PSA: Kinetic Bolt can shotgun!

Almost all non-AoE projectile skills had shotgunning removed ages ago. But then there's Kinetic Bolt... - https://youtu.be/62jKiVuZvdk?t=99

I still do not understand why we aren't allowed to shotgun when mobs do it all the time.

RIP. I noticed Kinetic Bolt was wrecking much more than Kinetic Blast but didn't realize this (shotgunning) was why. Big nerf incoming probably if this is true.

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AkuTenshiiZero wrote:

I still do not understand why we aren't allowed to shotgun when mobs do it all the time.

That's the thing that bothers me the most here. It makes the additional projectile map mod one of the most dangerous, it's basically suicide against certain bosses. There's also some really wonky scaling with some abilities that end up firing way more projectiles than they should.

Incoming nerf for us next league tho, mobs will stay OP.

They leave broken mechanics in the game on purpose, as long as no one finds out.

Slightly off topic: Having recently started trying a mana flasker myself though, I would say it is much easier to watch streamers play than playing it yourself. It's a woman's build because there is simply way too much multi-tasking to do. I might consider dropping mines and go with self-cast or self-attack like this guy to reduce button presses.

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Exile009 wrote:

Almost all non-AoE projectile skills had shotgunning removed ages ago. But then there's Kinetic Bolt... - https://youtu.be/62jKiVuZvdk?t=99

Heh, I played with KiBo for a while before I switched to Power Siphon and I thought KiBo did shotgun. Then I remembered shotgunning was removed (at least for players), told myself I had imagined it and forgot about it.
Thanks for the heads-up.

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AkuTenshiiZero wrote:

I still do not understand why we aren't allowed to shotgun when mobs do it all the time.

Players and monsters shotgun in the same way, I've not watched the video yet but vanilla projectiles can't multi hit you regardless of projectile number

what players and monsters can both do is overlap AoE, this is why if you have an explosive arrow build and a boss is next to a wall you can do retarded DPS but if it isn't you do very little :p

I'm guilty of using the shotgun term as too wide of an umbrella aswell because we no longer deal with projectiles multi hitting but as far as its written KBolt would be the first in a long time.

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AkuTenshiiZero wrote:

I still do not understand why we aren't allowed to shotgun when mobs do it all the time.

Like OP said it was removed ages ago, like before 3.0 or even before 2.0
I let you imagine what it was to compare a single hit skill (example: Cleave) vs any projectile in GMP + LMP at close range

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Draegnarrr wrote:

Players and monsters shotgun in the same way, I've not watched the video yet but vanilla projectiles can't multi hit you regardless of projectile number

what players and monsters can both do is overlap AoE, this is why if you have an explosive arrow build and a boss is next to a wall you can do retarded DPS but if it isn't you do very little :p

I'm guilty of using the shotgun term as too wide of an umbrella aswell because we no longer deal with projectiles multi hitting but as far as its written KBolt would be the first in a long time.

According to the gem info it is a pure projectile attack without aoe, so nothing to do with AoE overlapping and may really be a situation of "special" code used only with KBolt
https://pathofexile.gamepedia.com/Kinetic_Bolt

This only works if the target is big, no? Most endgame bosses are humanoids, fairly slim.

Looked at ninja and only 0.1 / 0.3% play it in SSF or normal Ritual.


But wanted to get an impression myself since it has potential in shotgunning but in a different way than usual.
Instead of multiple projectiles the number of forks or in the case of the skill itself, the gem level as well needs to be increased.

Tested this skill myself a little with a new SSF character and the least played ascendency (for this skill) to get a general feel of it.
Used volley/greater volley for AOE clear.

I started a fresh character challenge like in this thread on a 3L till act3 and Tabula from act 4 onwards.


Only tested acts and a few maps.

https://www.reddit.com/r/pathofexile/comments/lmn659/kinetic_bolt_on_a_fresh_character_doing_nice/

I will categorize to make a dmg comparison.

S1 : size of average humanoids or similar sized monsters.
S2 : Smaller bosses like Marveil, Daresso, Kaom
S3 : Brine king & Gruthkul sized ones
S4 : Ultra sized like Kitava, A7 spider


S1 monsters including bosses need way more uptime because of the small hitbox. Even more if they are agile and teleport/dash directly to your face.

S2 Monsters/Bosses feel good IF they stand still most of the time, if they move a lot dmg is similar to S1.

S3 is kind of mixed bag. Most of the time you melt them because of the considerable bigger hitbox. But only of they are slow.

S4 monsters/bosses is where this skill shines. Since they have a huge hitbox a lot of the zigzags (when Kinetic Bolt fork changes direction)
can hit the enemy and instaphase.