Searing Bond

sometimes you just need a fresh perspective :) Hopefully it works out on your end.

I know my SB character is hands down my favorite build to play. I have yet to try and go full HAM DPS on him but my current set up is pretty dominant over just about any map mod combination.

I couldn't find anyone mentioning this and I can't believe I'm the only one experiencing the problem on a regular basis:

My main complaint with Searing Bond is about positioning or, to be more precise, differences in "entity movement".


I'm not talking about desync: sometimes after planting the totem I see melee mobs pummeling the poor thing without being burned. This happens a lot and seems to be completely unrelated to the mob type (so weapon range is not the issue).


Other times I move close to a mob to kill it quickly instead of recasting the totem and nope, it doesn't burn even if I stand there for 5+ seconds. And the mob is actually there, it's not the usual "ghost mob" caused by desync that follows you around for a bit.

If I use Leap Slam targeting the mob instead, or I recast the totem targeting the mob then the mob gets damaged.


It seems that targeting skills actually force a collision with the mob, but moving (be it my character or the mob itself) is handled in a different and wonky way.

So, even if the spot where the character/totem/mob is exactly the same, it's as if they were on different layers until targeting something forces the engine to reconsider.

Either there's something way off about movement tracking or the hitboxes are pixel-sized.
Neither of those is a good option.

Again, I'm not convinced this is a simple matter of desync, my ping sits at an average of ~60ms and even when I get spikes I can actually see the resync effect afterwards (as we all do and love :P ).

Any insight on this?

This skill is almost useless except as an also-running item to augment a skill that still kills things. The biggest reason is the one cited by Darkwings83. My damned pings have not changed since the overzealous ubernerf. Of course, the new patch testing and other items like permanent frenzy on the damned mobs might be an issue, but the real deal is that the mobs are not always getting burned when they are right next to the damned totem. Or me, or attacking either.

&E$$#%&*E#@$^(&$#

PoE 2.0.0: more of the same.

New nerfs for the gem Searing Bond. The 2 first for all totems, but... also for SB.

1) 8 secondes duration. I dont remember the base duration before, but it was more of that. I regulary play with 10 sec and a little more.
2) the fast cast gem (and node) no more work for installing SB. We didn't have many gems to use with SB. We have one less.
And (3) less burning damage node in the tree.

If somebody want to kill this skill, it's the wright way.

I work very hard for use Searing Bond and optimize it... I had pleasure to use it, but don't lost your time. Take it for levelling (with spell totem and lightning jump for the totem move) and take a major/serious/power skill when you can.

If you love totems: try firetotem...

Searing bond is fine and stronger then ever. Get some placement nodes and totem duration nodes and have at it.

I'd like to see this skill buffed or made less awkward. I just put together a character in Tempest league utilizing a Voideye (+5 gem level) and multiple 30% burning damage jewels as well as elemental nodes and still found the damage to be underwhelming. I was also using shock nova traps with shock chance/duration to trigger EE. I used an ephermeral edge while being hybrid so I could whirling blade + fortify for mobility and enemy targeting.

In general though I enjoy the tactical gameplay of having to draw triangles when dual totem but as it is right now I feel the beams are just too thin to properly clear compared to similar skills. It is also difficult to utilize for single target, even with all the aforementioned damage allocation/buffs I had been using.

Build @ 80-ish
http://poeurl.com/ztmAVI8

Ran Discipline, Arctic Armour and a BM'd Clarity

Will the new support gem with damage over time work with searing bond?

Hope searing bond gets used more :)

I would assume so. This would mean a +2 fire +1 all gem staff 4L will be the new best weapon for maximal DPS with searing bond, assuming the support gem works of course.

my warping bond build just got more interesting

"

Searing Bond (Buffed)
Searing Bond can place up to one additional totem; This means you can have two Searing Bond totems active without Ancestral Bond, and can use Searing Bond in addition to another totem skill. At early levels this lets it work well alongside Flame Totem rather than directly competing with it as a choice to use.

so 3 totems with ancestral bond, assuming 1 is SB? For example my build runs either LW or Reverse Shockwave totems so with 1 SB I should be able to have 2 of either the others correct?

"

Kartikdon wrote:

my warping bond build just got more interesting

"

Searing Bond (Buffed)
Searing Bond can place up to one additional totem; This means you can have two Searing Bond totems active without Ancestral Bond, and can use Searing Bond in addition to another totem skill. At early levels this lets it work well alongside Flame Totem rather than directly competing with it as a choice to use.

so 3 totems with ancestral bond, assuming 1 is SB? For example my build runs either LW or Reverse Shockwave totems so with 1 SB I should be able to have 2 of either the others correct?

yes