Skill rework: Tempest Shield

"Tempest Shield was intended to enable a defensive shield-using spellcaster build"

And yet, the amount of useful shield passives (particularly block) near the Witch is pitiful, relative to the Duelist all the way on the opposite side of the tree.

I'm fine with it, it is what it is, but it doesn't seem to be in the spirit of your main intent.
Last edited by Tindraa#7630 on Jun 16, 2015, 5:30:47 PM
Not crazy about what is essentially another duration skill that has to be constantly refreshed.
I really haven't followed a lot of this stuff closely as I haven't been able to get a look-in on the beta, but it seems this could really work nicely in so far as freeing up some mana for other uses. I currently run two auras plus TS, so unless they're doing something similar to the herald gems I can see myself redirecting that 25% of mana to H of A on my molten strike build.
Is there any way we would get a similar QoL fix for Molten Shell so it refreshes when it explodes? It's so annoying trying to use that skill as an armor buff that it's just not even worth it.
For me the cooldown on lighting beam seems still too long.
"
CorranHorn wrote:
ALL WE WANT IS EXTRA BLOCK CHANCE.

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


Now we have LESS block chance and INSANE high CD... just WOW!

How about delay BETA for more test and better balance?
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Tempest shield as a skill means a lot to me. It was one of the skills I found very awesome, but which I always thought needed a revamp.

Came back for awakening... and now you fixed tempest shield as well.

GOD DAMN IN RORY I WANT TO HUG YOU!
Finally not convinced by the change...
IGN TylordRampage
"
GrayScar wrote:
@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


Back at this topic after gaming on and using the new type of "Tempest Shield".

Plus side:
Skill doesn't cost reserved mana anymore.
Damage raised.

Minus side:
Block chance added down from 4% to 3%, therefore in itself less attractive then before if one was solely after this part.
Damage raised, without reliable blocking 60%+ not very attractive.
(To get this damage working one needs quite a few nodes concerning this type of damage.)

Game play factors which finally decided me.
The 12 second duration looked viable to me at first, my build isn't the fastest moving around.
Soloing the frequency of recasting was annoying at times, endurable tough for the benefit.
Party games? Not so much, especially when teamed to ranged and/or fast moving builds.
Recast means, run, recast-makes-you-stop, run.
This didn't look so bad at first until i noticed:
a) Loosing contact to the others happened now with a regular frequency.
b) Recasting became more and more often, since most times the monsters weren't alive long enough to hit and trigger another block (78% here).
So there went the 12 seconds, "Increased Duration" didn't really help that problem.

This was what finally decided me to abscond "Tempest Shield" for good, it was nice while it lasted.

Conclusion:
For other builds this might still be viable, hoping to see one of those crossing my path sometime.

For a melee build based on Duelist, Marauder, Scion start area, when going for a high total of block %, Tempest Shield just doesn't cut it for me anymore.

Luckily, other options are available now, so the (my) build is changed, quite a bit, but still working.


Gray


Edit:
Besides the new form of "Tempest Shield", i would like to see another skill gem.

"Stone Wall", let it be called.
Game mechanics:
- Gem color: Red.
- Cost: An amount of reserved mana, maybe 25%?
- A fixed amount of block chance % or scaling with gem level.
- Quality %, a certain amount of block recovery.

This way melee builds "depending" on the old form of "Tempest Shield" would still have this option.
The new form would still be available for other builds.


Gray







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Last edited by GrayScar#4785 on Jun 24, 2015, 10:50:18 PM
Still garbage...

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