Spectral Throw

This skill is totally awful.
It's been a while since I played ST so I did a "memory refresh" run till lv60 (I'd probably play more but the skill feels so bad I can't handle it anymore)

With relatively unlimited budget (as for low level playthrough) I had no issues with mana, attack speed and everything, literally just "click right button and run through game" -mode, but still…

The skill is too slow, for some reason it now attacks twice while dual wielding, the 0.21s attack time animation feels slow, the 70% increased projectile speed projectile looks slow, seems like "deceleration" feature has been made just to drive player insane. 22k tooltip dps at level 50 feels not sufficient (wtf) and this is w/o considering shock, 100% hit rate and 20% extra from champion. 7 units size projectile is big enough only to "never go through a doorway", it miss mosters all the time when you trying to "guide" returning projectiles to the next monster pack like if projectile size is about 1 unit.

Steel spirit is pointless, if you planning to use the skill as main damage source for endgame you have to scale the projectile damage to the point where it oneshots every single white mob in the game. "Extra damage per hit" would work only for static bosses only if using deceleration enchant only with perfect positioning against the boss.

i love ST had alot of fun with it when LLST was around, but these days i think its fine if you change the threshold jewel to something like this.

then the 5% increased damage per hit does not feel so bad and you wont get the big penalty of GMP.
ST already have a hard time scaling damage with the lack of support gems it can use and there is no point to make a support gem that works for this kind of skill. So just being able to drop gmp should be enough to make the skill shine again.
or just rework the skill to have a set travel distance and increase the distance with the jewel and make the projectile behave like the spore pods on scourge arrow with more arrows to "cluster" around the mouse cursor so we can properly target mosses or other enemys.

I don't think they will create a Jewel to buff ST, they are going against those "must have jewels".
This was said by GGG in some dev manifesto, that's why they are changing some Threshold jewels.
BUT
Yeah ggg, please, i love this skill but is literally unplayable, only if you have some stupid strong item, then you can afford to play ST in a comfortable way. I mean, without swapping GMP to Slow proj.
See cobra lash, without any poison, it's just a better ST.
I really hope to see some buffs in 3.12

ST is very underwhelming from an SSF point of view (or when having very budget gear in trade) and i played a lot of skills in SSF.
I know there are builds that make it "work" (yo) with extensive amounts of currency but it is still way less convenient/efficient than skills with way less investment. And even then it feels very lackluster at times due the unique Bumerang mechanic and fast moving Bosses/enemies in the recent patches.

- Less DMG scaling options (from skilltree) in comparison to other projectile skills
- Gem itself has low base DMG and no added flat phys.
- Bumerang mechanic makes it very situational to apply dmg.
If you place the sweet spot well (multiproj hit) you melt enemies, if not dps is literally zero. Fast moving enemies are a pain with ST, even more in modern PoE.

Suggestions for next patches:

- improve dmg of the skill gem. Either by increasing base damage / added phys or both
- Change projectile behaviour to make it on par mit modern skills.

But regardless, imo the skill should get a complete rework like other old skills that where released around patch 1.0 (2013) like Flame totem to give it a place in the modern PoE.



Patch Notes 3.13 - 12th January 2021:

Spectral Throw

Projectiles from Spectral Throw are now considered 50% larger against monsters when checking for collision.


This should make the projectiles less likely to miss enemies.
Standard size is 4 units for 1H.

But still this skill needs a lot more rework to be enjoyable or even functional with less optimal gear.

Update. A bit late as it was intended for Ritual league.

I was curious about the 50% bigger weapon size that ST got in 3.13 (Ritual League) and gave it another try but this time as a league starter.

I ended up using it as crit based impale on champion using dual wield phys foils with high phys damage and crit chance. Made it only to level 84 (5L) since i could not stand the skill any longer.


What made me quit early was the ridiclious low dps vs bosses or trash in white tier maps.
Considering how relatively good my SSF gear was (5L ,around 45% crit without Diamond flask, High roll phys foils) any other skills would at least triple my damage with ease.

The base weapon damage being so low (+ less DMG scaling options) and the clunky mechanic of maintaining the sweet spot (nightmare vs fast enemies) made it a bad experience in comparison to other skills in SSF.

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As already mentioned in this thread ST is a really outdated and old skill.
One of the last remaining 1.0 skill gems with no major mechanics change.
In the current state of the game with lots of teleporting and fast moving enemies it is in a bad place and should get more love.

The problem with ST is the balance with the "return projectile" in mind.
Often the return doesn't hit.

A quick fix is to increase (by a good number) the damage on the first hit, let's say: 50% more damage on the first hit and 50% less on the way back.

"

arthur1744 wrote:

The problem with ST is the balance with the "return projectile" in mind.
Often the return doesn't hit.

A quick fix is to increase (by a good number) the damage on the first hit, let's say: 50% more damage on the first hit and 50% less on the way back.

this would ruin the fast paced playstyle tho and kind of ruin the skills identity.

in all honesty, a numbers tweak in damage effectiveness might be just enough.
just start all 7 characters and kill hillock, ST simply feels the worst out of all, as it lacks damage in comparison to the other skills.
and when you can say that even Glacial Hammer feels more well rounded, something is kind of off right there. :D

"

SquareCubiC wrote:

this would ruin the fast paced playstyle tho and kind of ruin the skills identity.

in all honesty, a numbers tweak in damage effectiveness might be just enough.
just start all 7 characters and kill hillock, ST simply feels the worst out of all, as it lacks damage in comparison to the other skills.
and when you can say that even Glacial Hammer feels more well rounded, something is kind of off right there. :D

THIS. The Base Numbers of ST just feel bad. Especially right now, with exceptionally tanky Archnemesis mobs. ST will unfortunately just feel good in the late game with heavy invest and even there no matter which damage type you're going for (ele, phys, poison) there will be a skill that can do it better than ST, with a similiar playstyle.

With all the support gem nerfs in 3.15 the slight buff to Base Attack Damage and Damage Effectives for ST was insignificant and the skill was overall nerfed. And even before that patch ST wasn't in the best shape. So imo ST just needs better base values.

HI

GGG just one question for you guys ??? why do u hate this skill so much ???
i woud understand a 250% multiplier for a skill that almost nobody uses ...
but 150% means that u just hate this skill ...

i play the legendary HOWA ST and i made it work but dono guys 150% multiplier just seems sad , comparing to other skills with 500%+ and they get a bonus mods whic this skill dosnt get any ...

so from pro ST viev
u need like 300% + multiplier atleast to make this skill even valible
and comn guys u throw a whole weapon in to the monster that shoud atlest give a crit strike or frenzy or something... as base skill

play stayle , nothing can realy compare to this , 1 of the most fun skills in the game ...

SO PLS GGG give some love to ST , dont hate this fun skill so much ...