Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-76.179.129.56-20140522041611/@comment-16047389-20140522220941

Zelron wrote: Dark Jeto wrote: My guess is to counter-balance the Warmth Pyromancy, which heals everyone, even enemies. It'd be dumb if that was the reason, but I do know that the Lifedrain Patch hurts the caster if they walk in it. Perhaps it hurts white phantoms due to a coding issue. I'd imagine that those spells are that way to detour reckless use of them. Very powerful when used at the right time, but a hindrance when used without thought, similar to Power Within. It could just be that the devs were too naive or narrow minded to consider the griefing potential.

I dont' find Lifedrain Patch that useful though. The area of effect radius is very small and easy to avoid. I would've rather had the Darklurker Soul turn into a Dark Hand. Obviously Humanity is no longer a number that could be drained, but it could easily be revamped to drain Health or if used by a Hollowed invader to drain the Humanity status from the host and restore the invader's.