Scion is extremely underwhelming in 2.3

So after the latest nerfs, scion's deadeye pierce was reduced to 30% and the 1,5% life leech was converted into 1% life leech if you have recently killed.

I can't begin to state how bad this is. Basically the only 2 good ascendancies scion had were gutted hard. All the other scion ascendancies are trash and they only saw infrequent picks (like mjölners picking scion champion for the free fortify + taunt, but who the hell goes scion mjölner without berserker leech anyway?).

If you want to do a build on a scion there is another class that does it way better. I did try to use the new option of being able to get a free start on the passive tree, and yes, I could theorycraft some very node efficient builds that way. The problem? Most of the starting nodes SUCK for builds that would like extreme passive efficiency, and regardless you'd still be better off using another class, having less passive nodes but having insanely stronger ascendancies that more than make up for it.

For instance, I could make an ES based mjölner character by using the duelist start and get unwavering and some other nice things while saving like 5-6 passive points. The problem is, with the gutting of the scion berserker there's no reason for you at all to go scion for mjölner. Even an occultist is a smarter choice for that.

Please consider reworking the scion ascendancies. I get it, scion isn't supposed to be especially good at any one aspect, but let's be realistic. Scion ascendancies are complete garbage. And you really can not say scion is in a good spot after taking a look at what kind of insane buffs basically every other class received directly and indirectly.

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husyk wrote:

Basically the only 2 good ascendancies scion had were gutted hard.

It was a good decision to nerf them, the real problem is only two were good in the first place and a few others are passable at best.

Deadeye is still decent but Berserker didn't really have anything except leech going for him and he has one mod less than other aspects to start with. No idea who's the smartass that counts '10% more damage, 5% inc damage taken' as two mods.

If that leech wasn´t "if you have recently killed" I´m fine.

Honestly i am of the opinion the old scion was fine, since all other ascendancy's get 8 points now.

This in itself would have severely undermined scion as a "go to" ascendancy choice.

But like raics already mentioned, a lot of the choices are very underwhelming. The old dead-eye and serker should have been the baseline and maintained.

If we imagine all of the other choices on par with the old dead-eye and serker in therms of power, scion as a whole only becomes more interesting and difficult to master in my opinion.

And even then, the core class specific ascendancy's far out-shine what scion can offer in a particular field even with regards to the pre-nerf scion.

All in all, if we consider every character has the possibility of 8 points now, scion needs to be addressed again. I think it was the wrong move to nerf the scion while at the same time releasing 8 points to all ascendancy's, which nerfs scion by comparison.

I think they need to revisit all of them and try to utilize a
-power
-defense
-utility

style of forming scion ascendancy's. Divide them up and try to form the essence of the ascendancy it's trying to emulate based on those three factors. A reduction from four property's to three per scion ascendancy would not be unwelcome "IF" these are beneficial/strong and offer interesting mechanics.

Peace,

-Boem-

edit : based on how likely it is GGG nerfed scion based on statistics formed in a league where chaos spark dominated the meta(for which scion was an ideal class pick) it is not unlikely that nerfing voltaxic in itself would have sufficed to bring down the total "ascendant" count. without even touching the attributes of the ascendancy tree itself.

I made a thread after the Scion nerfs were confirmed with a few suggestions to keep scion's power more in line with other classes. The changes i suggested were influenced by the spirit of scion's ascendancy passive nodes taking a fraction of the power that other classes have. I just made her take the power that counts and more of it. Here is the thread if you wanna read it:

https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/1667357/page/1#p13323247

The leech change was so detrimental it shows GGG'S lack of in game knowledge.

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TheAshmaker wrote:

The leech change was so detrimental it shows GGG'S lack of in game knowledge.

Honestly, the pre-nerf berserker and deadeye are exactly the kind of nodes scion should HAVE for ascendancies. The whole point of scion is to enable niche builds that just are not possible with any other class. And I think the option to get a free life leech gem or free pierce gem (albeit at slightly reduced effectiveness) is precisely what enables niche builds to function.

In perandus I had an amazing scion CoC build that just is not functional anymore without the berserker life leech.
I also had a really fun scion wander build that just is not functional with the nerfed deadeye passive.

In it's current state, unless your build goes full ES regen tank or needs absolutely all crit possible scion is just not worth it. And even then you can make it work with another class, probably better overall.

Please GGG, revert the scion ascendancy nerfs. With the nerfs to voltaxic spark (main reason people took scion in the first place!) these nerfs are redundant and unnecessary. That's the best thing you can do while you rework all the other scion ascendancies to justify picking them, for build enabling or build empowering purposes.

They should have never nerfed anything especially with buffs and 2 pts to everyone else. Old was OP but it wouldn't be today compared to others.

Many of the ascendancy nodes are not OP, I think they are meant to be build-enabling. The point is that you can combine two of them; the combination will be less powerful than a proper ascendancy, but more versatile.

eg: Want your ES chaos damage character to be stun immune, but really need your Amulet slot? Pick up Juggernaut and Occultist then.

Want to run a crit melee totem build? Grab Assassin for the 1% base crit chance, and Hierophant for the extra totem in your BoR.

If you take Pathfinder and Guardian, then you can keep your whole party on full charges with one Doryani's Catalyst. (Or, you could just grab conduit, since it's right next to the scion start, and free up your second ascendancy for grabbing Slayer's culling strike so you can use another gem on your MF skill).

With the trickster node you can easily sustain Flicker strike, especially if you use Oro's so you can get the 30% recovery bonus as well - so why not grab Chieftain too for the 15% extra chance to ignite? (And a healthy damage and life regen boost if you place an Ancestral Protector before you start flicking.)

etc etc... There are 135 different possible combinations to choose from!

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TheAshmaker wrote:

The leech change was so detrimental it shows GGG'S lack of in game knowledge.

Well, the reason zerker had nothing special to offer except leech is because unconditional leech with all damage types is very hard to get, the usual way to get it is either leech gem or WM, which bears a very high opportunity cost. Basically, 1,5% leech has a similar value as extra gem slot or +1 curse, and zerker got nothing to make up for the loss.

Now, I'm not saying Scion is useless now, you can still create good builds with her and for some of the more exotic ones she will actually be the best choice. I'd just like to see less fluff on her nodes, because she can pick precious few of them already. Also, every ascendancy needs some sort of a selling point, a few of hers have none at all.