Hailstorm and Arcane Rift suck аss?

[Kligan]

I was avoiding picking Arcane Rift and Hailstorm for a long time, because based on their description they seem really bad and awkward.

Finally, I decided to do a run with Sage on Normal to pick up some herbs that I missed.
I picked radiant aura as my main weapon, and then Hailstorm and Arcane Rift, so I could unlock their upgrade paths.
And oh boy... Even on normal both of those skills are... Not great. Even after picking their respective default first upgrades.

Am I just not understanding something? Or those two skills really are bad?
I had shadow cloak drop halfway through the run and it has more DPS than both those skills after all the upgrades I've put into them.

[>< V ><]

Hailstorm should never be picked unless needing it for an achievement. It's definitely a bottom tier pick.

Arcane Rift can be functional if you get the upgrade that has the rifts move towards you. But it faces the same challenge as Hailstorm. The whole process it has to go through to output some damage is just way too long with a payoff that is not worth the wait.

[K]

Rift is borderline useless without Wandering Rifts, and Hailstorm requires you to move in a specific manner for it to do anything. Both are incredibly jank. Dont like Flame Strike at all either. All 3 belong to trash bin.

[D.e.v.i.OS]

Originally posted by K:

Rift is borderline useless without Wandering Rifts, and Hailstorm requires you to move in a specific manner for it to do anything. Both are incredibly jank. Dont like Flame Strike at all either. All 3 belong to trash bin.

Flame Strike can at least get some synergy with item builds.

[CY13ERPUNK]

both hailstorm and rifts previously were uber-broken and basically demolished all of the top dps leaderboards here on the forums , even moreso if used with the old sagey boi

they've been toned down severely since then , maybe too much , i dunno , but with the right builds min/max'd they are still powerful

[Bunston]

I think Hailstorm is ok. It requires extra attention and multi-tasking, but it does do a ton of damage. I agree on Arcane Rifts though. Radiant Aura seems to the same job with much less fuss.