I don't know if Haette has anything in the works for those last two skills in the Flesh tree, but I had a few ideas, as well as some thoughts on a couple of passives and the Jagged Bones skill.
For reference, I'm playing with SynergiesMOD and TL2 Essentials, on Veteran difficulty. At the moment, level 8. These are just my thoughts so far.


First of all, while I haven't tried the Atrophy passive, perhaps you should clarify the second line of its effects, "physical damage reduced by 3% for .5 seconds". Whose physical damage? Nearby monsters? Maybe it's just me, but it seems a little vague.

Second, Devourer. I took this passive early on because I was having trouble with survivability. It was ineffective then, and I feel like it would still be ineffective now (12/2 health/mana stolen on hit @ lvl 8). I'm dual-wielding 1h axes/swords. I can tell this could be much more useful with more points into it, but generally the rule of thumb seems to be that if 1 skill point isn't worth it, then 5 skills points isn't going to be worth it either.
Edit1: It occurred to me that I didn't have Carapace when I first used this. I suppose that it might work as a way to regain your health when it is protected by the effects of Carapace...

Next, Jagged Bones. Just... Why? It's a plausible idea, but I don't understand why it is executed the way it is. It is the only Flesh ability, active or passive, that doesn't involve the manipulation of your body. I have a few suggestions on how I think it would be better. One being that it gives you damage reflection (whether it's more than the current amount of course depends on how it balances out), and that the tier bonuses are changed such that it gains the ability to provide exoskeletal harnesses to nearby allies, giving them the buff too. Further tier bonuses can become more powerful through the size of the radius within which allies are affected, and how many allies can be affected. Additionally, I'd like to throw in the idea that since it is now your body that is hurting the enemy, that if possible, perhaps this reflected damage should proc Devourer? I think that this would be very helpful for Devourer's viability, as well as increasing synergy between the different skills.

Alternatively, it could be swapped with Atrophy to be a passive, with a modified version of Atrophy becoming an active. Jagged Bones would passively provide damage reflection (again, this could proc Devourer), and the active version of Atrophy would work somewhat similarly to the current version of Jagged Bones. The current version of Jagged Bones is described as being a curse; that seems to me to go against the style of the tree. However, if Atrophy were an active, it could operate with similar controls to the current JB, but with similar effects to the current version of Atrophy. Perhaps boosted effects, but rather than passively affecting surround enemies, affects a targetted area with a stronger effect. Or, rather than a targetted area, the area around the player, similar to now, but as an active. My suggestion would be that the ability is made much more dramatic, with radial cracks in the ground emanating from the player, and energy converging on the player (similar to JB's current effect, but probably purple). The strength of the buff provided by Atrophy would be dependent on the number of enemies affected, and at higher levels, could slow enemies or reduce their attack speed.

New skill suggestion; other name ideas include "Shocking Separation", "Flesh Wound", and "Dismembered Terror".

While my suggestion is for this skill to be an active ability, it could be modified to work as a passive if changes of that magnitude were implemented to existing skills. Deadly Division would sacrifice a percentage of your health (I'm thinking a maximum of 20% to start with, so that it can be used in conjunction with Carapace with only one skill point in each, however it could be arranged such that they won't work well together without investing more skill points, if that's better for balance) to slough off several chunks of your body which will become minions (HP directly dependent on how much you sacrificed? Might not be viable if 1:1 ratio) that have life steal to master on hit. Like other minions in the Nethermancer skills, I suppose they would have a constant HP-loss and no time limit. However, I'm proposing that they have a time limit, and if they are alive at the end of it, as opposed to dying of external causes, that you regain the health spent to create them. The idea being that you absorbed them back into your body. Obviously, each minion would count for a fraction of the total health spent, so you will receive the appropriate fraction of that health at the end of the timer, or all of it if they are all still alive. Or, you know, none.

As a passive, Deadly Division would have a chance on being hit to summon one of these creatures, with otherwise similar skill effects. I prefer "Flesh Wound" and "Dismembered Terror" for the skill name when I think of it as a passive.


Release the corruption within you, unleashing tentacles that wrap around nearby foes, choking them and drawing them in. Weakened foes lack the strength to resist and are likely to be consumed.

Tentacles wrap around x amount of foes within y range; both could be upgraded through tier bonuses. Foes being constricted could have attack speed lowered, stunned, or be interrupted, depending on how this was balanced, or could gain stronger effects as such through tier bonuses. Additionally, enemies with <= zz% health receive 100% (or otherwise largely increased) critical hits from this skill as they take their last breath. My suggested health is 10%, but again, balance and blah blah blah. The maximum health remaining before this effect occurs could also be increased through tier bonuses.

All that biomass you absorb through lifesteal takes time to be fully incorporated into your body. If you focus hard enough, you can shape this excess body mass into jagged spikes that will hurt your attackers!

• Life steal performed during buff duration increases damage reflection (not sure how this would work mechanically in the coding, but maybe Haette can figure something out.)
  
• Damage reflection degrades over time as biomass is slowly absorbed fully
  
• Tier bonuses could include quicker reflection build rate/slower rate of decrease, as well as "becoming adept enough that you can aid your allies by shaping their excess biomass as well" or something like that, if it needed to be explained logically.
  
• If damage reflection works with my proposed Devourer life steal, it is probably important that Devourer cannot provide a net gain in damage reflection, only a slower decrease rate. Perhaps the life steal from Devourer could be isolated and have a reduced effect on Focus Biomass, if any.
  
  . . .
  
  
  Alright, well, I've spent sort of a while writing this. I have a few more thoughts and ideas, but I'd like to go back to playing for now. Feedback is welcome everyone, so please, discuss your thoughts!
  
  EDIT1: Addendum to thoughts on Devourer.
  
  EDIT2: Added "Release the Beast" Skill suggestion. I'd also like to comment that I'm very impressed with the balance of this mod! The synergy between skills and the charge bar is amazing. I'm almost level 20 now, and the class still holds up in a very enjoyable and balanced way!
  
  EDIT3: Added "Focus Biomass", idea for a replacement for Jagged Bones that was inspired by Haette's feedback.