Earthquake

Earthquake's AoE is better for sure, but due to the AoE modifiers change, scaling it feels extremely unrewarding. I've been using the Inc AoE gem, and just switched to conc effect permanently and haven't noticed a difference in clearing capability. IMO, Earthquake should get some added aftershock flat radius every some levels, would help it's radius not feel so bad.

I hear that the aftershock becomes completely ignored (by that I mean, the aftershock doesn't even occur) if the attack speed is faster than the duration of aftershock wait time. Is this "bug" fixed? Or is this actually happening because it was somehow intended to happen..?

Out of curiosity, also want to ask if this (only one aftershock countdown being able to occur at any point) is actually intended by developers? or is it some side effect of something that they didn't account for? I don't see too much point of this occuring, if it was intended (albeit they may wanted people to invest on less duration, but even with maximum investment on less duration, for the most part attack speed will exceed it).

There used to be a time when Earthquake had both AoE and damage that made waiting for the aftershock to pop worth it. It is no longer the case. Sure, if you hit with both the initial hit and the aftershock the damage effectiveness is pretty good but considering the investment(or lack of investment in attack speed) required to get an aftershock between every hit you'd think it would do more. The AoE is still absolutely pitiful even after the +3 radius to the aftershock and even if they once more increased the aftershock aoe that just means you have one hit that is basically hitting nothing at all and an aftershock which does something.

I don't see why they can't bring the AoE up from 18/28 to something relatively reasonable like 24/34 by the time the gem hits level 20 and another +1 for those lucky fellas that gets it to 21. With current AoE scaling unless you are a Jugg with "free" 50% AoE and Inc AoE gem and all the clusters I don't think this would get to the point where it's even close to competing with Sunder or anything that you can stack attack speed effectively with.

Even with the best gear and optimised tree the damage is still lack luster for single target in 3.3 just like cyclone especially for RT builds

Show RT some Love

Needs a huge buff where it will go off even if you hit a wall or some stupid debris in maps. Maps with random junk laying around that blocks your path will also prevent EQ from going off entirely which makes the skill completely garbage in scenarios where you can't see clearly the open ground in which your EQ will go off. Highly unreliable, bad mechanic.

Love the mechanic of this skill...I've always enjoyed heavy hitting builds. Still, even with the buffs it's received, it suffers in certain areas, most notably AoE (mild), Single target (severe), and targeting issues (ground cover negates swing often).

I think the best solution is a threshold jewel, since this is one of the melee skills that has yet to get one. Here's my suggestions for resolving the current issues with the skill on a threshold...Ill list what should be buffed on the jewel:

1) Increased Melee physical damage - simple, and usually on most melee threshold jewels. 12-15% is average.

2) with at least 40 strength in radius, Earthquake has 40% reduced duration. - This will relieve some of the pressure to stack duration on every piece of gear in existence, and increase damage potential with another layer of reduced duration.

3) With at least 40 strength in radius, Earthquake does 30% More damage with initial hit only. - This one boosts the single target appropriately. The initial hit...a small radius, does decent damage, in addition to the aftershock. so AoE isn't drastically affected by this, but you can down Single targets within a more competitive timeframe.

An alternative to #2 could be increased AoE instead of reduced duration, to assist in trash farming for non jugg builds. Either way works fine, but I think that point# 3 is the critical one, to help with our single target.

I've been thinking about Earthquake quite a bit recently and I think it is a prime target for making it the melee version of Scourge Arrow.

Make it a channeling skill.

Deals (50-69)% of Base Damage
Base duration is 1 seconds
50% More Attack Speed
Aftershock deals 70% more Damage with Hits and Ailments
5 Maximum Stages
150% more Damage with Hits and Ailments per Stage
+3 Radius Per Stage

This would bring you to an absolutely stupidly sexy large hit at 997% Base Damage Aftershock and a massive 33 Radius initial hit and 43 Radius Aftershock.

The DPS Multiplier of a channeled to the maximum stages is 299% DPS if you only count the aftershock and a whopping 475% if you hit with both making it far stronger than the current Earthquake which sits at a pitiful 294% but instead allows you to move around more often.

A side benefit(?) of sorts to this is that the Earthquake helm enchant becomes far less useful allowing you to play with some faster weapons if that is what you would like to do or really aim for getting the fattest hits possible with a 2Hander. It could also be argued that you can pretty easily skip Less Duration with this new version of the skill aswell making Vaal Earthquake far more interesting.