I’ll be following this thread as I’m trying for ways to make this nerfed build work. I know that not class skills are made equal but damn, Sorcerer’s Class Specialization skill itself didn’t even make it to D tier in Maxroll.
With the Reforged System, I was able to improve (while using Plain Vilatria Staff + Helm) 400k to 660k (tooltip DPS or 2 million per lightning bolt) per meteor using Reforged Vilatria Staff (with Dragon Staff Base + Plain Vilatria Helm) with Harbinger of The Star. However, the build massively suffers from survivability. I was lucky enough (if HoS proc-ed) to get to 300 corruption but still could not defeat Aberroth. At some point, stun-locking bosses won’t be an option since you’ll either be 1 hit… or you get 1 hit before you even approach the enemies.
The build is mired by multiple problems:
1.) Requiring High Crit (ideally 100% which could be achievable via a non-Vilatria build with Dragorath’s Dagger + Off-Hand Skull / Grasp of the Blood Mage albeit, at the cost of AS)
2.) Requiring High AS (which staff-users suffer since AS affixes or only found in Gloves and Non-staff/wand weapons, staff has slow base AS)
3.) Enough CDR for 100% Enchant Weapon uptime
4.) Ward on Mana Spent not affected by CoC (which makes the build even more squishier)
5.) Making Mana Strike Ranged is not the solution as you need to be close to have more crits via Enchant Weapon’s Zap, Fire/Lightning Aura, and other close-ranged spell effects.
Using the Dragorath Dagger build, the 660k went down to 70k with the upside of 100% Crit, and 2 Melee AS into almost 3 Melee AS (a 100% increased AS jump). But the damage has become a fraction of a fraction resulting in unreliable stuns (since you’ll be using normal fire meteor).
I don’t know what the devs intention with Harbinger of Stars as the proc rate has become unreliable. If the core mechanic of the item is unreliable and no one is using it, then it may be time to go back to the drawing board.
Suggestions:
1.) Internal Proc Pity bar : I don’t know if this has ever been coined like this before but basically, just like how Gacha Pulls has now a “pity bar” which fills up if you don’t get your 5 star character. If the Harbinger of Stars doesn’t proc, it fills up an internal bar that will eventually guarantee a Proc. The reason why I don’t agree with an internal cooldown is because having an Internal Cooldown with Proc Builds are counterintuitive/oxymoron. Another approach for here would be to guarantee a proc if your mana strike regains enough mana for a cast while being full on mana
2.) More Attack Speed sources for this build, maybe on the Harbinger of Stars or Vilatria’s Set.
3.) Rework the number of affixes of the Reforged items. Increasing it from 2 to 3 might feel overpowered, but I would argue that Set Item Affixes such as “Meteor Base Damage Converted to Lightning” should not even be counted in the first place as "it is what makes the item work as it’s supposed to be". In the case of Reforged Vilatria’s Storm Crown, the +1 Lightning Skills was removed which I think is the most important affix (but not as unique of an effect as Meteor Base Damage Converted to Lightning) of that set piece. If increasing the Reforged Set Item affixes from 2 to 3 is overpowered, then a possible work-around would be to put the missing (but Crucial) item affixes into the set effect to avoid the potential problem of a player using multiple pieces of different Reforged Set Items (thus avoiding to defeat the purpose of using Set Items together). Increasing it to 3 Reforged affixes doesn’t need to be across the board, it could also be only for specific reforged set items.
4.) Rework the patch 1.2 band-aid fixes of this build namely:
a.] Increasing Meteor’s Added damage is applied at 900 to 950% effectiveness. We Started at what? 600? then 800? then 900? then 950? even if you go 1500%, the build is still unviable.
b.] There were also noticeable buffs on both the Vilatria Crown and Staff, but still failed to make this build viable.
5.) Rework the affix “1% less Damage Taken for each Meteor you have cast recently (up to 18)”. If this is to make the build tanky, then, it is counterintuitive. The affix requires you to be tanky enough first, to become tankier. It might be better to have a unique affix that makes Ward on Mana Spent via Cast on Crit.
6.) Rework the affix (9 to 12) Mana gained on Potion Use for each Meteor you have cast recently. CoC Meteor Builds typically only work via Mana Strike, so we don’t have real mana problems. The only time we have a mana problem is if the Meteor is proc-ing enough, but it’s not. A lot of times my mana is full is because of the poor proc-rate.
7.) Rework Meteor Shrapnel nodes? I tried it, but didn’t make any significant difference.
8.) Re-adjust/Re-work Mana Strike Transfusion and Ward Strike nodes
9.) Maybe… I should just get gud?
Thanks
