I think earclap is underrated. It seemed to fail a lot when I tried it in combat, in fact, not sure I ever got it off fighting a PC, but was pretty reliable if the victim was jacked. I used it more with Gergan because he had it perfected. I think I landed it 1-2 times as Heaghul as it was 85% and I wasn't interested in more spamming. Also, there were fewer necros. I should have used it on Kregan recently, but backstabbed him instead.
But, everytime I got it off, I think the mage died and it felt really good. Exception is Soalar, who quickly realized what had happened to him, opened the door and fled.
Was that character you went off with a fire giant? Because if so, I remember that. I figured you were frustrated by something already in or out of game and the PK just made you boil over. It happens. Apology accepted.
As for fighting that thing, I'm curious how you know about that. I discovered it maybe a day before and fought it to get it's thing. The next time it occurred to me to use it for the thing you consider poor form. I didn't see anything wrong with it, but the IMMs called me on it the same day, and I didn't go back, so I really didn't get much benefit from it. I could go the conventional route as I had plenty of that stuff it requires. I had good reason to be out of hero range around that time, and when that reason went away, I was fine with it.