Add Debuff Resistances to the DE "Tree of Life" Emanator

[BasiliskXVIII]

The various Devouring Earth emanator pets each seem purpose-built to counter a specific type of build. Fungi grant heavy control resistance, shutting down dominators and controllers. Quartz hand out massive +ToHit, ruining the day of defense-based tanks and scrappers. Cairns pump up resistance, blunting DPS builds. While they rarely stop or even significantly slow a well-balanced team that's already steamrolling, they do tend to have a measurable effect in smaller teams and solo content. Each of these creates a meaningful interaction that forces players to account for them—either by working around them or prioritizing them as a threat.

 

And then there’s the Tree of Life.

 

Sure, it gives a hefty +500% regeneration rate, and can stack but realistically, that’s only a real problem for low-damage builds, and even then, it's rarely the kind of thing that swings a fight. By the time the tree’s effect is noticeable, the Devouring Earth enemy benefiting from it is usually at death’s door already. Compared to the fungi, quartz, and cairns, the tree feels more like an afterthought—something that exists, but rarely changes the equation the way the others do.

 

So why not give those poor, hapless Herders and their trees something more impactful? If every other Devouring Earth emanator can directly counter a major AT category, it makes sense for the Tree of Life to do something similar against debuffers. While a -Special effect affecting heroes would be neat, giving a chance to mess with heals and buffs as well as debuffs, it wouldn't much affect PCs outside of melee range—where the defenders and corruptors usually hang out, making it much more of another way to ruin melee's day. However, a bank of debuff resists like what are offered by FF's Damping bubble? Even if it's not 100% counterplay against everything a support character brings to the table, it would at least give corruptors, defenders, MMs, and controllers something to keep an eye out for, in the same way that the DE offer something for most other ATs.
 

The Devouring Earth is among the most mechanically interactive groups in the game, with plenty of built-in "handle this or suffer" elements across different builds. It only seems fair that debuffers get the same kind of counterplay that control, defense, and DPS builds already deal with. Right now, the Tree of Life is the least impactful of their pets—giving it some proper teeth would make encounters with the Devouring Earth feel even more dynamic, rather than just being another regenerating speed bump on the way to victory.