Two handed Axe, Sword, and one handed Axe gem : Sunder

Sunder is an attack gem with a split dexterity and strength requirement limited to Axes, Two Handed Axes, and Two Handed Swords.

Sunder is a very narrow area of effect attack that strikes overhead and can slice through enemy columns. Area of Effect modifications typically do very little for girth but can do wonders for length. giggity. Sunder also has modest stun threshold reduction and an entirely cosmetic extra gore effect on critical hits. quality effect reduces stun threshold further.



SUNDER
ATTACK, AOE, MELEE
LEVEL: XX
MANA COST: XX
QUALITY: XX
______________________________________________________
REQUIRES LEVEL XX, XXDEX, XXSTR
______________________________________________________
FORCULLY SPLITS THE SPACE AHEAD OF THE CHARACTER CAUSING HEAVY DAMAGE TO ANY ENEMIES IN A NARROW COLUMN. ONLY WORKS WITH AXES AND TWO HANDED SWORDS.
______________________________________________________
XX% INCREASED PHYSICAL DAMAGE
DEALS XX% OF PHYSICAL DAMAGE
XX% REDUCED ENEMY STUN THRESHOLD

So...why would this be helpful for someone? Why would someone use this over something like Spectral Throw, or Double Strike Melee Splash or Infernal Blow or another melee skill? I think the lack of "girth" as you call it hurts this skill immensely. If you mean for this to be an AoE skill (I'm assuming from your mentioning of AoE mods), you need mobs to be lined up for it to work effectively, which is a bit of a dangerous game. You have to be a bit more specific for me on the size of the AoE in general to begin with and to what extent AoE would help. If you mean for this to be single target, how can it compete with something like Double Strike? These are the kinds of questions you should ask yourself. I just don't personally see the gameplay space it should occupy and why it should be part of the game. What's different and new about it and what separates it from the rest of the pack?

Double Strike, Infernal Blow, and "any other melee skill" are... well, melee!
Meaning they don't hit from afar.

Spectral Throw is a projectile - it does not benefit from "Melee" properties.

If you wanted to compare Sunder to an existing skill, you should compare it to Ground Slam.
They are both "melee" and hit in a directional area of effect by default.

But even then, there are important differences:
- Ground Slam is only available for Staves and Maces.
- Ground Slam is a cone area of effect, and since Sunder is Narrow, one can guess it's also Longer than Ground Slam.

A little thinking gets you far.

The skill is only little better then Dual Strike, so i dont really see the use of it ?

In a 6L combo

DS - Multi - FAtt - MSplash - MPhys - MPhysOFullLife

Sunder - Multi - FAtt - ConcEff - MPhys - MPhysOnFullLife

DS gives you a multiplier of 1.6 (2 Hits with 80% Base Damage) and you loose a little bit due to melee splash. (16% less to main, 31% less to other targes)

Sunder gives you an additional multiplier of 1.69 due to Conc Eff

Differences are so small..its in best case an "option".