Molten Shell

Would be cool if you could pop shell with blood magic.

One thing I would really like to see for this spell is some sort of audio build up as the shell absorbs more and more damage, leading up to the burst. A visual change would be cool as well, but that would take much more work.


This skill is core for my templar build and it works incredibly well with increased area of effect modifiers, so I could never imagine throwing concentrated effects on.

I think there should be an option to pop the shield before the damage amount is reached for less damage. And the shield should blow up regardless at the end of the 10 seconds for another lesser amount of damage.

Say 50% damage if you pop it yourself. 75% if monsters don't pop it. 100% if they do.

I wanted to use this skill but I won't because it has a cast time. Since it is only up for a short time there should be no cast time IMO. Essentially, it comes with a 1 second immobilize every couple of seconds and when in combat, that's not worth it.

if it is strong enough to cause a 0.35 sec stun (which duration cannot be increased for spells), then it is worth it.

I've been trying to utilize this skill and it is just so much of a hassle to make it efficient.

The skill itself is really counter-intuitive in it's current form. A spell that requires the player to remove the buff should they want the damage component kinda defeats the purpose of having a buff. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if casting the shield was instant, or had an activation time. As it stands now, you cast the shield, run in and the first wave of hits immediately triggers the shield, thus removing your armor buff. If you want that precious armor again you have to immobilize yourself to cast a new shield, all the while mobs are smashing your face in and stunning you.

Long story short, currently molten shell breaks the flow of combat, which most characters cannot do because any hesitation or stopping will result in a swift and painful death.

I really love the concept of this skill, but it just isn't working in its current form.

Maybe if it was a longer duration, and instead of the explosion removing the buff, it could only explode every say 10 seconds or something. I dunno. There are a ton of ways one could go about improving the usability of this skill.

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BlastMonkey wrote:

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UristMcDwarfy wrote:

I assume you're suggesting a longer base duration

Of course. Even if you build your character around maxing buff durations a 10 second base time provides little in bonuses from supports and passives. I see no reason for such a strict duration limitation on a skill designed to collapse rapidly under duress.

With a short duration you're forced to cast it the instant before or during a big fight but there are many other skills also needed to be cast at this time. Melee builds typically don't have a lot of mana and massive pre-fight buff spamming is annoying.

I'd rather be able to cast this long before a fight and not have to worry about it running out.

Likewise, I find that if the duration scaled with higher levels then it would be more useful later in the game. If between 2 and 5 seconds were added per level gain than i would consider using this skill later on.

how about +1.5 seconds per level, less weirdly large but still same thing.