Spectral Shield Throw

To sum up what everyone is saying about this skill....it can use some work.

The phrase "Mediocre at best" comes to mind because it fits this skill extremely well. In order to push it past mediocre you have to spend lots of $$$. In order to push it past Mediocre vs bosses you have to spend even more $$$ and it's currently just not worth it.

Tectonic Slam = Great skill good damage/clear you did great!

this skill on the other hand is just really underwhelming Specifically it's single target vs bosses...it's just bad.

.

Hello Shield throwers,


can someone enlighten me on this particular shield:

The Surrender Ezomyte Tower Shield




does the the "+1500 Armour if you've Blocked Recently" affect your base net damage for SST?

thank you



p.s. I have around 70-75 block chance

I have a accuracy based jugg, currently level 89. name: NovaShielder.
Skilltree:


I run a stat Stick with extra 23% as Fire and 32% extra as cold, lvl21 q10 SST, Oskarm, Obscurantis, 1 Essence of Hysteria ring and Lioneyes vision (free pierce). Dropping Purity of Elements and Arctic Armour for Hatred and 6 linking would bring my dps to slightly above 400k in Path of building but resistences and 6 link isnt in reach right now. Looking into changing obscurantis to get those resists. I should run Intimidaring shout and probably respec some points but i honestly dont feel like its worth investing more time into the char unless its to buy a Bow and a bunch of regrets.

I run SST, ice golem, ancestral protector, shieldcharge, bloodrage, cwdtIC, Purity of elements, Arctic Armour and Herald of Ash.
Linked skills



Things SST builds need (doesn't exclude other things):

Evasion needs higher scaling in some way (maybe extra crit multiplier to synergy with ES though as far as i can tell right now ES hybrids are in a worse place then EV and EV/AR). As it stands there is no point in anything but a Armour shield since armour based shields reaches the highest values.

There needs to be some way to do single target dmg. A skill that synergises with similar things as SST and isnt based on weapon dmg, a threshold jewel that removes/penalizes shards but multiplies the main hit dmg in some way or flat out buff the shields main hit by alot.

I really wish to have the knowledge to help you but i haven't.

I run a pure phys/bleed gladiator, lvl 91 atm.
I use Resolute Technique so i dont have any problem with accuracy, and since Armour based shield can reach higher value (max 3000 armour) i dont have problem to find good shield that grants me enough dps.

A lots of my dps are hidden, but i did some Minotaur and Chimera, and i had no problem at all to defeat them.

I will give my feedback and then I will rant.

Good points:
1) Unique, flavourful skill that really gives player the fantasy, reminds me of the feeling when I first saw Facebreaker back then a few years back. Good to see this kind of rare skills.

Bad points:
1) Damage scaling is horrible, unless you go "added zyx as extra fire/cold/lighting/chaos/elemental damage" stat stick route, the damage is not there. Pigeon-hole is horrible. One dimension build.
2) Skill tree does not support the damage scaling of the shield, the fact that this doesnt count as weapon blocking access to elemental penetration nodes is really mind numbing to me.
3) Skill tree nodes are not intuitive in supporting the skill. Literally anyone experience was hoping some percentage of " %increased defenses from equipped shield" would actually do something but nothing happened.
4) The investment vs power you get is not there. Frost Blades with the shitty claw unique does better.
5) Sub projectiles from the shatter at the end of the skill lifetime is horrible, without chain or fork, most of them would be wasted.
6) This skill without chain or fork and Projectile speed feels horrible for clearspeed.

Potential fixes:
1) Give threshold jewel that provide free fork or chain for this skill. I prefer fork coz it is the least used projectile support gem in the whole game since the legendary Spork build millenia ago.
2) Increase damage scaling. PERIOD. JUST INCREASE IT.
3) Rework the skill tree to provide adaquate support for it.
4) change the skill to be a "weapon".
5) Increase the projectile speed.

RANT:
TLDR: My feedback will just rot here. I am waiting for you to prove me wrong.
LONG RANT: I give my feedback here and no matter what the playerbase tells you and no matter how obvious the problem is and how easy it is to even give it a decent competitive edge, you wont implement or even bother to fix it. The playerbase can bash you for your stupid low damage scaling on this skill and you wont even bother to fix it. I can give some good suggestion as a temporary band aid fix, and you wont even consider them. All these lead me to assume you dont understand your own game.
Why must there be shitty skills that are so obvious they are shite? Cant all of them be good, so all of them see use? You spent your resources and surely you hope players use them. Why not make them all good?? Why so coped up with the "Magic" way of balancing? Why must you have the mindset of putting someone/something down just to make others stand out? Do you practice that mindset? Now I am assuming you do coz it is so blatant the expression of that idea in this game.

I have posted my feedback early in General discussion, but I wanted to post it here, as well as clarify some things.
I've leveled my Gladiator to 73 in Bestiary and just got tired of it. For scaling damage I took almost every possible node from the tree (Defiance, Retaliation and Command of Steel near Duelist, Precise Interception and Weapon Artistry near Ranger, Sanctuary near Templar, Berserking near Scion). Additionally, I had Hatred and Herald of Ash to get more elemental damage. As a statstick I had Ewar's Mirage for clear or Tempestous Steel for single target.
The skill is just underwhelming. It's an inferior verion of Spectral Throw: it cannot get more shield projectiles, it cannot pierce, it doesn't come back. Besides, the AoE is just terrible. Even using Herald of Ash, Haemophilia gloves explosions and 3 chain (Ewar's Mirage and Chain Support) I was only able to clear 2/3 of a pack. Single target damage is also terrible.
My suggestion is to add at least two of below changes:
-add "Chains +(0-5) times", similar to Arc
-enable LMP and GMP to support the number of shield projectiles thrown as well
-increase base attack speed, projectile speed, base damage
-allow unarmed damage to scale Spectral Shield Throw damage
-add more powerful nodes on passive skill tree or increase damage scaling from your shield

"

John3001 wrote:

I have posted my feedback early in General discussion, but I wanted to post it here, as well as clarify some things.
I've leveled my Gladiator to 73 in Bestiary and just got tired of it. For scaling damage I took almost every possible node from the tree (Defiance, Retaliation and Command of Steel near Duelist, Precise Interception and Weapon Artistry near Ranger, Sanctuary near Templar, Berserking near Scion). Additionally, I had Hatred and Herald of Ash to get more elemental damage. As a statstick I had Ewar's Mirage for clear or Tempestous Steel for single target.
The skill is just underwhelming. It's an inferior verion of Spectral Throw: it cannot get more shield projectiles, it cannot pierce, it doesn't come back. Besides, the AoE is just terrible. Even using Herald of Ash, Haemophilia gloves explosions and 3 chain (Ewar's Mirage and Chain Support) I was only able to clear 2/3 of a pack. Single target damage is also terrible.
My suggestion is to add at least two of below changes:
-add "Chains +(0-5) times", similar to Arc
-enable LMP and GMP to support the number of shield projectiles thrown as well
-increase base attack speed, projectile speed, base damage
-allow unarmed damage to scale Spectral Shield Throw damage
-add more powerful nodes on passive skill tree or increase damage scaling from your shield

can you check my passive skill tree, to have an idea of what i have done?
with the "bleeding Enemies you Kill Explode, dealing 10% of their Maximum Life as Physical Damage" from your ascendancy "Gratuitous Violence" you should be able to clear all mobs with 0 problem. But, you must have resolute technique and have 100% bleeding on hit.

For boss, you will always had a lower dps compare to other build, but "Violent Retaliation" and "crimson dance" helps a lot.

You still have a really really good defence against phys attack. i can achieve 70+ block chance and 90% phys red.


Note: Your projectile attack cannot pierce, but your shards can!

any updates to this or still beyond terrible?