Is EK gonna get nerfed or not?

I really dont think a straight nerf to EK is a good idea and this is why.

Currently the its one of the slowest attacking spells in the entire game, if not the slowest attacking skill. To make the ability even feasible you have to stack cast speed spell damage and physical damage. Therefore it defies the definition of something which is overpowered IE- being usable by almost anyone without any significant investment in gear or time. I think right now the balance is fine its just a powerful build only because spells scale nicely in regards to damage. Its effectiveness falls off though in the end game as other specs start to find better gear.

A straight nerf would do what? Lower damage? Why would this help currently I really think the way the skill is designed is interesting Its an extremely slow casting skill which 1-2 shots groups of weak mobs. Although your incredibly vulnerable during the animation. I have almost been destroyed on one of my old ek characters many times just because of how vulnerable you are during the casting animation. So in regards to your question no i dont think EK needs a nerf now. There is no doubt that GGG will be rebalancing the game forever but I think there are much more glaring balance issues in POE now, Cough... melee and ranged disparity... Cough

OP is just mad that his build is not as cool or as effective.

Everyone is rolling it because it looks awesome.

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Charan wrote:

EK. Nerfed.

I never thought I'd see those two words together. Amazing.

Pretty much this.

For those that did not get to participate in closed beta, Ethereal Knives has been hated on since inception. It's a spell that looks like an attack, a spell that does physical damage, cast speed is painfully slow, etc.

It's always been pretty decent (since enemy armor is worth less the more physical damage you do, and added fire and hatred are easy damage buffs) and finally got pushed over the edge by the damage buff it got.

I think it's in a really good place now. It can compete with Freezing Pulse and Spark (the other two prominent main caster spells) and is a much more interesting skill in my eyes because of the way that it scales.

Its worth noting that my totem character in OB is still more powerful by a huge degree than my EK character. Even with the nerfs the sheer safeness of double spark makes it amazing, I can fly through content. Just because a spec is popular doesnt make something OP.

nvm...

See if you can build to overcome the slow cast speed and high mana cost, then we'll talk.

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shnurr214 wrote:

Its worth noting that my totem character in OB is still more powerful by a huge degree than my EK character. Even with the nerfs the sheer safeness of double spark makes it amazing, I can fly through content. Just because a spec is popular doesnt make something OP.

Considering EKs can one shot mobs and pretty much just bear trap all the bosses, I think that is far safer than having to resummon your totems OVER AND OVER because they keep getting one shotted.

The reason why *everyone* (not that I noticed it at all) is rolling EK is because they are to stupid to make a build of their own and see someone on stream pull it of with great success and want to copy it.

EK is a great spell/build but nowhere near OP, there are plenty of other successful build with more dmg and/or survivebility out there.

If you look at the GGG tracker, nobody from GGG at least as far as I can tell has said a peep about EK.