Balance Polishing Mod Release 1.0

[Zahuaisready]

Hello Elric,

I want to report a bug with the small shield ability " Binding block" who doesn't seem to work with your mod (only the 25% of time recover with weapons is applied, no bonus !). When I desactivate the balance polishing mod buff it works fine with the +15 accuracy bonus granted by a missed ennemy melee attack. I try to suppress the file related to this ability in the gamedata but it doesn't change anything. Thanks !

[Elric Galad]

5 hours ago, Zahuaisready said:

Hello Elric,

I want to report a bug with the small shield ability " Binding block" who doesn't seem to work with your mod (only the 25% of time recover with weapons is applied, no bonus !). When I desactivate the balance polishing mod buff it works fine with the +15 accuracy bonus granted by a missed ennemy melee attack. I try to suppress the file related to this ability in the gamedata but it doesn't change anything. Thanks !

BPM changes to Binding block are limited to value tweaking. So it's not that. And suppressing the file so it is a second reason for not being related to this particular file.

Another BPM change could cause this effect.

But please be aware that Binding block is an active ability (modal stacks as active) so maybe it got suppressed by something else. Maybe another active ability buffing accuracy that was tweaked by BPM could suppress it ? Even in this case, it won't be technically a bug.

Edited May 10 by Elric Galad

[Zahuaisready]

I'm sure that there is no other active ability involved, like the rapier modal for example (I love how detailed is the combat log by the way), and I've make different test with various small shield (with Xoti alone). I've no idea why it doesn't work  but I probably missed something. Not a big deal, it's not exactly game breaking ! Thanks for your answer and your great mod.

 

[Zahuaisready]

14 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

BPM changes to Binding block are limited to value tweaking. So it's not that. And suppressing the file so it is a second reason for not being related to this particular file.

Another BPM change could cause this effect.

After some test, it seems that the +20 accuracy granted by the small shield modal works fine in the first version of your mod, until the 2.5.4 version. I found that the bonus disappeared with the introduction of the version 2.6. but I don't see why because there is nothing new that seems connected with "Binding Block" ... Neither has Xoti a perk or an item affected by the changes. I add that I have no other mod installed, community patch aside, that could interfer. Very straaaaange !

[Elric Galad]

On 5/11/2024 at 3:08 PM, Zahuaisready said:

After some test, it seems that the +20 accuracy granted by the small shield modal works fine in the first version of your mod, until the 2.5.4 version. I found that the bonus disappeared with the introduction of the version 2.6. but I don't see why because there is nothing new that seems connected with "Binding Block" ... Neither has Xoti a perk or an item affected by the changes. I add that I have no other mod installed, community patch aside, that could interfer. Very straaaaange !

Okay, I wasn't able to identify the root cause, so I made what could be called a "hard correct".

I just re-created a copy of the rotten part of the ability and I use it to replace the failing one.

Wael knows what happened, but at least it works now.

 

You can use the file before I include it in next release.

gn.binding_block.zip

Edited May 22 by Elric Galad

[Zahuaisready]

It works fine for me now, many thanks ! Don't miss the Xoti now ! 

Wael knows what happened, as you said. 

[SenSx]

Hello,

I 'm going on with my current playthrough with this mod on.

I just updated the french translation with a slight change:

 

(Compagnon vigoureux) => "Octroie également l'inspiration Vigoureux"  changed to => "Octroie également l'inspiration Vigueur "

I'm attaching the file to this post with the corrected translation (current version of the mod).

 

Also concerning the priest holy radiance cooldown.

the 90 seconds might be a bit too long imo.

All the combat I've had so far ended before the 90 seconds and before I could use the ability a second time.

The cooldown could be reduced a little for a healing ability that is alwready kinda weak, I will make some tests.

(maybe reduce the cooldown but makes it only 3 use peer combat or 2 ?)

It should not be reduced to much in the other hand, because this is also an offensive tool agains vessels, and having the cooldown too low could becomse overpowered against such ennemies.

Of course that is just my opinion that could change depending of my tests, I don't know what you think about it.

And I can tweak the ability according to my likening anyway.

 

Also I'm not a druid player, but the cooldown for   Spiritshift  enormous as well.

 

 

abilities.stringtable

 

[Elric Galad]

18 hours ago, SenSx said:

Hello,

I 'm going on with my current playthrough with this mod on.

I just updated the french translation with a slight change:

OK, I will make an update with that and the Binding Block fixing.

18 hours ago, SenSx said:

(Compagnon vigoureux) => "Octroie également l'inspiration Vigoureux"  changed to => "Octroie également l'inspiration Vigueur "

I'm attaching the file to this post with the corrected translation (current version of the mod).

Thx

18 hours ago, SenSx said:

Also concerning the priest holy radiance cooldown.

the 90 seconds might be a bit too long imo.

All the combat I've had so far ended before the 90 seconds and before I could use the ability a second time.

The cooldown could be reduced a little for a healing ability that is alwready kinda weak, I will make some tests.

(maybe reduce the cooldown but makes it only 3 use peer combat or 2 ?)

It should not be reduced to much in the other hand, because this is also an offensive tool agains vessels, and having the cooldown too low could becomse overpowered against such ennemies.

Of course that is just my opinion that could change depending of my tests, I don't know what you think about it.

And I can tweak the ability according to my likening anyway.

 

Also I'm not a druid player, but the cooldown for   Spiritshift  enormous as well.

 

 

abilities.stringtable 36.9 kB · 0 downloads

 

Well, this change was to make these abilities more manageable for super long fights. 

Basically Holy Radiance being used once per normal fight and occasionally twice is fine. It just helps making Holy Radiance and Spiritshift relevant for these few super boss fights/solo play.

It is the target of BPM design. But feel free to tweak. Adjusting duration should be super easy.

 

For Spiri****, consider I also added PL scaling to the duration, so with a few INT and various bonuses, it should be manageable to spend up to 33% (normal druid) to 66% (shifter) of your time shifted, even with these cooldown. These numbers are quite sensitive since even a cooldown of 60s would enable staying shifted most of the time (which isn't my target). SC Druid shall also remain relevant due to Wildtrike Frenzy (BPM exends duration on Crit). 

[SenSx]

So it's balanced for very long fights, to remain faithfull to the original balance of the game, ok thanks.

I might tweak it on my side if I find my priest underperforming.

Well priests aren't as top tier as they were in PoE 1.

[Elric Galad]

41 minutes ago, SenSx said:

Well priests aren't as top tier as they were in PoE 1.

Which might be... better ?

Priests in PoE1 were absolutely dominating. Having a priest in your party was like lowering difficulty by a couple of Tiers (granted priests could rise party Deflection by +65 and accuracy by +46, it is even a bit underselling them).

 

The biggest issues in PoE2 design were :

- not getting all spells make you pick the most universally good ones per tier, often reducing variety,
- priest main feat when compared to other casters was that subclasses basically gain abilities from other classes. But variety depends on subclass and you still get a lot of generic stiff (which should be fixed by Priest Subclasses Rebalanced at Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Nexus - Mods and Community (nexusmods.com) 

I hope BPM reduced a bit the issues though. I would not say that they are weak (except maybe at low levels), but sometimes they feel a bit bland.

[SenSx]

Yes true priests were very powerfull.

I would actually be interested to people opinion about best priest spells in PoE 2, I'll be having a priest in my team, and I need to choose the proper spells.

 

But back on the topic, can you remind me how the brilliant inspiration works in the bpm please ?

I know how it does with casters, but what about the melee classes ?

Is it still 1 ressource point every 6 secondes like in vanilla ?

What about cipher ? It is 10 focus every 6 secondes as well ?

 

[Elric Galad]

On 6/20/2024 at 9:18 PM, SenSx said:

 

But back on the topic, can you remind me how the brilliant inspiration works in the bpm please ?

I know how it does with casters, but what about the melee classes ?

Is it still 1 ressource point every 6 secondes like in vanilla ?

What about cipher ? It is 10 focus every 6 secondes as well ?

 

+1 ressource point per 6s for martial classes (+1 wound/mortification for monk), +1 phrase per 6s fbenefipr chanter, + 10 focus per 6s for cipher as in Vanilla.

Only difference is that first tick happens at 3s, not immediately (but ancient memory duration has been increased by 3s)

Which makes Cipher benefitting the least. Note that it has been left this way intentionnally, to mitigate the risk of having a couple of Cipher casting Ancestor Memory infinitely at each other.

Edited June 22 by Elric Galad

[SenSx]

OK thanks

[Elric Galad]

I've been thinking for a long time that Bleak Walkers... ahem... weren't the best subclass.

They have a Tier 1 affliction, which is neat, but can be somehow negated (at least you can pick a helm that grants +10 Acc to all affliction inflicting attacks, or the Acid talent via multiclassing).

But 12% lash ? Seriously, this is slightly too low. Not even 15%, I would qualify this value as a bit mean from the devs  The effect is nice to optimize damages, but compared to what White Flames grants, it seems a bit underwhelming.

 

I know Darcozzi could be seen as weaker, but putting some fire shield a bit everywhere is going to have a better effect on the long run.

EDIT : considering a bit of additional scaling to Darcozzi fire shield.

Edited June 26 by Elric Galad

[Bosmer]

On 6/26/2024 at 4:18 PM, Elric Galad said:

I've been thinking for a long time that Bleak Walkers... ahem... weren't the best subclass.

They have a Tier 1 affliction, which is neat, but can be somehow negated (at least you can pick a helm that grants +10 Acc to all affliction inflicting attacks, or the Acid talent via multiclassing).

But 12% lash ? Seriously, this is slightly too low. Not even 15%, I would qualify this value as a bit mean from the devs  The effect is nice to optimize damages, but compared to what White Flames grants, it seems a bit underwhelming.

Yeah, it’s definitely not overpowered and also a bit boring. BPM buffs Con afflictions, such that the effect, when applied, is indeed quite nice, as an on-the-fly 30% health drop. However, there are other cheap ways to get it, e.g. forbidden fists can spam the third tier version. 
 

One could think about applying directly the attribute malus, such that it cannot be resisted. What are your ideas? Depending on this effect the corrode lash could be slightly buffed.

 

[NotDumbEnough]

Maybe adding an interrupt on graze would help? I think their primary issue is that high level Paladins don't really spam Flames of Devotion to deal damage, it's just not cost efficient to spam it like Rogues and Fighters do with their 1 cost attacks. So boosting that ability in particular for purely offensive purposes is not too interesting.

[Elric Galad]

10 hours ago, Bosmer said:

Yeah, it’s definitely not overpowered and also a bit boring. BPM buffs Con afflictions, such that the effect, when applied, is indeed quite nice, as an on-the-fly 30% health drop. However, there are other cheap ways to get it, e.g. forbidden fists can spam the third tier version. 
 

One could think about applying directly the attribute malus, such that it cannot be resisted. What are your ideas? Depending on this effect the corrode lash could be slightly buffed.

I have nothing against the Sicken effect, CON isn't even the most resisted affliction. Forbidden Fist pays a high price for getting a CON debuff. It is a really neat effect to give to a DPS attack. You can put it on a ranged attack, or Full/attack, AoE attack, multihit attack, which FF can't do. Rogue has a less flexible 2 guiles CON inflicting status.

Also the Acid KW can get benefit from the elemental talent, and Helm of the White Void ensures some build potential vs CON resistant foes for endgame.

Really my biggest issue is that the lash value feels too low. Early game, the Sicken is enough but it needs a slightly higher floor utility vs CON resistant foes.

 

Basically I plan to implement a 10+0,5xcharlevel lash. So it ends up as a 40% dual elemental lash.

 

4 hours ago, NotDumbEnough said:

Maybe adding an interrupt on graze would help? I think their primary issue is that high level Paladins don't really spam Flames of Devotion to deal damage, it's just not cost efficient to spam it like Rogues and Fighters do with their 1 cost attacks. So boosting that ability in particular for purely offensive purposes is not too interesting.

It is cost efficient for pure DPS. +10 accuracy and +20% (+40% with my BW change) and the PL scaling makes it the second best attack below BPM accurate wounding shot. FoD also has a lasting upgrade and is instant.

Interrupt isn't in Paladin portfolio, and I don't want to change this to much.

 

 

Anyway, let's talk about Darcozzini.

It is a good fraction of a Lvl 4 Wiz spell. The only thing it lacks compared to it is a good scaling. Base 7 PEN + 0.25 pr PL is too low for a subclass defining ability.

So I plan to rise it to +2 Acc/PL and +0.5PEN per PL.

HOWEVER, I came to realize that flame shield is a meh tier 4 wiz spell as a whole. 10 retaliation damages isn't big, it isn't reliable (requires getting hit), it pales in comparison to everything that looks like an actually DoT and is rarely worth a slot.

Wiz get a Tier 8 retaliation spell that deals 35-50 damages with crowd control included. OK it is Tier 8 but is still way too good in comparison.

So basically I plan to set all fire retaliation effect to about twice their current values (so Flame Shield 16-24, Darcozzini to 8-12...)

What do you think ?

 

Now Goldpact.

+4AR is great for Paladin, it works against the next 5 attacks (Iron Skin is 10 attacks). The neat thing is that Grazes don't count.

Then why do I never use Iron Skin ? Why does Iron Skin feels so underwhelming ?

Answer is simple : because Llengrath Safeguard is too good. +5 AR with a reliable duration, +20 all defenses, a relatively easy to get condition... I came to the conclusion that Llengrath Safeguard has to be nerfed. BUT this spell is really a basis of Wizard class, so I don't want to nerf it in a way that hits too directly Wiz build. I just want somehow to make Ironskin more appealing in comparison.

So my proposal is to add 4s recovery (already has a 3s casting) to Llengrath Safeguard. No strict power reduction, just a way to feel quasi-instant Ironskin more convenient in comparison.

 

Finally I admit being annoyed by the unreliability of disposition based effects for building a character.

But it has nothing to do with Balance.

So I plan to release another mod that replaces Disposition Scaling by a charlevel scaling for Faith&Conviction, Deep faith, Holy Radiance and Spiritual Weapons.

[yorname]

What about making Bleak Walker's FoD without fire (still buff its corrode damage and probably rework its upgrade)? It can serve as a choice if I want to play an agressive paladin but don't want to deal with fire immunity (which is indeed the only reason that I don't play such characters), at the cost of +10 ACC from the ring. Of cource the helmet is there, but it's a more contested item that usually has better uses than on a paladin. Powerful or not aside, Goldpact, Steel Garrote, Kind Wayfarer and even Shieldbearer has traits that change their playstyle in some way, but BW and Dracozzi only have slight improvements that you basically forget.

I'm pretty sure I'm still not going to use Flame Shield, not sure if there're any advanced uses for it, but if used "as intended" even with a damage buff it's only worth on those punchbag characters like SC fighter or barbarian, which can't get it from a spellbook. I personally would like a Flame Aura that just pulses damage and offers maybe some protection, but it's a big design change and I think it's probably not a good idea to change Flame Shield into that.

I like the Llengrath Safeguard change you proposed. Adding a recovery makes it more costly when cast mid-combat. Although I think maybe Ironskin can be higher AR but less stacks, so it's better as emergency spell, and nerfing the numbers of Llengrath Safeguard just a bit so it's a more "cast and forget" buff, so these two become more different. With current numbers Ironskin is still useless when LS ever triggers, and there're very few cases, for a wizard at least, that I really want to avoid getting below 50%.

[yorname]

Or you can change LS to be more "safeguard" other than "a stupidly good defensive buff that I can't immediately get". Like limiting the duration when it's actually triggered?

I have an idea, (on top of making the buff weaker) making it clear the caster's recovery when triggered. It's too good if it removes hostile effects, but clearing recovery is useful when chain-interrupted by multiple rogue abilities, and makes the caster ready to do something when it triggers, IMO it's thematic with the pushback part of the spell.

So it might be something like this: a longer base duration, still +5 AR and 20 defences, ~10s fixed duration after triggered to prevent working with WoD, and clearing recovery once when triggered. This way Spirit Shield also won't be completely useless.

Edited July 25 by yorname

[Elric Galad]

On 7/24/2024 at 11:48 PM, yorname said:

What about making Bleak Walker's FoD without fire (still buff its corrode damage and probably rework its upgrade)? It can serve as a choice if I want to play an agressive paladin but don't want to deal with fire immunity (which is indeed the only reason that I don't play such characters), at the cost of +10 ACC from the ring. Of cource the helmet is there, but it's a more contested item that usually has better uses than on a paladin. Powerful or not aside, Goldpact, Steel Garrote, Kind Wayfarer and even Shieldbearer has traits that change their playstyle in some way, but BW and Dracozzi only have slight improvements that you basically forget.

That's a fair consideration, since the heavy focus on Paladin fire damages feel meh with so many fire immune foes (that's why I changed the damages from Light of Pure Zeal).

It would require changing shared/persisting flame to corrode effect (same values) but I think I can do it. Also I will grant Bleak Walker the possibility to pick Spirit of Decay without multiclassing (still Scion of Flames for Brand ennemy/Sacred Immolation).

It's not a pure buff, so I would put it in the "nerf package".

Also I will set the lash to +40% by default, without the scaling which makes things more complicated (also a mitigation for unsatisfaction for loosing the fire keyword  )

BPM is for kind of expert players, I guess they would get the intent.

On 7/24/2024 at 11:48 PM, yorname said:

I'm pretty sure I'm still not going to use Flame Shield, not sure if there're any advanced uses for it, but if used "as intended" even with a damage buff it's only worth on those punchbag characters like SC fighter or barbarian, which can't get it from a spellbook. I personally would like a Flame Aura that just pulses damage and offers maybe some protection, but it's a big design change and I think it's probably not a good idea to change Flame Shield into that.

I think flame shield would be okay with this buff. Wizard ARE a decent punchbag and there's always multiclass anyway. BPM Flame shield also provide Ice keyword immunity which has its perk.

That might not solves Dacozzi case. Maybe I should buff Flame Shield and the likes BUT NOT Darcozzi one and instead grant them some extra passive.

EDIT : the passive I'm thinking about for Darcozzi would be an aura similiar to "Love of Life" (10% bonus healing received) from Furrante's Breastplate. Thematically it would fit since Furrante IS a Darcozzi and Darcozzi are litterally renowned for their love of life. Not sure about the value since it is only meant to be a little extra, but even a 5% bonus healing (including self) could be enough. It works mechanically for a subclass that grants a bonus for Lay on Hand.

Darcozzi benefit more from Outworn Buckler, but that should remain a nice extra, not a core feature.

On 7/24/2024 at 11:48 PM, yorname said:

I like the Llengrath Safeguard change you proposed. Adding a recovery makes it more costly when cast mid-combat. Although I think maybe Ironskin can be higher AR but less stacks, so it's better as emergency spell, and nerfing the numbers of Llengrath Safeguard just a bit so it's a more "cast and forget" buff, so these two become more different. With current numbers Ironskin is still useless when LS ever triggers, and there're very few cases, for a wizard at least, that I really want to avoid getting below 50%.

On 7/25/2024 at 2:13 AM, yorname said:

Or you can change LS to be more "safeguard" other than "a stupidly good defensive buff that I can't immediately get". Like limiting the duration when it's actually triggered?

I have an idea, (on top of making the buff weaker) making it clear the caster's recovery when triggered. It's too good if it removes hostile effects, but clearing recovery is useful when chain-interrupted by multiple rogue abilities, and makes the caster ready to do something when it triggers, IMO it's thematic with the pushback part of the spell.

So it might be something like this: a longer base duration, still +5 AR and 20 defences, ~10s fixed duration after triggered to prevent working with WoD, and clearing recovery once when triggered. This way Spirit Shield also won't be completely useless.

Problem is Llengrath Safeguard is what I would call a "core ability" of wizard. Changing it too much would go too far from original design. I wanted to keep the +5AR and +20 all defenses for long time, because I want this effect to stay in wizard portfolio. I thought about adding a recovery because it emphasizes the current difference with Ironskin without changing both spells too much.

One shall also keep in mind that Ironskin has an Infinite duration when getting only graze. Increasing AR could make it degenerate.

Edited July 26 by Elric Galad

[yorname]

Darcozzi still needs an identity IMO. Something that makes I pick it because there's something only they can do. Like other subclasses more or less change how and when an ability is used. Passive healing bonus feels too generic compared to Steel Garrote's passive, which works with hard-hitting classes and provides something such classes don't ususally get, while a healing bonus on a paladin feels non-existant.

I think the original direction of "offensive LoH" is the right call, it's just that their flame shield is kinda pointless and barely does anything (does their version also get frost immunity in BPM? nontheless it's back to a defensive bonus).

My proposal is either giving the target a flame aura that pulses with each LoH tick, or a one-time fire damage + interrupt around the target. Maybe even something like an action speed boost, or a very short (like 1.5s) ignore recovery effect, to fit the "passionate" theme.

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, yorname said:

Darcozzi still needs an identity IMO. Something that makes I pick it because there's something only they can do. Like other subclasses more or less change how and when an ability is used. Passive healing bonus feels too generic compared to Steel Garrote's passive, which works with hard-hitting classes and provides something such classes don't ususally get, while a healing bonus on a paladin feels non-existant.

I think the original direction of "offensive LoH" is the right call, it's just that their flame shield is kinda pointless and barely does anything (does their version also get frost immunity in BPM? nontheless it's back to a defensive bonus).

My proposal is either giving the target a flame aura that pulses with each LoH tick, or a one-time fire damage + interrupt around the target. Maybe even something like an action speed boost, or a very short (like 1.5s) ignore recovery effect, to fit the "passionate" theme.

PoE1 Darcozzi increased target accuracy with Liberating Exhortations. It was a stacking bonus.

 

Although PoE2 subclasses work differently (not specific talent but a bonus to a Tier 1 ability), but I could imagine something like that, or one of the effect you propose. 

I could also have a short lived flame shield (with much greater effect) and a short lived buff with similar duration. To reflect the "passionate" idea. Maybe align everything with LoH duration.

BPM Darcozzi fire shield does NOT provide Cold Immunity, just the vanilla bonus Cold AR. It felt too low tier ability to grant such effect (Flame Shield is Tier 4).

[yorname]

I noticed berserker's version of Blood Storm still says "kills increase duration", is the description wrong, or it didn't get the change with the normal version?

Edit: it's working correctly, just the description didn't get updated.

Edited July 28 by yorname

[Elric Galad]

OK, so I thought about Darcozzi Paladini a bit.

 

I think there is nothing intresically wrong in a retaliation effect. This was the initial intention of the subclass to allow retaliations through Lay on Hand. The core philosophy of BPM is to try to remain in line with initial intent.

Retaliations are also quite in line with Paladin fluff, so there could be a subclass specialized in it.

 

However, there are a few reasons that make it not working very well :

 

1) The damage values. Anyway, this is the least priority to be addressed once the rest has been cleaned up, since it is quite easy to tweak values. An obvious part for me is that PEN should scale well (+0.5 PEN per PL instead of +0.25 PEN).

 

2) Retaliation on melee damages. Not all foes are going to attack you with melee, which makes it a bit conditional. This is less an issue for Fire Godlike or Flame Shield because they are only up on 1 of your character. You are going to make this character your frontline tank, so the melee retaliation will work well enough on them. But Darcozzi Lay on Hand is supposed to be spammed on as much party member as possible, which make the melee damages more conditional.

=> I think Darcozzi Fire Shield would work well if it retaliated from all source of damages (melee, ranged weapons, spell and abilities). This way, it would be more likely to produce some effect.

 

3) Darcozzi Fire Shield would work better if it was spammed on as many targets as possible, as soon as they take a few hit. This is a completely different playstyle from standard LoH (even more Shieldbearers' special) that are supposed to be emergency backup. But why wouldn't you want to spam it ? 1 Zeal isn't that much after all...

Easy answer : because using LoH is freaking slow to use. A Paladin tends to be encaged in big steel and has no good speed up effect. Auras are passive, Exhortations are instant, but when you happen to use your few abilities with an actual recovery, you are going to use a lifetime to recover. For things such as Sacred Immolation or Light of Pure Zeal, this isn't very annoying, but for your little Tier 1 ability that you want to spam all over your party, that won't just work well.

=> I think Darcozzi Lay on Hand should ALSO get a faster recovery. 0.5/2s cast/recovery would be a really interesting buff as well as a much better synergy with their retaliation effect. 

Fluff-wise, I think it would fit to have Darcozzi Paladini quickly inspiring every party member with the living memory of the fires of Darcozzi Palace.

 

To summarize, my current proposal would be :

- Cast/Recovery for LoH/GLoH/HoL set to 0.5s/2s for Darcozzi Paladini as a secondary subclass feature

- 45s fire shield which retaliates on every damage source 

- +4 AR vs Cold damages (no changes

- around 6-10 base damages 7 base PEN (scaling +5% damages, +5% duration, +2 Acc, +0.5 PEN per Tier). These numbers can be discussed and take into account my intention to buff all retaliation effects - Flame Shield would be buffed to 16-24 with lesser scaling and only works vs melee. 

 

I might also : 

- reduce duration but increases damages (spammability)

- give better value to Tier 3 GLoH/HoL fire shield compared to LoH one. I think this could be an interesting possibility because I fear the effect above could be a relatively more powerful at the lowest levels, so some staggering could help.

Edited July 29 by Elric Galad

[yorname]

A faster LoH is really interesting, great idea.

Retaliation on all damage can be occasionally broken if the party take enemy AoE, but I guess it's also a justified reward for intentionally getting into trouble. A healing-heavy party with mediocre defenses and a Darcozzi seems fun.