Churning Earth: 3.25 | cast=4.2 aftercast=0.6 | cd=30 {8 bleeds for 8s}
^^^taken from the all elementalist skill data thread.
Firstly, its cast time is extreme. Being as it is a full second longer than it states, it is easily interruptible, even by mobs. Even if it were the 3.25 second cast time stated, it would be a bit to long. Any ranged interrupt is easily viable, and no stun daze blind or other cc lasts long enough to cover its use in PvP. (With the possible exception of Head-butt a berserker elite skill, but this requires A LOT of coordination for little payoff.)
On my elementalist, (condition build, Fire/Earth/Arcane, using both stat conversion traits to maximize condi damage I have 1,635 condi damage resting before food, might, and sigil of corruption.) The tooltip states that it will do 10,569 damage over 11 1/4 seconds, for 8 stacks of bleed. (Giver’s weapons + traits for +40% duration resting before buffs.) Its cooldown is 30 seconds.
Yes this is an AoE skill and so is pretty darn powerful, but lets compare it to Signet of Fire. 1/2 second cast, 16 sec Cooldown, 2 stacks of burn for 14 sec, is 10,764 damage. I can cast two of these for 20k dmg in 32.5 sec.
What this amounts to is that while Churning Earth is supposed to be high risk high reward, it just isn’t.
It’s damage is very poor by comparison to all other spells that could be used in the same time frame. So… in the time that I could have cast Churning Earth, I can instead cast Signet of Fire, Signet of Earth, Ring of Earth, Phoenix, Dragon’s tooth, Attune to Earth, Earthquake.
Now, before I get too much deeper into this, let me say, I love the flavor of the move! The idea of causing the earth around you to bubble like a witch’s cauldron, then explode with shards of stone is just cool as hell, and I do not aim to have my redesign change its flavor. It should be a long cast… and it should root you. This is for PvP, so when a player sees you casting it, they should have to choose between making distance between you and them, or closing in for the interrupt.
The changes I propose are as follows:
1. Shorten its cast time to reflect the cast time on the tooltip. 3 1/4 seconds is just fine, and a shave down to 3 even would be better. —-“This will shorten the cast just enough that you might get to fit it into a dps rotation without loosing too much.”
2. Make it increase your toughness while casting and apply Aegis for 1/2 second, pulsing once per second during the cast.—-“This will ensure that good timing can still cause an interrupt, but also allow it to be a move one uses under pressure, rather than a move that you simply never use, unless your timing it against enemies closing on your position. This will have the effect of making it feel more like how the rest of the earth attunement’s abilities feel.”
3. It should apply 6 stacks of bleed for 10 seconds. These stacks should be applied on the three pulses, two stacks at a time, ensuring that if it is interrupted early, it was still worth pressing the button. —-“yes this is a damage nerf, but it is aoe , also my number 4 suggestion will require its damage to be lessened.”
4. Reduce its cooldown to 25 seconds. —-“This would ensure that it is handy more often when one goes into earth attunement, and having it there as a shield, and reliable condition damage is something that earth attunement really needs, no matter which weapon your using in the MH.”
5. Remove its cripple effect. —--“While its nice, and it was an attempt to slow folks closing for the interrupt… no one needs a cripple that lasts for less time than the self root of the move.”
6. Drastically increase the burst damage vs bleeding targets. —-“In sinister gear with rabid trinkets, its damage is 1,526 on the tooltip with an additional 493 vs bleeding targets. It’s base damage should be decreased to 1000, but its damage vs bleeding should total to 2600 making it worth casting in zerker gear… and being as it adds 2 stack of bleed every second for three seconds, it should always get the bonus damage, unless an enemy uses a well timed cleanse.”
If there is some element to the original design that I missed, I’d love to know what it is/was, but as it stands now, I feel that this move is underused, and in fact, has no real good place that it can be used… even 4 seconds of scepter’s earth auto attack bleeds for more damage.
What do you guys think?