Savage attack need a fix

[dunehunter]

I will prove my opinion on two aspect.

 

1. Comparing with PoE 1, DR is replaced with AR. This result in big hard attack won’t be as effective as it was in PoE1. So the +25% damage from savage in PoE1 is way better than the +30% damage in DF.

 

2. More accuracy always grant more crit, while more damage bonus won’t grant u the same amount of dps. So if you already have massive amount of damage bonus, like sneak attack, soul whip, legendary weapon, then savage attack will always drop your dps because the gain of 30% damage is less than the penalty of -10 accuracy, unless you have 200 accuracy and enemy have less than 100 deflection.

 

So in most case this is just a trap modal everyone should avoid now. In dnd 3r, things are different because mobs there usually has lower ac, and there are case where you have 100% chance to hit, like when enemies are hold or paralyzed. This make power attack useful in special cases. I hope we can have a fix here, suggestions would be welcome!

Edited July 28, 2018 by dunehunter

[Boeroer]

Savage Attack in PoE was (or is) -5 ACC for +20%. That is without doubt better than in Deadfire. But you had to spend a talent point for it while in Deadfire you get it basically for free unless you are a Devoted.

 

If you use the basic assumption that 1 ACC equals 2% dps on average then -10ACC/+30% isn't that bad though. Since modals are supposed to be balanced when it comes to bonus and malus this isn't the worst modal we have. It's still ok if there are some cases where it's beneficial - it's not supposed to be beneficial in all or even the majority of cases. And I can see where it has its uses. For example when you meet low defense enemies with very high health (eg. Rotghasts or so). Nearly all the modals with reduced recovery are worse when it comes to usefulness.

 

Not every class has a lot of damage bonuses like Rogue or even Rogue/Cipher has. A Ranger for example has an overbundance of ACC but no dmg bonuses.

 

I think one should run some tests in order to see how bad/good it really is - because theory crafting alone is not enough. The whole ACC vs. DMG comparison is too complex.

[grasida]

Testing is likely to be artificial too, since testing assumes choosing specific characters to use savage attack with and specific enemies to use it on. Unless you do something like play through the game with one guy using a great sword with savage attack on all the time, one guy who never uses it and one guy who uses it judiciously.

 

I did some calculations on it last month and came to the conclusion it’s a damage boost on most characters (not rogues, almost for sure) as long as you would have a 50% chance to hit or so anyway. Since you can flank enemies for a free 10% chance to hit, that makes it okay most of the time. It’s still a fairly disappointing ability, since missing is no fun and it only results in a minor damage increase in most cases. But it still is a damage increase. Most weapon modals aren’t very exciting, to be honest.

[UltimaLuminaire]

These theories also don't account for talents/passives or active abilities that convert misses to grazes and grazes to hits.

Edited July 28, 2018 by UltimaLuminaire

[Boeroer]

And hits to crits.