Path of Exile: Delve Patch Notes

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The notable also causes increases and reductions to Minion Attack Speed to also affect you.

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ACGIFT wrote:

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codetaku wrote:

On the contrary, this is exactly the nerf that ehit needed. Why couldn't shimmeron have been given the same 2/3 dps nerf that ehit got?

No, it's not what it needed. It now means that every single existing Chin Sol Deadeye is still relatively fine, while everyone else who was closer to borderline is now drowned.

It's kinda funny that all these non-theorycrafters go "Oh noes, elemental conversion exists? NERF IT!" The biggest stand-out problem was, in fact, that Chin Sol offers 100% MORE close-range damage at no penalty: for every other skill, the penalty is that Chin Sol is rather poor base damage... A downside that was utterly ignored by Elemental Hit.

This is also why Quill Rain WASN'T the meta for it: Quill Rain's upside (3.0 APS) is mitigated by that "40% less arrow damage." That penalty APPLIES to Elemental Hit, making it only equivalent to a 1.8 APS weapon with no penalty... Which is WELL below the effective 2.86 APS equivalent that Chin Sol can get. (1.43 APS, but doubled due to its bonus. The base damage of ANY bow is a drop in the bucket for Elemental Hit)

So before, we had:

• Non-AoF Ele Hit: 700k Shaper DPS
  
• Fire ele hit: 1 million Shaper DPS
  
• Fire ele hit on a Deadeye using Chin Sol: 5 million Shaper DPS.

NOW we have:

• Non-AoF Ele Hit: 700k Shaper DPS
  
• Fire ele hit: 612.5k Shaper DPS
  
• Fire ele hit on a Deadeye using Chin Sol: 3 million Shaper DPS.

(figures are drawn from a handful of example builds on the Incursion ladder)

So the "solution" STILL leaves the OP combination still in the multi-million range, while those who tried to play it DIFFERENTLY have a dumpstered DPS. It's now worse than had they just went for tri-elemental, which requires NO real investment at all by comparison; freeing up two jewel sockets, either an amulet socket (or the stretch to reach AoF) along with the cost of converting damage AoF misses. (e.g, no need to use a gem or Pyre, or CotB)

Like, that nerf was decided by people with zero theorycrafting experience with the skill, if at all. Which isn't much of a surprising; it comes across as the "whiny Reddit crowd" that was listened to.

A PROPER balance would've simultaneously found a way to IMPROVE the DPS of non-AoF Ele Hit (which sucks) while preserving those not abusing it to the maximum. I'd already outlined in another thread what changes were needed:

• Chin Sol's "100% more arrow damage" should've been changed to "100% more arrow PHYSICAL damage," which'd keep it VERY close to identical for every other build, but remove that "free 100% more" that applies JUST to elemental hit.
  
  
• More broadly, address how overpowered the Deadeye is. She can still get you a few million effective DPS using either Tornado Shot or Barrage. (the "nerf" was VERY minor, in that it only slightly dinged the benefit of stacking extra projectiles; builds that DIDN'T have any extra projectiles saw no reduction in real DPS, only their tooltip which became EVEN LESS accurate) Tailwind should be toned down, and Ricochet should be cut from 10% to 5%.
  
  
• Similarly, in a broader sense, the meta shift to "trash mobs always die in one shot" combined with "bosses now have millions of HP," means that the old system where Point Blank was balanced no longer applies. The penalty is a non-issue because you STILL kill trash mobs one screen per click, and bosses you just rush up point-blank to dump on and delete within a few seconds anyway. The "hang back and pelt from range" strategy is dead. Even a simple band-aid fix would be to nerf Point Blank to be only 30% more instead of 50%.

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Minions no longer wander around as much as they used to while you're idle.

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Dominating Blow
You may have up to 9 Normal-rarity, 3 Magic-rarity, and 1 Rare-rarity Sentinels of Dominance.

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Kinetic Blast
Now deals 35% less Area Damage (down from 25% less).
Explosion placement has been reworked. They are now divided across 4 equal arcs (like pizza slices). In cases where there is no space in an arc that it could place an explosion, that explosion is not placed. Explosion spacing is also now more regular. The net result is that in open spaces, the area coverage will, on average, be more even, but single-target damage in tight spaces is now lower.

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Physical Projectile Attack/Vicious Projectiles

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Bex_GGG wrote:

Passive Tree Balance
With the introduction of several new holy-themed minion skills,...

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Bex_GGG wrote:

The second passive on the right path of the Witch's start now grants 8% increased maximum Minion life in addition to 12% increased Maximum Energy Shield.