User:Raine Valen/Musings/Imba Spike Meta

Opinionated Opinions

Let's Talk About Spikes.

One of the things that particularly bothers me about the current meta is the face that spikes have taken. There are several aspects of it that I don't like, but among the most important:

Spiking Should Not Be Something That You Do In Your Spare Time.

Let's look at a simple example to illustrate this:

• Then: Shatterstone:

15 2 8 - Elite Hex Spell. (3 seconds.) Initial effect: deals 25...85...100 cold damage. End effect: deals 25...85...100 cold damage.

• Now: Shard Storm:

10 1 10 - Hex Spell. Projectile: deals 10...70...85 cold damage. Target foe moves 66% slower (2...5...6 seconds). Also deals 5...29...35 cold damage. In order to put a Shatterstone on a spike, an ele had to stop whatever they were doing for almost three seconds. No kiting, no snaring, no steaming, no whatevering. They might as well be knocked down, as far as serving their primary function goes - that's long enough for a good (and slightly lucky) warrior to get a kill. They had to sacrifice something in order to be on spikes, there was a cost and a risk.
MoI eles, on the other hand, don't have that issue so much. Throwing a Shard Storm on a spike isn't a big time consumer. Depending on the target, you're doing something that you would've been doing, anyway. There isn't a real opportunity for a warrior to drop something in two seconds - it's the difference between wearing and not wearing a Stonefist Insignia.
While Shatterstone eles had to actively participate in spikes, MoI eles do it, more or less, in their spare time. That is not okay.

Pressure Skills Should Not Be Acceptable Spike Skills.

Let's take another example:

• Then: Eviscerate:

8 - Elite Axe Attack. Deals +1...25...31 damage. Inflicts a deep wound (5...17...20 seconds.)

• Now: Dismember:

5 - Inflicts a deep wound (5...17...20 seconds.) While the issue isn't necessarily caused by axe warriors, the changes to the way spikes are carried out allow Dismember to be a viable spike skill. Why is that a bad thing? Well, let's look at Eviscerate first.
Eviscerate costs 8 adrenaline. That's 6 seconds of straight Frenzying on a target, 11 seconds of wailing on a target with no IAS, and 20-40 seconds of playing against teams with good prots and strong defensive midline. You will never, ever Eviscerate something just because you can - it costs too much to waste. Every time you Eviscerate, you do it with the intent of killing something right fucking now, and that means calling a spike. When you charge Eviscarate, your whole team gives you their time and energy to help you push a kill through.
Dismember? Again, not so much. It's 5 adrenaline. Building five adrenaline is not hard, especially given that you get to run an elite that helps you do this. Whether it's Whirling Axe so you can laugh stances off or Primal Rage so you can build in Frenzy while you train things in Rush, you're getting assistance in building that Eviscerate warriors don't have. Those same 6 seconds of constant Frenzy that it takes to build Eviscarate, you can use to build a Dismember against a kiting target in Primal. It doesn't take 20-40 seconds, it takes 5-15 seconds in real play. That means you can just Dismember targets when you feel like it, and, since it's only 30 damage less in a meta where midline does 9,001 damage more, you can use it on spikes and get kills.
Forcing teams to react or die for five adrenaline is pretty retarded.

Doing 110 Damage Without Doing 60 Damage is Pretty Ridiculous.

There was a point in time where Protective Spirit was a great skill. While up, it pretty much made a party member impossible to spike out, because it changed the requirement to kill them from "600 damage" to "ten packets of moderate damage", which was just about impossible to do at spike-caliber speeds. In that same meta, there was this beautiful skill called Spirit Bond. Spirit Bond was the prot monk's Big Gun, and it basically said "Fuck you" to lethal damage, and for a reasonable cost. It was pretty much always available when needed, as long as the monk could afford it.
But then spikes changed. Where, previously, it had been just about impossible to deal 10 packets of moderate damage before a monk could react, it became ridiculously easy with the onset of skills like Mirror of Ice, Mind Shock, Lightning Bolt, Agonizing Chop, Protector's Strike, Disrupting Throw, Glass Arrows, and Expert's Dexterity - Protective Spirit fell out of the meta because its method of protection, that unbreakable speed limit, was just getting stomped on.
Spirit Bond was soon to follow. Where, previously, it took large packets of damage to kill something, it was now possible with shittons of small packets. Non-lethal damage was suddenly very capable of becoming lethal!
So what were monks left with? Shield of Absorption, Guardian, RoF, Life Sheath, Shielding Hands, Restore Condition, Word of Healing, Patient Spirit, and Infuse Health. Of those skills, 3 of 9 need to be initiated well before a spike in order to be effective - hitting Guardian, SoA, or Patient as a spike begins isn't going to do anything. 2 of them, WoH and RC, can be initiated just as a spike begins and still catch effectively, with a bit of luck. 2 of them, RoF and LS, are enough to stop a spike from being lethal, but it will still need to be infused (or WoHd, if you're lucky) in order to prevent follow-up damage from becoming fatal. 1 of the 9, Infuse Health, costs 10 energy and half your Health. The last one has a 15-second recharge, while spike skills recharge twice as fast.

• Then: Spirit Bond:

10 ¼ 5 - Enchantment Spell. (8 seconds.) Heals for 40...88...100 whenever target ally takes more than 60 damage. Ends after this ally takes damage from 10 attacks or spells.

• Now: Shielding Hands:

5 ¼ 15 - Enchantment Spell. (8 seconds.) Reduces incoming damage and life steal by 3...15...18. End effect: heals for 5...41...50. Where does that leave monks in this meta?
Without a paddle.

Enchantments Are Important; Removing Them Should Not Be a Cake Walk.

This one's pretty self-explanatory. I'm just going to leave it at this:

• Then: Shatter Enchantment:

15 1 25 - Spell. Removes an enchantment from target foe. Removal effect: deals 14...83...100 damage.

• Now: Pain of Disenchantment:

10 1 15 - Elite Spell. Target foe loses 1...3...3 enchantment[s]. Removal effect: that foe and all adjacent foes lose 10...82...100 Health. One's in an offensive shutdown attribute that required something like skill to play well; one's in a defensive shutdown attribute that also has big passive pressure and that requires spamming to be effective. One does real, prottable damage; one causes Health Loss. One costs 15 energy for one enchantment; one costs ten energy for every enchantment on the person. One hits the spike target; one makes the spike target and everything they're touching explode. One has a real, prohibitive recharge; one can be used on every other spike (lol, it has the same recharge as Shielding Hands).
Just what the fuck?