I mean other than just as a pace holder for the Item you really want in your build.
Is there some hidden mystery/stat behind this runed stick that is incomprehensible?
Tried it once with a dualwield melee Warlock, wasn’t terribly impressed.
Wraith of Ascendant poor brother.
Fixed it 
Ahh thank you:D Edited then
Would be funny to use it on a tanky spellbinder. Like, dual wield and drain essence. No, it sounds bad. No support for anything. Only a little bit more tanky due to the 12% armor.
I believe it could be okay-ish with Uroboruuk’s set (not dual wield). But then again, Hex Launcher would fit better into that, since it buffs Drain Essence too.
Vitality to aether conversion can save this item .
No idea. It seems to be an all encompassing item that wants to support any build any arcanist or necro combo but the general stats and mods that it has won’t make it win over other more specialized items.
I’m down with any change to this item as long as it’s competitive
Okay, I thing this can be a niche item:
1)Add 45% Vitality to Aether conversion.
2)Add 4%OA
3)Remove +1 Arcanist - there is too much arcanist in the game, add Sigil bonuses. And a sigil aether dmg modifier instead of Arcane will.
I used it extensively with a Warlock alongside the Codex of Lies. I think those two items would work better for a Cabalist but they worked well enough for my Warlock, even though it never used AAR.
It wasn’t terrible and I did many a group 170 run using it. Is it perfect? No. Should it be perfect? No.
I’d rather have it be a chaos scepter. I doubt we need more competitors for Warpfire, WoTA and Decree
If you used it only in groups then it’s hard to judge.
Perfect is not the ideal lest feedback would never exist on any topic. There are items below lvl 94 that are better than it
I also used it throughout Ultimate difficulty and completed the campaign with it. To that end it was adequate. I did swap it out once something more appropriate dropped. And that’s the real issue for a beginner; the items drop when they want to, and not when the player would like. Having that item at that specific moment in time improved my build and made it stronger than before, so it was “better” for a period of time. And for a warlock it translated to a plus 1 to all skills which made for a lot of flexibility in skill point layout. I enjoyed having that item until I enjoyed something else more.
Yeah:D
Never said it’s bad. It’s just filler and it’s a pity cause I for one find it an interesting concept somehow.
Exactly this.
I’m not sure every legendary item needs to be best in slot. It has uses, even if other items might be better. Not everyone will own those better options.
I wouldn’t go as far as labeling it filler. It served a purpose --namely, improving a build-- and enabled re-configuring the build a lot easier than would otherwise have been. The way I see it is: item x is the desired item but x has not dropped, so I can stay with the item I have until x drops or I can take these ‘intermediary’ items that improve the build performance within the campaign. But it was only intermediary for my build; it might be the desired x for another build.
Bottom line is that you take what drops or you go to your reserves in IA to equip items from other character runs. The idealised Grim Tools build can stay little more than an ideal for a very long time. The Warlock I just mentioned has only just dropped two of the desired Xs and still needs another, it has hundreds of hours in-game time under its belt but is still not that idealised build I’d designed.
I just like the niche style of it, but feel like something is missing, i’m not just referring to damage potential, it overall seems unfinished, like a piece of a greater item, who knows:)
I’m bumping this thread since the expansion is on the way and this is a cool themed item with a lack of flair and potential. It could use a black hole dmg proc imo.
Can’t say I’ve used it but does need some love.
From the looks of the states, it makes Arcane Will into a deadly aim style proc, & spectral Binding into a Field Command style skill.