Does Sunblast Belt need a re-work? Attractiveness & Identity other than pure raw dmg & defence.

Hi,

with the successful trap re-work over the last three patches, and Sunblast also having been changed (3.2) due to the trap changes, shouldn't the belt get a re-work?

Mission: Give the belt a new identity and attractiveness (with downsides) without just pure raw damage and defenses.

Here is my contribution/idea:

The Base:

"

+(25-35) to Strength
----------------------
(10-20)% increased Trap Damage
25% increased Mana Regeneration Rate
+XX Mana
+(15-25)% to all resistances
40% reduced Trap Duration

The Fated Version via a Prophecy:

"

+(25-35) to Strength
----------------------
(30-40)% increased Trap Damage
+50% to Fire Resistance
120% reduced Trap Duration
25% increased Light Radius
10% reduced Movement Speed
Area of Effect Damage is mostly concentrated, increased and highest in the center.
Arrow Dancing

Why strength? Because Sabs (poe.ninja) are mostly moving around on the dex and int side of the tree and very little into str.

For the base, I lowered the overall trap dmg and duration penalty. Gave it mana and all resistances. Thus, should be powerful but not too powerful for leveling if not even first Elder fight.

For the fated version, I removed the mana affixes, because later on mana becomes less of a problem. The damage percentage values are the same to the original. Changed the resistances to just fire, as Sunblast is atm, and increased it. I increased further the duration penalty, but in return, I gave it a powerful new single-target AOE affix, and the Keystone Arrow Dancing. The reduced movement speed affix I put in, for extra spiciness (explained below).

RE: "Area of Effect Damage is mostly concentrated, increased and highest in the center."

Visually on a graph, think of a classic bell curve distribution. A massive damage boost, if the enemy stands in the middle of the AOE. Thus, rewarding accurate placement/throw of the single trap and use of bear trap and or decoy totem, to keep the target there. And the movement speed penalty is a penalty if you get things wrong. But if you get things right, you will blast through bosses. Giving the new (fated) Sunblast the characteristic of a real "blast", when the stars align.

I am on the fence to boost this "blast" damage further by giving the belt "(XX)% increased Damage against Ignited Enemies", thus pushing this belt into fire min-max territory, versus "increased elemental damage against chilled, shocked or ignited enemies". Either, could make the belt op. On the other side, leaving it out, does not introduce a perceived loss, for builds that forego ailments (eg with Elemental Focus gem).

I am also on the fence about adding a "Global Active Trap Limit" as affix (in return for even more % trap damage), to prevent for example spamming a single fire trap. And with that, giving the build, that uses this belt for single-target purposes, as intended, a DPS limiter. The numbers would have to influence that decision.

And I am aware that this boosts further the existing single-target capability of the Sab/Trapper, ... but only under ideal circumstances, and the belt would have to be taken out during mapping (eg with fire trap + cluster traps/multi traps), ideally. Otherwise, there are too many 'stragglers' left, because the AOE is no longer really "AOE", as there is hardly any damage dealt at the edges of the AOE circle. Thus, cluster and multi traps do not come even close to overlapping nor connecting.

And the movement speed penalty would make removing this belt during mapping even more mandatory.

Anybody else with a different Character of a re-worked Sunblast?



* Sunblast no longer causes traps to trigger when they expire, as that is now a base property of (almost) all traps.