Is Strength (attribute) Stacking OP?

It would appear that strength stacking simply blows any other possible melee (and oddly enough, caster) archetypes out of the water.

Perhaps its simply the existence of Iron Fortress and Replica Alberon's... but the synergy of big life from strength and added flat damage proportional to strength means you are foolish to do anything but strength stack. Iron Grip, Iron will and the inherent melee dmg %inc from strength already seem like enough... without the need to make the synergy even stronger. For example, Replica Alberon's will give 1200 flat CHAOS dmg for 2400 str. A 1200 DPS phy 2H weapon for example will set you back over 150div in standard. Replica Alberon's on the other hand is 12div. (Its not really fair to compare 1200 chaos to 1200 elemental dmg as the quality of elemental dmg is diminished by monster resist)

There is also Brutus's Sprinkler...

While taking advantage of synergies is at the core of build planning, this particular synergy appears to pigeon hole build diversity if you want to min/max.

You can definitely argue that attribute stacking is expensive (how much is demand vs. supply though?)... making the build idea a goal worth playing towards. I just wish there were other expensive build ideas that can do anything similar DPS/defense wise.

Int. stack attacking has similar issues but seems gated by much (appropriately so) higher budget requirement. Same for Int/Mana stacking for AM or Indigon... the cost seems more inline with the power.

Experimental jewelry (cogwork, helical, etc.) really sent these builds into BiS. But I dont think its the jewelry that should be changed for this.

Here is some fuel for the fire:

Mathil's Str. Stack DS build using Alberon's with over 100mil DPS with two dumpster tier weapons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1pmyXFxjYQ. Mathil, king of Glass Cannons, has to admit this build's dmg is off the charts.

Empy's Str Stack Wander (infinite budget... but proves the point in the limit): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XicreB-K8VA&

And to a lesser degree, Conner's Int/Mana Stack Indigon (this build is admittedly just cool.. how can you hate Mjolner?): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI6sK5xkigc


TLDR: Sick of looking at big DPS builds only to find they are ALWAYS attribute stacking. High end diversity sucks. Someone convince me Im wrong please.

You are correct on high budgets. The thing is, for replica alberons to show it's mettle you need a lot of str on your gear, both flat and increased. And you need to have that on top of all the other stats required for damage scaling like AS/Crit/Crit multi etc. Getting all of this together tends to be really expensive but once you get there the only thing that might stand a chance of rivaling you in terms of damage are other stackers. Armor, ES, mana you name it.

That said, you can get the 100-200 mio dps required to trivialize Ubers and T17 without stat stacking. There is very little practical difference between a 200 mio dps build and an 800 mio dps build. Maybe in deep delve but for regular gameplay it's more about bragging rights than actual usefulness.

Str stackers also have the downside of being relatively frail because so many of their gear slots are predetermined not allowing the use of certain defensive options.

Not really as it gets only strong on high budget.
It was "op" before they reworked chieftain cause it was more viable and strong even on low budget with things like brutus sprinkler.

I think people are using "OP" too much these days. Once something is strong, no matter the investment, it's suddenly "OP" instead of just "powerful". Is strength stacking OP? No. Is it very powerful? Sure, with the right investment.

I don't think so. Strength stackers are pretty damn expensive to go 2k Str and beyond often relying on corrupts to get needed %attributes.

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TheAshmaker wrote:

I don't think so. Strength stackers are pretty damn expensive to go 2k Str and beyond often relying on corrupts to get needed %attributes.

Actually wrong, it's pretty easy to get 2k.
It gets more expensive past 3k once you start to throw in some niche % implicit rings along with a proper amulet, good cluster, good Split Personality jewels or as finishing touch if you care enough to giga max proper jewels with adorned.

I think this debate gets to the heart of the question, but in economic and opportunity cost terms.

Is attribute too easy compared to other methods of scaling (crit, conversion, APS, etc.) to the point that it dominates BiS end game builds?

if they are OP compare to the rest of melee skills i would argue the problem is not replica alberoth but melee weapons being underwhelming.

also STR stackers as a whole are not OP since i doubt anyone will call pillar of the caged god, Doon Cuebiyari or Brutus' Lead Sprinkler OP quite the opposite pillar of the caged god got nerfed big time with all the removal of flat damage and Doon Cuebiyari was never great to begin with.

Doing scion str stack this league and it seems pretty solid you get good life / armor / block and decent damage. It's a good build if you plan to play the full league because you will always have upgrades to work towards even if they are costly. Does it beat good spell builds like mana stacker or energy blades heck no is it better then most generical regular builds I'd say probably but not by that much.

It isn't really Op but it does scale into oblivion. Slams this league are probably the stronger melee in general at any rate.