“Fire Blast like” Runes don’t work as intended/expected.
With “Fire Blast like” Runes I mean these runes:
(maybe there’s an ice variant too but I haven’t found it)
When the ground is uneven (even slightly) the explosion that should appear at the feet of targeted enemies doesn’t reach them, even if in the same situation a different rune like a fireball or an arrow have no problems reaching the target.
This combined with the fact that after the Breach Refined the automatic targeting has gotten much worse: it often it deactivates or changes target when you try to kite (“kiting” is a tactic where a player keeps a safe distance from an enemy, Players “kite” enemies by repeatedly attacking and then moving away), Makes the rune a bit of a gamble because even when you create the right conditions it can miss.
All this is even more of a problem considering that since the other two runes that used to cost 50 Focus now cost stamia and do not fill the same role (more on that here: Its fun to be a mage in Wicked? Because - #18 by Lombix_4 ), It damages the wizards’ gameplay a lot.
Possible solution
Assuming (based on what I know about other video games) that to generate the explosion an invisible hit box is first thrown which then spowns the explosion when it collides with the ground or an enemy.
I’m guessing that invisible hit box is thrown too close to the ground causing premature collision, and my solution would be to use the same trajectory used by other runes like fireball, arrow, ice bullet.. for the invisible hit box (just faster) so that it hits enemies under the same conditions.
Alternatively if we want to make the ability even more precise: when the invisible hitbox hits an enemy or the ground or it reaches the maximum distance it makes a second invisible hitbox appear in the form of a sphere that expands until it hits an enemy or reaches the maximum size, and when this hitbox comes into contact with the enemy it generates the explosion under its feet. This alternative solution allows you to hit the ability even if the targeting doesn’t cooperate.