Sunsingers were intended to be the warlock support class, but due to players putting the focus on a few designs that are counter to this intent, Sunsingers are viewed either as being OP (Melee Tanks in PvP) or as crutches (Self-Res in Raids/Nightfalls). My aim is to change these perceptions and expand the potential beyond these limitations. As such, I propose the following changes be made to the sunsinger to help expand their function as a support class. Please note that this is not a post about nerfing Sunsingers, but buffing them. 1) Improve Radiance I have always felt like Radiance was never really achieving its full potential. It had a decent effect, but its perks make or break it for PvE or PvP. In reality, it goes deeper than that. Measuring by base effect alone, Radiance is underwhelming. In PvP, I fear sunsingers the least of all the classes in the game. In an effort to help move Radiance into a stronger position with its perks, I feel that the Fireborn perk should be innate to the base effect. I also feel the damage reduction provided by radiance should be reduced from 50% to 30% to compensate, putting it on par with Stormtrance. 2) Improve the Song of Flame perk Many people put forward ideas on how best to fix Song of Flame, either by making it increase the stats of your allies or by providing a huge bonus to Recovery and Defense. One of the more interesting ideas I heard proposed by several people, including a good friend, is that Sunsinger should be able to operate as a sort of “Healer class”. I originally thought this was impossible, but when I started to look at various elements of the game, I realized this isn't as impossible as it seemed. Therefore, I propose the following effect: “Nearby allies regenerate health and take reduced damage.” With this effect, Allies within the radius of Song of Flame would take 25% Less damage and constantly recover health. This bonus does not apply to the Sunsinger using it. This would synergize well with exotics like Heart of Praxis Fire to increase the duration. 3) Improve the Radiant Skin perk In my last revision of this suggested rework, I offended a lot of players by having the gaul to say Radiant Skin was “arguably the most useless” of the Radiance Perks. However, a few people did come forward and, rather than acting hostile toward this notion, expressed their views on it in a way that altered my opinion of it. It served a purpose and allowed Sunsingers to really become terrifying in PvP. Without intending to, I had called for the removal and replacement of a premier go-to perk for Melee Sunsingers in PvP and left them with nothing to show for it. Therefore, I suggest the following: “While radiance is active, damage taken is greatly reduced and melee kills trigger health regeneration”. The end result of this change would boost damage reduction while in Radiance to 55%, making it the same as the current Radiance and Radiant Skin while adding a element that favors aggressive gameplay by giving you more staying power. Please note that this is REGENERATION, not INSTANT HEALING as per the Cauterize effect. You would recover health at your normal pace but the time you have to wait before you begin healing is zero. 4) Remove and replace the Fireborn Perk. With the Fireborn perk innate to Radiance, there is now room for a new perk. I wanted to create a perk that suited aggressive play for both PvE and PvP as Radiant Skin is more of a PvP perk. Since Radiant Skin is about being tanky and hard to kill, I thought it would be fun to explore an option that run counter to that approach. To that end, I have created the following perk. Rise from the Ashes: Dying while Radiance is active triggers an explosion, dealing heavy solar damage to nearby enemies. If an enemy is killed with the explosion, you are instantly revived. This rewards risky behavior and turns your radiance into what is essentially a one-time rocket explosion. If you do not kill an enemy with the explosion, you are not revived. It is important to note that you are not revived with Radiance active. 6) Improve the Solar Wind Perk Of the many things that people pointed out in my previous revision, this one was also something that was brought up a lot. When compared to a perk like Flame Shield, there really isn’t any use for taking this. I understand this used to be a funny perk for people to enjoy as they pushed their fellow guardians off cliffs and other high places. So, I set out to try and find a way to make something of this otherwise severely underwhelming perk. Many ideas failed pretty bad, but I seem to have gotten a lot of support in favor of a true support element with Solar Wind. Therefore, I suggest that a blinding and suppression effect, similar to the Suppression Grenade, be added to Solar Wind and that the name be changed to Corona. The inspiration for this change came from the effects of Solar Flares, which have been known to disrupt power grids and damage satellites. I believed the same principle could be allied to Scorch to great effect as the other support classes (Nightstalker and Defender) have some form of suppression. This would make Corona a solid support choice in PvE and PvP while also synergizing with exotics like Claws of Ahamkara. 7) Improve Radiant Will perk. Radiant Will gives 3 extra seconds of Radiance, which currently serves little to no purpose. In fact, the Heart of Praxis Fire Exotic Chest armor grants a similar effect at the same duration, effectively allowing you to double-dip with this perk and it is still underwhelming as 6 seconds of extra Radiance effectively gives you about 2-to-3 extra grenades to throw out. However, like Sunburst, there is no reason to take this over Viking Funeral. Using some other existing elements in the game, I feel the solution to this would be simple: make it so downed allies who are affected by Song of Flame can be revived in addition to adding 3 seconds to the duration of Radiance. This would expand Song of Flame to allow long-range revives and has the potential to be easily on par with the other Tier 1 Perks due to the revised effect. The revive speed would be the same as you already have, which would drastically expand the potential of exotics like Light Beyond Nemesis and Crest of Alpha Lupi which increases the speed at which you revive others and are revived yourself. This would naturally be limited by revive timers such as the ones imposed by dying during raids and nightfalls. However, since this perk currently resides in the 1st slot of the Tier 1 Perk list, it would need to be moved to the 2nd slot, as Song of Flame isn't available until later. This would make Viking Funeral the 1st unlockable Tier 1 perk. 8) Expand the effect of the Sunburst perk to include grenades. Right now, Sunburst gives you a chance to generate a single orb of light when you kill an enemy with Scorch, which is only usable about once every 30 seconds with maximum Strength. This effect is completely underwhelming and not worth using over a perk like Viking Funeral which makes anyone you set on fire burn for more damage per second and increases the burn duration. By expanding this perk to include grenades, the orb generating potential of Sunsingers will be greatly increased. It won’t put sunsingers on par with the orb generating abilities of a Nightstalker, but it will elevate them to be on par with Defender who has the 2nd highest potential for orb generating thanks to a tier 1 (Gift of the Void) and a tier 2 perk (Iron Harvest). This would also serve to synergize with Gift of the Sun, which gives Sunsingers an extra grenade, or the Upcoming release of Year 2 Sunbreakers which improve solar grenades and give players a second one. 9) Improve Angel of Light There was a time where I thought this was the most useless perk in the game. However, I have also witnessed players doing amazing things with this perk in PvP on occasion. I’m not about to write off the potential this perk has, but I feel it needs a large rework before it can be a viable consideration in PvE and PvP. With that in mind, I propose the perk be changed to the following: “Aiming your weapon while in the air will maintain your current elevation for a short time. While held aloft, you take reduced damage and weapon kills will generate an orb of light. Reviving fallen guardians while Radiance is active increases the duration of Radiance.” I know it sounds like I am making this ability really unbalanced, but rest assured there is a method to my madness. Angel of Light only keeps you held up for about 3 seconds. During that time, you take 30% less damage. This is to offset the incredible downside that comes with Angel of Light: The fact that you are exposed. Generating a single orb for your allies rewards you for making good use of your 3 seconds of being held aloft. The last effect is intended to work in conjunction with Song of Flame and Radiant Will to form a very well rounded “healer” setup. Revive Fallen allies to keep that Song of Flame ticking. The increased duration is 3 seconds per revive, so it isn’t capable of being unlimited, but allows you to push the duration out in the right situation. I chose the words for this effect very carefully because, unlike the current Angel of Light which simply holds you in one place, this version merely maintains your current elevation. In effect, you now have the ability to effectively “Air Strafe” for the 3 seconds the effect persists. This adds a new level of complexity to the effect. It isn’t on the same level as Twilight Garrison, which I am sure people will compare this to, as movement while ADS is pretty slow. Moreover, it is a very limited range of predictable movement. Please sign if you agree. You can also suggest ideas of your own and I may add them to this list.