Pretty simple topic, but I’ll carefully articulate the current problem and my suggestion to improve upon it, check the Text Block to see only my suggestion. In the current Beta version of Dragon Flight, Unholy DK feels pretty ok to play. But amongst some other issues, the current overcapping of Runic Power(RP) in AOE specifically due to the RP generation from Death & Decay(DnD) Cleaved Scourge Strikes after Plaguebearer on 8 targets is very extreme. This is further enhanced by the Replenishing Wounds talent being mandatory to select Bursting Sores, generating even more RP.
With some napkin math we can calculate that every scourge strike will generate: 10+8x5=50 RP per Scourge Strike in DnD on 8 targets, that’s Half your max RP in a single global, forcing you to use 2 globals on spending it if you want to avoid overcapping, which obviously isn’t optimal during your DnD window. When we reduce the targets to just 4, there is still 30RP generated, again forcing you to weave in spenders during a window you want to just spam wounds off with Scourge Strike and potentially build Fester Might stacks.
Now don’t get me wrong, even though this is a problem solely created by the introduction of the Plaguebearer talent, this talent itself is a very good addition and deserves to remain as is to complement the wound building on the spec. But then we need a way to dump runic power in a High AOE situation fast enough that it doesn’t cost us 3+ globals and we don’t overcap. There are many ways to do this, but for the sake of sticking to an AOE example, I propose a potentially controversial change to Epidemic based on this. Instead of Epidemic being an instant flare up on targets affected by Virulent Plague(VP) for 30 RP, turn it into the following:
A short 2-5 second DOT applied to VP affected targets that consumes ALL current RP with it’s damage per tick amount scaling based on the amount of RP spent. Additionally build in the same functionality as the current iteration of Coil of Devastation on Beta (that has Ignite properties scaling the damage per tick up while retaining the same 5 second duration on debuff refresh), so that Epidemic can be recast during the DOT window and not lose any effect. This way the Death Rot talent effect can also build up stacks on all afflicted mobs based on the amount of Debuff DOT damage reduction Ticks that have passed.
This change will eradicate current RP capping issues in AOE for Unholy DK, make Epidemic a competitive talent again after the introduction of Death Coil cleaving through the Improved Death Coil talent and simultaneously potentially give Unholy DK a major RP spending global to empower Summon Gargoyle, reducing the current issue of too many globals having to be spent. (notwithstanding that Summon Gargoyle is a Single Target talent, but i’m just spitballing additional benefits)
I probably won’t check this post a lot, but I invite the community to drop their take on this suggestion and the overarching issue of current AOE based RP overcapping.