Hello! I joined LE recently. I came over here from games like Path of Exile where I was a theory crafter. I applied that theory crafting experience to this game and noticed some flaws with multiple classes. I decided it would be best to post here given that I am mentioning multiple classes, and mentioning LE mechanics
I will start by giving a summary of my focus and theory crafts. I recognized that all classes are end game viable (which is awesome). I decided my focus should be damage and range knowing that
Some bosses have stages or mechanics where having range is a good idea (if it is possible). Having a ranged attack means less time idle and or more pressure applied to the enemy. As I go through the list of my theory crafts, you should see that. I am going to go by weakest to strongest
Spellblade: Mana Strike, Firebrand, Flame Ward, Enchant Weapon, and Fireball
The problem with spellblade is that it doesn’t have Fire Penetration as part of its passives. It does have Ingnite Pentration but that applies to the DOT not Firebrand (not really). Firebrand itself does not have penetration or shred. Fireball does. Because of this, the raw damage numbers on the build were far behind my other tests
Blade Dancer: Flurry, Acid Flash, Shift, Shurikens, Cinder Strike
Blade Dancer at least has Shred as part of its passives. To further that, Acid Flask does have two types of shreds. This helped the raw damage numbers go higher than Spell Blade
In addition to that, Shurikens was showing to be a better group clear than Fireball. Fireball is a splash where Shurikens can be either penetration or richochet. If Lightning Blast had shred or pen, this may of been a different result
Marksman: Multishot, Detonating Arrow, Shurikens, Shift, Acid Flask
Marksman has perhaps the most versatile skill in the game. Multishot can be used either for group clear or single target (Giant Slayer Passive). It can be annoying to be on top of it though. That is why I ran with Shuriken. It gave me a reliable group clear that could avoid accidental clicks
I learned very quickly that Marksman has a much higher crit potential than Blade Master and it can out DPS it by far. Multistrike with Giant Slayer is a rediculous passive for a skill that can top out at 13 arrows base (5 base, 4 from MS passive, 4 from Marksman passive). To add to this, the damage reduction from Giant Slayer can be mitigated because you don’t have to go very far for the Sniping passive (+35% damage)
Paladin: Multistrike, Smite, Holy Aura, Vengeance, Judgment
Though the Marksman had impressive crit potential, it lagged behind the Paladin in terms of damage because this build automated some of its skills
Multistrike has the Bladestorm passive which will consume mana to refresh its stack making it an automated skill that I barely had to worry about. LE Mechanics does allow for my upgraded smite to be casted so it was a matter of hitting the primary target with Vengeance, then allowing my automated smite to do its job
Vengeance has both armor and fire shred which meant that it was a great support skill for this automated system
Then to add to it, Holy Aura has +50% global fire damage and 10% fire penetration passives. Paladin has 16% from Conviction passive (mastery) giving it a total of 26% Penetration at all times. Combining that with the Vengeance shred meant lots of damage
Lich: Reaper Form, Harvest, Bone Curse, Death Seal, Wandering Spirits
Lich has so far been my only build where I didn’t need to concern myself with range. Death Seal is a 5 second cool down, and Reaper form is 2 seconds. If I timed things right, I could completely ignore the boss mechanics and or stages… Proceed to whack away with Harvest and Bone Curse
Bone Curse has a passive to make it permanent on one target which is kind of like the smite auotmation. What makes it much stronger though is that this passive includes Marked for Death. This meant that my Wandering Spirits and I were both doing tons of damage to targets that got singled out
Harvest itself further compounded their siutation with the Necrotic shred and poison every stack. With 14% base crit chance thanks to Spectral Whetstone passive, I was able to turn this in to a critical strike build easy
This made the Executioner passive on Reaper form (+ crit damage), and Tachycardia (Death Wave frequency) valuable
Tachycardia, Bone Curse and Lost Spirits meant that for a duration, I was causing tons of damage with very little input needed. Combine that with my ability to ignore death on a constant… Very OP
Conclusion
Blade Dancer: It needs Shadow Cascade changed to include 2H so that it can be done that way. As it stands, it is too risky to use Dual Wield. It should be given the opportunity to use 2H in the build so it doesn’t have to rely on Shurikens for a good group clear. Lowering the mana cost of Cinder Strike may be another option
All masteries going forward need to include shred and pen as part of their kit. It is clear it has a big impact on the numbers and mechanics within LE
I would also recommend a duplicate skill system like what was seen in Wolcen Lords of Mayhem. Though that game did poorly with its recent expansion in terms of monster balance, it did get one thing right… the ability to duplicate the skills
In LE terms, it meant that I could have a shuriken for group clear, and a shurkien for single target all on the same bar. Same skills different passive purchase choices
That is all I have, thanks for reading!