Wednesday, 1st July 2015, 21:48 by Aean
I tried it once, on a GrFi. Figured if I stuck to a fast, accurate weapon I'd be fine, and I'd picked up a lucky demon whip in Lair. It was...a disaster. Against the bigger enemies it didn't make too much of a difference (though slightly fewer hits made it harder, especially with an elec brand). Against evasive enemies - or even, really, enemies with a lot of health - it made me almost completely ineffective. I ended up giving up on a fight with the Enchantress and her group after I was forced to flee from them three separate times, despite buffing up for the fight. It didn't really change my build so much because at that point, I was sticking with the demon whip...but it was bad enough that I abandoned my intention of doing extended, stuck to a bare 3 runes, and avoided a lot of fights that I'd have otherwise taken on.
I think it might be a good choice for very specific character types - summoners, evokers, anyone who can survive long enough for area-effect spells to be available. Fire storm, freezing cloud, summons...yes. But if you're relying on direct damage - single-target conjurations, melee, ranged - then it's just not worth it.
So...I wouldn't say it's a "bad" sacrifice, per se, but like so many of the others, it's very character-dependent. Sacrifice Love, for example, means virtually nothing if you don't use summons, and Sacrifice Arcana can be an obvious choice if you're not going to use those particular schools. I suppose you could add in a delay to casting spells/reading scrolls to make it more widely applicable - and more fitting for losing an eye - but that might be a bit too crippling.