Energy Shield passives

In the patch notes you stated that energy shield nodes were buffed in order to help make up for the nerf on CI. So all of the 6% nodes were buffed to 8%, cool. However the nodes by the Witch that were already 8% before are still only 8%.

This seems like an oversight to me, I think they should be 10%.

bump

I agree.

In the past CI gave 50% more energy shield, which means it was multiplicative. So every 8% node was actually worth 12%, and passives like Unnatural calm and Arcane focus were worth 50% more too. Choosing to buff 6% circle to 8% is:

1) Unfair in numbers, cause you don't even stand to former 6%, which were worth 9%;
1.5) And they aren't even placed very good, I wasn't even picking this passives before.
2) Chaos resistance is now also reduced with level. The meaning is either you still take CI and lose all hp pool, or invest into chaos resistance gear\passives.
3) Unnatural calm was moved further away. An okay move if CI wasn't nerfed, but now I can't actually grab it without going to outer edge of passive tree. Well, in the past GGG has moved Divine Toughtness far away from Eldrich Battery, breaking the synergy, and compared to that Unnatural calm isn't so ill-placed, so, like, PROGRESS, gratz.

So, basically, energy shield passives lost quite a lot.

I'm not usually a person who runts on every nerf, but tradeoff for CI is ridiculous. It can't be justified unless CI was the best tanking method, surpassing everything else by far.
Blood rage synergy? What's that - I play default caster witch. How I'm supposed to sirvive now?

I guess I'll try combined defence like evasion\shieldblock\hp\ES. CI doesn't seems of any worth to caster witch now.

I completely agree here, as a dual wand shadow I cannot fathom one reason to even touch Chaos Innoculation anymore with the energy shields as low as they are, I just don't see any benefit other than being able to use blood rage effectively say later on, but even that is gimping yourself.

The middle 8% clusters need notable nodes, I haven't spoken to Qarl yet about this but I'm sure he'll see reason once somebody in alpha nags him enough :P

I dont think the problem is with the passives themselves, but with the Energy Shield Gear

Looking at the wiki, comparing the level 65 Chest Pieces

Armor - 413
Evasion - 400
Energy Shield - 151

Energy Shield Gear could probably easily get a 50% boost across the board, and still not be OP

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Talamare wrote:

I dont think the problem is with the passives themselves, but with the Energy Shield Gear

Looking at the wiki, comparing the level 65 Chest Pieces

Armor - 413
Evasion - 400
Energy Shield - 151

Energy Shield Gear could probably easily get a 50% boost across the board, and still not be OP

Good idea, if only bonuses like +x energy shield were scaled like that too it would have been at level with former CI without the need to pick CI itself.

As good this idea is, it's pretty dangerous.
I mean, is there any actual feedback of someone who played a non-CI non-summoner ES-based witch? Is it even possible to play as a witch without CI in the endgame?
If it wasn't possible then ES on gear indeed should be buffed. If it was - CI should be changed somehow so it wouldn't affect a non-CI builds, which is tricky.

Even Armor & Evasion are apples and oranges to each other
The end purpose is the same tho, to keep you alive

and they need to perform similar to each other

Armor - Steady % based eHP increase
Evasion - Spikey % based eHP increase
Energy Shield - Flat based eHP increase

Energy Shield falls somewhere between "preemptive health" and "quick regen if you manage to stall"

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Armor - 413
Evasion - 400
Energy Shield - 151
Energy Shield Gear could probably easily get a 50% boost across the board, and still not be OP

Let's napkin math this. The energy shield piece, we're talking 600 es on a good piece. Double that from your passives; +1200 life.

The armour on a good roll, 1126. Double that for passives, 2252 armour. That will halve 188 damage, but only physical damage. By itself, it is useless compared to any decent amount of Energy Shield. Stacked with other good stuff, you can maybe squeeze out +25..40% more effective life out of it. On the top of that curve, thus giving the edge to armour, you'd need 3000 life to equal that one chest piece.

Also note the breath of application of each defense type:
Armour: Only physical, therefore should be the strongest.
Evasion: All attacks, therefore should be weaker than armour.
Energy Shield: Everything but chaos, therefore should be the weakest. This necessity is mitigated by the handicap of not being able to refill this with potion spam, and therefore e.shield values can be more aggressive than they otherwise could be.

It's decently balanced. The psychological relief from getting 10% nodes instead of 8% can be a justifiable nudge. As well as making the signature Shield node (all of the defense types, including Leather and Steel imo) as beautiful as Body and Soul or Nullification.