Thought I'd try to use a new skill gem this league and roll with Storm Burst, however, much to my dismay, this skill gem is mostly lacking in the power department.



There are a few issues with it both mechanically and in the damage department.



Damage:

Long story short, this is one of the worst. I don't want to compare it to other skill gems, but even on its own, it has very lackluster damage. The base damage is among the worst of all skill gems in the entire game coming in at 50-76 damage range (or 175-266 explosion)at level 20. It also has a mere 10% damage effectiveness, cutting down any benefits of flat damage bonuses.



Now, although it seems to lend itself to aoe overlapping, the base skill alone does not permit this. At a base cast time of 0.65, along with the speed of the projectile, this skill is unable to overlap unless you're running any kind of Multiple Projectile modifier.



I have not studied the AoE of the projectile itself, but even with increased area of effect, it's barely larger. % increases on an already small AoE does not produce much result.



Given all of this, this skill gem is absolutely worthless unless you attempt to scale it with crit, in which case you might get something worthwhile. But again, if you've read my forum history, I'm of the opinion that non-crit builds definitely need a bit of a boost. Simply put, you either go with crit on this skill, or don't even bother.



Mechanical:

While the damage portion lends itself to overlap AoE for meaningful dps, mechanically the skill itself works against that. With the slow base cast speed, you would need to stack unreasonable amounts of cast speed to approach any meaningful overlap.



There's also the interaction with multiple projectiles. Unlike other bolt effects, it instead produces a stream of them akin to Barrage. While very flashy and exciting, it takes a damage hit to its already subpar damage.



You could attempt to use slower projectiles for more consistent grouping, but then you're essentially in melee range, and there are far better abilities that can perform in that situation, and some of them don't require you to stand still for that long to deal your damage.



Ultimately, what can be done with it?



At the very least, it needs a buff in the numbers. Damage wise, the explosion should at least reach 50% of Arctic Breath or Fireball damage (both of which are AoE). Cast speed could be lowered to .5, on par with Scorching Ray.



However, perhaps the best fix, while ambitious, is a mechanical change.



Storm Burst would perform well if all the orbs produced while channeling would travel to the cursor and stay there, almost like Esh's lightning orb. This allows far more risk/reward playstyle in that you could stack a much larger burst of damage if you're willing to take the time to stand there and channel it.



This would also allow far more control over where the bursts happen, and could maybe justify the current state of damage of this ability. Last bumped on Sep 3, 2017, 1:08:03 PM Posted by Tsokushin

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Revert it back where it was in beta where it was ACTUALLY DECENT like I don't know why they nerfed it so fucking hard but they didn't really do anything DP even though DP isn't even that special.



Like it makes you wonder 1k hours is bullshit in their balance team. IGN: I_NO

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It's not just bad, it's also boring and feels like you're throwing slow fluffy cotton balls around. Animations and sounds are also very important, it's fun to blow stuff up with arc or shock nova because they feel powerful. Posted by Raudram

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Damage should be adjusted for sure. Like what I posted in other post ( The damage calculation should be base damage [50-76] * 2 * ( 1 + 2.5 ) = [350-532] provided that you hit all the projectile and explosion, which is nearly impossible. It's still really bad comparing to other spells. And also, it gives you two risks that (1) you need to stay still until the projectile reach the target, and (2) the explosion may not hit the target. I understand that GGG may think that "well, the explosion can overlap if using LMP/GMP, let nerf it to ground". But at the cost of the risks and the poor damage, the overlapping doesn't worth.Damage should be adjusted for sure. Like what I posted in other post ( https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1985385 ), more AoE while channelling can help a lot and match the main mechanism, the overlapping part, which is the core of this skill, too. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Last edited by WillisTheWillis on Sep 1, 2017, 9:18:13 AM Posted by WillisTheWillis

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" WillisTheWillis



Damage should be adjusted for sure. Like what I posted in other post ( The damage calculation should be base damage [50-76] * 2 * ( 1 + 2.5 ) = [350-532] provided that you hit all the projectile and explosion, which is nearly impossible. It's still really bad comparing to other spells. And also, it gives you two risks that (1) you need to stay still until the projectile reach the target, and (2) the explosion may not hit the target. I understand that GGG may think that "well, the explosion can overlap if using LMP/GMP, let nerf it to ground". But at the cost of the risks and the poor damage, the overlapping doesn't worth.Damage should be adjusted for sure. Like what I posted in other post ( https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1985385 ), more AoE while channelling can help a lot and match the main mechanism, the overlapping part, which is the core of this skill, too.



Unsure if it's fair putting that *2 in the equation as sometimes they both don't hit. Unsure if it's fair putting that *2 in the equation as sometimes they both don't hit. Posted by Tsokushin

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I'd say that the old system of patching every week is a lot better for a skill this complex mechanically.



Let's say they add +1 radius to the explosions per 5 levels or up the effectiveness to 20%, there is going to be a point where it reaches certain value's where it's going to be insane since it operates similar to barrage.



I havn't played with the skill itself though, but i reckon if a person like Mathil can't push out dps from it with more than average resources and game knowledge then it is under-performing.



Honestly i would lower the cast speed, since that will most likely also make it "play" smoother then it currently appears to me.



Similar to how charged dash seems to have awful smoothness of play.



And i think if they play smoother, they also "feel" more impact-full and stronger as a result.



Peace,



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It is easy to realize the virtue in yourself, truly it is easy to destroy.

Contemplate which is worth your time.

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" Boem



Let's say they add +1 radius to the explosions per 5 levels or up the effectiveness to 20%, there is going to be a point where it reaches certain value's where it's going to be insane since it operates similar to barrage.



I havn't played with the skill itself though, but i reckon if a person like Mathil can't push out dps from it with more than average resources and game knowledge then it is under-performing.



Honestly i would lower the cast speed, since that will most likely also make it "play" smoother then it currently appears to me.



Similar to how charged dash seems to have awful smoothness of play.



And i think if they play smoother, they also "feel" more impact-full and stronger as a result.



Peace,



-Boem- I'd say that the old system of patching every week is a lot better for a skill this complex mechanically.Let's say they add +1 radius to the explosions per 5 levels or up the effectiveness to 20%, there is going to be a point where it reaches certain value's where it's going to be insane since it operates similar to barrage.I havn't played with the skill itself though, but i reckon if a person like Mathil can't push out dps from it with more than average resources and game knowledge then it is under-performing.Honestly i would lower the cast speed, since that will most likely also make it "play" smoother then it currently appears to me.Similar to how charged dash seems to have awful smoothness of play.And i think if they play smoother, they also "feel" more impact-full and stronger as a result.Peace,-Boem-



I agree that PoE could use some love in buff patches every week or every other week during the first few weeks of a league or new expansion where new skills are released.



Increased AoE would be good, the damage effectiveness should really be 33% or so.



The skill itself is fun to use and visually appealing, but just has no effective presence in the game.



As for Mathil, I didn't really see all of that until I started searching for where I went wrong with this build, but yeah he built it for crit. If he can't even use crit to scale this properly, then things are messed up. It's even worse for non-crit as I tend to build that way. I do recall seeing some sort of build that used crit dual void battery and 8 power charges or something obscene and only getting 300k dps. Imagine any other spell in that position, like Blade Vortex.



As for cast speed, yeah it needs to be faster. Maybe 0.5 or 0.45.



I'll still hope they'd implement my proposed mechanical change. It would make for almost a lightning equivalent between scorching ray and flame blast. I agree that PoE could use some love in buff patches every week or every other week during the first few weeks of a league or new expansion where new skills are released.Increased AoE would be good, the damage effectiveness should really be 33% or so.The skill itself is fun to use and visually appealing, but just has no effective presence in the game.As for Mathil, I didn't really see all of that until I started searching for where I went wrong with this build, but yeah he built it for crit. If he can't even use crit to scale this properly, then things are messed up. It's even worse for non-crit as I tend to build that way. I do recall seeing some sort of build that used crit dual void battery and 8 power charges or something obscene and only getting 300k dps. Imagine any other spell in that position, like Blade Vortex.As for cast speed, yeah it needs to be faster. Maybe 0.5 or 0.45.I'll still hope they'd implement my proposed mechanical change. It would make for almost a lightning equivalent between scorching ray and flame blast. Posted by Tsokushin

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I tried it and found it to be a less functional version of Storm Call.



wolf I'll take "Swords" for two hundred Alex.

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Yep, it definitely needs some decent buff again. Nerf was way too hard. Also started with a crit Templar Storm burst build. 1 day before the last patch was deployed, the explosions had (fully buffed) around 400k dps with perfect setup in PoB. After the official start and nerf, same build with planned gear (dps of explosions) went down to 40k...lol. The projectile itself is a total joke, not even tickles the enemies.



Playing it with Sire of Shards and playing quite risky while in order to make the explosions overlap (took both AoE circles on the tree, Templar + Witch), I have to warp in into the pack and start channeling and releasing immediately taking also quite a lot of dmg sometimes. Clearing packs until until T10 maps with a 5 link is actually acceptable, but even in a +2 staff the dmg against bosses is rather a joke, considering that you have to be almost in melee range or stack cast speed like hell.



Let's see if it will make more fun to play this build once I got a 6-link and partially better gear.

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