Whew. This thread is becoming soo informative to me that now I see it again. Thank you, was good fun for me. 
In general you shouldn’t try to land a skill like BDS or Incinerate openly. You should wait for an opportunity to cast it when they are crowd controlled in a skill like mag force, raise, sleep, stun, hook, rete, etc. Same goes for Disenchant.
Another strat is to look for skills that people have a tendency to stay in, like Safety Zone or Druid Grass and know they are effectively crowd controlled because they will stand still (if they are bad).
Besides, incinerate lasts longer when they have more debuffs.
I suppose that’s also a good reason to use rank 10 to go for PD3, Druid 2. You can snare people with vines and then unload on them.
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I like PD much more than Exo as a damaging class based on how it works mechanically. It fills a dirty dark mage offensive fantasy with status ailment spreads, while Exorcist is more like “kill it with a blowtorch”.
But I still need a reason to want to build a PD as DPS other than just “I really like how this plays.”
Anyway, since this thread’s run it’s course I’ve started to come to learn to love disenchant. Using it on bosses makes me feel pretty valuable, though sometimes it’s hard to appreciate its power. Will have to wait for another stat reset event before I can get more than just lv 1 disenchant though 
But at least the attributes don’t seem to work on accuracy like the main skill’s buff removal properties do.
You just said the thing that you are not understanding and everybody here is saying it to you: there is no other reason to run PD as a DPS class if not for this one.
Why? Again, because Exorcist introduction and more damage options for Druid (note: both DPS classes) corrected the gap of a magic DPS class that the Cleric tree was lacking, and because it was lacking, PD (note: a support class) occupied this spot until now, cause was the closest option to a AoE magic damage class the Cleric tree could have before.
Now PD had to go back to what it is supposed to be: a support class. If you don’t enjoy it’s support capabilities (or either think they are lackluster) and think that the DPS is not enough, the only thing that is on the table now is the factor of really linking its DPS playstile besides not being the best. If even that is not enough to you, then don’t play PD. Choose one of the dozen classes around.
If you really love the class you will play it even the damage being only enough (which is), not the best. If only care for the damage, then alt this PD so you can have fun and create your meta ranger for the meta content you want.
jeez, read what I’m saying. I already accepted that disenchant and bloodletting are good. I was explaining to Nekorin why I felt the need to look so deeply into this beyond just personal preference.
Besides, the only other class that has anything close to the same feel and poison-spreading style as PD is Wugushi, and even that is no replacement. Pyro and Warlock come close but it’s still not the same.
You don’t seem to get it. I WANT to main plague doctor, it’s my favorite class, and I’m intent on making it work out or understanding its new niche, but I’m not going to be blinded by fanboyism, and if something feels bad then I’m still going to say it feels bad. You would have to completely REMOVE both Black Death Steam, Pandemic and Incinerate for me to stop loving this class, but I don’t feel nearly so passionate about bloodletting, fumigate and beakmask.
I don’t need its dps to be the best, as I’ve said many times earlier in the thread. I am looking for a GOOD reason to pick this class over any combination of exorcist and druid, offensive build or otherwise (preferably offensive but I can work with support oriented if I absolutely must) and now I understand the answer to that comes from Disenchant. My problem was that the ‘support’ options we’re supposed to now fall back on are not valuable enough to justify an entire identity based around that, but I didn’t understand how useful some of the less interesting abilities actually are (or more specifically their attributes)
Wow this thread has gotten so active, I like it 
I didn’t read the whole thread, I’m at work right now XP my opinion with plaguedoctor comparing to exorcist is that it is more all-around than exorcist.
Plaguedoctor’s bloodletting may be crucial in CM6 where monsters start using status moves (no experience here, just from what I heard). Black death steam and incinerate are DoT instead of channeling like exorcist, meaning they get to do other stuff (buff, debuff, support, or even other forms of damage, depending on your build) while the damage runs. Healing factor and methodone are unfortunately somewhat being replaced by druid’s chrotasmata and sterea troth, but the regen speed of healing factor is fast! And methodone does not limit you to a certain area.
PD is also more of a class that’s the sum of all it’s parts too. Their dots give you plenty time to place other skills in between them, like Damballa or any support skills, whereas Druid and Exor’s cds are low enough that Exor is basically just Druid2-Exor2 and nothing else. There’s very little time to work anything else into an Exor rotation.
And plus, you’d get the option to pick Druid2 at r10 if you were to do Cl2-Bok3-Druid1-Pd3. Maybe it’s not quite the best choice (i’m really not sure yet, but r8 C1s don’t seem all that great for PDs unless you’re a support-only) but it would free up points out of Heal Factor, as I really don’t think having both HF and Chor would be all that necessary.
Yup yup, my R10 plan exactly. I think the miko in traditional boko3-miko-PD3 is not worth it, and seems like druid can do better even as druid1.
Though one thing I wanna add: I actually think dps wise PD is more overshadowed by zealot instead of exorcist like everyone is saying. Zealot is somewhat DoT like plaguedoctor as well. So that means zealot can do other stuff while the damage runs, similar to PD. Zealot is just less effective at healing and support by nature because most zealot builds are STR.
Just from my experiences as zealot and PD, let me know if your experiences differ.
1 Like
Yeah druid2 + anything will be and is very powerful in all content at the moment.
Well, Rank 10 is out and time to decide what to do with the PD.
I feel like C2, Bokor3, Druid2, PD3 is pretty elegant. You strip away magic resist with hexing and armor bonuses with disenchant and provide the druid2 utility.
But how exactly does disenchant work for bosses? Is there any point in using hexing and disenchant on the same target?
thoughts on 20s cd 2 overheats for both BDS and Incinerate? Will this save the class from being left behind?
Class was never left behind. It’s still a quality DPS in PVE content and a terrorist in PVP content. Returning incinerate to its former state is fine, but I think it’s the sort of thing that encourages poor play.
I still stand by the methadone gripe, but PD is a very strong class in all content and exo is just another caster DPS that can easily be swapped out by any other caster DPS. It has interesting tools in PVP, but it’s like comparing two totally different roles. Exo is just DPS, but PD can literally do anything, and do it well.
Depends on how the rework of Healing Factor will be.
If it’s wolverine mode like it was before (considering reasonably high SPR / healing power), then it may be worth it. Sacrificing some dps for good Healing Factor + Bloodletting is always an interesting choice.
PD2 can be good, PD 3 however, not really strong enough to compete with others. Could be left as a purely pvp class, but that’s pretty boring imo.
No one ever thought about cleric2-kriv3-druid2-PD3? I thought it would make sense since PD skills cooldown is quite long, daino acts as a filler. Melstis lengthens healing factor, blood letting, transform, methadone, and even beak mask. Or could it be, those buff cannot be extended?! (Like lycanthropy…)
I ended up doing a sanctuary PD and rather like it. But when the cooldown and overheat buffs come, I may switch back to a more offensive build.
After all this talk about Disenchant, I’m still not 100% convinced I understand how it works. I just use it on bosses as often as I can. Does it even actually work on bosses? They get the debuff, but are they even wearing ‘armor’ for Disenchant to shred?
Also found out today that Bloodletting can NOT block Froster Lord’s freeze spell in Former Fantasy raid, even though it’s classified as a lv 2 debuff. Why not?
EDIT: Testing it on monsters out in the field, Disenchant does indeed appear to do nothing. Tested it out on various enemies who should have varying degrees of armor. Tried it with auto attacks and the damage remained the same with or without disenchant buff. Why would it be any different for bosses? One other post I read suggests it only works on gear upgrade/transcendence value, which apparently only world bosses have. Kind of hard to test it against those.
Also @gexmnlin13, that build was one of the first I tried actually, back before the druid buffs. It’s super comfortable to play (melstis + methodone is a handy combo), and I’m sure it’s even stronger now. However, this is one of those builds that’s likely just ‘better’ as an Exorcist.
2 Likes
I dont think PD is broken.
Druid is buffed over the top.
IMO, they should remove healing from chromasta or make some sort of attribute where it either heals or do damage, reworking how carnivore works.
Right now, I feel forced to have druid2 for the awsome healing, damage over time and invulnerability. Why in the hell a dps role has invulnerability? This also should go.
Exorcist just need a CD increase on Rubis.
1 Like
more like PD was overnerfed with Incineration. Tiny hitbox you can barely hit anything makes it so aggravating to use. Unless you have Zombify or PD3 to spread it.
Agreed, it should be similar to Aukuras new attribute ‘Goddess of Fire’. Chrotasmata should get an attribute to switch between heal+invulnerability and damage.
Well the PD buffs are here and I’m not even sure I want to switch back to Sadhu, I’m kind of enjoying Sanctuary doctor so much.
I’ll probably take the opportunity to adjust the PD skill distribution though. Considering the new healing factor, do we even bother putting more than one point in it now? IF so, it should make it easier to justify placing 5 points into bloodletting for maximum upkeep.