Valk armor + Superior Rune of the Eagle + Zerk trinkets = 50% crit rate without using food. Being tied to one food to make a build work seems like a recipe for failure. You should be able to change your food to suit the need at hand (power, regen, condition mitigation, vitality, crit damage, whatever).
You also will not hit 100% crit rate in DS form with valks.
Yes you will, with Superior Runes of the Eagle.
Zerk gear isn’t the only, or best, way to get to the 50% crit chance “sweet spot” for a DS power build. Valk armor is incredibly strong in this build. You’re spec’d to own in DS, so the longer you can stay in DS the better. With Valks, and the right traits, you can easily spend the predominance of your fights in DS — plus have the survivability to generate back your LF and still be in the fight. Zerks will put up bigger numbers; Valks actually works better.
(edited by Berner.7289)
I went a different route, and its working fine for me: Superior Runes of the Eagle. I can get to the 50% crit chance sweet spot without having to be a glass cannon. I’m 4/6 Valk armor (2 Zerk), and once I upgrade some trinkets I’ll be able to use another piece or two of Valk armor. That helps a lot with survivability and adds more lifeforce. My crit damage is still over 100%.
Also, the bonus from Superior Runes of the Eagle (+5% damage against foes under 50% heath) synergizes with Close to Death, allowing you to melt foes at lower health.
Condition damage can be removed before it damages. A big hitting skill that can be mitigated by up to 90% by the foe (or his teammates) isn’t overpowered. Making assessments about the balance of a skill by assuming that the target of the skill won’t apply a counter-skill is a bit naive.
Making a build based on doing big numbers against world bosses seems really shortsighted. World bosses die every time. World bosses will die even if the entire zerg at the event were naked and /dancing half the time. There’s no bonus for doing big numbers in an event that’s fated to succeed, so I don’t really see the point.
Your average mob/foe isn’t going to have 12 conditions on them, and these will be 99.5% of your fights.