Like some people who were eager to reach higher ND with a Sever build, I was waiting for a rework of all aspects/uniques/paragon boards/glyphes which are totaly useless, as they mainly boost shadow DoT, when sever is a burst damage (even if 90% of Sever builds I see are very similar and only use aspects and uniques that generate/boost shadow Dot).
Patch 1.1 was a real disapointment with all these nerfs and no rework of nothing concerning Sever, loosing 50% of damage (I was able to crit for 10 millions at level 90 (and beating NM 70 with difficulties due to survivability) before patch, and 5 millions after).
And now with 1.1.1 patch, devs have used all their brainpower to make the most useless rework of the only sever aspect (before the aspect needed crit damage to have a chance to generate the blightpool, now it is just normal damage), because SEVER IS A BURST DAMAGE, critical chance and critical damage are mandatory for the build to work, so the modification does nothing, the aspect remains as useless as before.
So I’ll keep the game unistalled since patch 1.1 until season 2, waiting for the game to be polished.
So devs, could you please show to Sever players that you dont’ hate this skill, by introducing/reworking some gears or aspects to really make Sever more fun/efficient, perhaps adding some glyphs or paragon boards too, and why not considering affixes boosting shadow crits chance or damage.
I wouldn’t mind seeing an aspect or skill (would rather they rework a skill point for this) that causes Sever to do bonus burst AOE damage (that scales with SP in Sever, number of current DOT effects, Shadow Damage, CSD and Vulnerability) to targets affected by Shadowblight/DOTs that spreads the affliction in a radius around the targets. It would enable Sever to slot into Shadowblight builds as a burst skill while supporting the shadow DOT playstyle.
Set it up with BCE, Blight, Blood Soaked aspect, Ultimate Shadow, Empowering Reaper, unique boots, or whatever shadow DOT sources then spam Sever to burst and spread the DOTs around for more Shadowblight procs.
It’s not Bone Spear and shouldn’t play like it.
I don’t see the interest of boosting DoT or shadowblight when you hit +5 millions with sever and can kill any enemy pack by just spamming the skill until essence is empty.
Casting 5 BCE is mandatory to trigger Flesh-Eater paragon node and Blighted Aspect (and affecting foes by shadow Dot for Damage Boost and DR) when you start spamming Sever, until the enemy pack is down.
The gameplay loop is always => Decrepify > Bone Storm > Aspect of Explosive Mist (generate 2 BCE) > Corps Tendrils > 3 BCE > Sever
For me, everything doing more DoT is useless. Boosting Sever will empower way more your build than anything else.
The idea isn’t “boosting” DOTs. They do crap damage anyway. Shadowblight procs are the main source of damage for DOT builds. The idea is to find a way to increase Sever’s burst damage while maintaining the shadow necro identity. Increasing the damage of Sever through an additional multiplier while also increasing Shadowblight damage through additional procs is a win-win, especially since it seems like the devs are looking to reduce the efficacy of crit and vuln.
I said that changes nothing, the aspect remains totally useless.
Ok so devs have messed up the Sever skill, so it’s better to keep trying to include Sever in a proc build to generate Shadowblight that strictly does no damage compared to Sever, rather than trying to use the full potential of Sever with a build oriented to burst damage. That makes no sense to me.
(before 1.1 patch, I could hit 10 millions AOE with the first hit of Sever, and 3 millions with the second hit, so 13 millions damage AOE every second (with 2-handed attack speed). Shadowblight was hitting ONE SINGLE enemy every x seconds for 3 millions damage. I am not a theorycrafter but I prefer to go to sever burst damage. If people prefer a proc/DoT build running sever, it’s their problem).
No. I’m not sure why you are so hung up on Shadowblight. Forget about Shadowblight. My idea doesn’t buff Shadowblight, it buffs Sever and enables it to burst on every hit on a target affected by a DOT. If the hit spreads more DOTs via the boots or the aspect proccing a Blight puddle, the burst gets stronger. It fixes issues with both the aspect and the boots for “melee” builds, gives Sever a different avenue for burst damage and gives blight builds a good burst option for single targets and bosses.
Ok I get it. I agree it could be a way to boost sever with the shadow core gameplay. As you sacrifice a significant amount of raw damage bonus or survability to use aspects/uniques generating DOTs with sever, your burst bonus should have a significant impact on damages (and I am not sure that an effect proccing a pool of Blight only every 3 seconds would be worth to use).
