Sunder

Tested this out on my 81 Templar that I had used in previous leagues to run Static Strike or Ice Crash. The goal of the build was to make a viable build around the Pillar of the Caged God Unique. For the purposes of checking damage and what supports would and would not work I was running a Tabula Rasa. For all three skills I had Weapon Elemental Damage, Phys to Lightning, Melee Physical Damage, Faster Attacks, and Increased AoE. All/almost all other items that could had Flat Phys modifiers, as well as I had an Abyssus equipped. As far as supporting skills I was using Herald of Thunder and Herald of Ice. Static Strike was at around 8k dps, Ice Crash 7k dps, and Sunder was only at 3.8k dps. Also from what I could tell the Increased AoE only affects the Shockwaves created. So from what testing I did it seems that as is Sunder is a linear AoE that does not get wider with Increased AoE, cannot be modified to have more lines (Lightning Strike with LMP/GMP) and generally seems to not hit very hard at all when compared to skills like Ice Crash and Static Strike.

I like the skill itself...from its animations it feels like a hard hitting and satisfying skill, however it seem to fall short of doing that. Personally I would love it if the damage was upped and if increasing the AoE would affect the line. If anyone has anything to change that may make up for its damage feel free to correct me.

Edit: Sunder was level 12, Static Strike 19, and Ice Crash 11 all 0% quality.

Tooltip wording minor thing: Mace, Axe, Staff > Axe, Mace, Staff.

It would help if skills used the same word order for stuff like this.

Sunder's -15% Attack Speed seems redundant considering the 1s Cast Time suggests Sundering is not/should not be affected by Attack Speed modifiers (like Earthquake) for reason being the 1s Cast Time is the pace of Sunder's start time...

My question is why are there two penalties, a 1s Cast Time in conjunction with -15% Attack Speed? Not even Groundslam (its arguable better twin) has a Cast Time OR an Attack Speed penalty.

Why not just rid the 1s Cast Time or the -15% Attack Speed penalty on Sunder and call it a day?

Leaving Sunder as it is with two negatives (unlike other released Melee Skill Gems I have seen) does NO justice for this new Skill Gem.

How disappointing —____—
HeavyMetalGear

Does the Shockwave effect hit the target it emits from or just its surroundings? Because single target DPS feels subpar which would be a shame considering sine its AoE clear is already bad. Would be fun if it was tagged as Projectile though. :D

"

Bananaplasm wrote:

Does the Shockwave effect hit the target it emits from or just its surroundings? Because single target DPS feels subpar which would be a shame considering sine its AoE clear is already bad. Would be fun if it was tagged as Projectile though. :D

Obviously, it doesnt hit the target it emits from.

Sunder is MEANT to be used as pack-clearer. Akin to LA-GMP-CHAIN, it sucks against single targets. But stack as much increased AoE on it as you can, and you'll oneshot packs with it.
Maybe, AoE should be a bit larger, though, but still, compared to Ground Slam, this skill rocks.
It also can proc Fortify despite having a large range, and unlike Lightning Strike, it hits through all obstacles and cliffs, so enemy cant be safe on uphill, behind cracked skull on ground, etc.
However, if "increased AoE" doesnt affect initial shockwave's length and width, it's a major downside... as AoE skill, it should have ALL its aspects effected by increased AoE. I'll test that myself, though.

=)

@mortalkombat3 AoE does not affect Sunders initial cascade, however, it does affect the shockwaves that are triggered by the first attack. This is quite significant, investing in AoE sure is useful for that. It'll also affect skills like HoF, further increasing your pack size killing.

@Zeshin Mechanically Sunder isnt really comparable to Static Strike or Ice Crash. Those skills require you to move into the middle of the pack. Sunder is much more a ranged skill, Lightning Strike is its closest comparison i think, maybe Reave, Frost Blades or Ground Slam, but it trumps those three in (initial) range easily.

I'm currently leveling an Ancestral Protector/Sunder Hierophant, and the skill is working great. Opening the fight with an AP and maybe a Searing Bond totem Sunder is exactly the kind of skill i'm looking for to attack with from behind the totems.

It's also great fun in a fresh kind of way to scale what plays almost like a spellcaster with melee phyiscal nodes.

"

Toverkol wrote:

@mortalkombat3 AoE does not affect Sunders initial cascade, however, it does affect the shockwaves that are triggered by the first attack. This is quite significant, investing in AoE sure is useful for that. It'll also affect skills like HoF, further increasing your pack size killing.

I agree, investing into AoE is useful, but it makes no sense that some AoE component of the skill isnt affected by AoE increases. GGG stated, that support gems and various modifiers affect ALL applicable components of the skill. Initial cascade is obviously an AoE thing. No other skill behaves that way, and i believe it's a bug and will be fixed soon.

It's just looks like as if Firestorm was only "partially" affected by AoE increases, increasing size of explosions only, while leaving spell's area unaffected (it's what many players desire :) ).