Is anyone actually using Vaal Gems?

Well, they do do a good job of taking up inventory space to help soak us for storage panels.

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Had they not wasted their time we probably could have had actual new skills to use and build around.

Eh probably not so much. These are existing recycled assets meant to be done on the quick. Maybe at worst it cost 1 or 2 new skills, but I imagine the artists did little to no work for these. Maybe a couple afternoons tinting the skill gems into an angrier shade of red.

I use Vaal double strike. Just usually save it for the more difficult mobs.

I feel it should work as the normal skill until it is time to unleash it. I'm not putting the same skill on my bar twice. Unless it nukes all the normal mobs in a zone when used :)

I use 2 of them while leveling up.
They are great for clearing the new Vaal mini zones and strongbox spawns.
As for high level play, i don´t know....
My shadow on the legacy league, doesn´t even have any slots left over and honestly, i couldn´t care less, about that map treadmill... The game ends at around lvl 80, imho.

Using Vaal spark and arc atm, they're both fairly nice for taking out a big pack of mobs quicker then you normally would, I'll be getting rid of one or maybe both of them as I collect the normal gems I require in my build, even now my skill bar is completely full (vaal arc is replacing even default attack)

I don't foresee them being must have skills, just a small boost in killing speed, they are pretty cool IMO but that is all they are, cool.

Mine linked with vaal fireball right now on my ambush char, though I'd much rather be using molten shell cause it'd support my build better.

My standard incinerator really needed vaal skills to exist, cause it gets boring to use only one skill, but it gets even more boring if that one skill is designed to be about standing still damage hosing. Fire trap just wasn't cutting it as a secondary attack. However, vaal fireball kinda stinks cause it needs supports, molten shell seems better for that character too.

Also, vaal skills really need to persist between zones, only being removed on waypoint or portal use. It sucks to see souls go to waste.

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Tuftronic wrote:

I feel it should work as the normal skill until it is time to unleash it.

+1

PS: Storing uses between zones wouldn't be good because then you could get to say, dominus, fill your gem slots with vaal skills, set up a portal, go to a1 norm to get all the skills fully charged, then go to dominus and unleash them all for an easy kill. The way it is at the moment, you can have one or two on you, run through sceptre of the god gaining charges, and then use those two once during the dominus fight to help out a little. Maybe a second time if you gain charges from the zombies during the fight, but then the fight must be taking a while if you can recharge them during, so i don't see that as a problem.

I have used Vaal Spark a few times, its a neat trick, but when requiring so many souls, most of the big packs have already been cleared.

Hopefully with a bit of tweaking, GGG can find that sweet spot with them, I am also only just about to enter cruel on ambush, so maybe they will become more relevant at a higher difficulty.

They're exactly the noob trap a lot of us thought they would be prior to patch.

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RickyDMMontoya wrote:

They're exactly the noob trap a lot of us thought they would be prior to patch.

I'm inclined to agree though I'm not sure how it could be fixed.