Note: This feedback follows as consequence of playing Version 1.2 of Grim Dawn. As it does not directly concern 1.2, I placed it here rather than in the PTR subforums.
Tooled up and toyed around with a Drain Essence build recently, and found it utterly unplayable, in the most extreme sense:
(I wasn’t even casting Doom Bolt much at all, due to DE’s energy consumption)
This rode on the back of derision and implied distaste of the skill from others, who were generally apparently unsatisfied with its performance (though I’ll leave them to comment on it as they see fit) in the damage department. Frankly, I have no great qualms of the above build’s damage, only its literal unplayability.
Yes, one can point out that certain aspects of my build were overly aggressive or neglected pursuits of energy regen - a meme build, ultimately, aiming to take -OA anywhere it can find it (such as Rend in devotion; I almost considered Arcane Bomb too…). But I would question in retort whether such things should be necessary in the first place. At the end of the day, this is ultimately a game, but extreme cases such as this that render the game unplayable feel like a deeper problem. And yes, energy cost is a bit of a problem child in GD; you don’t really notice it until something becomes unsustainable, and there’s rarely any in-between.
Which is all to say that I think Drain Essence is worth giving a looking at. Now, if we turn around and say that channeled skills like it should require some greater investment in energy regen than the build above, that’s all fine and dandy, but it doesn’t change the fact that the general consensus on the skill is not presently very positive (again, for reasons TBD by others). But my current feedback, based on what I’ve experienced firsthand, is purely in the Energy Department.
So, I’d suggest one of two things:
- Adding some -% Energy Cost to Decomposition
- Remove the additional Energy Costs altogether from one (or both) of Hungering Reach and Decomposition.
For the former, I think Decomposition is the “weakest” DE node when you’re not making a meme -OA build like I was, so giving it another stat to be interested in is, in my eyes, the best approach. But it seems counterintuitive for a skill (modifier) to grant -% Energy Cost while also adding an Energy Cost. Hence the second suggestion, though I’m not presently of the camp to advocate for both.
The third solution, which I don’t like, is to sprinkle more -% Energy Cost onto more items. There’s already some out there that have it, but of the six items with DE skillmods used in the above build, none possess such a stat.
I’d rather see the stat innately than pigeonholing people into specific item selections, though.
Share thoughts below, especially if you have (informed) opinions on DE that are not concerned with its Energy costs.
Add Dark One and Morgoneth gloves to the roster as well (%AS for second ones too).
It’s arguably not worse than level 1-20 on Oathkeeper, which truly is the worst early game class. What about comparing it to Ignaffar or Aether Ray?
