So let’s talk about the Diviner’s Vision set. Right now, after reading Superfluff’s amazing pet Ritualist guide, I’m also playing a pet Ritualist so I’m probably biased.
I think I have quite a clear vision what the vision of the devs was, when they created Diviners Vision. Aether comets dropping out of the sky bludgeoning your enemies, while the survivor’s soul is torn apart or are ripped to shreds by angry wraiths.
The reality looks unfortunately a little different. Your build is more or less carried by chaining devastation and Mirror/Mark of Torment.
I really like and enjoy conversion, but Diviner’s Vision takes it a little bit too far and is rather confusing. Just look at it:
-Elemental damage get’s partly converted to aether damage. This is great and opens the door for 100% elemental->aether with Decree of Albrecht or Magelord Rings.
-Vitality damage get’s partly converted to aether damage. Ok sure, why not.
-Devastation’s fire damage gets 100% converted to vitality and 70 vitality is added. So I guess the 100% fire conversion takes priority over the elemental->aether conversion and the 70 vitality damage get’s party converted to aether? Not really sure. Maybe I should consult the stars about this secret, but I guess I’m not daring enough to do so…
Imho the sets focus on Reap Spirit and the conjured Wraith is really amazing, but rather wasted on a Spellbinder. Reap Spirit gets transformed in a decent spammable singe target nuke, but that makes any bonus to the Wraith’s lifetime pretty much obsolete. It might not even live long enough to reach an enemy, not speaking about dealing any relevant amount of damage before it gets resummoned (Safarels’ build has for example a cool down of 0,7 on Reap Spirit).
Let’s assume you use this set as intended, summon your up to 4 wraiths and let them whack the enemies in peace. In this case Arcanist class just doesn’t bring anything relevant for pets to the table. Sure IEE adds flat elemental damage, some physical->elemental conversion and some crit. damage but that’s it. There is nothing else for pets. Furthermore you have no means for elemental resistance reduction with the Spellbinder, so the additional elemental damage on your pets won’t do you much good, without some really awkward devotion choices. What you really want is vitality damage for your pets. So in the end, you best play as the stereo typical Spellbinder, mostly just chaining Devastation, Mark of Torment/Mirror and spamming Reap Spirit in between (which imho ruins the beauty of this spell).
So here are several suggestions on how to improve Diviners’ Vision:
-remove the awkward 100% fire to vitality conversion from devastation (x1x1x1x2 pointed rightfully out that this is bonkers, with the additional projectiles)
-convert pet elemental damage partly into vitality/aether damage
-add the shaman as a third supported mastery to the set. Wendigo Totem/Blood Pact, Heart of the Wild, Devouring Swarm comes to mind. Pet Ritualists want a set too, don’t just give everything to fancy, already overequipped Conjurers and Cabalists.
-give an AoE to Reap Spirit
-increase the max. Wraith limit and damage boni to Reap Spirit but remove the cool down reduction
-add more pet boni, especially, +%damage and %crit damage
-focus on more pet synergetic skills, instead of Devastation. Maybe Aether Bone Harvest, a transmuter to Iksandra’s Elemental Exchange or a strong proc for you and your pets.
Hopefully I’m not the only one who feels that way and some other folks give their input, suggestions for improvement or even prove me wrong by posting a kickass pet Spellbinder.
Yeah most definitely:D. But if it’s mostly used by casters why not remove the pet boni all together, buff the caster elements and create a different set that focuses on the Wraiths. Right now the set tries to do too much, isn’t really fleshed out and fails at everything it is intended for. Which is a real shame.
Hybrid sets are so rare already, making this yet another boring time dilation devastation cookie cutter build would not be a good idea. Diversity is fun.
Yes I completely agree, but the pet aspect is rather weak, especially if you take into consideration that the Spellbinder isn’t the greatest pet class to begin with. So the easiest solution would probalby be to open it up to other more pet supporting classes. Or give it a good buff, so it’s useful even if you don’t use the set given bonuses to its’ full potential (like Blood Knight or Justicar)
Right now the set is just played exactly as yet an other boring time dilation devastation build, with not so much cookie cutting because it’s more on the sucky side^^
That’s the thing with hybrids, they (should) do two things adequately instead of one thing fantastically. It’s never going to be on par with a full pet build or full chain devastation build in either department, and that would not be a good thing either. If it did both things as well as dedicated builds, why play those dedicated builds at all? So you compromise, which is what all hybrids are at the end, sometimes unsatisfying compromises. Doesn’t mean they’re not viable or fun, there’s a perfectly viable hybrid build possible with the current set.
Yeah, adding AoE to Reap Spirit would surely be an improvement, add some more damage while you are at it. Make it hit really really hard, so that it becomes a tactical nuke, maybe even in exchange for the -2sec cool down.
That way the spawned wraiths would also become more relevant.
I use this with my ongoing mainchar in HC. But i use Devastation only as a sidenote; love the defensive Skills of Arcane (Mirror & MSoP); love my Pets but using only Skeletons and the Spirits on Ulti and just a few Points in the fiends. (Ah, yes and of course the Skeletal Servant from the Relic “Dirge of Arkovia”).
Damage is coming from initial Reap Spirit with the Dot and Bone Harvest with the AoE and of course of all the Pets (Skeletons with Tsunami are sweet, and the combo with Skills like IEE and Will of the crypt, too).
Devotions are all about Autotrigger Defensive Aoe Spells like ToL, Ishtak and Cleansing Water is linked to Reap Spirit, which is nice to have against Bosses or Nemesis.
I don’t know if the build is rigt know exactly like that, because i take a break from GS right now (till FS --> HYPE!!!) and i know it is not the best build in the world but it works in Ulti HC and give me several hundred hours of fun :D.
I love the set, but i understand the intention, that the set feels not quite polished. My decision to leave Devastation only as a sidenote opens other possibilitys to focus on.
While I think the concept of hybrid builds are cool, it’d make much more sense to combine things that synergize naturally instead of things that don’t go together at all. As it is, even using this set you’re going to be better off going either all pets or all nukes than you would as a hybrid, largely because outside of this set there is no other support for the combination, and zero support for pet aether outside a single level 35 relic.
Winter King items have the same problem. Cold + pets + nightblade have no support outside of 3 items.
Pet + player lightning is currently the best supported hybrid configuration but is still limited to a couple of items that don’t always match where the skills are.
. Yes you are right, but there should also be a synergy. Corrupter of Spirits is a great example of well designed and synergetic hybrid set. It gives reasonably bonuses to your pets and buffs Bone Harvest so you can use it to kill weaker mobs. Furthermore it has a really good proc for your pets. Unfortunately it’s not an legendary set and thus lacks armor, resistances, and strong modifiers. My main complaint with Diviner’s Vision is that it fails at being a hybrid, instead ends up as a mediocre caster. Reap Spirit’s damage is only relevant if you spam it, but this stands in direct conflict with actually using the Wraiths.
Adding AoE to Reap Spirit, as Mantis suggested, would surely be an improvement, add some more damage while you are at it. Make it hit really hard, so that it becomes a tactical nuke but remove the cool down reduction. Maybe give the -2 sec cool down to Devastation. That way the spawned wraiths would become more relevant.
Yeah sigatrev you are absolutely right, there should be a synergy between the supported spells. Corrupter of Spirits is imho a great example of well designed and synergetic hybrid set. It gives reasonably bonuses to your pets and buffs Bone Harvest so you can use it to kill weaker mobs. Furthermore it has a really good proc for your pets. Unfortunately it’s not an legendary set and thus lacks armor, resistances, and strong modifiers.
The synergie between devastation and pets just isn’t really good. If you try to do both, you will end up with a lackluster devastation (especially with the weird fire->vitality conversion) and weak/fragile pets.
Minor point but with reap spirit the fragility of the wraiths is completely inconsequential, since you can summon them pretty much endlessly and instantly. This may explain why I kind of like the skill, despite its problems, it enables a total glass cannon setup for the pets.
Minor point but with reap spirit the fragility of the wraiths is completely inconsequential, since you can summon them pretty much endlessly and instantly. This may explain why I kind of like the skill, despite its problems, it enables a total glass cannon setup for the pets.
With fragile I meant your other pets, beside the wraiths, which you might want to have. The wraiths are actually suprisingly durably, mine usually die from old age.
How do you think about raising the summon limit for the wraiths by an additional +2 and doing something cool with IEE instead of Devastation?
I am just checking ideas on a Diviner Spellbinder because I found several parts of this set, and this is a half-formed idea so far: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/p25qjDx2
Basically, same as you said, use reap Sprit to target stronger enemies and spam Wraiths. They stick around and you get a max of 3 of them.
On the other hand, I added Slathsarr’s Crest - that Aetherwarped Basilisk in the Ancient Grove drops it- so you can use Panetti missiles that do 100% Aether damage.
As you said, the whole weirdness of the Vitality conversions confuses me. I was thinking about using Aether Ray instead but frankly a channeled skill does not mash well with reap Spirit if you constantly have to restart it. Plus I could find nothing that would help converting that pesky Fire and Lightning damage of the ray to Vitality, not unless you take the transmuter but that turns Aether into Chaos as well… and that is I think maybe the weird Clairvoyant set was made for? (I am not sure, that set is weird)
Has anyone recently tested the performance of this set?
I cleared SR75 with this build last night, but it was an AAR binder after all. It may be wrong because I haven’t tried it, but the RP part of this set seems a bit unsatisfactory when compared to AAR. Or is it powerful enough?