That’s a good suggestion
You can make it deal Physical as mentioned above.
I think this is the most recent build link I have for mine (can’t check as of now due to GT being down): https://www.grimtools.com/calc/lNk8jXR2.
Build has it’s problems though - basically no CC resists and low casting speed hurt.
Btw, Dracarris became more accessible after the patch. But not to the level of being competitive for any pure pet build.
If anyone has managed to successfully use it in their builds, I am curious to know.
I’d like to draw attention to Corruptian again as it hasn’t been changed over the last few updates. What would you say to the following stats and skill modifiers being added/removed. I’ve left some of the values ambiguous (x, y etc.) so they can be decided/balanced as required by Crate.
Removed Stats:
15% Physical damage converted to Acid damage.
Added Stats:
45% Acid damage Converted to Physical damage.
n% damage to All Retaliation damage*.
m Physical Retaliation damage*.
Removed Skill Modifiers:
250 Poison Damage over 5 seconds to Dreeg’s Evil Eye.
+100% Poison Damage with +100% Increased Poison Duration to Dreeg’s Evil Eye.
30 Physical Damage to Ravenous Earth.
500 Poison Damage over 5 seconds to Ravenous Earth.
Added Skill Modifiers:
100% Vitality damage converted to Physical damage to Dreeg’s Evil Eye.
x second skill recharge to Dreeg’s Evil Eye**.
y% Retaliation damage added to Attack to Dreeg’s Evil Eye**.
z% Retaliation damage added to Attack to Ravenous Earth.
*These are optional and not as important to the weapon’s performance as the Modifiers. Would just be nice to have one or both but they can be skipped.
** These modifiers are intended to be similar to the ones already present on Mythical Bramblevine.
Edit: Completely new thought that I think is worth mentioning would be to keep it as an Acid/Poison weapon and have it support Acid Cadence now that there’s a Conduit for it. I’m not certain what to do with the Ravenous Earth/Dreeg’s Evil Eye support in that case though.
Bloodrender, Sword (with 15% armor piercing) that transmute’s savagery’s lightning damage into vitality.
There’s 1 melee set in the game that supports shaman vitality melee and it’s WildBlood, which locks the WP spot with it’s 2h.
As for the rest, there’s VoidSoul and BloodKnight ? Both which don’t support shaman either.
Now my point is…this weapon should at least become a Dagger, to lose the AR piercing and get it’s damage converted into 100% vitality. Adding some better conversion to it (maybe 30-50% physical to vitality ?) could help it somehow, or better mods. Vitality shaman is good when turned into a caster, but as for melee, without proper support, it’s null.
But I’d be very suprise this item brings any build anywhere, so thoughts about this particular sword?
Agree with you but the problem seems a bit more global for me, like that melee vitality (ESPECIALLY dw!) sucks. It doesn’t deal proper damage and even with incredible lifesteal it doesn’t sustain and gets pierced like a paper. This applies also to vital PS and the reasons are still unknown.
The other problem is that ritualist (melee) terribly lacks stats, it’s very hard to get even 2800 oa/da, which is minimum now.
4 Likes
Agree, dw vitality is just meh and 2h Ritualist does have good dps, but has shit OA/DA. Had to take master of death over harbinger of souls on mine just to get to 2,8k oa/da, which is really suboptimal…
Vitality as melee basically doesn’t grant you any advantages. Unlike other damage types, where going melee gives you life steal to sustain. But vitality spells already have inherent, so being melee is disadvantage, cause you have to facetank everything.
Also 2h Savagery builds don’t have the much needed lightning>vitality conversion, unlike DW. Also stats are lacking and you can’t compensate from devotion map, cause the route is more or less same for all vitality builds.
Other thing is that monsters are crazy resistant to vitality. Because of that melee can’t kill single targets quickly and you have less AoE than casters .
3 Likes
Necromancer vit melee got some improvements. I think there have been some other small vitality melee improvements too. How thoroughly has vitality melee been tested? It’s been a while since I’ve seen public attempts.
Maybe you haven’t seen them cuz they’re still crap?
And maybe even more crap than before.
In the godly-balanced 1.1.3.0 patch, melee ritualist in full Bloodknight with a metric ton of lifeleech sucked very-very big dick, being pierced like a paper because of zero stats.
Now, I presume, with all mobs’ buffs, it would be even worse.
Well, maybe adding Shaman support on BK set would help a bit. And turning Bloodrender into a dagger, increasing its damage bonuses etc.
I wasn’t implying otherwise. I am suggesting to the community that publicly showing one’s best attempts at attempting the vit builds, discussing their specifics, showing some evidence etc. helps Zantai implement healthy improvements as he sees fit.
But actually we should remember that players (mostly pro-builders) doesn’t show such failed attempts, leaving them unseen.
It’s logical, finally, cuz who will show his fail? 
Anyway, the problem exists.
I’ll revisit VITERATOR when I get home. Meant to tune it up after FG dropped but other things proved more distracting.
I’m curious if anyone has thoughts on edge of sanity? Are there corner cases where it would be preferable to a mindwarp for an aether melee build? I don’t know that I’ve ever seen it in a build, even dual wield tends to go for 2x mindwarp.
Btw speaking about vitality 1h builds I have to say that the best DW melee build should use Decree of Malmouth, which is weapon without attack speed or flat.
But Ritualists need the cold to vitality conversion. Also it converts lightning to vitality to Savagery and have dual class bonus.
As for Edge of Sanity, it’s outperformed by Mindwarp. It should have +1 Necro.
2 Likes
You make a strong case. The problem is that they largely do the same thing except mindwarp is clearly better.
I’d totes be for an Edge of Sanity buff or just change that makes it lesser but more distinct mindwarp, though it could use a toning up as well to bridge the gap a bit. Aside from +1 Necro instead of Arcanist, would there be anything else you suggest? + Fabric of reality? Better attack speed? It does get that RR proc which is nice, but mindwarp’s bonuses are nutty.
Since aether melee isn’t in good spot, Sanity can be boosted without broking the balance. So what are DW melee builds?
Krieg BM, I explicitly tested both options, Mindwarp is clear winner by mile. Proc converting physical to aether on Cadence and DM, also big boost to % damage. On S&B version it’s impossible not to use anything other than Mindwarp.
Spellbinder, it’s gimmick build, but can work with both Krieg and Bonemonger. Again Sanity can’t match Mindwarp weapons.
Only possible win scenario is DW DK. So +Necro and maybe +1 Soldier is better solution. Adding extra aether RR can help too. Attack speed is easy to cap. Another option is higher damage mods to WPS or flat damage to Cadence. But definitely Mindwarp and Sanity are blocking each other and there’s clear cut winner.
I thought krieg + DW mindwarp was good a while ago? What happened?
You mean the DK? I think set bonus was changed to Reckless power. Also Crucible is harder for melee. Still DW Mindwarp DK probably can do something like 7.30-8.00 in Gladiator. In SR doubt it will not go higher than 55-60.
What about this pistol?
Since Valdun got chaos->pierce conversion, maybe it’s time to look at other ranged weapons like this?
Also, adding +1 to demo/inq to it will look pretty good - instead of bonus to Fighting Spirit, e.g.
Or add some bonus to Fire Strike as well.
Also, Bloodrender is still crap. I suggest changing its class to Dagger, make his base damage pure vital and increase bonuses accordingly (dw ritualist can’t get 200% as even with all proc&buffs active.)
Also, adding OA/DA instead of hp will look nice, as well as changing +2 to Oleron’s wrath with sth really useful.
2 Likes