Please Change Viper Strike!

The current version in the 1.2 patch notes is currently standing in an extremely boring spot.

Previously, you could use puncture to make a build that required no attack speed, just stack loads of damage for a single hit to cause heavy degeneration.

You then had viper strike, where you didn't need to stack attack speed since you would only reapply the degen. So you'd scale that with + gem level to increase the flat degen amount.

Both of these were interesting since you had to mold your character in a different manner in order to achieve a working build.

Now? It's just another boring "hit 'em really hard" attack, where you have to scale both your melee damage to cause stronger degeneration, and attack speed to apply more dots. It's a step backwards in terms of build diversity, and particularly disappointing after considering masters would allow for easier crafting of mod combinations needed to work in said niche.

I agree. It's too late now though. Reminds me of the Diablo 3 "balance" by using weapon damage for each and every skill/spell/attack. Let's hope they revisit the skill in a year or so. ;)

Why don't you actually play it before making empty assumptions that it's a "step backwards?"

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nikheizen a écrit :

Why don't you actually play it before making empty assumptions that it's a "step backwards?"

Because I can read.

50% chance to cause a degen. No max stacks.
this SCREAMS for multistrike/faster attacks, as do most other melee skills.

10% physical damage added as chaos. 175% of initial hit as degen over 7 seconds.
You best stack dat melee phys bro, else u done goofed.

Pretty pointless to do it any other way really.

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lucksickle a écrit :

Because I can read.

Incredible post. Great work.
How about you actually play it and see how it works in-game?
I'm not sure about the changes either, but there's no use whining about things you haven't actually played yet. I guess that's what forums are for though.

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lucksickle a écrit :

50% chance to cause a degen. No max stacks.
this SCREAMS for multistrike/faster attacks, as do most other melee skills.

If you weren't already using multistrike on viper strike you weren't playing very efficiently. It already benefited from being stacked quickly.

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lucksickle a écrit :

10% physical damage added as chaos. 175% of initial hit as degen over 7 seconds.
You best stack dat melee phys bro, else u done goofed.

Actually it's possible that it will scale great with Crit Multi as well, which makes it a really great option for actual melee crit in the new league that may very well be hardcore viable. There are more options available.

I don't much care for the "Lets scale everything with faster attacking" that the game seems to be going for. Multi-strike, spell echo, change to Viper Strike, faster attacks on early game weapons.

Eh, I dunno, It doesn't do it for me.

VS change and frenzy nerfs are really weird with 1.2.

If they wanted a skill that worked like WS 1.2v then they could have made a new gem that works like that without removing old one.

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nikheizen a écrit :

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lucksickle a écrit :

Because I can read.

Incredible post. Great work.
How about you actually play it and see how it works in-game?
I'm not sure about the changes either, but there's no use whining about things you haven't actually played yet. I guess that's what forums are for though.

Look, we all agree Viper Strike is hugely buffed, but at the same time it is changed to work like almost every other melee skill - the only exceptions left now are Elemental Hit and to a much lesser extend Dominating Blow.

I have used it. I'm on the fence. I used to be Viper Strike's champion back in Closed Beta, back when no one used it because it just wasn't fast enough. Then Melee Splash came along and GGG had to change how damage over time works (and, I suspect, this allowed IIR/IIQ to work with DoTs) and then we had all these chaos damage/DoT nodes. This to me took away what made Viper Strike truly special: it scaled off nothing but leveling, so you could essentially use a super weak weapon, have crap-all official DPS, but still be very effective. And all those nodes you weren't spending on damage, you could put into other things. In CB, the most effective evader WAS a max block, A/PA/AD (now Ondar's Guile) massive evasion/life character with a well-supported viper strike. It was slow, sure, but it was effective.

So while people are upset about this latest change, I've been over the skill ever since it became something you had to support *and still dealt primarily DoT damage, which is not preferable in a super-fast ARPG*.

As for how it is now? People are seeing 'primary skill' but I've experienced 'boss killer'. And in that capacity, it's ridiculously good. I would never use it as a primary skill, not now. Maybe with Splash? Maybe. Fuck that cheese, though.

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nikheizen a écrit :

If you weren't already using multistrike on viper strike you weren't playing very efficiently. It already benefited from being stacked quickly.

Yeah, no. Enjoy your reduced base degeneration.

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nikheizen a écrit :

Actually it's possible that it will scale great with Crit Multi as well, which makes it a really great option for actual melee crit in the new league that may very well be hardcore viable. There are more options available.

Oh, so you're saying exactly what I said, that it's yet another bland melee crit skill. NO KIDDING.