Serpent’s Sparker wand needs rethought

For game changing builds, I was hoping they’d go more down a route where it wasn’t just a chance to proc some sort of ability.  But it isn’t surprising since they are building these changes on top of the same core systems the current itemization is based on (thus as mentioned, just more bandaid fixes).

When you ID a legendary like this, the first thing you want is that particular effect to make you go wow, I think I’d like to make use of this and build something around it.

Some not perfect examples I would’ve liked to see (just focusing on something wizard specific but such item modifiers would have alternate abilities for each class/specific active skills)….

Say you happened to find a Serpent’s Sparker with something like, “changes Mammoth Hydra into the ability to cast a Firewall that does x-amount of fire damage over time”.  The damage amount has to be compelling enough (but also not completely overpowering) on its own to also stand out.  The real meat though would be finding those other support items which enhances this particular build; like finding another that “increases elemental damage by n%”, using those with another item that “increases elemental damage by n-seconds”, and trying to find that elusive item which also allows the original hydra to be cast alongside the Firewall that continues to follow me around until dismissed/re-cast (for re-positioning purposes).

Or how about finding some Firewalkers that also invokes a D2 style Blaze when Teleporting?  So I’d be looking for items that reduces the cooldown time of Teleport/modifies teleport in its own way (like increases damage of Calamity, changes the ability to wormhole on AP availability, etc) so that I can build a firewall casting, trailblazing teleporter; basically, the point is really finding stuff that makes you want to play and do damage a different way.

Going back to hydra on kill, while that particular enhancement might be just one of many different ones they have planned, it didn’t have any sort of “have to build around this” spark to it.  True, I did think of how it would be useful to clear a high density of trash mobs, but there should also be a broader utility for it such that you feel compelled to take it, and build/play specifically around it.  The monk’s Dashing Strike one was a bit more compelling because of the resource refund involved where it made me think about play styles and how this would be usable in both general play and farming.