We all know it - the epic ring set that sends fire and cold spiralling out from your character. And we’ve all seen how much it gets used. 
Whether its fire, cold, elemental or some kind of Beronath-style conversion build, its a very popular set, and with good reason.
Personally, I think the set is bit overpowered, and could do with some tuning to bring it more in line with other similar rings. While I don’t think the set particularly needs any changes as to what it does, I feel like some of the numbers could definitely do with being toned down, particularly in regards to the set bonuses.
- The flat damage bonus is kind of insane. At 32 flat damage per ring, it offers (consistently, at least) the most flat damage on any ring in the entire game, with most not coming even close, sitting at around the 10-16 mark on average (with a bunch of max rolls sitting at around 20ish). The only ring that does come close is Mythical Glyph of Kelphat’Zoth, offering 34 flat damage at the absolute maximum roll (and due to lightning’s damage range, it’ll often be much lower). However, this number is split between lightning and vitality, and most builds to my knowledge are probably only going to make use of one of these. Finding fire and cold together, however, seems a lot more common, especially when you consider the average Inquisitor build.
While you could argue that 32 fire/32 cold is fair because you have to complete the set to get it, I don’t really see this to be much of a setback. While the stats on the rings themselves are nothing amazing (albeit still good), they’re also similar enough that any person picking one probably won’t mind picking the other anyway. If you run fire/cold, you probably want more fire/cold. If you run ABB, you probably want LA. If you run FS, you probably want ES. If you want OA…etc.
Long story short, I feel like the 32 fire/cold bonuses should be halved to somewhere around the 16 mark. Quite a dramatic reduction, but the original numbers were quite dramatic outliers. The reduction won’t kill your build, even if it only uses one of the two damage types, but it’ll bring the rings more in line with the rest, and builds that focus on both damage types at once will still be rewarded. Besides, you still have that juicy proc, which brings me onto…
- The juicy proc, Elemental Force. The “if your build didn’t look like a firework show, it does now” proc.
(15% chance on attack)
0.8 Second Skill Recharge
100% Chance to pass through Enemies
0.3 Meter Radius
15% Weapon Damage
150-230 Fire Damage
150-230 Cold Damage
…and seems to pretty much keep on going forever until it hits a wall.
Possibly the closest comparison to Elemental Force is the similarly named…Elemental Force, courtesy of Mythical Reign of Ice and Fire.
(10% chance on attack)
0.8 Second Skill Recharge
100% Chance to pass through Enemies
0.3 Meter Radius
192 Fire Damage
192 Cold Damage
33% Chance of 220 Burn Damage over 2 Seconds
33% Chance of 220 Frostburn Damage over 2 Seconds
Again, seems to go forever until it hits a wall.
In fact, a lot of that ring screams “I am the souped-up version of Elemental Harmony”, but then it goes and decides not to have any flat damage on it whatsoever, which is kind of an issue when EH’s flat damage totals 64. The fact that you can equip two of these rings though does balance things a bit at least, especially when it comes to the proc.
As for EH’s proc, even though it looks good, I’m not entirely sure it needs too much adjustment, since you can reach a similar dps with some other epic ring procs, especially if you equip two of the same one. That said, maybe it could do with a slight downwards nudge, simply because the ring set does still offer a significant chunk of flat damage, even if it gets reduced to the values I suggested. Hard to say with certainty, really.
As for the weapon damage on EH’s proc, I’m…fine with it, I guess? Casters need sustain too, after all, and it gives them something to work with since not all caster builds will be drowning in enough weapon damage to make use of ADCtH. Honestly though, I’m not too sure how good it even is from a health recovery standpoint, so if anybody wants to chip in, go for it. The proc itself is near constant on a lot of builds though, so in large crowds I imagine it might at least do something. If the health recovery is significant, it’s definitely an advantage it has over the Ice and Fire ring proc, which is a bit weird for an epic being compared to its closest legendary version. In terms of raw non-weapon damage however, the Ice and Fire proc does seem to win out, especially on a damage-per-ring-slot basis.
So yeah, I’m not 100% sure on what to do with the proc. If the 64 flat damage on EH remains as is, I feel like the proc should definitely be toned down. I think the 64 flat is more important to deal with though, personally. Even on legendary rings that would be a bit “whoa”, never mind relatively easily obtainable epics.
So…thoughts? I don’t really ever make threads like this, so apologies if its kind of a mess.
