I don’t even want to go into the history of this problem.
I’ll ask ironically - why is this a solution only for Frost and Blood?
After all, it was the main finisher for Unholy - his main execution, which was always associated with Unholy…
Second ironic question - where are the improvements for Unholy? You think Unholy is complete, finished, 100% successful? So you’ll be improving Balance Druid or Paladin for the tenth time? This isn’t funny anymore, it’s pathetic.
I agree, i really don’t like this talent change.
There is too many abilities in death knight already, i don’t want to include another spell. The previous talent was ok.
Also San’layn is still unplayable.
Its a choice node man you dont have to take extra spell. Also death knights kit is pretty good if you like to actully use it. I really enjoy it with all usable abilities and its not that much of a problem. Every abilty have a niche situation to be used most and also you can opt out of all off them and make a more passive playstyle if you really want.
Oh yeah my bad didn’t read the choice node.
I was getting frustrated at the number of buttons added to blood dk this expac, and san’layn that don’t have big documented change yet.
Still I would like death knight to receive the same love monk dps received to decrease the number of buttons with talents like Chi wave and Jadefire stomp becoming passive abilities, it plays so much better now.
Will San’layn be fixed and tuned for fast-paced combat? The current version makes no sense because his power builds up too slowly. No one needs full power after a fight is over…
No one will play this unless you fix this tree.
Can you give us better San layn rework ?
Can you give us raid buff finally ? Because going to raid or m+ without raid buff without it feels bad and draging team down.
This is one of the “better late than never” situations with a change that I and many others asked early during beta, namely buffing the proc rate of Vampiric Strike to a meaningful number. Managing uptime of the Essence of the Blood Queen (EBQ) with an ability that can proc every ~10 Death Strikes was basically impossible, every ~4 DS is now doable.
This change, combined with swapping VB to DRW as the activator of the Gift of the San’layn removes the degenerate gameplay tha forced BDK to use defensive CD offensively on cooldown to keep EBQ up. We can now safely keep VB for defensive purposes without detriment to the damage benefits of the hero class.
While Deathbringer was working fine, these are decent changes that fix some issues that the hero spec had and streamlines the usability of the keystone talent. The quoted change is especially welcome as a choice, especially for non-Unholy specs that have no talents that interact with Soul Reaper (Unholy having Reaping).
The only problem I see here is that this should be a cheery on top of a cake, instead it’s a cherry on an otherwise empty plate. Unlike other execute abilities of all classes, Soul Reaper has no procs or interactions within spec trees (apart from aforementioned Reaping).
Soul Reaper still feels hollow compared to Warrior’s Execute, Hunter’s Kill Shot, or Paladin’s Hammer of Wrath, all of which have multiple interactions or even hero specs themed or tuned around them (Slayer, Dark Ranger, and both Templar and Herald of the Sun, respectively).
There are fun interactions that could be added for each spec, for example:
For me, i’d personally rather see Soul Reaper act like a powerful DoT that you can start keeping up on a target past 35%. What it is right now is a very clunky version of execute that doesn’t deal nearly enough damage to justify how it works.
Having a DoT execute feels more unique to me, and fitting in how the Death Knight is taking advantage of a weakened soul.
I like your idea, but I doubt Blizz would consider ideas to completely redesign an ability as it takes months to design, internally test, balance against other classes and enemies in all types of PvE and PvP environments. It might be an option for another expansion, but not a patch.
It is more likely they would consider adding modifiers as they are easier to balance. Besides, what we got is not that bad, as it’s different than other executes due to the delayed execute damage and higher baseline threshold (35% instead 20%).
I think simple interactions would be nice to add, probably ones that interact with spec toolkit similar as other rune spenders. For Frost, SR could act same as Oblit in execute phase (spending KM, proccing Rime) while retaining 1R cost. Unholy could have SR either apply or consume Festering Wounds.
Yeah, seeing your options for interactions, they’re great.
I suggested combining Outbreak with Soul Reaper.
So:
Soul Reaper takes all the features of Outbreak, i.e. applying disease and has an increased range, i.e. the same as Outbreak.
It still remains our finisher, our execution
Removes one unnecessary skill from the skill bar, i.e. Outbreak
Cooldown for Soul Reaper is 10 seconds (not 5)
When Soul Reaper is used on a target with 35% health, it will always deal execution damage
NOTE - even if the health increases during its duration.
Execution damage is increased by 50% due to the increased cooldown +20% as part of the current tuning
NOTE - since it’s currently one of the weakest skills. Its damage remains at the level of the previous expansion. Furthermore, Unholy’s single target damage is average to weak. What was the biggest problem with Unholy was the lack of a good ST+ reasonable AoE to play keys well in dungeons. To fix this, simply increase Soul Reaper’s damage enough to solve the single target problem without interfering and redistributing damage to other areas/power sources.
Festering Wound
Festering Wound is our main mechanic but the single target damage is low. This should also be buffed a lot on single target and hit much harder.
UPDATE AFTER M+
I am unable to use Inflition of Sorrow while making keys. The fights are too short to use it after 15 seconds. Usually the last NPC who has the most health in the whole pack is alive.
I recommend changing the way Inflition of Sorrow works.
Each Vampiric Strike can trigger Inflition of Sorrow - this will help to use the potential better. Divide the total damage from Inflition of Sorrow into e.g. 10-15 hits from Vampiric Strike.
OR
shorten the burst path by half
Without proper use of Infliction of Sorrow this tree will never be functional and useful. It will always be behind.
Just fix it somehow. Right now it’s frustrating and underdeveloped. It’s like Paladin still uses wings outside of combat.