GGG Please Answer Our CI Concerns

Soo i came back again after testing CI myself and it feels like they want you to do what i said before now, i think the new jewels encourage that.

They want you to play it as originally intended, not with leech. Take alot of damage, move and recharge.

You can get (6 to 8)% increased Energy Shield Recharge Rate per Jewel.

You can also get (4 to 6)% faster start of Energy Shield Recharge per Jewel.

Lets say you get max roll ones and 4 gem slots.

That alone is an extra 32% energy shield recharge rate, 24% faster energy shield start alone from jewels. I dont know the math behind the start or recharge exactly but i know that 24% faster energy shield start is insane.

On the tree there is 15% faster energy shield start, which means 39% with jewels. Keep in mind we are talking about only 4 jewels being taking. This also doesnt count the Heartbreaker which is another 10%, which would make achieving nearly 50% fairly easy. I think this is where CI scion would shine since they have access to soo many jewels. Shavs isnt as accessible as heart breaker but thats also another 10% which makes it even more desirable than it already is for CI.

If i remember right, energy shield delay is 2 seconds, this means with nearly 40% it takes 1.6 seconds for it to begin recharging.

Energy shield recharge rate is based on a portion of your max ES, i think like 1/4th or 1/5th or something by default.

Im sure some person super smart at math can do some math concerning these jewels, the energy shield nodes.

I'd like to see a CI build using essence surge in high maps. Because it's just not possible.

I don't know how to fix CI while keeping in mind the reduced leech values but something needs to be done. Chaos damage in this game is such a non-existent threat that 15% more ES traded off with all your life isn't simply good enough to warrant an immunity to it.

Back in closed beta CI used to give a ton of ES. I recall it was something like 80% increased ES from CI alone. Later on, GGG changed it so CI didn't give any ES. They said that CI's synergy with blood rage and chaos immunity (bear in mind, chaos damage from mobs has been toned down A LOT since then) was enough of an upside. Well, chaos damage is not a real threat any more, and the synergy with blood rage is gone. Therefore, the upsides to CI are gone. Not to mention that ES itself has been nerfed a lot since then. Quality +20% used to behave like a local more-multiplier, meaning it'd multiply the ES on the gear piece AFTER taking into accound any local ES% mods. Back in those closed beta days 20k ES with CI wasn't anything weird, it was more like the norm. Well, nowadays 14k ES is a lot. The problem is, you can reach 10k with life. Considering the upsides of having 10k life versus the downsides of 14k ES with CI, it's quite clear why pretty much everyone would take the life option instead.

Energy shield recharge is a stupid mechanic IMO. It might work, but considering all the possible sources of damage in maps it just doesn't work. Any degen, any crappy mob hitting you for 100 damage and it gets interrupted. There are fights where avoiding damage for any extended period of time is a question of probability, not a question of mechanical skill. (Think daresso, kaom, malachai for some pretty obvious examples)

Personally, I really think CI needs any one (or a combination) of these compared to non-CI:
-More leech
-Passive ES regen that is separate from recharge. Could be a flat value or a scaling value. Alternatively, get rid of the ZO keystone and just naturally include it into CI. Make life regen more available in the top of the tree. (I find this option much more preferable to the one above, considering the design idea behind CI being a gigantic "sponge")
-More mana (you could seriously just include this with Infused Shield, like 25% increased mana and mana regen. Seriously. CI has resource problems other builds never face. Personally, I think this should be done no matter what else is done to CI.)
-Synergy with either a skill or a unique item. Let's be realistic, the only "CI unique" in the game is a shitty chest with crap stats and a very crappy mod. Elemental damage taken as chaos damage? Why not just ANY damage taken as chaos damage, at a smaller value? Why does it have to be a chest, when chest is probably the most important item slot for CI to reach any meaningful ES values?

CI is the most interesting keystone by far in this game and it's sad to see it reduced to nothing. I do hope that something gets done to the obscene physical damage we're seeing in the game right now, even that would serve to make CI (and many other builds, like pretty much every evasion build out there) just a bit better compared to melees who stack end charges and have fortify 24/7 up.

/end rant

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husyk wrote:

Chaos damage in this game is such a non-existent threat that 15% more ES traded off with all your life isn't simply good enough to warrant an immunity to it.
/end rant

Shhh! Don't put any ideas about buffing enemy chaos damage into GGG's heads. I really don't want chaos res to be mandatory (especially not 75% or whatever the max is!) - many of my toons have precisely balanced equipment with elemental resistance as is, and causing the price of chaos res gear to skyrocket wouldn't help anyone either.

I'd rather just have more map mods or bosses that favor CI or high chaos res toons, so that there's some benefit for taking this path without screwing everyone else over. Although, the problem of adding even further map mods so that rolling somewhat safe maps becomes even more unlikely is a whole separate topic... Maybe a new bonus boss that uses primarily chaos damage? Not mandatory by any stretch, but would be an endgame for CI toons, who would become more valuable for being able to run it and get any special drops it might have.

let's just ignore the other benefits of going the CI route

-you no longer need to dump you passives in both life and energy
-you can get much higher ES on gear because you can dedicate 3 affixes to it instead of 2
-Sustain is much easier to build towards as you no longer have to split it up over 2 pools.

as i said it before.
CI in the very late endgame is batshit insane because of the inherent retarded scaling it has.
it's just more expensive to get it rolling.

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SjakaWaka wrote:

let's just ignore the other benefits of going the CI route

-you no longer need to dump you passives in both life and energy
-you can get much higher ES on gear because you can dedicate 3 affixes to it instead of 2
-Sustain is much easier to build towards as you no longer have to split it up over 2 pools.

as i said it before.
CI in the very late endgame is batshit insane because of the inherent retarded scaling it has.
it's just more expensive to get it rolling.

Please, go play CI. It's not batshit insane unless you have access to mirrored gear.

you missed the part where i said 'very late endgame' didn't you.

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SjakaWaka wrote:

you missed the part where i said 'very late endgame' didn't you.

that late game just about every build is overpowered. Who will reach that endgame?1% of the players

I really enjoyed CI in closed beta because there was no items with chaos resist except some uniques(like geoffri's crest). Status and stuns issue was clearly a good trade for chaos imunity. Now I don't really see an interest for playing it but it's maybe just me.

However I got a friend who really enjoys CI. He took zealot's oath and he plays these boots:

He got a CI/frenzy/wander build.
Looks pretty solid with vaal discipline as emergency "potion".

I'd say that they could probably give Zealot's Oath another effect of it providing Energy Shield Regen. It's a small gimmick enough and would probably encourage alot of ES Builds to pick it up as well.

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I'd say that they could probably give Zealot's Oath another effect of it providing Energy Shield Regen. It's a small gimmick enough and would probably encourage alot of ES Builds to pick it up as well.

ZO realy is not a gimmick it's very strong when build towards