I’m going to list both the downsides and upsides of new Fodder and then explain why this leaves Necrolord Havoc DH worse off than they started. A lot of these downsides derive from the same change that isn’t listed on patch notes and only serves to cripple FttF, and to me makes absolutely no sense why it was changed.
The pros are pretty self explanatory but they are not enough to compensate for the negatives included in the changes.
Pros:
1. Throw glaive guarantees to kill the demon when you want
Throw glaive being a oneshot means you don’t have to waste another GCD / change positions to kill your demon if you got unlucky and didn’t kill it on the first one.
2. Added AOE damage (though this has a big caveat)
The added AOE is obviously a benefit, but the reduced damage on more than 5 targets makes it worse than the extra 10% flat damage buff on heavy cleave that lasts more than 10 seconds due to all but 2 of Havoc’s AOE abilities are softcapped at 20 targets.(Blade Dance, Fel Barrage[LMAO])
The ~7k damage from the explosion is also worse on single target compared to the longer duration of the old Empowered Demon Soul. So even with ~1.5RPPM 7k per proc does not come close to the extra damage that you could get out of an Empowered Demon Soul window.
The cons on this list are a little more complex and as I said most of these downsides come from the same issue.
Cons:
1. You can no longer properly control your damage window
The change from a cooldown to a proc is understandable at face value, but the lack of control over this damage buff means it can go largely wasted a lot of the time. In addition, you cannot save it for a burst window in a raid or dungeon so your damage at any point in time relies entirely on RNG. As every other covenant can make sure their burst dps occurs exactly when they want you will be almost guaranteed to fall behind in these scenarios when being able to use a CD is vital for a particular pull or mechanic.
2. ~5% increased uptime traded off for 10% of damage buff
This one is straight forward, lower damage for less time and the AOE explosion does not compensate nearly enough.
3. Other players can cleave and target the demon.
Other players and enemies being able to cleave and hit your demon is my biggest issue with the changes and takes even more control away from you as you can’t even control when or where your demon dies in addition to not being able to control when the demon is summoned. This makes absolutely no sense to me why it was added, it sabotages the benefits of the changes. You can’t make sure your demon dies in the middle of a pack, its more likely to die before reaching you, and forces you to run out to grab the demon soul rather than just waiting for it.
In PvP this makes new FttF entirely useless as its an easy target to kill and you can’t capitalize on procs without running out.
4. Proccing 2 demons close to each other does not extend the buff, as the duration caps out at 15 seconds
This is maybe more an issue with the Shattered Souls passive but is made more apparent when the demon soul buffs are essential to your DPS. This creates an issue where if you do manage to chain procs you could lose the majority of a window from a seemingly arbitrary buff time cap. Since we’re not in Legion anymore, we see basically 0 demons in the game and I think getting rid of or extending the time cap is a no-brainer at this point.
5. 5% extra self heal that is worse than the damage reduction and often completely wasted due to lack of control.
This issue is created mostly by the other changes and doesn’t make any sense as the vast majority of the time 20% and 25% max health will be indistinguishable and is a huge loss from the damage reduction received from the previous version.
6. Brooding Pool conduit now seems pointless to take as lower initial buff duration and damage bonus make it objectively weaker than it was before.
This one is the least of an issue and seems like an oversight to not change how it works along with FttF. At the moment Growing Inferno and Relentless Onslaught are taken every time over Brooding Pool as extending a window you have no control over is only likely to give you a few extra chaos strikes/ 1 blade dance.
Overall, I get the feeling that no one play tested these changes properly and/or didn’t play the previous iteration of FttF. Which is disappointing because I was under the impression that the changes were meant to bring Necrolord DH closer to the other covenants in terms of damage and effectiveness when it seems they achieved the exact opposite.