To start, I want to highlight that I do not think Corruption is in a good spot, and I think it needs some love. We are mostly in agreement. The only spot we seem to disagree is that I do think that Corruption is definitely viable if handled properly just not in the way another Fighter Build would be.
Perks
This is pretty much exactly what I said and is the reason I avoid these Perks. They’re not good enough and I’m better off without them in general. I think I should clarify here though that my point was not how much damage they do nor their appeal at this time as they are but instead their intended purpose.
What do these Perks do? The one for STR (Desecrate)? It adds damage and a chance to deal more. That coincides with STR’s typical purpose. The one for VIT (Tainted Vessel)? It… adds more damage. Okay, a little odd there. For Authority (Demon-Lord)?.. A summon to… deal more damage. Again, whether or not they’re good is not the point. Their intention, even for Attributes not originally fully geared towards damage, is undeniably all about doing damage. These are the only three top level Corruption Perks which is why I think it’s fair to say that Corruption was indeed built around doing damage first and foremost no matter which approach you take to it.
Still, even though I don’t currently use any of the Perks, I could definitely pick my favorite of these three. The times I’ve cut someone in half midair after Desecrate flings them upwards is something of a power fantasy. That 50 damage does scale, so 50 is inaccurate. Adding to that and much like I said before, damage is damage. Let’s say it procs after you hit a target with Daggers for 100 damage and for the sake of argument Desecrate only does 50 damage. That’s a 50% Damage buff to the hit. Furthermore, the ability will usually get you a free follow-up hit (Like Blackheart Blade Special for 500+ damage even to a target in Heavy Armor). The others Perks in their current form are straight garbage especially when compared to their Non-Corrupt top-level counterparts..
This is very true, and I never take the descriptions to heart, only to understand what the desired effect may have been. I’ve tried these Perks out and they’re part of the reason I made the post. Corruption Builds continue to be swept further and further under the rug, and the ignorance by the developers to the shape they’re in is ridiculous when Corruption has an entire system to itself in the game.
Damage Misconception(?)
Let’s talk about the Build in action, since you may have the wrong idea on damage potential. To a Player with Heavy Armor (1300+ in this example) my Blackheart Hammer does 450+ damage This is a Heavy Attack, of course. I’ve done these calculations, given you a low-ball/average Heavy Attack when I mentioned 400 damage in my last post. I’m saying that this is with a 15 STR 15 AGI build, so the power definitely goes even higher than this.
… And yet sometimes the Player needs to know when to stop and apply points elsewhere. I needed a practical heal like Resurgence so rather than max out at 20/20, I threw 10 of those points into VIT because it undoubtedly makes more sense. Anyways, I actually have calculated this all out much the same as you have. I’ve seen the capabilities both on paper and in action and that’s what I’ve brought to this conversation.
State of Corruption
I agree. It seems like Corruption is a lost opportunity left here by the developers just to decay. The less viable it looks, the less people try it, and in return the less complaints that will roll in. This is not a Weapon or piece of Armor that you can just choose to ignore because it’s bad but an entire Attribute system. I can say this: The amount of eyes I’ve had on this post over the course of this Forum post in particular is a bit humbling given the niche of the topic.
But still… The damage the Perks give does not add up to a compelling enough point to cause people to want to bite. You need to play nearly perfectly to make a Build like this work against a good opponent, and while that’s fine, you can’t really say the same about the Fighter Build you described above. Mistakes can be made with that one with less worries in general. There’s a clear difference in viability between the two. It seems clear enough to the point I would never recommend a Corrupted Build to anybody looking for an “OP/good Build” but instead to those looking for a “fun Build.” I suppose I’m past the point of trying to git gud after having my wins and losses and am at a point that is nearly the best I can personally be, only capped by skill limit and the clunkiness of the game at times. When it comes down to it I’m trying to have fun. There’s utility and strengths in bounds within the Build, but actions need to back them up or the whole thing falls apart quickly. Also, in the worst of Corruption Builds like the one somebody else mentioned above, you have next to nothing working in your favor. It’s rough for those new to the system.
I’m not so deaf to put up a front and say that it’s good, but I am here saying I’ve done my best with it and think the Build is almost reasonable and that it seems best in class for its kind (Corruption, not Fighter).
With my experience as well as the overall perception, I think my voice has some leverage here as a player that knows most of not all its strengths and drawbacks. I don’t think that it should be as much of a challenge to craft a decent Corrupted Build. This is even more offensive to Corruption Builds since there’s the additional cost of Souls to get into one of them in the first place. There’s a cost of entry to get into what would in almost all cases be a worse Build. That brings us to the last thing you said:
No long winded response here. I completely agree that a change is necessary. A devastating hit was when they nerfed Steel Thewed and then Hyperarmor. Since then, it has just been made worse each iteration. There needs to be a change to the Perks of Corruption to make them reasonable to use. A rebalance, a rework, and an overall buff must be made in some way so Corruption can be something other than a lost feature in the game.