okay, it’s time to poop, and poop really hard.
I tried the aforementioned build after Stormreaver buffs. Tweaked it a bit since it feels like every build has to have some kind of CC effect (petrify goes brr). I’m gonna say, Stormreaver buffs are good - gameplay is much more fluid. but I won’t talk about Stormreaver. I’m gonna talk once again about the weird thing that is Veilkeeper set and how we can possibly make it good.
It’s been probably a couple of years since I first made this build and tried to push it to the limit, so, I think, I have the right to ask if not for complete rework but for a serious change for this set.
let’s start by simply comparing what Veilkeeper offers in terms of stats compared to, say, any recently buffed set or its SR counterpart, like Goredrinker.
so, as @banana_peel said in discord, chad res, massive hp, massive oa/da on one side, virgin 5% as and mid regen on the other. Not even mentioning that Goredrinker helm alone has more OA/DA than 2-piece bonus for Veilkeeper.
let’s continue with full set bonuses.
so… one (Goredrinker) has 1) %damage, which is always good, 2) pretty good defensive stats in HP, LL, healing effects and unique 100% bleed duration reduction - and on top of that, pretty straighforward but very well working mods.
now, what can Veilkeeper offer? 1) 50 OA/DA - as I said, Goredrinker helm or, say, any Rotgheist part give overall more raw stats than this 2-piece bonus, 2) resists… for real now? These can be spread across set pieces easily and replaced with, say, %damage, as and some fat DA and 3) very questionable bonuses.
one of the main problems with Veilkeeper is that it’s trying to sit on two chairs at once and doesn’t succeed. the set technically boosts necro wps, and one may want to make an aether Ritualist or Spellbinder - but ironically, if you wanna play aether melee with those classes, you should avoid Veilkeeper at all costs simply because it ruins your damage via that weird split conversion, so any vitality flat is completely wasted.
for Upheaval the set offers kinda decent bonuses but then again, we have that aether/li split, at least w/o annoying conversion this time.
Arcanist part is just weak. flat and OA are ok but the bonuses to Arcane Will are kinda questionable. It’s good when you have it up but then it goes on cd and you better have plan B for that case. Necro part also has that weird li flat for Spectral Binding (you serious?) and for some weird reason only 100% regen instead of 325% on Arcane Will (guess regen Ritualist is too strong?).
sooooo… what do I suggest?
in the wake of recent reworks and builds being destroyed and born anew, I suggest maybe not a total rework but a massive overhaul to this set. Make it for both lightning and aether but not mix 'em up. Like, for lightning/Arcanist/Druid part - add some flat e-cute to IEE, transfer Arcane Will bonuses to it too and make them weaker but permanent. For aether/Necro/Ritualist part - remove the split conversion, make it 100% cold and vit>aether for WPS, maybe add extra targets. Replace li flat for SB with aether flat, increase regen.
I think it would be kinda cool and unique for the set to support 2 damage types separately, not in this weird pairing for the 1000th time. Moreso, we have several items that support aether Shaman but now the only set it has completely dumps the concept because of those stupid conversions.
Overall - overhaul the set bonuses completely. Increase the OA/DA bonuses massively, sprinkle those resists on set pieces or supporting gear and add instead %li/e-cute/aether and some massive DA, like 10%. set is in dire need of that stat particularly. Also freeze/stun resists on the medal are probably the most generic cc resists ever, would be nice to get at least one replaced with trap/petrify.
what would also be very nice is to see some form of DR baked into the set. maybe on Upheaval? Like, you bonk enemies that hard that they can’t really strike back.
overall, I’m ready for any noobs and noob defenders to come and argue that proposed changes would make the set too OP or ruin their aether/li ritualist they’ve been planning to complete FoA with but let them come.
in the end, some videos of how the set performs. naked ex is out of question if Grava emerges.
Not knowing exactly when Upheaval will trigger or not (or multiple times in a row!) make it interesting to play (for me).
), and cold if going aether; while converting the flat aether mods to either side
, so you’ll be leaning one side or the other there resulting in less total bonus
)