Dread needs a tether and...

[Delmuir]

Very simple... there should a command option with the Dread to tether it to you, i.e., set the distance it can wander. My suggestion is that it should be number of spaces and the option to stay within your necrotic aura.

1. The dread is an expensive minion in regards to souls and talent point investment and it has a tendency to wander off and die, usually after attracting the attention of distant enemies. This makes it effectively useless as it currently stands but a tether would solve those problems nicely without increasing its power (which would make enemy Necros even more of a pain).

2. Additionally, when the Dread becomes invisible, you can't inspect it... but also, you can't see it. Surely we can add the ability to make it visible to the user, at least?

3. Finally, Surge of Undead should also increase the duration of the Dread's Neverending Peril.

I think that combination of adjustments would make the Dread workable... particularly with a caster. Alternatively, one could just reduce the soul cost of the Dread to 2 and then make Neverending Peril a mana-only talent... but I find those changes to be less desirable.

Ultimately, the problem with the Dread is simply that no matter how much you invest in it, it's hard to notice any difference. There's very little indication that it helps at all (this is probably mostly due to its tendency to wander off).