Concerns Regarding Damage over Time Builds and Recent Changes

Dear Grinding Gear Games Support Team,

I hope you are doing well.

I am writing to share some concerns regarding the current state of Damage over Time (DoT) builds, particularly after the recent removal of Awakened Support Gems.

Over the past few years, DoT builds have generally not been part of the dominant meta and have often required significant investment to reach competitive damage levels. Despite this, they have repeatedly been affected by indirect nerfs through broader systemic changes.

With the removal of Awakened Gems, many DoT builds - such as Blight - have lost a substantial portion of their damage scaling, especially due to the loss of additional gem levels and stronger support multipliers. In my personal case, this resulted in a noticeable drop in damage (roughly around one third), which feels particularly impactful given that these builds were already on the lower end of damage compared to hit-based archetypes.

What makes this more challenging is that the newly introduced support gems seem to primarily benefit hit-based or crit-based builds, while DoT builds have received little to no direct alternatives or compensation. This creates a growing gap where off-meta playstyles become increasingly difficult to justify, especially without extremely high investment.

I have always enjoyed playing DoT builds because of their unique playstyle and because they are less common. However, in the current state, it feels significantly harder to achieve a satisfying level of performance without disproportionate effort.

I fully understand and respect the need for balance changes and long-term design direction. However, I would like to kindly ask whether there are any plans to improve support for DoT-based builds or to address the loss of scaling options they have experienced.

Thank you for your time and for continuing to support and develop Path of Exile.

Kind regards,
BarakasDemoneye