Scorching Ray
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why no fire penetration support? :(
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i like the skill, but it would be better if the width and/or length of the beam increased every stage. also minor visual effect changes per stage would make it look better.
Last edited by pandasplaying#5756 on Nov 18, 2016, 11:22:07 PM
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Spent some time leveling with this skill as well as using it on my lvl 65 Righteous Fire Chieftain.
My overall thoughts are 'it's ok I guess', it's damage is overall a bit below average, but not terrible. You can work with it. During lvling with my currently lvl 24 Witch, going full glass cannon with a pair of Lifesprig wands and Asenath's Mark helm, and 1 Pyre ring. Total damage increases were about 195%, +26% cast speed, on a +1 wand. It's damage was serviceable against most mobs, but struggled against bosses. However without proper equipment I suspect this skill would be a great deal less then optimal given that I was full glass cannon. One of the single biggest issues leveling is that you gain it too early, and have no supports available at the time. Which in turn makes an already unimpressive damage output considerably worse. It did however pick up once you were finally able to support it. However this still didn't help it enough vs bosses, but I can't say it's the worst I've ever experienced. I also briefly used it with my lvl 65 Chieftain, with a total of 268% increased damage. (which to be fair this is more of a tank) However I do have Righteous Fire for +54% more damage so. While it may have been a lvl below the zone I was testing it in, I felt the damage was a tad lackluster, but became decent while Righteous Fire was active. And the two skills do have a natural synergy. I'm sure with a more dedicated build you could make good usage out of this skill, but overall I am left with the impression that it's damage is a bit below average. It does however make up for the fact that it has good utility in it's fire resist reduction. So it has that going for it at least. |
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" If you want to have fun with this skill when leveling you should pick it at lvl 40 when you get access to +3 skill level staff and and 45 support with empower lvl 3, but yes damage values could be increased by gem level. Last edited by kavinux#2534 on Nov 19, 2016, 5:07:00 AM
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" Yes but its a mechanical oddity that lowers the potential uses of the skill, it isn't about the maximum stack its that multiple rays contribute to one stack not their own independent version. The current implementation is like having incinerate totems that contribute to moving your own stages up but do nothing else, or pizza totems that just make your pizza faster, does it gimp them? No because they have their own cast that builds up/does damage. I realise this is how the mechanics work but i'm arguing that it shouldn't be for this skill, overlapping chaos zones or vortexes would be super OP this move is usable in one scenario currently its just wasting the potential of the skill. They could just raise the cap on debuffs or add a more multiplier for multiple rays effecting the same target something to make it more viable. To be honest it could probably use a flat buff anyway at the moment. |
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After playing some more i realized that scaling cast speed is bad. You reach max stacks fast and at max all your beem does is refresh oldest one. I think best solution for the scorching ray without buffing flat damage is to change mechanics a bit.My solution would be Beam applies -25 fire res debuff that does not stack and remove damage stacking limit. Then such things as onslaught, inc duration, vaal haste, cast speed helm enchant, more cast speed glove essence and cast speed wands would be and option to experiment.As it is now i think i will swap cast speed gem for iron will soon as you dont want more then 1 stack on monsters when clearing.
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so i dont know if this really is the case or not cause i couldnt fight argus long enough due to my character dying to him.. but im pretty sure with scorching ray u cant damage him at all, which would be really stupid since its not IGNITE its a bruning debuff anybody can confirm that??
this fact would make the skill garbage even if it is rly fun to play it, but if u are strongly limited on which bosses u can even damage then u better delete the skill at all. can somebody try if thats also the case for atziri and the guardians? IGN Dontdieforkingass
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Using Firestorm on a totem with my Firestorm witch.
I'll keep using for now, on a self-found witch in hardcore this is proving useful. I can tag and pre-debuff mobs around corners or set up in doorways before opening. While Scorching Ray does not deal a lot of damage, it does a nice job of burning off fire resistance, increasing my Firestorm damage. As a stand-alone skill, I don't care for it. Firestorm deals far more damage to a much wider area. Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do. Benjamin Franklin Last edited by Artanthos#0192 on Nov 20, 2016, 2:01:50 PM
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Scorching ray: Visually looks like it's gonna hit like Mike Tyson, actually hits like Pee Wee Herman.
Also, would love to see a dev killing say, Hydra, with this skill self cast. Pros: The art guys knocked it out of the park Cons: Damage, Mechanics, Support Choices You could say it's a totem skill, except incinerate would be 10x better as a primary totem skill and that's not even really used. And let's face it, there can be only one good spell totem skill at a time. It used to be spark, then it was bladefall, well it's unlikely scorching ray will be the new highlander. Maybe sort of like wither totem for fire damage builds, you could do scorching ray totem where it debuffs the enemy fire resist for you.... |
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" Or even just Flame Totem, that ol' classic. Scorching Ray is a bad main-Totem skill because it doesn't meaningfully stack - a single Totem can hit the stack cap pretty quickly and any Totems beyond that don't do anything for your damage against bosses. Quite a solid support totem though. |
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