Static Strike is awesome

Static Strike is not that super powerful as many people do tell. It is how it should be for melee. A melee attack should be able do deal alot more dmg as ranged attacks or spells and should be comparable to ranged attacks and spell in clearspeed.

And stop ranting about "nerf this/nerf that" please... :/

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haGrOck wrote:

Static Strike is not that super powerful as many people do tell. It is how it should be for melee. A melee attack should be able do deal alot more dmg as ranged attacks or spells and should be comparable to ranged attacks and spell in clearspeed.

And stop ranting about "nerf this/nerf that" please... :/

Why would you compare it to Ranged attacks?
Compare it to melee attacks.

It deals more single target damage than heavy strike (and all other single target melee attacks) and has a free AoE component.

It deals almost triple (!) the single target damage of Ground Slam and has the same AoE damage.

The AoE is about 3 times as strong as the AoE of Infernal Blow.

The AoE is super-easy to use and reliable, compared to Molten Strike.

Reave and Cleave have worse AoE and damage.

Cyclone may or may not have more damage (such a mysterious skill), but has terrible mana cost, is weird to use...

Lightning Strike has more range, but less damage and most of the times, you'll miss some projectiles.

Right now, Static Strike is dominating every other melee skill in some aspect, while not being inferior in any other aspect.
How's that balanced?

You forgot Sweep, which Static Strike completely dominates.

Similarly, Double Strike and Dual Strike are outdone by Static Strike (esp. with its free AoE, otherwise those single targets need melee splash) in much the same way Heavy Strike is.

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I would say the only melee (tag) skills that compare to Static Strike right now are:
- Flicker/Leap/Cyclone because they combine mobility. If you're 1hitting things, mobility is king for clear speed.
- LightningStrike/SpectralThrow because they give you range. With Static Strike, you're still weak to dangerous melee enemies.
- Dominating Blow. It's its own thing.

Whirling Blades, melee Frenzy, melee Puncture, Viper Strike, EleHit, Glacial Hammer, and ShieldCharge are by and large useless for damage and only marginally useful for utility.

So by my estimate, I see there are currently 7 worthwhile melee (tag) skills for damage.

If you are only counting actual "in-your-face" melee where you hit things to death, remove dom/LS/ST and that leaves 4 skills.

EDIT: Forgot that Facebreaker has strict skill restrictions. IB/Dom/Cyclone are the efficient set of attack options for punching builds.

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This is mainly why Static Strike bugs me. Not because it's "just too strong", but because there are so few competitive options. You can use the other skills, but you should do so knowing it's purely for aesthetic reasons and/or non-main-skill/non-damage/utility reasons.

And honestly, I don't mind that melee has power. God knows it needs it. What I'd hope to see is that the various melee skills are all competitive with each other and that melee as a whole is buffed up significantly.

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pneuma wrote:

You forgot Sweep, which Static Strike completely dominates.

Yup, except in tanking department, if you need that.

After giving it a few runs in maps with a crit staff build I noticed a few things.

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Peterlerock wrote:

It deals more single target damage than heavy strike (and all other single target melee attacks) and has a free AoE component.

Indeed, but that goes for Molten too. Single target skills are generally pretty sad currently, I usually got one for Vorici's missions but it just doesn't get much use besides that, I suppose they can share a 4L with a counter skill of choice.

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Peterlerock wrote:

It deals almost triple (!) the single target damage of Ground Slam and has the same AoE damage.

Double, and a half, and almost the same. The trouble is it lacks the safety of ground slam with its range and stun potential. These skills shine in very different roles.

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Peterlerock wrote:

The AoE is about 3 times as strong as the AoE of Infernal Blow.

This is a bollocks claim, you're doing a straight compare of monster health to your attack strength with an unoptimized build. Not saying Infernal can compete in general utility but where the hell did you pull that '3' out of?

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Peterlerock wrote:

The AoE is super-easy to use and reliable, compared to Molten Strike.

Just the opposite, needing a hit to get an AoE can be a liability, especially in party play where you end up hitting air a lot. On the other hand, Molten gives you AoE no matter what and the delay is much shorter.

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Peterlerock wrote:

Reave and Cleave have worse AoE and damage.

They have better AoE damage and although it's smaller they're more straightforward to use.

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Peterlerock wrote:

Cyclone may or may not have more damage (such a mysterious skill), but has terrible mana cost, is weird to use...

Cyclone has advantages no other melee skill has, It's pretty tricky to compare it with anything.

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Peterlerock wrote:

Lightning Strike has more range, but less damage and most of the times, you'll miss some projectiles.

Yes, old elemental skills could use some leg up, nothing new about it. Actually all three have a niche use but you must build into it bit, you can't just slap the gem on and go.

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Peterlerock wrote:

Right now, Static Strike is dominating every other melee skill in some aspect, while not being inferior in any other aspect.
How's that balanced?

After just looking at numbers I said it's imbalanced, now I'm not so sure anymore, except compared to old elemental skills.

my templar lvl 79 :

dps with no auras



with auras




my armor is so low 4k only =/.he has 4,7k hp, 5 endurance charges and 275 hp recovery.



build

I am giving it a go in bloodlines to see if it out performs GS/HS (frees up some gems slots for sure). I agree with raics, first thing i noticed is it is much more dangerous to use. Second thing is DPS is sweet. I don't have multi yet so it feels very clunky. I doubt it will get much of a nerf. Especially considering how far behind melee is atm.

Raics, are you in a nitpicking mood?

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raics wrote:

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Peterlerock wrote:

It deals almost triple (!) the single target damage of Ground Slam and has the same AoE damage.

Double, and a half, and almost the same. The trouble is it lacks the safety of ground slam with its range and stun potential. These skills shine in very different roles.

(110+110*0,7)/70= 2.67, that's somewhere between two and a half and three.
Sorry that I didn't write down the correct number... -.-

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Peterlerock wrote:

The AoE is about 3 times as strong as the AoE of Infernal Blow.

This is a bollocks claim, you're doing a straight compare of monster health to your attack strength with an unoptimized build. Not saying Infernal can compete in general utility but where the hell did you pull that '3' out of?

Out of my ass, obviously, but...

The skills are very similar.
Both have an AoE component and turn physical damage into elemental.
Usually I build my damage for a "oneshoot" of white monsters.
I then get >/= 0.7 white monster health as AoE.
With IB, I get </= 0.25 (white) monster health.
So, for me the AoE is about "3 times as good", though I obviously can't compare it 100%.
Static Strike lets me kill packs without Splash, IB doesn't, because the damage scales off of monster health, which is inferior to scaling off of character damage.
So better call it "inferior blow" from now on.

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Peterlerock wrote:

The AoE is super-easy to use and reliable, compared to Molten Strike.

Just the opposite, needing a hit to get an AoE can be a liability, especially in party play where you end up hitting air a lot. On the other hand, Molten gives you AoE no matter what and the delay is much shorter.

I find it to be the opposite.
Hit the nearest monster, walk in the middle of the pack, blow them all up.
Super smooth gameplay.
With Molten Strike, I never had the feeling of "control".

@up
By design elemental skills are supposed to do more damage then physical ones.
WIth melee splash single target skills are not so single target anymore.
Static also got no CC component to it and is pure melee skill not "kinda melee but can be used at some distance".
Finally if you are one-shoting mobs then idd IB got no application here but that is not a problem with SS.

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Stt3r0 wrote:

WIth melee splash single target skills are not so single target anymore.

Melee splash is one gem slot, a less multiplier on single target DpS and en even higher less multiplier on AoE DpS.


Heavy Strike (highest single target skill except dual strike) + Melee Splash Lvl20:
150% damage * 0.69 (AoE) = 103%
150% damage * 0.84 (Single target) = 126%
...for two gems.

Static Strike:
110% damage *0.7 = 77% (AoE)
110% + 0.7*110 = 187% (single target)

187% vs 126%, Static Strike wins.
77% vs 103%, Heavy Strike wins, but HS needed a second gem for this.

Currently going for a physical crit staff shadow w/ SSt.
So far leveling is easy.