Thunder-forged scepter, 17% or 22% crit?

[Peter_Principle]

Thunder forged phlogiston ingredients are hard to come by, so you can't necessarily just whip out every Tier 3 type of item you want. So if I'm going for a Tier 3 caster scepter (a force scepter to start with, since that is probably the most universally useful), should I get the blanket 17% crit chance, or the 22% specific to force? Will the 5% make a big enough difference?

I plan to do many lives, heroic completionist, 3x caster lives, epic completionist, etc. and hang out at cap for just about all of them for at least a little while.

[blerkington]

Hi,

Two things worth considering here are how likely you are in the long term to stick with the build you have, and how much you dislike swapping gear around.

I think the 17% universal crit chance is the better bet, not least of all because it's so much effort to make a Tier 3 item. My caster (who is not my main) will be facing the same decision soonish, so it will be interesting to hear what other people are doing.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

[SirValentine]

So if I'm going for a Tier 3 caster scepter (a force scepter to start with, since that is probably the most universally useful), should I get the blanket 17% crit chance, or the 22% specific to force?
...
I plan to do many lives, heroic completionist, 3x caster lives, epic completionist...

Don't forget option 3: don't put Tier 3 on it at all, so you can use it during all those Epic Reincarnations.

That's the one I'm going with, at least until I'm done getting Epic Completionist.

[Peter_Principle]

Don't forget option 3: don't put Tier 3 on it at all, so you can use it during all those Epic Reincarnations.

That's the one I'm going with, at least until I'm done getting Epic Completionist.

If you're not getting +crit on your weapon, where do you get it from? Or is bonus crit not that important?

[JOTMON]

If you are planning many TR's then I wouldn't craft T3, just use random stuff.
Keep collecting until you are sure of your final life.
and with the evolving game as it is, by the time you finish endgame focus could be different than what it is now.

I have been running the ER/TR/ITR cycles and each life is different enough that I am glad I haven't crafted T3.
There are lots of random gen items that are good enough for casters.

[SirValentine]

If you're not getting +crit on your weapon, where do you get it from? Or is bonus crit not that important?

Which element(s) do you care about?

Personally, depending on my level, I'm using:
- Light crits (and spell power) from Sage's Skullcap (Heroic 15-25, or Epic @ 27), or Lantern Ring (@ 28 for me, potentially 26-28)
- Devotion crits (and spell power) from Gauntlets of Eternity (13-24) or Immortality (25-28)
- Untyped(/Force) crits from Sage's Cuffs (Heroic 15-25 or Epic 26-27, potentially as a swap at 28 but I don't have it always on)
I don't bother with Fire or Negative crits, and I don't ever use any other elements at all.

But there's also a variety of other generic crit or type-specific crit items, too. It depends on the rest your gearset, and what you have ready access to.

Even if you're more nuking-focused and crit-focused than I am, putting Tier 3 on your Thunder Forged still leaves you without a solution at levels below 28. What are you going to use for your crits at levels 26 & 27? Is whatever that solution is so horrible that you can't keep using it at level 28, too?

I'm not saying upgrading to Tier 3 is always wrong, but there's a big advantage to being able to use Tiers 1 and 2 while working through all of your ERs.

[Peter_Principle]

Dang, sorry! I didn't mean to be rude by not responding; it totally slipped my mind because of work, etc.

Anyway, to this:

>Even if you're more nuking-focused and crit-focused than I am, putting Tier 3 on your Thunder Forged still leaves you without a solution at levels below 28. What are you going to use for your crits at levels 26 & 27?

For levels below 28, I'd use basic weapons ("Impulse Scepter of Kinetic Lore", etc), or other items like a Lantern Ring. I wouldn't slot T-F items without Tier 3, because Tier 1 and 2 don't give you an option for +crit.

>Is whatever that solution is so horrible that you can't keep using it at level 28, too?

This gets at the heart of my question. I don't know if that 2-5% difference is horrible. Would a caster notice radically increased DPS with 22% crit vs 17, 18, 19 or 20% on their gear? Is it worth a lot of effort to go for those few extra points? Or is it a relatively small difference, as the magnitude of the numbers suggest?

[Lonnbeimnech]

Sages cuffs from army of shadows, the level 15 version is 18% crit change with force spells, the level 26 ones are +20%. So if you do make a T1 thunderforged item with just the force spellpower, you can use either of these for the force crit chance, while leveling.


Epic noxious fangs give 150 combustion and 17% universal crit chance with spells. I would try to slot this on a caster. Use lantern ring for light, thunderforged for force, and mythic/epic seraphim for devotion.