Scorching Ray Skill Gem Mechanics

im guessing it cant crit?

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Gruplock wrote:

im guessing it cant crit?

It can't hit, so it can't crit.

You can't leech, you can't stun, you can't move, you can't AoE. Best skill ever.

You have to stand still to use it......it's a stillbirth.

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Since it burns without igniting, the skill was built for Elemental Focus. Pile on the damage multipliers because spells weren't already imbalanced enough!

* Elemental Focus
* Controlled Destruction
* Rapid Decay
* Faster Casting
* Increased Burning Damage

Meanwhile, since the skill doesn't "hit" (and thus can't be used with Fire Penetration), you can use Orb of Storms or something to tack on a couple more.

* Elemental Equilibrium
* Elemental Overload

But the skill removes enemy fire resistance, so once you start lowering their resistance you effectively get it anyway.

* Fire Penetration

Then, since the state of the game is such that high-tier damage isn't survivable without going with an ES build, you roll CI with the eventual goal of going low-life, and then you can add another multiplier.

* Pain Attunement

But at least it's not a Blade Vortex Pathfinder, right?

Add to all that the fact that it can't be reflected...

I won't count having to stand around and manually move the beam (i.e. can't add area cover and/or range like you can with Incinerate) as a drawback since that's kinda the point of this skill and what differentiates its playstyle from that of Incinerate. Plus you can get around that with 2-4 totems.

Not being able to move is also not as bad on this skill since, unlike Incinerate, it looks like it 'might' not be as dependent on building up its damage as Incinerate is - meaning you 'might' be able to play it almost like a mid-range archer by firing it, but moving whenever the boss telegraphs an incoming attack.

Which means the only real drawbacks (albeit significant ones) is not getting any leech/life on hit and not being able to make a crit build with it (but that's why Elemental Equilibrium was added).

It also has the potential advantage of being a good support to other fire builds with its fire resistance cutting and activation of the burn status ailment (club it with Flamesurge, for instance).

It'd probably be faster to kill trash mobs with another skill (say Flameblast, since that also benefits from high cast speed), but this thing should be able to melt bosses and rares, provided you can tank their own damage (which, since you don't have to invest in AoE or proj speed, you should be able to do by spending those points in getting more HP/ES instead).

In the end, I doubt it'll be the 'most' broken skill in the game, but it certainly looks like it has the potential to be one of more broken ones...or maybe, just maybe, it'll actually be well-balanced.

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Unhold wrote:

You have to stand still to use it......it's a stillbirth.

Incinerate requires standing still too and wasn't unpopular until recently. Flameblast also requires standing still and was crap with totems before and still used (and not just on burn builds). Many short-range CoC builds (CoC + Glacial Cascade + Freezing Pulse, say) also typically just stood in front of mobs and fired continuously. And, of course, there's melee - it may not be popular, but melee builds have still beaten all the endgame content.

So no, that one aspect doesn't invalidate the whole skill. And no, neither does no-AoE coverage. The one thing I predict will decide whether this skill is used or not is the most basic facet of any skill in any game - its damage values. We shall see...

* Can't scale the area via AoE or GMP
* Can't leech
* Can't apply anything hit-related, so added damage does nothing.
* Requires standing completely still
* Can't be supported by Spell Echo

Y'know, I feel like this skill was put in the game solely to make Incinerate look better.

inb4 not viable because ignite immunities

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SpanishMonarch wrote:

inb4 not viable because ignite immunities

It should work like searing bond and righteous fire in that it doesn't ignite perse, but applies the burning status effect.

Burn baby burn!

Looking forward to testing it out.

¡Totally hyped!