DH Covenant abilities

[Sinfelle]

After my initial review of the article
Shadowlands: A Look at Covenant Class and Signature Abilities , the Demon Hunter signature abilities seem pretty lackluster. I don’t have one that immediately jumps out at me as “oh I want that one”.

“Elysian Decree: Carve runes into the ground in front of you, which detonate to deal Arcane damage and shatter Lesser Soul Fragments from enemies.”

This appears to be the most lackluster of them all. A targeted area that deals damage and provides a few souls. Unless the burst is pretty high, I don’t foresee myself using this in a fight with under 3+ mobs as a dps. This doesn’t make a meaningful impact to my gameplay. However, as a tank it’s alright. A descent burst of souls for healing/dps but that’s about it. I do like the idea of it being a sigil for both specs, but the effect is lacking and leaves me wanting more. An example of something I would find interesting is “Carve runes into the ground in front of you, which deal ever increasing stacks of Arcane damage and detonate if enemies move out of the rune. Targets that die shatter Lesser Soul Fragments from enemies.” This is impactful, it comes with gameplay decisions and finesse. Unless this has some unseen synergy with the legendaries, I don’t foresee it adding meaningful gameplay to either spec.

" Sinful Brand: Brand an enemy with the mark of the Venthyr, reducing their melee and casting speeds and inflicting Shadow damage over time.
Activating Metamorphosis applies Sinful Brand to all nearby enemies."

This one is better, and I hope that it is not turned off or diminished in Raids or PvP. If every boss is “immune” to the reduced cast speed, you basically are left with a simple DoT spell. Likewise, I would prefer it’s speed reducing effect is not diminished in PvP, but rather it’s duration (depending on the numbers). The initial iteration might not require either depending on number tuning that we have not yet seen, I’m simple mentioning the avenues I would prefer if needed. Metamorphosis does have a small stun window for havoc, so I would hope the spell is increased by a second or so with that effect as to not overlap the CC part. I also hope that it has a proportionate cooldown, so that it’s an impactful choice when you use it. If it’s cooldown is too short it’ll just be one of those things taken for granted and always applied to you main target. Too long and it won’t see enough in moment to moment gameplay like Metamorphosis. Maybe if there was a situation where using it would interrupt/silence the enemy if done a certain way, I think this would add meaningful gameplay to this ability.

"The Hunt: Charge to an enemy, inflicting Nature damage and rooting them. The target is marked for a period of time, increasing your Fury from Demon’s Bite and Shear against them.
You may reactivate The Hunt every 30 seconds to teleport behind the marked target and ignoring line of sight."

This one may need a bit more clarification for the tooltip. Is the target marked for greater than 30 seconds? Are they just debuffed indefinitely but the active portion is a fixed duration? Is the mark consumed when you teleport behind them? If you teleport behind them after 30 seconds, does it re-apply the fury generation part? I know this is the initial reveal with more to come, just giving my initial reaction of how I perceive it.

But other than that it seems like a great choice for PvP’ers. This seems like a beautiful disaster for PvE Tanks. Veng DH’s could use the teleport mechanic for some magnificent tank swaps or positioning. OR they could accidentally flip the boss right as that big ole cleave mechanic is coming. Needless to say this is great for Havoc PvP to help keep you glued to the target. The increased fury generation is kind of “meh” as it is just ported over from a “required” Legion legendary affect. You don’t really notice it unless you switch from playing with/without it after a period of time. But it is incredibly powerful, as it has a significant impact on all forms of gameplay. I’m not necessarily crazy about the teleport effect for Havoc PvE. That spell could be dead in the water for fights that require strict positioning (Argus, Aszhara, N’Zoth).

Necrolords: Not yet implemented, I look forward to that.

So, out of this initial preview, the Night Fae ability “The Hunt” seems to be the strongest both PvP and PvE wise. The fury generation has an impact on EVERY facet of gameplay, there is no niche. The teleporting part is just a bit of flare on an already incredibly mobile class. It will feel as dominant as “Anger of the Half-Giant” the Legion Legendary ring. This feels like too delicate of an act to balance that will ultimately be unbalanced. I think the core issue lays in the mechanics of the abilities themselves. I believe that they are too lackluster, and need to have a more meaningful impact to add to the rotation.

TLDR: So in conclusion, I think the Kyrian ability needs to be greatly expanded on. The Venthyr ability will take some significant testing to get the numbers right, maybe flesh it out some more. Lastly, I believe the Night Fae’s fury generation needs to be re-worked as it is too dominant of a mechanic.

[Beatman]

"The Hunt"

Yeah, give DH even more brainless mobility.

[shade3891]

"The Hunt"

Yeah, give DH even more brainless mobility.

Isn't it an iconic Illidan skill? It seems kinda cool, don't know how useful it will be...
The Venthyr one that debuffs all mobs with shadow damage can be pretty good.