I would like to share my review and feedback of each component that is available in the game currently. I also give each component one of these colors to better represent how I feel about them with:
- RED means this component almost have no use at all stage in the game.
- YELLOW means this component mostly fine, but may need a little bump on its effect.
- GREEN means this component is fine and has it uses at all or specific stage in the game.
I also would like to add that what I mean as progression below means component that have it’s own upgrade like Searing Ember > Flintcore Bolts > Seal of Destruction. This review will be long and separated into several parts mostly by the slots or use, so I will begin with:
WEAPON - BUFF/TOGGLE
- Seal of Might is the top choice here for non Aether build due to the physical resist. No need to change.
- Seal of Resonance is also a top choice except for physical build due to the cc resist it give. No need to change.
- Seal of Blades, Vicious Spikes, and Serrated Spike is a nice progression from low to high level of component, with Vicious Spikes have the highest pierce damage and Seal of Blades have armor and ADCtH. No need to change.
- Wrathstone, Riftstone, Hell’s Bane Ammo, Enchanted Flint, Coldstone, and Vitriolic Gallstone. This component each give 100% of it’s supported damage bonus as well as flat. The skill it gives also provides additional effect, except the Acid/Poison version unless one count the increased poison duration as its unique bonus. I think the bonus on Vitriolic Gallstone is lacking, I suggest adding 15%-20% stun or freeze resist is fine here as Acid/Poison build usually struggle in this part.
- Purified Salt and Imbued Silver is a good component in leveling and still have it use in end game as an extra resist for 3 types of resist. It also provides DA and max resist and help pet builds filling the Aether and Chaos resist for pets. No need to change.
- Haunted Steel and Hollowed Fang is another good progression component for leveling, but it uses in Vitality build is minimal that other damage type have more benefits in using it ADCtH. This problem come from the availability of Vitality damage skill that use weapon damage, the Vitality damage skill from mastery are Bone Harvest, DEE, and Righteous Fervor with it’s transmuter. Therefore I suggest to rework the skill it gives by cutting all of the Bloodthirster ability in half and change it to a toggle skill that also give it’s benefit to pet; this way pet build will get an offensive component that also support bleed damage and provide ADCtH.
WEAPON - SPELL
- Seal of Blight. The latest patch addition to add ADCtH is a nice buff for this component.
- Seal of Corruption and Aethersteel Bolts. Both is a debuff type of spell and used to be reducing enemy resistance. Despite the nerf several patches back, Seal of Corruption still have a place in Aether or Lightning build with their OA and in Shaman build that use Storm Totem or WD that need skill to proc Arcane Bomb.
- Seal of Destruction, Flintcore Bolts, and Searing Ember is also a good proggression component that have it use from early to end game. No need to change.
- Seal of Shadows. One of the best acid skills in the game. No need to change.
- Seal of Skies, Amber, and Cracked Lodestone. While the 2 latter skill are rarely used, the Seal of Skies is on another level. No need to change.
- Seal of the Night, Deathchill Bolts, and Chilled Steel. Same as Seal of Destruction above.
- Seal of the Void. A must have for any AA Chaos build especially ranged build will get more with its explosion. Contesting the place with the Riftstone and Symbol of Solael for Chaos build. No need to change.
- Shard of Beronath. AA replacer for build that have WPS but no AA skill, really helpful for build like Infiltrator or Reaper. No need to change, though feel quite weak for ranged build.
- Symbol of Solael. Best component for Chaos builds that do not any resist, extra 100% damage, or extra WPS. Have special uses for Vitality build too, no need to change.
- Oleron’s Blood, Severed Claw, and Chipped Claw. The only damaging physical skill in component. Damage is good, but with 3.5s recharge and only single target make it unattractive for Physical build even on leveling phase. Post level 75 will always be replaced to Seal of Might. Suggestion to change is adding extra target and reduce it cooldown.
- Bloody Whetstone and Blessed Whetstone. Same case as Oleron’s Blood, but better and have more uses. Blessed Whetstone increase the pierce ratio of Axe weapon, and both components are good for non-Bleed Soldier build. Reducing it cooldown to 3 or 2.5 is a nice buff, otherwise it works similar to transmuted Blade Arc for Trickster.
- Silvercore Bolts. Don’t be fooled by it’s main selling point of 100% Increase Armor Piercing, as for late game there is only 5 Pierce damage ranged weapons which is 2 gun and 3 rifles that have less than 100% Armor Piercing, with Valdun Rifle as one of them and the best one, the 2 other rifles are a weaker version of Valdun, one of the gun is 1H version of Valdun and the last one is Cold pistol that don’t need its Physical damage converted to Pierce damage. Its damage is nice but have fierce competition with Seal of Blades. I think removing the skill CD will enable it to be a non WPS auto attack build as it has the aoe ranged build need.
- Mark of Dreeg, Venom-Tipped Ammo, and Mutagenic Ichor. I must be honest in this part that I don’t have much experience with these 3 components. The Venom-Tipped Ammo is a direct upgrade from Mutagenic Ichor, and it also have reduced target resistance just like Mark of Dreeg. The killing thing from these 3 components are it’s aoe and big poison damage, while it nice to have aoe and rr from the same skill while leveling poison build, these components have no use in end game and overshadowed by Vitriolic Gallstone, Seal of Shadows, Seal of Might, Seal of Resonance, and Seal of Blades. Ways to buff the component I think by removing the recharge on Mark of Dreeg, but otherwise it’s fine.
- Devil-Touched Ammo and Void-Touched Ammo. Both are a good addition when leveling Chaos build or when Sigil of Consumption is on cooldown. The Demon Breath skill is nice with it big aoe, WD, and have build in ADCtH. Nice to have when leveling Fire or Chaos build. No need to change.
- Blessed Steel. Every problem Oleron’s Blood component have can also be experienced here, only with Elemental damage.
SHIELD
- Mark of the Myrmidon and Reinforced Shell. Both are nice progressing component for retal build. The Mark of the Myrmidon also provide the much rarer Shield Recovery Time that is useful for a 0.8-1s Block Recovery shield. For retal build this can be a good substitute for a Seal of Might if an extra Physical resist is not needed. No need to change.
- Serrated Shell and Battered Shell. The offensive version of Shield component, the skill it provided give good aoe skill on leveling skill build. The passive bonus for shield is also bigger than Mark of the Myrmidon and Reinforced Shell, still both are overshadowed by Mark of the Myrmidon. No need to change.
- Radiant Gem. Don’t think that I will ever sacrifice any shield or off-hand component for a 12 second of +10% Max Elemental resist at all stage in the game. The bonus for Elemental resist also not enough to sacrifice a component slot on shield or off-hand at all stage of the game.
AMULET
- Seal of Annihilation, Arcane Lens, and Focusing Prism. All three provides a good progression in reducing skill energy cost which is good for all big energy or channeling skill. Seal of Annihilation also the top choice in Amulet slot if the build needs more speed or more OA/DA, a universally needed stats. No need to change except for the Focusing Prism. Thanks to @Stupid_Dragon for pointing this below, this component is quite useless compared to Arcane Lens making it have more uses as crafting materials. This come from the need for it to craft compared to Arcane Lens that are require the same level and are a random drops, though having lower energy discount also have more useful stats. It stats also can easily be replaced by other random drop components such as Attuned Lodestone and Ectoplasm both in crit and energy management issue.
- Seal of Ancestry. Another top choice in Amulet slot, this one help in providing survivability and energy regen for builds. No need to change.
MEDAL
- Arcane Spark and Attuned Lodestone. I consider both as the top component for medal and give the impression of progression at different stage of the game. Both give big OA bonus with Attuned Lodestone also provide Reduced Target Damage that arguably active at all times in early-mid game, while Arcane Spark give Energy Leech and Skill Disruption resist which is useful for all channeling build. Both only surpassed by Runebound Topaz or Bloodied Crystal if there is no need for more OA and more need on DA. No need to change.
- Tainted Heart, Black Tallow, Aether Soul, and Wardstone. All is nice resist component with only Wardstone that loses much of it uses in end game. Wardstone is the best in slot during leveling before the other 3 are craftable for medal. Aether Soul and Black Tallow have it use even in end game for its DA and Less Damage from Aleks meteors and Big Benn traps. Tainted Heart is even taken if build lack in both Vitality and Aether resist in end game in the place of Runebound Topaz, Bloodied Crystal, and Arcane Spark as it also provides OA and Crit. No need to change.
- Blazing Ruby. The highest Health-giving component for medal, it also buffed to provide Slow resist. Retal build should get this component, but for other builds it’s losing behind in others component as it didn’t provide OA/DA. No need to change.
- Dread Skull and Vicious Jawbone. Both are good component for leveling with their main selling point in Speed. For Physical build I usually use Vicious Jawbone till I reach level 80+ when I need more resistance or OA/DA, while on Vitality Build the Total Speed form Dread Skull is really helpful in casting and movement speed as I found this is a rare stat from its devoion. No need to change.
RING
- Runebound Topaz, Bloodied Crystal, Mark of Illusion. Top component for ring slot, all three offer DA with each unique benefit of flat Health and Stun resist, Armor and Bleed resist, and Spirit and Energy regen. No other component is used in this slot in end game other than this three. No need to change.
- Vengeful Wraith and Roiling Blood. I consider both as leveling components. Vengeful Wraith have it uses as the highest OA component for ring but Mark of Illusion usually is better for Cold or Elemental build, and both Runebound Topaz and Bloodied Crystal offer better survivability. No need to change.
- Frozen Heart. Flat Health and Freeze resist, both stats are always having uses at all stage of the game, though the Cold resist part is kind of redundant as Cold resist are easy to get from defensive devotion. No need to change.
- Soul Shard and Corpse Dust. Corpse Dust is more useful for me personally due to % Health, but I feel during leveling Vitality resist is hard to come, so each component is extremely helpful on Normal and Elite difficulty. No need to change.
- Ectoplasm. Best component in leveling channeling build, later in game can be changed to Mark of Illusion for extra DA. End game usually used only for crafting Skeleton Keys. No need to change.
- Polished Emerald. Have not much use past level 15 other than crafting material. Can easily reach full stack of 1000 in stash. No need to change.
ARMOR
- Ancient Armor Plate, Living Armor, Sacred Plating, and Scaled Hide. All of this is good, a hidden rule in community usually to reach at least 90-92% armor absorption. Problem I’ve found lies in Ancient Armor Plate. Don’t get me wrong, I love that component, but most of the time I found using the Ancient Armor Plate when playing Soldier build a mastery where armor is not much of a problem as it with either Living Armor or Sacred Plating and 7 point in Scars of Battle is enough to reach 100%. I found 100% armor absorption on caster armor is much better than 92% armor absorption and +8% increased armor on caster armor. I suggest to increase Ancient Armor Plate armor absorption to 12% to be same as Living Armor and Sacred Plating, so caster armor build will have the much-needed armor.
- Ugdenbog Leather and Antivenom Salve. The former is a top component that provide Poison and Bleed resist while also give defensive ability. While the latter only provide Poison resist armor and health regen, good to have in early-mid game but in late game easily replaced by the former, though it can be put on belt to increase all armor value if Bleed resist and DA is not that much needed. No need to change.
- Spellscorched Plating, Resilient Plating, Rigid Shell, Molten Skin, Dense Fur, and Silk Swatch. Silk Swatch is very good during leveling when you lack Pierce and Bleed resist in Ultimate and not yet having resource or recipe to craft Ugdenbog Leather. Spellscorced Plating is a combination of the rest 4 resistance component with flat Health. No need to change.
- Enchanted Earth, Mutated Scales, Bristly Fur. A much-needed stat for a squishy build like Mage Hunter, only get if you don’t need extra Ugdenbog Leather or Spellchorched Plating. No need to change.
- Bladed Plating and Spined Carapace. Same with the above but for Retal build or build that need OA and have resistance filled. No need to change.
CHEST
- Hallowed Ground and Chains of Oleron. For me both hold the top posiiton for Chest components. Both are a band-aid for low OA or DA build. No need to change.
- Binding of Bysmiel and Eldritch Mirror. Both are those rare components that provides pet bonus. I found Eldritch Mirror is more useful to get if the pet has ranged attack as I see melee pet have collision problem with each other when attacking the same target (can be seen when you have many skeletons attacking a single dummy), so it’s more for a birb build. The caster part of Eldritch Mirror may need a little change in the Vitality resist as this resist are easy to get on pets build. Binding of Bysmiel is my go-to component for pets build, it helps the caster with a bit of DA, but the pet part I think could also need a little bump. I think increasing it Damage/Health to 20/20 is good enough as pets Health are harder to come in non-Conjurer build.
- Titan Plating, Balistic Plating, and Scavenged Plating. All provides armor and the former 2 also give DA, although the latter 2 are more often becoming a crafting material. Titan Plating are best used on low armor value build as I found build that go with caster armor usually have low Pierce resist. If you didn’t need more OA/DA this component is one of the best alternatives to put in Chest. No need to change.
- Killrian’s Shattered Soul. A good component in chest for leveling. I found while leveling vitality resist are harder to come and this component provide it while also giving Attack Speed for Fire or Vitality build. The skill it provides also give a nice heal each 12s. A good component to use for leveling Purifier build, but at 80+ level the benefits of this component will get surpassed by other chest component. No need to change, though if it need some change I think the Attack Speed part should be changed to Total Speed.
- Rotten Heart. Quickly replaced by Chains of Oleron in OA, Binding of Bysmiel in damage, even the retal part is not that different with Spined Carapace. Everything that can be put in chest is better than this component, except for Scavenged Plating. Way to make it have uses is by also make it able to be put in Ring as statwise it’s similar to Vengeful Wraith.
HEAD
- Prismatic Diamond and Sanctified Bone. In survivability both provides Vitality resist plus Chaos for Sanctified Bone or % Health for Prismatic Diamond. Prismatic Diamond have the edge of giving Damage Absorption and Total Damage circuit breaker though it was nerfed in last patch, while Sanctified Bone give extra race multiplier damage for Undead and Chthonics to help killing Grava faster. Both are a top component in Head if not needing Armor Absorption. No need to change.
- Leathery Hide. This component gives Stun resist and big % Health, making it have place at all stage of game. Usually picked if builds can’t pick Stun resist from devotion or mastery and not an Elemental or Aether build. Very beneficial for Acid and Chaos builds. No need to change.
- Runestone. The first component that provides tons of resistance, very helpful in leveling stage of the game, but easily replaced in end game. No need to change.
HAND
- Unholy Inscription. This component is a bit similar to Ugdenbog Leather but providing Vitality damage and Resist and OA, I think both are equally good, so no need to change here.
- Spellwoven Threads and Restless Remains. The reason to take both usually for the Casting Speed. Restless remains have higher speed and good for spell that have WD or any AA build that require more ADCtH, while Spellwoven Threads provides Spirit and OA which is more beneficial for every caster build. No need to change.
- Consecrated Wrappings. It provides flat and percentage Chaos damage as well the rare Attack Speed stats on component. But even for an AA build, this component is usually left out for the more needed resistance from other Hand component or Ugdenbog Leather and Spellscorched Plating. Usually, a top choice for Chaos Witchblade or Witch Hunter as this mastery unsuprisingly have high Bleed and Poison resist already. I don’t think this component need a change, but if there is a change, I think changing the 8% Chaos to 8-10% all Damage is fine.
BOOT
- Mark of Mogdrogen and Mark of the Traveler. Mark of the Traveler is arguebly the best choice here as it provides Slow Resistance for channeler or AA build, although Mark of Mogdrogen have bonus to % Health that is needed for squishy mastery like Inquisitor, Nightblade, and Demolitionist, these masteries also have move speed boosting skill, and if they need Health it can be swapped with Enchanted Earth that also provides armor, or Spellscorched Plating that also provides 4 resistance. To make the Mark of Mogdrogen more interesting, I think it also should provide % Health increase for pets.
That’s all my long and dusty feedback for all component in the game, I hope Z will look at the yellow and especially the red one. Share and discuss it here what y’all feel or think about all these components.
