Is a build centered around crit viable?

Hey guys, I was just wondering if any of you have tried a build centered around crit. If you have, could you give me some input on how it does versus a max damage build?

I was thinking about buying a villainous set with a ring and necklace of force.

My skill set would be something along the lines of:

Fireball with upgrades 1 and 3
Lightning with upgrades 1 and 3
Frostbolt with upgrade 2
Lifegiver with upgrade 2
5/5 int passive
5/5 crit passive

This build should give me around 16% crit with the crit from flamestrike.

Might be able to get that up a bit higher with some other gear changes, no idea how it would all work out though.

I think your INT will be too low so what you gain from that occasional crit (1 in 6 chance?) you will lose in total damage anyway. And if you go DEX & INT, then your STR will be too low and you will be too squishy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Energizeric

I think your INT will be too low so what you gain from that occasional crit (1 in 6 chance?) you will lose in total damage anyway. And if you go DEX & INT, then your STR will be too low and you will be too squishy.

---

Yeah, I've put this build together since it's really cheap, and so far the INT I lose from villainous stuff is crippling my damage and nuking ability. I'm drinking pots like it's open bar at your best friend's wedding.

You want to go with gear that gives INT & STR, but no DEX. Most sorcerers seem to prefer more INT & less STR like the demonlord "of security" set gives. This setup gives max damage. However, I've found I do better with the demonlord "of will" set which gives more STR and less INT. It gives much better survivability which for PvP does much better (at least for me it does). Either way, I would avoid DEX in both your gear and your stats as it doesn't do much at all for you.

i think u should get watcher rifle, it best wep in pvp. it makes u and ur skills(maybe) have farther range also the push back is useful. when u shoot the bullet goes to nearest person in range. i personally don't like demonlord stuff cause its expensive(last time i checked) and my winter and stormcaller set is better in pvp u should add arcane shield to ur build

My sorc is ALL intell and I only equip legendary gear that boosts all stats. There's my 2 cents. :)

No, crit is < +damage. If you go and test crits from your weapons or from spells you will see that a crit is only 125%-150% of your non crit damage. I would think you would need 40-50% crit to make up for the loss in damage. In my opinion crit damage is too low, but that may be the plan so that crits don't get too big. I wish STS would share what the crit damage bonus is but i haven't been able to get that out of them.

I originally spec'd my Rogue for Max Crit - finally settling in at around 32-33% with Meep-Moop.

In numerous PvE and PvP runs, I determined that a Max Crit build yields very little in the way of tangible benefits. The only benefit I found was that I was able to Crit more often against elite Boss encounters, but unfortunately, I was sacrificing armor, dodge and HP.

In PvP, any benefit to Max Crit disappeared. Entering CTF without a pet put me at about 24-25% crit, but with low survivability stats, I was constantly one-hit by enemies. Sure, I was able to crit many Aimed Shots, but if the initial assault failed to kill the enemy, I usually died....quickly.

My current build tones down the Crit and builds up survivability and damage. Right now, I enter PvP with about 16% crit, 20% dodge and improved damage stats (Watchers Bow). This build is far superior to my previous one, as I can survive a retaliatory strike (unless it is a crit Aimed Shot), and my initial assault often registers a kill, whether it crits or not.

CosmoxKramer is correct, in order to see a benefit to a crit build, the differential would have to be > 20% because of the reduction in damage on a max crit build. As far as PvP is concerned, Damage is the superior offensive stat. DPS would be a secondary offensive stat for Sorcerers if you can maintain stuns against an enemy.

This is the sorc section GoodSyntax :)

But what you say about your rogue is equally true for mages. Crit is only useful for lightning as it does 250% damage on a crit with the advantage.

Only issue with sorcs is that, while rogues have a way to stack crit for some nice aimed shot damage, sorcerers can't and it is sorely lacking to the class.

Come to think of it I don't think crit stacking is even remotely useful to a single class until they make it more than a 25%, 50% increase in damage.

Maybe if they made crits to be 175% crit damage, skills with "increase damage on Crit" be 200%, and the skills that do +25% be 225% and then LB be 250%

Unless they add more skills I was planning on maxing out the damage stat and putting the left over in crit, I have everything I feel is worthwhile in the active skills.

Just a thought, but i am thinking that one possibility with crit is that it ignores enemy armor. Should be easy to check.

Don't think so, or damage would be much bigger