and bleeds them. "
It seems like whenever I use this skill, no matter when I release the key, it does the full channel. I could just tap the key and not hold it at all and the skill still channels for the full duration. I was under the impression that the skill went off when you stopped holding down the key. Is this bugged or working as intended?