All is good on it (well, decent) - damage, tank, qol (despite mines and cof it’s okay) but I just couldn’t find enough Energy regeneration on it. And that is despite having few items with flat regen and some amount of absorb. Ravager of Flesh is out of the question even with 2x Soul Shards in rings. Which reminded me about the plight of Chaos casters: energy sustain.
My old Chaos DB Pyromancer has the same problems: it has to use inferior ring components and craft for energy regeneration to sustain itself.
I think problem is very common for Chaos casters. Being locked into pretty much same devotions (can’t really take Scales without selling like 500% damage from either Abom or DG) and having regenless jewellery augments (taking Arcanuum Dust instead of Osyr’s Temper is quite a big downgrade: if you take three Dusts instead of three Tempers you are losing 45% damage and 150 (!) OA). And Occultist, main Chaos mastery, is notorious for having Energy problems.
Suggestions
- Add energy regeneration to Chaos tier-3 devotions. One of the procs can have energy regen aka Harp (and I am sure you can explain it “thematically”, i.e. “giving your blood for taking energy of the Dying God” etc.)
- Sprinkle some regen/absorb in that part of the devotion map
- Flat energy regeneration is flat out worse than % energy regeneration on off-hands. There is no rhyme or reason which off-hands get what, but flat 6 regen is MUCH worse than ~70-76% increased energy regeneration. Those flat regen values on off-hands should be bumped.
Do you have experience with Energy sustain on Chaos casters or Occultist casters? Share it!
I have a vit DE build that had massive energy issues until I changed my devotions to include scales (forgot what I had before). While it’s great vs trash in SR, it doesn’t have very good single target damage. Cabalist, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
The meh damage is also why it has sigil, but it doesn’t help enough.
try chaos spam BWC
i can’t remember how bad my chaos stun jacks were, if they had the same issue as badly (or worse)
But
this was noticeable in being a requirement for bare minimum while still spamming pot buttong every CD
And that’s ofc only because we’re filthy GDstash testing, because in reality you have 1/3 chance of getting that craft.
and speaking anecdotally + from memory, I don’t remember which silly build it was i made, but i made tradeoffs and actually had to take Scythe on top for energy regen to make it tolerable for me, can’t imagine it/whatever it was still ended up mana tolerable to the optimization gang
worst part is when you can’t even benefit from Spark because 0wd caster, and Rylok aug is simply just not enough, even if i’m willing to use that leap button every cd.
generally it feels strange how the energy regen disparity can be. Specially when/where it’s outright so that Scales is just this wunderkind guaranteed fix all devo, and nothing else compares (maybe harp now? haven’t compared 1:1 with buffed harp).
And that disparity then gets extra enhanced simply because how out of reach that 100% solution is on some leftside devo builds.
Imagine if LoE was the sole source of DR in the game, bit exaggerated comparison perhaps, but kinda feels like you know it’s just no-go from the get-go when you pick your build/dmg type.
it’s “so bad” that i often notice that people take the lvl 50 chaos aug with +1 energy regen, and i sometimes just question “why even bother with it”, it’s not gonna fix it anyway, might aswell take the extra health or res, you’re not even being greedy it’s just simply not “enough” to helpout.
i just ran one of my chaos SJs i found, regen is fine there because SJ cost 17 frickin mana per cast Purifier, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.3) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator (also please don’t laugh, is an old old build from yesteryear’s beyond yonder me)
so what can we learn from this? , (besides how horrible my build style can be), well, maybe all skills should just only cost 17 energy max
also, unsure if enemy phys nerfs or whatever,
buuut this thing is clearing sr30-31 now #PowerCreep
For this specific build config, I think that energy regen could easily be added to voidheart and M blood sigil of chthon, since spam bwc is the version of bwc that makes the most sense with chaos. Both of these items directly support bwc but lack energy regen, in energy regen slots.
“works fine on arcanist” is hardly an argument for anything, ever, energy related
edit. hardcapped spam BWC costs 82 energy per cast, without arcanist/when just using book and seal of anni, hardly enough for a base 50 energy regen +Spark at 330% wd
(not even counting other casts)
Exactly my experience as well. Specially since the last change to energy pots, my acid Yugols Cabalist has to spam pots on cooldown and even then it doesn’t sustain over longer fights. Energy regen on BoD would work perfectly for it, but besides that particular case it would help a ton of builds as well as the leveling process with stuff like spam DEE, which is already great, but lacking in the energy side.
tbh that is a problem for the older masteries when you go heavy on the spells; demo, occ, nightblade, even shaman to an extend. the test patch has addressed the worst offenders like sigil, cocktail and vines. i’ll try one of my most thirsty builds later but regarding yours, couldn’t it also be oblivion that’s the culprit there?
If it serves the difference between playable and unplayable, is something like Ectoplasm really “inferior?”
Seriously, I don’t get the idea that “I refuse to use any single item / component / devotion path that’s not on the ‘meta’ path” is a legitimate starting point for conversation. If using Ectoplasm leads to builds being squishy, then wouldn’t giving survivability on those items be an easier way to get what you want? Shoehorning additional buffs on the “meta” constellations is how we got to the point where all of the non-meta constellations simply have no reason to exist.
Items that grant Energy regeneration are there. At least experiment with them before asking for incredibly niche and specific buffs.
Well, is having 50 less da 160 less hp on a DA starved build really inferior on a DA starved build?
You are misusing this word. Build in example is anything but meta.
Absolutely not. You give survivability to those items/devotions so couple of Energy starved builds can use a low level component Ectoplasm and other builds that are using those items/devos are going to get power crept.
Why do think that I, of all people, just slap together a build and as soon as it doesn’t work as I wanted it to, I go ask for buffs? Do you not know how I do builds?
This is an absolute showcase of an inability to compromise in build philosophy based upon subjective standards or that of an echo chamber - IMHO.
If the counter argument is “I don’t need to test x, y, or z because I already know just by looking at a 3rd party tool that it’s bad,” then it’s already a failure as you didn’t test it and it’s akin to seeing patch notes on the PTR and then kicking grass while screaming “#dead build(s).”
What is the benchmark being used to determine bad? Come on we all know the elephant in the room.
You can meet the energy requirements with the loss of one singular thing, clear speed.
Brother, what echo chamber? Did we steal your dog or something? Are you okay? You keep repeating this nonsense about “echo chamber” and spewing hilariously bad takes about how we (putting us, I guess top20 builders, in the same basket like we are one person) do builds or don’t do builds. And you are wrong every time.
If you want to say something, stay on the topic, and for that you have to read it first. As for your constant jabs towards some evil builders collective, you can write down those intrusive thoughts into your personal notepad.
Trying to nest quotes is a pain, so I’ll try and respond the best as I can:
If that’s the case, it’s a lot easier to ask for DA buffs in certain items than overhauling a whole bunch of devotions.
I am - in fact- using this term properly, as I was strictly talking about the devotion path. Yes, taking Scales instead of Dying God is a trade-off. The proper assumption is that said trade-off is not worth it, but the entire point is to test things and figure out which trade-offs are worth it.
So what if the item is low-leveled? It’s the best component to use when you have energy problems. There are a ton of components out there that are BiS despite being low-leveled (Sanctified Bone / Arcane Spark being prime examples). Considering that Arcanist - the one class that is fully self-sufficient in terms of Energy Regen - is a major Chaos class, I can assume the Chaos devotion path is balanced around that.
Remember when classes offered meaningful choices and you built around the classes’ shortcomings? I remember.
I will assume that you are asking this in seriousness and aren’t trolling me, although I will Press X to Doubt.
Firstly, you mention “builds” in plural, but you only post a single build as your example. Secondly, you know that Zantai doesn’t like dealing in hypotheticals. The more data you give him, the more the dev team can pinpoint the source of the problem and give you a solution you actually want. I know you specifically go through the optimization process, but neither I nor the dev team can read your mind. If you tested other components and found this set-up to be the best one, then so be it. But if someone makes a thread specifically called “Energy Regeneration problems,” and doesn’t use the components specifically made to solve Energy Regneration problems, I’m at least going to point that out.
, 
is hardly an argument for anything, ever, energy related 