IMO there is a solution for that problem that I also experienced so I want to emphasize it again(I mentioned it before in cold>fire conversion feedback);
RF line is absurd when you compare it to Savagery line. Yes both has DoT and Main Damage %multiplier on third node but Retribition is obviously for RTA and DoT based yet %Fire damage multiplier is on it and main RF has %burn damage. Which makes the RF single hit atleast %25-30 Burn based, even if you convert all physical>fire, it doesn’t matter. So it’s sustain is bad.
Soulblades, using two of them still doesn’t provide enough lifesteal. RF single hit damage is still low even in most aggressive setup and with all those lifesteal modifiers. And as far as I know only working build is perma-ascension one with those weapons.(Don’t know about CT)
So buffing gears that supports Fire RF might solve this issue. Soulblades are obvious, still behind Blazehearts; which is a not OP, not weak quest item and the best part of it is it’s conversion due to Seal of Void usage.
Gauntlet’s of Ignaffar, gives more burn damage than flat fire, which intensifies the bad sustain. There are builds that can survive with %12 lifesteal(which can be obtained by just devotion setup) but with 2 Soulblades you hardly reach that point with %20+ lifesteal.
OR %Burn damage on RF and %Fire Damage on Retribition can be swapped. Oathkeeper already a skill point hungry class, Retribition points mostly in retaliation gears etc and not many builds can invest full RF line fully without making Ascension, Vire’s Might line, Judgment line etc one pointer; they are important skills aswell.
Funny story, prior to 1.1.7, there was a Sentinel of the Three ranged rata paladin that could get passthrough, a shield, higher armor and phys res while still maintaining comparable damage to the Hellborne build. It was actually okay for doing SR, and although I haven’t tested, probably even a bit faster for cruci.
I honestly don’t want paladin to just become another class combination where the best builds are just simply using the sets designed for it to compensate for lack of inherent synergy. The thing I liked most about updating the Hellborne build was that it relied mostly on the already established synergy between rata rf and wps skills between Oathkeeper and Inquisitor respectively. If paladin gets a buff, I’d want it to be more along the lines of emphasizing the existing strengths of the class.
That being said, I know Z probably doesn’t like it when rata gets used like flat damage. I hope, regardless of anything else, paladin does get a buff somehow even if it’s not in line with the kind of rata pew pewers that Inquisitor + Oathkeeper naturally favors.
I was going to write a snarky reply on the Paladin subject but realistically @Nery’s post is just 100% accurate and doesn’t really miss anything. So the joke is sadly ruined.
Thirded? Every time I’ve tried to do non-retal ranged paladin, the flat damage is awful, and I find resists on non-set fire gear pretty bad (many times I put together and find sub 10% phys and unfixable resists via augments). You can make weird super tank gun and shield builds ala oathbearer + watcher, but not really a class defining niche.
This guy was able to do 5:30-6 before aggro fix. Nothing to write home about really. I distinctly remember how the tankiness aspect was severly lacking for me despite a lot of tanky stats on paper. I had to do some hula hooping with Acid component skill + devotion to have decent sustain.
But overall, yeah, Fire Paladin is riddled with problems (in no particular order):
Exclusive skills overlap (which Shieldbreakers or Sentinels don’t have) - you sacrifice quite a bit of %damage and crit for AoC
Heavy armor set that prevents from any meaningful Spirit investment (all while it lacks %damage)
Both Judgement and RoK are just decent support skills and even together they don’t make up for the lack of a proper offensive skill like the one from Demo arsenal. Fire Pala simply lacks punch.
Dedicated gear lacks +1 skills to either mastery so finding points for skill hungry stuff like RoK and something else is super hard
I just wanna highlight this. When it comes to discussing weak classes this is usually the common reason especially on their more synergistic damage types. You’re combining two support masteries, you don’t expect to do damage.
Paladin has no strong fire skills. If it got even just one demo damage skill that’s not jacks then it’ll jump so far up in this rankings imo.
Apostate has shit for aether skills. All the strong aether skills are in arcanist. Word of pain can be strong with the right support but that support is in infiltrator of all classes. I’d love to rework those daggers to mod Ill omen instead of veil tbh.
Tactician might have stuff like blade arc but blade arc is weak without flat damage. And all the flat damage is in nightblade. Soldier is effectively a support mastery on pierce but what it offers blocks conviction on inq.
Deceiver for chaos has no good chaos skill. Dunno if sigil on black flames is an exception but I haven’t seen it. And Occultist is generally a support class on non pet builds.
Similar from around the same time… More sigil focus + doom bolt https://www.grimtools.com/calc/m23mvk7Z
I’m sure it’s 5:30 possible now with the chaos resist changes
Is there no better amulet for this? Like Conduit with -15% Chaos res to Bloody Pox? You will lose some damage on Sigils but gain huge global modifier as well as a lot of tankiness and +1 to all skills in Occultist.
As I bang my head against a wall trying to make ranged AA paladins other than rutnick…
Does stand alone fire gear purposefully have awful stats? Across about 4 builds now, my OA is well shy of 2800, my resists are garbage without greens with special call out for consistently under 10% phys res, and oh hey the damage is kinda crap if you don’t go full fire procs to make up for it because paladin can’t stack enough flat damage.
Blue set, but one of the few things with + skills to both oath and inquis. Needed to slot a kaisan neck just for slow and resist coverage, and double offensive affixes on the gargabol ring to get above 2600 OA. Hat tip to 7% phys res. And yet when it’s alive all the fire spam makes magic and the set proc is ace for AoE. But uh, don’t stand in front of any nemesis with physical damage, because seal + phoenix + low ascension aren’t saving your ass.
I will now tear apart the devos and go look for phys res, ghoul, excessive leech, and whatever other fun will maybe keep me standing and see what happens to the damage.
edit: obsidian grasp and 3% more leech helped to not die to every big charging mob, but still quickly falls apart in SR75 boss room
Here is the Ravager kill for my ravenous earth cabalist. I made some minor changes (changed the boots and belt to get more chaos conversion and trap resist) so I also re-recorded my SR90 clear.
After quite a long break i’ve finally forced myself to update the table and write changelog.
for heaven’s mecried hole, please start filling the form. it’s really easy an it saves me a lot time.
not to mentioned that i won’t forget about builds presented in that way (at least, the odds are lower.)
Hm, maybe my bad. I saw morgo reaper with 4:00 on youtube and 3:50 buff timer so I thought it’s counted with buff timer. Impossible to get maximum possible points everywhere with my new DK then
5:56 ex 170 + Mogdrogen.