Not really. I dont play sentries, cos I know its gonna get nerf later.

Universal gems for ranged class are

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/bane-of-the-trapped ->simple like cull of the weak

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/zeis-stone-of-vengeance ->also simple like Take Aim

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/item/gem-of-efficacious-toxin ->good sustain dps (doesnt help with clear speed though), flat 10% dps increase like a mini marked for death


My strafe build currently using Taeguk, Bane of the trapped and wreath of lightning.

Dont be fooled by the lightning and holy proc gems (or any other proc gems for that matter)
You can utilize them, they are powerful. If you can proc them, you can use them.
You dont have to have that specific +elemental damage to utilize them.If you can, its even better but they are great even on its own.

After sacrificing my CHD on my amulet for wreath of lightning, my clear speed greatly improved, and Im a cold strafe.

At first was skeptical, but now found out definitely worth it.
In a perfect world, everyone wants CHC + CHD + Elemental dmg/Main stats +socket on their amulet, but we get by with what we get.

Someone was complaining how underpowered other gems are mathematically speaking.
Among his highlights also are how powerful the poison gem and the bleed gem are, and bane of the powerful being weak.

I always know that bane of the powerful is not that great, but I could be wrong if the bonus is another modifier instead of being lumped together with +dmg to elite on normal gears.
For example, if you have 30% soj + 15% from gem, the calculation could be 1 x 1.3 x 1.15 =1.495 instead of flat 45% damage increase to elite.

Im pretty sure the bane of the trapped is separate modifier than cull the weak, so its multiplicative.

My take on the gems are get two damage modifier gems and one elemental gem even if you dont have specific +elemental damage (such as fire or cold)
At least thats how I think the devs designed the gem designation (fire and cold gem might be in the making still)
Elemental gems are:

Bleed, poison, lightning, holy

Poison is especially powerful due to it also have innate damage multiplier, but it is offset by how the damage is over time in nature.
Bleed is somewhat the same, but it is limited to break points and more situational.


Im gonna level up my poison gem and replace my bane of the trapped and see how it goes with 2 elemental gem + 1 modifier gem (im using taeguk, trapped and lightning currently).

MeatHeadMikhail confirmed that pet gem stacks with +elemental (additive, not multiplicative), so if you already have a high +ele dmg (60% or higher), the dps gain is less significant.

Bane of the powerful elite damage stacks with sheet elite damage too.


General consensus is bane of the trapped scales the best, as it is a whole new modifier.

Means that if you have high elemental dmg, efficiency of the pet gem is lower.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFZMOQsX8VM

http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/14058607023?page=1

^Pet gem is the same class as elemental damage.


You would want different types of modifier, and not stacking on one aspect too much to boost your effective dps.

This post has been edited by nightshade_nova: Sep 15 2014, 07:38 PM