Hellball and Caster epic strikes
- Thread starter Teh_Troll
- Start date
AFAIR I still has the bug where it does zero damage on a save instead of half? If so, it's useless for lesser geared players.
Frantik
Well-known member
I had also read this recently but have yet to test; i've been trying to come up with a melee build with cold immunity strip and cold imbue (Chaosmancer or elemental form) but so far nothing as tidy as i would want.
Anurakh
Little Nixie
This reasoning isn't a problem. A rogue isn't going to have more spellpower or spell crit than a caster who has invested a plethora of resources in that, so the spell epic strike will be better for sorc. No a problem if the strike is better than spells the sorc. Heroic spells should be compared with regular attacls of the weapon users.
But if this were really a problem, then what needs to be done is remove SLAs from being based on character level and make them work on caster level, so they're class-agnostic spells that accept any caster level. And for the rest, set a minimum caster level so the weapon users have some use for this (caster level min, decide according to the most balanced). Done, now only casters can get the maximum power of the strikes, and the rest can have a more basic use of them.
This is actually what happens with heroic spells. In 3ed pnp, cone of cold, for example, can only be cast with a minimum caster level of 9 because that's the minimum for casting a 5th-level spell. Casters learn to do this better as they level up, until they reach the MCL. Epic spells should also have a minimum CL, so it's possible to play with this concept so that casters can use them at a higher CL than someone who isn't trained in spellcasting (or who has only had partial training for a few caster levels).
Caster strikes should NOT be weaker than spells if weapon strikes are, as they are now, stronger than their special heroic attacks.
The developers would save themselves a lot of trouble if they respected the original rules more instead of breaking them at will.
This is true. Or the nerf is universal, o rit needs go away. One thing or the other,
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Anurakh
Little Nixie
No! We didn't get what we wanted. Four very vocal complainers created a continuous campaign to get the cerf. They were the ones who got what they wanted.
Teh_Troll
Master of Baiting
Four people, so 8 crossbows?
LurkingVeteran
Well-known member
I can understand that they don't want to give everyone easy access to epic strikes comparable to the main nuker class features (SL9 spells). However, they should be a bit better (especially Hellball which is a feat). The main problem is that the state of nukers overall in the meta is very bad due to the reaper penalty though.
Easiest would be to bring everyone down to the caster damage levels, since R10 is almost "too easy" for maxed out builds these days (and buff Hellball and some of the epic strikes).
Easiest would be to bring everyone down to the caster damage levels, since R10 is almost "too easy" for maxed out builds these days (and buff Hellball and some of the epic strikes).
droid327
Hardcore casual soloist
Literally anything with dlord? That gives you a full melee kit, cold imbue and cold strip for 5 levels and 36 ap
Idk how much more tidy it could be lol
LurkingVeteran
Well-known member
Have you tried if the strip is practically useful though? Having it on a melee strike with a CD seems pretty bad. Maybe it could be OK on a strike-through build.
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Anurakh
Little Nixie
It's okay. The vulnerability lasts 10 seconds, and the cooldown on both sunder and improved sunder lasts 10 seconds. And this is assuming you don't have any other sources of sunder.
If you want to remove the immunity, it's pretty easy, especially in the case of bosses (mobs don't last long lol). And if you don't want to remove it at all, the imbue only represents a small portion of your total damage. For a caster, facing an immunity can cause them to lose a large portion of their DPS. My wizard certainly notices it. And it's even worse for a warlock, with so few options.
droid327
Hardcore casual soloist
You could always /1 CM (or burn a heart) for a second aoe strip. I actually wrote that first, but then erased it because it seemed superfluous though
Cold immunes arent that common, and a melee build wont absolutely need it against cold immune trash mobs. Unless you're using Raellia or Rauven I guess...but even then you can just switch to Valorious or Esper, or literally any other weapon
Anurakh
Little Nixie
my wizard's main mantle is tied a cold, and I face cold immunities pretty often. It's not just skeletons. It's especially bad in the Feywild, where fire beetles are immune (and they're fire! lol) and witches too. Liches, of course. And various other mobs I can't remember right now (even some bosses that shouldn't be). Cold immunities are common. Fire is worse, though. I'd say Electric has fewer immunities, but all demons are immune, and that hurts. Acid probably has fewer immunities of the four elements, but even it has more immunities than it seems.You could always /1 CM (or burn a heart) for a second aoe strip. I actually wrote that first, but then erased it because it seemed superfluous though
Cold immunes arent that common, and a melee build wont absolutely need it against cold immune trash mobs. Unless you're using Raellia or Rauven I guess...but even then you can just switch to Valorious or Esper, or literally any other weapon
Removing a boss or golem's immunity with a DL is very easy! The Dragonlord has a harder time removing immunity from groups of mobs. But it shouldn't be a problem; your base damage should be enough to take out the trash. Keep in mind that the imbue is a small fraction of the DL's total damage.
Frantik
Well-known member
I can't agree with you all. A melee build obtains crit profile from class and ED trees, while a caster doesn't. A melee isn't tied to a diminishing amount of stamina, say, while a caster needs to manage spell points. Melee epic strikes are better than heroics versions but not for casters. Casters are squishier, which is fine, but for balance there needs to be something.