Fanaticism Needs Adjustments

So here are the main two problems I see with this reworked ascendancy:

(TL:DR)
1. Too Clunky
2. Fake Damage boost
3. Hybrid is not a thing


1. So the main issue I have so far is that it's clunky to use. If you miss time an attack, you miss the window in which a stack will proc. The solution to this would be to allow the skill to queue an additional stack proc when you attack. This honestly should be hotfixed, because it's really unwieldy in it's current state.

2. The other problem is the total DPS is actually no better than if you simply stood still spell casting for 8 seconds. You are spending an ascendancy to have 4 seconds of burst damage. Which is fine for any build that already kills bosses extremely fast. The issue is though this is just another pendulum ascendancy, but for inquisitor instead.

3. Hybrid is just stupid to have in this game in it's current state. Not only is it far simpler to mash one button builds, but to have a true hybrid build, you are forced into two hander, even then, all you are doing is switching between two skills that don't even synergise.
For hybrid builds to work and to MAKE SENSE we need:
-More slots/links (hopefully in POE2)
-Self cast attack skills that synergise with self cast spells and vice versa (More skills like bladefall/blast, but obviously usable with fanaticism).
-Hybrid offensive stats need to be more frequent.

Until these criteria are met there is no point trying to entice players to make these unworkable builds. Fix Fanaticism.

Could not disagree more.

My leaguestarter is a Divine Ire inquisitor which uses Fanaticism and Shield Charge to get near-instant 20 stack laser blasts. 75% more cast speed is very powerful in the proper setup, it's just not a braindead single-button build.

Regarding point 2, you're right about the damage being worse than "if you stood perfectly still for 8 seconds," but that's not a thing in POE. You should always be moving forward constantly in maps, or repositioning to dodge big telegraphed hits against bosses. In practice, it's MUCH more damage while clearing because you spend a larger percentage of your time moving between packs of enemies, and slightly more damage vs bosses because you can unload your damage between dodges. Think of Fanaticism as "free unleash on every spell, even spells which normally can't be supported by unleash."

Regarding point 3, I have no idea where your "forced to use 2-handers" statement is even coming from. Battlemage is great because the item affixes for local flat elemental damage (the Vapourizing prefix, etc) are approximately THREE TIMES better than their "flat damage to spells" counterparts (Electrocuting, etc). Wands and sceptres with big localized damage mods are fantastic, easily worth an extra support gem in raw base damage.

An issue that I found is that channeled melee spells (i.e. cyclone) only counts for one Fanatic charge until released and re-engaged. It is ridiculously clunky having to stutter-step cyclone to build up Fanatic Charges.

Also:

-It is hard to get attack speed to make the melee portion of this "hybrid" build feel smooth without gimping yourself in the spell department.

-The melee portion of this "hybrid" build's damage is absolutely worthless, and is only used as a vehicle to get Fanatic charges -- which makes this build poorly fulfill the fantasy archetype, where both melee and spells are supposed to be meaningful.

i think that the mistake people make with this battlemage/fanaticism is that they take it seriously in a - still - one click game POE is.

and an even bigger mistake is to use it with melee weapon (tricked by this huuuge roll on a staff that would otherwise get wasted)

dont.

Battlemage / Fanaticism -> Spellslinger


but.. and this is a big but. is it worth 4 ascendancy passives? Sure, the Divine Ire example is cool but imo it is more of 'fixing a totem skill' than an example of how this makes any sense from the numerical standpoint

Kinetic Bolt has this 200% multiplier and it is still widely disregarded as a valid option. there is not enough 'generic' damage floating around to make ATTACK and SPELL (esp non-wand) deal comparable damage. to make constant switching work.

hit-DoT skills (like firestorm, cremation etc) can be used to QUICKLY cast them so they start contributing and be back to attacking. but again.. why?

you one-button clear, but boss fights are mashing lots of buffs - adding yet another rotation for neglible dps increase (if any)?


The '30% more damage all the time' node on the other hand? both my wanders took it immediately gaining easiest, cheapest and worst feeling free buffs ever.

as long as Dash is a spell.. sorry, this node sucks balance and design wise (30% for free when Berserker gets 40% and 10% more damage taken? for real?)

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate wrote:

Could not disagree more.

My leaguestarter is a Divine Ire inquisitor which uses Fanaticism and Shield Charge to get near-instant 20 stack laser blasts. 75% more cast speed is very powerful in the proper setup, it's just not a braindead single-button build.

Regarding point 2, you're right about the damage being worse than "if you stood perfectly still for 8 seconds," but that's not a thing in POE. You should always be moving forward constantly in maps, or repositioning to dodge big telegraphed hits against bosses. In practice, it's MUCH more damage while clearing because you spend a larger percentage of your time moving between packs of enemies, and slightly more damage vs bosses because you can unload your damage between dodges. Think of Fanaticism as "free unleash on every spell, even spells which normally can't be supported by unleash."

Regarding point 3, I have no idea where your "forced to use 2-handers" statement is even coming from. Battlemage is great because the item affixes for local flat elemental damage (the Vapourizing prefix, etc) are approximately THREE TIMES better than their "flat damage to spells" counterparts (Electrocuting, etc). Wands and sceptres with big localized damage mods are fantastic, easily worth an extra support gem in raw base damage.

I'd like to see your Divine Ire build, I'd be interested in seeing what a proper setup is.

And obviously you can't always stand still, but that's the same for when fanaticism is on. And like I suggested, this skill feels really bad for any setup that isn't super optimised. As you often run into the problem of waiting for stacks (this is in part because of the way stacks are built in my first point).

As for my third point I'm referring to pure hybrid playstyle which GGG seems to want to push. Unless you can both achieve similar damage and synergy between an attack and spell skill, what you are doing is not hybrid.

There is no proper setup, his divine ire build actually sux. Move, fire off 1 lazor for 2,5 mill dmg, move gain fire off another lazor... Its ends up being less DPS than any other skill that does not have a condition to self interrupt while outputting damage.

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Bosscannon wrote:

There is no proper setup, his divine ire build actually sux. Move, fire off 1 lazor for 2,5 mill dmg, move gain fire off another lazor... Its ends up being less DPS than any other skill that does not have a condition to self interrupt while outputting damage.

I was giving him the benefit of a doubt. But since he's not even responded I take it he's full of shite.

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Zombiesbum wrote:

I was giving him the benefit of a doubt. But since he's not even responded I take it he's full of shite.

That's definitely the only explanation, and not that I figured nothing else needed to be said that wasn't said by me and Sid, and I didn't read the thread again.

I mean... I don't know what to tell you, man. I'm charging to 20 stacks of Div Ire in under half a second and one-shotting map bosses. Sorry that you couldn't figure out how to make it work for you, I guess?

Also:

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Bosscannon wrote:

There is no proper setup, his divine ire build actually sux. Move, fire off 1 lazor for 2,5 mill dmg

I actually laughed at this. 2.5 million damage is very, VERY low for self-cast Divine Ire (this is about the damage I'd expect per-totem on a budget Heirophant). You're off your endgame damage by an entire order of magnitude here; I suggest checking out a guide for the skill since apparently you've never actually played it.

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ARealLifeCaribbeanPirate wrote:

"

Zombiesbum wrote:

I was giving him the benefit of a doubt. But since he's not even responded I take it he's full of shite.

That's definitely the only explanation, and not that I figured nothing else needed to be said that wasn't said by me and Sid, and I didn't read the thread again.

I mean... I don't know what to tell you, man. I'm charging to 20 stacks of Div Ire in under half a second and one-shotting map bosses. Sorry that you couldn't figure out how to make it work for you, I guess?

Also:

"

Bosscannon wrote:

There is no proper setup, his divine ire build actually sux. Move, fire off 1 lazor for 2,5 mill dmg

I actually laughed at this. 2.5 million damage is very, VERY low for self-cast Divine Ire (this is about the damage I'd expect per-totem on a budget Heirophant). You're off your endgame damage by an entire order of magnitude here; I suggest checking out a guide for the skill since apparently you've never actually played it.

So link your build then. I'd like to see it.

The node is fine. Channeling skill interaction needs to be fixed though.