The set is getting some rework and it seems like the best opportunity to swtich things up.
These chaces to reset just ain’t it. This peculiar stat feels good to play in a very few instances in the game and Clair is not one of them. Cabalist is the worst gameplay of 3 classes, of course. The performance is not bad, but it’s not amazing and certainly not worth to endure the absolute awkwardness on reset spam. Trying to put your max dps out (and you need it) forces you to mash both DB and RS, then you hear some reset sounds that blend in together and you have no idea what was reset. It’s just a mess of a gameplay and a torture for your fingers.
There are many avenues to choose from here:
Try RS spam for the set. Cabalist will become spam + DB and Binder can become a very unique build where you use one spam spell for AoE clears and one spam spell for solo targets
Just good old cdr instead of % to reset. Makes Cabalist MUCH better to play. Still leaves Binder and Warlock in a bit of an awkward state but they can play with AAR focus
Replace %reset with %tdm. Bug nukes that you need to carefully use
Side note. The meaning of Reap Spirit for direct dmg becomes less and less apparent each patch. IMO the skill desperately needs radius on the hit. It wont affect pet builds but will give the skill at least some use in direct dmg. Even in the example of Cabalist above, where RS has significant mods, it does like 45% less dmg than Doom Bolt AND has small range and no AoE. Right now there is a single build in the game that uses RS as an innate part of the build - Diviner Binder, but only because it allows close to spam level of firerate with Vampiris.
p.s. Forgot to ask the most important question: why does Clairvoyant set, that supposed to empower you with knowing the future outcome, provides you with a slot machine gameplay? Comes off as a bit of a troll.
Set itself missing some %cdr to shine. Mod to Possession or Witchfire witch %cdr and some aether damage will be very useful - AAR focus Spellbinder is already pretty strong all-rounder he doesn’t needed anything - honestly, I wish it deserves a little nerfs. He’s great aoe clears with converted Spectral Wrath, decent single target and Binders natural immortality completely outclass Warlock on this setup even with Possession investment and double %absorb stack.
As you can see i had too take Star Pact despite SP has aether conversion - this decision helped to put the build together and finally make it work. Other setups not competitive.
I briefly played Clairvoyant Cabalist and it was very unpleasant to play, all because of resets. I’m not very used to playing piano casters but this one felt very bad. 2 pretty low cd skills with reset chances and with an active RR and an almost mandatory filler on top feel like the Clunk of the Century.
why would you not be using AAR? - and then centre it as warlock related
likewise i find the mention of Possession modifier… un-suiting
if you’re warlock you “should” not be getting an aether/cdr bonus for electing to go defensive non-dmg oriented exclusive, likewise if cabalist you should “obv” fittingly take HoS if you want that dmg bonus.
It’s this type of unnecessary addition/powercreep that ekes out extra defensive meta with maintained offensive gains, some semblance of accepted fairness in stat opportunity/“tradeoffs” should be accepted.
Cabalist being clunky i 100% agree with tho, and was already mentioned in another thread too
I mentioned about this in my post - Spellbinder completely outclass Warlock on AAR setup.
The only way for Warlock to become at least somewhat competitive with Spellbinder is to add the Doom Bolt autocast mod to AAR on crit. What is available now is completely unplayable - not only do you have to cast CoF, which does not have enough rr compared to Spellbinder, you also need to cast Doom Bolt. It’s unpleasant and not fun at all to play with it - on Binder you just hold down the button and everything dies.
ofc it outclasses it, that’s obvious, but my point is that it hardly makes it an issue by itself or a “warlock” centric thing then, let alone when the solutions then is stuff that would equally apply to anything non warlock related and everything occultist available.
Aether AAR clair warlock being “fine” but binder always being better is not really that great of an excuse to then make it an omega defense+offensive and purely DB/sigil ask.
which then to me makes it a bit more absurd/disingenuous ontop when things have stealth changed to be about crucible extra spawns no buffs or banners in the comparison of “competitiveness”
Which, again just to me, should emphasise the issue of the reluctance to accept stat tradeoffs to maintain offence while gaining defence…
*dont’ get me wrong, like Radaggan i’d be fine with the notion of Clair being able to be played “solely” on the Doombolt side for oocultist/not having AAR as mandatory inclusion
The point just is i feel like people really need to start accept things being different then and tradeoffs existing, specially with the meta shift look on crucuble on top now
**saying that getting free aether dmg and cdr on occultist to get extra defence and still offence is just, much, “greedy”, an approach/mentality that needs to change, not stats on items that should change
Let me put it differently for you. Binder is great for its AAR, Warlock/Cabalist do not have the same level of greatness to their DB+sigil or DB+RS compared to the level of greatness binder has on AAR.
yes, and i’m saying that’s okay
and i’m not remotely saying RS/DB cabalist isn’t clunky either or to not fix the clunk on cabalist by changing ex Reap Spirit operations to not be chance cdr based.
But, i feel like we’re shifting more from reasonable asks, “make cabalist less clunky”, to “make all of these 5 things more powerful”, because we can’t accept not everything being equal, nor can the meta gang accept crucible naked ex not being done in anything less than <4.30
Where the hardline stance used to be 4-5min buffs and towersno extra spawn
Hence there should be some tolerance for not only the difference in the class setups, but also tradeoffs.
ie wanting freebie CDR+dmg+extra absorb defence simply just feels… kinda egregious, like there is absolutely 0 reluctance on the notion of not getting every stat we want “now”/to keep pushing that timer down and down and down
It is most definitely not OK. Because if a player wants to play DB+sigil or DB+RS and see how much neurological stress it is playing these 2 vs AAR, he’ll most likely say “f*** it” and play AAR. That’s not how you encourage diversity.
i’m saying performance difference doesnt’ have to be equal, and that should be obvious that not everything has to be equal
the clunk cabalist has sure should be assisted, because that’s where the neurological stress lies
and that doesn’t require Possession to become OP af/“the most stacked buff in the game”/peak 0 tradeoffs acceptance to solve
I did Clair Cabalists in some older patches and no matter how you assemble it: with Oblivion or without it, with Aether RE conduit or with DB gloves or with RS gloves it was always just one messy unpleasant to play piano. So I agree with the suggestions by banana.
I think in terms of gameplay having BIG Doom Bolt with big radius and big tdm and like 2-3 seconds cooldown and then maybe actually spam RS (with radius) would be much better than this reset casino we have now. Those resets just don’t feel good in this old game engine, it’s sad but it’s true.
Just played this vit variant of Clair Binder. Reap Spirit is still useless despite huge support and decay finally not wasted. The skill is weak. It interrupts AAR to almost no dps gain. Range doesn’t match. It’s just bad. There needs to be a new solution.
Right, AAR is best complemented by medium- or long-range skills that continuously deal damage over time for a duration of at least 5 seconds, with a single cast, and without incentive to cast again within that duration. With Necro, we’ve got Ill Omen. With Occultist, we’ve got Bloody Pox. Now why would being Clairvoyant support those skills? Actually I have no idea. Clairvoyant is a tough one to fix in a fully satisfying way, for sure.
Well, well, I was not expect Vit ARR to ever be a thing, nice to see it finally has some support instead of requiring a lot of different items to pull off the conversion. Even if it’s a bit lacklustre.
