Make Coma Great (Again?)

Hello, I am a lv158 hero who's recently seen the potential coma has, a skill I hadn't seriously thought about since first unlocking it.

As most other heroes, whenever I have to take care of swarms of mobs, I usually resort to using shout, which is simply a temporary solution, stunning the mobs momentarily; but in order to effectively damage them as well, I have to go an extra step and cleave them, which is largely undesired in a bossing setting, as you have to switch your attention to the summons which you've stunned, rather than focusing on the boss, reducing overall dpm and progress by doing so.

Examples of this can be seen in plenty of content, for 3rd and 4th jobs alike. Vital content for levelling that is, whether it be grinding or bossing.

Ravana, Ellin's, Scarga - Summons
On the one hand, let's tackle bossing first, much more prevalent upon reaching fourth job, the early points of which mainly consist of fighting Ravana, Chao or Ephenia, all of whom summon hordes of mobs, be it annoying goblins, bulky boars (which REALLY hurt ranged) or distracting fairies, these might not present a legitimate block for our hero at first, but they definitely could for his ranged party members. Similarly at later levels, Scarlion and Targa could represent that same threat.

Jiaoceng - Clones
Jiaoceng and his clones (3) can't all be cleaved using brandish (which is 3-target), one clone is always left to run freely and hurt the ranged, as noted above.

CWKPQ - Red Nirg Summons
The worst liability in this area though is likely found at CWKPQ, where Red Nirg (warrior boss), which hero is supposed to pin, summons mobs which immediately leak out, and are not effectively hindered by shout, nor does dpm remain consistent if such is used, those summons keep spreading toward the left and become a threat to your companions as well as to your parked buff mules, forcing you to gather them up and individually brandish them (remember it's only 3-target), wasting a lot of time/dpm in the process.

Grinding - 7F
On the other hand, grinding and farming mobs is one of the most commonly encountered activities in this game, us heroes mostly spending our time at CDs during third job and 7f during fourth when we're not bossing, mobbing and cleaving being the area we excel at, even more so at fourth job when we finally get to unlock rush, which synergises perfectly with coma, something every hero can deduce: gather them all up, then bomb them away. Rush and coma are made for each other.

To conclude this matter, it is rather obvious that the damage coma provides, as well as its stun and range capacity, would make for an efficient solution to all of the issues and difficulties listed above, that is only if it weren't for this one requirement that makes it a nearly laughable skill to use presently - It eats up 10 orbs. Ten. Freaking. Orbs. Say goodbye to your dpm, as it's going to immediately plummet once you try pulling any of that off. Which is why this skill is forgotten and never used, in spite of its various uses.

'just stick to shout lawl'
Shout is an amazing skill, one I can't imagine hero lacking, but its main use is stunning, while in certain cases, I just need dpm!!!

I would also like to add just how unfair it is that panic did get that exact desired treatment, only consuming 5 orbs currently, proportional to its effect/damage upon release, keeping a consistent dpm and even improving it. Why can't coma? Due to its lower damage yet handy use, it could be changed to cost 2-3 orbs, it's nowhere as powerful as panic and it's only used for secondary stuff as mentioned above, as such it would not affect the dpm brought about by orbs while using brandish. Justice for coma!

 

Brandish is only three-target. The amount of stuff Red Nirg summons is vastly higher than that, I would have to focus on the mobs whose spill-out you can hardly prevent. Same case for turning to collect other spill-outs. This is not about increasing dpm, it's about maintaining it, keeping my brandish on target while also making sure summons aren't being a threat as they're being gradually damaged.
I know this is to emphasize utility but speaking for those of us who play the game for fun, it's also nicer not to be tied down to a single skill for any and all activities, a viable coma would make it all the more engaging, covering for the hero in both variety and utility

 

Summons sound like a recurring discomfort still, which does pile up, especially if you acknowledge they're not restricted to a single boss; there's still no cover for summons and pinning is no light work you can easily set up all the time either, maybe you've even heard of parties in which ranged have died due to such - since those do exist (aggro isn't always consistent either), so I believe it's still a valid point, grounded in experience.
The change Panic had only facilitates the single-target line of work, which isn't the only aspect Heroes have. If Coma were to be changed, it would vastly improve versatility as well, in their cleaving aspect, which as stated before, is hardly exclusive to bosses - I'd love being able to use it effectively at 7f or, say, while card hunting.
Also I don't necessarily see it as a buff buff, but more of a logical thematic solution to the Hero's attributes, upholding consistency with Panic and Rush. DPM isn't raised, it's maintained - the Hero wouldn't become more powerful, just more versatile, making use and developing his skills to their full potential.

 

Don't expect to see anybody using it in its current state, at least not past 3rd job. It might just be the single worst trade deal any skill out there has to offer, which is why it so desperately needs a readjustment.
Skills aren't supposed to put you at an universal disadvantage; they're supposed to flesh out the class's strengths.

 

Appropriate experience for this discussion, I just ran a scuffed cwk in which my cleave pin partner (15x dk) died and thus I was forced to solo pin the bosses. The summons were the absolute worst and they confirmed coma's relevance to me, they kept spreading in atrociously high numbers while brandish was only hitting the first three targets it had picked up (the bosses) and some, who had gone into the same corner as the bosses, just wouldn't die due to that.
Those things do hurt and impede dpm, considering how solo cleave isn't all that uncommon at higher level runs either, it definitely can become a serious inconvenience.
Soloing bosses such as Chao or Ephenia, who have their own terrible summons, would help in receiving a brief glimpse into the absolute hell cwk can turn into.

 

I don't think mobs dying quickly is what I suggested, I'm fine with them taking multiple comas to go down. I do agree it's keeping them in place that matters, and coma provides that by stun.

That aside, addressing not just this one reply but frankly most in this thread, I don't understand what on earth pallies have to do with Hero's QoL and viable usage of his own skills.
They're two different classes and shouldn't be compared in a setting like this, it's apples and oranges. This is about heroes.

 

Making a late addition to this as I just got into my early 170s and tried out Core Blaze, a really fun and profitable boss at which heroes seem to excel, getting to make use of all of their skills - except, once again, Coma.
We're all familiar with the platform melee players stand on and whack Core from, a platform which sees a lot of imperials spawning over and over again - and while crowd management is achievable by using shout, summon clutter from incessant imperial spawns is unavoidable, and shout cannot stun more than six mobs (in this case five imperials, as Core itself also counts as an entity), so clearly some of those imperials just have to go.
Sadly, those are here to stay, as our hero can only hit 2 of those imperials by using brandish, and as he's cleaving, he cannot use panic on core as he would lose the dpm needed to dispose of those two imperials... Now imagine if he just had an attack he could cycle by unleashing some of his precious orbs, few enough for him to retain and regain his dpm quickly, while also gradually damaging, weakening and even stunning multiple imperials - that is what Coma could be, what Coma is supposed to be.
...Or else, for those who so eagerly want to bring pallies into this discussion, you could have them awkwardly use acb, instead of serving their optimal single-target role and leaving the cleaving side to the cleaver class - Hero!