2014-05-14, 09:44 AM
Lots of good runs tonight with [MENTION=6037]Dark Link[/MENTION], [MENTION=6823]Polantaris[/MENTION], and [MENTION=18]Justin[/MENTION]. Started off really well with Link when I found a Maximus on my Witch Doctor and it rolled STR for my Crusader. The damage roll was a bit on the low side around 2500 DPS but still really nice to have a Fire option along with my Lightning. Hoping to get a Fate of the Fell and Golden Flense to have some nice builds with those, as well as a decent 2H for Holy, as well as a good 1H option.
Big thanks to Polantaris for the Pox Faulds. Was looking through the pants a while back and they really look like the best pair possible since they have a legendary effect to begin with, quite a strong one at that. I don't think I'd be able to wear enough pieces of a set with my planned gear to replace them. Running a few more games, I picked up this baby
![[Image: ejh4wt2.png]](http://i.imgur.com/ejh4wt2.png)
Combined with
![[Image: rJ2m2la.png]](http://i.imgur.com/rJ2m2la.png)
which is really weird because it still has the timer, despite me finding this weeks ago
I can suddenly survive Torment V on my Witch Doctor to a very reasonable degree, and fairly easily do Torment IV. Bit of an issue if it goes to a group game in this case though, but amazingly broken for solo play.
Had a chance to take a look at the Crusader skills in action now.
Punish -
I dislike how they went the route of just buffing its base damage by a ridiculous amount. I think the issue lies in the fact that Hardened Senses is almost completely worthless for defense and is almost exclusively used as an offensive buff for Shield Bash or Blessed Shield, or for the rune effects against trash mobs. The effect is pretty much useless against a boss though. It's pretty unnoticeable, especially with so much unblockable damage coming in during boss or elite fights. Roar is only used to abuse the fact that you can drag white monsters around to elite fights to have a ridiculous amount of Roar procing. I would have preferred if they gave it a more useable effect, such as a chance to proc on attack on top of the block chance.
Shield Bash -
Holy pomegranate it actually connects with targets. It's useable now. Feels extremely sluggish though. Impossible to use as a movement skill with a 2H since the attack animation is so slow. Might be possible with a 1H weapon though I haven't tried. Since I'm geared for Fire or Lightning, I had the option to use Crumble or One on One.
One on One is probably one of the worst designed runes in the game. It explicitly prevents monsters from taking damage from Shield Bash as it knocks them outside of its area of effect range. Given the already small range of Shield Bash, the knockback is gigantic. The only feasible use of One on One is when you already OHKO or have some other skill to take care of scattered monsters, such as Blessed Shield as a follow up, or Fist of the Heaven's.
Crumble seems fairly decent for solo play and low torment groups. The idea of "on kill" effects are terrible though. There's no way for me to take advantage of it if there are other people in the group, as they easily take the final hit from my already ridiculously slow attack speed. Having a faster attack speed means it's less likely the same DPS will overkill a monster so hard that I'd get the last hit. Also, having a lower attack speed means the proc deals more damage when it actually does occur. The actual proc has rather limited range, and it can be extremely difficult to manage mid-battle if you want it to hit something. It's much more reliable to use in situations where you OHKO, taking the first monster in the pack and killing everything behind it. You're wasting time trying to adjust position in the middle of a battle to take advantage of it if you don't OHKO. At least it's not Shock Pulse - Explosive Bolt bad.
It's a bit odd that Shield Cross and Pound are now Physical.
Sweep Attack -
Range is enormous, and I really want a Golden Flense to take advantage of it. It's a bit difficult to justify without one since every other spender has range along with efficiency. Why did they change Gathering Sweep to Holy and leave Holy Shock as Physical... >Blizzard
I think this could use more work than just increasing it by 40% Weapon Damage each patch. The range change was nice, but I think having Gathering Sweep effect as baseline, possibly with a low monster limit, would justify the close range requirement compared to every other skill that just pomegranates damage. I mean, with just 20% Block Rate, Blessed Shield matches it in damage straight up. Shattering Throw pomegranates on it for AOE and Damage, as does Combust, and it has long range which is invaluable. Still don't understand the Cold option... Especially since all it does is snare...
Blessed Hammer -
Cost is too low for Wrathful to heal adequately, but the damage is insane now. I still don't think it can be justified for higher torments because of the poor healing. Burning Wrath is pretty devastating though, especially in high density. Still don't understand the Cold option.
Blessed Shield -
Tried Combust, and it's still really good, but without Resolved, it lacks the same impact I was used to. Jekangbord and/or Gyrfalcon's Foote makes Blessed Shield pretty overpowered though, especially with the new 1H Passives now. Would love to have either or at least a Holy gear set to use Shattering Throw. Sad they nerfed the overpowered damage it was doing though.
Fist of the Heavens -
I haven't played around with this yet, but I tested a bit with Heaven's Tempest and I believe the DOT does stack so it'd be fairly strong, the damage difference between it and Combust is marginal, despite the design philosophy here of wanting Fist of the Heaven's to be more 1v1. Can't believe they hit Divine Well so hard though. It's an overall single target nerf to that skill, as well as a huge AOE drop.
Phalanx -
Didn't give Phalanx a lot of trying, but I hope the knockback on the horses is reduced to a useable amount. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind trying a Physical build either. Used Bowmen a lot with Resolved and they kicked ass.
Didn't give Falling Sword, Smite, or Justice tries either. Justice I imagine is the same, except that Hammer of Pursuit is a viable Physical DPS instead of the best Holy option now, which probably hurt a decent number of people.
Smite probably still sucks. I never liked Falling Sword that much after seeing how god damn slow it is. Might give it a try now though since it nukes pretty hard now.
Big thanks to Polantaris for the Pox Faulds. Was looking through the pants a while back and they really look like the best pair possible since they have a legendary effect to begin with, quite a strong one at that. I don't think I'd be able to wear enough pieces of a set with my planned gear to replace them. Running a few more games, I picked up this baby
Combined with
which is really weird because it still has the timer, despite me finding this weeks ago
I can suddenly survive Torment V on my Witch Doctor to a very reasonable degree, and fairly easily do Torment IV. Bit of an issue if it goes to a group game in this case though, but amazingly broken for solo play.
Had a chance to take a look at the Crusader skills in action now.
Punish -
I dislike how they went the route of just buffing its base damage by a ridiculous amount. I think the issue lies in the fact that Hardened Senses is almost completely worthless for defense and is almost exclusively used as an offensive buff for Shield Bash or Blessed Shield, or for the rune effects against trash mobs. The effect is pretty much useless against a boss though. It's pretty unnoticeable, especially with so much unblockable damage coming in during boss or elite fights. Roar is only used to abuse the fact that you can drag white monsters around to elite fights to have a ridiculous amount of Roar procing. I would have preferred if they gave it a more useable effect, such as a chance to proc on attack on top of the block chance.
Shield Bash -
Holy pomegranate it actually connects with targets. It's useable now. Feels extremely sluggish though. Impossible to use as a movement skill with a 2H since the attack animation is so slow. Might be possible with a 1H weapon though I haven't tried. Since I'm geared for Fire or Lightning, I had the option to use Crumble or One on One.
One on One is probably one of the worst designed runes in the game. It explicitly prevents monsters from taking damage from Shield Bash as it knocks them outside of its area of effect range. Given the already small range of Shield Bash, the knockback is gigantic. The only feasible use of One on One is when you already OHKO or have some other skill to take care of scattered monsters, such as Blessed Shield as a follow up, or Fist of the Heaven's.
Crumble seems fairly decent for solo play and low torment groups. The idea of "on kill" effects are terrible though. There's no way for me to take advantage of it if there are other people in the group, as they easily take the final hit from my already ridiculously slow attack speed. Having a faster attack speed means it's less likely the same DPS will overkill a monster so hard that I'd get the last hit. Also, having a lower attack speed means the proc deals more damage when it actually does occur. The actual proc has rather limited range, and it can be extremely difficult to manage mid-battle if you want it to hit something. It's much more reliable to use in situations where you OHKO, taking the first monster in the pack and killing everything behind it. You're wasting time trying to adjust position in the middle of a battle to take advantage of it if you don't OHKO. At least it's not Shock Pulse - Explosive Bolt bad.
It's a bit odd that Shield Cross and Pound are now Physical.
Sweep Attack -
Range is enormous, and I really want a Golden Flense to take advantage of it. It's a bit difficult to justify without one since every other spender has range along with efficiency. Why did they change Gathering Sweep to Holy and leave Holy Shock as Physical... >Blizzard
I think this could use more work than just increasing it by 40% Weapon Damage each patch. The range change was nice, but I think having Gathering Sweep effect as baseline, possibly with a low monster limit, would justify the close range requirement compared to every other skill that just pomegranates damage. I mean, with just 20% Block Rate, Blessed Shield matches it in damage straight up. Shattering Throw pomegranates on it for AOE and Damage, as does Combust, and it has long range which is invaluable. Still don't understand the Cold option... Especially since all it does is snare...
Blessed Hammer -
Cost is too low for Wrathful to heal adequately, but the damage is insane now. I still don't think it can be justified for higher torments because of the poor healing. Burning Wrath is pretty devastating though, especially in high density. Still don't understand the Cold option.
Blessed Shield -
Tried Combust, and it's still really good, but without Resolved, it lacks the same impact I was used to. Jekangbord and/or Gyrfalcon's Foote makes Blessed Shield pretty overpowered though, especially with the new 1H Passives now. Would love to have either or at least a Holy gear set to use Shattering Throw. Sad they nerfed the overpowered damage it was doing though.
Fist of the Heavens -
I haven't played around with this yet, but I tested a bit with Heaven's Tempest and I believe the DOT does stack so it'd be fairly strong, the damage difference between it and Combust is marginal, despite the design philosophy here of wanting Fist of the Heaven's to be more 1v1. Can't believe they hit Divine Well so hard though. It's an overall single target nerf to that skill, as well as a huge AOE drop.
Phalanx -
Didn't give Phalanx a lot of trying, but I hope the knockback on the horses is reduced to a useable amount. Otherwise, I wouldn't mind trying a Physical build either. Used Bowmen a lot with Resolved and they kicked ass.
Didn't give Falling Sword, Smite, or Justice tries either. Justice I imagine is the same, except that Hammer of Pursuit is a viable Physical DPS instead of the best Holy option now, which probably hurt a decent number of people.
Smite probably still sucks. I never liked Falling Sword that much after seeing how god damn slow it is. Might give it a try now though since it nukes pretty hard now.