reflected damage as a build-around-me drawback

I'd like to see a support gem based off the Diablo 2 skill Sacrifice. Something which makes a skill do an obscene amount of damage, but likely kill the player if not planned carefully.

For instance...

Double Edge
Dexterity support gem
Life Leech on supported Attack is Instant
x% of supported Attack Damage is reflected
x% more Attack Damage
Does not support Mines or Traps
Glvl 1: 8% reflected, 70% more damage
Glvl 21: 18% reflected, 130% more damage

Something like that. Would be cool for claw builds.

"

ScrotieMcB wrote:

I'd like to see a support gem based off the Diablo 2 skill Sacrifice. Something which makes a skill do an obscene amount of damage, but likely kill the player if not planned carefully.

For instance...

Double Edge
Dexterity support gem
Life Leech on supported Attack is Instant
x% of supported Attack Damage is reflected
x% more Attack Damage
Glvl 1: 8% reflected, 70% more damage
Glvl 21: 18% reflected, 130% more damage

Something like that. Would be cool for claw builds.

i like the idea of double edge gems but they are quite hard to balance, certain builds can get all the bonus while avoiding most of the negative sides.

your idea for instance would be very specific,either you run a low damage high attack speed build that can instantly leech any damage it reflects or go with Sibyl's Lament ring and one of those uniques that transform part of the damage like incandecent heart.

one i would like to see is:

50%+5% per level more damage
4% per level of less attack/cast speed
cant freeze,shock or ignite
only manual cast

less attack/cast speed affect most skills equaly, chaos dot damage would be the only one that may see a mayor boost but they are either single target or flat damage so i would not expect them to wipe entire screens easily



not a suport but could still work
herald of hunger
0.7% max life/ ES degenerated per second with every level
add to your attacks 50%+2% per level of your max hp/ES as chaos damage
5-7% of chaos damage is gained as life and ES
cant leech life or ES

When writing the OP, I specifically made the gem Attacks only (not Spells) because I don't want to see Incinerate combining with Arctic Armour to avoid the drawback.

However, I forgot remote skills. I feel that with Ranged Attack Totems and Minions, it's still okay; your summons kill themselves over time, which actually could be interesting with Minion Instability. It is possible summoners could become the primary users of this support, but as long as it's still good for claw builds that's okay. The numbers might need adjusting to make gem appropriate for Minions.

Traps and Mines, however, are right out. Edited OP to add clause.

The concept is interesting, but...

While in Diablo 2, it is exclusive to a class,
...in Path of Exile's free-form character planning where everyone can use everything, it is hard to NOT mess it up.

This is because it indirectly ends up functioning as a conversion from life/life leech/regen/life on hit into damage.

And if your final damage is high enough, even though Double Edge reflects X% of the damage, you'll not only negate the reflected damage with your leech but also the monster damage due to your higher damage output.

This turns Flasks, defensive mods and passives into more "direct" DPS increases.

It's a very slippery slope.
Nonetheless, it's an interesting concept.

I think that to work, Double Edge should also reduce or negate any life leech or life on hit triggered by supported gems.
This would mean you'd either need two sets of attacks: one for pure damage, and one for recovery; or have high regeneration - or a combination of those.

I'd also like to see "blood spells" so to speak, as well as strategies that involve constantly losing Life (though it should be Bleeding, not a Righteous Fire gimmick) to produce empowered results.

I understand your idea, MrTremere, but the thing is, with MDoFL, you have a goal to accomplish. A specific set of requirements.

With Double Edge, however, you don't really have a requirement per se, just an indirect conversion of LGoH/Leech/Regen into damage.

Melee Damage on Full Life not only requires investment into Energy Shield, but requires you to make sure that you always have some Energy Shield left.

Double Edge merely requires you to have enough leech that it offsets the reflected damage, indirectly turning your Life Leech properties on passives and gear into damage dealing properties, because they're essentially fueling that damage increase.

Something that wasn't discussed is whether the reflected damage is affected by your defenses.
If it isn't, there's still the above to consider.
If it is, although fun, it will most likely overpowered - a fake drawback
Imagine a Physical damage build with lots of armour, or an Avatar of Fire build with maxed fire resistance.

I believe that if properly balanced, it will be a fun, non-Energy Shield version of MDoFL.
However, doing it right would be very hard.

It probably would be very hard to balance. I don't think impossible, just very hard. My numbers are probably way off.

Would still like to see something like OP though.

yay instead of CoC now I can spam CWDT+12 gems