Vaal Gems should be secondaries, not ultimates. Make them more useable.

It would be great to use them as a normal skill while souling up and then releasing the uber-effect once in a while. With that you dont need all the supports again and you can upgrade your existing gems.

Added one more suggestion that I got reminded about: losing souls even if the skill isn't fully cast, due to being stunned/frozen/silenced. It may be fair to have that happen to you, but on the other hand, fairness can be annoying when it means 98 kills go to waste.

im playing with vaal skills more and more - and i like them more and more 'as is'

there are ofc issues with soul costs (detonate dead..) but these can be fixed easily - but the very concept is in my opinion sound

skills that are fantastic:

- molten shell
- power siphon
- double strike
- spectral throw (this is so OP right now..)
- cyclone

- lightning strike is very strong however has very limited use (has to be placed on very touch monster)

- others, i have not yet tested enough to comment on - the only lackluster is detonate dead

and i think i know why people claimed that these are 'less than once per map' - if you have many vaal gems each kill charges only ONE random gem.

THe problem with the vaal gems is a lack of balance in "quality"

I use Vaal Molten Shell and Vaal Double Strike with Increased Duration, in Ambush, in the middle of A2 Cruel. I save them for bosses. They work great.

I've tried others, and they suck. They are awful. They are dreadful really, and I just don't see the point.

Cold Snap
Ground Slam
RoA
BA

for starters.