[3.25 READY] Versatile Combatant Impale Shield Crush - Crush the Atlas - SSF Compatible

Max spell block seems much harder to achieve now, isn't that a big problem?

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NoImagination wrote:

Max spell block seems much harder to achieve now, isn't that a big problem?

Well, it may be a blow especially for HC chars, and some inconvenience for those who want to get past lvl 96. Though I think it is too early to speculate here, as all of that will depend mainly on those notables and masteries on skill tree, or new crafting modifiers for items.

If there will be some relatively accessible ways to scale block beyond 50/50, then all should be fine, otherwise 50/50 or 75/15 will be the new base standards for the max block ;]

You could get tempest shield for +25% spell block, and a spell block shield for +15%. It's a problem that the improved spell block nodes are between templar + witch, but perhaps there's some to pick up on the tree closer to gladiator too. A spell block mastery maybe?

Presumably there'll be a spell block scourge affix too, though that isn't something we should really rely upon.

So getting to 85/50 shouldn't be too tough, which is decent I guess.

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NoImagination wrote:

So getting to 85/50 shouldn't be too tough, which is decent I guess.

So that's a route without that Versatile Combatant keystone I presume.

If glad or any other block build would be able to gather more than 50% attack block and around 50% spell block from the skill tree / gems / items with relatively not that huge investment then this will make that VC keystone utterly useless :> And it's already useless for those who have 50% or less attack block.

It seems that VC keystone will be mainly useful for chars that have close to 75% attack block and no other source of spell block - by sacrificing 25% of attack block they will get 50% of spell block. So that keystone looks a bit like a honey trap to me :] Until there will be some valid options to scale +max block and attack block beyond 75% that keystone at first glance promises more that it can deliver ;p.

Gladiator can take the Versatile Combatant replacement to get +10% max attack block, so should be able to get to 60/50 relatively easily.

So I guess for Gladiator, the choices are 60/50 without a little investment (I don't know where VC is on the new tree, so perhaps this is actually impossible), or 85/50 with medium investment.

Edit: VC replaces Iron Reflexes I believe.

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NoImagination wrote:

Gladiator can take the Versatile Combatant replacement to get +10% max attack block, so should be able to get to 60/50 relatively easily.

That new glad's passive is +10% max block, it does not specify attack or spell, so I presume it's both. Then with VC glad will have 60/60 max block.

Though still, it won't change much how this keystone works - with our current knowledge it only looks good if you have a lot of attack block and want to exchange some of it for a spell block - it's always a trade off.
And if it would be relatively easy to scale both attack and spell block from various sources to 50%-60% without that keystone then I don't see any value for it right now :]

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NoImagination wrote:

Max spell block seems much harder to achieve now, isn't that a big problem?

This is something I'm looking into once we get the passive tree. For the time being it looks like our cap is nerfed, but i'll be digging to see how much i can reroute to get past this potential 60/60 cap that we have at the moment. It's dependent on the block nodes on the tree and how reliant we'll be on Versatile Combatant.

Did this build take a hit with the new tree/changes?

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idkwat wrote:

Did this build take a hit with the new tree/changes?

Look at the 10/18 Update Log for information about this.

Thanks I will practice this tomorrow probably, take it to maps and progress with it SSF for a bit see how it goes.