Today, I’m going to go over some simple numerical changes that would improve our gems that deal a flat amount of damage. Again, these are holding to “List 1” principles, meaning we can’t alter mechanics, just increase some of the numbers.
Gem of Efficacious Toxin, Mirinae, Pain Enhancer, Wreath of Lightning – I’m starting out by discussing these together since they each deal a flat amount of weapon damage. The damage amount should be raised, but how much? Well, consider that a newly minted level 70 Barb can pretty easily come into the possession of a Gavel of Judgement and Bracers of the First Men, which combine to make your HOTA deal 34,560% weapon damage per hit. You also attack 50% faster, meaning your actual dps is still higher, let’s call it 50k% weapon damage per second. Other classes have similarly easy ways to gain large amounts of damage at, or before, hitting level 70.
In comparison, a max rank Toxin deals 9500% damage over 10 seconds, max rank Mirinae 12000% per hit, max rank Pain Enhancer 10000% over 3 seconds, and max rank Wreath of Lightning 5000% per second. All of these numbers are incredibly paltry compared to the damage you can dish out as a fresh 70 with HOTA, with Impale, with Wave of Light, etc.
I don’t think it would be unreasonable for each of these gems to be dealing around 30k% weapon damage, per second, when leveled to max (Mirinae should be considerably higher, since it only hits a single target). This would increase their utility during the brief period between hitting 70 and acquiring a 6 piece set, and after that for those builds which utilize a global damage bonus. So, having said all that, here are individual recommendations for each gem:
Toxin – Increase “base” damage amount from 2000% damage to 60000% damage over 10 seconds. Increase upgrade amount from 50% to 1500% weapon damage per level. This would give you 285,000% weapon damage over 10 seconds at max level, or 28,500% per second.
While this seems like a ludicrously high number, it’s still far less than you can do using your skills and a couple of easy-to-obtain items. It’s also still less valuable than getting a decent multiplicative bonus to said skills from Trapped, Powerful, Zei’s, etc, so even at these hugely inflated numbers, this gem is nowhere near being overpowered.
Also, make the 10% secondary damage bonus multiplicative. It’s not a big deal, and it’s far less confusing to new players that way. Edit: realized this is a mechanical change.
Mirinae – To operate as the nuke that it ought to be, I think this gem should be doing around 300,000% weapon damage per hit at max level. So: increase “base” amount from 3000% to 75,000%. Increase upgrade amount to 1500% per level.
Pain Enhancer – Increase “base” amount from 2500% to 22,500%. Increase upgrade amount to 450% per level. This gives 90,000% over 3 seconds, at max level.
Wreath – Increase “base” amount from 1250% to 7500%. Increase upgrade amount to 150% per level. This gives 30,000% per second, at max level.
Again: while these numbers may seem absurdly high, that’s only because they have stayed constant for so long, while the damage of skills has hugely inflated in the meantime.