Not sure if this belongs to test patch subforum, but since I’m not in the playtest myself…
Anyway, about Arcanist getting some in terms of vitality support - which I’m sure will not break anything in the game. Of course there’s the Diviner set and Gaze of Ungoliax, but that’s about it.
The kind of support I’m speaking of is pretty generalistic and should help meme concepts for the most part (looking at you, vitality PRM), as well as make certain items be more usable at least in those scenarios.
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First stop is Crown of the Revenant King. Despite it being a caster helmet AND having some minor Arcanist support, I’ve never seen it being used in actual Arcanist build. Skill mod to MoE it provides is… a bit too specific and kinda rivals Ascended Diadem mod.
Suggestion: replace +2 to MoE with +1 to Arcanist, add casting speed to the helmet, thus making it a “proper” caster helmet.
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Next stop is Will of the Living shield. It has almost everything to make it a proper caster Spellbinder shield - except for % vitality damage.
Suggestion: add % vitality damage on it, or to Maiven’s skill mod if somehow this might make vitality Cabalists, Oppressors or whatever desire this shield more instead of something else (which I doubt, but hey).
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There’s really no weapon that would support vit Arcanist either. We have a decent one for chaos (Spark of Reality), so why not add some generic +1 to Arcanist to some item that is not stacked as it is? First candidate for that - as it seems to me - is Claw of Hagaraz. Nothing crazy about this weapon, it’s neither bad or great. Its Call of the Grave mod could synergize well with items above. Alternatively, you could add it to Cryptstalker instead. It implies Arcanist support, but it ends on just +3 to Overload… which is questionable at best.
Suggestion: add +1 to Arcanist to either Claw of Hagaraz or Cryptstalker. This might also help pet Spellbinders or Warlocks, for what it’s worth.
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Probably the last one of the bunch is Wraithstalker Band. This one is kinda weird. It has % vitality and even some fire → vitality conversion, and supports two Arcanist skills. Now, I’m pretty sure you are supposed to use it on aether CT or AAR, but… those have better alternatives, like Aetherlord’s Signet, Magelord rings, Band of the Eternal Haunt, Albrecht’s Duality, maybe some others I’m forgeting.
Suggestion: change +2 to CT or +2 to AAR to one of the PRM’s nodes - either the main skill itself, Distortion or Proliferation.
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Here’s a doodle of theoretical vitality PRM Spellbinder I’ve put together with said items (except for the ring, because without any meaningful skill bonuses it’s worthless in this particular build):
It doesn’t look too bad for what it is, I suppose. % vitality damage is somewhat low though, considering 97% vitality RR; skill points are a bit tight (wanted to max Blood Boil since Siphon Souls will get some buffs). With suggested buffs both problems can be solved. So uh, there’s that then.
P.S. I was also thinking about Eternity relic getting % vitality, but figured it would be too handy for Diviner, so not including it =)