I personally do not like the Shaman skill wind devils so I would prefer not to use it. However it seems that just about every build, that I can find, that has a Shaman in it uses it. I’m wondering if there is an alternative skill that could be used instead? I believe I understand why it is used (RR) a lot, but as I’ve seen posted else where, people only take it for raging tempest and then complain about spamming it or trying to command where it goes
Since I haven’t been to high levels, imho, (100+ Cruci/ 50+ SR) the extra reduction may really be needed. If it is really needed, shouldn’t there be other ways ( for diversity sake ) of obtaining it then just Wind Devils. That is assuming RR from devotions and other skills are not enough when using a Shaman.
Yes, I realize that I don’t have to use it, but I can not seem to find an alternative way to get 35% RR that it provides.
There are other ways of getting resist reduction. It’s just that the kind Wind Devil provides also stacks on top with those other methods/sources as well - no matter how you look at it, it will be a significant damage increase for the damage types it effects.
If you really want to avoid Wind Devil, you can do but know that you are losing out on a fair amount of damage (and in the case of builds that make use of life steal) survivability too. In Normal/Veteran, this isn’t a big deal but becomes more problematic as you go up the difficulties.
An alternative is you play a Vitality or Bleed based Shaman as they rely on Devouring Swarm in place of Wind Devil.
Ideas and Feedback: Make those Wind Devils like Guardians of Empyrion or Blade Spirits. Permanent one time cast companions.
I play a Vindicator atm. And first i hated Wind Devils. But then i realized that i already play that Vindicator with only 4 active skills. And now i got used to it to click that button just regularely and watch how devestating they deliver AOE. Wind Devils + Elemental Storm (Devotion) works really well.
That would be a big nerf to builds that use Wind Devil for damage like Cyclone and Morgoneth. Only solution would be a transmuter that would make them permanent, but Crate at this point seems to not be adding more skills to current masteries.
Sorry, but where would be the nerf?
Because i play a Vindicator atm and i also rely on Wind Devils for damage. But they could do the same even if i would just cast 2 of them once. Like those Player scaling Pets i mentionend.
But certainly i missed something to think about.
Please tell me. I feel dumb now.
Because they would obviously have to be nerfed damage wise if they were going to be permanent. Guardians of Empyrion were actually timed pets like Wind Devils in the beta, but then were turned into permanent pets at cost of damage and Celestial Presence losing ADCTH.
I recall Blade Spirits were also timed pets that got turned into permanent pets at the cost of damage. And even with that damage nerf, they were way too strong for a while, so i assume the same happens with Wind Devils if they get turned into perma pets without a sizeable damage nerf.
So it would be a big balancing act to get them to the point where they are not broken or weak in forused builds and still useful for builds that use them for RR only.
I also don’t think Crate wants to turn all player scaled pets into perma pets because they want a few of them to be all about managining their lifespans.
At this point - after the conduit removals - there is no reason why Devils should not be permanent. The flavor of gearing for uptime is gone. Every build has 3 Devils now as long as you keep mashing the button. And increased summon always goes in pair with increased uptime.
So there’s no non-whimsical reason that Devils stay on cooldown. With guaranteed 100% uptime that cooldown has no purpose anymore. Except being another key in the piano.
You do realise virtually nothing changed with Wind Devil between the time before the cooldown/lifetime Conduit for it existing and it getting removed right?
The cooldown on the skill got lowered by just as much as the Conduit provided and the lifetime got a small increase to compensate - for everyone. Not just Wind Devil users.
EDIT: you added a paragraph. What changed is that now there’s no conduit to provide a variation in Devil uptime. So 100% uptime on Devils is a constant. Since it’s a constant, cooldown serves no purpose except forcing button mashing.
5 second cooldown and 12s lifetime with the Conduit providing -0.4s and +5s lifetime vs 4.5s cooldown and 14s lifetime post-change I believe.
Take into account that the change also opened up the amulet slot for Wind Devil users to be flexible as well. I’d say the change to Wind Devil’s uptime for casters built around it changed very little while everyone else benefitted.
Sure, while we’re at it, lets make Devouring Swarm a Censure-like aura too.
I’ve stated it before and i’ll state it again - I don’t play Grim Dawn to have the game play itself for me. I tolerate skills that act on their own like Blade Spirit/Guardians or Censure/Night’s Chill because there’s still plenty of room to make an active character and playstyle that include them, but the game does not need to be dumbed down further in terms of making active skills into passive skills.
Make Devils permanent has a long history. I was always against it because there was this additional layer of depth with gearing for uptime which increased potency. Now that’s gone. No reason not to make them permanent.
casting WDs performs animation that stops all other actions, e.g. movement, attack, etc.This fact is annoying, especially, if this happens when you want to escape some area damage. Always casting of it also no fun to me, so I agree to make them permanent as blade spirits.
Would wind devils function well as permanent “immortal pets” if the max RR was reduced by about 75% per wind devil?
In other words, you could have 3 wind devils up permanently, but their combined max RR would be equal to the current max RR of a single temporary wind devil
) of obtaining it then just Wind Devils. That is assuming RR from devotions and other skills are not enough when using a Shaman.