[Feedback] DoTs (ailments) need a rework to work with daggers (and maybe swords)

The current system for ailments (Bleed, Poison, Ignite) moves away from the niche of DoT-focused archetypes, effectively turning them into "Hit" builds with a DoT splash. I know this has been discussed before but with 0.5 coming up, I wanted to bring the topic back up to the top for visibility and discussion.

The Issue: Homogenization of Archetypes
Under the current system, ailment magnitude is tied to the single-hit damage value. Because these ailments rely on replacing the highest instance rather than stacking instances, we face a few systemic issues:

Attack Speed vs. Ailment Scaling: Players favoring fast-attacking, "thousand-cuts" playstyles (traditionally the home of poison/DoT builds) feel penalized. Because they cannot reliably scale a single "mega-hit," their potential DoT output struggles to keep pace with slower, high-base-damage weapon builds. This severely limits the skills available for DoT builds

Reduced Tactical Depth: By streamlining these into a single hit-scaling model, we lose the distinct mechanical identity of these playstyles. The result is that players are steered toward a narrow set of "optimal" itemization paths rather than having the agency to build for thematic niches. Which you see when even 'dot' builds scale crit more than magnitude.

The "Feel" Factor: There is a fundamental disconnect between the visual/thematic promise of a "poisoner" or "bleeder" and the mechanical reality of needing to land one heavy, slow hit to maximize damage.

Design Suggestion: Expanding the Toolbox
I am not advocating for complete removal of the current system, as it provides a stable foundation. However, I propose exploring a hybrid layer that allows for specialization:

Stacking vs. Snapshotting: Could we introduce specialized mechanics or support gems that enable stacking functionality (beyond the one we have that gives +1 stack) at the cost of base magnitude? This would allow fast-attacking builds to opt-in to a stacking-based playstyle that rewards uptime rather than burst.

Ailment-Specific Scaling Levers: Currently, ailment damage is largely a function of hit damage. Would it be viable to introduce more granular "DoT Multipliers" or "Duration-as-Damage" mechanics that aren't exclusively tied to the initial hit's magnitude? This would allow devs to tune the strength of a DoT build independent of the weapon's base hit damage. I didn't play poison builds in PoE 1 but didn't it work something like this in that game?

Thoughts?

I'm not to sure of what solution would be good for it.

I just noticed that when i try to make poison or bleed work, i ended up with my hit killing monsters too fast because it's high rather than the poison/bleed and it than feel pointless to even invest in ailments. Maybe i'm doing something wrong also i'm not the smartest at build making.

I know that Mark said in one of the last interviews that they want to rework it so we'll see. Maybe them plan will be to rework it when introducing the shadow.

I second this, I like the current structure or approach to heavy hit big aliment but id also love the tried and true "thousand cuts" approach.

Anything for more build diversity.

Great post

Im trying to play ignite, the bigest problem is i need 2 modifiers (flammability and ignite). to get a good ignite i need to hit the target 2 times and then i can cast my big hit.

but my big hit kills the mop because its low from the 2 hits to get the flammability.

my problems are:

cant scale ignite mutch.
level to skill is too strong
no mod on weapons too scale dmg over time
bad fire spells for hits (only fireball and flameblast)
duration for ignite on the duride site is to low (only 3 sec ignite)
spred is ok if u have longer ignites.

i ignite, bleed and poison becomme a good dmg source. i like ignite and bleed builds. its too bed at the moment

Yeah I'm not sure of the best fix either. I do like how bleed works in Elden Ring but I don't know if that would work in an ARPG.

All I know is I want to play a bleed build with a morningstar. Kind of like an inquisitor/tormentor but with the way ailments currently work, I can't get big enough bleeds with 1H weapons.

One thought I did have was for a spirit gem:

Bloodletting
Requires 100 spirit
Allows bleed you apply to stack X times
(not sure if reduced magnitude is needed, Pathfinder ascendancy node doesn't do that, for example)

Notes:
still requires magnitude investment on the tree
still allows current play style (plasma blast builds won't take it)
allows 1H builds to stack bleeds
could be a good gem for PF Bleed Concoction

I haven't come up with anything yet for poison.