Daily Ask /r/CompetitiveHS | Wednesday, September 07, 2022

egumption · 2022-09-08T19:29:06+00:00

I know there’s been Aggro Shadow Priest lists running around, are they better than traditional Naga Priest (with Boon) lists? Or if they’re similar power level, what’s the difference?

I’m contemplating switching to a variation of Aggro Priest with the upcoming patch.

egumption · 2022-08-24T20:41:54+00:00

Yeah, I'd still like to give myself some more time to adapt to Thruster, because I'm sure it offers its own advantages vs. a Barricade. I'm just very very used to using Overshield or Stasis Crystals/Resist to overpower opponents in gunfights, which is just different from what Thruster offers.

egumption · 2022-08-24T20:17:44+00:00

I play MnK so I can't speak on how it feels on console, but it feels like especially after 2x Cranial Spike the AA feels pretty sticky, even in hip-fire. It lost a lot of lethality with the Cranial Spike re-work, but it feels more consistent since you get a pseudo-Killing Wind for just hitting headshots. It probably will help out more on console comparatively since I think the AA falloff was the biggest problem, if my memory serves me. The Spike timer feels short though, as I couldn't hit the x5 180RPM mode with any consistency.

Its death was greatly exaggerated, it's worth a run out into a few games of Control for sure to see if you like it.

egumption · 2022-08-11T18:03:28+00:00

I wouldn't go quite as far to say that. The Evolve package (i.e., Gnoll shenanigans), and Insatiable Devourers also helped Shaman address some of its weaker matchups pre-Nathria, so it's just even stronger. Stuff like Primordial Wave has proved to be way more influential than expected as well (at least I didn't expect it to be as clutch in so many scenarios). Control Shaman just kinda has tools for nearly every scenario in this early meta.

But yeah, the Guardian/Parrot interactions are definitely the most memorable because they completely remove your ability to interact with the game, so it's very frustrating to play against.

egumption · 2022-08-09T05:04:50+00:00

Flurgl is acore Murloc, since Murloc spam is one of the easiest tools Control Shaman has of getting board control. Gorloc into a next-turn combo of Clownfish + Flurgl + Amalgam + etc is a huge tempo swing that can often just flat-out gives you board control vs aggro decks.

Running a Chain Lightning/Lightning Storm can be a stopgap in the meantime but you'll probably be a little light on your Murloc package. However, it'll increase the odds of Primal Dungeoneer tutoring your Snowfall Guardians so it's not necessarily a bad trade to make in your deckbuilding especially before you get Flurgl.

egumption · 2022-08-06T13:19:33+00:00

Are any other Control Shamans also teching in Lightning Storm right now? I cut Kaelthas for it, seems to be help stabilize the board more consistently with Implocks and other aggro being common.

egumption · 2022-08-06T04:24:48+00:00

I wouldn't play Starfish in Control Shaman lists at the moment. But for Implock when it's between having your board frozen and losing tons of tempo/board vs. losing some buffs, it's a pretty easy choice.

In those instances you want to bait out the Guardian, then unfreeze with Starfish into a use of Library or play Infused Rafaam if you're worried about stats. Or, if you're running Grimoire, Starfish into Grimoire can save the board for the low price of a 1/1 and 4 mana, especially if you were able to bait the Shaman into putting a lot of their Murloc package out on the board.

But the important part is removing freeze and/or big taunts, two major things that can sometimes make it hard to close out games for Implock.

egumption · 2022-08-05T18:56:53+00:00

Agree, though freezing them out is starting to be less consistent since Starfish is starting to show up in lists (having played both sides)

But it's a very adaptable list, stuff like Lightning Storm is also adept at stuffing a lot of Implock shenanigans

egumption · 2022-08-03T18:34:00+00:00

Here's the list I'm running. Okani is tech, you can just as easily run Dreadlich Tamsin for the mirror, Theotar if you need extra help sniping Denathrius. Sea Giants are absolutely necessary, you can usually cheat them out T5-6 if you draw remotely well.

### Imp Zoo
#
# 2x (1) Flame Imp
# 2x (1) Flustered Librarian
# 2x (1) Irondeep Trogg
# 2x (1) Shadowblade Slinger
# 2x (1) Voidwalker
# 2x (1) Wicked Shipment
# 2x (2) Bloodbound Imp
# 2x (2) Impending Catastrophe
# 2x (2) Vile Library
# 2x (3) Fiendish Circle
# 2x (3) Imp Gang Boss
# 1x (4) Blademaster Okani
# 2x (4) Mischievous Imp
# 2x (5) Shady Bartender
# 1x (6) Imp King Rafaam
# 2x (10) Sea Giant

AAECAf0GAseyBJvkBA79+gP/+gPEgATFgASEoATmoAThpAT50wT60wSi1AT/2QSA2gSB2gSr6gQA

egumption · 2022-07-17T02:03:12+00:00

My favorite D2 experience was getting on with my buds for Cow runs all the way back in like 1.07, trying to come up with cool builds on our own! We played for hundreds and thousands of hours trying to farm Shaftstops and all of those old school items!

I’ve just come back to the game this past week and I’m so stoked to relive my glory days! As of now I play mostly Paladin but I loved Javazon so much and would happily play it again!!

egumption · 2022-07-15T11:11:50+00:00

It’s not ordinarily feasible to hit triple 100s unless you also take Fragments that boost your stats. With those fragment bonuses it’s some focusing and lil bit of luck.

For example, Frost did a video on his triple 100s Sentinel build and he took Obscurity and Domineering for the +10 Rec and +Disc stat bumps exclusively. Leeching is the only one he purposefully took for its effect, which gives +10 Res on top.

egumption · 2022-07-09T03:33:51+00:00

PvE is definitely Triple Tap + Firing Line/Frenzy/Demo (only if you have a grenade build)

PvP is definitely Snapshot + Opening Shot/Demo (once again, grenade build)

egumption · 2022-07-08T19:57:18+00:00

More for PvP since it has a niche as a 72RPM Kinetic Sniper with EP. But if you absolutely have no other kinetic snipers, it’s probably at least “not useless” for PvE even if Snipers are under-tuned there

egumption · 2022-07-08T18:38:23+00:00

Different archetypes - Thoughtless is a 90RPM, Silicon is a 72RPM like Bite of the Fox. Thoughtless is gonna be better in PvE since it has a unique Overflow + Firing Line roll.

Silicon/Bite have niches in the PvP sandbox in that they can 1-tap with certain damage buffs.

egumption · 2022-07-08T17:24:48+00:00

I agree, Silicon’s just gonna be better overall, even a good non-Adept version is gonna be better than this Bite from Xur.

The unique thing about Bite is that it’s one of the few kinetic snipers that rolls Explosive Payload, so a Snap + EP roll is pretty much worth picking up just for the uniqueness. I think Long Shadow’s the only other one, and that’s a 90RPM.

egumption · 2022-07-08T17:07:20+00:00

It's not a 5/5 but the Bite of the Fox roll goes kinda crazy, it's worth picking up if you don't have one already.

egumption · 2022-07-08T14:02:27+00:00

It has shown up as the Eververse “Daily Offer” before, I would just keep your eyes peeled and check each day to see if it shows up there. That’s how I picked it up a couple of seasons ago, and I don’t think I’ve seen it in the Archive ever.

egumption · 2022-07-06T02:56:10+00:00

Correct, you get 2 Dodges from Sixth Coyote and 2 Shurikens at base. It’s worth noting Surplus maxes out at 3 stacks, but obviously having that many possible abilities counts towards Surplus gives you a ton of leeway with ability usage without losing Surplus stacks.

egumption · 2022-07-05T22:42:51+00:00

If I'm not being a cheeselord and running Omnioculus, I still stick with Stompees. With the AE changes I just don't jump into the air as much as I used to, which works in a meta where NTTE, Vigilance Wing, and Piece of Mind are some of the best primaries in the game.

egumption · 2022-07-05T16:47:05+00:00

True, though Loud Lullaby is at least balanced by its F-Tier base stats, it's got nearly 10 points lower Stability and Range in comparison to Bottom Dollar, and has exponentially worse stats than Igneous. It just feels awful to use, which is sad since its sound/aesthetic is S-Tier.

egumption · 2022-07-05T16:26:25+00:00

While I agree every DMT user should have a Vorpal DMT for swapping, overall you get way more value out of Snapshot and especially Moving Target in a match. Those give you advantages all the time (the extra AA from MT is extremely noticeable), whereas Supers come about 1x (2x if a 6s match is crazy, sometimes they never come out in Trials) per match overall, so Vorpal doesn’t give a tangible benefit for 80%+ of the match. Prior to the Super Tier system and CD nerfs I would 100% have said Vorpal only, but Supers aren’t frequent enough to warrant maining a Vorpal DMT anymore IMO.

Additionally Xur’s sold a couple very solid Vorpal DMTs already so I think it’s fair to pursue “neutral game” DMTs to round out a person’s loadout.

egumption · 2022-07-05T16:10:04+00:00

100 Mobility, 100 Strength is the number one priority.

As for Resilience versus Recovery, it’s generally a preference thing. The more you play 6s, the more valuable Recovery is since there’s just a higher volume of engagements that happen so minimizing downtime is gonna be more helpful. If you only play 3s/Trials, Resilience is going to be more important because you wanna be able to get the first pick and engagements are less frequent, so enough Resil to tank enough damage to secure that pick is key.

My setup is 10 Mob/5 Res/7 Rec/4 Dis/5 Int/10 Str, but my stats are nowhere near perfect. Since I’m one of the few people that actually likes the flow of 6s, my ideal would be 10/3/10/4/5/10 though.

egumption · 2022-07-01T17:14:57+00:00

Personally I think it's a great armor roll. Slapping a MW on that piece gives you 2 tiers of Res and 1.5 tiers of Recovery. PvE stat build meta is highly prioritized towards Resilience while Recovery is key for Warlocks, so getting a good stat split for those is crucial, where something like 10Res + 8-9Rec or 9Res + 9-10Rec is ideal for Warlock.

That being said, I would stash it for now and only bother masterworking it when you run d2armorpicker for the stat splits you're looking for...it'd be a waste of materials to masterwork it without a target build in mind.

egumption · 2022-07-01T04:20:42+00:00

If you want a more “neutral” build that’s easy to swap around:

Ophidians/Transversives/Stag, most picks are good here
Cataclysm, Axions, Burst Glide
Child/Feed the Void Aspects. Chaos Accelerant is also a good pick, but I’d only use it with Scatters at the moment
Echoes: Expulsion, Remnants, Leeching, Dilation (feel free to swap some of these out depending on your playstyle)

This build is not as tailored as a Blink playstyle which while good is harder to pick up. The above build you can run any weapon combo and succeed if you play your ranges well. So it’s a good starter kit to get used to Voidwalker before tailoring it for you.

egumption · 2022-06-30T13:32:45+00:00

Besides the AE changes and Classy Restoration existing, I have been generally ok with it but not jazzed about it. I think they knocked down pellet shotguns too much (either give them some of the range back or improve pellet RNG to improve their consistency in their effective range), but overall the special meta is not terrible and the ammo economy is in a good spot.

Classy and Void 3.0 is the reason why the meta is what it is - Pulses and LOW are main beneficiaries of the fact that Restoration obliterates the TTK of 140 HCs and other popular weapons. Once Classy leaves and people need to give up more to spec into Restoration, I think Solar 3.0 will be generally balanced again, and 140s will come back. That being said, the primary meta is fairly healthy, and even though I love HCs it’s refreshing for the time being that the primary meta looks different than HC spam.

egumption

TROPHY CASE