Puncture

Well, I joined the beta crowd rather recently, so I've just started to play around a bit with this gem. I must say that I find it very lacklustre so far. Why not add an increased crit chance to the current effect? I think it would fit the theme of the gem and make it a more attractive skill to use.

This gem should really include the following:

+X% More Physical Damage on hitting a target affected by puncture
where X = the % of the stationary dot tick

Puncture should also reach 5 stacks, but only raise the stationary dot damage on each stack (thus reaching the moving dot damage)

This would make the gem more competitive damage-wise.


If its not meant to be a damage skill, then it needs a secondary effect. Preferably something like 5%+1%/level of Reduced All Speed.

Making this a support gem would probably be too powerful unless they toned it down alot.

Pretty sure this is a pvp only skill strongest for melee users against ranged users.

I hope to see more pvp centric skills soon and you guys really need to start letting us test PVP and cutthroat mode NOW even if shits super imbalanced and not finished.

Me and my crew playing the game mainly for pvp/cutthroat mode I cant see how you will have it set up even remotely decently by open if you dont start letting us participate in it now.

The bleed effect seems to ignore energy shield on monsters. Is this intended?

Also, does armour reduce the bleed damage taken after the initial hit?

Seems a bit overpowering when mobs get this skill.Soon as I see my ES dropping I know I'm going to die unless I remember to stand still.Thing is as a ranged build your in the habit of moving so it's really hard to resist moving,in fact it's a habit that normally saves you.

I think it's fair that it takes a good chunk of your life but to completely drain your ES then your life bulb seems a bit much.In D2 poison would take you down to 1 hit which made you super fragile but at least you had a chance.Same as with resists,you can survive with low resists it's just harder.

It's useful for those cases where you absolutely want to kite a boss.. But generally, it deals too little damage over too long a time to be interesting.

Since I don't have that skill on a mouse button and stay mobile with my shadow, applying it often fails and I get a regular attack instead. Which means I have to stop and wait a while to ensure I puncture.

And in most situations, any other attack will do much more damage, much faster and be safer. Puncturing and moving just mean you'll have a lot of mobs barely scratched.


The only use seems to be with very specific bosses you absolutely want to kite. Even then, I've often Puncture bosses that had just a few % left... Waited.. Then had to finish them otherwise, because the bleed did not do the trick.

It's very effective when mobs use it... But probably because PCs have much less hitpoints.

Update on this : It's often useful on bosses, but its application frequently fails. I'm not exactly sure why. The visual effect is not very noticeable except when the mob is moving.

Often, instead of the animation of Puncture (a kind of lunge with the main-hand) I get a DW animation with no Puncture. I don't know if it's linked to the ability or the general combat/targeting routines.

Thanks for replying :) Ok, so it's a normal main hand animation then ?

Still, there are times when I apparently make a Puncture and it seems to get resolved as a normal attack. I usually spam it a little bit (2-3 times)to ensure I do get a Puncture. Then I kite for extra damage, so the Bleed should be apparent.

I may be overlooking something... I'll try to pinpoint it more precisely. It's not always easy, shadow gameplay tends to be fast :)

Ok, I just had a case on one mob where Puncture triggered Adders' Touch (judging from the green Miasma around the mob) and there was no bleed animation, even though he moved. Since adder's touch procced, I'm pretty sure I hit the guy.