Idea was to maximise resets with the power of double class mods on a Spellbreaker. I chose Chillspikes because they have multiple projectiles and they do reset ABB here pretty well. Problem is that build has absolutely abyssmal damage (here is a 1:10 Ravager kill video) relative to the amount of synergies it has on paper. One of the minor reasons is that Ice King amulet doesn’t have 70% wd bonus to ABB anymore, although I don’t think custom helm/amulet could help this setup much (ABB green helm with it’s tiny flat bonus to ABB? Winter King’s helm just for rr?)
I think main reason is that DW ABB is just incredibly weak. I think skill as a whole needs another pass especially for dual-wielders. Either make it hit with two weapons or buff mods everywhere. Because even on setups like this where it has a bit less than 500% wd and a lot of %damage/OA/Crit together with constant resets so it’s a practical spam it still does not seem to do good damage.
Also weapons could use a buff themselves, like bigger wd mods and Acid to Cold conversion.
Anyone had any success with ABBmaxxing this test patch?
I tried similar build, was just as bad. ABB is a sad skill that needs some love. Also those swords can definitely get acid>cold conversion for Star Pact. Aaand maybe a bit better reset chance.
The new amulet is pretty good for Acid Witch Hunter, but yeah… ABB just feels a bit lackluster overall and of course doesn’t hold a candle to Dunefiend or Cold Shadow Strike. It’s just mid.
Wrong due to tunnel vision. ABB in general is weak, nothing to do with DW.
I believe this is by design. ABB has a “low” CD so it was made intentionally weaker than SS and RoS for example. The LA buff also plays a big factor. Unfortunately this design has aged poorly over the years, moreso now with +charges and chance to reset CD items.
Anyway, buffing it with a million cold damage seems like a boring solution. This will make the skill feel like RoS. I would prefer to take the skill in a different direction. Maybe buff the DoT and make that the focus instead of flat damage. Or improve/change the CC on the skill. At the very least, I would like the numbers revisited (at hard cap, not soft cap) because the skill is indeed weak.
I don’t think that ABB has enough oomph to work as the primary damage-dealing spell.
Zero or close to zero cooldown may work; However, there is not enough potential to compete with the heavy hitters (as this minmax build shows).
As it is, ABB will almost always be a buffer skill, similar to BH.
Moreover, ABB acid support is too focused on Occultist.
We have vileblade set, amarastan crusher, viletongue, dreegal, bilelauncher and quillthrower. Only venomlash and spear are non Occultist (P.S. there must be a relatively good Acid doom bolt somewhere around there)
On a side note, i think there is an AA & WPS over-popularity right now, with 9 out of 10 good builds i stumble upon being WPS based. Don’t know if this is due to caster being less relevant (especially after onslaught nerfs) or the community is focusing on WPSs.
please don’t buff ABB baseline, that thing will obliterate campaign if it gets more buffs again
ABBs endgame issue is very simple, we have a “direct” comparison skill, Blade Arc(or aegis i guess ). It’s a 1h scaled skill, in a world of 2handers, non-WD caring spells, or 90% dw scaled skills.
I’m personally in camp not everything has to be the same, so giving ABB dw scaling “just like RoS” is boring, but at the same time it also might serve an example of how much dmg increase was necessary to make (non-bleed) RoS “meta” for a moment again.
And i genuinely don’t want another busted levelling skill like dw scaled RoS - if endgame itemization gets dmg/dot/crit bumped up to those levels so be it
ABB as a leveling skill is perfectly fine, yes. And we can even make the argument that it’s pretty good at very specific things in endgame, like Totem farming, because of its decent AoE capabilities. But as gargabolo already pointed out correctly, the issue is single target damage. SR, Boss- /Nemesisfarming in campaign, Superbosses, that’s where ABB is really lackluster. It can do it but it is comparatively slow and also quite expensive to juice up to make it somewhat viable. I’m not saying that it’s bad, that would be hyperbolic. It’s just aggressively mid whilst also being expensive to really commit to compared to something like Shadow Strike or Doom Bolt for example.
i’m not remotely disagreeing with the endgame stuff? - i’m outright saying to just buff it on endgame items, not baseline.
And even making 2 skill comparisons, one current “bad” too(1h BA) and one former bad but now ok(dw RoS)
The problem as usual is baseline affects campaign and levelling, and quickly spirals, and it’s often not as considered when endgame fixes are requested, even if endgame fixes might be entirely valid. (they should just be kept endgame relevant when possible then, not base buffs) +making everything dw scaled is boring imo
ABB is kekw since day 1, none of many reworks made it function as a main skill.
Two major issues:
Short skill tree with only support that is lethal assault which itself is disturbingly pathetic.
Long CD and inability to lower it reliably.
So at the end of the day ABB strictly turns into a DoT build with long CD, and god forbid you miss a hit. And ele DoTs are not the strongest in game, to begin with.
In addition high tier bosses nowadays require consistent DPS, which means strong hit damage besides DoT.
Why don’t you try to replace 1 of the weapons with Amarastan Crusher and test how it goes? Ye it’s shit weapon, also acid conversion and damage reduction, but will unlock consistent hit damage besides DoT.
). It’s a 1h scaled skill, in a world of 2handers, non-WD caring spells, or 90% dw scaled skills.
- if endgame itemization gets dmg/dot/crit bumped up to those levels so be it
