I wanted to use Overkill and Ancients’ Oath; will this result in too little all stat vs gains from the unique properties? I’m planning on playing Walking Arsenal w/ Deathblow
Too much loss to stats and multipliers without any tradeoff. Just a straight up damage and defense loss.
There’s zero reason to use Ancient’s Oath. Overkill gives DB some AOE, I guess, but you lose so much that it isn’t worth the sacrifice.
Ancient’s oath is actually pretty huge if you like Steel grasp.
The extra levels in chains reduces the CD of chains by alot. And it allows you to pull mobs you normally won’t be able to grab with your first pull.
So imagine NM dungeon rooms where monsters spawn after you pick up an object (those bloodstones or mechanical boxes or whatever). You’ll be able to gather everything into your initial burst combo with ONE pull instead of wasting time with 2 pulls.
Also, with current barber kinda messing up bleed procs from 2-handed weapon expertise AND berserk fury not working too well , you don’t have a way to proc a SLOW on the target. Ancient’s Oath’s passive however…adds that missing slow on your grabbed targets…so No Mercy (the passive that gives you 9% crit) is back on the table!
CC is another form of mitigation. Ancient’s oath increases effectiveness and lowers CD of steel grasp, so i think its worth using if your build allows it
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The problem with the deathblow Hammer is it’s AoE aspect isn’t as good as encroaching wrath aspect for pure damage.
Totally disagree. Ancient’s Oath is incredible. The stats on it are exactly what you want and it increases your damage in a HUGE way by grabbing so many monsters, pulling them together, and then slowing them all right in front of you.
Chains also grant vulnerable AND berserking. Oh yeah, and because it slows enemies, you don’t need a point in Hamstring. So if it gives you +5 ranks of steel grasp, it’s actually saving you 6 skill points, not 5.
Fantastic unique. I refuse to play without it.
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I’ve been using Steel Grasp since I started D4. I’m aware of the benefits of the skill. The unique, however, is straight trash. You lose way too much damage and armor to gain 2 chains and some slow.
Terrible unique.
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Who honestly puts 5 points into Steel Grasp lol. I use Steel Grasp and even with just the 2 Charges, 1 Rank and CDR, it is pretty much 100% uptime. You take Hamstring because you already need the Bleeding Conditional. I have never had a situation where having more Chains would be so greatly beneficial I could forgo everything else.
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Ancient Oath is iffy. Losing a double boosted aspect is a huge lost. Having a 5.5 second recharge on Steel Grasp sounds good on paper, but isn’t really needed much in practice. Raise your hand if you ever died by pulling a Charging Tuskar.
Armor? On a 2h weapon???
It’s huge in practice, at least in nightmare dungeons. It’s probably the only 2h barb unique worth losing the boosted aspect for, because it gives you so much:
- HUGE area pull (5 chains instead of 3)
- HUGE slow for 3 seconds
- Solid affixes (unlike the trash on Fields of Crimson and Overkill)
- Solid amount of skill points that you would’ve actually put into the skill
The result is you’re hitting 2x the enemies with every other skill you normally would. Especially useful for skill with very small areas like rend and double swing. And in a party setting, everyone will love you for grouping things up and making them vulnerable.
I think Ancient’s Oath looks way worse on paper than it actually is in game.
edit: should probably add that I play on hardcore, so the tons of utility this weapon brings outweighs a little bit of min/max damage.
I just discovered the joy of SG, when do these start dropping?
I would use ancients over overkill simply for the slow effect proccing no mercy after the hamstring nerf. If you cast deathblow right after a chains with AO you get that 9% crit chance. Depending on how vital that is, to me that’s what I would run.
You play in HC? I’m guessing you haven’t pull in 5 piggys yet…
So, you don’t understand how Strength works for Barbarian?
Ancient’s Oath is a trash item. If you use it, no matter what the situation, it is a loss. You’re sacrificing both damage and defense for 2 chains (that don’t always pull) and some slow (that you already have) - why would you do that?
Yeah you lose some damage and armor from the loss of strength…
But you’re also grabbing and ccing that pesky corpse bowman hiding in the corner, or those extra 3 mobs off to the side of the big pack of mobs…
Dont need that extra defense if those extra mobs are grabbed into your stunlock of death…also the chains are super reliable…not sure if you played with steel grasp recently or if you’re just thinking about release
But thats just what i think…i aint tryin to sell ya this unique that hard lol
You can get that benefit without using the Unique pretty much. Applying a Slow is not a selling point. Steel Grasp and Ground Stomp does the same thing.
I’ve played with Steel Grasp since I started. I’ve also tried Ancient’s Oath. It’s straight dirty hot garbage. Not worth a damn.
Steel Grasp with Audacity stuns them all when pulled, then you can Ground Stomp (if needed) after that to stun again.
The slow from Ancient’s Oath is pointless, useless, and not worth losing a 2H aspect and 3 multipliers. If it stunned, instead of slowed, and gave some sort of fat multiplier to pulled/stunned enemies, then it might be worth it - if they added strength and crit to the affixes.
Its really up to your build in the end of the day whether ancients oath is good for you.
You shouldnt discount the super shortened cd of steelgrasp. Faster chains means quicker pulls…keeps the momentum goin. When you pull/kill packs faster than your groundstomps 12 sec cd and audacitys 20 sec cd, then that slow on all the grabbed mobs is reliable and consistent.
Its not the best nor is it “hot garbage”. Doesnt have to be so extreme lol
So… I think I’ll try it, and if it sucks I’ll drop it 