So this is my old snb Bleedster:
It’s a solid farmer but nowhere near top20s or top50s even, just a good bleed build with good aoe and slow ish single target damage. Here are the changes happening to it in this test patch:
It does look like it’s a net loss for this build. Is it because it’s getting something in FoA?
If anyone has more examples of pure bleed builds getting hit like that, post them here.
no build context just observation stuff
The general faction ring % to flat OA/DA change seemed on appearance like a general nerf/“weird”
Mostly basing that off the similar Tempest change from % to flat, that turned out to be final flat stat reduct in many cases (and tempest is more than 38 i think)
"Without actual builds to direct compare"caveat*, - on appearance it just seem like the change makes faction’s blue rings even less appealing over alternatives or greenery/“even less future utilization” 
Not trying to derail here, sorry.
What level are the faction rings? Can’t remember off the top of my head. If they are sub 82 the only thing I can think of is:
As for:
Unknown Soldier: reduced % Crit damage to 5%. I found it odd that a lot of crit% was specifically changed to 5%. Seemed like too much homogenization without FoA context.
Bleed builds: I only have one bleed warlord on my roster currently. With its non optimized set up it looks better outside of unknown soldier. Not using a seal either. Otherwise with the OP set up, looks like a loss without testing.
Seems like an attempt to just generally nerf OA/crit % stacking builds to me. A lot of crit % on both player and pets got hit this patch, affecting bleed and everything else, whether top 20 worthy or not. As for the rings specifically, seems reasonable to me, personally. Rings that are this easy to access should probably be just a nice temporary option while you’re looking for your BiS, and not much beyond that. If you can just buy your best gear, why wander out into the world and farm/craft, right? My guess is Z concluded that they’re too good for the “cost”.
Both of my builds have been nerfed.
Bleed RoS/Spirits :Trickster, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
Pierce/Bleed Dervish: Dervish, Level 100 (GD 1.2.1.6) - Grim Dawn Build Calculator
I was happy with the recent changes to Blade Spirit. These changes were giving us new options for our bleed builds.
90
Maybe they were considered by some a bit too good but from my experience they were only used when there was the need to reach breakpoint with Blade Spirits as with Malmouth Blade Seal. Otherwise for Pierce builds something like Cutthroat Vine Ring of Spines would be magnitudes better (while also super affordable) and for Bleeding builds you can use Orissia or Bloodletter’s Cronley or sometimes hybrid Bleed/Vitality rings like Carnage set or Deathlords.
Both builds look like middle of the road builds in terms of power levels at best (no offense), ring OA nerfs will hurt a lot (as well as Blade Spirit nerfs).
level 90, slightly used in some endgame builds (feel like i’ve seen them less than in the past tho)
thinking being losing 4% Oa or DA compensated with some slight flats might make them even less attractive, outside specific skill point situation necessary for breakpoint (like +blade spirit points on pierce/bleed)
ie now you “only” consider faction rings if you need a very specific +2 skill point “hardcap”
Given that, the reason I quoted you for and what @lMarcusl posted sounds like it could be the reason(s).
I’m glad non-Bleed BS damage hasn’t got hit at least, this would unnecessarily affect too many meme bulds.
Based on Top 21 Dervish and Witch Hunter seems like the magic happens with these 2 at the same time:
Witch Hunter has far more Bleed RR but Dervish compensates with even more OA and way more Crit damage.
It’s hard for me to say how to best nerf these builds if it has to be done but Unknown’s Soldier Crit nerf seems totally reasonable as this devo is very stacked.
Of course I wouldn’t want Blade Spirit Bleed damage nerf as it doesn’t seem to be a problem for the already mentioned pure Bleed builds or hybrids without Bleed RR.
Reaching the rank 24 breakpoint for Blade Spirit is really hard without the rings. It feels bad to use them compared to Cronley’s Rings or something like Ring of Orissia, yet you kinda have to do it because even with Reaper’s Legguards you still need to squeeze another 5 points into BS from somewhere. The rings are/were a natural choice in this regard, and the %OA made it feel less crappy to "have to"¨ pick them.
In a way I’m relieved if investing heavily into BS is not the winning strategy for bleed nightblade, because it dictates the direction of the build so much. Shifting power to single pieces of the Bloodrager set gives more build freedom, at least for those builds that’d want to use the set. I’d also like to see buffs to some underutilized bleed gear, like Boneslicer, Barrog’s Arm and Rylok Crest (although Boneslicer gets an added mod in FoA). Meanwhile I’d make a bleed dmg sword-and-board Archon if the shield choices felt good at all.
I certainly wouldn’t mind if The Guillotine had attack speed either. It’s a natural pairing with the Bloodrager set, Mark of Consumption and the Berserker constellation - which I as a 2h bleed enjoyer mostly get to look at in yearning (and as I type this I’m trying to farm a good Troll Bonecrusher, which I’d really just want to attach a sharp rock to so that it would count as an axe).
My most recent bleed build will get hit with the devo crit nerf. Also curious why Goredrinker only got a buff on the cadence mod. The Vire’s side of the house is definitely not overperforming, at least for Archon.
Its definitely a hit for bleeding builds. What i can say is no slightly increase flat bleed on a skill is going to save bloodrager. That thing is skill point hungry on the nightblade side, its wonky to play because of its hit n run nature, blade spirits and shadows where the only thing helping it a lot and its single rr class too. Imho nightblade should get bleed RR simply because its thematic for it and bloodrager set proc should get +crit damage (20-30) as its one of the most important stats for dot builds, especially now that the crit damage across the board has been reduced. Moreso it will be even more problematic because of the less % OA since malmouth blade seal got reworked.
Cheers,
Regarding the global crit nerf, I’m wondering if this is because the devs are expecting some potential busted combos between existing skills and the Onslaught mechanic and this is a way to get ahead of that.
Or maybe the plan is to move crit to gear or even the new potion system. Have to wait and see but it is a bummer for now.
Yeah I saw that. I’m just speculating that’s all.
Say you have Thane (zerker / soldier) and you build stacks and then alternate dumping them into cd blade arc & forcewave, plus whatever other passive bleed is in the build. I could see the DoTs getting pretty crazy with crit + long duration on top.
… I think I just talked myself into starting FoA as bleed Thane.
If only someone could just, I don’t know, straight up tell us! Personally I have no idea how that new FoA tech is gonna work and if it affects existing classes and builds.
Crit damage remains the most sought after stat on endgame Bleeding builds. It’s already pretty difficult when you have no upfront burst damage.
This is a flaw Crate has accepted apparently, those of us on the outside will only ever be able to give approximate feedback because we don’t have the whole picture. C’est la vie.
Regarding Bloodrager, specifically:
I think one of the main issues with this set is that it is too hard and/or expensive to get decent page 3 resists. Bleed MI’s offer few solutions, bleed devotions offer few solutions (the only real source in the main bleed path is throne), and the set’s slot usage shuts down many options.
This is a set which has not been updated very often since vanilla and during the big waves of page3 power–which were distributed to the rest of the game–this set went untouched.
It is still a decent all-rounder, and offers mainly generic stats. However, again, its slot usage really limits its ceiling and there are few real choices to make in the rest of the build, as much of the decision making is fairly plug and play (there are few complementary options). Furthermore, since its damage is not front-loaded and it lacks huge critical potential I find its clear to be really mid in crowds if you choose to not invest in big blade spirits and without sacrificing defenses (and even then it has a low ceiling).
Personally I would like to see the set not need to crutch on blade spirits (which seem to hold up so many builds these days when you can splash for them easily), but I’m not sure there is a good solution since buffs to the set dont actually stop anybody from just including blade spirits in their build anyway.
Give set 15-20% crit damage on proc. That is the only thing left that can properly scale damage on it, especially after those devotion nerfs. Crit damage nerf on Unknown Soldier should be rolled back as well - it hurts too many Bleeding builds.
Onslaught might be/become the intended fix for bleed/DoT builds afterall
Assuming it’s going to have way higher effect/dmg capacity than that crit amount, while because of DoT mechanics still having the same “keeps lasting until replaced” effect 30% crit would.
Granted zerker values might have changed since GT teaser, or set/item granted Onlsaught recieved lower amounts than Mastery buff, but Uncle-Mac’s mention seem like it could have merit