Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

in Necromancer

Posted by: Blaine Tog.8304

Blaine Tog.8304

I’ve been playing around with my Necro’s condi build recently and while I’m enjoying parts of it, one of my biggest annoyances is how unsatisfying Epidemic can be. It’s great if we’re fighting a boss monster that spawns a lot of adds, but it can be difficult to use it in a way that feels optimal outside of that because of how quickly most trash mobs go down. I want to save Epidemic for the last possible moment, but all too often the mob I’m targeting will be struck by some spike damage from one of my party members and suddenly it will die half a second faster than I expected, causing Epidemic to go off without effect and then to go on cooldown.

Now, this could also be solved by dropping the cast time to 1/4, but Epidemic is a powerful skill and opponents should be given the opportunity to interrupt it. This could also be solved by allowing the target’s corpse to explode with the conditions it had when it died, but that could lead to trickier coding and potential edge cases where you’d try to make that happen on purpose. If the skill simply didn’t go on cooldown (or went on a cooldown of just a few seconds rather than the full 20) should the target be dead already when the cast animation completes, though, the skill would be no more powerful than it is right now and the current usage wouldn’t change, but we would have minimized the dissatisfaction that arises from this particular situation.

One might argue that since no other skill refunds its cooldown if its target is dead when it goes off, Epidemic shouldn’t either. However, I would argue that Epidemic is different for two reasons: first, it’s the only skill I can think of that doesn’t actually do anything to its intended target (meaning the death of its target is contrary to its intended use, whereas all other targeted skills ultimately intend for the outcome that occurred prior to their use anyway), and second, it’s also the skill that asks the caster to skirt the closest to the target’s death to use. There are a couple of abilities that want you to use them on targets at certain health thresholds, but those thresholds are typically at either 25% or 50%, giving you broad targets to aim for. Considering how long many of the Necromancer’s conditions are, Epidemic’s ideal use is often going to be at the last possible millisecond before death when the Necro has had the most time to load them up. Accordingly, it seems kinda lame that we’re punished so hard for mis-timing a skill by such a small amount of time. We’re given a very tiny target to shoot for, which is totally fine, but I would prefer for the punishment for missing by 1/4 of a second to not be losing the entire cooldown of the skill plus the time wasted casting it plus the effect not even going off.

I main Ele and Necro, though I have an alt of each profession at level 80.
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Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Anchoku.8142

Anchoku.8142

Epi has such a short cool down, though; especially when traited…

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Brujeria.7536

Brujeria.7536

It needs a small cast time decrease and it would be fine. The tradeoff for landing it can be devastating, it should just be somewhat easier to land it in those rare cases where the enemy is very low.

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Atherakhia.4086

Atherakhia.4086

Yea, I agree with Anchoku I think. The cooldown is short enough where it’s not really needed. Personally, I think they need to change it so it’s more valuable in a single target scenario. Especially since the Necro does such a poor job at stacking offensive conditions on its own.

For example, Epidemic could double the current stack of condis on your selected target but spread the original stack to up to 5 surrounding targets.

If balance is a concern they could limit the number of stacks to 15 on the original target or only double bleeds, torments, and poison or something along those lines.

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Blaine Tog.8304

Blaine Tog.8304

Epi has such a short cool down, though; especially when traited…

Still, 20 seconds can feel like an eternity, especially when you were anticipating a significant condi bomb and instead got bubkis.

I main Ele and Necro, though I have an alt of each profession at level 80.
How to Condi Reaper on a budget
Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Azure.8670

Azure.8670

Epi has such a short cool down, though; especially when traited…

Still, 20 seconds can feel like an eternity, especially when you were anticipating a significant condi bomb and instead got bubkis.

I dont agree that it needs a shorter CD, the problem is the cast time is ridiculous. it takes amazing timing and a drop of luck to get a good condi bomb off

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Blaine Tog.8304

Blaine Tog.8304

Epi has such a short cool down, though; especially when traited…

Still, 20 seconds can feel like an eternity, especially when you were anticipating a significant condi bomb and instead got bubkis.

I dont agree that it needs a shorter CD, the problem is the cast time is ridiculous. it takes amazing timing and a drop of luck to get a good condi bomb off

It would certainly feel better with a shorter cooldown, but my concern is that that would increase the power of what is already one of our highest-damage-potential skills. Reducing the cooldown if the target is already dead would decrease the penalty for screwing up its use without affecting the skill’s counterplay.

I main Ele and Necro, though I have an alt of each profession at level 80.
How to Condi Reaper on a budget
Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.

Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

in Necromancer

Posted by: Bhawb.7408

Bhawb.7408

I disagree with refreshing CD if the target is dead, it makes it so that your only “punishment” for screwing up is wasted cast times, whereas in any other situation it simply fizzles. I think Epidemic’s cast time could absolutely be looked at, especially since it is possible to counter it in two ways (both avoid the initial cast and also spreading), but any changes that should be made should be empowering players to make good plays, rather than reward players who fail to do so.

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Epidemic should refresh CD if target is dead

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Posted by: Blaine Tog.8304

Blaine Tog.8304

I disagree with refreshing CD if the target is dead, it makes it so that your only “punishment” for screwing up is wasted cast times, whereas in any other situation it simply fizzles.

Yes — and I that that’s a perfectly sufficient punishment. If your target dies, you lose the casting time and a token 2 second cooldown, like what you get if you interrupt a skill use by dodging. You’re still being punished, you’re just not getting kicked in the behind as well.

I think Epidemic’s cast time could absolutely be looked at, especially since it is possible to counter it in two ways (both avoid the initial cast and also spreading), but any changes that should be made should be empowering players to make good plays, rather than reward players who fail to do so.

Yet this not only makes it far easier to use well but also increases its power to boot. I think it’s safe to say that access to Epidemic forces Anet to keep our condition application on the low end of the bell curve compared to other Profession’s condi specs. I’m concerned that directly increasing the skill’s power like this would just make it even harder to buff us more generally.

I main Ele and Necro, though I have an alt of each profession at level 80.
How to Condi Reaper on a budget
Everything I say is only in reference to PvE and WvW.