Could the Raven's Flock Build be Bait??
Summary
- Evaluation of the Spiralline Conspiracy unique staff and its granted skill, Raven’s Flock.
- Discussion of scaling bottlenecks: lack of attack/cast speed scaling, split damage types (Physical/Chaos), and the division between Damage-over-Time (DoT) and hit-based mechanics.
- Analysis of opportunity costs: occupying the weapon slot versus the benefit of zero Spirit reservation.
- Exploration of the skill’s potential as a utility/defensive tool rather than a primary damage dealer.
- Critique of the item’s accessibility, being gated behind high-tier Delirium content (Simulacrum).
Initial Impressions of Spiralline Conspiracy
There is significant skepticism regarding the baseline efficiency of Raven’s Flock. While visually impressive, the skill suffers from several mechanical hurdles:
- Partial Conversion: The damage is not unified, complicating scaling efforts.
- Scaling Vectors: The skill lacks an AoE tag for the primary flock and splits its scaling between DoT and hits.
- Status: While some label it “Dead on Arrival” (DOA), it is impossible to confirm its viability without seeing the final base damage numbers in the patch notes.
Mechanical Conflicts and Scaling Vectors
A major concern is the lack of traditional scaling vectors available to most Path of Exile builds.
- Speed Scaling: Raven’s Flock does not scale with attack or cast speed. The DoT is static, and the hit component (Mad Flight) has a fixed interval (e.g., hits every 0.12 seconds).
- Split Resistance Scaling: Because the damage is a hybrid of Physical and Chaos, resistance reduction is only half as effective. Despair helps the Chaos portion, but there is no equivalent “Exposure” for the Physical side that functions efficiently for this hybrid.
- Split Investment:
- The baseline DoT is used for clearing.
- The “Mad Flight” command skill is hit-based and used for single targets.
- Investing in Critical Strike modifiers only benefits the hits, leaving the clear speed unoptimized, and vice versa.
Opportunity Costs and Gear Limitations
Using the Spiralline Conspiracy staff imposes heavy restrictions on gear and gem progression:
- Weapon Slot: Using a two-handed unique staff prevents the use of high-end minion scepters, shields, or focuses (unless using specific setups like the Disciple of Vorashta).
- Spirit Cost: Notably, the skill has zero Spirit reservation. This suggests it is balanced as a “free” supplemental damage source rather than a primary carry skill.
- Gem Level Scaling: Since the skill is granted by the item, players lose access to many standard “plus level” scaling methods:
- No +1 level runes for item-granted skills.
- No “plus level” corruptions on the staff.
- Limited access to “plus levels” on other gear like amulets or helmets.
Bossing, Ramp Time, and Clear Speed
The skill’s performance in high-stakes encounters like bossing appears problematic:
- Slow Generation: Ravens generate slowly (approximately one per second) near rare or unique enemies. This creates a mandatory ramp-up period before reaching maximum damage.
- Uptime Issues: Mad Flight has a 10-second cooldown. If a boss moves out of the ability’s zone, the player loses their primary damage window.
- Explosion Scaling: In PoE 1, Righteous Fire excels at clearing due to explosions (e.g., Profane Bloom). In PoE 2, scaling minion-based explosions is more difficult because the damage usually scales with the minion’s modifiers, not the player’s, and the “spiritual aid” style scaling is less prevalent.
Accessibility and the “Utility” Argument
The staff is a drop from Tangmazu in the Simulacrum.
- Gated Content: Simulacrum is considered some of the hardest content in PoE 2. There is a concern that a build using this staff might not be powerful enough to farm the content required to obtain the staff in the first place.
- Utility Case: The skill may be better suited as a defensive utility tool. By using Gruelling Madness, players can leverage the flock to apply massive slowing effects and Temp Chains-style debuffs, prioritizing crowd control over raw DPS.