About spell block.

And what makes you think they won't make spell block more prolific than that? Or that spell block nodes they said they were adding/renovating in the tree won't be able to provide reasonable spell block?

Yeah, max 75/75 All Block will still be hard to do. It always was. But spell block in general was impossible to do outside a very specific, usually expensive subset of gear sets, or outside of being a Necromancer. Regular Witches, Shadows, most Templars - none of them had any good options whatsoever for spell block and no access to Acrobatics to offset that. Well...no. Shadow has access to Acro. Witch and Templar really don't, though.

Perhaps this change lets them make spell block easier to access across the board for the classes one would expect to be able to block spells?

Spell block is now dead for everyone. Anyone else have something to say?

well, the nerf was a lot harder than i thought...

even the sanctuary passive seems to be out of range for a red nightmare jewel.

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RPGlitch wrote:

Spell block is now dead for everyone. Anyone else have something to say?

you forgot to add "except Gladiator" after "for everyone"

(also dead is probably an exaggeration, but exaggerations freely run rampant on forums so I don't know if it's even worth arguing that point)

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adghar wrote:

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RPGlitch wrote:

Spell block is now dead for everyone. Anyone else have something to say?

you forgot to add "except Gladiator" after "for everyone"

(also dead is probably an exaggeration, but exaggerations freely run rampant on forums so I don't know if it's even worth arguing that point)

Looks like bait. Alright, let me bite. What builds besides gladiator will utilize spell block after these changes?

Slap a Stone of Lazhwar and a Rathpith Globe on any build and you get up to 30% spell block. Run through the Witch area for +10% spell block. Run through the Shadow or Templar area (choice) for another +4% spell block at least, and you're at 44% spell block, which is 1/0.56 = 1.7857 = 78.6% more average EHP against Spell hits. This is what most forum players call "Completely Useless" aka dead. I personally find it handy, though.

EDIT: Even some 20% spell block (1 spell block unique + 1 spell block cluster) is nice because it's 1/0.8 = 1.25 = 25% more average EHP against Spell Hits, although definitely not reliable because at 20% spell block you're WAY more susceptible to RNG - but not what I would personally call "dead" either.

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adghar wrote:

Slap a Stone of Lazhwar and a Rathpith Globe on any build and you get up to 30% spell block. Run through the Witch area for +10% spell block. Run through the Shadow or Templar area (choice) for another +4% spell block at least, and you're at 44% spell block, which is 1/0.56 = 1.7857 = 78.6% more average EHP against Spell hits. This is what most forum players call "Completely Useless" aka dead. I personally find it handy, though.

It's considered completely useless because it's just not worth wasting skill points over. You are running to get an unreliable source of mitigation on some far flung parts of the skill-tree wasting an extra 6-10+ skill points that could actually have been used to get real mitigation such as leech or health.

At this point, following the same logic, you might as well go with dodge, which is far less trouble, you don't even need to bother wasting any item slots, and is along the path of pretty much any evasion build on an easy 4 node path. That's why spell block is completely useless. You have a better option with less skill points, less investment, less trouble.

It's absolutely baffling besides obliterating any build that utilized block in anyway, besides gladiator.

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EDIT: Even some 20% spell block (1 spell block unique + 1 spell block cluster) is nice because it's 1/0.8 = 1.25 = 25% more average EHP against Spell Hits, although definitely not reliable because at 20% spell block you're WAY more susceptible to RNG - but not what I would personally call "dead" either.

What build is gonna give up, pathing to some remote place in the east/west side of the tree for 4% spell block? Nobody, lol. The only decent one is the witch and its placed in weird area that a lot of builds don't even path through. The skill-tree changes are a joke. Only an idiot would even get them at their current values.

Those clusters look pretty accessible to me, but it was always going to be a difference of opinion and taste. 1453R once said something along the lines of, it's always completely OP or completely useless with you people, and that's certainly true. You do make me want to experiment with being an idiot, though, to see just how much is sacrificed for the sake of spell block.

BTW Spell Block has some benefits over spell dodge as you've presented it, mainly on-block effects and the fact that you don't have to sacrifice Armour or Energy Shield to spec into those passive nodes.

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adghar wrote:

Those clusters look pretty accessible to me, but it was always going to be a difference of opinion and taste.

It's not an opinion. You said any build can get there, and that's not true. If your build doesn't path through that area. You are not gonna be slapping spell block on anything.

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You do make me want to experiment with being an idiot, though, to see just how much is sacrificed for the sake of spell block.

You don't have to be an idiot, reddit already crunched all the numbers for you. But if your set on wasting your time, I'm not gonna stop you.

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adghar wrote:

BTW Spell Block has some benefits over spell dodge as you've presented it, mainly on-block effects and the fact that you don't have to sacrifice Armour or Energy Shield to spec into those passive nodes.

You can't get the benefits of spell block if your spell block doesn't even trigger half the time. Yes, spell block is good as a mechanic. That's why spell block was a thing and why people care about the changes. As someone whose exclusively played block builds on the last 3 leagues. I have a pretty good idea on how rng is on 25%-75% spell block. It's dead.

Don't have to be an idiot, but that won't stop me from being an idiot and playing a dead build.

Sounds fun, if a bit necrophiliac!