Lancing Steel Versus Shattering Steel.

I was very underwhelmed by both of them.
Something just didn't "feel right" using them. A lot of clicking with mixed results, both in damage and area coverage. Also the animation is not that impressive.

For now, I switched to Cyclone, seems to deal way more damage, and here at least I fully understand the mechanics, AoE coverage and numbers. ;)
3.5 build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2299519
I used Lancing Steel + helmet on a slayer for a test, and can't say if it works. Is it that mandatory to have a Champion? On a Starforge crit build I will lose quite a lot going that route in terms of casually swapping to cyclone and dealing ton of dmg + leech heal. My aps was only 4+ with around 500k dps if all projectiles hit 1 target, letting my hp go down - it healed same as before with vp, not a bit faster animation of going from around 200hp to 5k. Can someone confirm it really works at higher lvl maps and what is obligatory (except helmet)?
Last edited by Yorhen on Dec 9, 2018, 1:46:41 PM
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Peterlerock wrote:
I was very underwhelmed by both of them.
Something just didn't "feel right" using them. A lot of clicking with mixed results, both in damage and area coverage. Also the animation is not that impressive.

That's probably the way it should be, Lancing is a long range skill so I assume they aimed roughly for the power level of spectral throw.

About Shattering, using it right now and it didn't click for the playstyle I had in mind until I got point blank, it was crap. I'd recommend moving the gem to act 4 like Lancing, it isn't a good starter skill and impale isn't really doing much until you stack a lot of attack speed, it's currently a noobtrap.
Wish the armchair developers would go back to developing armchairs.

◄[www.moddb.com/mods/balancedux]►
◄[www.moddb.com/mods/one-vision1]►
I just got to Act 3, haven't tried Lancing Steel yet. I like Shattering Steel, I think you can make a good budget build out of it. You get a very good range and you can play it with a tanky character like the Duelist. And it's versatile because you can do a sword build then switch to something else later on. Bow and Arrow I don't like so much because it limits you.

I thought about using Point Blank but I think I'm going to use it as it was intended. You get more damage the further away you are, I don't want to lose that with Point Blank. I will just keep doing a distance attack, you can do that with a totem and some knockback.
Builds
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2149153
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2245701
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2664371
Shaper Guide: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2252008
Last edited by 0piate on Dec 9, 2018, 3:09:42 PM
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raics wrote:
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Peterlerock wrote:
I was very underwhelmed by both of them.
Something just didn't "feel right" using them. A lot of clicking with mixed results, both in damage and area coverage. Also the animation is not that impressive.

That's probably the way it should be, Lancing is a long range skill so I assume they aimed roughly for the power level of spectral throw.

About Shattering, using it right now and it didn't click for the playstyle I had in mind until I got point blank, it was crap. I'd recommend moving the gem to act 4 like Lancing, it isn't a good starter skill and impale isn't really doing much until you stack a lot of attack speed, it's currently a noobtrap.


I read an observation in one of the many "melee is dead" threads, I never voiced it myself, but as a long-time melee player I know it is true. The word that was used to describe the melee playstyle was "cosy".

You jump into a pack, click your autotargeting multistrike-AoE-monstrosity in any direction, everything is dead, you jump into the next pack, while your defensive layers are working in the background, always there and/or fully automated via CWDT.

A very stupid way to play, but this game rewards a mindless, repetitive approach, and I enjoy it.

Both steel skills didn't give me that, I found no "routine". Felt like I couldn't trust my skills, I never understood how much damage I could reliably deal, and was bothered way too much with "targeting" and "positioning".

And the whole "impale" mechanic may be good on paper, but in reality, I did not get a feel for it. I'm still running the dread banner (now with cyclone), but I consider dropping it for war banner. Accuracy is a concept I understand. ;)

3.5 build: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/2299519
Had to abandon my character, although I feel like leveling with the skill as a league starter was definitely a mistake... Shattering Steel at least with a 5l had decent single target but it should with a 5l... Molten Strike felt much better with just four and a decent weapon.
Some SSF player
shattering steel has identical scaling to molten strike but does ~ half the damage, its not quite as gimped for being used as a regular skill though.

Lancing steel i'm still not sure about, extra projectiles don't change its single target because none of the extras go in the middle (so only good dps vs fat targets) its viable to clear as a ranged skill but somehow still feels kinda bad, maybe the delay?

I'll keep testing them out but atm i'm pretty underwhelmed.
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Peterlerock wrote:
Both steel skills didn't give me that, I found no "routine". Felt like I couldn't trust my skills, I never understood how much damage I could reliably deal, and was bothered way too much with "targeting" and "positioning".

That's the part I enjoy having back, reminds a bit of trying to place your glacial thorns for max effect in sacred, just a bit. But yeah, unreliable skills are a problem, had a full rng build once that would either kill in two shots or do no damage at all and that was the reason it didn't work out even though the average damage wasn't too bad.

I'm also stacking bleed so I decided to skip on dread banner in advance, used war for inc phys damage taken instead.
Wish the armchair developers would go back to developing armchairs.

◄[www.moddb.com/mods/balancedux]►
◄[www.moddb.com/mods/one-vision1]►
I just played with Shattering steel but it's ok for me. I started duelist and took point blank, I stick to bosses and rares to shotgun them and it works quite well. Damage and speed clear increased a lot when I ascended as champion and took Master of Metal.

I'm currently lvl 45, dual wielding with a 4L (SS, vicious proj, GMP and maim) and use dread banner. For the stuff I have, I killed innocence at a good pace.

I will see once I get to maps ...
I'm still using my starter, level 85 deadeye and when I first made it I felt like I was being stupid not picking Champion because he has direct buffs to the skills intentions. I believe how I'm currently building my character right now is still a very viable option. I don't know how far this build will go but the next step is getting two beltimber's but that will take awhile before that happens. Gear is the only thing slowing me down, and also some regrets because I been all over the place testing various things. As I already stated shattering steel still feels underwhelming but its great for clear so I'm assuming thats what they wanted, while lancing is best for bossing.

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