Arc

Well I hope after the embarrassing video of chris trying to kill mobs with arc that they realized "maybe we should buff this spell"
Or they check over in the skill feedback forum and see "wow this, like all the other bad spells/skills, have tons of replies from people saying they're bad!"

Pessimistic I know, but I just have a feeling things won't change since well.. they haven't.

Fun Fact- A Quality Added Lightning Damage on a +Level to gems staff linked with Arc is pretty darn cute.

Glad they are looking into it finally. ;w;

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CharanJaydemyr wrote:

Charan-Fact of the Day: Arc is being reviewed. I just hope they take their time and don't overpower it. That would be an injustice. I don't know how many times I can say this: the spell is fine but for a few crucial aspects.

Yeah, mana cost, damage, crit chance, number of enemies hit, and support gem viability.

Other than that it is perfect! ;)

The support gem viability would need to change if it is to be competitive. Actually, I guess they could buff Arc to be strong without support gems (like Searing Bond); scaling would still be awful, but at least it would have a head-start.

Mana cost can be overcome, but I still think it is unfairly punished by this. I see no reason it should not be decreased - at least by a little.

Crit chance need not be buffed. However, I don't really understand why it is only 4% when the vast majority of spells are 5% (or 6% for the cold spells). I could understand if there was a wide variety normally; this would indicate that you should try to build around these things as fairly-unique properties. All Arc's abnormal crit chance does is limit players.

Number of enemies hit; I see this in the same sort of light as the support gem viability - without changing this Arc can not be competitive when scaling comes into play (in this case, with mob-pack size). Again, you could give Arc a head start (in this case, increase the number of chains), but there will be a point where Arc just falls behind. The Weaver is an example of this (especially because the mob-pack size refills throughout the fight to a large size, so you can not just overcome it given time).

For damage, I assume you mean DPS instead. The importance of the DPS of Arc is quite dependent on the other points; if Arc only hits a few mobs, compared to other skills hitting many mobs, then the DPS needs to be higher, for example. In many ways, DPS is useless to look at by itself, however, it must be noted that before scaling comes into play (mob-pack size, supports, ease of mana, crit builds) Arc is actually quite balanced in terms of DPS. It is the scaling that Arc suffers from, which is dependent on the other points discussed.

After trying a pure lightning build in this patch too I can testify that arc is not viable.

First the mana cost is huge. I need to run purity and stack mana regen and even then I run out pretty quick and need mana pots.

The damage is still miniscule even with all the buffs to casting and spell damage.


Im supporting it on a 6L with faster casting/ inc crit damage, and either penetration or lighting damage and its still disappointing.

Never going back to a lightning build again.

Arc really lacks in every department. In order to properly shock stack, you need to cast it fast, which isn't very easy due to its large mana cost. It also seems to fall short in viability with support gems: It can't fork or pierce, chain is worthless on it, does not qualify as a projectile so both LMP and GMP are out, etc... Its damage effectiveness of 50% ensures that it will never be a single-target viable spell, and it is beaten by storm call in 99% of all situations for AOE damage both in amount of targets applied, shocks stacked and overall damage dealt.

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CharanJaydemyr wrote:

At this point, I'm more inclined to say the Weaver fight needs to be reviewed. It remains the *only* thing I can't do purely because of the idiocy that is infinite enemies in a very tight spot. It's compulsory and demands, as someone said earlier, a sweeper. That is to say, an AoE-specced character.

Got Weaver on Cruel yesterday, 52 Arc-based Witch - with Lightning Trap, Shock Nova, Raise Minions, Molten Shell, Clarity, Punishment, Critical Weakness. No gem over 12 or 13, Arc 9 quality, no-quality Facebreaker Mitts and Atziri's Foible Paua neck, no Eldrich yet. Punishment & Minions helped to kite, then Critical Weakness and fire away. Wasn't Molten or AoE or Nova that cooked her though, and my minions were down by then. It was an Arc crit blast. Boom!...dead.

Hoping to spec out of Minions soon, if/when I can get decent Armor head, chest, feet, maybe gloves to go without zombies or totems.

How far the build will go I don't know, but the Arc-base is doing well thus far after 5 or 6 refund/Regret points adjusted, thanks to people like Charan and Velkor with their insight on these threads, and a bit of doing on my part. ;) Pyramid tomorrow.

Now you've got me wanting to roll an Arc Shadow...

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Arthikas wrote:

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CharanJaydemyr wrote:

At this point, I'm more inclined to say the Weaver fight needs to be reviewed. It remains the *only* thing I can't do purely because of the idiocy that is infinite enemies in a very tight spot. It's compulsory and demands, as someone said earlier, a sweeper. That is to say, an AoE-specced character.

Got Weaver on Cruel yesterday, 52 Arc-based Witch - with Lightning Trap, Shock Nova, Raise Minions, Molten Shell, Clarity, Punishment, Critical Weakness. No gem over 12 or 13, Arc 9 quality, no-quality Facebreaker Mitts and Atziri's Foible Paua neck, no Eldrich yet. Punishment & Minions helped to kite, then Critical Weakness and fire away. Wasn't Molten or AoE or Nova that cooked her though, and my minions were down by then. It was an Arc crit blast. Boom!...dead.

Hoping to spec out of Minions soon, if/when I can get decent Armor head, chest, feet, maybe gloves to go without zombies or totems.

How far the build will go I don't know, but the Arc-base is doing well thus far after 5 or 6 refund/Regret points adjusted, thanks to people like Charan and Velkor with their insight on these threads, and a bit of doing on my part. ;) Pyramid tomorrow.

Now you've got me wanting to roll an Arc Shadow...

Technically you do not need all that for cruel bosses anymore - Vaal Spark kills anything up to merciless easily.

Well since I'm noob to PoE, I was undecided which build/main skill I liked. Fireball seemed too easy, then tried Spark and didn't care for it. Thought about doing Phys wander, but wanted to try Arc-based as soon as I could get the gem. Charan's input here, and Velkor's on another thread (thanks Charan) seem to be quite decent builds thus far.

I just hope Arc isn't as weak as many have said at higher levels, because the playstyle is fun. Was struggling a bit with it until I refunded some points into Static Blows and Intense Zeal and changed some gear.

Main issue now is being tanky enough to drop Raise Zombies and obviate the need for totems. Also need some Dex from gear so I can use those points elsewhere. Looking at Velkor's Arc Witch build, he's using Storm Call for AoE which I don't like (prefer Lightning Trap), and Devouring Totem. :(

So perhaps I can use some things from both Charan's and Velkor's Arc builds for my goal of being self-cast Arc Witch w/o relying on minions. Not sure if it's doable, but any suggestions are welcome.

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Edit: BTW, I've messed with some of the Vaal skills but generally don't use them. Was underwhelmed with Vaal Power Siphon, though Fireball seemed OK for large trash packs. Maybe should try Vaal Spark and Arc next.