Hi. I just can’t tell how much damage it’s actually adding to Upheaval.
My current displayed damage is 31-38k. I have Furious Upheaval as well. It’s not my Barbarian’s focus, but it’s my only AOE attack. Lvl 83, clearing lvl 38 NM dungeons without much of a challenge for the most part.
Right now, Upheaval does what I expect it to: Deliver some minor damage, but to several enemies at the same time. Often enough, it kills or seriously damages common monsters. Plus, it sometimes makes them Vulnerable and/or Stunned thanks to passives.
I wonder if I there’s gonna be a significant difference, if I just drop the Aspect. I could put something more useful there, if it’s gonna do about the same damage.
The game won’t tell me how much I ACTUALLY gain from the Aspect (or from Furious Upheaval, for that matter). And I know that, if I just experimented, I might fail to notice the difference even if it’s kinda obvious (yeah, I’m not a pro AT ALL lol).
So, any way to actually calculate how much I’d lose by ditching Expectant? Thanks!
30% Additive Damage Increase at max stacks. Max roll Aspect gives you 10% increased damage per stack. While Expectant is good and easy to maintain, you might find it disruptive to the pace of combat in order to gain maximum benefit.
Personally, after playing around with different things, I don’t mind it with my IAS being high or using Frenzy with Battle Trance using HoTA, but I have since swapped it out.
I have it at 5% per stack, and it’s still quite easy to reach max, because I use my basic (Lunging Strike) a good deal. It’s my only way to gather Fury, useful for moving around, gives some heal, and bleeding enemies grants 2-3 different benefits. So, it’s not disruptive for my specific fighting style.
I just wanna know how much actual damage it adds to Upheaval. Because 30% looks nice, specially since it’s not additive but multiplicative, right? It has the to indicate so.
But I know how seemingly huge bonuses might mean next to nothing, in this game.
It’s really on your playstyle. Do you hit enemy until they are about to die then move on to the next pack so you can finish them off wtih little down time between pulls? Or do you just kill one small group wait a bit, then move onto the next pack?
I’m not sure I follow you. But while I don’t have a constant pattern, I do more of the latter. And on that, sometimes I do split large mobs with Steel Grasp and other tricks, or sometimes I just dive in the thick of it. Either way, I try to affect as many enemies as possible. Either with Lunging Strike’s bleeding+slow, Vulnerable/Stun from multiple sources (like Audacity aspect), and damage to multiple targets in one go with Upheaval and Death Blow.
Honestly, you should try a Leap Quake (Leap/Ground Stomp) with Upheaval. It will give you 10 Stacks immediately. Walking Arsenal works surprisingly well and you will focus a lot on Stuns and Lucky Hit. Kick for Vuln and Knockdown.
Basic Attack of your choosing
Upheaval
Ground Stomp
Leap
Kick
Iron Skin
100,000 Steps and Perpetual Stomping is doable, you just give up an Amulet slot which kind of sucks. Prioritize usual Damage Stats, but also CC Duration. If you take Audacity also, this moves up your Stuns to 6 seconds, which is pretty ridiculous. You get 3 Swaps from yout Basic, Leap, and Core having different Arsenal assigned.
It is a really fun build and Retribution and Conceited will shine. Fury isn’t an issue and you can bypass Expectant allowing you to spam Upheaval. What you lose from Burst you gain in Sustained. You can even not use a Basic with this and either use CoTA or WoTB Ultimates. Tactical GS reduces your ULT CDs. If they fixed Ancients snapshotting Upheaval, I would say CoTA, but for now WoTB is too good to pass up. Helps having 2 sources of Unstoppable, even post CC nerf.
I have a triple shout whrilwind build where I just hold onto whirlwind the entire time I"m in the dungeon while moving forward toward new mob packs. This is because when enemy dies, lots of “on kill” effects procs. Plus the more mobs there are, the more Fury I gain. So it’s best to keep pushing toward more monsters even if the old packs haven’t died yet.