Why pure caster is unplayable on late game comparing to physical damage

what about:

1) making a passive/support gem that adds your base weapon damage to your spells.
( yay now your weapon actualy does something other than giving u spell dmg increase mod )

2) make ghost reaver work also with potions. (spam 234234 potions just like an hp user )

3) tune dow critt mult to 100 and increase critt chance and decrease elemental effect duration.
(more critts to have more elemental effects , u will still need critt mult to do more raw dmg)

4) more cast speed nodes ( cast versions of finesse, acceleration, haste nodes )

5) more conversion supports ( more flexibility )

Just sayin. casters dont need a huge buff , just more ways ...

Incinerate+MoM+AA+LL caster certainly is endgame viable. Or was pre-patch. Dunno how it works out now after the LL nerf, but that hit melee just as hard.

"

Holocaustus wrote:

Incinerate+MoM+AA+LL caster certainly is endgame viable. Or was pre-patch. Dunno how it works out now after the LL nerf, but that hit melee just as hard.

The change to life leech would only affect incinerate once you stop doing damage. Because of the nature of the attack it should still be just as tanky until you turn and run.

I can't really speak to how it compares to physical builds but Incinerate is definitely viable endgame and not even all that expensive. The tooltip DPS is laughable... but the tooltip is not really accurate. The damage in practice is much, much higher. I play a summoner now, and even though my incinerate gear is super crappy I was melting things not all that more slowly than my snapshotted BMs did prenerf.

"

BackwoodsS wrote:

"

Plastic_Cup wrote:

You can manipulate most of the spells to do a lot more damage than you actually need.

What 90% of people don't realize is that your tooltip dps is only accurate in terms of hitting a mob with 0 resist of any kind.

Multi strike on a physical damage skill for example will LIST more damage but likely makes you do less damage in the process to an actual mob; Sure you attack faster but what do you gain from it?

Spells need links like Penetration which for some reason people overlook because it doesnt list dps in your tooltip.

I do more damage than anyone I have ever grouped with in maps by a far margin as a self caster.

Multipliers like Melee Damage are available for almost every spell in the game.

I guess i'm missing something.

Agreed. To op's second point. I run a face tank life based spell caster in invasion. I don't use life leech. I think the only point OP effectively makes is that most people don't know how to build.

Show me pure caster wining with Dominus or how many self-casters done Atziri ? To play caster you must use some tactics and many keys ( Q, W, etc ) + hold shift + mouse . Multi strike with other skills like cyclone give you opportunity to hitch on mobs and leech them to death holding finger on mouse. Maybe you not but i seen some difference...

Penetration + Multipliers is a basic for all casters, but damage and cast time is still to low acording to mobility of melee players ( Lighting Warp is slower then Whirling Blades both with support gems).

And for the last

Spell casters even if takes CI still must take other noods to have silly % of mana reg or life leech, and life based players just take blood magic and got everything with full mods from gear and skills. If mobs are fast caster maybe cast twice with shity damage and you become surrounded = dead. Melee or range could stand and fight much longer because of LL and LR if comparing to ES with no flask and not effective LL by silly cast speed.

"

BackwoodsS wrote:

"

Holocaustus wrote:

Incinerate+MoM+AA+LL caster certainly is endgame viable. Or was pre-patch. Dunno how it works out now after the LL nerf, but that hit melee just as hard.

The change to life leech would only affect incinerate once you stop doing damage. Because of the nature of the attack it should still be just as tanky until you turn and run.

I understand that with GMP you now leech less than before because all projectiles hit at the same time? IDK, haven't done any maps with that char since the patch. Playing Cyclone duelist now who clears maps faster, can deal with map mods easier (but he also has ~100 ex worth of gear which the Incinerator didn't have), but otoh he desyncs like mad so it all balances out in the end.

For Incinerate, you're just forced to spec into Vaal Pact.

"

Sqwa wrote:

I think pure spell casters like ice spear or fireball etc. are unplayable on late game, and reason is health. Casters can only life leech by linked gem... also spells cast much more slower then melee or ranged attacks... In my opinion is a little bit unfair.

The reason is not life leech but all the heavy resistances of monsters. E.g. lightning strike is screwed the same way since as soon as you meet a resist lightning/elemental monster your damage just cant compete with pure physical anymore. This is also why noone playes with elemental melee weapons basically. It is something that can quite easily be fixed.

Leech on gear/passive only for physical dmg is a whole different story that needs to be looked at imo.

"

Sheriff_K wrote:

For Incinerate, you're just forced to spec into Vaal Pact.

Cybil's? Anvil? Life Leech on Templar shield? Mana leech on templar shield?

You arne't forced into anything beside using your brain.

Cybil's didn't really cut it pre-patch, I doubt that suddenly changed now.