Darkness rework - once again

[Embrace the Darkness]:
- Base maximum Darkness is 100
- 5s Reservation
- +8 to Max Darkness per level
- -1 Spirit per level (doesn't go into negatives when missed campaign quests, just applies to what's available in such case)
- +1% of maximum Darkness per Unreserved Spirit point

So while leveling, we slowly descent into the Darkness, feeding it with our spirit. At level 100 there is no innate Spirit in us anymore.
We can feed it more with external Spirit sources.
But we cannot utilize that Spirit anyhow, it needs to be unreserved to scale with Darkness.

That is 1st Notable.

Second Notable would also need to be changed, because we incorporated Darkness scaling into the 1st one.
That way it does not require you to always invest into both notables, while expanding the Darkness mechanic with cool synergy when done:

[2nd Notable]
Increases your Evasion rating by 1% per 1% Unreserved Darkness.
Effect is doubled if you have no reserved Darkness.

Or something like that.
Current scaling it has, with capped Chaos resi seems... rushed idea.

Edit/PS:
I understand that Darkness scaling is limited by design, because of how its reservation works (separate timer on each damage instance).
However necessity of taking 3 Asc Notables to use Darkness in its full potential + necessity of external Chaos Resi sources (cutting off CI possibility as well) + No Spirit... It's pretty heavy guys.


Band-aid perfect-before-0.5 idea:
Merge 2 Notables: Darkness Chaos Resi scaling with Chaos Resi cap extension into one. Keep it in the Darkness branch. Add new 1 Notable branch.
Combat Balance > Feelings
Last edited by Evergrey#7535 on Apr 11, 2026, 12:41:16 PM
Last bumped on May 9, 2026, 6:48:25 AM
bump
Combat Balance > Feelings
I don't know what design/balance choices Darkness/Chayula needs to be more interesting, exactly.


But I would really like to see some sort of Visual Effect/Indicator for how much Darkness you have, in addition to the GUI in the corner of the screen.
A bar over your character next to HP and MP would be lame.
Darkness filling in over the edges of your screen (like how low HP in some games put red/blood on the edges) when you have Darkness, and then it fading out proportional to how much you have would be cool. Could even give Light another use.
Or something else to creatively and thematically indicate it on the Gameplay area and not just in a corner of the screen.

As for design/balance, I just think it'd be cool if Chayula, being Chaos-oriented, was stronger through hard tradeoffs.
Like with Darkness, where the tradeoff could be that now you can't see half as far (or even less...). But it was actually a choice worth considering because of how strong it would be to have. And then there could be counterplays by getting Light mods on your gear, but even that's a tradeoff because you could often have a much stronger mod line there instead.


tl;dr
Spoiler
I want Chaos/Chayula builds to look and feel Chaotic. HBU ;)
Don't get lost by being so focused on the target that you forget to enjoy your surroundings.

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