[sadbot]

Finally, somebody said it. I think the talis skills, as they are, are absurdly overpowered and have just been slept on forever due to not doing much by themselves and not being recognised as the root of the problem. Aquaphobia and the gem staves are all contenders for best in slot before the talis skills are even taken into consideration and then they just get to slap 5 extra range on all of their spells as well, essentially for free. The directional limitation is a slight hurdle, but aoe or a player that’s aware of the fact sees it almost always be a non issue.

They’re an incredibly powerful kiting tool. They allow mages to essentially traverse almost any size gap to attack an opponent, while still forcing all but the highest range opponents to spend momentum to close that gap, all for free. Against all but those that are very well equipped to counter kiting play styles, this results in the mage regularly forcing their opponent to spend 3m just closing the gap, for essentially no cost on their end. The proof is in the pudding really. The only thing that can out range/out kite a talis mage is a bow user, and they can still only manage it with longdraw shots. Even 9 range rifle users are usually the ones forced to give chase against talis mages.

I don’t think it should cost 3m, as this would result in mages getting nothing out of it unless they deploy it and their opponent stays within its range and doesn’t close the gap for an extra turn. It could potentially cost 2m, allowing use as it is now if the mage can crit or trigger weak. Honestly though, I think the best option would be to give it a hefty cooldown, allowing that easy kiting advantage to be planned for and used but not spammed, or decrease it’s deploy range to 2 or 3.