General

Bishop

Pray is Benediction

Before making this thread, I didn't know the meaning of the word "Benediction".
"The utterance or bestowing of a blessing, especially at the end of a religious service."

Also, I would like to apologize in advance, I am writing on a tiny keyboard, and sometime I mistype...

First, before everything else, I'd like to redirect everyone here, to my previous thread about "Pray":

http://www.basilmarket.com/Thoughts-on-Pray-2-Thread-b5J8q

Nearly all of it is still relevant.

Let's get a few things out of the way;

According to KMS, initial V patch notes:
Pray max Level 20: Consumes 1000 MP. For 50 seconds, create an area for party members that increases their final damage by 10%, heals 2% of their max HP and MP every few seconds, and removes status effects every few seconds. Final damage boost will be increased by 1% per 1500 INT, up to a maximum of 70% final damage. HP/MP heal will be increased by 1% per 2000 INT, up to a maximum of 15%. Attack speed boost will be increased by 10000 INT per attack speed stage, up to a maximum of 3 stages. You will receive 40% of the effects of the final damage boost. Cooldown: 120 seconds.

Notes: NOT AFFECTED BY BUFF DURATION OF ANY KIND.
When KMST presented it, originally it as supposed to be a hold-down skill. Oh, how relived I am to know it isn't so.
Also, according to videos, the cooldown starts when the skill is activated. Demonstration is right here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuVkD--hwTo

So for 50 seconds the skill is online, and then 70 seconds of waiting (pure math; about 41.6% of the time, it's activated. Not bad at all!)
To put that into perspective, a 50-70-50-70-50-70 pattern (on/off) means that in a 30 minute boss fight, Benediction will be active for a total of 12 minutes, and 30 seconds (max).

But compared to other classes, compared to all of these awesome skills, and the terrifying power most classes got... How good is it?

Like previously, we'll tackle each aspect.

[*] "Removes Status Effects every few second".
Now, for those of you that don't find it all that impressive... Let me remind you how Status Resistance don't exist anymore. There's only status duration reduction. You can't rely on All-cures in battle anymore; not when most serious curses aren't affected by it, and also there's a potion cooldown. We'll get to that too, but it's one of the most valuable aspect of the skill.

[*] "Increase party members final damage by 10%... ...Final damage boost will be increased by 1% per 1500 INT"
So, from here on out, it depends on the player. Strong party will want a strong bishop, because their INT value is directly influencing the Final Damage output not just for the bishop, but for the whole party!
I'm a weird duck with 25,500 INT (aprox. unbuffed, and subject to change after the patch).
25,500 / 1,500 = 17.
so 10% is the initial condition, and I will add 17% to that, making of 27% Final Damage boost. TO. EVERY. MEMBER. OF. MY. PARTY.
I can't speak for every other bishop, but I think 1,500 is not a lot of INT. even a basic, bishop mule you just throw a bunch of 3~6% int gear unto, it's still easy to get 9k int by level 200.
So I think it's safe to say 16% Final Damage boost is a standard most bishops can pull-off. That - ALONE, is fantastic. Imagine, dear non-bishop killing-oriented-class friend, that you are using your 5th job skill while inside my private bubble zone. a whopping 27% Final Damage addition. You're welcome.

[*] "Party MP/HP Heal 2% every few sec... ...HP/MP heal will be increased by 1% per 2000 INT, up to a maximum of 15%"
Most people overlook this aspect, and for a good reason. HP/MP heal is not that big of a deal anymore. Maplestory is the kind of game... where you either die, or you don't. Healing factor doesn't save you anymore.
I mean, yeah, it would be nice in ursus, and maybe in magnus too... But that's just not good enough.

[*] "Attack speed boost will be increased by 10000 INT per attack speed stage, up to a maximum of 3 stages."
Now, sadly I did learn that this damage addition in fact DOESN'T break the (2) soft-cap for attack speed.
But, I did learn, that assuming the bishop (or party member) uses a green Monster Park potion, it can be used to reach the Hard-Cap (0).
So, my dear bishop friend, you don't have to get a +1 Attack speed Inner Ability.
Booster gets you to (4), and Righteously Indignant (terrible name if you ask me) get you to (3).
Green MPE potion is another attack speed boost, for a total of (2).
And now, if you have 20k INT, you're at the hard cap (0).
Otherwise, if you only have 10k INT, don't worry, just use a decent speed Infusion core in your V-Matrix, and viola, you're still at hard cap.

It also applies to basicly every other party member who still can't reach the hard cap. Green MPE potion, and Benediction. There you go.

If we talk about the size of Benediction, I'd say it's not big enough, and I say it because of my experiences.
Most mobile classes can't be bound my my bubble area. I can't expect mercedes, or hayato to stand still. Although they can't they most certainly won't tap into their full potential. And these aren't the only examples.
I can't think of a valid solution, because there has to be a limit to how big Benediction can be. But at the same time, I teleport, and 80% of the players jump and dash. It's a bad matchup, but it's also kind of balancing.

I'll go back to studying, I wasted a lot of time writing this.
Bye now!

November 19, 2016