Aura Surge, support gem idea

Very few support gems work on auras, and among those, the only one I ever see used is reduced mana. This is an idea for a support that changes the way an aura works:

The supported aura would have its reserve cost converted into a standard mana cost. When cast, the aura would be active for a short time after which it would automatically deactivate and go on a long cooldown. While active, the aura would have a large increased effect.

Let's say it does the following at level 1:

Aura's reserve cost converted to mana cost.
Aura has a 16 second cooldown.
Aura lasts for 5 seconds.
Aura has 150% increased effect.

As it levels, the aura effect could increase. Quality could perhaps reduce cast time.

I like this idea since it makes you choose when to cast the aura. For example, with this support, a vitality aura could be cast to give a burst of healing to the team, or a Purity of Lightning could be cast when you anticipate a lot of lightning damage.

it definetly sounds like an idea that could be great if polished further

+1

You could even make the casting of auras instant (with this support), which would make timing them much more satisfying.

Basically, this converts an aura into a temporary buff.

Interesting idea, opening some interesting possibilities.

+1

Problems:
no mana cost and no cast time when used with a trigger gem
stacked (gem + some passives) increased duration can make it semi-permanent

You might not get them to be active 100% of the time but long enough to have a huge impact and then retreat until the cooldown finished.

3 seconds like most Vaal auras would be better or make them untriggerable.

Hmm, you're right SuperMotte. It might be possible to get near 100% up-time.

Using skill duration nodes, and a six link item with Cast When Damage Taken, Increased Duration, Aura Surge you could have 3 powerful aura affects up very often. It's an investment, but yeah, it might defeat the purpose.

How about the following fixes:

-Make the auras cast instantly (with no animation) when supported by this gem
-Make the gem have an implicit duration increase already on it
-Make it share a cooldown with other Auras

The instant cast part will eliminate that specific advantage of using Cast When Damage Taken, and I think would make it much more fun.

The implicit duration part would dilute the effect of other duration increases. Say the Aura Surge gem starts with a 3 second base duration and has a scaling "increased duration" affix as it levels.

The shared cooldown part makes it more like a warcry, discouraging the use of multiple of them at once.

Of course, it's always an option to simply make it non-triggerable, like you said. I just like the idea of having that as an option if people so choose.

I still think this would be great for the game!