by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Books have often been society’s only bastion of light for passing along knowledge that would otherwise be lost to time or convoluted by the oral tradition. In order to provide new and old adventurers with as much knowledge of what to expect on their journey in Sanctuary, we created this tome of knowledge – Ars Arcanum. We will regularly feature a Legendary weapon or armor piece, discussing its stand-alone powers and capabilities, as well as how it may synergize with new builds or other items.

A few weeks back, I mentioned just how strong the ring game has become since Patch 2.2.0 dropped. However, that was mostly talking about pure offense. While our next feature doesn’t necessarily stray from that formula, it goes about it via a circuitous route…kind of like a ring!

Why is it good?

“Is it worth the sacrifice?” That’s often the question posed to most players when they’re weighing their options. You have Unity; you have Ring of Royal Grandeur; you have Convention of Elements, and on and on. What one gives you, you miss out on the bonuses of the others. For the longest time, the choices were simply between offense and defense and it was a simple decision of what your character needed more (with a bit more hand-wringing for Hardcore players).

What’s adding viability to the ring game and also depth to character builds is the idea of “support” classes. These supports or zDPS (zero damage per second) builds started gaining popularity shortly after Reaper of Souls released and was (un)fortunately one of the main ways to play Monk for a prolonged period of time. The reason that the Oculus Ring gains import is that it is one of the best rings a support character could wear. The Legendary power has a narrow enough range that any percent will be welcome, but what’s not written down is that the effect is triggered off of assisted kills. Obviously, support/zDPS builds barely have enough muster to knock down doors, so they don’t kill many things, if any. The fact that the ring’s power works off of assists, lingers for a decent amount of time, and reappears as soon as the last one dissipates provided a new kill is made means that you gain great utility from the near constant uptime, adding a gear-based buff to any support’s arsenal.

This ring might not see much use in solo play as there are probably many better, more reliable choices and it also falls down during Rift Guardian battles where adds are few and far between, but this is undoubtedly one of the best choices for a support trying to push his or her group to the next Greater Rift.

Who is it good for?

As previously mentioned, support classes are going to benefit most from this. The three main supports are found among the builds for Witch Doctors, Crusaders, and Monks, although Wizards also have an interesting support option with Delsere’s Magnum Opus. More on that last one in a different column this Friday!

Where can I find it?

The Oculus Ring is an old piece of jewelry repurposed. That means that you have to farm a new one if you owned the old one for its updated power to be present and they are available both in Seasonal and non-seasonal play.

The Fluff

The eye of the one god blesses those who seek it out.

The idea of “The Oculus” is not new to Diablo in this third version. The Oculus was in fact one of the most powerful Uniques for Sorceress’ back in Diablo II days. The Oculus itself actually made it back into the game as a Source for Wizards. The Oculus Ring, however, makes reference to more general lore that seems like it could be loosely connected.