While I like Forcewave, I don’t like it to use it with Tremor as my basic attack. As such, I’ve been trying to make a build which uses Forcewave without Tremor but more like a regular 2.8sec CD spell.
However, comparing T-FW to regular FW it seems that the latter is rather underpowered and lacks incentives to fully invest in it.
For example, damage wise it seems more efficient to invest in Blitz. A level 1 Blitz with 1 point in Blindside does the same damage as a level 11 FW with 1 point in Rending Force and Tremor. A lvl16 Blitz does a lot more damage then a lvl16 FW, dealing both more physical damage as very valuable % weapon damage.
The main upside to FW is its range, and it allows you to clear medium sized groups in 1 hit; something Blitz can’t do. But is that worth it? I know that Blitz and FW act differently, but the comparison is still informative.
Has anyone made a build which successfully uses FW without Tremor? Do you use it as a main damage spell?
Non-transmuted FW is in direct competition with Blitz and transmuted Blade Arc for cd based soldier skills… I think it’s main appeal is supposed to be the cc, but since mobs are either irrelevant or immune to cc it really doesn’t help considering it as a relevant option. The damage penalty on transmuted version isn’t harsh at all, can’t see a reason to skip it if wanting to use FW.
Use both Forcewave and Blitz with their modifiers, you can build a character around that if you focus on internal trauma damage. The set of justice gives pretty juicy bonuses to both these skills.
If I were trying Forcewave without Tremors, i’de either:
-Load up on a handful of strong cooldown-based skills and rotate around them. So Forcewave, possibly Blitz and/or Blade Arc as mentioned, Oleron’s Might as well etc.
-Use Cadence or another replacer in tandem with Forcewave. Cadence mainly came to mind because of Deadly Momentum.
I haven’t tried either idea so I’m just throwing out some crazy suggestions.
I do have a bleeding Witchblade that uses both Blade Arc and Forcewave on CD.
It’s pretty good, but getting +skills on the forcewave line is rather hard due to the itemization favoring physical/fire.
It’s not finished yet and I’ll change some of the gear later, but here it is: http://www.grimtools.com/calc/bVAmWQVD (bonus on relic is +1 Internal Trauma/+1 Blindside)
Remaining skillpoints probably go into Aspect of the Guardian and Counterstrike, not sure about the latter yet.