The Hell Did You Do To Zerker & Elementalist?

I'm just trying to understand any meaning behind these changes.

Zerker

You took away +X-Y Physical and Crit which was the only thing helping a Zerker Dual Wield.

You took away attack speed which is again very on theme for Zerker and replace it with Life Leech? Do you know how out of control sustain is in PoE1? Not to mention you're stepping on Slayer.

You keep trying with this Defy Pain thing when it never really fit in the first place. Warcries. Those were on theme and got gutted real quick. Maybe consider that instead? If you're trying to emulate damage reduction from rage like a Barbarian then why not do it via Warcries?

Hitting places you previously hit with Strikes will probably have some use but makes no sense.

This isn't counting the previous removal of Stun immunity which is in line with Rage. Zerkers are supposed to be fast hitting, frenzy fighters that at points can ignore debilitating effect but you're removing everything that makes them function to that theme.

Elementalist

Storms. It's kinda the same, except the new version is just worse. It's almost like the insane Magnitude of Shock given out in PoE2 bled over to PoE1 where it wasn't an issue.

Winter. This is supposed to be the more defensive option. Especially if you mix it with stuff like Elder Ring to reduce damage. The Damage reduction isn't bad in concept since I've done that combo but you made it so small I doubt anyone will notice it and now does damage for 'reasons'.

Flame. Granted the most use this got was starter builds. The theme of changing 40% Physical to fire just to encourage Bastion of Elements use is silly to say the least. Fire should be doing damage. I'd bet the main reason Bastion doesn't get used as much is because we can't invis the ugly thing.

Heralds are back for some reason. I don't think most players missed this much?

The biggest issue with Elementalist for me is a global design issue. You can't DoT Multi well with Crit Multi so Ignite is always on it's own while the other two scale with Crit. Seems to me that having Ignite increase damage instead of Chill, perhaps increasing Crit makes far more sense. The other stuff are just nerfs for no apparent reason.

P.S. Trickster was fine. It's just being abused with traps because no one wants to play Sab.

Seconded.

I posted the other day with a different but similar complaint about Elementalist nerf, and actually got a response about nerfs to Beserker, too. xD

It is extremely disappointing. In the changes to Elementalist at least (I don't know Zerker very well) I do see room for some off-meta builds to become more meta, and maybe a couple new possibilities, but far more old builds are gutted & scraped than new ones created.

More specifically, I strongly agree with thematic notions about fire being better for offense. Plus a Cloak of Flame copy-paste is just... so exploitable & yet boring, at the same time. Will anyone not take this? And yet the need to ignite all enemies at all times is a nightmare for anyone not going into prolif & ailment duration.

I have less issue with Storms & Winter, but concur that they are at best sidegrades for a class that is already very underplayed (1% last season IIRC). And don't get me started on Elemancer removal & golem nerf.

The berserker change is a drip fed attempt to slow fast attacking builds down to be more like poe2.

Just melee archetypes though. I'll accept the zerker slaps when they remove tailwind from deadeye.

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Lonnie455Rich#2087 wrote:

The berserker change is a drip fed attempt to slow fast attacking builds down to be more like poe2.

Just melee archetypes though. I'll accept the zerker slaps when they remove tailwind from deadeye.

That does tend to be the issue given Rage changes last league. Slayer was my pick last league just because it's been fairly untouched for half a decade and it's kinda worked out for him.

I could still get 7/7 Frenzy/Endurance. They're the only one left with flat DR. I made a Less Duration APS break point Earth Shatter of Fragility last league instead of trying to work the clunky shouts.

Zerker, a sub-class of Barbarian should certainly not be slower than a Slayer. They compensate their lack of defense with quick attacks, mobility and Rage perks. The changes are nonsense.

Berserker is getting more sad every league. Last league they killed my desire to play strikes and this league it was just made worse where strikes just aren't really playable on it anymore even in sc imo. may as well play some other ascendancy.

You guys are aware the Berserker and Elementalist are looking for be some of the (if not THE) most OP week 1 league starters? With Elementalist looking to be going NUTS due the to the insane buffs to Golems?

Volcanic Fissure of Snaking Berserker will likely win the Boss Race Event, and Elementalist will see a crazy resurgence with all sorts of builds.

This post seem highly out of touch with what is being cooked right now amongst the thousands of people theorycrafting and participating in build creation communities.

vfos doesn't use blitz or the crit node, thus has nothing to do with the issue at hand. slams received 0 nerfs on zerker. Strike skills however if you are playing crit (which you should) got slapped in the face.

Also nothing with vfos is being "cooked" right now, its been good since 3.23 and nothing is really going to be changed in league start from the base 3.25 build outside of the loss of the weapon enchant.

The truth of the matter is zerker was slowed down 2 leagues in a row. Go to a blitz zerker build and tick off blitz and flawless savagery (with crit recently). The only way to get some of your damage back is aspect of carnage. Then there isn't another dps node, you get 30% leech because the strike phantom thing is hot garbage.

We don't want berserker toned down to get poe2 ascendancy treatment with respect to speed. We play berserker for the speed and its being put in sand the last 2 leagues. Leave that nonsense in poe2.

i cant speak for elementalist or golems. i don't play either.

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FalkenRaiding#1068 wrote:

You guys are aware the Berserker and Elementalist are looking for be some of the (if not THE) most OP week 1 league starters? With Elementalist looking to be going NUTS due the to the insane buffs to Golems?

Volcanic Fissure of Snaking Berserker will likely win the Boss Race Event, and Elementalist will see a crazy resurgence with all sorts of builds.

This post seem highly out of touch with what is being cooked right now amongst the thousands of people theorycrafting and participating in build creation communities.

Never did starter builds. I just mold the build I'm planning as needed while leveling. Also I don't involve myself with other player's builds. I do my own so I'm going to have different opinions.

Only played Elementalist once recently since Golems would die just for being in a boss room. IMO they will never be better than when they were stat sticks allowing you to build Elementalist in likely more ways than any current options. Esp because you could get Fortify and melee with them.

Fissure of Snaking is busted. It's good on a lot of things but esp better on Warden. Zerker is just 2nd rate for anything you'd want to do which is a shame because DW Double Strike Zerker was one of my fav melee builds back in the day. True melee.

Now I have to hump enemies' legs to deal any damage with true melee and have no speed.

I've tried a lot of different non-proj strike skills on zerker and they always just require too much to get as tanky as I want. Dual strike of ambi was ok this league if you had the clusters and went block.

I've wanted to do saviour zerker with paradoxica for a while but they never really exist in hc and they almost always end up just going to standard with an overpriced cost because no one will come off the 100+divine price.

My impale zerk has received nothing but nerfs since Harvest.

Whatever, Slayer it is.