I saw the Brain of Confusion nerf and it kinda got me thinking - was such a strong nerf to the crit chance really warranted?
According to the wiki, the Worm Scarf's effect is additive, meaning it combines with other additive DR (Damage Reduction) effects, which include such widely used things as the Frozen Shell/Shield, Endurance Potion, and Solar Flare Armor (with some other lower tier armors as well, like Turtle, but let's assume the average endgame loadout for now).
Additive reduction below the 1.0 (or 100%) value scales higher than multiplicative, meaning that on average the Worm Scarf should outperform the Brain of Confusion's static dodge value (which can be considered multiplicative) when combined with more additive DR boosts.
Add to this that the scarf is less of a gamble (or rather not a gamble at all) and synergizes with on-hit items better (some of which can actually be relevant, like the magic cuffs or the new star cloak and it's tinkers), while the brain's crit buff acts as an internal cooldown (meaning it's possible to take hits that have a 0% possibility to be dodged by the brain), and I feel like the the brain only managed to stay competetive due to it's decent extra effects.
I was of an opinion that people were overreacting (sometimes even having the audacity to claim it's objectively superior) to the brain's power over the scarf even back when it still had it's 20% crit buff, but now I'm kinda doubting whether the current brain is even a worthy sidegrade anymore. Yes, we do also have the confusion effect, but is it really that good? In my experience the confusion effect from the brain was sort of okay on rare early-game occasions and fell flat from hardmode onwards, especially since it's an item available at Expert and higher where it's really not adviseable to take frequent hits for to roll for such a mild effect, *especially* when it comes to non-boss enemies which are the ones actually vulnerable to the debuff.
I mean, yeah, it's an item obtainable from one of the earliest and easiest bosses of the game, but both the brain and the scarf do kinda scale all the way into lategame.
I'd personally love if the internal cooldown got removed, but if something so drastic is out of question, maybe give it at least some crit back?