Is Molten Strike too powerful as a starter's gem?

Hiy sid, little of topic question for you.

If i take static blows and that helmet with molten strike, will it function?( don't have that helm to test it so :D)

Peace,

-Boem-

Edit : about this skill being to op. Have people tested this "raw" skill in maps? I did and my heavy strike still did more damage because of it being pure physical damage. And when i came across fire immune mobs, well...

(however, this testing was done on a passive tree not dedicated to molten strike, but then again if you build around it should it not yield good results? It's still partially elemental which sort of sux for this game in a few ways, resis,leach for example)

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Do_odle wrote:

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raics wrote:

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Legatus1982 wrote:

What's different that makes molten so op that doesn't apply to lightning strike?

It hits way more targets than LS.
It can hit one target multiple times.

False. Lighting Strike can Chain and when something chains it isn't randomly generated to a spot where no mobs are even standing, perhaps a barrel or a pot but that's almost irrelevant.

Can hit one target multiple times and will hit the target multiple times are two very different things which I think is addressed with the less projectile damage gimp.

It is strong, quite strong with the right set-up, but then.. Isn't everything? O_ o These blood magic molten strikers won't even come close to the deeps of a crit lightning striker. A crit molten striker woo.. I can only imagine the kind of ci build that has to pull that off and get point blank is going to be horribly gimped defense wise in one way or another..

Well, if we draw support gems into the equation we come to concentrated effect and point blank, first one doesn't work with LS and second isn't very popular, that's already two more multipliers than LS can have, second one even being available as a keystone to save the slot. And I'd say vanilla molten won't hit significantly fewer enemies than chained LS, and all that without the crippling 50% damage penalty that chain has.

We're really debating things that are all too obvious here, any doubts can be dispelled if you take the time to watch some streams of the upcoming two week race. I predict it will be as interesting and varied as TV shows in time of elections.

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raics wrote:

Well, if we draw support gems into the equation we come to concentrated effect and point blank, first one doesn't work with LS and second isn't very popular, that's already two more multipliers than LS can have, second one even being available as a keystone to save the slot. And I'd say vanilla molten won't hit significantly fewer enemies than chained LS, and all that without the crippling 50% damage penalty that chain has.

We're really debating things that are all too obvious here, any doubts can be dispelled if you take the time to watch some streams of the upcoming two week race. I predict it will be as interesting and varied as TV shows in time of elections.

Yeah I think I'm with you on this issue now. It's probably just op because it's new though, I'm sure it will eventually get nerfed.

However, it isn't op by much. Consider that LS has a much larger range which is huge in Poe. And also that you can shock targets without tying up your helm slot with uniques that don't have life on them. And the auto target of chain can hit behind you, something conal attacks like reave are largely avoided for. I dropped MS for double strike simply because MS won't leech. It's a factor.

So yeah it might be a little op, but all considered I don't think by much. Just a small nerf would be fine I think and that's probably what it will get after the race.

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Legatus1982 wrote:

So yeah it might be a little op, but all considered I don't think by much. Just a small nerf would be fine I think and that's probably what it will get after the race.

Right, it isn't a huge offender, just a damn useful all-round skill, you got good single target damage and a decent area damage in one package, ready to go from the start, properly supported it can excel at either. Very versatile and cheap skill, lackluster leeching is offset by good LoH compatibility.

They'll probably just revert the skill to an earlier prototype where it did no physical damage with projectiles, that should be enough. My bigger concern is we get it too early so it screws up racing balance, level 24 would be just right.

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raics wrote:

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Legatus1982 wrote:

My bigger concern is we get it too early so it screws up racing balance, level 24 would be just right.

I absolutely agree about the balance in racing. It usually takes me about 20min to reach level 6 in solo races. With molten strike less than 20min for level 7.

And I am a very slow racer I believe.

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TokkahnKhan wrote:

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raics wrote:

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Legatus1982 wrote:

My bigger concern is we get it too early so it screws up racing balance, level 24 would be just right.

I absolutely agree about the balance in racing. It usually takes me about 20min to reach level 6 in solo races. With molten strike less than 20min for level 7.

And I am a very slow racer I believe.

Hey, I didn't say that. How dare you put words in my mouth sir.

Though I'm not disagreeing with what he said, he may be right on that issue :P

As someone who does a lot of racing I feel like this skill is great for single target damage, but lacks the AOE to make it as effective race skill compared to say spectral throw/ground slam.

The single target could possibly be nerfed as it does laughable damage almost similar to pre-nerfed spectral throw.

I've been playing with it a bit recently and I have to say that I don't know if it is TOO powerful. However, it is definitely very strong, especially with a good weapon. That said, I think it more so further shows the huge gap between some of the newer skills and a few other skills that are absolute trash in comparison.
It is hard to say balance wise, which is the better approach. If the developers should do a pass over those older skills(again) and try and bring them up a bit so they stand on their own two feet a bit better(Aka, without supports; at least early on) or just nerf Molten Strike back down into the depths of mediocrity.
I personally like the idea of more skills that are good out of the box, because that means I can use more than one and be more versatile as I level up and not feel utterly bored. This has been the case on the two week race thus far.

two most important early-game qualities that make MS a clear cut winner:

- most invading bosses (soon to be in the game, probably) are big. that means all magma blobs hit the target meaning 100% efficiency.

- very very good interaction with +life on hit. i had a +8life on hit claw during early parts of the race and could facetank ANY invading boss i met. ANY. i had like +4 LGOH on gear + 8 from the claw = 12*4 per hit == 48 per hit with 400HP pool.. that got waaay better with any trash mobs around

+ a bonus. crabs. annoying crabs that now can be finally killed in one go.

after experiencing 1-26 levels of new race (facetanking everything) with MS and previous experiments with ST i think that - if my char rips before 40 - ill rerol MS again. ST is fine etc but deals little damage compared to MS and as such is slower to clear.

If they moved it up to "balance it" then I'm okay with that.

Actually wanted to do a fire melee build that doesn't use an oro.