First off - I love primalist as a class and I love shaman style classes in any game I play. Tempest Strike is a skill I really like the flavor of as it feels like you’re wielding the storm.
Onto the main point: I have a HUGE problem with the Tempest Strike skill tree node that allows you to gain mana when none of the spells proc. I like the idea of giving ways to aid in generating mana, especially when you have skills that cost so much mana like Entangling Roots and Earthquake, but I feel the way this was done for Tempest Strike specifically is antithetical to the identity of the skill.
In my own experience, and in many others’ that I’ve talked to in twitch streams, the ‘ideal’ setup to use for Tempest Strike is to take the passives and skill nodes so that you generate 28 mana on each attack for sure by disabling all three spells. This effectively means you’re not using Tempest Strike anymore, but rather pushing a ‘Please give me 28 mana’ button that doesn’t scale with attack or cast speed.
Once again, I’m not opposed to having a mana generator of some sort tied to Tempest Strike. I just think that having to disable the interesting and thematic aspects of the skill to gain mana is the wrong way to go about it. I’d much rather see it be implemented something along the lines of “Whenever you proc one of the spells gain X% increased mana regen for Y seconds. This effect can stack.” or “Whenever you hit with a spell proc gain X (10?) mana. This effect has a Y (3?) second cooldown per spell (e.g. each spell has their own mana gain proc cooldown).”
As a secondary issue I feel giving mana gained on Tempest Strike brings about the problem of throwing it onto any build even if it shouldn’t really fit just because gaining mana is so strong. The mana generation through Rive, Vengeance, and Smite for Sentinel give you options of skills to use that scale with attack or cast speed and can fit into the right build and playstyle for you. Tempest Strike is a slow hitting attack and it feels strange for a caster or pet build to be running around and stutterstepping between TS attacks just swinging at the air slowly.
TL;DR - Tempest Strike gaining mana through disabling the spell procs makes the skill lose its thematic identity and it also doesn’t feel good to add into an unrelated build, but we still do it because the mana gain is so strong.
I agree with a lot of what you say, but currently it’s the only way I can sustain my crow proc build I guess I could invest in mana regen gear, but I really do think primalist needs a legit mana regen skill outside of the convoluted way of disabling tempest strike+tempest form combination.
That was my final point. It doesn’t feel good, but we use it because the mana gain is so strong. I’m all for having a way to gain more mana (and I’d personally love it if that was a way of improving regen or even base mana regen to keep it different from mana strike, sentinel mana on attack, etc), but I think how it is currently being done with Tempest Strike isn’t right.
I agree with all these points. I really like that EHG experimented with this, and primalist unquestionably needed a man regen option, but i think there are better approaches to the problem. Sentinel’s new mana regen options feel great because there are multiple ways to build them out. To be effective, there really is only one way to build tempest strike, and the skill itself makes for a very uneven playstyle that really slows down some builds that want to go much faster.
I agreebthat it should take away what makes tempest strike, tempest strike. But the skill wasn’t good to begin with imo. The damage scaling is wonky. It is slow and all of your damage only relied on chance. I agree that it should be used in a better manner. But I think that for the skill as a whole. It feels bad to us no matter how you use it. And now it feels mandatory. I like that it casts different spells and you can gain mana. But make it to where it scales better damage wise and it feels less clonky with the procs. And maybe you can build the mana gen into the passive tree or something like that for primalist. Idk. But imo this skill as a whole needs some love primalist is on of my favorite classes. But until now I never played TS outside of testing and still wouldn’t if not for the mana changes. I really hope it gets some love.
I agree. It trivialises the mana management on Primalist with a clunky solution. Primalists do need mana sustain for its really expensive spells though, so they really shouldn’t get rid of it until we can have a better replacement.
As a fan of skills that can proc other skills, I think Tempest Strike is a really cool skill but suffers from a lack of attack speed scaling while having % chance to proc. Mage’s Mana Strike just feels better as it can scale attack speed so it can proc Lightning and Spark charge, AND you can make it so both have 100% proc chance.
I did like you had to invest in disabling all the procs in order to get mana and I felt like I had to invest in the skill to get what I wanted out of it, mana generation. What I didn’t like though was after i did that and got all the mana and health on hit, I was left with 1 skill point that had no place to go and gave zero benefit no matter where it goes as the rest of the nodes buff the elemental procs. This skill could definitely use a closer look at.
Edit:
Also, mana regeneration feels soo bad right now, I started out by investing heavily into mana regen and I go so little out of it I went into tempest strike. I only say that cause an increase to mana regeneration % on strike or elemental proc could really slow down the mana gain.
I guess I could invest in mana regen gear, but I really do think primalist needs a legit mana regen skill outside of the convoluted way of disabling tempest strike+tempest form combination.