Vaal Storm Call - Skill Feedback

Since there isn't a thread in the official Feedback section of the forums yet, I'm just going to start this up now and share a couple things I've noticed.




Level 1 Gem - Requires Level 4.
Crit Chance - 4%
Stores 1 Use
Souls per use - 8/12/16 (Ridiculously low? This is on par with Vaal Spectral Throw.)
Base Duration is 3.00 Seconds. This duration does not increase with levels.

Notes
My character has an effective +96% AoE Increase as shown in my Character sheet.

Once you cast VSC on target location, it sets down one marker, and then enemies around that marker are hit randomly, one at a time by storm calls. This is not a delayed effect - the hits are successive, once every .25 seconds (Or if only a single target is nearby, once every .5s). These hits are NOT affected by Increased AoE - they are single target. Hopefully not what is intended, but the wording of the skill makes it seem to be the case.

After the duration is spent, a Storm Call hits the original target location. This hit IS affected by Increased AoE.

Increased Duration passives and support gem does work on VSC, effectively increasing the number of individual hits before it expires.

Crit is rolled once for the skill - If it crits, all the individual Storm Calls will Crit.

Thoughts
So...in essence, this is a more spammy Vaal Arc, but with the added benefit of being able to do single target damage. From reading the skill description, there seems to be a functionality completely missing from the skill, or I'm missing some kind of combination with support gems that you're supposed to use with it. Specifically the last line: "When this happens, it will also set off the lightning at any other markers from this skill". This is somewhat confusing, since VSC does not set any markers by itself, so there will always be only ONE bolt of lightning at its expiration.

Perhaps this skill is supposed to be used with that possible future support gem called Echo? Either that, or this skill is not finished yet, or the description is wrong. Some clarification or comments from devs would be nice.

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Shaeltal wrote:

Specifically the last line: "When this happens, it will also set off the lightning at any other markers from this skill". This is somewhat confusing, since VSC does not set any markers by itself, so there will always be only ONE bolt of lightning at its expiration.

I was also confused by this. Given it only needs 8 souls to cast, maybe you're supposed to recast it while it kills mobs in its buildup phase?

For that to happen, you'd have to have some links to VSC. Obviously Concentrated Effect, but even if you add, say Lightning Penetration and Added Lightning Damage, its not going to do enough damage in end-game to kill mobs by itself. And given that it doesn't do AoE damage...yeah. Still confused by this skill.

I will say though, it is nice to have it to have some instant damage get put out. But, it honestly feels like "poke poke poke poke poke poke, pow~", rather than "BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BOOOOM". Y'know?

I honestly like Vaal Ice Nova/Spark/Fireball/Burning Arrow much better than this. This doesn't even compare.

Have you tried to put down some normal storm call markers at the time the vaal one detonates ? maybe the vaal one will detonate the normal markers ??

They don't seem to interact with each other at all, unfortunately. Unless you're supposed to have multiple Vaal Storm Calls and use them all at once...? And then the very low soul count makes sense, but...who is going to use 3 slots on their skill bar for that?

Does it pick up earlier markers, or can you maybe select a mob as the target and then it sets further markers as that mob moves?
It sounds a bit like the version used by the Sunken Shingle boss which sets off a whole load of little markers, tracking you as you run away (because if you don't you die) and every so often one massive big bolt fires at the main location with little ones at all the others.

Its ground targeted, so you can't "attach" it to a mob. Targeting is done at complete random. It feels exactly like you're using whatever skill a Storm Herald modded boss uses, except the bolts DO track nearby targets and hit them instantly, every .25 seconds. Only one big bolt occurs, which is at the end of the skill duration.

Nothing like the Sunken Shingle Boss where there's a huge buildup of markers, and then a massive explosion. Again, think Storm Herald mod.

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Feedback that way ------------->

If you read the first sentence of my post, you'd notice that I said that the thread for the gem did not exist, which is why I'm starting it here, so they can move/merge it later.

Would you be able to make a video of it in action? :>