so as per notes, hotfix 2 includes some 1.0.0.5 balance changes, which are not released.
i log in and find my sabo’s dps drops by 6k, then realize static strike proc chance nerfed to the ground from 75% to 50%. like sabo’s were op to begin with compared to bm’s right ? sorry /rant
since balance changes as drastic as these aren’t being released in notes, lets try to compile our list that people find out to avoid getting sneaked up on? i will start:
1.0.0.4 hotfix 2 stealth changes:
Static strike proc chance reduced from 75% to 50%.
I’ve found a change to Trozan’s Sky Shard, more specifically, Shattered Star: deals less Lightning damage per rank, but the chance of that extra Lightning damage happening now increases with rank instead of being a static 15%.
It’s hard to say how the damage numbers change when they only show as scaled values.
More specifically, the formula for that chance is 11 + (level), until level 12 at least. Ultimated ranks I haven’t looked at as that would require a lengthy respec.
This, savagery already stronger than firestrike.
Maybe it has to do with ultos and deathmarked being op but really any build with these two sets eaisly outperform firestrike.
Ive literally researched, played, and posted dps numbers on on all 3. So not biased at all
But no letssss nerf static strike To the ground and buff savagery. Ive honestly never seen anything nerfed this hard since aggrivix
Static Strike was stronger than it should be, though. Considering I’ve seen a few builds around this single skill mod (!). Haven’t tried my firestrike char for a while, dunno if the nerf is strong, but if you say nerfed yo the ground then it’s a pity
Storm touched was quite underpowered as a skill mod compared to static strike or brimstone. Ppl mostly took it for aspd. Now there’s more reasons to max it.
Savagery was buffed by around 5-10% sheet dps, but keep in mind this is additional dot damage, which is not that strong overall.
As for savagery vs firestrike, savagery has no aoe as such, while firestrike has plenty of it. So it’s kind of logical that savagery has better single target dps.
the issue may not be in the skills themselves.
firestrike is extremely powerful on paper; when u have the modifiers to lvl 22/12.
the issue is that fire strike dmg is split between 3 elements that are extremely hard to itemize well, you also need to put at least one of the skills at 22/12, which again require sacrifice in itemization.
the problem with savagery being OP is the 15% dmg increase across the board in combination with the ridiculous procs on ulto’s set. as well as being able to focus entirely on one dmg type
the dmg isn’t all from the savagery hits themselves. my savagery conjurer clears aoe almost as fast as my primal strike build due to all the procs, falconswoop, ultos axe and 5pc ultos + feralhunger /upheaval etc. all of these are amplifed by the 15% dmg boost.
savagery has better aoe than firestrike, much much better.
so on paper firestrike’s flat dmg bonuses look really strong when u have the modifiers at lvl 22/12. but the itemization, -resists, split dmg types, make it extremely difficult to itemize.
then take savagery - u can keep the skill at lvl 16, stack light dmg, stack -lightning resist, done.
now for deathmark builds, again, night’s chill is such a ridiculous dual resist debuff for pierce/cold, which just happens to be in the same mastery as DW, and ur free to choose a 2ndary mastery purely for support. all u need to do is stack flat pierce/cold dmg. done.
now u compare CoF for example, not that its a bad skill or anything but it seems like it debuff just about every resist except one of the occutist’s main dmg type - chaos. forcing u to synergize with other trees. while nightblade is 100% self sufficient.
I wonder if the nerfs are due to builds from other communities, like on Chinese forums, their builds are quite different from ours. They play with 6-8k hp and their kill times are much faster then ours. They have 6 sec shar’zul kills etc, and blademasters don’t really seem like the king there. For example, they have pyromancers doing 9 sec mad queen kill, 3 min bourbon.
They also have Mogdrogen kills with just about every class.
i mean i could optimize sabotuer for full dps and maybe get a sub 10s sharzul but the sacrifice in survivability means ill be dying 10times just to get there.
i mean balancing a skill around 6k hp builds is just lol.
the reason ulto’s builds are so godly is that they don’t just have extremely high dps but also great survivability with savagery/primalstrike being so easy to itemize. blademasters at least have to make some trade offs in terms of dps/hp. but savagery builds are really easy to get high physcial resist, high hp AND high dps.
I’m Chinese too lol, though not from China. But if you watch their vids they have no issues with survival. They’re not optimized for boss kill times but full run times I think.
i imagine they run with some lifesteal with are always at full hp most of the time. the times they die to reflect, sharzul burst or player derping out probably don’t get recorded ;p
but maybe im wrong, u have link to where they post vids?
I can’t so I struggle going through the site with google translate. I copied a witch hunter build from the forum though… 10sec shar’zul with no issues surviving BoC, 8.5k hp, feel like roughly equivalent to the typical blademaster setups here, though my own blademaster setup is tankier. The witchhunter uses 3 piece justice (helm, shoulder, chest) set to boost survival, don’t know what augments he uses but I put the kymon one on mine.
Got the link from Chinese player who posted a build on this forum, the same guy who posted the 3 sec mad queen kill exploiting time dilation.
Anyway, since the nerfs don’t really make sense to us, maybe they’re due to some other possibly OP setup theorycrafted by another community?
I believe firestrike has better itemisation. There are plenty of fire+ chaos items, brimstone is easy to cap. The demo mastery has inconvenient -fire&chaos res, ulsuins set has -fire&lightning res, there’s a great fire+chaos devotion with spreading -fire&chaos debuff. There are great items for firestrike build in every slot.
Debuffing lightning res requires occultist or crappy to use aether bombs, and that’s all the options on stacking res reduction. I don’t count ulzuins head as it is designed for different class at all. There are no good gloves, medals, belts, rings for lightning savagery. The only good itemization part for lightning builds is ultos set. Other than that item, skill and devotion support for lightning is poor.
If you remove ultos axe and 5pt set proc, you’ll see how savagery lacks aoe and comfort and suddenly feel it is not that op.
… jk