Critical Strike Affliction is VERY undertuned

Even with 100% chance to critical strike with a skill that does ailments, this gem provides at most around 20% more damage for a ailment focused build that gets a reasonable amount of ailment multiplier from other sources. 80-120% Ailment multiplier is not that hard to get on the passive tree and bad gear.

In the recent balance pass, the idea is that support gems should provide low damage if they impose no downside, high damage if there is a downside.

This gem has two HUGE downsides that are not accounted for with it's pitiful damage. First of all, you have to invest a lot into crit for it to be usable (in addition to ailments). Second of all, it's anti-synergistic with Perfect Agony, as the multipliers gained from critical strike multipliers have diminishing returns with ailment multipliers.

undertuned?! 83% DoT multi in a single gem is crazy OVERtuned.

Ed: ignore what I previously wrote, I wasn't thinking straight

BUT

DoT Multi and Crit Multi are two very different interactions that don't exactly interact with each other apart from just multiplying each other's damage. One NEVER reduces the other, its mathematically impossible for most ailment builds. Perfect Agnoy doesn't have a negative synergistic effect with Crit Affliction because crit affliction is just giving you a huge amount of DoT multi, not CRIT multi.

ALSO you don't need to heavily invest in crit for DoT multipliers, they are entirely independent of critical hits...they are just the more multiplier for ailments in the same way "more x damage" is a more multiplier for hits, whether they crit or not. You ONLY need to invest heavily into crit and crit multi if you choose to go Perfect Agony, which is generally a good choice since it's also a multiplier.

Two entirely separate ways to multiply DoT.

ALSO ALSO what does it matter that its easy to get other sources of DoT multiplier from the tree? Thats true of every single stat in the game...the gem provides MORE of it, regardless.

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jsuslak313 wrote:

DoT Multi and Crit Multi are two very different interactions that don't exactly interact with each other apart from just multiplying each other's damage. One NEVER reduces the other, its mathematically impossible for most ailment builds. Perfect Agnoy doesn't have a negative synergistic effect with Crit Affliction because crit affliction is just giving you a huge amount of DoT multi, not CRIT multi.

I appreciate your response but I think you are wrong here. Perfect agony wording specifically says that critical strike multipliers "Also apply to damage over time multiplier for ailments". It is not a separate multiplier, it is additive with other sources of ailment multipliers. Thus, the support gem and perfect agony are a single combined stat with diminishing returns.

The problem with this support gem, is that if you specifically make an ailment build going for as much crit as possible without perfect agony, it will give you about a 18-25% more damage multiplier, which is kind of terrible considering you had to invest everything into crit already. The better your gear, the lower the value.

Most other support gems supply a separate multiplier for damage, meaning they don't have diminishing returns with other stats. This gem undoubtedly does, and to even be worth considering, would probably need to be at least 120%.

On my poison build in PoB, if I change my critical strike chance to 100% and add a level 40 Critical Strike Affliction to my gem setup, it's a downgrade over a level 20 hypothermia or swift affliction and only marginally better than level 20 efficacy.

GGG, I challenge you to provide any reasonable item/gear setup where this gem is worth using on your main damaging skill.

*ed: I'm TOTALLY WRONG

You are right, for some reason I completely missed the "from critical strikes" line on the support gem. Not sure how, considering the NAME of the gem...

Separate MORE multipliers like efficacy, swift affliction, etc. will always be better at later stages.

Since all DoT builds have access to: Awakened Deadly Ailments, Awakened Swift Affliction, Awakened Unbound ailments, plus other 20+% more multis, it functionally makes Critical Strike Affliction outclassed and useless.

I agree with you!