New Gem Suggestion - Precision Strike

I'm not sure if this has been suggested already (in fact, it most likely already has, but I'll still make the suggestion anyway in case it hasn't), but would like to suggest a melee dexterity/strength gem that replicates the feel of Bronn's battle against Vardis Egen in Game of Thrones.

Precision Strike

a% reduced damage
+b% critical strike chance
+c% critical strike multiplier
Penetrates d% armour on crit

Naturally, the critical chance and multiplier should be high enough to more than make up for the reduced damage.

What do you guys think? I can't imagine a Shadow without a backstab-style attack and think this would be perfect for it!

Okay, so I look at the skill and think about how it would affect how I play: I whack on a guy, dealing less damage, then randomly do a bunch of damage? The armor-ignore mechanic could be useful in PvP, but from what I read monsters only have ~930 armor.

I think it needs something more interesting, a mechanic that is within the player's control. Take Ice Spear, for example. It is a crit-based ability, but the player can dramatically increase its crit chance by being a certain distance away from the target. This makes it far more interesting, and reliable as a consequence.

So what could an assassination-style ability do?

Bonus damage from behind the target? Useless unless something else is holding its attention. What if you went invisible and left a decoy of yourself and gained a movement buff? Then your next attack could be a guaranteed crit, and even more damage if behind the target.

Bonus damage if the target is blind, frozen, or burning? Or, like Power Siphon is to Culling Strike, what if this had a built-in blind mechanic?

A little off your desire, but I did like the scene with all those warlock illusion assassins. What about an AOE that summons a clone of you behind each target in the area who then all perform a backstab? They can then take a hit before dissipating.

What about a strike that deals more damage based on the target's missing health? Maybe it eats frenzy charges like Flicker Strike?

Anywho, this is just off the top of my head. Food for thought.

i was thinking the build would pretty much act the way you described it, but perhaps could encourage dex players to consider dex nodes and weapons (like daggers). Currently daggers don't feature much in melee but this skill could make it viable.

Agree, however, that the mechanic during combat itself is pretty boring (just like say heavy strike / viper strike / cleave / dual strike / double strike / etc).

I like ALL your suggestions. I think the turning invisible with decoy and getting a guaranteed crit may be harder for GGG to implement. I very very very much like the idea of causing extra damage when enemy is suffering from a status ailment.

How about...

a% reduced damage
+b% critical strike chance
+c% critical strike multiplier
Guarantees a critical strike against any enemy under Blind, Stun, Frozen or Temporal Chains

It may be a little too OP given a possible perma crit, especially in party settings where party members can cast permanent Temporal Chains and so may require a cooldown.

On your idea of summoned warlock assassins that backstab once and die after 1 hit, I f***king love it! Even if it were to summon just one assassin for balance reasons, I'd still love it.

Thanks! Glad you like the ideas! =o)

Temporal Chains would probably be too much. Stun is a little iffy, but we can keep it for now.

_________________________________
Precision Strike
Attack, Melee, Duration
Attribute: Dexterity
Cooldown Time: 2 seconds
Damage Effectiveness: 80%

Strike a target's vulnerable areas with blinding speed and unerring force. Requires a Dagger or Rapier.

100% Accuracy
50% increased Attack Speed
(10-20)% chance to Blind enemies on hit
100% Critical Strike Chance against Incapacitated enemies. (Blind, Stun, Frozen)
+(50-100)% more Critical Strike Multiplier

Quality: +2% Blind duration per % quality
_________________________________


The accuracy mod goes along with its title (Precision) and ensures its cooldown is never wasted (with Flicker Strike you still get the teleport). The attack speed and cooldown work to back-load the attack delay, so you deliver the massive blow in a satisfyingly fast manner but cannot spam it. The Blind allows its primary function -- guaranteed crits -- to function independently of other skills, and the quality bonus helps you keep it up. The cherry on top is that the Critical Strike Multiplier is a MORE multiplier, just to make people drool at a single-target ability (it's less than it appears due to the Damage Effectiveness).

Looks good to me! Maybe just a little too mouthwatering given the sheer number of good stuff the gem gives.

The attack speed and chance to blind perhaps we could leave out since there are support gems that cover those angles already (otherwise, it would be as good as a 9 socket skill including the additional accuracy... don't tempt me!).

Another idea would be to pair this skill gem with Bringer of Rain for the added blind, faster attacks and melee damage :)

I'm really hoping Mark sees this and fulfills our inner dagger stabbing wishes!

Yeah, I can agree about removing the Blind component. My desire to see a blind-centered ability superseded my design sense.

The attack speed is more of a placebo, due to the 2 second cooldown. It could be 1000% MORE attack speed and it wouldn't matter. Its purpose is to minimize the hit delay, so you can land your crit when the target is incapacitated (which might last less than a second).

_________________________________
Precision Strike
Attack, Melee
Attribute: Dexterity
Cooldown Time: 2 seconds
Damage Effectiveness: 80%

Strike a target's vulnerable areas with blinding speed and unerring force. Requires a Dagger or Rapier.

Cannot Miss
Guaranteed Critical Strike against Incapacitated enemies (Blind, Stun, Frozen)
50% increased Attack Speed
+(50-100)% more Critical Strike Multiplier

Quality: +4% increased Critical Strike Multiplier
_________________________________


You would need a setup ability, something to incapacitate the target, then use Precision Strike to finish the job. I contemplated adding Extra Gore to it. =oD

Flicker Strike sets the design tone for this with the cooldown. When trying to think of DEX-melee's identity, I imagined an emphasis on combo'ing several abilities. Under this mindset, Precision Strike would serve as a finisher.


Synergistic supports:

Power Charge on Critical
As a dagger ability, it suits the Shadow, who is a DEX/INT hybrid next to power charge nodes.

Multistrike
The triple attack is unaffected by Precision Strike's cooldown, and the MORE attack speed multiplier would scale with the built-in Increased Attack Speed to deliver those three strikes lightning-quick. If the first hit is a crit, they would all be crits.

Melee Splash
If it splashes crit damage, this would be very potent.

Added Lightning Damage
With Multistrike giving three crits in a row, and Precision Strike guaranteeing a crit, you would triple shock stack. Throw in Elemental Equilibrium to triple stack a whole pack.

Increased Critical Damage
Pretty obvious. =o) Since Precision Strike has a crit damage multiplier, this combo would result in phenomenal damage.