Spell Balance Suggestions

[TheBigSmol]

So this post is going to be about Soul Drain. From an IC perspective, it's a pretty cool thing to dev and have as an Occultist. It feels pretty neat to roleplay overall, but as a hidden? It's honestly not all that great. So for those of you who are indeed unaware of the mechanical numbers related to this spell and what it does... here you go.
  

Soul Drain:

Spell Damage: 7 Spell damage (Though the tooltip says 0 for some reason ???)

Other Effects: Provides a 3s slow and applies -10% DR for the same duration.

  
While from a non-hidden perspective, perhaps this wouldn't be that bad of a spell? Save for the fact that by the time GCD ends they're no longer slowed and if you don't land a spell the exact moment your GCD comes up then you don't even get to make the most of the -DR. Yeah compared to some homings it has a relatively low CD, I will concede that.. but with all of the many 'issues' listed so far? It's just Mind Fray from the illusion tree except Mind Fray has a better slow that is inflicted on the opponent.
  

Though for the sake of reference... BOOM Mind Fray's stats.
  
 
  

So what this is clearly showing is that Mind Fray the public spell is essentially the exact same spell as the hidden that had to be applied for. Sure, Soul Drain may be a bit cheaper on RPP (10 rpp, for those who may not know or have guessed) but at the end of the day it's supposed to be a hidden. Though while I'm already here, let's talk about the elephant in the room when it comes to another 'similar' homing spell.
  
Hemorrhage (*cue the dramatic dun dun dunnnn*), this spell is more or less what Soul Drain should be. Though as above so below, here are it's stats.
 

  

At least Hemorrhage here can boast that it's an intermediate, and it does cost 5 more rpp than Soul Drain, it also does have a higher cooldown. Though let's take a look at these other effects... shall we? It's nine spell damage, and I'm going to make the assumption (which feel free to correct me if I am indeed wrong) that it is nine spell damage with even more damage after the bleed. Bringing it to a rough total of probably around eleven spell damage if I am correct. Though it doesn't just bleed does it? It also inflicts a rather heavy slow and also inflicts rot as part of the package combo. So even though it is indeed an intermediate, it's still a public spell anyone can just yoink if that is their preferred tree.
 

While I am immensely grateful to have been given a hidden at all, Soul drain certainly needs a bit of love to put it on the same tier as other applied for abilities. Though thankfully I did come here with a few suggestions in mind, and not just to complain. They are as follows... *opens briefcase*.
 

• Raise the base damage to nine spell damage, increase the length of the slow/-dr effect to five seconds.
  
• Keep the base damage the same but force it to apply a few decent ticks of the 'curse' effect and make the slow/-dr last four seconds.
  
• Increase the damage to ten spell damage, increase the slow, but give it a wind up similar to Hemorrhage and a increase to 30 second CD.
  

 
My offered suggestions may not outright be the best, and I'm sure someone with the proper authority and knowledge could likely come up with something better.. but I wanted to at least offer a few solutions I thought of and not just present an issue with how weak the ability is overall and no theoretical solutions. I only gave a few examples.. but there are plenty more to show how underwhelming the spell is. (Like how Smite deals a tiny bit more damage and the lack of slow is negligible because of how short it is on Soul Drain.)
 
Hopefully this is taken in some form of stride, and I would like to see the spell just put upon it's proper tier of ability
 
Thanks for reading!