Arcanist beam tracking

Tonturri · February 21

Been playing arcanist in pvp for a bit lately, just for something new. Is it just me or is the beam really wonky with targeting? It seems like it takes at least half a second to catch up with where I'm pointing it, and by then the target has moved anyway. I enjoy arcanist but I *really* don't want to use the tentacles as a 'burst' skill or some sort of convoluted build to make it work.

moo_2021 · February 21

Yes it's delayed, but it's not that bad because of desync - often when the target sees the beam it's already there for a second.

Your best chance is to snare your targets or have someone else engaging them in front.

PS: charming them might be an option too. I don't think I ever broke a charm successfully.

Aces-High-82 · February 27

With how bad the netcode and server structure are you have to account for ~0.8 sec positional desync at ~65 ping.
The desync will ofc worsen the more calcs the server has to process.

Tonturri · February 27

Aces-High-82 wrote: »

With how bad the netcode and server structure are you have to account for ~0.8 sec positional desync at ~65 ping.
The desync will ofc worsen the more calcs the server has to process.

I had a dream of a brawler arcanist that used beam and my hopes are crushed after actually trying to make it work. Everything else is fine but I just can't kill anyone with beam.

Aces-High-82 · February 27

Try a Bash build....works well on Arcanist.

Cast_El · March 14

Aces-High-82 wrote: »

Try a Bash build....works well on Arcanist.

No. Worst gameplay ever. It shouldn't exist. When you fight someone with that kind of build, they much damage than you without any skill. Noobie gameplay like that is awfull, I just run away from them or punish them... If My build allow it

Akinos · April 7

Not sure why this hasn't been said here but the key to hitting people with the arc beam is to hard cc them first. Another thing i don't see done alot is leading your target. Don't aim directly at them, aim at where you think they are going, anticipate.

Aces-High-82 · April 8

Sure .... Not that anyone with more than a single braincell wil break free immediately. Beam is just lottery at this point bc the positional desync worsen as soon a a cell gets loaded with more than 2 players. The netcode and the server structure are Not up to task.

Tonturri · April 15

Akinos wrote: »

Not sure why this hasn't been said here but the key to hitting people with the arc beam is to hard cc them first. Another thing i don't see done alot is leading your target. Don't aim directly at them, aim at where you think they are going, anticipate.

This is a fair criticism, but in my experience a combination of 1) Extremely high player speed and easy (or at least, I rarely see people who know what they're doing *not* run) access to immob/snare cleanse 2) Lag time between beam following my aim and 3) Disjoint between where beam animation seems to be and the actual hitbox makes the benefit negligible...Unless the person doesn't know what they're doing and doesn't immediately CC break to get back to zooming make CC not a viable fix. The beam has value as a high damage skill over the course of several seconds, while CC will only help land a few ticks worth, which doesn't have as much impact as any other typical burst skill. I certainly don't expect people to stand in the beam the entire time, but it's not really feasible to reliably land the beam like I can other 'main' burst skills like bow, frags, an ult, etc.

I have seen a few instances of use in choke points or in mass pulls (either RoA or the AoE pull/DoT skill arcanists have), but these are really the only time I see it seem anywhere near functional.

CameraBeardThePirate · May 7

Beam in PvP is unfortunately not extremely viable on a solo build. You can use it solo if you have a delayed stun (Dark Con, Time Stop, Charm, Soul Burst pull), but if you don't have a delayed stun it is very difficult to hit anything since there is a slight start up animation to Fatecarver; by the time the damage actually starts ticking, the target has already broken free.

What Fatecarve shines in is adding damage onto a teammate/groupmate's ult. If you have someone pulling for you with rush, have a DK leaping groups, or have some other teammate lining up ult dumps, Fatecarver will destroy those targets.

If you really want to keep using it solo, consider running Dark Con with the eyeball ultimate (either morph works), be sure to lead your targets if they're on the move, and most importantly turn off aim assist. Arcanist Aim Assist is garbage.