Balance based off PVE is kinda dumb anyway. PVE is hitting a ai , just learn algo, easy 20 minute. PVP though Brusiers complain about range but if you build to go against range, your a monster as well.
Equip VG and ice shower and follow your melee around, be a good little support and set the bruisers up for their sick “BIG GRAV ON ME” maelstroms so they can get sick clips to show off later.
if your using a hammer with bane i run 460 str 50 con after food have full trophy’s top iv ever seen is 48k so do you just make stuff up or you using a mage weapon stronger then any wep in game?
Also i stream and am 625 in all sets, i can prove my statements
Void gauntlet is very viable - it brings the only rend that does not obey the rend cap (unless this was changed), and a 100% uptime empower.
Hilariously, hammer is not best damage in anything but a offhand utility weapon. Should use GS or Hatchet.
IG + rapier is ok.
But yes, fire doesn’t have a place…even in gen. Slash weapons are just stronger.
ranged makes content harder due to lack of damage, utility, healing spells favor clumping, and defenses. Ennead has some benefit to have ranged but not really.
To your point, other than void gauntlet, you will never see a group specifically looking for ranged.
I have to say. after I went back to melee after being mage for almost a year. It was surprising how insanely much damage melee does compared to mage. It was also really nice to have so much stagger and CC. I used to play fs/rapier which has no cc what so ever aside from a riposte… And had to survive using only raw damage.
mage is deffinitely useless in pve. You are gimping your group by going mage. Mage is for pvp only and even there it is underperforming.
I tried a full ignited runeglass firestaff build today with really good gear and bis firestaff and the damage was nice dont get me wrong. I was having fun. But then I fought a couple bows and a couple muskets and its pretty sad how they deal 3x more dmg than you and can deal that damage twice as fast as you as well with much easier to hit shots since the bow arrow hitbox is huge and musket is a hitscan.
Mage is in a baaad spot right now. Void guantlet is actually useless for an int build.
In light with major trophies, decent bane hammer with enchanted, coatings, honing stone and empower, I do around 42-43k heavies to chardis in an M10. That is 50con rest in strength.
I have switched to spear however because I do 3 to 4x (with perforate) the attacks at around 20k in the same amount of time as one WH heavy and apply triple rend for rest of DPS.
The Sun Lord set kind of means you have to run a partial dex build if not spear main then hatchet. Most good M10 teams have a very similar DPS composition of light armor and hatchet/GA, hatchet/hammer (or second GA or spear), spear/hatchet.
I’m running medium with Batheqet’s cudgel at 620 basic trophies powerful coating and powerful honing stone see charged heavy crits on a down chardis between 36-44k depending on empower my build applies capped rend.
Also using the voidsword at 620 gs the final hit of crosscut will crit around 56k.