void shockwave.....why?

So the other exceptional gems are just that: exceptional. They offer benefits not found anywhere else on any other gems.

Except for this new void shockwave.

Essentially its like an "awakened" level 5 version of the shockwave support, which doesn't really seem to fit the whole "Exceptional gem" paradigm. Plus, it invalidates the entirety of the shockwave support by its very existence. It has much higher damage effectiveness, double the cooldown rate at base, and significantly more coverage without having to amplify the area. PLUS it works with more base items.

Unlike typical "stepping stone" supports like LMP or Volley, both of which DO actually have usage in final builds, there isn't a single reason to ever use shockwave over void shockwave for any build. It is just purely.....a better version in every single way.


Why even release this gem? Why not just rework the original shockwave gem and NOT make one just a filler piece of crap now that necessarily will get discarded?


Seems like a really short-sighted and.....frankly rather stupid design choice for a "new" gem.

The only scenario I can see where this would be even remotely interesting would be if you get a melee attack skill imbued with the lvl 1 shockwave support via the new mechanic.......and then go double shockwave staves. But that's just meme-y.

I think there will be two types of exceptional gems: One that is very similar to awakened gems (strictly better than the vanilla version, with an additional effect that also makes it strictly better). The other type is adding completely new and unprecedented effects. Void shockwave falls more into the 1st category, while Congregation and Vaal Sacrifice fall into the 2nd category.

So as with awakened gems before, some of them are strict upgrades. The difference is that you can't buy the exceptional ones from Lilly :) They are probably going to be quite rare and expensive.

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twostroketom#5281 wrote:

I think there will be two types of exceptional gems: One that is very similar to awakened gems (strictly better than the vanilla version, with an additional effect that also makes it strictly better). The other type is adding completely new and unprecedented effects.

Right.......which is the point of this post. The former makes no sense. We already have awakened gems. And we have awakened supports. AND we have level 5 "special" upgrades for awakened gems. So........why make NEW "exceptional" gems, which already are in a class of their own, that already fall into the Awakened Gem category. And currently only ONE of the new exceptional gems does this.

It is needless bloat and confusing design.

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

"

twostroketom#5281 wrote:

I think there will be two types of exceptional gems: One that is very similar to awakened gems (strictly better than the vanilla version, with an additional effect that also makes it strictly better). The other type is adding completely new and unprecedented effects.

Right.......which is the point of this post. The former makes no sense. We already have awakened gems. And we have awakened supports. AND we have level 5 "special" upgrades for awakened gems. So........why make NEW "exceptional" gems, which already are in a class of their own, that already fall into the Awakened Gem category. And currently only ONE of the new exceptional gems does this.

It is needless bloat and confusing design.

awakened gems are gone with this patch

Well, we won't have awakened gems in 3.28. They are going away and will be replaced by exceptional gems. The only 3 awakened gems that are staying are awakened enhance, empower and enlighten.

Now you could say, why make something new which is almost the same as the thing it replaces. TBF, that is a bit weird. But they do add the completely new supports, and maybe they didn't like the "awakened" theme but wanted to unify all endgame drop-only supports in a single system.

Apart from the ones shown in today's teaser video, there was also one more in the reveal video. One that supports projectile rain skills, I forgot the name. And I hope there will be at least a couple more.

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twostroketom#5281 wrote:

Well, we won't have awakened gems in 3.28. They are going away and will be replaced by exceptional gems. The only 3 awakened gems that are staying are awakened enhance, empower and enlighten.

***Editing my previous comment****
Wow...I totally missed that. You are absolutely right! And that makes this make a LOT more sense.

One of the rare times threads come to a full and complete "answer".

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cowmoo275#3095 wrote:

One of the rare times threads come to a full and complete "answer".

Holy shit it's the unicorn thread! I was here!