I Cast Magic Missile! - Cantrip's guide to Ethereal Knives 2.0

MOVED TO SCION.

If you insist to do this as a Shadow because you got a free respec or something, this is the Tree you'll use:

Nice build i see u made some changes from this morning right?

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DFdLhi4ever wrote:

Nice build i see u made some changes from this morning right?

You get things done when you avoid writing papers ;)

Bump for you sir! A friend and I both used this build to great effect last league. Thanks for an updated guide. I liked it so much before that I might give it another go this league, after I try out some builds I have used before.

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Noburu wrote:

Bump for you sir! A friend and I both used this build to great effect last league. Thanks for an updated guide. I liked it so much before that I might give it another go this league, after I try out some builds I have used before.

Thank you kindly. Also, fuck DDoS.

I really like your build. Thank you for sharing.

May I ask why you didn't take the Nimbleness and Mental Rapidity cast speed nodes?

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Kesshi wrote:

I really like your build. Thank you for sharing.

May I ask why you didn't take the Nimbleness and Mental Rapidity cast speed nodes?

They're worth it for the DPS, if you want it. I just feel I'll have more than enough Cast Speed / DPS anyway. It's certainly a good option, but with Faster Casting gem, and a buffed-up Haste Aura...

I just honestly prefer 15% Life to 12% Cast Speed.

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CantripN wrote:

Cloak of Defiance is viable, but you'll have to lose at least one real aura to have some mana left, and that means a lot less DPS/clear speed.

Cloak of Defiance is definitely viable, and it's probably your best bet for defenses. With Cloak of Defiance and Eldritch Battery, you can easily run Clarity + Grace + Hatred, and you can get quite a lot of dps with just those things, depending on your skill tree (I have 16k dps in a 5L Cloak at level 88). It's really unlikely, however, that you can use Herald of Ash/Ice on top of that, but the dps loss isn't a big deal at all.

Without Cloak of Defiance, it's possible to run Clarity + Grace + Hatred + Herald of Ash/Ice, like you suggest. It's even possible to run all 4 without using Sovereignty or Alpha's Howl, but it's very hard to reach that point. With either Sovereignty or preferably Alpha's Howl, you should have no problem, though, assuming you grab the 4 reduced mana reservation nodes near the Shadow area.

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If you are lucky enough to get Pledge of Hands, consider using it.

I wouldn't recommend this. You can get equivalent damage with a good wand and shield combo, and giving up your chance to block isn't wise with this build.

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6L (best) = EK / Added Fire / Faster Casting / Spell Echo / Faster Projectiles / Empower

This is indeed the best 6L combo, although you need some pretty special gear to drop Life Leech (the 1% from Doryani's Invitation is inadequate). Swapping the Faster Casting gem for Life Leech is what I'd do (and no Empower in a 5L). You really need a 5L for this build to do any damage by the time you're mapping.

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Tempada wrote:

Cloak of Defiance is definitely viable, and it's probably your best bet for defenses. With Cloak of Defiance and Eldritch Battery, you can easily run Clarity + Grace + Hatred, and you can get quite a lot of dps with just those things, depending on your skill tree (I have 16k dps in a 5L Cloak at level 88). It's really unlikely, however, that you can use Herald of Ash/Ice on top of that, but the dps loss isn't a big deal at all.

Without Cloak of Defiance, it's possible to run Clarity + Grace + Hatred + Herald of Ash/Ice, like you suggest. It's even possible to run all 4 without using Sovereignty or Alpha's Howl, but it's very hard to reach that point. With either Sovereignty or preferably Alpha's Howl, you should have no problem, though, assuming you grab the 4 reduced mana reservation nodes near the Shadow area.

As I said, it's viable. But if you have only say, 500 spare mana, Belly of the Beast adds more than 500 Life alone. The mana regen is very useful, of course, but the Belly/Lightning Coil have other good stats. This league, I feel it's less viable, or necessary.
Last league I used it for EK, myself, and Lighting Coil, the one before:

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I wouldn't recommend this. You can get equivalent damage with a good wand and shield combo, and giving up your chance to block isn't wise with this build.

I agree, a good wand + shield combo is better, or dual wand, but it's not a bad item. And if I dropped it, I'd use it if I didn't have GREAT wands.

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This is indeed the best 6L combo, although you need some pretty special gear to drop Life Leech (the 1% from Doryani's Invitation is inadequate). Swapping the Faster Casting gem for Life Leech is what I'd do (and no Empower in a 5L). You really need a 5L for this build to do any damage by the time you're mapping.

Honestly, a 4L on GC does more DPS than a 5L, and is only slightly worse than a 6L. So until I get a 6L, I won't "upgrade" to a 5L. As for Life Leech, I get the feeling so far it's not needed this league, and you can always use Warlord's Mark or the belt you mention. You can use the gem, but it feels unnecessary this time.

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4L: CwDT (9) - Immortal Call (9) - Vaal Haste - Increased Duration

Just another note: You can no longer trigger Vaal gems in 1.2 so this may need to be changed.