Chain Hook

I would greatly appreciate it if you could use chain hook as a movement skill. At the moment, you can only use it to move from point A to point B if a monster is at point B. It would be nice if you could use it to move from point A to point B without a monster being present. This would allow it to have more mobility like that of shield charge, cyclone, charge dash, etc. Likewise, it's also a great option to stand in for what shield charged used to do for cospris discharge builds.

I dream of when this skill will be buffed. Honestly, it's hard to scale and can't really do anything useful. What I think could help is maybe some interaction with rage where maybe it benefits from the more rage you have (maybe AOE, attack speed, damage or any combination of the above). If you really want to use this skill, go grab any other skill put rage on it and there you have a better version of this skill.

135% of base damage is kind of low, added damage effectiveness isn't great, you can't even use multistrike which makes this skill very clunky.

This isn't even good on Beserker which is the one ascendancy class that should actually like this skill since it focuses on rage. I think that says it all.

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Slicer9875 wrote:

I dream of when this skill will be buffed. Honestly, it's hard to scale and can't really do anything useful. What I think could help is maybe some interaction with rage where maybe it benefits from the more rage you have (maybe AOE, attack speed, damage or any combination of the above). If you really want to use this skill, go grab any other skill put rage on it and there you have a better version of this skill.

135% of base damage is kind of low, added damage effectiveness isn't great, you can't even use multistrike which makes this skill very clunky.

This isn't even good on Beserker which is the one ascendancy class that should actually like this skill since it focuses on rage. I think that says it all.

It already gains extra AoE per 5 rage, says it right on the gem
But yeah maybe they should add some secondary AoE or maybe even an explosion if you have very high rage

Then maybe more damage? I remember when I tried it, there wasn't much AOE or damage even at 50 rage.

Used it, when it was new and it was fun.
Used it the next season and it got stealth gimped into nothingness by slower rage buildup.
Im surprised this hasnt been mentioned before, and im even more surprised people actually still tried to use it.

Old rage = +1 rage per attack + every other source as they are (yep, it was ridicoulisly fast and could counter the rage loss of berserk to an extent and almost instantly refill it)
New rage = has a max gain per time that is NOT stated anywehre
I tried working around with new passive traits and jewels afterwards, but it doesnt even come close.

Need to nerf? Can agree to that, but changing the way it works has killed its fun completly.

For some reason I thought this skill could be used unarmed.

It can't.

It is one of the two skill gems in the game that would both fit the theme and the requirements for this one specific cosplay build (Sire Denathrius- Raid boss from WoW: Shadowlands) but it can't be used unarmed! WHY?!

You throw the chain out with a bare hand, you pull yourself in with a bare hand, then suddenly you require a sword or axe to do anything? I know this is going to be 100% ignored but plis GGG allow more unarmed things! Hollow Palm isn't that busted!

kthx

Next league I'm thinking on playing a fishing rod-based character.

According to the wiki, the only two attack skill gems which can make use of a fishing rod per se are Elemental Hit and Frenzy. Yet, arguably, if there is an attack which would make sense with such a weapon, that would be Chain Hook.

I don't know what the chances are of it being tweaked to support fishing rods too, but I reckon it would be a trivial change without further ramifications. So...

...pretty please?

Why does chain hook not have the travel tag?

For example Ambush does need an enemy to perform the skill (like chain hook) and has the travel tag

I played Chain Hook in the Endless Delve event just past. I went with Ascendant, taking the Juggernaut and Champion ascendancies, and reached level 83 while mostly making the build up as I went, aiming to scale phys damage and attack speed. Mana cost was handled by using Lifetap. It went surprisingly well thanks to Delve's blast-the-mobs format, and a handful of lucky items that granted good damage, attack speed, and 5 links for the skill.

I've also used Chain Hook on another build before, during Legion. It was a Berserker that reached about level 85 before I lost interest. On that build, I did the usual thing at the time for melee, and scaled phys and crit damage, but did what others were doing and also went for a ton of attack speed with Rage and Blitz charges, and had mana cost mitigated by using Soultaker.



GENERAL THOUGHTS:

The skill is fun to use, but could do with better single target damage, better behaviour when specifically namelocking a single enemy, and a more meaningful interaction with Rage.

It feels like the skill is stuck between being effective at clearing packs like Frostblades, and trying to offer damage utility after closing the gap in a single target situation. Unfortunately it feels like it lacks damage compared to most map clear melee tagged skills and attacks that use melee weapons. Eg, Frostblades, Cobra Lash, Venom Gyre, and Boneshatter.

To bring it up to par, I'd love to see Chain Hook deal more effectively with stronger enemies by dealing much higher damage situationally with skilful play, by having a stronger synergy with the Rage / Berserk archetype, and having a natural ebb and flow that some other skills offer. Eg, Venom Gyre synergises nicely with Whirling Blades for a periodic burst of damage. It would be cool to see Chain Hook have some similar special case burst damage interaction with maybe Berserk, since they're both Rage-oriented skills.



INTERACTION WITH RAGE:

There are so many sources of Rage in PoE now that Chain Hook has somewhat lost its identity as a Rage-gaining source, so it would be nice to see it interact differently with Rage, ideally in a way that helps bridge the gap with other melee skills when taking on stronger mobs.



TARGETING (THE GOOD AND BAD):

In Endless Delve, I noticed targeting has improved a good bit since Legion, which I hugely appreciate. I still needed to take care of what I was name locking to make sure I was targeting rares, but that wasn't too difficult when it was possible, and made me enjoy the skill more when I was skilful enough to handle the careful targeting.

When targeting was problematic, was when I'd try to target a mob, and another mob would move in the way, catching the hook and slightly changing the angle I was facing, so that the next hook wouldn't be aimed at the intended target. I understand the reorientation occurs to lock on to the new target, but in combination with high attack speed, this can sometimes shoot you off to the side of where you were aiming, requiring quick thinking and a handy movement skill to reposition and try targeting the original mob again. This issue can sometimes cause you to move into a clearly dangerous position that can kill you, which is frustrating. (Eg, moving into densely packed bearers about to explode, damaging AoEs, shocked ground, or into the path of slow-moving explosive projectiles.)

If I were to suggest an improvement for targeting, I'd say having a namelocked mob should make the hook ignore other mobs, and only accept attaching to the namelocked mob.

Chain hook
Throw a Chain Hook, Hooking into the enemy dealing x damage. While hooked to an enemy and while you are moving, Cause Bleed damage as though the enemy is moving. Bleed Damage can be increased by % increased movement speed. can be supported by Multiple proj.

Skill needs to be supported to clear in order to have a more useful life. this may help, and give a flavor to unusual/unique game play.