So this is the current talents:
16:
Crushing Hope
If Drain Hope lasts its full duration, it instantly deals an additional 15% of the target’s maximum Health as damage. This damage does not heal Leoric20:
Burning Despair
Deal 40 damage per second to nearby enemies. While Drain Hope is active, gain 40 Armor and the damage and area is increased by 100%.
So Burning Despair is a very strong talent and makes Leoric both very tanky and high damage, but it’s in a bit of an awkward spot.
If you are W build it competes with either Death March, which is also very strong with W-build, or Buried Alive which is just always a really good pick. And if you’re not W-build it’s not as strong as it requires Unyielding Despair to have full uptime. So it’s rarely the best option to go the full W-build with Burning Despair.
What if it was instead like this:
16:
Hardened Bones
While Drain Hope is active gain 30 armor. If Drain Hope lasts its full duration gain this bonus for 2 more seconds.20:
Burning Despair
Deal 40 damage per second to nearby enemies. While Drain Hope is active damage and area is increased by 100%. If Drain Hope lasts its full duration, it instantly deals an additional 15% of the target’s maximum Health as damage. This damage does not heal Leoric
This would let you to go all W even with an Heroic upgrade at 20 and still gain similar tankiness compared to Damage Reduction from E build. Sure it would make Death March do way less damage, but it would also make you a lot more survivable as the armor would leverage the heal a lot further.