Ranking AND Fixing ALL Ascendancies - 3.18 Sentinel

These are just like, my opinions, man.
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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 Intro
00:51 How I'm Ranking Them
03:19 Assassin
07:30 Trickster
10:21 Saboteur
14:35 Deadeye
18:46 Pathfinder
23:12 Raider
26:00 Slayer
30:01 Champion
32:48 Gladiator
36:54 Ascendant
40:15 Juggernaut
43:16 Berserker
47:06 Chieftain
51:26 Inquisitor
55:31 Hierophant
01:01:13 Guardian
01:05:00 Occultist
01:12:50 Elementalist
01:17:35 Necromancer
01:21:49 Final Thoughts
Music Used:
The Witcher 3: Kaer Morhen
BigDucks is a streamer on Twitch.tv as well as a content creator across social media platforms and more! If you need help with any aspects of Streaming, Gaming, Technology or Fitness and Nutrition feel free to ask!
#PathOfExile #Ascendancies #Rant

[@BigDucks]

This comment section will assuredly be very tame and full of people agreeing with me

[@lassejensen8915]

I agree

[@toukoenriaze9870]

Lol

[@11Yaten]

Don't you dare talk shit about my stinky girl

[@seikojin]

I mainline elementalist and add profane bloom to my inpusla. It happens 100% of the time and is purely for clear. I agree on the lack of specialty in most of the ascendancies though. And definitely lack of defensive options.

[@bary6021]

Would be good to have a overall list of your results so we can see the comparison and final result.

[@Sprakenheit]

"I don't think that the Necromancer has too much. I think that everything else has too little." I agree with this 100%. I think that the combination of the way GGG has been balancing things by nerfing damage etc. and making monsters stronger like adding in the Archnemesis mods, made the bar of what constituents as "viable" higher and thus people ignores other ascendancies that just doesn't cut it anymore. I also agree that GGG (specially concerning ascendancies) can still adjust those ascendancies by using the other mechanics that are hard to get like scorch, brittle, thorns, etc to make things more interesting.

[@LizLuto]

TLDR Assassin 3/5 Trickster .5/5 Sabatouer 4.5/5 Deadeye 4/5 Pathfinder 3/5 Raider 4.5/5 Slayer 3/5 Champion 5/5 Gladiator 1/5 Scion 2/5 Juggernaut 1.5/5 Berserker 4/5 Chieftan 1.5/5 Inquisitor 5/5 Hierophant 2.5/5 Guardian 2.5/5 Occultist 4/5 Elementalist 3.5/5 Necromancer 5/5

[@juano93]

Gladiator is one of my favorite classes. One of the things that would be very thematic for it is counter attacks. I'm not talking about "counter attacks deal double damage", I'm talking about block and then attack. I would like to see something like "the next two attacks are exerted on block". Or something like interrupt/stun enemy on block. Or something like "the next attack after block always crits". You know, imagine two people are battling. One person blocks the other and throws the other off balance, making them unable to react and exposing them to dangerous counter attacks. For a block focused ascendancy that would be a fitting theme.

[@samcbar]

I like the part at 0:22, I really appreciate you treating the whole audience the same.

[@toukoenriaze9870]

Yus equality pog

[@jthiel0711]

GGG: Ok, we hear you. Will nerf Occ, Champ and Inquis. xD Edit: But I agree on removing Fobidden Power on Occultist. Always thought it was weird she had power charges (that's an assassin theme.) I think they need occultist to lean more into the chaos/cold and curse theme imo. Also I think Occult is popular due to the easy explode it has. Everyone loves explode.

[@Skilez]

chaos, cold, curse and energy shield. isnt that enough specialization in one class? i would also just remove forbidden power and make 1 4 pointer for each category.

[@miklaz1199]

Guardian needs to be reworked in the minion type focused on sentinels. Builds like dominating blow, absolution, holy relic, herald of purity, i think he would shine if "minions do more damage if you attacked recently", "+2 sentinels summoned of skills that summon sentinels", "+1 holy relic summoned".

[@FitzAF]

Now THAT sounds like a radiant crusade if I ever heard it.

[@toukoenriaze9870]

Pog I'm down

[@miklaz1199]

@@FitzAF Lastly Unwravering Crusade should be "increases and reductions to Minion movement speed also affect you". "Minions deal splash damage". Time of Need needs to be: "Nova attacks of Holy Relics create consecrated ground". 100% increased effect of Holy Relics".

[@Nelekets]

Wasn't that basically how it was before they reworked dominating blow and herald of purity sentinels? Guardian used to give them Crusade Slam from their ascendency, but then they made it global then Guardian got reworked to what it is now. IDK.. personally I don't like Guardian being pigeon holed into playing just one certain way, and being garbage at everything else. I feel like Guardian is a decent alternative to Necromancer, with some more interesting defensive options, and with more support type summoner options (free onslaught, easy to apply intimidate and unnerve). Of course, Necromancer beats it in terms of raw damage, but I don't hate Guardian!

[@FitzAF]

@@Nelekets Yeah. Tbh, I didn't mind the less dps, but got amazing self tankiness. Just gave you the ability to make use of expendable minions like phantasms and dominating blow 'cause you could keep summoning them in boss fights. I'm actually a Templar bias, so I guess there's that too, lol.

[@craigclement5520]

Really well thought out discussion. Thanks for this.

[@whorhaydelfuego7190]

Turning Jugg into a Thorns Ascendancy would be pretty cool.

[@mund1339]

What if every ascendency is a thorns ascendency ?

[@JonathonTheAsshole]

Because Juggs not unpopular enough and needs to be taken into D3 Crusader territory to make absolutely NO ONE want to play it? lol

[@ChemiiOneLegacy]

@@JonathonTheAsshole What is your idea for a Juggernaut?

[@cIappo896]

Berserker should have a more damage modifier per HP missing with increased damage reduction for instance. That kinda plays into the whole rage thing pretty well

[@hitofuuki]

About Hiero and brands: back when brands appeared, hiero was THE brand ascendancy - at least on paper. Main point was +1 brand node with bonus stats to it, which kinda did it's job (it was 6 arma brands instead of 5 for me, with recall being useful). Then, GGG took it out to the tree, changed how recall behaves (it stopped refreshing brands) and how brands themselves work (stopped them from moving around). Tbh I don't really know what's the use of it anymore.

[@nlb137]

The Consecrated Ground line on 'quisitor also has an "enemies on your consecrated ground take more damage" component, which is further scaled by your conc ground effect; you end up with like a 15% inc. damage taken mod. It really is a hybrid damage/defense line.

[@touchthesun]

I like your grading rubric for the ascendancies. One thing that might be a way for GGG to indirectly buff the ascendancies with unique mechanics but not enough power or not enough opportunities to apply that power, might be a set of unique jewels etc that let you amplify or augment those mechanics. So for example, a jewel for Gladiators that add evasion, or chance to blind, or life leech as additional effects per Challenger Charge. Not sure what a lot of the others might be, without also reworking a bunch of ascendancies to have better unique mechanics, though.

[@Zaeylo]

I love the berserker, and warcry builds. I like the idea of Zerker having an alternate defensive style, like what if 30% of their damage taken was over 10-20 seconds so long as you have rage. So its going along with the mentality of keeping momentum and keep raging

[@JezzyHsu]

Saving this video to listen to on my weekend cleaning!

[@Sile]

Great video!

[@gozo1985]

wow, knocked this one out of the park. what a great analysis

[@blackmousofthecrypt689]

Great video once again Big Ducks! Like your idea for Necromancer being a legion master and having other type of minion archetype. Really well thought.

[@knicklichtjedi]

I like the idea of including alt ailments like Scorch and Brittle into ascendancies!

[@verzeihturncoat27]

I think you are onto something with the Guardian rework with fewer minions and ultra buff them. Be the body guard to your minion so that you can use the "link" skills on them. Edit: Heck give him the abillity to use links without dying and you got a unique note that works for parties. Make them not duration but toogle buffs on him, allow multi link on him, give him a special link...

[@raikaria3090]

On Occultist; the "Hexes can effect Hexproof enemies" effect got a LOT worse with Archnemesis. Hexproof is much; much rarer now, and basically only exists on Hexer mobs.

[@JTD472]

Looking good bud

[@jason4906]

Good video. I like the lights, what are they?

[@snoobae8553]

My favorite part about Raider Onslaught points are that it has an enormous impact on out-of-combat movement speed. Thats a major QoL and has a real impact if you’re playing in a manner where you clear everything first, cycle back and loot after. That’s what makes that side of the ascendancy so strong and unique.

[@Avishek.Actuary]

I think in your last video i mentioned the same,i.e. ascendancy should enable unique abilities,playstyle and / or enhance an existing skill in such a way you can't get it from any other source in the game. Every ascendancy should have something unique which should distinguish it from others .which unfortunately, is quite missing.

[@xKeKzzex]

But that comes from the factor that a lot of things were moved from ascendancy onto the passive skill tree or influence gear or timeless jewels that opened up things for more build diversity and that is a good factor. And flesh n flame made that even more notisable. I am a huge fan of having these options but imo they should be weaker like gaining rage with x weapon only once per second and berserker gets heaps of it.

[@Avishek.Actuary]

@@xKeKzzex I don't mind if they wanna experiment with removing or adding things from / to the ascendancy as long as what I mentioned in my comment is met. But again that's my way of thinking and I am not trying to convince anyone. My whole point is, should ggg ask me for my opinion it would have been that.

[@jzd977]

Chieftain should be the totem ascendancy and let Hiero focus on Brands

[@TheMrMartea]

Nice opinions, agree in alot of the pointers, give more acendencies to be more flexible for more builds :)

[@rbroccoli_]

First 30 seconds "... Why don't I make all of you upset." Instant upvote.

[@jqdash]

I am new to POE and I am enjoying it. I appreciate your opinion on the different ascendancies.

[@brianb7112]

What I would like to see for ascendant, you get a choice 2 jewel sockets for every 2 skill points, so possible to get 8 jewel sockets or you can pick 1 unique jewel every 2 points up to 4. the unique jewels drop from labs chests and each jewel has the possibility to give 1 random major notable node from each class, your limited to 1 major notable per class

[@fal1ngsumo]

Champ's Fortify should be on Jug. Champ's impale should be on glad, glad's block should be on champ.

[@BigDucks]

Yeah it is a little weird I will admit that the Ascendancy that has a shield built into the "lore" of it is not the block/shield type ascendancy.

[@Anikthias]

Could be interesting to see the brandsurge skill from the oshabi staff somehow incorporated into heirophant. The idea of detonating your brands for a gigantic hit seems so cool to me, but it just doesn't work as it is in-game

[@OffMeta-Gaming]

Ayyee my suggestion actually got a video

[@Theta40]

I league start Juggernaut every league and take it to level 100 every league and I think it is totally fine. It epitomizes “High defense, low damage” as a theme. It is much more tanky than you think, enhanced endurance charges are ridiculously good, and it also has access to a very high amount of armour, chaos res, flat damage reduction, flat elemental damage reduction and high life regen. Also, the ability to not be slowed is considerably stronger defensively than one would initially think. Champion requires Grace/determination/defiance banner to reach a comparable hit reduction to juggernaut, and is rather vulnerable to damage over time, which Juggernaut isn’t, due to the high life regen. Juggernaut doesn’t require auras for defense but does require passive tree investment to stack max endurance charges, so there is a trade off. But to each their own. I myself am very happy that some builds are very popular and many other builds fly under the radar. Champion is at high risk for nerfs, while juggernaut won’t be. 😃 P.S. Witcher 3, very nice choice of background music.

[@anonname7610]

All i know is i am going to play the crap out of juggernaut when it gets buffed, i can easily see it going from 0.5% played to 15% played if they focus on defences enough. But with the fortify massive nerfs i have to disagree with you currently, champion is hands down better unless you have the hidden forbidden flame/flesh for jugg

[@Theta40]

@@anonname7610 Those new jewels are absolutely bonkers. That’s the buff I think. 😃

[@anonname7610]

Haha yea definitely from a pure EHP perspective that marauder one is insanity (take 25% less damage including dot wow)

[@thade7062]

max block melding aegis inquisitor is far more tanky than any amount of endurance charges will make a Jugg tanky. Jugg is trash.

[@Theta40]

True but the Templar character model is trash. No amount of MTX can hide that goofy walk. 😀 And what is the chance aegis/melding survives next patch?

[@codeb3nder862]

One of the best intros

[@naturesrevenge8758]

I haven't even watched the video beyond the intro yet, but keep up the good work. I think your criticism is reasonable and well-intended, and I hope you don't let any nasty comments get to you just because you have some opinions about a video game.

[@adambaker6794]

So before watching just have to say that this is a topic I actually have thought about quite a bit recently so I find it interesting to have this come up lol

[@calebnguyen4536]

In terms of uniqueness for Occultist, Gratuitous Violence is the only other explody ascendency node in the entire game beside Profane Bloom. It's true that the stat of Profane Bloom is quite high because it deals the highest % of explody with the least amount of investment. With Forbidden Power, this might be quite personal, but Bane Occy by Subtractem does not even touch this node and all in on applying as many curses and hexes as possible. So as you said for the theme of the Occultist, power charges is unnecessary nor related.

[@BigDucks]

I don't mean specifically just other ascendancies most of the time when I say "Unique" I just mean if it is available in any reliable fashion. If you can get explody in X different amount of ways through gear or abilities etc. I do like the Idea of Bane, it is a pretty solid build and Subtractem seems like a cool person although I haven't interacted with them at all.

[@scarops]

If you can do a quick update on any changes since this vid for 3.20, that would be excellent. I'm a newer player and am getting to the point of getting overwhelmed and not knowing how to proceed.

[@textture8651]

Before this current elementalist rework, the golem nodes used to give a lot of generic damage, it was a problem because too many builds could be showhorned into it

[@Siegram999]

that is still very much the case

[@zamba136]

i am playing a Block Chance Build right now, with Tempest Shield, Reckoning, Riposte, and Vengeance. i have 90/48% block chance, and i have taken basically all the nodes in Gladiator that you thought were weak. i'm really enjoying the build, i would hate to see them take away the nodes i am using, but i wouldn't mind a slight buff, lol

[@theBlindDeafMute]

imho, the most fun i've had with occultist was playing bane. i feel like the most unique things about the occultist are its curse interactions. if they reworked the occultist, removed the power charges, removed the cold/chaos damage, and had it focus on generic DoT, curses, and energy shield it would feel much more cohesive.

[@bawalbaba4820]

I love the idea of "pissing off the largest assortment of people in the shortest amount of time" approach to this conversation.

[@lhatten512]

Also Occultist got really popular because explode chest got nerfed, that and assassin got nerfed. When u could get explode on every ascendency in the game Occultist wasn’t played nearly as much.

[@toukoenriaze9870]

This is perfect xD

[@hamzahussain7794]

Agreed with everything. I love slayer because of culling but even then i feel like the overleech just isn't cutting it anymore. It needs to have something more,something impactful. At this point I just play slayer for bigger culling.

[@tmnumber1]

90min? Keep em coming

[@j.lucasdecastroaraujo761]

Elementalist Golem Nodes: Your Stone Golem can use Shield Charge Your Lightning Golem can use Lightning Warp Your Flame Golem can use Flame Dash Your Ice Golem can use your Frostblink Your Carrion Golem can use Leap Slam or Bodyswap That`s weird but unique.

[@marlonmruss]

I think there should be nodes on juggernaut that does this, for a defense node endurance charges can raise max resistance or take away the ele resistance for less damage taken from ele dog and for offense endurance can have the same more modifier for dmg as frenzy charges. Some stationary stuff and some thorns stuff like other guy said would be cool too.

[@alphonsedes8021]

you cheeky one !

[@cesarpereira1625]

Its kind of funny how when someone talks about general points we can see the clear disconnection between the parts of the game. Deadeye was made to be an offensive all out attacker, like any RPG, the ranged units are not meant to be tanky. BUT the content of the game demands defenses to play optimally

[@JackSuperFly]

I started playing as an Assassin, then moved to Raider, then went for with Slayer for 50/50 Offensive and Defensive.

[@defaultpoe]

I agree 100% deliriously!! :D

[@IKG2214]

Was thinking about Forbidden power removal. What if instead of removing it we combine both Infusion nodes on assasin and move Forbidden power to assasin after the infusion node(Give both nodes numerical adjustments if needed to not make it over the top powerful). That way Assasin has the unique aspect of scaling damage and offence with power charges that other classes cant get.

[@MrBuns-yi2hk]

I'm actually playing a crit crack lance elementalist tight now that I am very much enjoying. Finally a hit based self caster!

[@joevarner9447]

Ok, Guardian node - how you fix it. Everything is about Ally Support. I agree with you on fewer, more powerful minions - I think what is needed here are some minion skill gems that lean into this and perhaps have added benefits when combined with the Guardian Ascendency and Holy Relic minions. Mix in Absolution, Herald of Purity and Dominating Blow, and have it where having those temp minions also scales/surges the DPS of the permanent minions in addition to their own DPS. Provides a nice counterpoint to the Necro minion builds.

[@Genemesis]

I didn't know that aurastacker is a meme build because it is insanely strong build for ascendant

[@BigDucks]

Typically when I say "meme build" I mean stuff that only works if you throw your wallet at it. I also mean stuff like Wardloop that just does crazy weird stuff when you throw your wallet at it.

[@Zofi_Gaming]

I think it would be really cool if they went with your suggestion with Heirophant having a totem on his back. Just make it a single totem but buff the holy bejesus out of it. Like +% damage, area of effect, ailments.... Then balance it out (cause you know GGG will want to give you a nerf along with the buff) by having a nerf to self-cast abilities or not being allowed to place totems manually. Or...... what about if they allowed the totem on your back and totems you place act as an ally for the Link gems. That might make things interesting (since most play this game solo and those gems are probably underused).

[@archetypical1694]

Commenting on alternative minion ascendancies, I think it would be cool if guardian was the "temporary" minion guy, for minions like absolution, purity, phantasms, spiders, etc..

[@griffinguides7838]

Chieftain imho should be a druid like choice. Give us Summon Wolves not stuck on items, let us summon different animals from the game. It can keep the fire nodes too so it can be like the Druid from D2. The fact that we have nothing like it has made me sad for years.

[@puddlebutt271]

Poe 2 will have that option

[@toukoenriaze9870]

@@puddlebutt271 really owo?

[@LegendaryNightfall]

Well, it's good that I found out Rupture is bad now because I was going to try to figure out my Rupture Deadeye build next league since I've taken my cold damage cyclone build to the end that I can (and determined it sucks) and now I know not to bother with that either.

[@domalash]

adding one or two minion lines to every ascendancy might be interesting and then increasing max ascendancy points to 10 would be sick... then every build or ascendancy could have a minion it's good at... like one is better at animate weapon, one is better with skels, one animate guardian, one golems, one spirits, one zombies, one specters.. maybe a couple have a mix.. and scion has them all but only 2 nodes each kinda thing

[@philipgocht2425]

in defence of chieftain : Ancestral totem buffs and slams as you said, but also ignite cwdt loop (unaffected by ignite), fulcrum self everything (unaffected by ignite) phys to fire conversion + extra using phys-spells phys dmg taken as ele Absorbtion charge boneshatter phys dmg taken as ele replica nebulis armour stack that are templates that exist in the game, they are barely played, but are viable.

[@zaparmy2010]

All this and not one ascendency which focuses on channeling skills. Thats a unique mechanic that should be baked into an ascendency.

[@joevarner9447]

Easy Fix for Trickster that fits with the idea of a Trickster - Make it a "Reflected Damage" ascendency that takes damage dealt and reflects it with multipliers and DOTs. Have it synergize with reflected damage mods on gear and affect all that. Most people don't even pay much attention to those mods, so the idea of having a "reflect damage" ascendency that also applies a DOT based on the total amount of damage reflected could be REALLY interesting and different. And having such an ascendency, you obviously would need to come up with unique way to defend since this is all based on being hit - maybe an ascendency node that converts evasion into another defensive type that mitigates the incoming damage.

[@steffen231]

Be a Loki, have a shadow/mirror image... Like Assassin in D2.. That scales up.

[@timmers8135]

I generally agree with your points. I don't like the fact that making a totem based character is in part better with Inquisitor than it is with a Hiero. While the ascendancies were never perfect they used to have more identity imho. Poison for Assa, Totem + Hiero, Raider for speed etc. I think your idea for Occu with Wither for example is really good. Give the ascendancy some identity back rather than generic stuff.

[@thoriandragontamer1411]

I like the counterattack buff- I wish it would be better at that, could even do it with dual wielding. :D

[@tannerleffeler2680]

“Instead of making some you upset I’m going to make all of you upset” *laughs in assassin*

[@Skilez]

would love to have different kinds of summoners for sure. necro for all the undead stuff and hordes of minions, guardian for the holy stuff and a small group of elite minions, elementalist for the golems and who knows? maybe having the chieftain carrying one supercharged totem around would be fun!?

[@FarsightAE]

Chieftain that summon spirits of dead ancestors/his tribe the more rage he has. An army that grows the longer he stays in battle 🤔 Like aragorn calling on the army of the dead but instead of undead its spirits of rage and fire.

[@timothyfeldhaus297]

I think some of the balance right now is gated behind the power of defensive, spell suppression, determination, defiance banner and bone offering

[@brianhanson7686]

I would love to see them pull the golem elements of elementalist off and do a golem path for Guardian. Golems really could be a good design focus path for Guardian fitting a lot of the points you were hoping for with a small group of summons.

[@kjeldsenjulius9967]

i approve :)

[@poom323]

How Born in Shadow calculate it's damage reduction is pretty insane, you can immune damage when combine it's damage reduction too other damage type reduction until the reduction reach 100%. But directly nerf it isn't a good thing as well, may be just change how it calculated.

[@sapheryPoE]

Played pure Stone Golems this League, it's definetly still viable but only on the Necromancer ascendancy

[@AndreasSilva100]

I didnt know Champion was that GOOD. I guess thats what im gonna be leveling after work.

[@amomogus]

from the mechanical theme point of view berserker is a perfect fit for petrified blood, being always on low hp, delaying his death but eventually taking more damage because of that and having to sustain himself either by slaughtering everyone or drinking potions.. like come on, champion's adrenaline node just screams to be a berserker thing.

[@WillSindra]

I agree with most comments and criticisms, they do need to change things up next patch to keep people interested. My 2 cents is no matter how they should be buff/nerfed, to at least change each Ascendancy wheel to be similar to Scion where you start in the centre and are instead surrounded by each notable, that way mechanics aren't gated behind lesser notables, and it gives room to adjust each one to give similar power. They kinda did this to Occultist a while back and that's what made it so much stronger. Or if you're to have mechanics that improve on the previous, like Gathering Winds, it would make sense to gate Wind Ward behind it since you can't have one without the other. That way for class-specific, unique mechanics, the player gets visual feedback on "upgrading/empowering" Tailwind. Even as is, this idea would make things like Glad more desirable since you could get the phys pops, challenger charges and lucky attack damage on block without fixing how incompatible some of the notables are. Reworking it on top would make it that much better.

[@reinierstrydom]

I agree on most of what is said here, being melee player and slayer/glad being mostly useless and their unique abilities being straight up removed without decent or any alternative makes POE sadly no fun any longer, I just get bored AF with casters or minion builds.

[@JayTheProduct]

boneshatter slayer is probably the best melee build ive played in a very long time. highly recommend it if you havent tried, incredibly SSF starter viable too.

[@marcosdheleno]

1:04:50 to me, guardian should be something like this: 1-"minions have 10% chance to refresh their duration on hit. if there are at least 5 allies, nearby, cannot be stunned. can only have up to 5 minions, minion, mirages and totems can proc on kill, on hit and leech for you, at 20% efficiency." V 2-unwavering crusade -------------------------------------------------------------- 3-radiant faith+unwavering faith V 4- 50% increased mana reservation efficiency of non curse auras.takes 50% reduced self damage(self damage being damage from equipment or gems like reap and righteous fire). -------------------------------------------------------------- 5-80% reduced curse effects. 20% chance to gain a power/frenzy/endurance charge on hit. -------------------------------------------------------------- 6-resistances are doubled OR +60 all resistances. -------------------------------------------------------------- 7- +10% block and spell block chance, counter gems gain extra damage as physical, you and nearby allies gain onslaught for 20 seconds if you countered in the last 20 seconds,

[@daardarkness4230]

Another thing for slayer that I do t remember being mentioned is the blood letter AN mod. It shits on slayer so bad that I deleted that character

[@handsomeben9504]

Every now and then I think about rolling up a Lacerate Gladiator and then I get sad.

[@MechaNoire]

I agree on a lot of stuff you said, but if I could change a few ascendancies or mechanics I would do. Give Occultist's curse node some curse penetration so it doesn't feel like complete ass and a waste of points on bosses if you go all in on curses. Move the explode to be a wither thing in its own dedicated path like you said. Have Gladiator do something unique with the retaliation skills, like making them a chance to proc on block that scales with block chance instead of a cooldown, so they trigger more often on more enemies. Also the block ascendancy should be able to max block easily. Fix battlemage and it's cry because no one wants to juggle attack speed, cast speed, accuracy, losing + gem levels to spells on weapons, and only using damage that benefits both the attack and spell. People only use Battlemage, the cry, and Zeal to boot their spell damage and not to be a Melee/Caster hybrid like it was meant to be. Remove the Pathfinder elemental nodes and either do something that enables non chaos skills or make it do more damage the more different ailments the target has. Outside of attack poison it doesn't do much offensively. Probably more but comment long.

[@yammoto148]

I think the big issue with Ascendant is that is hasn't been updated with modern class fantasy's in mind and the extra skill points don't do much until you get to a new starting area. Like say I wanna be a deathknight type build I should be able to use aspects of both the necromancer and the Juggernaut but you need to run lab four times to get it and its not as worthwhile as getting starting positions. Like Scion is the only class that wants to avoid lab unless they have attribute problems.

[@andrewwager8527]

honestly I really like the idea of heartstopper, if it just had a rotating buff while the heartstopper isn't active i think it wouldn't be a dead node. harness the void is still pretty dogshit, and swift killer shouldn't force you to channel, especially since channeling is straight up gone from the rest of the tree

[@TheEternalVortex42]

I think it would be cool if it were similar to the Elementalist convergence node: Gain Heartstopper for 4 seconds when a nearby unique enemy is affected by DOT. If you have Heartstopper deal 30% more DOT, if you don't have Heartstopper take 30% less DOT. (made up numbers obviously)

[@TQDigitalMod]

for slayer the overkill leech is very important early into the end game while you are still gearing as you are not always capping out your leechs.

[@napalegeK]

your opinion on berserker is true, sir. playing berseker just like being S and M person in same time XD

[@michaelzephyros7725]

poisoning nearby enemies during flask effect works with mageblood I think but otherwise seems worthless. agree with most of your assessments here personally think trickster should get mechanics that work with Ward to possibly help mitigate damage from hits etc and like 3-4 nodes including Ward it'd be unique among ascendancies.

[@FitzAF]

Did a bleed lacerate gladiator this league with outmatch. It actually is the better option for defense compared to going past painforged. Stole fortitude too 😂 Overall, feels nice, but there really is a cap to bleed rn, despite GGG "buffing" weapons for bleed after ultimatum.

[@rorhianskall5659]

Necromancer can support and scale diff archetypes....basically played as 2-3 builds:D

[@209Richsta]

I felt like the support nerf made the Chieftain and other unpopular ascendancies worse. I did Mathils Staff/Totems Cyclone Chieftain before the nerf and invested quite a bit in it with things like double and triple crit multi jewels do have some decent damage. Aftrr nerf it was a shell of his former self.

[@Verbstiltzkin]

could you define what you mean with a good buiild? I'm not talking about busted OP builds just a good build. do you base it only on ability to clear and kill uber bosses? Because I'm basically mostly a melee ish player and while its not as good as ranged, it feels pretty decent.But I'm also not in trade league and I dont aspire to clear wave 30 sim or the uber bosses. So it would be good to know what you base your "good build" rating on, or if you've gone through this before then maybe just link to that video. I just feel like everyone have different standards of what a "good build" is, would be nice to know yours. Really nice video, enjoyed it, thank you.

[@sfh6821]

I am an Occultist fan and I agree with all that you've said

[@davideesposito170]

my fav character was Hierophant totemist 1h and 23min ago, at the moment I'm willing to change him into inquisitor

[@jackdeth8769]

At the moment as I write this, I'm only 1 minute into this video, and I'm already hooked! "Why don't I try to make ALL of you upset..." LOL

[@jackdeth8769]

After listening to this, and reading a few comments, I can think of a possible way to update the Scion. It is sort of centered on the idea that GGG put into the game with Forbidden Flesh/Flame jewels... Instead of putting in jewel nodes or cluster jewel nodes in the Scion ascendency as Big Ducks imagined, what if instead they had "slots" of a sort for you to simply pick a full-fledged node from a single other ascendency? You pick the class the same way you do right now, but pick a single node from that class. You get rid of the "generic" buffs we currently get per (sub-)ascendency entirely, and instead you pick something specific, such as Arena Challenger from Gladiator and Blitz from Juggernaut to go zoom-zoom for example, or just about any other combo you can imagine, essentially allowing you to mix and match any two ascendency nodes you like (one per class, such as one from Witch and one from Templar), which shouldn't be too OP, since you only get 2 "powerful" nodes, rather than the 4 nodes that other ascendencies get (or 5 nodes, if you use Forbidden Flesh/Flame). What you do get instead is a huge variety of ways you can mix and match your Scion to make the combinations you want, and would get closer (in my opinion) to making the Scion the class that is a Jack-of-All-Trades/Master-of-None.

[@thomassigwalt3072]

Scion Ascendancy: what if there was a node that gave you the starting place of any class on the skill tree? It's unique, it goes with the Scion's strength of map coverage, and would save points in builds in that tree.

[@bonez994]

I can't tell if you've never played/read the ascendant before or if im wildly misunderstanding what you're suggesting. Because from my understanding of what you're suggesting, scion already has that

[@thomassigwalt3072]

@@bonez994 sorry, I am probably doing a bad job communicating my thoughts. I think the extra gem slots mentioned would be better than my idea though.

[@ChrisMeirose]

Is there a TLDR summary? A score sheet? Something?

[@Alfredilopulus]

Pretty spot on overall I would say. I think maybe assassin is 2/5 instead of a 3/5 I think it has very poor defensive, it has very little build diversity o uniqueness. But I feel thats a problem with most ascenandies in general, they've been thru so many nerfs and just numerical (if so) buffs. That we need a major rework, not to make them op, but to make them unique and special.

[@Ryan-sn3uo]

Occultist letting you ignore both Hexproof and Rejuv mods from Archnem makes mapping smoother by a long shot. It honestly takes someone who plays an Occultist post Archnem to fully appreciate the ascendency. No other way to put it.

[@jerzyuczynski9350]

Hierophant offencive option is great for dex/strength stacking siedge/shrapnel totems. With 16 totems is a 80% more dmg. Thats preaty good.

[@jordanlobo4680]

Yeah but now you can just do that on either inquisitor or guardian and literally just yoink the ascendancy node from heirophant. Just look at palsteron’s dex stacking ballista inquisitor. Literally 10 times beyond what anyone has done in heirophant. Plus that’s a very pigeonholed way to think about an ascendancy when the ascendancy is only good if you play with literally 1 unique item or it’s replica.

[@jerzyuczynski9350]

Sure I agree. But Duck said it is a bad node. For me 5% more dmg for a totem. Is a good node. 25% More dmg with just 5 totems is not bad. Is hiero good. No it need a lot of fixing. And for me inqu is now the most overpowered ascendency. To many overtuned special mechanics. Ofc just my opinion

[@schmockonaut4843]

Pathfinder has an additional build, Soulthirst. Soulthirst builds are really good for boss rushing and altar farming and pathfinder makes it easier on a small budget