Recently I've been looking into Cast on Melee Kill and with the 1.2.2 update increasing it's effect chance to 100% and providing bonus spell damage per level, I can't help but feel that Cast on Melee Kill (CoMK) is still much less effective than Cast on Crit (CoC).





Comparing CoMK to CoC:



1. CoC can trigger multiple times per second/ CoMK Triggers once per enemy death

2. CoC does not require weapon damage / CoMK requires weapon damage to be able to kill

3. CoC can trigger on difficult targets like unique monsters / CoMK requires the target to die before triggering.

4. CoC Benefits from targeting groups, CoMK benefits from killing targets one at a time (very slow)





Scenarios:



1. Single enemy: CoC triggers multiple times, the target being killed by linked spells /CoMK triggers post enemy death and hits no additional targets with the linked spell.

2. Multiple enemies: CoC triggers multiple times and hits multiple targets, defeating the group of enemies quickly /CoMK requires a target be killed, triggering a single cast from the supported gems.

3. VS a Unique enemy: CoC triggers multiple times, damaging the target/ CoMK does not trigger during the fight, and triggers once the enemy is defeated.





How do we fix this?:



CoMK is near ineffective in comparison to CoC, melee builds need a similar trigger skill that will focus on something that Melee has the ability to do better than ranged combat: Stuns.



Cast on Melee Stun (CoMS)

Trigger chance: Either 100% Once per Skill Use that results in a stun OR low % chance for any stuns (similar to CoC chance per crit).

Level Bonus: Reduced Stun Threshold

Quality Bonus: Stun Duration



Stun builds have a few requirements that still make CoMS less powerful than CoC, but much more viable than CoMK. Here are the similarities and differences between CoMS and CoC.





Similarities:



1. Both require specific builds

2. Both benefit from some skills over others (CoC: Spectral Throw, CoMS: Ground Slam/Heavy Strike)

3. Both can trigger multiple times per enemy

4. Have a support gem to encourage the trigger (CoC: Increased critical strikes, CoMS: Stun Support Gem)





Differences:



1. CoMS requires a more specific build

2. CoMS requires reasonable weapon damage due to the behavior of the Stun mechanic, CoC can be done with a weapon that only has high base critical chance.

3. CoMS would likely require Resolute Technique to be Effective, the opposite force of CoC (Crit/Accuracy).

4. CoMS is specific to melee attacks

5. CoMS benefits from slower heavy attacks, CoC benefits greatly from increased attacks speed with disregard for damage dealt. As a result, it is self-balancing, as increasing speed in lieu of damage decreases stun chance, meaning it will not cast nearly as frequently as CoC has the ability to.

6. CoMS has the ability to be nullified by enemies or entire maps with the "Unwavering" affix. CoC works at all times.





Issues with CoMS design:



1. Many Stun nodes are entirely specific to the Mace weapon type, unlike crit which is available on multiple weapon types such as claws and wands. Addition of Stun nodes for weapons such as Staves and Axes and/or another Stun specific cluster would likely balance this; Gem levels of CoMS also balance this.

2. Endurance Charge on Melee Stun is less potent than CoMS linked to Enduring cry for generating Endurance Charges.

3. Potentially abuse-able for the “stun lock” effect. Possible balance: Reduce Stun duration on enemies to from 300ms to 200ms OR apply bonus 33% Block/Stun Recovery to enemies for the same effect without manipulating base stun duration. This makes it much harder to Stun reliably, balanced by the extra stun reduction available, and makes Stun Duration a much more important statistic for Stun builds.



I've spent a lot of time and effort constructing this and I would like a serious review of the suggestion, it is open to discussion for balancing and changes, but the general idea should remain the same: Trigger support designed around Melee Stun would counter the prowess of Cast on Crit, and provide players with an entirely new trigger gem to work with.



Edit: Typos and missing data. IGN: Bravo_Thirsty Last edited by Darkblitz9 on Sep 11, 2014, 9:25:56 PM