Post by tailzrexen on Jun 29, 2021 23:12:25 GMT -5
I'd like to note i wrote this last year and i don't remember if anything had changed since july of 2020. I posted this cause i want this set to be sooo much better and because Deverger told me to post it here. My main focus with these opinions was comparing the other blaster secondaries and what utilities their powers brought and then looking at dark and asking myself why dark was so castrated in comparison to the other sets just for one good button AKA Soul Drain.
Darkness Manipulation:
I took the time and looked in-depth at darkness manipulation and realized it's likely THE worst blaster secondary. A majority of its powers dont even have -tohit on them and everything that does is single target... WHY?! every other secondary has its effects on a majority of their powers but darkness manipulation only has -tohit on mainly single target abilities. I'm a blaster not a stalker why did paragon studios think this was a good idea at all?
Death Shroud:
This costs 0.52 end a second for damage only. The end cost isnt a huge problem as much as the fact it does literally nothing but damage for a dark power. I think this needs just a little -tohit on it or something cause .52 end for only a damage aura on a blaster with an extremely low 8 feet range is pretty bad.
Shadow Maul:
This power has a 3 second activation time with typical crap range and stuff for a melee power but this is junk on a blaster. Why would i ever want to be stuck 3 seconds in place when i could instead be using powers to keep doing damage? This power is junk for a blaster and fixing it would require either a new animation shoved into it or a likely unbalanced range and/or cone buff but otherwise it's legitimately a terrible power for a blaster.
Touch of the Beyond:
This is what paragon studios gave darkness manipulation for their recovery regen boost. Problem is every other sets recovery regen type power is so much better than this BY FAR. This is a single target fear which actually has -tohit on it. It recharges in 10 seconds but... that's it? This needs to be turned into a very minor AOE so instead of hitting 1 target with fear it can hit maybe 5 targets.
Soul Drain:
THE only amazing power in the set. Everything else is so bad but this power is actually THE only good power. Problem with it? It's a straight buff with no debuffs whatsoever. It does some tiny AOE damage but thats not helpful like at all. The damage and +tohit is AMAZING but it doesnt sap damage or do -tohit so may as well run into the crowd and die if i don't hit my blaster nuke fast enough.
Dark Consumption:
Another AOE in dark with no -tohit. This doesnt even sap endurance it just does a tiny bit of damage and gives you end. Besides fire manipulation a majority of these kinds of powers at the very least debuff or sap that endurance from your targets. This makes this power solo a death sentence. Even if it only drained a fraction of endurance the fact that paragon studios idea for this set was "lets get rid of -tohit for tiny damage AOEs on the tools" actually hurts this set overall.
Dark Pit:
This had its accuracy nerfed in vanilla cause it stuns 10 targets. It doesn't have ANY -tohit in it. It just needs some dang -tohit debuff added otherwise it does its job.
Conclusion: This set is kinda like a kid mashing all the different playdoh into one color. Dark stuff on those other sets work because it works for those classes. These moves can't work on a blaster cause everything in it is so much worse than every other secondary. Blasters need minor mitigation and this set has barely enough to get by.
THE only amazing power in the set. Everything else is so bad but this power is actually THE only good power. Problem with it? It's a straight buff with no debuffs whatsoever. It does some tiny AOE damage but thats not helpful like at all. The damage and +tohit is AMAZING but it doesnt sap damage or do -tohit so may as well run into the crowd and die if i don't hit my blaster nuke fast enough.
Dark Consumption:
Another AOE in dark with no -tohit. This doesnt even sap endurance it just does a tiny bit of damage and gives you end. Besides fire manipulation a majority of these kinds of powers at the very least debuff or sap that endurance from your targets. This makes this power solo a death sentence. Even if it only drained a fraction of endurance the fact that paragon studios idea for this set was "lets get rid of -tohit for tiny damage AOEs on the tools" actually hurts this set overall.
Dark Pit:
This had its accuracy nerfed in vanilla cause it stuns 10 targets. It doesn't have ANY -tohit in it. It just needs some dang -tohit debuff added otherwise it does its job.
Conclusion: This set is kinda like a kid mashing all the different playdoh into one color. Dark stuff on those other sets work because it works for those classes. These moves can't work on a blaster cause everything in it is so much worse than every other secondary. Blasters need minor mitigation and this set has barely enough to get by.