Skill rework: Tempest Shield

sounds amazing....

am definetely going to build something around this concept in beta^_^


best
cudez

*AND* I can run it on top of my heralds and auras!? Hallelujah, I really wanted to use this skill on my block character but I found no way to make it work. Does it work on CwDT?

@Rory

1.) We've changed Tempest Shield to be a duration buff with a cast cost, rather than having permanent mana reservation. This should make the skill much easier to support with damage increasing support gems, and enables interesting synergies like Cast on Melee Kill.

- First thought, there go some non-caster melee build(s) some of us gamed quite a while.


2.) Tempest Shield's duration will be refreshed whenever you Block. This will mean that you'll only have to refresh the skill very occasionally if you've specialised in block.

- On second thought, these non-caster melee builds might still work out, depending on the base duration and added duration by refresh.


3.) Tempest Shield now unleashes an arc-like beam at enemies you block. This will help the skill feel more active and let users know what they're damaging or why they're taking damage when facing enemies with the skill.

- This might even boost some non-caster melee builds.


4.)The beam from Tempest Shield now chains once. This will help improve the skill when fighting groups of monsters, and give more opportunity for investment as you can further increase the chains with the Chain support gem.

- Again, this might even boost some non-caster melee builds.


5.) We've increased the damage, and added a very short cooldown on the damage trigger. This will make the skill more reliable, without being too powerful against very fast attacking monsters or players.

- For some non-caster melee builds this skill gets more unreliable, how much remains to be seen (back to beta testing it is).
- In case someone asks how, some setups rely on the hit-block-damage sequence to trigger desired effects.
Rushing into a group of 4+ goons:
- Old skill, no cooldown, all goons that get blocked trigger the sequence.
- New skill, cooldown, 1st goon that gets blocked triggers, all other hitting during the cooldown don't trigger (anything)?
Depending on the length of the cooldown this will decide if the skill remains feasible for some non-caster melee builds.


Still, even if it disrupts long standing builds, i like to see how much work Grinding Gear Games crams into this game.


Gray

heralds tempest shield, Q added cold, blind. with enough block, chance to freeze passive now is viable. just from tempest shield buf passive spell damage. i did this quite alot on release of heralds. it was hidden and could stand there freezing everything.

then....they nerfed block for pvp...the world ended. i stopped playing. block was the one defense players had to defend themselves from gravity one hit mechanics.

now there is nothing. therefore i dont play!!

EDIT!!!

if this is a buff and spell damage apply why arent u doing the same to other buffs?

oh i know ur grey areas are far and wide just like ur 1 hit mechanics...

This is one of my favorite changes made to skills in 2.0. You took an underused not-very-powerful skill and made it not only substantially better, but super unique and awesome. I just couldn't help but to smile while reading this. Everything is just so awesome. You guys never fail to make my day. Thank you and keep it up :D

I hope I can still use it on my Duelist. I'm stoked to see the lightning effects every time I block. It will be nice to know when I'm blocking and get a clearer visual of the damage that's being done.

Interesting changes! Can't wait to try it. Now I just need a little microtransaction to make it less flashy. Like the shields of sparking bone warriors or something. Guess this would require a Unique supporterpack :-D

I've always liked using a shield and liked Tempest Shield but it was indeed too expensive considering the mana reservation and the sockets it used vs the little damage and incr. block. Shields are not in a very strong position anymore except for the additional stats and sockets it provides for less damage (1h). Building around max block requires such a heavy investment that it's hard to specialize into anything else.

The changes look good, I think this will likely make TS more like a defining skills instead of something extra on the side.

I don't like temporary buffs too much though, there are so many of them (Immortal, Fortify, warcries, charges) that I find it hard to specialize. I will definitely now try to build around Tempest shield, the Fortify support gem and elemental damage as a melee Templar.

any additional block chance at Witch tree ? i always wanted more block chance for witch and never understand why Ranger have it in skill tree...
(yes, you can travel on skill tree but that's just waste of points and i hate that)

ALL WE WANT IS EXTRA BLOCK CHANCE.

The 3 lightning damage we don't care about however it's setup.