That’s exactly what I proposed, and you even quoted that, provoking me to respond. I’ve even made it clear in the following post.
Mark of Illusion is really good at the moment and is a nice cheap alternative until you get to level 75. Or until you grind the recipe if you’re playing for the first time. I’d even argue that it broke the power budget for a level 24 component quite a bit, but I like it. It was pretty meh for too long.
Sorry about that. :o
I have an honest question because I might oversee something in game mechanics:
Let´s say I have reasonably overcapped Bleeding Resistance (don´t exactly know how much is needed; 20 %, 40 %?).
Why should I use Bloodied Crystal over Runebound Topaz if the gain in Armor is less than the gain in Health?
Armor helps against Physical Damage (yes, there is a lot of ingame), but there is also Physical Resist. And there are a lot of possibilities for Healing which are percentage based (Pneumatic Burst, Wendigo Totem, Blood of Dreeg, Elixirs, etc…) and I think they use Max Health for calculation.
So why should Bloodied Crystals always be better except for Shield Builds? I really don´t understand it. 
I suspect it has something do to with opportunity cost and compared efficiency weight of these stats. If I’m understanding correctly (vets, feel free to correct me) :
- important resists to overcap are Elemental and Aether, the rest is nice but far less important. So it should make Bloodied Crystal that much less desirable in theory, buuuuuuut…
- there are lots of good options for Health stacking, whereas Armor stacking is more competitive, with OA and DA mainly.
- once you stack enough defenses to avoid being one-shot, which is the configuration where Health really shines, it’s a matter of reducing incoming damage, and here, Armor is much much better. So, in short, you stack global defenses like Resist (including Physical), Health, DA, and Armor until you can actually react to incoming damage. Once you’ve achieved that, you focus on the best defensive option against numerous low hits, which means max Resist, DA, and Armor. Max resist is quite rare, and DA has decreasing returns, accuented by its hardcap change, so it leaves Armor as a very desirable stat.
I think I know what I have missed: Time. 
In depth:
Let´s say following values:
a) 16.500 Health, 2.000 Armor
b) 16.000 Health, 2.300 Armor
If I only get 1 hit for e. g. 5.000 (Physical) Damage (and would regenerate to full Health till the next one), a) would be better: 13.500 vs. 13.300.
In reality it will be more like that I would get 3 hits in the same time frame and won´t regenerate as fast. For simplicity let´s take 3 hits for 5.000 Damage each.
a) 7.500 Health
b) 7.900 Health
Crystals would be better by ~5 %.
But if you bring in Physical Resistance, the numbers will change. If you have 10 % Physical Resistance, Crystals will only be better by about 3,7 %, with 20 % about 2,4 %, with 30 % about 1,3 %. Not counting % Damage Absorption. :rolleyes:
Calculating at morning after only 1 coffee, forgive me any mistakes. For me the difference is not sooo high if you bring in Healing, etc. Sure, it all depends how often you´re physically hit in a timeframe…
Leave crystals as they are imo. Buff topaz a little bit (they are not as bad as some people make them seem right now). Either increase their DA, increase/add shield related stats or add some kind of CC res (maybe trap/petrify resist?).
I’d like to use more ring components than just Bloodied Crystals.
Not sure how to achieve that since components other than Topazes have lower levels.
For all other slots I use various components, even those not usually chosen by builders.
For starters, how about:
-
adding something to Runebound Topaz
-
allowing Blazing Ruby to be socketed in rings
3 Likes
Would be nice if the bonuses were buffed. More Health and DA would made it a more clear distinction.
Shield block stat feels bad for sure. Do players even heavily invest into shields in single player? The returns are pretty poor last I checked.
Would also be nice if Arcane Spark can also be added to ring as an option for more OA.
1 Like
I used Crystals even in my Markovian Warlord. The set have so low physical resistance, you need armor to survive. And armor don’t have recovery rate, sorry topaz 
What’s Blazing Ruby? Why would you use it in rings in current state?
Mark of Illusions is one of my favorite components for leveling btw. I agree though, for other jewels you have more viable alternatives - Annihilation or Ancestry for amulet, even tainted heart and Arcane spark can be used there and not just on the medal.
Necromancers 
Yeah. Also, +8% shield block, even if you had 100% chance and recovery, is only 79.2 block damage for that shield. Whereas that crystal armour does not rely on having other stats to be nice (no where near the extent of shield stat at least).
To boost HP but I’ve just tested it and a bonus is too small. Maybe if it was doubled it could be useful for characters with low HP.
I usually use Soul Shards for levelling.
~ 1h ago I’ve joined the Order of Death’s Vigil with my Necro. I have my duties.
1 Like
It would more or less compete with Topaz then…
It’s a retal component IIRC and that useless for most builds retal is weighted in it’s budget. Similar story with Vengeful Wraith. Similar story with Topaz. Even though I highly doubt 8% damage blocked and 160 hp equals with 75 armor and 15% bleeding resistance even for shield builds without Soldier.
+1 for this