Uproot Suggestion

From what I understand, the Shaman is supposed to be a high damage / CC class, capable of huge (and remote) AoE with Aura and displacing mobs also with Aura and Uproot. However, there is one nitpick I have.

Uproot is a dragging tool to pull enemies (or the totem) in for your melee attack until its final upgrade, where you can finally use it to push them away. A great trait of the spell is that it can be used independent of Totem, meaning it's appealing to use when mobs are suddenly attacking you in the overworld or in an enclosed space.

Since the Shaman's defense is very low, Uproot is a good option to get the mobs off your case without waiting 1+ seconds for the totem to drop for Aura trapping. Ostensibly, you use the pull version and immediately run for displacement, or you just push the mobs away once you get the final upgrade. But...

When enemies are too close (around 2.5 blocks from the player's face), Uproot misses them entirely. Even though it has high range, it has a massive blind spot where it is critically needed. You cannot use the spell in any way against a mob in your face, which is dangerous when getting harassed by melee bosses. The only option at this point is Haul, which requires more effort when Totem isn't out. In addition, enemies can still hit you during the startup of Haul. Finally, using Haul may put you in danger again with mobs stuck near the totem thanks to Aura.

Here are my two suggestions to improve Uproot so that it lives up to an immediate CC and option during a disadvantageous state:

1. Make Uproot explode on impact against enemies in your face so that it won't miss / go underground.
- Uproot already explodes on contact, perhaps it can be changed to be able to explode immediately in close-quarters
- The pull version pulls mobs behind you (probably unnecessary) so you can give them the slip

2. Give Uproot an additional effect where a wall appears right in front of the player that pushes mobs back.
- Similar to Arrow Shield, but dissimilar in that the wall is only 1-2 blocks wide in the direction you are facing on activation and only has a radius of 1 block unlike Arrow Shield
- The enemies should be knocked back at a vertical angle (/) or suffer direct knockback (->). If the wall knocks them back directly, the enemies may be in line to get hit by the actual Uproot spell, which can successfully push or pull them depending on the player's choice.

Leave your thoughts down below, and feel free to bash on me because I have no experience with suggestions. Thanks for reading.

 

I feel your pain

 

Shaman is currently a class that can deal huge amounts of damage relatively easily. The only downside is the ridiculously low defense and the difficulty it has recovering. Therefore, uproot should not be able to simply keep all mobs away as in suggestion 2, as that would remove the only check on this class' damage. However, I do agree that it should have some way of getting away from mobs, and uproot's "blind spot" seems more like a glitch than an intentional nerf, and if it is one, I agree that it should be able to push mobs directly in front of the player away, but not do anything fancy like pulling mobs behind the player (why would anyone do that when they can push) or a kb shield (this makes recovery way too easy).

 

skeptical noises