Σ 1.5 Bugs&Feedback

[TgTalcon]

I've played a fair bit now using Powder Keg as my main ability to deal damage, both as a neutraldin setup, and as a unholy caster set up.
I do not have full investment into Powder Keg, however there are two issues that have been evident from the get go. Anyone from my stream has seen them time and time again. So I'll go into breaking down the key elements on the skill and what would bring it in tune to make it a much more enjoyable experience, and less of a meme.

Firstly, Powder Keg is a nice addition for early game builds like Neutraldin that suffer from lack of single target. They can deal a large amount of damage, however to do so, is quite tricky, and relies heavily upon RNG.

So, how do Powder Kegs deal their damage: Simple. You throw a barrel, after a relatively long delay (depending on distance casted) it seems to take upwards of 3 seconds to go off, and a minimum of around 1.5-2 seconds, they explode dealing higher damage the closer an enemy is to standing on top of it. However those two things are the problem. An enemy has to be Directly Ontop of the Barrel to take considerable damage, and the Barrels take too long to explode, so keeping an opponent there is highly unlikely, resulting in a really messy attempt at setting up barrels while slowly kiting a boss.

The other side of this issue is, a stationary target, like Death Projector. Doing Death Projector, my initial barrels chunked it to 50% in no time, but as I had to move around, the barrels started to place in a different position from the original casts, and sometimes dealing almost 0 damage, other times maybe 1/10th of the previous explosions I had going on.

So, to fix this, I'd make the initial multihit aoe slightly larger giving a bit more play room, as well as a scaling mechanic to the skill along the lines of stormclash. Stormclash is a great skill when fully invested into and used at a high level as it gain extra projectiles. So my idea for the barrels would be to reduce the explosion timer based on skill level. Giving people a reason to push them into a higher level so they'd actually be useable as a build, rather than a small filler for pretty much just neutraldin early game as it feels like thats the only role it fills currently.

The other issue is the damage, since it's 50% phys 50% fire, you can't really scale the phys and fire damage, and grab pierce, thats just too many stats to properly adjust for, so it's better to run them on a class which is already using phys or fire spells. I honestly think that they'd be best used on possibly a holy caster, as they get free fire spell/phys spell, much higher than other classes do. Or again used on a phys spell caster which lacks single target, like Neutraldin.

All in all, barrels are still a fun meme which slightly work, just needs some fine tuning to actually be worth the indepth investment to push the skill.

[ParticuLarry]

In rare cases the Rune quest in act 4 doesn't drop everything. It may or may not be related to where you stand when you hit the hellforge. I attacked it from the north-eastern direction and all that dropped was an Amn rune without any Gems. I don't want to try it out again due to my fear of not getting the full reward.

As for my assassin using SMG and Whirlpool:
It works great so far! I cleared every 115 uber aside from Bartuc, but I'll get there, too once I get my positioning right. Imho SMG is really similar to Maelstrom once you understand that you need to move the cursor slowly from left to right and from right to left regularly. That way every enemy gets hit and lands either in hit recovery animation or in the knockback animation. So far I haven't hit a brick wall yet, but honestly, I hope that Teganze is farmable with this build due to the nature of SMG requiring you to stand around as a freekill. That's also the only thing that makes SMG worse than Maelstrom, but I'll see how far I can get.

Also, I haven't found a single sacred Blade Talons yet, which is why I'm still using my T4 Blade Talons. I'm really digging how far I got with just that.

[ABeLina]

Release notes says that "Fixed unintentional healing when unconverted Lucion was next to Malic" - but now it's even worse.
Earlier this quest was sort of time consuming, but easy - clear area around, lure Lucion to Malic, charm him and run in circles.
Now spent more than half a hour and Malic is doing absolutely nothing to Lucion. Hundreds of bolts going trough, zero damage.
Somehow managed to get one hit after half hour, but as soon as Lucion got closer to Malic after my death - he got healed in full again.

[Josko_91]

Feedback:

Veil king Skill has way too many penalty's for it to be worth it,

1. It's a Ultimate skill

2. It always turns hostile upon death or if player dies

3. -50% army size

I suggest removing the 50% army size penalty because Veil king being hostile upon death and being a ultimate skill is more than enough.

If you must have a penalty replace that I would suggest something like Veil king needing double amount of skill points, so every level takes 2 skill points instead of the usual 1 skill point.

[Semigloss]

Feedback:

Veil king Skill has way too many penalty's for it to be worth it,

1. It's a Ultimate skill

2. It always turns hostile upon death or if player dies

3. -50% army size

I suggest removing the 50% army size penalty because Veil king being hostile upon death and being a ultimate skill is more than enough.

If you must have a penalty replace that I would suggest something like Veil king needing double amount of skill points, so every level takes 2 skill points instead of the usual 1 skill point.

It being an Ultimate skill is not a penalty. It's a super strong minion. Veil King is one hell of a tank, and works great for classes that need a good meatshield but don't rely on other minions. That's how it's designed to be. If you are playing a build that uses other summons, Rathma's Chosen or Jinn are both way better options (for phys and elemental minions, respectively).

Also, Veil King doesn't turn hostile when the player dies, it just despawns.

[Josko_91]

Feedback:

Veil king Skill has way too many penalty's for it to be worth it,

1. It's a Ultimate skill

2. It always turns hostile upon death or if player dies

3. -50% army size

I suggest removing the 50% army size penalty because Veil king being hostile upon death and being a ultimate skill is more than enough.

If you must have a penalty replace that I would suggest something like Veil king needing double amount of skill points, so every level takes 2 skill points instead of the usual 1 skill point.

It being an Ultimate skill is not a penalty. It's a super strong minion. Veil King is one hell of a tank, and works great for classes that need a good meatshield but don't rely on other minions. That's how it's designed to be. If you are playing a build that uses other summons, Rathma's Chosen or Jinn are both way better options (for phys and elemental minions, respectively).

Also, Veil King doesn't turn hostile when the player dies, it just despawns.

But I wanna play a build with other summons and veil king!

bah!

So what is the best of of Veil king then? What kind of build? If I try with other summons -50% army size, if I try with death lord, -50% summon stats...

I don't get it

[Jampula]

But I wanna play a build with other summons and veil king!

bah!

So what is the best of of Veil king then? What kind of build? If I try with other summons -50% army size, if I try with death lord, -50% summon stats...

I don't get it

Malice necro gets the most out of that guy, it can seriously tank almost anything. And if it's about to die just recast it.

[Jampula]

Change/remove the sound (scream) of Screaming Eagle debuff please, especially in high-density areas it is really annoying.

[ParticuLarry]

When the enemy is very close to the border of the map or some type of pathblocking object, Whirlpool activates only once. That goes for both, the damage and the visuals. It's basically like Barrier Strike, where to projectiles over the river of flame for example appear and then disappear after 1 tick. the only difference is that the whole visual ticks once until it's over.

Feedback on SMG:
So I finally managed to get

Riot (Xis)

and honestly, I still like it. However, due to having Whirpool from

Leather of Aut

Leather of Aut
Hard Leather Armor (4)
Defense: (66 - 75) to (132 - 151)
Required Level: 2
Required Strength: 28
Item Level: 1
+(2 to 4) to Whirlpool
+(18 to 35)% Enhanced Defense
(3 to 5)% to Strength
(3 to 5)% to Dexterity
(3 to 5)% to Vitality
(11 to 20)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (2)
Defense: (267 - 297) to (449 - 500)
Required Level: 19
Required Strength: 55
Item Level: 31
+(5 to 8) to Whirlpool
+(52 to 69)% Enhanced Defense
(9 to 11)% to Strength
(9 to 11)% to Dexterity
(9 to 11)% to Vitality
(21 to 30)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (4)
Defense: (701 - 761) to (1131 - 1228)
Required Level: 37
Required Strength: 193
Item Level: 51
+(9 to 12) to Whirlpool
+(87 to 103)% Enhanced Defense
(15 to 17)% to Strength
(15 to 17)% to Dexterity
(15 to 17)% to Vitality
(31 to 40)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (5)
Defense: (1052 - 1135) to (1691 - 1823)
Required Level: 45
Required Strength: 385
Item Level: 77
+(13 to 16) to Whirlpool
+(104 to 120)% Enhanced Defense
(18 to 20)% to Strength
(18 to 20)% to Dexterity
(18 to 20)% to Vitality
(41 to 50)% Bonus to Defense
Socketed (6)

, I feel like every use of SMG is wasted. Whirlpool and SMG work well together in places like Fauztinville, where you can clear the souls with Whirlpool and the Necromobs with SMG. Whirlpool still clears a lot faster, so in almost every uber I'd rather use Whirlpool over SMG. So just let me compare those 2 skills in the different areas to tell you about my experiences:

► Show Spoiler

Island of the sunless sea: SMG works not that well. It is really slow as the enemies come at you one after another even if you stay at one place, so you have to kill them one after another. Also you sometimes have to watch out for enemies coming from behind, so SMG is not the favorable choice in that case. Whirlpool however allows you to just run in, instantly attack an enemy, clear a whole screen and done. Using d2stats to make use of the "always attacking while holding the RMB" makes the uber a breeze with Whirlpool. It's a lot faster, clears the bosses faster and is just safer and better overall (Thanks to Hit recovery animations. I finished that uber in melee without any deaths despite having only 11 k defense. And that was back in pach 1.5.0)

Akarat: not possible with SMG alone right away. You need the quick burst damage from Whirlpool.

Jitan: SMG does work as long as you can Bait jitan. But once he is stuck somewhere, it's 10 times better to get in melee range, attack him with whirlpool and leave again in order to avoid arrows.

Tal Rasha/ King Koth: Basically the same. You have to stay mobile, so Whirlpool it is. Also, SMG doesn't work in Baal/Diablo transformations

Creature of the flame: one of the few ubers where SMG actually excels at. Whirlpool would probably still be faster.

Cow Level: Whirlpool is necessary to get the cows locked in hit recovery animation. After that you can fire SMG in there for a safer playstyle. But SMG alone is not enough due to the movement speed of the cows.

Torajan jungles: It's better to use SMG this time, because of the ranged clan enemies. Aside from that, Whirlpool is a lot better.

Kurast: SMG excels this time, because there are so many ranged skeleton mages and of course the totems. Whirlpool is still better to clear the melee skeletons.

Black Road Challenge: SMG is just a lot worse here, because of the sheer amount of enemies coming rushing at you from a half-circle. Whirlpool also kills the boss a lot faster.

Rathma's Square: Just forget about using SMG. Being immobile is a huge hinderance in this uber.

Bull Prince: Both is fine.

Tran athulua: SMG is the way to win this uber so you don't have to get in range, where all enemies just run away. That however means that the clear time is relatively slow because you can't just rush in. Whirlpool is useless here.

Legacy of Blood: Honestly, this was probably the hardest uber I faced with this build. I had to teleport on Bartuc, put whirlpool on him and retreat to resummon minions. SMG has no chance here with bad gear, whereas Whirlpool is simply fantastic.

Khalimgrad: SMG can only be used for smaller packs, but Whirlpool is still the necessary option for everything else, since it puts enemies in Hit recovery animation.

Cathedral of Vanity: Hit the crystal ball with Whirlpool once in order to kill it entirely. Then kill the rangers with Whirlpool while you continue your retreat. Then kill the bosses at the south of the map once too many towers are spawned, then kill the main boss. It only works with Whirlpoop. There's no way you can manage with SMG.

Azmodan: SMG for the general enemies, Whirlpool for Azmodan. Retreat with Blink, else you'll die. SMG is not an option against Azmodan due to his huge chunk of health.

Kabraxis: There's simply no way you can use SMG at this place. You have to stay mobile and hit Kabraxis with Whirlpool when he teleports next to you.

Judgement Day: I couldn't yet finish this uber, but it's pretty clear that SMG doesn't work here. There are simply too many edyrems spawned, so you have to continously lure them, while hitting the main boss once with Whirlpool. I couldn't finish the upgrade yet.

Teganze: Whirlpool is just so much better at this place despite being a melee skill. There are 2 main reasons for that: 1) Once you are in melee range, the enemies don't throw the balls at you and attack you with melee hits instead, which are a lot easier to tank, especially with 60% block and more. 2) Whirlpool puts a lot more enemies into hit Recovery animation, which means you have to resummon your minions less often. Most of the time it's better to just teleport straight on a huge pack of enemies and use whirlpool multiple times. And a third reason, which I just wanted to add: 3) Whirlpool leeches a lot more life and instantly kills the enemy you attack.
Also the boss can basically only be killed with Whirlpool because he makes you recover and block so many times, that SMG just wouldn't work at all.

Duncraig: Both works. I used Whirlpool against the melee enemies and SMG against the ranged ones. Whirlpool is just a lot faster.

TL/DR: I like SMG, but it's sadly lacking. Especially when there are enemies coming at you from more than 1 side, whirlpool is simply the better choice. It may feel underwhelming due to Whirlpool getting such a huge buff in comparison, But I think SMG is in a rather good place already if it weren't for the issues.

The main issues of SMG (compared to Whirlpool):
- You have to charge it. It makes you immobile and thus useless against most ubers. This wouldn't be a problem if the starting cooldown wasn't there, so the time you need to charge up until the first missile is ejected. However, I don't know if it's even possible to change that. Also, if you charge up, stop the charge and cast any other ability, it won't work. The animation will be played, the sounds will appear, the spell effects appears, the cooldowns will begin but the effect will not work, the cooldown will be resetted after a splitsecond and you will have to recast the spell /attack with the ability in order to give it an effect. Especially in places like Duncraig every frame counts, and not being able to teleport away/use whirlpool for 1 second after charging even though you can already move makes this abiliy a lot worse.
- The missile is too big. It causes issues. There are several instances where you simply can't hit the enemies because they stand right besides a bush. The bushes added in Tran Athulua actually felt more hindering than helpful because of that. You could hit the enemies with any other ranged spell that way, but not with SMG.
- The AoE is lacking. I think if you revert the missile width to the once in the previous patch and add 2 more missiles to the left and right of it (in a static way, not in the way that Flamefront changes the distance between the missiles depending on the position of your mouse cursor) I think you could solve the last 2 mentioned issues at once
- The damage is either fine or a bit too much. I honestly can't decide. It was fine when I just used the normal Riot, but once I had access to the XIS rune, I thought that 1700 additional magic damage per hit might be too much. You could adjust the scaling of the magic damage portion to be diminshing returns instead of 40 per level. I don't quite get the scaling anyway, to be honest. My skill level 30 SMG riot has 1720 damage on skill level 41. But it only has 1660 on level 40. So it's not exactly 40 per level, but it seems to have increasing returns on higher levels.
- SMG doesn't work in Baal/Diablo transformations You just can't cast it.

I had lots of fun with this build. But I think I'll try out something new from this point onwards.

[storydavid]

what if median has poe lab with ascension?

druid

shapeshifter
venom
mother of nature

necromancer

summoner
poison mage
reaper

paladin

dark knigh
templar
dragon slayer

etc...