Shadow Impale: In-Depth Feedback

PTR Feedback
21

Wholly agreed and I have said this quite a lot and generally been told it’s not possible, rubbished and called a troll.

I find that odd, since the new buffs give, what, around 5 GRs? I would say GOD HA, even after the last nerf, is still 10 GR ahead of the current s6 impale performance. I’m typically low paragon in seasons (typically under p1200 as I’m both solo and lazy), perhaps paragon makes a big difference with s6 impale? I have p2700 on my NS SC character and let’s just say there’ s no way it comes even remotely close to GOD HA. A friend and me are pretty evenly matched with s6 impale, and he did a GR139 in s24 with GOD HA - allow around 5 GR for the season them and the rest is GOD HA. I’ll probably hit a wall at GR123/124 depending upon fishing, so 10 GRs differential is a pretty accurate amount atm. if the new s6 impale buffs give ~ 5GR, then it’s still ~5GR weaker than GOD HA imho.

correct, correct and thrice correct.

DMKT - what do you honestly think a very good player around ~p1200 will push to, using ricochet, using the new PTR shadow set suggestions? I’m already hitting a wall at around p1200 at GR124 (HC). This is why gems between 110-120 and augments @ 110 rank.

22

In S24, there is no ethereal dagger, so automatically it is like 10+ GRs behind GoD6.

If you are comparing GoD6 vs S6 in non-season 2.7.1, you are looking at about 4GRs power difference when running Shadow’s as a hybrid with Captain Crimson or Aughild. Without those sets the power gap grows to 6-7GRs.

This PTR 2.7.2 Shadow Impale’s power gained +3-4GRs.

You are doing well for your paragon. GR126-127 is my best guess.

1 Like
23

Ok, obviously highlighting my lack of knowledge on non-GoD DH’s. Thanks for pointing that out.

24

Well, just looking at the LBs and I’ve seen a player do a GR119 with GOD HA, no augments, gems >= rank 140 in 1.5 minutes. There’s no way in hell I could do that, even fully augmented with s6 impale. I’m guessing he has mega paragon though, especially given the high gem ranks (143/148/150). note: we can’t see player paragon on consoles, unless we have the person in our friends list. I use the aughilds variant of the build btw.

I’m seeing many old faces playing GOD HA this season and smashing it - these guys were sub 115 GRs and are now mid to high GR120s with the season theme. That is why I believe GOD HA is 10 GRs stronger than s6 impale, even before we look at the s24 seasonal theme.

At the last update for s6 impale a few seasons ago, the best clear on PTR was a GR136 from memory at 10k paragon. Doing a GR136 at 6k paragon now isn’t much of an improvement imho, especially vs other builds that got massive buffs (cru heaven’s fury; fb wizard; bb ww/rend), certainly FAR LARGER than this piddly s6 impale buff in the current PTR.

3-4 GRs will be worthless to me as a player. Why? I can do a GR126 or so with the MI FB shield build - no augments, same paragon obviously. The FB build has no issues with hatred, pretty much impregnable toughness wise, can teleport until its hearts content and could go even higher in the hands of a skilled wizard player. s6 impale is far weaker toughness wise, limited mobility when compared to the FB build and does less damage, even with this proposed buff (fully augmented s6 impale vs no augments on FB wizard). Yes, I know FB wizard will get a nerf for s25, which upsets me, since I use it to help get my gems up for my DH easier. It will just make my life even more unpleasant in this game.

I don’t think I’ll bother with future seasons, it’s just not worth the angst anymore. I can’t stand GOD HA (and simply cannot get it to perform, struggling at even a low GR100 with reasonably good gear - it’s VERY fragile and s6 impale just outperforms it damage wise in my eyes). I have been given very good advice by other players on here and taken it on board and struggling at GR105 clear (just). There’s no way in hell I’d play GOD HA HC!!! I mean, other players are hitting high 110s without augments in like 7 mins or so and there’s no way that I can get the set to perform similar, despite trying many times.

currently rank 3 globally HC, PS4 for the set. #1 is a cheat, having cleared a GR150 in like 3 seconds lol (modded gear). I haven’t reported it to Blizzard because based on prior attempts to report clear and obvious cheaters, nothing has been done. modded gear is now in season and will also be in future seasons (the modders are injecting the modded gear into memory it seems, bypassing any wards that Blizzard has in place on consoles). Rank 2 has cleared slightly faster than me (20 seconds or so, same GR level) but is a high end 4 man meta group player with a crap load of paragon (probably north of 3.5k easily by now, if not 4k). I can’t compete with that. His paragon advantage gives him more main stat that I have at my paragon + fully augmented.

Thanks for the response, greatly appreciated.

1 Like
25

Maybe what really needs a rework is Bane of the Stricken. Seems to me it’s power does not scale well. I really don’t know how you can hit something multiple dozens of times and it still barely feels it. Not sure if it’s a bug or a cap, but really giving the premise of this gem it feels underwhelming past GR125 or so.

26

I agree. Can do 140 with stricken, but not 141. Thinking of swapping for Pain Enhancer…

27

Stricken is pretty decent, it’s value is apparent when your boss fight is like 5+ minutes without it – builds like Akkhan Condemn depend on it. In some long fights the damage multiplier from stricken can reach 1000%+ towards the last minute.

Bane of the Stricken is like D3’s version of Ion Engine Propulsion.

28

Hell, even in some short fights it can do that!

Frenzy Barb usually aims for a 7/8 frame attack, and with Stricken equipped, many boss kills take around 1 minute. In those 60 seconds, at that rate, you’re building up around 500 stacks, and therefore a 1000%+ damage bonus.

I guess it is still the last minute… it just happens to be the first minute, too!

4 Likes
29

The video showing the clear has been appended to the original post.

30

A couple more clears (GR141 and GR143)…

2 Likes
31

Quiver HPS 250-300

S2 bumped from 6000 to 12000
S4 Shadow power last forever gains all runes and damage reduction 60%
S6 keep as is

1 Like
32

GR145…

If we get a mid-PTR patch today, this should give me a good idea of how much it gets nerfed.

33

I also cleared a GR 145 with Shadow. 2 of my 3 legendary gems were only level 30, so I could probably go higher if those were leveled up. But there’s no point doing anything else until the update drops.

34

Some people seem to have no understanding of how powerful a set is by just looking at a broken ptr concept. Asking for nerfs… LOL

Thanks dmkt for the detailed feedback and providing S6 some respect. I would love a reason to actually play this again in Season 25. Too bad Blizz abandoned this in S24 by failing to create a melee weapon ethereal.

2 Likes
35

Before I went anywhere near the seasonal shards, I first tested the set changes on my non-seasonal Impale DH on the PTR. The extra 25,000% to subsequent targets is, for sure, an improvement that helps clearing trashmobs whilst you’re spreading the daggers through an elite, but it’s hardly a massive improvement.

The thing I was saying is likely to get nerfed are the soul shards, not the set, and they absolutely do need to be nerfed. If I can manage a GR145 with under 1500 paragon that’s a huge amount of power increase and it’s entirely from the shards.

36

I hear ya - I misunderstood what you were saying. My apologies.

37

Well, the mid-PTR patch hit today. My helm shard went from around 650 All Resist to 55 All Resist. Pre-patch I did a GR145 solo. Post-patch struggling to stay alive in GR130, and completed in around 12-13 minutes. I suspect I’d top out around GR132-133 now. So, easily a 10 GR nerf.

38

The reason could be the update to Essence of Anguish. Death blow is much weaker and the increased damage taken seems to hurt a lot more.

39

That’s because my elemental resistances went down from around 2400 to 1850.

40

2.7.2 part 2 and S6 gets zip… we got shafted with a Karlei again.