Having worked on some (relatively) comprehensive feedback for Allagast and Iskandra in the past month, I thought I might as well dust off my old Skybreach Druid and do a roundup on the state of TSS – or TSS sets, at least.
To what end? Together with previous threads on Allagast and Iskandra, the overarching goal of my feedback is for each TSS set to gain effective gameplay and a distinct identity, so that:
- Their performance with Arcanist and TSS is equal or comparable to that of alternative masteries and skills.
- Skybreach provides the most kiting-friendly setups, where wind devils provide RR and deal damage while TSS is in cooldown.
- Allagast offers the most active gameplay, with a tight rotation of spammable Storm Box, debuffs and TSS.
- Iskandra’s Unification can build around TSS as the centerpiece, without heavy dependence on other skills, devotions or item procs.
State of TSS
As things stand, I find that:
-
Trozan’s Skybreach works well in a few select setups: it’s powerful, if a bit punishing. Some defensive adjustments would be welcome. Notably:
- add physical resistance, better cc resistance;
- add movement speed.
-
Allagast’s Masterpiece is a well-designed concept with fun gameplay, but the Arcanist half of the set needs a revamp. Currently, Mage Hunter is outclassed by other Inquisitor-based mastery combinations. To achieve parity:
- add flat RR and higher aether damage to TSS;
- move Deadly Aim modifiers to Maiven’s and improve them;
- add physical resistance or healing.
-
Iskandra’s Unification doesn’t measure up, and needs a substantial revision. Skybreach is better for TSS (it even works for double-cast, with Eternity) and non-TSS setups work better for aether-to-elemental play. Gameplay is clunky. To make the current design effective:
- substantially increase TSS damage;
- increase %WD to achieve useful values of lifesteal.
All sets suffer from two shared issues:
- They are fragile and hard to play, but don’t offer exceptional damage.
This is particularly true in comparison to builds with lifesteal and higher armor or physical resistance. - TSS cannot stand on its own and is often relegated to a support role.
Allagast and Skybreach can skip TSS and remain effective, but the same can’t be said for Storm Box and Wind Devils; Allagast in particular is pathologically more effective without Arcanist. Full Iskandra is heavily dependent on devotions and item procs and is outmatched by alternative setups without TSS.
TSS, set by set
Since both Allagast and Iskandra have dedicated threads, most of this OP covers Trozan’s Skybreach, which also happens to need the least work of the lot. To expand on the shared issues mentioned above, I’ll quote from a previous thread:
Notes on testing
I rely on Crucible as a main testing ground for reasons of time efficiency, ease of comparison, and enemy variety. Clearing times posted here are average of at least six runs with 3-4b+vb in Crucible of the Dead, with margins of 15-30 seconds on both the upper and lower end.
The builds linked for each set are not the only ones tested, but rather the most effective setups I could come up with and play in the time allotted. They are meant to be offensive, but not recklessly so.
I appreciate that the results of this approach are indicative rather than exhaustive.
Trozan’s Skybreach
- Test setup: Lightning Skybreach Druid, 6:30 Crucible. (The greens are replaceable, with losses.)
- Compare with: @John_Smith’s Skybreach Vindicator. Comparable damage, but more robust and easier to play.
As a dual-skill set, Skybreach works well offensively. Defensively, however, it hasn’t aged well. A Skybreach Druid lacks:
- healing of any kind, both burst and sustained;
- stun, slow, and trap resistance;
- physical resistance;
- movement speed and casting speed.
For a fragile kiter, the combination of low movement speed, CC resistance, and physical resistance is particularly bothersome. Casting speed may seem unimportant, but it has a direct and very noticeable impact on ergonomy and survivability – how long would you like to stand still and wave your hands about while Reaper mauls you?
Improving Skybreach
Devotions and supporting items cannot cover all that’s missing, at least not without unpalatable sacrifices that are not asked of other builds. So, to make Skybreach more approachable without substantially altering its defensive profile, I’d consider the following changes, giving priority to the first two:
- TSS: replace slow with 20-35% fumble/impaired aim for 2-3 seconds.
Slow on TSS isn’t effective for the simple reason that it doesn’t really come into play: bosses resist it almost entirely, while mobs (for the little they matter) tend to die on hit or soon thereafter… assuming they aren’t frozen already. As a modifier, it’s practically a no-op. :P
Conversely, fumble would offer immediate utility against heavy melee hitters, which are the most troublesome foes. Fumble might also make Wendigo Totems more viable for Skybreach druids, who are too fragile to hold their ground at melee range unaided.
- Piece and set bonuses, two of:
- Add 20-40% stun, slow, or trap resistance. Decrease Freeze resistance to 20-30%.
I’d go with trap, since Allagast and Iskandra protect against stun and slow respectively. - Add 8-12% movement speed and, optionally, 10-15% casting speed.
- Add 10-15% physical resistance.
Although Druids can find a good foundation for CC resistance in Maiven’s Sphere, Skybreach itself only improves upon Freeze, perhaps one of the least dangerous forms of CC (or, rather, one of the least frequently used by powerful enemies). A less skewed approach would ease the burden on devotions and external items.
On the subject of resistances, I’m not clear on the purpose of the 60% cold granted by the shoulder piece. Considering that most Skybreach setups end up with a cold resistance well over 150%, the bonus would be better split into 20% elemental or even 30% cold/lightning.
- Piece and set bonuses: high health regeneration
Regeneration works well for kiters and is a good fit for Druid thematically. It’s also a somewhat neglected healing mechanism with little to no item support, a situation that exacerbates Bat monoculture among casters. Introducing some meaningful bonuses here and there would be nice.
Heed that this change would benefit Vindicators more than Druids, due to the regeneration bonus from inquisitor’s seal and the interaction with flat absorption, which causes small hits and DoTs to be absorbed before they can erode regeneration values.
Notes on supporting items
Two-piece Eastern set is unmatched due to the combination of skill bonuses, physical resistance, OA, and even that tiny bit of movement speed. The Final March blow a raspberry to legendary boots for the usual reasons.
Starfury Emerald offers a solid damage buff to TSS (the extra shard yields 10-15% more damage, depending on on how far you push Frozen Core), but resistances are so-so; I would considering turning cold/lightning into elemental and perhaps lowering the maximum resistance bonuses to 6%. CDR is also a possibility, although Skybreach doesn’t struggle with it.
In the off-hand, Rolderathis’ Tome feels better than anything else. The CDR is good for damage and makes for a tighter spell rotation, leading to better gameplay. The reduced target area might seem unappealing at first glance, but in practice you are shedding modest AoE to gain a more reliable single-target nuke.
Notes on devotions
The improved Giant’s Blood is effective with low CDR, but it’s hard trigger reliably without Blast Shield, which offers a 90% activation chance. Arcane Will only guarantees 29%.
The improved Dryad doesn’t look bad on paper, but is too expensive at 5-for-3 yellow affinity, at least for an elemental setup. Druid also doesn’t have that many attack skills to trigger devotions: the test setup is already stretched, and has to take totems just to trigger a devotion.
Bat remains hard to replace as the only impactful healing available on low CD.
Allagast’s Masterpiece
Reference thread: Revisiting Allagast
Test mod for my recommended changes: Allagast’s Crayons
Test setup: Plain Allagast Mage Hunter, 7:50 Crucible.
Compare with:
- Jury-rigged Allagast Purifier, 6:45 crucible. About a minute faster and rather sturdier.
- @thejabrixone’s Allagast/Cyclone Vindicator. Over a minute faster without banner.
- @John_Smith’s Allagast Apostate. About a minute faster.
Despite offering some of the best caster gameplay I’ve found in GD, Allagast is suffering from an identity crisis which stems directly from skewed mastery support:
- On the Arcanist side, TSS loses DoTs entirely in exchange for a cold-to-aether conversion devoid of item support, while the extra damage and projectiles fail to offer enough damage, even with Starfury Emerald. The only global bonuses come from Arcane Will, an ineffective skill for a set that lacks some of the basics.
- On the Inquisitor side, we gain spammable high-damage Storm Box with built-in RR, and global Deadly Aim modifiers for CDR and lightning damage.
(The history of Allagast is a fraught one: it originally supported Star Pact, but ended up as collateral damage in the great Spellbinder purge which saw the skill convert aether to cold. Following that, the Star Pact bonuses – already in awkward competition with Censure – were replaced by +7 to Arcane Will, while CDR and damage buffs were reduced and relegated to partial uptime through Deadly Aim.)
Fixing Allagast
As tested, a working solution would be to:
- Bolster TSS with flat RR, higher aether damage, and a global conversion to lightning which retains DoTs.
- Introduce Maiven’s Sphere modifiers for CDR and damage. Scrap +7 to Arcane Will and Deadly Aim modifiers, which contribute to the primacy of unsupported masteries over Arcanist.
- Add some physical resistance and/or a source of healing.
Iskandra’s Unification
Reference thread: Iskandra as a set for spammable TSS
Test mod for a potential redesign: Iskandra’s Purple Power, from the same thread
Main test setup: Proc-happy Mage Hunter, 6:50 Crucible.
Compare with:
- @Aersdri’s Invoker with 2-piece Iskandra and a comparable devotion setup. A bit faster, sturdier and easier to play.
- @thejabrixone’s Elemental Bonemonger with a comparable devotion setup. Comparable times without banner, slightly sturdier and easier to play.
-
Jury-rigged mortars with 2-piece Iskandra, comparable times and slightly sturdier.
With five supporting items and a less aggressive devotion setup, 22/19/13 Mortar Traps easily compete with Iskandra’s 26/22/22 TSS, while offering smoother gameplay and slightly better defenses. (I suspect this approach might work with quite a few setups, e.g. Cyclone, so long as you pick a well-supported elemental skill while maintaining 50% aether conversion and a damage bonus around 1800%.) - @John_Smith’s plain Ulzuin’s Shieldbreaker, based on a single-class set following a similar design. Over one minutes faster and again sturdier.
I find Iskandra perplexing, and I’d be happy to hear from playtesters about how the set is meant to be used, or about the goals for the recent redesign. From where I stand, Iskandra’s shortcomings can be summarized by three points:
- Converted devotions are the main source of damage, rather than TSS.
- For TSS, there is no reason to play Iskandra over Skybreach, other than “it’s purple”.
Despite being a dual-skill set, Skybreach offers stronger TSS than single-skill Iskandra: at equal if not higher damage per shard, the former can reach 5 shards on a 1.2s CD, whereas the latter can only find 4 on a 2s CD. With Eternity as relic, even the double-cast experience is comparable. - Modest ergonomy, due to overreliance on devotions and a hiccuping double-cast chance delayed by the shards’ travel time. Skybreach and particularly Allagast offer far more satisfying gameplay.
Improving Iskandra
Defensively, Iskandra now feels pretty solid. Offensively, it’s unfortunately overreliant on devotions.
The current design would work better if we turned TSS into a veritable nuke that heals against bosses as well as mobs. I’d consider the following:
- TSS: radius increase.
Improving AoE would differentiate Iskandra from other sets, which work best with Rolderathis’ tome. - TSS: total damage modifier à la Ulzuin’s Chosen. Decrease aether-to-elemental conversion to 50%.
- Adjust %WD to make lifesteal effective against bosses.