That’s the conclusion that I came to after extensively testing and thoroughly remaking my Cyclone Vindicator.. Build has 2850% to Lightning before Spirit, double RR, Wind Devils on steroids, Storm Totems, Storm Box, converted Corruption, converted Chain Lightning and it barely squeeze in the sub 6 minute runs when piloted by me. Wind Devils and Cyclone set were overnerfed. Storm Box was overnerfed. I think it’s fair to give some of it back to Lightning since 8% rr was globally removed.
I propose:
+1 to Wind Devil summon limit at 24/16 (same as with GoE and BS)
Imo only one of those three should happen. Wind devils (and cyclone part of it) were nerfed cause almost every shaman that used it was busted. Box was nerfed cause every inq that used it was bonkers. Exaggerating of course, but combine it and you make a stupidly strong vindicator of the old patches. The age of the vindicator is over, but other classes based on either shaman or inq can still shine if only one skill is buffed.
Storm Box was never self sufficient skill to begin with. Was part of few strong builds but wasn’t the lone damage dealer and don’t think was OP prior to nerfs.
Wind Devils deserve some buff , but summon limit and more damage to Maelstrom at same time is too much.
Worth noting that aether corruption lightning RR removal was good step towards lightning damage balancing. So skills needs revision.
I’d vote for Box rather than the shaman side. Elementalist is still near broken fire due to all the synergy from Cyclone and the broken fire to lightning conversion.
I vote for reverting nerfs on box. Actually, all inq skills are only second-third support ones without proper gear. It can’t be like storm totems in Trozan Druid or bone harvest in Wildblood Ritualist. It feels very bad.
Also I would like to bring back some damage on Maelstorm. Now its in a bad state even with overmaxed nod
Edit: also please add some lightning RR to Oathkeeper via Cyclone, after all the nerfs it severaly starves on damage because of not enough RR.
Not in “go make your glass builds sturdier and stop complaining”. Before all the generic lightning nerfs all lightning melee have passed endgame by a hair.
There are two major reasons for that:
Very unreliable RR skills. For instance you have to maniacally spam “pet attack” throughout a run to make Wind Devils actually apply RR to your target; Thermite Mines apply RR with a delay and AoE is very small. And the devo RR is by far the worst among elements. Also among the elements: fire and cold have aura RR, lightning doesn’t.
Reliable lightning flat doesn’t exist in the game. All sources look like 1-XX and your WD often looks like 1X - 2X. Bad sequence of dmg rolls punishes you both with dmg and sustain because reasonably obtainable adcth sources are limited for lightning.
To give some perspective. This situation with flat is so bad, my only half-playable lightning DW build looks like this: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/JVlazgMZ
And yes, you see it right. A lightning build with Occultist exclusive instead of Shaman exclusive. Because with Shaman exclusive it cannot survive, not enough flat and tankiness.
The pillar of lightning melee was always Ultos set. I’ve tested Conjurer and Druid Ultos extensively. First one is completely unplayable, second one requires good reflexes, perfect timing and vast endgame experience.
The only viable lightning melee build left in the game is probably Ultos Vindicator.
I suggest: instead of juggling stats of specific skills give lightning a GOOD RR skill from the devotion map, just like cold and fire have. And give some flat to Shaman exclusive and Flame Touched. Casters won’t benefit much from it, but it might just save melee.
That will only happen if you remove +1 summon limit from full cyclone set bonus. Otherwise, no.
Nope, cyclone even after massive amount of nerfs still do 500-600k ticks in crucible. Maybe return 4 targets (classes that doesn’t have access huge AoE like elementalist) with slight electrocute reduction on ultimate ranks.
Are you talking about Electrocute ticks that include Lightning Canister Bomb? Because Elementalist is the only spec where Cyclone still does a lot of damage: but it’s super squishy/incosistent + it’s a huge piano that requires very precise piloting.
It’s the best result I could do with it. It can be 6:30 with bad mutators/spawns. And look at this build’s damage and setup. I bet most Cyclone builds don’t even have half of that.
I don’t know how much is reliable @Shoot2033 info. His elementalist is a pure fun glass cannon, not even a real build. Last time when Shoot asked for increased CD on canister bomb, he definitely forgot that Shieldbreakers and Purifiers don’t have Starpact and Eternity.
My point is that Shoot played too much with this two classes and achieving his timers by sacrificing every vital stat for more dps
Meanwhile Cyclone Archont is heavily underperforming with latest nerfs. @Zantai, could you please add -15% lightning res to keeper’s Guardians as a set bonus?
That can be said about just about every build ever nerfed. Same thing about Morgoneth. The build that did sub 4 had 8k health. Make it a “real” build and it’s no longer so op.
But I agree that stripping Mealstrom of the 5th Devil is basically -20% total dmg. Bit much. Considered all the other nerfs and no adjustments to defense.
No overcaps, some res are not capped even, 18% slow res. Such builds shouldn’t be able even to complete 150 glad. Its just crucible that is complete faceroll nowadays.
SS is a bit OP, no surprise if it would be adjusted
->
All crucible funs run for their timers doing everything for more dps. This gives nothing, but a wrong idea of the balance state
Slow res isn’t so important on elementalist because most dmg is passive and unaffected by slow. And acid res isn’t essential in Crucible unless you get acid-bolted by Kaisan when debuffed and low so you save a healing pot for that. So it’s not like it’s a badly made “non-real” build. You just gotta know how it functions and the purpose it was made for.
It’s got double Ravager’s Eyes and 3 Bloodied Crystals. So it’s not like it’s giving up everything. But I did raise my eyebrows when Shoot replaced my Bat with his Fiend…
On the margin, the safer version had a conduit. Since they no longer exist, some adjustments could’ve been made to the all-round nerfs to lightning. Conduits used to be a powerful defensive crutch for all kinds of builds. Removing them really really sucked.
Anyway, I don’t think lightning was overnerfed in the caster category. I just don’t like removing signature stuff like Cyclone’s 5 Devils. And - but it’s old news - nerfing skills because they synergize on certain gear with certain stuff from another mastery but themselves aren’t strong at all (Box).
