Defiler Ideas

-Gutwyrm
Problem: This iconic, amazing ability is unused because it requires both eq and bal. Defiler currently has a problem sticking any afflictions, and the reduction to Defiler damage means the class can't do anything well enough to succeed in 1v1. So we have an iconic, flavorful, intriguing ability that is useless and unused, so let's make it useful while addressing some Defiler balance concerns.

Solution 1: Make Gutwyrm offbal and use eq. This would allow alternating toxin/gutwyrm and toxin/torment or toxin/treant afflictions to take advantage of gutwyrm's herb disruption. The random nature of gutwyrm would make it less reliable than other curative deniers, and the lack of entropy increase or damage would balance it out against other eq Defiler abilities.

Solution 2: Make Gutwyrm operate on its own balance, independent of bal or eq, similar to warchants. This is ultimately a more elegant solution, as the timing on the balance could be tweaked up or down as balance reports are provided.

Solution 3: Make Gutwyrm duration scale to the level of entropy on the target. At 100% entropy, Gutwyrm does not go away until entropy is used.

-Bloodtears
Problem: While this power oozes flavor, the inability of Defilers to meaningfully stack salve afflictions means this power will never actually stick. It's unfortunately considered useless and completely unused in any Defiler offense.

Solution 1: Make Bloodtears an herbal cure, preferably wormwood to keep with the theme of Defiler wormwood cures. This would allow alternating between Entropy and Bloodtears, the two iconic Defiler abilities.

Solution 2: Make Bloodtears a two tier salve aff, requiring two applications of mending to remedy.

Solution 3: Make Bloodtears not an aff at all, but a debuff with a specific duration.

-Germinate
Problem: The Apple seed within Germinate provides a pointless and unused condition of stripping translucent shield. With Devastate, there's no reason to actually ever use Apple Germinate, so this power sits unused.

Solution 1: Make Apple Germinate strip both Rebounding and Shields, and prevent their reapplication for X seconds.

Solution 2: Make Apple Germinate disrupt Tree Tattoo usage for X seconds.

-Healthdrain
Problem: Healthdrain is an EQ ability that requires balance. The health drain is small, and definitely not worth actually replacing both a Ravage and a Treant/Torment ability.

Solution 1: Make Healthdrain an EQ ability that functions off-bal.

Solution 2: Make Healthdrain scale based on the level of entropy the target has.

-Manadrain
Problem: Manadrain is an EQ ability that requires balance. The mana drain is small, and not worth forgoing a real attack.

Solution 1: Make Manadrain an EQ ability that functions off-bal.

Solution 2: Make Manadrain scale based on the level of entropy the target has.

-Implantation
Problem: With Bellow damage neutered, Defiler has no means to secure a kill in individual combat. Implantation has a long channel time, and rigidity is impossible to stick with Defiler's inability to maintain affliction pressure. Implantation needs some means to provide a reliable kill path for Defiler, in lieu of the massive Bellow reduction.

Solution 1: Allow Implanation to decrease in channel time based on the target's mana values. At 25% or less mana, Implantation becomes an instant kill. Defiler's ability to force clotting through small amounts of bleeding provides very light mana pressure, though some adjustments for additional mana pressure will need to be explored.

Solution 2: Implantation decreases in channel time based on the number of seeds implanted in the target. At five or more seeds, implantation becomes instant. This would require removal of the treant evolve ability to avoid unfair embedding of seeds. Whirl Branch now becomes a time bomb, and attempting to survive long enough for a seed implantation kill becomes a valid tactic.

Solution 3: Decrease the channel time based on the target's entropy value. This should be short enough to provide real threat, but not instant. This forces the Defiler to either use entropy for Empower/Germinate/Bellow, or maintain a high level of entropy for the threat of a short-channel Implantation.

-Intoxicate
Problem: Intoxicate is terrible. It does no damage, Defiler has no ability to stick afflictions, and Defiler is incapable of stacking large amounts of bleeding. Dryblood, however, is a very interesting ability that shouldn't be glossed over.

Solution 1: Add damage equal to Treant Shred.

Solution 2: Make dryblood a hidden affliction.

Solution 3: Add X amount of bleed to Intoxication.

-Evolve
Problem: Evolve is a low-value skill and unused due to the lackluster impact seeds have on real combat. The seed mechanic is a fantastic, flavorful theme that is just not useful currently.

Solution 1: Allow Evolve to embed up to five seeds at a time, at a 10% entropy cost per seed, and a scaling damage increase per seed. Entropy will still need to be generated prior to this attack, thus preventing massive spam or abuse. Germinate/empower are minor abilities that, if sped up, should not unduly overpower the Defiler's offense but instead add some options.

Solution 2: Add a stacking regeneration malus for seeds embedded through Evolve. At 15% reduction per seed, 5 evolved seeds (at 75% regen reduction) now become a very real attrition threat in prolonged duels, which is thematically appropriate for Defiler.

Solution 3: Greatly increase the damage. If supporting multiple seeds or adding an attached effect is too tricky to implement, simply boosting the damage above the existing abilities at least provides a reasonable use for this ability, both short and long term.