Any reviews of Wildstrike Frenzy?

[Jayd]

Even as a Druid/shapeshifting enthusiast I never spent too much time thinking about these passives because "on kill" is generally the worst trigger and the effects didn't seem gamechanging. I just realized, though, that I always assumed they only proc on weapon kills even though the abilities don't say actually say so. A SC Druid built for damage can kill mobs pretty quickly and effectively with spells (much more so than with auto-attacks).

If spell kills do proc the frenzy abilities, you could cast some strong spells early-mid fight and then transform. As your spells wrack up kills, your shift duration will extend and you'll do waves of foe-only damage and debuffs. Could be cool.

Can anyone confirm whether it does proc on spell kill? If so, is the AoE centred around the Druid or the enemy killed?

What is the radius of the AoE?

How impactful is it in a fight?

Opinions on what the strongest one is?

[Elric Galad]

The problem is : as a druid, you're likely to go "spell mode" most of the time, so is spending 3 ability points on Wildstrike worths it just to get an on-death effects ?
(maybe yes because SC druids should have Spare ability points ? There are not tons of mandatory spells/passive for druids).

And to begin with, are you a better spell caster while shifted ? 
Spiritshift armor is among the best armors of the game (basically a +5 AR robe, +7AR if going bear, up to legendary quality, and it has no weakness to any type of damages).
However, you can't use a shield while shifted, so that's a big downside. You trade Def, Ref and various passives from special weapons/shields/armor for AR. 
Other than that, lifegivers and furies do have special benefits when shifted, so it might worth it for them.

Edited April 29, 2019 by Elric Galad

[Boeroer]

I just tested Wildstrike Frenzy.

Only kills with your wildstrike-infused claws/tusks/horns/etc. will trigger the effect. Not kills from spells.  

[AeonsLegend]

On 4/27/2019 at 10:20 PM, Jayd said:

 because "on kill" is generally the worst trigger

I dunno. On kill is pretty sweet. Try combining a Cipher/Paladin and get the two on kill passives and just fear enemies and buff your allies for free for every enemy you kill. I trigger that **** at least twice in a fight, and the buffs/debuffs are substantial. Can make hard fights really easy.

[AeonsLegend]

I can't say ****. Can I say poop?

Edit yes I can! I trigger that POOP at least twice a fight.

Okay doesn't sound as good, but censorship is for people that think lesser of others.

Edited April 29, 2019 by AeonsLegend

[Jayd]

5 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I just tested Wildstrike Frenzy.

Only kills with your wildstrike-infused claws/tusks/horns/etc. will trigger the effect. Not kills from spells.  

Ouch. That makes these abilities really quite bad, then. SC Druids are not going to be doing a huge amount of auto-attack killing, Considering it's PL8 and taking the limitations of spiritshifting + not casting spells + no access to martial passives, I don't even know if those abilities would be too strong on hit, never mind on kill. If it's not super strong, why spec into shifted auto-attacks at all instead of more spells and spell passives? Thank you for testing this as I never had the time to.

 

14 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

The problem is : as a druid, you're likely to go "spell mode" most of the time, so is spending 3 ability points on Wildstrike worths it just to get an on-death effects ?
(maybe yes because SC druids should have Spare ability points ? There are not tons of mandatory spells/passive for druids).

And to begin with, are you a better spell caster while shifted ? 
Spiritshift armor is among the best armors of the game (basically a +5 AR robe, +7AR if going bear, up to legendary quality, and it has no weakness to any type of damages).
However, you can't use a shield while shifted, so that's a big downside. You trade Def, Ref and various passives from special weapons/shields/armor for AR. 
Other than that, lifegivers and furies do have special benefits when shifted, so it might worth it for them.

Yeah, this is the key tension. Spiritshift can feel pretty nice if multiclassed with a martial class like monk or rogue. I'm playing a Shifter/Helwalker right now and going between casting and meleeing feels really fun and effective (+10 Turning Wheel Helwalker means both crazy powerful spells and you can delete some enemy squishies with a single spiritshift Flagellant's Path - so much fun). But for spiritshift to feel worth it offensively on a SC Druid then the Frenzy talents should be very, VERY good. Why bother otherwise?

 

3 hours ago, AeonsLegend said:

I dunno. On kill is pretty sweet. Try combining a Cipher/Paladin and get the two on kill passives and just fear enemies and buff your allies for free for every enemy you kill. I trigger that **** at least twice in a fight, and the buffs/debuffs are substantial. Can make hard fights really easy.

Careful not to equivocate between "on kill abilities are sweet" and "'on kill' is a sweet trigger condition". There may be really good abilities that trigger on kill, but they would only be that much better with better trigger conditions, like 'on hit' or 'on crit'.  There are worse conditions like "on being knocked out", but that's very rare.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Jayd
Clarity

[Boeroer]

I agree that SC druids lack martial capabilities. Especially shifters who can't even use Taste of the Hunt.

A few more dedicated passives would have been nice, maybe an active melee ability or two which are not spells.

But you can of course use spells to lower enemies' health and then finish them with a melee strike.

One thing with my testing though: I didn't make sure that it wasn't DoT ticks that killed the enemies. Maybe that prevented Wikdstrike Frenzy from triggering. I doubt it but to be extra sure I will run another test later today.

[AeonsLegend]

6 hours ago, Jayd said:

Careful not to equivocate between "on kill abilities are sweet" and "'on kill' is a sweet trigger condition". There may be really good abilities that trigger on kill, but they would only be that much better with better trigger conditions, like 'on hit' or 'on crit'.  There are worse conditions like "on being knocked out", but that's very rare.

No I'm saying on kill trigger is sweet, because if you build right you will trigger it consistently. Together with the fact that some on kill abilities are really good it makes it worth it. And let me tell you why on kill is sweet. You can build a character with on hit, on crit AND on kill abilties and make use of all of them. Looking at them separately as if they are mutually exclusive is not the right way of looking at it. And here's another difference that adds to the goodness. Since on hit and on crit abilities apply on the target, on kill does not. On kill may have AoE effect on all enemies in the area or all your party members in your party. Therefore they are different and good to have. Sure the application of on hit is more consistent than on kill, but the result is not the same as the triggers are different. You should not compare them that way.

[Boeroer]

On kill also works on allies by the way, including summons. It's a bit cheesy but you can make it work very reliably then.

E.g. Warlock with Blood Thirst who nukes a Beckoner's skeletons while they are distracting/engaging the enemies.

Barb+Paladin has some really nice passive "on crit", "on near death" + "on kill" effect combos.

Most of them are sub PL8.

Too bad you can't combine any of that with Wikdstrike Frenzy.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Boeroer

[AeonsLegend]

I've never thought about doing that. That's actually pretty cool

[Boeroer]

What I just realize: doesn't the Fury have the automatic passive ability that kills (while shifted) prolong the Spiritshift duration? If a Fury now also picks Wildstrike Frenzy: will those effects stack? I mean with Relentless + Returning Storm and Heart of the Storm you can bring down enemies' health pretty quickly and then do some kill-snipes with your ranged wildstrikes. Will have to test what happens...