Is anyone actually using Vaal Gems?

I use Vaal Burning Arrow to go along with my Barrage Scion. Works really well.

I found vaal double strike but with 36 souls needed and only 4 second duration I think its useless. It also fills slots and in end game I have no slots left.

I was very surprised to see that I cannot use the gem at all when it is not filled. What is the need then?

Reeeep vaal gems.. so bad.

Vaal gems are underrated.

Vaal Spark + chain = potentially 450 projectiles from a single spell.
Vaal Double Strike just by itself basically effectively doubles (double bro) your dps for it's duration if your single target is Double Strike. Four seconds of double your dps is useless @Pendoza?

Vaal Rain of Arrows effectively is an aoe bear trap... what is to not love about that?
Vaal Fireball +chain... even if only 1/3 of this spell hits a target it does more damage than a GMP fireball + chain.
Vaal Molten Shell.... Damage every hit? Need I really say more?
Vaal Detonate Dead..... Needs to be nerfed. Spawn 15 corpses with desecrate and have a blast.

These gems are really fun if you play around with them but GGG is trying hard not to make them game breaking. Just... "fun" you know... what this "game" ... is supposed to be about?

Vaal gems are useless.

Not worth the gem slot or action bar slot.

You rarely get to use them, and when you do they arent THAT much better.

I think that the real problem with the Vaal skills is that they have no niche to fill. They don't allow you to do anything that you couldn't already do without them. Monsters die, with or without them. The only one I could see any of my characters using is coldsnap.

"

Crackmonster wrote:

They should make it so that corrupting a gem has the chance of turning it into a vaal gem.

This is confirmed possible by me, just now, doing it with spectral throw -> vaal spectral throw and it retained its level

"

BearCares wrote:

I use Vaal Burning Arrow to go along with my Barrage Scion. Works really well.

Spoiler

How much longer it takes to charge two vaal burning arrows instead of one? I think about swithing to setup with two lol. :)


BTW. Ppl that say the vaal skills are thrash... just lol.
They are OP, they are fun to use and they spice up gameplay, they are visually impressive, they can oneshot bosses if linked well, even not linked they are great boss killers/utility skills...

kudos for GGG for them. Much better implementation of new gameplay mechanic than 'cast on..' gems (meybe without cast on dmg and cast on crit).

Cant wait for vaal version of summons or skills like smoke mine or flicker strike (lol this will be hilarious!).

Honestly, I was hoping they would have corrupted gems in a different way.
You'd have specifics from one gem transplanted unto another.
Every combination is possible.

Leap slam + Searing bond for example would have been hilarious.
Totem that leap slams to enemies and unleashes burn damage.

Summon skeletons + spectral throw
Summons skeletons that use spectral throw.

et cetera

This ... would... be... amazing.
Godlike to play.
Beyond any game ever.


Hell, make them combine with key nodes on the passive tree and uniques as well for complete fun.
Cyclone + shavronne's. While you're using cyclone, chaos damage doesn't bypass energy shield.

THINK OF THE POSSIBILITIES!

I just realized this today that souls needed go down as you level them.

I wonder if anyone else didn't read up like I didn't?

So Vaal Spark starts at 96 needed and at level 9 is down to 48. The difference is huge.

And the cool thing about Vaal Spark is the few seconds it lasts, it moves with you so you can clear a path with it. I wonder if duration can affect it?

I've been using Vaal cold snap to lock everything in place then fire off a vaal spark+fork and everything on screen just vaporizes. It's very satisfying, though I'm only just starting merc now. I can't imagine I'll be willing to give up those gem slots once I get the ball rolling with my Ambush character.

Still though, they're fun to fart around with.