Block is an inflated Defensive Stat that is way too OP and completely out of Line

block in poe1 def busted

Damn....another one.

BLOCK itself is not the problem. Having an avoidance layer that maxes at 75% (and 75/75 with decent investment) is pretty standard, and not all that powerful. limited to hits and offers no mitigation. 25% of all hits will outright render all that block investment completely useless, which is an enormous amount of hits completely bypassing a whole layer of defense with no resistance. And everything outside of hits renders it completely useless. Which there is quite a lot of, especially in current PoE. Unless you are running some pretty specific content, or have the requisite gear and paired mitigation, you'd be far better just ignoring block altogether from a mathematical and TRUE tankiness standpoint.

I agree with others: the PROBLEM (if there really is one here) is recovery on block being mostly unrelated to the damage you WOULD be taking, and generally just way too high. The post-mitigated damage should be what determines what you recover.....not your own stats. Additionally, Svalinn's existence was a mistake from the ground up. ONLY Gladiator should have been given lucky block, if even that...It should definitely not available to everyone. Breaking the developer's own 75/75 limitation without having to invest in max block (similar to max resists), is just silly.

Its yet another thread that completely misses the mark in the actual problem in favor of an inflammatory exaggeration with little basis in actual analysis of what is being complained about.

Block recovery and shenanigans like Svallin or this new cheap unique shield are the issue.

This new shield combined with Glad ascendancy is ridiculous because it rolls all incoming damage thrice.

Block itself isn't strong, it is the recovery mechanics. There is a reason all HCSSF players roll ES on block on their shaper titanium shields.

Block is fine in general. It used to be meme level until settlers in fact because of how weak it was in terms of cost/benefit. The only thing that saw any play was GB + Aegis sheningans so i believe a buff to it was in order. That said, i think they overdid it a little with Svalinn. Being able to get nearly 90% block with relative ease is a bit much. Getting past 75% shouldn't be this easy.

The biggest issue with block is the recovery on block though. The fact that it makes an inherently bad keystone like GB desireable as long as you get enough of it honestly says it all.

Its useless to talk about player power if that power is needed to tackle aspirational content. Before there are no changes to enemies its just a bad idea taking more defensive options from the player.

There is a reason chase uniques exist in poe.

Block is the most effective defence per cost but something needs to be, its one of the only anti-trash defences that actually works and once you start to compound it with needing one hit defence it quickly becomes expensive anyway.

If this is secretly a post about svalinn OP yes it is and I was on the fence if they should keep it or not but its so cool i'm kinda glad they did.

Adjusting block heavily would honestly require a retuning of monsters and I really doubt GGG intend to do that much work it would be an enormous undertaking at this stage and i'm not convinced the game would feel better afterwards as its so many parts to change.

Block recovery is a separate issue and can be a problem when you've got it on the 25k ES people... but the problem there is 25k ES. The real issue with recovery on block is its a multiplier on a defence effect for a single modifier like imagine if body armour could roll prevent +10% of suppressed spell damage.

lots of people saying its OP in PoE1 like it isn't in 2 either I felt it was even more OP in 2 lmao especially as some of the best damage nodes are block % = damage %.

but all that considered they shouldn't change it, the worst abusers need addressing but fundamentally its fine - the only real change i think they should make is to make the above 75% harder to get overall.

Edit: and you need to dig into why you prefer mechanics from a design perspective OP, grim dawns pacing is completely different to PoE yes thats going to make any system changes feel more pronounced when really you mean its damage pacing is better as it allows defences to be scaled differently.

Block and op? lol

what's next on the "too op" list?

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Pashid#4643 wrote:

what's next on the "too op" list?

Spell Suppression.

if you 'fix' everything, make everything balanced and in line, then you will turn poe1 into a different game and it will be a less exciting game.


finding a super powerful item like mageblood is really hype, finding a set of mechanics that feels broken is really exciting, it feels great.



i know what u mean with all these threads and theyre things i would have said myself 100% 10 years ago, 6 years ago, but now? this far in? poe1 still exists because the million and 1 ideas to make poe a better game would completely change the game and it was decided that its better to put those in poe2 and preserve the quirky mess that is poe1 for the people who like it. the flaws in poe1 give it character, thats what gives it the personality is currently has and make for a certain type of excitement for certain types of players and thats the entire reason this game is continuing rather than just becoming poe2.


i agree with all these points in these different threads to some extent but imo theyre thoughts for poe2.

meta shifting yes, fundamental mechanical reworks that make poe1 a different game in 2025 with poe2 in development? i just dont think thats what they should be doing.



id probably bring spell suppression down to 40%, and change glancing blows to 60%. i think that would be healthy. would i fundamentally rework either mechanic? absolutely not. id think about how i would do it and then implement that in poe2 where it belongs.




i just get evasion on 2h chars. yes you dont get es on block etc, but you dont have a shield so you couldnt get that even if u had block cap. attack block without being able to wear an aegis or surrender is straight up worse than evasion which has entropy that makes it reliable at what it does anyway.

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Snorkle_uk#0761 wrote:

if you 'fix' everything, make everything balanced and in line, then you will turn poe1 into a different game and it will be a less exciting game.

finding a super powerful item like mageblood is really hype, finding a set of mechanics that feels broken is really exciting, it feels great.

Mageblood would be fine as a chase meta item as is, if it weren't for the enchants and flask mod downsides it gets to ignore, i.e. Enkindling Orb and 25% flask effect mod that'd normally have huge downsides. I think that's what makes it go from insanely strong to just outright busted.

There's no problem with "insanely strong" items existing, those are needed just as much as "meh" leveling items, otherwise the game would just be boring af, but there's nuance here that shouldn't be left ignored.

I.e. it's a bit beyond silly that a Mageblood on a no Ward scaling build can give you twice the Ward from a single flask mod with an enchant and 1 passive (for 5% flask effect). Going from 200 base Ward to 400 base Ward at all times is pretty fucking massive. That's almost as much Ward as from all 3 base items that currently exist, without additional T1 Ward rolls. And that's not even the strongest aspect of it by a large margin.

I don't want the game to become bland and unexciting, quite the opposite actually, matter of fact I don't want my builds nerfed as much as anyone else, but as I've said before, we have reached a point where we are slipping into the realms of utter silliness. Next thing you know, we get bosses with several dozen billions of HP to counteract this problem. And then the cycle continues.

GGG has collaterally nerfed many of my builds over the years and I got mad about it every single time, I'm not afraid to admit that, but the game just keeps evolving into more stupidity that continues to make me question why these collateral nerfs were handed out in the first place.

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Snorkle_uk#0761 wrote:

the flaws in poe1 give it character, thats what gives it the personality is currently has and make for a certain type of excitement for certain types of players and thats the entire reason this game is continuing rather than just becoming poe2.

I agree. My favorite thing to do in this game is to make the occasional "ridiculous" build, i.e. check my signature flair for The Unplayable Build or Poor Man's Ward Loop, where the main goal is just that, utter silliness.

However, we can have those things without the necessity for tons of on-death effects and one-shot mechanics that are a direct result from the game's scaling becoming way too bonkers.

Seriously, I'd not have a problem with GGG nerfing my build's DPS by 90%, granted that I could still play the game with it, meaning that it'd have to come with accompanying monster rebalance, but that's not how they typically operate. And that's what makes most of the nerfs shit imo, as the approach is always one-sided.

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Snorkle_uk#0761 wrote:

i just get evasion on 2h chars.

Ward is also an option, if you know how to use it. I made a two-hander Bleed build not long ago that uses a bit of Ward because it was overall more useful than Armour. I could have built it more defensively as well, but the lack of Block made me not bother. Just a mere 50/50 would already make a world of difference. As I play softcore and the character got to lvl 98 with no issues, why give a damn.