The new Mosaic runeword offers an interesting idea but its implementation isn’t quite there to make MA sin feel good to play. MA sin’s big drawback is how many actions it requires to perform abilities with how (relatively) underpowered charge-up skills are on an individual basis when compared to other builds. I believe MA sin should be built utilizing 2+ charge-up skills (more info at the bottom), and my suggestions here are relative to that idea.
I have some proposals, they can be (mostly) taken in any combination (some are incompatible with each other):
QoL 1: Make the charge stack expiry timer duration refresh OR extend when you activate a charge. Right now, if you activate a charge from a stack, the expiry timer does not refresh, and you will lose your remaining charges after 15 seconds of your last charge-up attempt, even if you recently activated and lost a charge. This was not an issue in LoD because the whole stack was consumed when you used a finishing skill. This would make the charge maintaining micro easier, especially on something like a controller (this is a high micro build).
QoL 2: When the charge stack expiry timer duration hits 0, don’t remove the entire stack, simply remove 1 charge and refresh the duration. Right now, if your charge expires, you lose the entire stack. Instead, you should lose 1 charge and the cooldown refreshes partially or fully.
QoL 2.5: Make the expiration of a charge activate the charge on Assassin’s location regardless of target. The Cobra Strike and a couple of lower level charges require a target but the rest can cast in place without issue so I’d just suggest ignoring the ones that don’t cast missiles.
QoL 3 (exclusive to QoL 1 and 2, I would not have the other two with this one): Make charge stack expiry timer duration infinite (or close to). I think this is slightly too strong, because then maintaining all 6 charge stacks becomes a breeze, especially with the chance to not consume a charge. If this one were implemented, I think limiting the amount of charge stacks would be in order (so that you can’t have all 6 with minimal effort).
QoL 4: Make the charge stack expiry timer shared on all stacks. If you refresh your Tiger Strike stack, all of your other stacks refresh as well, so you only need to actively maintain one of them. This idea is a little strong in some combinations. I don’t know how I would combine this with other ideas, but just throwing this here incase someone else has a good idea.
Mosaic related option 1: Make Mosaic’s chance to not consume 50% and let two stack to 100%. I would absolutely not combine this with QoL 3. However, I think 100% with QoL 1 and/or 2 would be fine. Your charge stack expiry timer would be infinite for as long as you could keep finishing on monsters (Kreygasm). Once you go to town or face downtime, you would slowly lose a charge at a time. You would be allowed to have all 6, but maintaining that many would be a challenge, and force you into specializing for 2-3 of them.
Mosaic related option 2: Have Mosaic’s chance to not consume be somewhere between 30-40% and stack to 60-80%. I think this would be fine with QoL 3, as you still have to occasionally rebuild a charge, but you never have to worry about them expiring. I would still limit the amount of charge stacks you can have, but maintaining all 6 with the charge consumption still being possible makes it difficult, so the limit is not 100% necessary. Alternatively, this one can also be combined with QoL 1 and 2 as well.
(edit) Balance change: Reduce or remove some or all of the NextDelays on the MA skills. A lot of them have NextDelay of 4, which makes a lot of their missiles redundant if you kick really fast.
(edit 2) For configurations with less than 100% chance to not consume, it becomes difficult to know what charges you do or don’t have. Many people want a charge tracker of some sort. I think it’s hard to implement a number counter and have it actually be useful. But if there is a way to do so then that would be great. Or use audio or visual cues for when a specific charge stack has lost a charge (consumption or expiration). The cues could be unique per stack. Or have a new overlay akin to the “broken armor” overlay that indicates your orb counts in some fashion. In my opinion, throwing the # onto the skill selection (like how quantity shows on throwing skills) does very little to help you know which ones are or aren’t missing a charge.
I think you should not go higher than 50% on a single Mosaic because you are choosing to have the QoL of nearly-infinite charge stacks over more damage or defense of a different second claw or a shield. It’s a choice. Having higher than 50% on one and they either don’t stack or they stack diminishingly (one is 50% but 2 is 75%) either removes a lot of the tradeoff or removes the reasoning for picking up the second Mosaic.
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For me personally, Mosaic related option 1 with QoL 1 and 2 would be my goto. You allow for the flexibility of all 6, the micro is better, and it keeps you in the action and keeps the feels of “charge-up” mechanics without having to constantly do it mid-battle. But being stuck at 100% means you can’t downgrade to a lower charge (in situations where you may want to) unless you let it expire, but the same goes for the 20% chance to consume to downgrade (though you could swap weapons to always consume a charge).
I realize that virtually all of the charge-up skills are not strong on their own, and I think that’s why these changes make sense. I think MA sin should be a pick and choose of 2+ charge-ups, and not focus on one only. A Lightning MA sin could run Claws of Thunder 3 and Phoenix Strike 2. A Cold MA sin could run Blades of Ice 2 (or 3 for defense) and Phoenix Strike 3. You can have hybrids. A Fire MA sin could run Fists of Fire 2/3, Tiger Strike, and Dragon Tail (check out dtail sin if you haven’t, fairly strong as is if the micro wasn’t so bad) and allow for secondary elements to deal with immunities.
Would enjoy feedback or knowing which combination(s) you prefer.
