I read someone saying that arcane is about 6-7 GRs higher than cold, do we know for sure what that number is or is that about right?
Tbh I can’t tell any difference between the two except that cold is so tanky.
I’m switching back and forth between the two on alternate runs and the only thing I can tell is that arcane is a literal glass canon whereas cold can take a beating.
With cold you just hold down RMB constantly (almost), whereas arcane you need to be more selective when to drop your bombs.
I’m enjoying cold so much more as I can open any rift and crank it out unlike arcane.
Interested to hear other peoples experiences between the two.
I wrote about it in a different topic here - my concerns are similar. I can feel the power of Star Pact especially in open, highly densed maps. That is probably why people consider it to be better. If it is really 6-7 tiers better? I dunno. For me it is almost impossible to keep Squirts with Star Pact while with Comet I have almost 90% uptime. Also if the map layout is bad with only a few monsters then Comet can live with that while with Star Pact I need to either give up or skip the whole map.
I personally have 2 sets of fully augmented gear (for Comet and SP) and when I decide to push for gr150 and fish for a good map then I will most probably do this with Star Pact. While I speedfarm gr130 for gons, I definitely do this with Comet.
Actually right now I am collecting gear for the LoD Meteor since I want to give it a try and test how it feels compared to Tals.
Honestly, the power level is so high this season it doesn’t really matter IMO.
Comet can consistently clear GR150 at 1500+ paragon (assuming decent gear, some 125 augs etc.)
I cleared GR150 in 12 min in SC at 1270 paragon on first key with Comet.
I cleared GR150 in 11.5 min in HC at 1500 paragon on first key with Comet.
If your goal is just clearing 150, Comet can do it. Even at lower paragon it shouldn’t really be an issue.
It’s only if you want to do some time attack 150 where you get a big open map and blast some huge pulls where the extra damage for Star Pact will help. But that really only matters if you are going for leaderboard placement. If you just want to clear 150, Comet should still work perfectly fine.
I just honestly can’t seem to get as good a time on starpact, just don’t have the DPS. My build is same as the guys clearing top of leaderboards. Think cold is more consistent and I’m somehow playing starpact wrong without a doubt. I’ve done 5 min 15 cold no black hole and only about 8 mins starpact
I suspect that Star Pact builds don’t really work unless under the shrine effect that increases resource regeneration. The top clears, in addition to having fished for a favorable map, also trigger their potion immediately and bail if they don’t get that specific effect.
Diamond skin prism which lets me use deflection and gives me more or less constant squirts. Very tanky and the almost perminant squirts gives me faster times than black hole. There’s better players than me using black hole going faster but I very rarely go over 8 mins 150 unless it’s double barracks or something. Been playing starpact tonight and a little faster now I’ve got used to it. Used dominance and put 3000 points in vit. Got 5 14 third key once I used dominance.
I found resource a little iffy at times. Probably because I used % life in helm and shoulders instead of rcr. The extra shield from diamond skin nice Too. Tried few combos this seemed tankiest highest DPS for me. Black hole probably better but If I’m honest I just prefere the playstyle and I’m on Xbox so can’t aim black holes properly and they miss a lot of the time. I’m going to move over to starpact now I’ve ironed out the issues
Yes I too have found resource a bit iffy at times. Usually on single targets. I might try that but you are trading off a LOT of damage from black hole…hmmmm
Any tips to give? I tried it a couple of times but found I died all the time. It is so glass canony.
On paper you lose a lot without black hole but for me I was faster without and going full on tanky. You may be more skilled at using it than me, I just didn’t like the playstyle much.
Starpact to be honest is just getting a rhythm, surprisingly tanky when you do. I very rarely die on 150 now. Kinda round stuff up while dropping meteors Evey few seconds to pull then just DPS to get fast kills. As I said dominance passive is game changing but you need to be killing really fast and 3000 points in vitality helps a lot. I had same issues with dying at first it’s a tough build to master but suddenly comes together. For pushing sub 6 min you need power shrine on boss really and decent map.
I actually tried Star Pact again last night for one run and did an 8.03 I was so surprised!
I watched a few more videos first and wudijo said something about you don’t get much benefit from COE for some reason. And I noticed he was basically just spamming star Pact all the time in between moving. So I found that rhythm of move, shoot, move, shoot.
I played the 3rd key which was a graveyard map and tried to round them up best I could. Didn’t get any potion power pylon the whole rift! And no pylon for the boss so it took about a minute and a half to down the boss. Sooooo much slower than cold. Cold melts the boss less than half the time of arcane.
Needless to say I was stoked with that result. I saw that 8.30 was just to get on the leader boards and I thought there’s no way I’m going to get less than that!
I switch between Arcane and Comet and notice no difference most of the time.
Arcane seems to be more map dependent and requires more “Luck”.
Comet just seems to be the better all around. I doubt it is 6-7 tiers lower then Arcane since I’ve cleared 150’s in 6 minutes with comet.
Either way, comet does well on good maps also because if you can get 30+ stacks on a Blackhole… that’s a massive increase in dmg for 10 seconds as well.
Arcane draw backs for me at least are:
-Less uptime on squirts
-Require more luck on the map and mobs you get
-Harder to keep mobs from “reaching you” making distance harder to keep (loss of dps)
-Squishier
Comet almost negates all those negatives and gains positives.
-Easier to keep mobs at bay
-Tankier
-Higher uptime on squirts
-Map don’t matter
-A lot more CC
-Can use Wizard follower (3 dps talents on her)
Comet to me is better and the dps don’t seem to be any different. Arcane needs the perfect map to pull ahead with good potion buffs and pylons.
Leaderboards most likely is filled with Arcane due to “Fishing” for perfect rifts and getting it. Also those people with 5k+ paragon could probably run Comet just as fast but don’t because they don’t need to.
Agree, arcane is stronger if you have high density to reset mana pool, and if mobs don’t jump you too much.
Those two happens when you push and fish for a good map and mobtype as you say, and when you play in a group and support is grouping up mobs for you and giving you defense. In those two cases, assuming good execution, star pact is the stronger option, but not by 6-7 tiers. Maybe 2-3 tiers or something, depending on situation.
For solo speed runs, cold is better, because you’re not fishing for good mob types, and you don’t create enough density to reset mana.
Also, cold is more forgiving when solo pushing. If your star pact solo push isn’t played properly, for example if you don’t stutter step to avoid damage and keep range, then you lose a lot of damage, more so that you would with comet. So if your execution isn’t clean enough, then you may lose the 2-3 tier edge star pact has (or whatever it is), and you’ll be better of playing comet.
I"m not sure what happens when you start fishing and time-attacking in the sub 5min range… Does that count as solo speed and cold is better? You’ll be fishing for density still, that 1-floor fields, but you kill big groups so fast anyway… Would you be better of with cold for the RG? Idk, I think even a 3min clear you’ll be pulling like a third of the map on the screen and nuke it, so star pact would probably still be better.
