Stone Body Rework or Adjustment

[Chieftain 7]

HEY Y'ALL!👋

Among most of Warlock players it is common to hear the same complain about the Stone Body expert skill once in the most scenarios it will just delay certain death.
Even we know that defensive power is not the main role of this class the purpose of this topic is to discuss possibilities of adjustments and improvements to this skill as far as possible. Below, the current state of the skill:

 Stone Body:

• Applies the Stone Body buff for a limited period. The character can't be attacked but he is also immobilized and can't use skills.
  Character also restores some extra health.

Next, the latest changes in the skill(8.4.2 Release):

• Now after using the skill it can be cancelled during its effect.
• The skill now restores health every 2 seconds of its duration amounting to 2-3-4-5% from maximum health amount.

 

The skill itself has been improved a lot with these latest changes BUT the main  problem remains, in the most scenarios in the game it just delays certain death.
Considering the PvE content, it's of no use.
Going to the PvP content:

• Arena : Once you use Stone Body you're a dead weight and -1 in your party ,but at least you'll restore a decent amount of health, right? WRONG! Besides that to recover a decent amount of HP the skill needs to be amplified, and that using it already leaves your party at a disadvantage, the Warlock becomes an extremely easy and predictable target on which opponents will be spamming their click with some control skill or massive damage(R.I.P).
• GvG and War: There's not much to say here, the Warlock provides a lot of group control in the area and it is very useful in these battles. But just for the record, if he has to use Stone Body, the result when leaving the buff is the same as the other 99% of the time: DEPLETED!

 

Now, let's discuss what could change in the skill if the devs agree that there is a need:
 

In the 9.3 Update Preview we can see that the incoming damage reduction is, to some extent, in the range of possibilities of the developers for Warlock, in the additional effect of Dark Seal.

Dark Seal:

 

• Moved the effect of bonus health restoration by "Life Exhaust" moved to the "Grimoire" skill.
• Additionally reduces the damage the target deals to the warlock by 10-15-20-25% if it is under the silence effect of the "Hex" skill.

 

Considering that the path the game is taking is not directed to 1x1, this INCOMING DAMAGE REDUCTION would fit perfectly as a post Stone Body effect, with duration and percentage of damage reduction increasing according to the skill level. This incoming damage reduction could be applied to any damage from opponents within a specific area of effect.

Anyway, the new description and functionality of the skill would look something like this:

 

Stone Body:

Applies the Stone Body buff for a limited period. The character can't be attacked but he is also immobilized and can't use skills.
Character also restores some extra health.After using the skill it can be cancelled during its effect.
After Stone Body buff effect fades, the incoming damage caused to Warlock from targets within (certain area) is reduced by (certain percentage) for (certain seconds).

In my opinion this would be the easiest improvement in the skill providing more survivability to the warlock and not changing too much the skill mechanics.
I have other ideas, such as a Push effect to solve the frustating spamming(mainly from melee classes) waiting to the end of Stone Body buff, similar to the Templar  Reverse Flow or a 3x3 blocks 1 sec Silence to players around the Warlock. BUT, honestly i don't know if it would be fair(and that's what I'm looking for for the game).

There is an ideia to make Stone Body more similar to  Mantra of Healing  giving mobility too but I'm almost sure I read it in another Topic.

 

For now that's it, I appreciate the attention and share your ideas!

 

 

 

 

 

[Laevateinn 68]

I think it would be more helpful to apply Stone Body. 

[Speedom 281]

Should be able to cancel the skill using another skill. I think they'll be a good idea. Use it as counter measurement.

[Raislin 337]

I didnt even have the skill myself when i used to play wlock but from what ive seen from others it can be useful but most of the time it doesnt really help much. The mobility and damage reduction would be pretty nice, seems like reasonable buff to it. But if i had to add something to it myself it would be to let people still target the wlock so if opponents arent paying attention they would be wasting skills on the wlock while its in an invulnerable state.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Raislin

[TheCaster 362]

This suggestion makes perfect sense for some reason.

 

[Khrone 648]

4 hours ago, TheCaster said:

This suggestion makes perfect sense for some reason.

Because that's how the skill should work 

Right now, Stone Body is a worse version of Mantra of Healing since it doesn't have ANY advantage, so it could be like:

Stone Body = Immunity and Damage Reduction for some time

Mantra of Healing = Immunity and Mobility during the effect

[PixelSquare 14]

This is an old topic but i'll put my idea here.

First. Since warlock have low hp and def, so for me the main problem of lock survival is not how long they can "tank" damage but a way to maintain a safe distance, always keep them away from damage.  So damage reduction is not really helpful , as the op said above "it only delay certain death".

Second as to maintain a safe distance, i agree on the knockback effect at the end of stone body and better if it also add slow. Or after effect end stone body explode and stun enemy around warlock. Its kinda reminds me of phoenix supernova skill from dota.

Knockback or stun in stone body will surely give warlock a chance to fight back or run and it also make everyone think twice before they gank  a warlock. It make warlock more intimidating.

I hope this can make a great suggestion for lock.

 

Ps. Sorry for bad english

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by PixelSquare

[Khrone 648]

After all this time, i just want to say:

 

Stone Body REALLY needs a buff.

 

Let's compare 3 different skills:

 

Stone Body: Applies the Stone Body buff for a limited period. The character can't be attacked but he is also immobilized and can't use skills. Character also restores some extra health.

 

Mantra of Healing: Applies the Divine Mantra buff to a character or group member for some time. The target cannot be attacked, and it is deprived of the ability to use skills, auto-attack, and use items; and it's movement speed also decreases. Additionaly restores a certain percentage of the target's maximum health per second.

 

Proximity to Nature: Applies the "Tree cover" buff to a character for some time. The character cannot be attacked, and they are also deprived of the ability to move, apply skills, auto-attack, and use items. When in effect, the character and all the allies within a radius of several yards periodically restore health and receive the "Forest protection" buff that increases the physical and magical protection of targets for some time.

 

 

 

That means both Mantra of Healing and Proximity to Nature have the same effect of Stone Body with something else added to them.

 

This skill definitely needs something to be useful, maybe AoE stun when the effect ends, so the Warlock has some time to flee?

[Raislin 337]

6 hours ago, Khrone said:

After all this time, i just want to say:

 

Stone Body REALLY needs a buff.

 

Let's compare 3 different skills:

 

Stone Body: Applies the Stone Body buff for a limited period. The character can't be attacked but he is also immobilized and can't use skills. Character also restores some extra health.

 

Mantra of Healing: Applies the Divine Mantra buff to a character or group member for some time. The target cannot be attacked, and it is deprived of the ability to use skills, auto-attack, and use items; and it's movement speed also decreases. Additionaly restores a certain percentage of the target's maximum health per second.

 

Proximity to Nature: Applies the "Tree cover" buff to a character for some time. The character cannot be attacked, and they are also deprived of the ability to move, apply skills, auto-attack, and use items. When in effect, the character and all the allies within a radius of several yards periodically restore health and receive the "Forest protection" buff that increases the physical and magical protection of targets for some time.

 

 

 

That means both Mantra of Healing and Proximity to Nature have the same effect of Stone Body with something else added to them.

 

This skill definitely needs something to be useful, maybe AoE stun when the effect ends, so the Warlock has some time to flee?

Adding another stun to warlock seems a bit unnecessary but a resistance effect similar to mage/barbs could be alright. Lets say at 1-4 secs duration depending skill level. Unless you are playing from mars that should be enough time to drop down your own silence zone/dark circle to prevent any instant stuns from ruining your day. Unless you are being camped by a bladedancer with fresh resist stacks in which case you'd be f'd anyway. Something like that.

[Khrone 648]

2 hours ago, Raislin said:

Unless you are being camped by a bladedancer with fresh resist stacks in which case you'd be f'd anyway. Something like that.

Then why not add Invincibility/Damage Reduction after the effect ends?

[TheCaster 362]

1 hour ago, Khrone said:

Damage Reduction after the effect ends?

I personally think damage reduction or resist after stone is the best way to go for this skill. I mean the counter to warlock is resist and anyone who's in a serious fight vs warlock will have 40 to 50% resist from castle scroll + resist pot and other buffs. So a Knockback effect although tempting, wouldn't help much in arena imo. I rather they give some AOE stun to another mc class seeing that warlock is the only class in mc with guaranteed aoe stun / Silence. That's a lot riding on an unpopular class.

Plus devs seem to have already taken an approach towards damage reduction for warlock in terms for talents. I don't know what they had in mind when putting this but as a warlock who's played quite a bit of arena fights, I can say it's just plain unrealistic to implement in a fight.

On 3/15/2021 at 5:00 AM, Chieftain said:

Dark Seal:

 

• Moved the effect of bonus health restoration by "Life Exhaust" moved to the "Grimoire" skill.
• Additionally reduces the damage the target deals to the warlock by 10-15-20-25% if it is under the silence effect of the "Hex" skill.

This looks promising. I don't understand why the (certain area) part is there. "On exiting stone body, warlock receives a buff which reduces incoming damage by (10 / 15 / 20 / 25)% for 10s."

On 3/15/2021 at 5:00 AM, Chieftain said:

After Stone Body buff effect fades, the incoming damage caused to Warlock from targets within (certain area) is reduced by (certain percentage) for (certain seconds).

 

Edited September 19, 2022 by TheCaster