Skill Rework - Ice Nova and Vortex

question for the ice nova spell echo interaction
you say that you only cast once, with a second "cast" automaticaly happening on the frostbolt
BUT
you still get the cast speed multiplier off of spell echo
does that mean that spell echo effectivly double dips its cast speed?

i mean if i understand correctly if you just spam cast you cast at the same speed you would normaly with spell echo, but ALSO get two novas from every cast
meaning spell echo not only gives you the massive cast speed boost but effectivly doubles the damage per cast ON TOP of its normal dps boost

that cant be right but thats what it sounds like from your wording


side note to all you dudes HARD raging over some text about a game

the changes to frost nova are LITRALY pure buff
there is NO nerf there
its a buff to self cast as they are giving it extra damage vs chilled enemies, even if they dont increase the aoe and base damage (which i have NO doupt they will) thats still a buff
its a buff to frostbolt interaction as while it no longer has the more multiplier it still gets the flat extra vs chilled AND CHAINS TO 2 MORE BOLTS
thats 3 casts for every 1 button click WITHOUT spell echo, how is that NOT a massive buff

as for vortex
for frostbolt interaction again it has the chaining 4 times, meaning 5 casts per button click, sure it has the cooldown now but are you really gonna need more then 5 casts per second without spell echo?
forstbolt+vortex 1 cast each, and you have massive aoe with proj speed, and massive single target with slower proj
that seems pretty good to me

as for vortex self cast(without frostbolt)
yeah thats a nerf, but thats fine, they already have the new cold snap for single a single cast skill which overlaps heavily with vortex for what it does, so yes moving away from a main damage skill for vortex strikes me as completly fine, nothing to get angry at all about
then there is the added functionality of the fact they are making vortex INSTANT CAST
thats huge
look at phase run, it was a 0.25 second cast to a instant and it is SUPER op now because of it, making vortex instant cast is actualy huge
get a little cooldown reduction on your gear (shaper belt etc) and you have an instant skill with high damage on a 0.6-0.7 second cd, if your just runing through maps thats actualy pretty fine so long as its aoe is decent (they havnt said anything about aoe buffs, but if they are reducing its aoe on frostbolts when its already small right now i would be VERY supprised if they arent buffing the base aoe)

all in all
ice nova got MASSIVE buffs accross the board

vortex got MASSIVE frostbolt synergy buffs and situational buffs/nerfs for self cast which take it in a different direction from cold snap (which it shares a lot of similarities with)

imo these are GOOD changes
and you guys shouting REEEEE ITS DIFFERENT REEEEEEEEE are just getting angry for no reason

Oh I also forgot that bit...

Why are these skill automatically chaining to multiple Frostbolt projectiles? There is a Chaining support gem for that.
Are you intending on removing support gems or are they all going to be +damage?

I like the ice nova idea. When ice nova is casted quickly on frostbolt the graphics look awesome. Herald of ice makes it look even cooler with more cold explosions going off in packs. It would be nice to see ice nova gain more use since it's DPS is too low to do best stuff right now.

Vaal ice nova could use a boost also. 50 soul cost (Double original cost 25). Same base DPS as ice nova. Instant cast. Repeats 10 times on yourself over 2 seconds. Repeats up to 15 times chaining on frostbolts over 2 seconds. This spell will not gain DPS from duration modifiers, it will just do the damage slower.

These suggestions are just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Edit: The spell echo support boost to ice nova looks fun. Totems are beating most self cast builds and this will add more variety to the game.

Sad... this gets rid of so many fun interactions .....just sad

Can someone from ggg answer this?

I plan on duo leveling with a friend. If i use vortex while my friend uses frost bolt, will my vortex interact with his frostbolts?

Will it be possible to cast Ice Nova on a Frostbolt casted by Totems in 3.5?

You ruined Vortex, plain and simple.

BEFORE:


AFTER: