An analysis on multistrike and why I think it's terrible.

It's the concept of shadow. Dex = accuracy Int = crit. Basically a shadow knows where to attack to inflict the most damage.

With RT you can do decent damage but not nearly what a crit build can do, especially one based off wands or daggers.

Physical damage needs something that can increase damage outside of a crit. It basically needs it's version of static blows and gems that work similar to qual added light/cold. Stun and knockback are fine (well, maybe not knockback) but there's nothing to really magnify physical damage. If there was I'm pretty sure puncture + splash builds would become fairly popular. Especially ones that use crit like a static blow + crit build does.

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Moosifer a écrit :

It's the concept of shadow. Dex = accuracy Int = crit. Basically a shadow knows where to attack to inflict the most damage.

With RT you can do decent damage but not nearly what a crit build can do, especially one based off wands or daggers.

Physical damage needs something that can increase damage outside of a crit. It basically needs it's version of static blows and gems that work similar to qual added light/cold. Stun and knockback are fine (well, maybe not knockback) but there's nothing to really magnify physical damage. If there was I'm pretty sure puncture + splash builds would become fairly popular. Especially ones that use crit like a static blow + crit build does.

I like the idea of a passive(or passives) that would lower enemy's armor resistance. That would even make for a good gem.
Something like x% amount of monsters armor is reduced and quality could be increased physical damage.

I still don't like the way that total damage works by stacking all elements though.
I can't imagine someone building pure physical and still not running at least wrath.

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heyyous a écrit :

I like the idea of a passive(or passives) that would lower enemy's armor resistance. That would even make for a good gem.
Something like x% amount of monsters armor is reduced and quality could be increased physical damage.

I still don't like the way that total damage works by stacking all elements though.
I can't imagine someone building pure physical and still not running at least wrath.

Personally I'd like to see a gem that works similar to conc effect, 50% increased damage but 30% less attack speed.

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Moosifer a écrit :

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heyyous a écrit :

I like the idea of a passive(or passives) that would lower enemy's armor resistance. That would even make for a good gem.
Something like x% amount of monsters armor is reduced and quality could be increased physical damage.

I still don't like the way that total damage works by stacking all elements though.
I can't imagine someone building pure physical and still not running at least wrath.

Personally I'd like to see a gem that works similar to conc effect, 50% increased damage but 30% less attack speed.

I just don't feel like it is about the damage numbers but rather how much armor certain mobs can have.

It seems to me like there is a large variable at play and it isn't life. Look at double cursing elemental weakness and conductivity with lightning penetration for example.

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Moosifer a écrit :

It's the concept of shadow. Dex = accuracy Int = crit. Basically a shadow knows where to attack to inflict the most damage.

With RT you can do decent damage but not nearly what a crit build can do, especially one based off wands or daggers.

It basically needs it's version of static blows.

This, just give physical something that works REALLY similar to shock, except with different numbers. Another huge thing would be a physical damage aura (flat and flat reservation), but I'd make it so that "the damage gained from this aura cannot be converted"

At the spot you say "It stuns you for the duration of three attacks". This is a misleading point in my opinion. Multistrike CONVERTS the attack time of ONE attack to THREE attacks. Practically it would take say 0.4 sec for a full cleave, now it takes 0.135 for each, so three attacks take the same amount of time to execute as one would take before adding it in the skill. I have noticed though that this is not the exact case, as an attack with 0.41 per ONE hit becomes 0.16 per one with MULTISTIKE, hence 0.48 attack time. This is the tradeoff for this. Saying that you are stunned for the duration of it is like saying you are stunned when executing any melee skill (e.g. Cleave). It is just the animation playing. It is roughly the same time and it deals a bit more damage. But it can be easily surpassed by melee physical damage and save you the epilleptic shock you can suffer from the flashy animations in very high attack speeds. Random target selection is bad, it is designed with Melee Splash chained to this so that you turn Double Strike or Heavy Strike into a more effective Cleave with Multistrike and Melee Splash. The damage tradeoff is not a treadeoff - it is essentialy a leveling progression. You start with -40% and you end with something along the lines of +20%. It is a 60% damage progression (I do not remember exact number, sorry).

As a reply to your final question: I have to propose something else instead. Make the damage progression for multistrike better than it is to make that less of a tradeoff and balance out the attack time so that it matches the ORIGINAL time of the attack so that three attacks take the exact same time, in which time you would also be unable to execute anything else, thus keeping this control for the player. The random target tradeoff is a very specifically designed desicion to work mainly with Melee Splash. This is something I can tell from experience with 2 Melee Builds using it, it is just far superior with a Heavy Strike and Melee Splash than without the Melee Splash. The two compliment each other in a certain way allowing for good group clearing, far superior to Cleave or other alternatives. People think Multistrike is the best gem ever and save the melee. It is but a tool in the hands of those who know how to boost their DPS properly to crowd control in a more effective manner. IT IS NOT THE SKELETON KEY THAT MAKES MELEE KILL EVERYTHING IN ONE HIT OR ULTIMATELY IMPROVES EVERYTHING. But it is also fairly imbalanced and tradeoff shall be more consistent with what other gems in the game do.

Hope you do not hate me and we can have a nice discussion as I am a passionate multistrike user and would love to hear from other on the topic! :D

Zeal really shouldn't be an automatic first-pick option. It's in roughly a good place imo; just the current armour formula suckifies it.