[3.10] Sovyn's Lazy Pally - Tanky Templar with Max Block
" Sounds good Sovyn, maybe you consider playing HC when the expansion launches :) I know that if the Lockstep mode that they have announced actually works, then I consider trying my luck in HC once the expansion is live. Still undecided about whether it will be in the new HC Challenge League or the permanent HC league. Probably depends on the content of the new leagues and how much time I can find to play. At the moment I am playing around in Standard with my old self-found gear gathered over several challenge leagues, and I do feel very strong even though some of my gear could do with an upgrade. I am most proud of this piece that actually dropped for me in the end of Domination: Never really used it actually as the Domination league finished a few days after I got the drop. I used Vorici to get it 5-linked :) Need to get some lightning res gear though! About the skill gems, it looks like so far Static Strike is still the way to go. Unless the Ice Crash skill turns out to outclass it, Ice Crash should be added to the beta tomorrow :) |
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" Can't wait to test it! Static is good but Cyclone is probably also good. The rest of the melee skills are less inspiring so far. I'm hoping shield charge will be better after the lockstep "desync solution" is in. Anything would be better than leap slam, at least for me because wherever I click it won't leap there so nothing happens. :) Probably operator error but I love whirling blades which coincidentally won't work with the only good cheap weapon (Doryani's). So maybe shield charge is a ray of hope. Last edited by Sovyn#2637 on May 18, 2015, 2:48:56 AM
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Right, Cyclone... I never really liked that skill. But I guess that was mainly because of desync issues, so with the lockstep solution to desync I guess Cyclone does deserve another chance :)
As for Ice Crash, it does look quite similar to Static Strike (which I have come to love) with its circular AOE. Looks like it does cold damage so we will probably be freezing enemies with it as well, which I suppose will provide us yet another layer of defense in a way. Now, if the dps/clear speed it provides turn out to match Static Strike (or better) then we probably have a winner! |
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Looks like they are really catering for us solo/self found players with the new expansion:
- Golems - Divination cards - Gem vendors While all of these can benefit everybody I do believe that they will benefit solo players the most, and I am quite certain that these have been added first and foremost with solo/self found players in mind, to make our life in Wraeclast a bit easier :) |
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" Most definitely. I sure would have appreciated the gem vendors in particular in my self-found days. I'll be able to clear 2-3 tabs full of gems at least though which is great. |
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I'm not high level enough quite yet in Beta since the wipe to get an Ice Crash gem myself (it comes from the quest where you kill General in Act3) but I've heard that multistrike does not work with it so attack speed would feel sluggish compared to what we are used to. Also it's not that great on bosses. Other than that it sounds promising with good to great pack clearing ability and decent round AOE size. I'll test it myself in a couple days when I get that far.
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Too bad about Multistrike and Ice Crash, I wonder if that is intended or a bug that will be fixed before the release of the expansion. I can't think of any other melee skills that doesn't work with Multistrike.
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I read somewhere that there should be improvements/changes to Reave in the Beta, but don't know if it is true.
I also read that apparently Cyclone should be stronger than ever! Sovyn, did you get your hands on a Reave or Cyclone gem in the Beta yet? Last edited by Stefacle#6840 on May 22, 2015, 3:38:06 AM
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More beta attack skill discussion -
Ice Crash not working with multistrike is intentional. It also has a negative attack speed mod on the gem slowing things down even further. It swings slowly but it is quite strong overall due to unusually high base damage, just not super on bosses going from what I've heard, I'm still not high enough level after the wipe to try it myself because I have to kill General Gravicius but I will. I did test Reave in the beta and did not see much difference and it feels lackluster at low levels. However I think in the latest patch Reave was changed so that other skills (like whirling blades etc) would not eliminate the Reave stacks anymore. A minor improvement for us, maybe bigger for other builds that use a ton of manually activated skills. I don't have a reave gem to test after the latest wipe. Cyclone - never got one to test, will look into it. Have heard it's strong at the moment but that could change before release. I know way back in my testing data I determined that cyclone was the only melee skill that gave Reave a run for its money in timed clear speed testing. I have a 20/20 cyclone on standard ready to go if we end up using that. I did test Vigilant Strike with Endurance Charge on Melee Stun + Stun + Melee Splash supports. As you know Vigilant Strike has a cooldown which can be bypassed by expending endurance charges so a way to generate charges is required to use the skill as a main attack. It's nice when it hits and that's most of the time on whites but on blues and especially yellows it rarely stuns so the character just stands there dumb, not even default attack as fallback on this skill. I'm not sure even Bringer of Rain with its 20% chance to gain endurance charge on block would be enough to sustain this skill as a primary attack without a significantly modified skill tree taking most of the stun nodes. Obviously I won't have BoR on beta to test. Seems like a shaky skill very unreliable. The never missing part is nice and we could pass on Resolute Technique but with all the lackluster supports required to make it work I don't think the dps would be competitive with other options. Most likely we will end up getting our Fortify buff from the support gem. |
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Starting to test Ice Crash on beta. Even though the tooltip dps is lower than static strike, Ice Crash does seem to be an effective pack clearer. It chills monsters momentarily as well. The attack speed is woefully slow and the weapon selection is more limited than static strike -- the only decent weapon I have found is a claw which does not work with Ice crash. So, slow and hard hitting is the word but be sure to bring a good mace/axe/sword. More thoughts later.
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