Balance Proposal for Chaos Spells

I would like to try and offer my perspective as to why Chaos Spells are underperforming compared to Frost and Lighting Spells.

In my view, Chaos Spell start off strong with a reliable and devastating combo of Essence Drain + Contagion.

Things get weird when you factor in Chaos Bolt.

In theory, you should be using Chaos Bolt, to apply a few stacks of Withered so that your Essence Drain + Contagion combo can run it's course faster.

However, this rotation may come at the expense of the MINIONS amassed from your scepter if you aren't dual wielding your wand with a scepter. Otherwise, it comes in the forms of losing Energy Shield and potential bonuses to Spell Power awarded by a Focus.

In practice, it's easier to allow your wall of minions to damage multiple enemies, while you repeat the Essence Drain + Contagion combo on the lowest health monsters within line of sight.

Another factor of weirdness is Withering Pressence. In theory, you could stick closer to your minions so you can apply this debuf and forget about Chaos Bolt.

In practice however, you do want to keep a distance between your minions and the enemies, so that it's easier to see and dodge projectiles and conjured explosions from rare monsters, making you lose out on potential Withered Applications.

After careful considerations I have found both Withering Pressence and Dark Effigy to be the main reasons why Chaos Magic feels clunky and unsatisfying to use.

The problem with Dark Effigy is that it should be applying the effects of Withered Pressence on ALL ENEMIES instead of bombarding creatures you debuffed.

By having Dark Effigy as your main source of AoE "Wither" Debuff, you create a rotation and play style which allows you to min max for survivability by playing with either Wand or Scepter alongside a Focus for your main hand, while also having access to either Sigil of Power, Spellslinger, Unleash or Reap.

These changes unfortunately invalidate the need for using Withering Pressence on Chaos Caster builds like Witch, however, I'd argue that the streamlined playstyle obtained is worth the cost and may still see use on either Templar or Shadow.

If it turns out that Withering Pressence is no longer required for the game, you could always package the old effect of Dark Effigy on a Spirit Gem and call it a day.