Devs,
Thank you for taking your time to consider the analysis and suggestions provided in this article.
Last night I wrapped up my multi-session SoL investigation. I love playing it, yet the build is simply a defensive car wreck at the moment. Here are the problem areas with suggestions on how to fix them, based on my experiences of the last week or so.
Item One: Falling Sword skill
Yes, before we can address the build, this skill needs help.
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The “yard” as Blizzard sees it, is already something of a meme topic. The Falling Sword effect compounds this odd distance mis-representation with an area and/or radius calculation so poor that its 14-yard radius might as well be just an April 1 tooltip joke. The frequency with which I have jumped (and re-jumped) into a crowd of tightly packed mobs, only to be informed that I had a bonus lesser than 10, is simply migraine-inducing.
Solution: The radius of effect needs to be altered to something more resembling 20 “yards” to allow the Falling Sword to reliably utilize the damage bonus gained from the Faithful Memory sword, which is in the Kanai’s Cube. -
What no tooltip indicates, is that the Falling sword actually procs Strongarm Bracers via a tiny knockback effect. Why is this tooltip nowhere to be found…again, an act of April Fool’s Day tomfoolery? And the same applies for the proc given to the Hammer Jammers (also in Kanai’s Cube).
Solution: Provide a tooltip clarification as to how the skill works, so that a new inductee to SoL gameplay simply knows how to equip their character accordingly.
Item Two: the Seeker of Light Set
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Four-Set Bonus
a. The duration of the Falling Sword gives the player an 8-second damage reduction,
while Faithful Memory sword (in Kanai’s Cube) increases damage output for 10
seconds. Why in the world are those two not both synchronized to a common 10
second timer is beyond me. This is an exercise in frustration, nothing more. There is
no point to this two-second disparity other than to add an element of annoyance to
the game-play.Solution: Change the damage reduction benefit from Falling Sword to 10 seconds.
b. The four-piece set bonus currently provides 50% reduced damage protection. This is simply inadequate.
Solution: Buff the damage reduction bonus to circa 75% (a.k.a., provide an
additional 50% damage reduction)
- Which brings us to the six-piece set bonus.
Part one of the six-piece tooltip is the Blessed Hammer’s damage buff. That is something that falls under the category of balancing the build, so I will skim over that, as my objective is fixing the build.
Moving on then, in part two of the tooltip we learn that we also receive a 1000% damage bonus from the Falling Sword. Again, we are in April Fool’s Day category. The Falling Sword is not a damage source of this build and this sort of tooltip entry for a six-piece bonus of any set is simply meaningless. While this 1000% is welcome to stay or go, the six-piece needs a genuine functional bonus.
Solution: Add a much needed power to the six-piece set. Strong suggestion:
“Falling Sword provides invulnerability to all reflected damage attacks for 10
seconds.”
The reason here is simple. Even with a damage resistance bonus to SoL’s four-piece section, dune dervishes will still instantly decimate this build. Seeker of Light must have a specialized defense power to deal with dune dervishes, or your run is over the moment those mobs appear.
That is it for now,
–H