Hello!
Welcome to my special article about the current state of corruption system, its flaws and how it can and should be improved. In a distant past I’ve made a couple of suggestions on this forum which after almost a year actually ended up as part of the new reworked attribute system. This fact fills me with hope that, if someone from the dev team happens to read this, some of my suggestions could be considered as a subject for implementation too. Objectively speaking, they would benefit the game greatly. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.
This is going to be a long one. Strap in.
Introduction to the subject
Since the early launch of the game and till patch 3.0 corruption was a purely negative thing. Foul mood and body affliction contracted from visiting dark, disturbing corners of Acheronian structures and from contacting with cursed objects. Corruption served as nothing but a penalty so it made sense both lore wise and game-play wise to cleanse it at any opportunity.
However, after 3.0, while retaining its lore explanation, corruption gained a new meaning. For those who possess knowledge of sorcery corruption became power. Unfortunately, however… in-game this concept didn’t see the necessary change. I am here to offer solution on how to fix that.
The reason for this thread
A little about myself. I have 5k hours in Conan exiles, spent mostly on various official PvP servers. At this point you could call me a walking CE wiki. Almost every question asked in global by both new and vet players – I know the answer to it. Despite my in-depth knowledge of the game, I need to be honest. I love PvP and I can’t imagine playing this game without it, but I’m not very good at it. Not too bad either.
Since the release of 3.0 I’ve spent several playthroughts using fully corrupted builds, meaning 50/50 HP/Stamina cut at all time, without the ability to cure it.
A fully corrupted build has its benefits:
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Interesting and powerful corrupted perks.
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Excellent out of combat regeneration.
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Stress-free spell casting. You can’t get corrupted any further.
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The darkest corners of Exiled lands feel like home. Huge boost to immersion for a dark-themed character.
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Immunity to bleed, poison, gas, sunder (Petrified perk) relieves you from the headache of hoarding and carrying around gas masks and antidote potions.
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Ability to use cursed weapons such as Destroyer, Carnage, Voidforged sword etc.
Unfortunately, despite its many benefits, fully corrupted build is extremely weak in PvP. Disgustingly weak. If before 3.0 I had my fare share of losses and victories, during these last few months I lose pretty much every fight (Taking into account only somewhat even matches. Max lvl and adequate gear of both opponents).
Existence of corrupted perks and spells that require you to be corrupted proves that the concept of running around fully corrupted is no longer a penalty but just one of the many ways to legitimately play the game. And while in PvE fully corrupted build works just fine… let’s be honest, in this game anything works in PvE, in PvP it desperately needs changes and buffs.
So allow me to introduce to you some of my solutions, which will not make fully corrupted builds OP, but will make them a decent option.
Just one little nuance before we continue. I’ll not touch the ‘Authority’ line at all. I don’t rely on thralls, I don’t like them and I never put any points into that attribute line. I don’t have any personal experience with neither corrupted nor uncorrupted Authority perks, so I don’t feel that I have any…… authority…. to speak about this matter.
My solutions
1. Stamina should not be affected by corruption anymore.
In every single fight I lost after 3.0 low stamina pool was the main reason. Yes, the length of stamina pool doesn’t affect dodge rolls, as they’re percentage based, but every other action Is affected by it. In PvP managing stamina is one of the most crucial skills, and when your opponent has a clear advantage over you every single time – it just doesn’t feel fair.
For a corrupted build the limit to healthbar is not the issue at all. it can be mitigated by the powerful Petrified and Steel thewed perks. But for stamina there are simply no options to improve it.
When you run a corrupted build you are forced to put 20 points into Grit just to have 90 stamina as Str build or 100 as Agi build. 100 stamina is how you start your character in the desert. You dash forward and run out of it in a few second, feeling horribly weak and miserable. That… is how playing fully corrupted build feels at all times.
The necessity to go full grit limits variety of builds you can use with full corruption.
2. Itemization
One thing that could somewhat negate the loss of health and stamina from corruption is gear. Of all armor bonuses which are applied correctly (str/agi weapon damage, concussion/follower bonus damage) extra health and extra stamina are affected by the corruption tax and provide inferior bonuses.
This shouldn’t happen. Make it so that corruption only cuts the base health and allow health bonus from gear to be a viable option to negate that loss. Or, if you want to keep stamina getting cut by corruption, make sure that stamina bonuses from gear are also uncut. All gear bonuses should be equally effective, not the way it is now.
3. Regeneration rework
Before 3.0 and for any uncorrupted build, regeneration is nothing but a convenience. it slowly recovers small portions of hp lost from minor injuries, ridding you of need to waste food after falling from a slightly above-average elevation or getting bitten by a weak but rabid hyena.
Grotesque Excrescence, on the other hand, especially with deep corruption of vitality line, provides such outstanding regeneration that it stops simply being a convenience, and asks to be a combat advantage. So… why isn’t it?
The way regeneration works, both corrupted and not, is that after you get hit, or under specific harmful conditions such as Extreme cold/heat, Heatstroke, Frostbite, sandstorm, gas poisoning etc, regeneration stops and reactivates after whooping 10 seconds of not taking damage. 10 seconds of not getting hit in combat is way, way too long. To put it simply, you don’t have any regeneration within a regular fight. To even have a chance to utilize the amazing regeneration, you have to kite your opponent and not get hit for more than 10 seconds.
Needless to say, this kind of gameplay is frustrating for both you and the opponent. Trust me, I tried it. It’s also very hard to pull off with the inferior stamina bar.
That’s why I suggest to change the way regeneration works. Leave the uncorrupted regeneration unchanged, let it be what is supposed to be – an out of combat convenience. In fact, I’d buff it a little and make it regain faster, but keep it working only out of combat and harmful effects. Same as it does now.
As for Grotesque Excrescence, why not allow it to run at all times? It can’t outheal Frostbite and Heatstroke, so those effects are still going to be a menace. If the powerful regeneration would be allowed to run during combat, it would act as solid compensation for the limited HP bar, and would encourage the player to keep fighting more aggressively. With full stamina bar a fully corrupted person could finally put up a good fight against a meta pvper.
To balance this out, fully corrupted regeneration (fully corrupted vitality line) should be nerfed a little, as its current regenerative power is a bit extreme.
4. The ability to skip corruption of perks.
When you corrupt an attribute line, all perks on the way are automatically changed to corrupted ones. I think, for the sake of extra freedom and build creativity, corruption of perks should be optional.
One of the most obvious examples in favor of this is the Mule kick perk. There are many weapons that have their own unique special moves and don’t allow the use of the kick. So having this perk for a fan of greatsword or any agility weapon is simply a waste.
There is only one exception that comes to mind. Nobody would prefer Fierce vitality to Grotesque Excrescence, as it’s a direct upgrade. Everything else, even the 5-point perks, should be fair game.
4a (questionable/optional) Corrupted perks do not replace the uncorrupted ones but act as extra effects.
Now… yes, this could be a bit too strong. But as an option, if no other changes are considered, this could give corrupted builds some very needed edge. However, in case any of the above solutions are implemented, this optional one should be skipped.
5. Lower the weight of pouches.
Sorcery is very demanding on it’s own. Casting is very slow. Every spell corrupts you. Some spells can’t even be used unless you’re already corrupted to a certain degree. So why for the love of Zath, the pouches are so bloody heavy?! Especially the Cloth and leather ones?
In conclusion
If you disagree with my conclusion that fully corrupted builds are way too weak and you are a PvP player yourself, please pay attention and tell me if you ever see anyone who takes PvP even remotely seriously run fully corrupted builds. That’s right, nobody does. And there is a reason for that.
Corruption builds are way too weak and desperately need a buff. Just one of my presented solutions would greatly improve the situation. But of all the options I urge Funcom to consider the first one the most. Stamina is the greatest issue here and it doesn’t have to be.
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