Ok can we please get rid of the DND/defile aspect of this gameplay, its terrible for AOE.
It doesnt add flavour or interaction, its just increadably annoying.
alternative:
Why not use DND to instead spread wound with festering strike, then scourge strike can always cleve them without needing D&D/Defile.
Spreading wounds is effectively ignored currrently in aoe in most scenarios, literally defeating the point of them. usually you stack 1 with wounds in the pack just for runic power otherwise the rest is a dps loss.
Attach festering strike interaction to strike 3 wounds on main target and 2 per target on 5 others, then we can use scourge to cleave at any time when packs move without the need for DND to cleave.
it suits better, tanks gather drop DND spam fester, tank moves for mechanics etc, you cleave as the group moves. Perfect.
Failing that bring the CD Down alot and add crimson scourge to all specs. least we can complete move mechanics a bit better.
Getting rid of the DnD cleave is a pretty big request, which I agree with as well, particularly after they removed rune of power for mages. It’s an outdated system that belongs to an era of the game where there was generally a lot less movement required in fights. Raids bosses need you to dodge swirlies and mechanics all the time, m+ is all about “going fast”, and well let’s not even get started on pvp hah.
I would take your suggestion and take it a step further tbh. I would completely get rid of the DnD cleave interaction, and make Vile Contagion baseline on a smaller CD (45s), although slightly nerfed (maybe 4 enemies instead of 7). Then I would advocate for a new attack which is essentially the cleave version of Scourge Strike. Deals less damage per target but cleaves up to 5 or 7 enemies. This way we can to buff/balance scourge strike and by extension our single target damage without affecting our cleave as much.
There can then be a talent that massively buffs Vile Contagion (adds a charge, reduces CD, spreads to 3 additional enemies, something like that), so we can have a cleave focused build. Additionally, we can have new more specific talents for both scourge strike/clawing shadows and the new aforementioned cleave ability.
The talent Infected Claws needs to be slightly buffed too, either by straight up increasing the %, or by making the Ghoul’s baseline attack always cleave. Maybe this could even be a choice nod talent? Increase would chance by a lot, but no cleave even during DT, and reduce wound chance but always cleave, even outside of DT.
The fantasy of DnD / defile is cool, it makes sense that death knights would be able to corrupt the soil beneath them. Maybe instead of it being what it is now, it could remain in our tool kit as a buff or debuff of sorts?