A friend pointed out the unchained lost overcharge when blocking, which after some investigation I discovered comes from blazing sinews… I can’t believe I missed it…
So is, or how is Blazing sinews affected by block cost reduction effects?
(He’s been running at chaos warriors screaming “Hit me!” it seems the harder your block is hit the more overcharge you lose. The most amusing of these times went… “Hit Me!!!” joyously screamed at the top of his lungs while running at some foe, followed almost immediately by “What the **** hit me???” )
So is, or how is Blazing sinews affected by block cost reduction effects?
I don’t know the answer but would assume that since the block cost is reduced that would reduce the overcharge removal as well.
But to be honest why would you do that? I mean the more overcharge you have the more damage output you have. If you feel it’s too much you can tap the venting quick (with Dissipate skill you barely take dmg when venting) and you’re good to go. With unchained I rarely am under 75% of heat, except when there are no enemies.
From what I have gathered, it seems that the overcharge dissipation is reduced by block-cost reduction. I run cost-reduction on both weapon and necklace and it at least seems like it removes alot less overcharge. It also makes Unchained a very reliable block-tank. Pair it with off-balance, jump into a horde, let them wail on you, fire your detonate.
I’m not sure where you are going with this,lowering block cost seems like a good idea, I block quite a bit with the mage, it’s not as mobile as I’d like with the mace.
Despite having played close to 30 games with this career I’m still struggling to understand all its idiosyncrasies, .
it does have a lot of little tricks eh? that’s what makes the class fun =)
i run 60% block cost (neck and weapon), and all the heat-reducing talents/traits + maximum overcharge boosting talents. i spam fireballs like crazy on almost everything, when my charge gets high i either just vent (lowered vent hp cost) with natural bond, or wade into melee letting maulers and chaos warriors smash my overcharge to nothing.
fighting bosses is very fun because you can just unleash hell on them, they’ll turn to you, and most bosses give you a big hit that clears ALL your overcharge so you can spam again. i think the class is very well designed.
The interaction in block cost reduction (BCR) making Blazing Sinew less effective is awful imo. I can’t understand why it’s a thing, or why anyone would ever desire it to be a thing.
The only time you block on Unchained is if you have failed to control a horde and need to reposition, or have maximum overcharge and cannot vent manually. If you reach 85%+ BCR via 5 stacks of Overcharge and item stats, that means you now cannot vent via blocking, and have no choice but to vent manually, which is extremely dangerous assuming you are now at max overcharge and already surrounded by a horde. Given a single power-attack will make Sienna hit max overcharge, even running +25% max overcharge is insane, and staying at high overcharge for any period of time is not only dangerous, but barely reduces time-to-kill (TTK) on enemy kill breakpoints. The risk-reward ratio is terrible.
Reaching 5 shields is very easy on Unchained, which in tandem with the baseline BCR of the class at higher overcharge makes effective blocking up-time enormous, especially if you also run +Stamina regen. Added BCR actively gimps your build and will sabotage optimal staff uptime. Anyone playing with max BCR has to be insane dead-weight on a Legend team, lol. With this in mind, it may actually be most optimal to run dagger over mace specifically just to further reduce blocking efficiency, so you can drop overcharge faster and do more damage in general via your staff.
disagree, this ability synergises with my playstyle very well. after i spam my fireballs to get up to near max overcharge, i have the option to wade into heavy elite melee fighting, just blocking many overhead strikes instead of getting my shields totally eradicated in one heavy hit, making me open to attack. it goes along very well with the mace because it’s way faster to block an attack and continue attacking away at the elite’s heads. when crap hits the fan, having the ability to have reduced block cost is a party saver because it just gives you more time to get to a better position. staying at high overcharge does give you better kill times on things you are hitting, you may not see the difference but i do, especially when trying to play whack-a-mole with chaos warrior heads. it’s not recommended to stay at high overcharge of course, but on the unchained, it offers options which i have incorporated into my playstyle.
as an example, say you are firing madly into a horde and 3 stormvermin pop up. at high overcharge i’ll whip out my mace, block all 3 overheads at the same time lowering overcharge too, and pound on their heads. without lowered block cost, it gets dangerous, and i’ll be forced to resort to less efficient ways of killing them. there are many ways to skin a cat, it’s just how you use the tools at your disposal. blazing sinews is awesome for me.
you also mentioned taking a single power-attack will make her hit max overcharge. in that scenario most dps characters would have flat out died. the mistake is transferred to heat, which can be managed. don’t know about you but i find that awesome.
the playstyle you are describing btw fits more towards pyro/bw.
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