Block is an inflated Defensive Stat that is way too OP and completely out of Line

Block in this game is just so insanely broken, it's not even funny anymore. Every build you can grab some Block on immediately feels so much tankier, it's actually unreal.

The fact that Block negates ALL damage when successful AND triggers "when hit" effects, i.e such as Endurance Charges from Inexorable, is what makes it so OP. Looking at Svalinn and the usual offender, Aegis Aurora, we can see what a serious problem these pose.

Two-Handed builds, aside from staves, in general have no access to it and can only do so with specific workarounds and out-of-the-box thinking.

And I can't believe I'm saying this, but for once I much prefer a mechanic from Grim Dawn, where Block not only has a type of cooldown, but also a max amount of damage it can negate, plus it's much harder to aquire lots of it. And still, I was able to make near immortal characters facetanking Celestials (equivalent to Ubers) that also used Block. But that's beside the point.

In PoE, we got Life/ES/Mana on Block and so on. These alone, when combined with capped Block, can make you near immortal. And even if you don't have those specifically, you can still negate so much damage on average, it feels almost mandatory to get if you have some means of access.

And it doesn't take much at all. Depending on your type of build, it could be as easy as two small passive wheels and a keystone.

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Example build:

Here's the PoB of a character I tried to make this league (Mercenaries) using ONLY uniques and centered around Writhing Jar, with the idea being that I'd use the worms and Bino's Kitchen Knife to spread Poisons inflicted by my Bladebitter Merc, except that I later realized that the worms cannot spread Poison (they can spread Shock, though, which sparked this idea originally): https://pobb.in/YgDIgqgFt1yR

It has 100% Spell Suppression with Life on suppress, 65/65% Block, 85% max resists without flasks, tons of auto Life Recovery, Petrified Blood, Life on Block, Life on kill (both flat and %) and 5 Endurance Charges with charges gained on kill + automated Immortal Call + 10% flat PDR from Adrenaline on kill, ailment immunity, Curse immunity, etc. Yeah, it's tanky.

The idea was that Squirming Terror spawns worms, which the Merc then kills, and Gravebind attributes those kills to me, triggering the socketed Zombie of Falling, which then triggers my worm flasks via Mother's Embrace (for far fewer charges used), spawning even more worms. Rinse and repeat.

Does it work? Absolutely. Here's a small excerpt:



So, why is this relevant? Well, how about you go into that config and type in "Cannot Block" and watch that eHP number drop from 649k down to a whopping 99k. And while experienced builders know that eHP in PoB is an inflated stat that can easily be manipulated, it does represent in-game reality to a degree.

If I take off the helmet, I can immediately feel the difference in maps with Goatmen spellcasters, Spark skeletons and so on. If I take off the shield, I suddenly feel so squishy, noticeably so against porcupines, despite having EC + IC.

And here's an example of how stupidly easy it is to have a 71/65% Block character with massive amounts of Life on Block, and tons of room left to grow: https://pobb.in/ow2ANkRePkqH

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GGG nerfed Bone Offering years ago because they deemed Life on Block from it too OP, but why is the rest still in the game, and why has Block not been nerfed? Block is currently more OP than ever before, in particular due to the existence of Lucky Block on Svalinn (insanely broken).

This is no longer an "either or" situation, but more of a "Your character has no Block? Get fucked." type of situation.

Block is completely out of line and maybe, just this once, GGG should take a page out of Crate's playbook. And, of course, at the same time they could finally adjust monster damage numbers in the process.

Oh dear, do we really need another bait topic that ends up with multiple people proving you wrong over a couple of pages?

It’s pretty funny how one of the most underrated defensive layers, once dismissed as a meme and even called terrible for leagues has quietly gained traction over just two leagues.
Yet here we are, with the usual crowd, driven by FOMO and a surprising lack of understanding of even the basic mechanics, making bait topics about it being “too OP” and “unfair.” Classic move, same old song and dance.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

And, of course, at the same time they could finally adjust monster damage numbers in the process.

Maybe after playing for over a year and a half, it’s time to adjust your characters and knowledge to the current state of the game, rather than expecting the game to change just because you want it to.

Good vs trash mobs, irrelevant when it really matters(uber bosses). Also, there is no 100% block, so eventually: "whoops dead in hc. peekaboo!"

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VoidWhisperer42#5989 wrote:

Maybe after playing for over a year and a half, it’s time to adjust your characters and knowledge to the current state of the game, rather than expecting the game to change just because you want it to.

I know I shouldn't, but I'll indulge you just this once. I've been playing the game since 2013, across multiple accounts as I do have a love-hate relationship with the game. I don't need you to tell me what game mechanics are. Not that you would know anyway, lol.

The countless attempts of you trying to get me riled up enough to slip up and get banned is honestly just amusing at this point. I can't even take you seriously anymore; it's all just a game of who's going to be the dumb one to fall for it. I am truly not impressed. 🥱

Have a good one, buddy.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

I know I shouldn't, but I'll indulge you just this once. I've been playing the game since 2013, across multiple accounts as I do have a love-hate relationship with the game. I don't need you to tell me what game mechanics are. Not that you would know anyway, lol.

Seeing you struggle with basic mechanics kind of says it all — it’s pretty clear to most that you’re still fairly new to the game. So no, it’s not exactly surprising that someone who’s played more leagues would have a stronger grasp of the basics (and beyond), especially compared to someone in their fourth league who still refuses to actually learn.

If you’d really been around since 2013, stuff like “stacker OP,” “too expensive,” or “block OP” wouldn’t feel like revelations — they’d just be... known. But hey, I’ll take a wild guess: the meta shifted harder this league, and after a few thousand YouTube videos, you finally realized block isn’t some meme mechanic — it’s just part of a proper layered defense.

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Strickl3r#3809 wrote:

Good vs trash mobs, irrelevant when it really matters(uber bosses). Also, there is no 100% block, so eventually: "whoops dead in hc. peekaboo!"

Exactly this. But OP clearly doesn’t understand how basic defensive layers work, which is why block looks like a problem to them, when in reality, it’s just one piece of the puzzle to build a durable character. Like you said, there’s no such thing as 100% block, so if that’s all you’ve got, you're still getting deleted.

Block is fine.

That said, recovery on block is more on the stupid side in my opinion. When an attack against you goes from being a danger to something that may heal you for 'most' of your life, I think we're starting to enter a grey zone.

Anyhow, when you can reach >95% block/spell block chance, where 95% of all hits against you is healing you, we're starting to see more Drowning Orb mechanics, on-death effects and other annoyances pushed in more corners of the game to resemble some kind of "skilled mechanic" that needs to post a threat vs all defensive layers.

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

we're starting to see more Drowning Orb mechanics, on-death effects and other annoyances pushed in more corners of the game to resemble some kind of "skilled mechanic" that needs to post a threat vs all defensive layers.

Stuff like Volatile Cores, the T17 mechanic that can still reliably one-shot even very tanky characters, only exists because of such shenanigans in the first place. If you go and watch old interviews, the GGG devs do talk about the necessity of killing the player. See how reluctant they were with changing the "ol' reliables" such as DD strongboxes, after which they added a ton more rippy stuff. Drowning Orbs having no direct counter other than not remaining in them is a direct result of too many OP mechanics stacked on top of one another that requires for GGG to find a new "ol' reliable".

However, I don't agree that Block is only OP because of Recovery mechanics. I consider CI to be OP as well, because complete immunity to a whole damage type is stupid, and Block is stupid in the same sense because it makes you take zero damage from hits when you block. I'm not sure if you are aware, but that also means that it completely negates "on hit" effects from attackers, but doesn't prevent "when hit" effects. It's why 50% Block chance maps feel like ass on a Bleed build without the attack mastery.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

we're starting to see more Drowning Orb mechanics, on-death effects and other annoyances pushed in more corners of the game to resemble some kind of "skilled mechanic" that needs to post a threat vs all defensive layers.

Stuff like Volatile Cores, the T17 mechanic that can still reliably one-shot even very tanky characters, only exists because of such shenanigans in the first place.

That's more or less what I said...

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However, I don't agree that Block is only OP because of Recovery mechanics. I consider CI to be OP as well, because complete immunity to a whole damage type is stupid, and Block is stupid in the same sense because it makes you take zero damage from hits when you block. I'm not sure if you are aware, but that also means that it completely negates "on hit" effects from attackers, but doesn't prevent "when hit" effects. It's why 50% Block chance maps feel like ass on a Bleed build without the attack mastery

I don't really agree. As other have touched upon; you can't rely too heavily on block. If you do, it will kill you, and we end up with "OMG!!!11 I got one-shot"-threads in the forums by people that don't understand layers.

Is ES OP? Well, comparatively to life, it is. ES was meant to be a high-pool, low(er) sustain option to life. But these days, through various regen and leech mechanics, it achieves more sustain than life in addition (and because of) the size of the pool.

Is the answer nerfing ES? Not directly, in my opinion, but I think they should add some defensive tools for life with "less Energy Shield" drawbacks.

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

That's more or less what I said...

I am aware, and yet it's not.

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Phrazz#3529 wrote:

Is the answer nerfing ES? Not directly, in my opinion, but I think they should add some defensive tools for life with "less Energy Shield" drawbacks.

No, we absolutely need nerfs across the board. Approaches as you stated here is why the game is in the state it's in. Constant re-shuffling and buffing to raise the ceiling bit by bit.

Life doesn't need more tools to keep up with ES, but ES needs to be tuned way the fuck down.

If you keep buffing the underperformers, power creep happens. It's why we went from a few million DPS being absolutely crazy to now several billion in the realm of possibility.

People always compare it to Diablo, and even Diablo 4 went the same route. Now you get stupidly high numbers with a B behind them, yet when I played D3, we still had a K and the occasional M.