Static Strike

old version new later.

I think the skill works OK, but the constant rhythmic zapping sound is too annoying to use -- it's unbearable.

Been trying to make a voidforge static strike inquisitor to work, and at times the skill feels super good, in a lot of the challenging contents (abyssal cities, shaper, elder, uber elder etc) the plain normal hit of the skill gets in the way. The skill is basically melee storm brand with the player acting as the brand, and a much riskier playstyle to keep up the beam stacks.

I think there are 3 problems with the skill:

1. the beams only chain once by default.

Touch of anguish, mjolner and few other uniques kinda bypass this. Sure there are ways to get extra chain, but most uniques that support extra chain like snakepit or gloomfang are intended for projectiles, which the beams are not, so the beams get partial benefits at best.

Since I am using a voidforge, I am using the chain support, which is okay for clearing lower end contents, but the less damage link does take a large bite out of damage scaling when compared to a more damage link like hypothermia.

2. the added melee range is too short to reliably tag enemies in dangerous damage mod maps, especially with legion contents.

Standard way to get around short-range namelock skills right now is to slap an ancestor call on it, which is again a less damage link that lower the damage ceiling. In my case, if I use both chain and ancestral call support the damage on extra life mod maps vs. rare monsters feels lackluster, all the more so after magic and rare monster got their life buffed in 3.7.

However, if I am not using ancestral call, I would at times leap slam into a pack and try to hit something but fails to connect because my leap slam end up killing the white mobs in melee range (for me it's +2 on tree and +3 on gem), and without the beams freezing and killing stuff on screen I am extremely vulnerable even with 5k+ hp, fortify, taste of hate and lion's roar up.

3. The 0.4 second delay between hitting something and the first beam strike.

Now 0.4 second may not sound like much on paper, but when we are playing a league like legion where maraketh rares oneshot you from off screen, or the shield banging rare stuns you if you are on the same screen, or the shield toss templar rare's bullet hell attacks, etc. are on every maps, asking any character who doesn't have high and some form of dodge/block to jump into a pack, melee range tag something, and wait 0.4 seconds before more than 1 (3 if ancestral call) enemy take damage from your skills is a rather daunting task.

What I would love to see:

1. It would be wonderful to see a threshold jewel that give the beams extra chain so the skills can be used with more gear combinations.

2. Some sort of AoE damage zone on the melee hit so the skill properly reflect the AoE tag. Static strike is one of the few skill that have the tag but doesn't benefit from AoE damage scaling at all. If the first wave of the beam immediately struck enemies in the AoE on the melee hit, or if the AoE zone was the same as the old static strike, it would make tagging enemies and triggering the buff a much more reasonable task.

3. Vaal gem where you can instantly get some buff stacks similar to vaal reave?



UPDATE: After getting to the point where I still had ~1.6mil shaper dps while using both chain and ancestral call, and my vaal warchiefs doing 1.8mil, the skill feels fine to use. It took a large investment to reach around 4 attacks per second using a voidforge (passive, blood rage, attack speeds on jewels, etc), but it was what it took for static strike to trigger the beam faster, which helped a lot with how safe the character played (still risky tho). I still do think static strike needs some quality of life change to make triggering the beams easier and more reliable so the skill feels good to use throughout the leveling phases.

Hello, I would like to suggest a QOL for static strike. Something along the lines of a down scaling to 0% more attack speed modifier based on how many stacks you have of static strike. You would start at say 50% more attack speed with no stacks and scale down to 0% at 3 stacks. This would hardly effect overall skill dps but greatly improve the feel of the skill gem especially if you don't want to scale attack speed and take advantage of say the beam damage and shockwave support.

Thank you.

Hello,
how about to change static strike to make it boss viable.

Idea 1:
rather then "Beams deal (60-54)% less Damage while Stationary" and
"Beams deal (40-31)% less Damage while Moving", all "multiple beams (4) can hit 1 enemys, if an enemy is hit by more then 1 beam the next beams (3 of those) deal (40-31)% less damage"

this would result in a more powerful skill, both in mapping and bossing.

Idea 2:
change "static strike" so that we can gain stages by attacking and hitting enemies, rather than just hitting them, this is in the most cases a big problem with this skill.

(or something like "smite or earthquake" with a bigger attack aoe.)

Idea 3:
some base flat physical added damage?

thanks and bye
JeckNoTree

"at max stacks: beams deal (edit:formerly 20%) 10% more damage to unique enemies"
"at max stacks: all beams hit unique enemies while stationary"

my build:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2803773

making it easier to hit enemies to maintain the buff would be a huge QoL boon for static strike.

changing the strike attack to an arc like lightning beam, with shorter range obviously, would be amazing. especially if it auto targeted!

Harvest pre-analysis:
In case nobody really cares, nerfing static strikes (1)duration, (2)conversion, (3)damage effectiveness, (4)max beam frequency, and (5)maximum applied beam damage modifier in exchange for removing the buff stack mechanic and stationary beam damage modifier has negatively impacted the game in a way that should of been avoided, i.e. "This patch is a f*ck you straight to MY face, so f*ck this shit i'm out."
Thats 5 nerfs for those of us counting.

I comprehensively designed a build that made clear that static strike as a skill inherently walks a fine line between viable clear skill/inadequate boss killer and total outright suicide, regardless of circumstances excellent or otherwise.
This comes from the simple requirement of having to actually hit target(s) faster than they hit you to ensure utilization of the skills core mechanics at at least the same efficiency as the monster(s) is realizing with basic AI and developer favoritism.
I'm saying you care more about Sirius and the average juiced normal monster pack then your player-base's well-being, as evidenced.

It makes clear a level of contempt for something involved here by the part of the developers judging by design direction and resulting implementation, targeting static strike but probably directed at any of your users who play the game to be honest.

I am willing to overlook this if the base duration at level 20 is returned to 4 seconds. This will at least allow Static Strike to remain viable as a clear ability when compared with literally any bow build or flicker strike.
Further this maintains the required balance offset necessary to alleviate cost and risk associated with engaging targets at melee strike animation range in the first place by minimizing the need to re-engage.


I will additionally note for the record, that as a skill effect, removing the buff stack mechanic is actually detrimental to the goals stated for this patches overall balance theme of buffing 2h weapons, as weapon range allowed for larger animation cleave providing full stack charges from individual swings on packs of 3 or more.
As i stated it WAS a viable clear ability when used with appropriate theoretical applications, none of that sword/shield nonsense, STAVES LADS STAVES.

Subjecting the skill to 5 nerfs for irrelevant reasons that will not justify the expected failure of the skill to be viable fighting Sirius is EXACTLY what i feared would occur. This is only the tip of this iceberg, you won't even see attempts made to use the skill in any capacity going forward as a direct result of this over-tuned approach that favors content you as developers identify with. Spells and bosses/monsters, as i understand it are your favorites.

In all fairness though a full reversion of the skill to pre-harvest conditions is the ideal state of existence for Static Strike. Maybe after that if you truly wanted to design, develop, and implement something nice for static strike you should ask me to hold your hand and walk you through how it works in the first place.

QoL (duration and moving damage) went down but the skill was not really nerfed that badly

It got improved for slower builds. Fast builds wouldn't really benefit from beams that much anyways since the beams have pretty fixed (static heh) hit frequency and scaling attack speed would not boost it.

Previous standing beam damage at 3 stacks:
160% base damage, 46% beam damage (54% less), and beams rate was 2.5 (1/0.4) * 1.3 (3 stacks)
1.6*0.46*(1/0.4*1.3) = 239.2% base damage per second

New stationary beam damage is:
1.5*0.6*(1/0.32) = 281.25% base damage per second

Of course we're not always stationary so it sort of evens out considering time spent moving (though if moving a lot you were probably not at 3 stacks that much)

The conversion change probably a fair complaint though. Seems arbitrary change

I'll miss the old leveling with static strike + shockwave though, gotta actually attack once every 2 seconds now :(

Also tribal fury is on the tree now so it doesn't cost multiple exalts or a glove or a support gem to get static strike up without being on top of a monsters face.

double post delete