I was rather excited to be trying different runes with Gargantuan thanks to the new Spite Mojo.
And I’ve been trying mostly Restless Giant & Big Stinker.
And honestly I can’t see any difference in damage output, even when the gargantuans enrage, it’s rather disappointing.
The gargantuans definitely begin to move faster and hit faster, however the “200% increased physical damage” portion of the restless giant rune seems to just… not be doing anything
Gargs have horrible AI, they latch onto the closest mobs, rather than the elites you want them to hit. I sharded all my helltooth gear, its a horrible set and play style based on how the game is currently coded.
They do have horrible AI yes, but I was attempting to carry out tests by isolating elite packs in places such as Cemetery of the Forsaken where you sometimes get an elite pack outside the defiled crypt.
And I was just testing different runes seeing how much the gargs hit, for a more controlled test I removed all elemental damage modifiers from my gear while trying the different runes.
And I just couldn’t see a noticeable damage difference from when they enraged, they hit faster which definitely increased dps output, but the actual hits didn’t seem to increase much at all.
In addition to that, when I tried the other runes, they actually appeared to be hitting for LESS than the Humongoid Rune, my tests weren’t very extensive so this is anecdotal which is why i’m wondering if anyone else can confirm whether or not the runes are working properly.
My best guess is that the runes are not being modified by the multipliers when another rune is selected through the use of Spite
Well, outside of an enraged Restless Giant, I think they all actually should hit for less than a native Humungoid, based on the Spite legendary power description.
The base skill damage of Gargantuan is 450% WD. Humungoid boosts that to 585%. You’ll notice the wording of Spite doesn’t say they gain the Humungoid rune (and it’s 585% WD), it specifically states they gain the cleave and chilling effects only. So I think that means they don’t gain the extra WD from the cleave, just the cleaving effect?
So that should mean that the other runes still hit for their regular amount when using Spite, they just also cleave and chill. I can’t explain what you are seeing with Restless Giant, but I think that explains a native Humungoid hitting for more than a Big Stinker + Spite. I’ll admit I haven’t tested it at all, but I think that’s what we’d actually expect based on the Spite description. Big Stinker + Spite still hits for 450% WD (with a bonus cleave and chill effect) and has the 135% WD aura. Spite doesn’t make Big Stinker hit for 585% WD + the 135% WD aura, I don’t think the extra WD% is included in the Spite power.
EDIT: Now i"m second-guessing myself. The Humungoid cleave attack has a separate animation than the base Gargantuan attack? So if Spite gives the cleave attack, maybe it should hit for the 585% weapon damage, since it’s a fully separate attack from the base gargantuan attack? I’m not sure anymore. Either way, the wording of the Spite power does seem a bit funny. I wonder if that’s where the problem is.
I think the cleave attack replaces the gargantuans standard melee swing, so it should be hitting for the same(pre-enrage) no matter what rune you pick if you use spite, however at the moment that doesn’t seem to be the case.
My main problem though is how Spite is interacting with Restless Giant.
Restless Giant rune says
" When the Gargantuan encounters an elite enemy or is near 5 enemies, it enrages for 15 seconds gaining:
20% movement speed
35% attack speed
200% Physical damage
This effect cannot occur more than once every 45 seconds. Elite enemies include champions, rares, bosses, and other players."
The movement bonus and attack speed bonus appear to both be working fine, however the 200% extra physical damage appears to be doing very little, if anything at all…
Was talking on discord with some people and they informed me about Demon Hunters being in a similar situation with Impale runes not being modified by the shadow set.
Anyway if this is the same sort of thing happening to the Spite mojo, it essentially renders this mojo near useless.
As the damage mitigation provided by Henri’s / Uhkapian Serpent, or the utility AND mitigation provided by Thing of the Deep, FAR outweighs what this new mojo can do in its current state.
That’s not the case otherwise they would just make Spite grant the Humongoid rune instead of wording like what it is now. Non-cleaving Gargantuans gain the cleave and chilling effects of the Humongoid rune.
They’re very specific about the item only granting cleave and chilling effects, but not the improved damage per swing.
Its bugged. I tested it when it came out and restless giant damage multiplier doesnt work with spite equiped. Me and some people on reddit noticed and posted. Theres also a post in the bug forum on this as well.
Its a shame really. Restless giants speed and damage bonus combined with cleave really craps all over humungoid damge and could have been a viable build this season. Instead, spite is trash because of a bug.
There seems to be another problem with restless giant. With enough cdr and using grave injustice passive it seems that the enrage cooldown is not reset like it used to when you re-spawn them.
lets be honest the only useful rune beside Humongoid was Restless giant and with the introduction of the reworked spite it finally had a chance to maybe get closer to other builds. However it seems like it has been shutdown before it comes out of the gate.