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

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CantripN wrote:

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RXXQ wrote:

How do you deal with single target enemies like bosses? Having trouble with that right now :(

What Kesshi said is true, Bear Trap is strong for single-target early on. However, if you have semi-decent spell damage / cast speed on gear, even a 2L EK is strong enough to level with. I simply suggest getting a Lifesprig wand for just this reason.
Also, that's what Vaal Haste is for.

I've been making an EK build as well, quite different from yours, but I have found the newly buffed Shockwave totem is a great buff to damage during more extended fights, the knockback keeps dangerous melee enemies out of range, while adding a substantial amount of extra damage on top of your self-cast EK. It helps that a Shockwave Totem damage gets scaled by a lot of the same things EK does. Just using an EK totem is another option, but I still think the Shockwave utility wins out. So long as you're not taking any AoE nodes, which you don't have any reason to, your EK will be able to outrange the Shockwave totem, so it should never push an enemy out of range or otherwise be an annoying.

Also noticed a couple points in your L80 passive tree where you could save one or two unneeded int/dex/str nodes, I think can post a very slightly improved tree when I get home from work if you like, assuming I'm not so overworked that I'm reading the nodes wrong.

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Shotgun_Surgeon wrote:

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CantripN wrote:

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RXXQ wrote:

How do you deal with single target enemies like bosses? Having trouble with that right now :(

What Kesshi said is true, Bear Trap is strong for single-target early on. However, if you have semi-decent spell damage / cast speed on gear, even a 2L EK is strong enough to level with. I simply suggest getting a Lifesprig wand for just this reason.
Also, that's what Vaal Haste is for.

I've been making an EK build as well, quite different from yours, but I have found the newly buffed Shockwave totem is a great buff to damage during more extended fights, the knockback keeps dangerous melee enemies out of range, while adding a substantial amount of extra damage on top of your self-cast EK. It helps that a Shockwave Totem damage gets scaled by a lot of the same things EK does. Just using an EK totem is another option, but I still think the Shockwave utility wins out. So long as you're not taking any AoE nodes, which you don't have any reason to, your EK will be able to outrange the Shockwave totem, so it should never push an enemy out of range or otherwise be an annoying.

Also noticed a couple points in your L80 passive tree where you could save one or two unneeded int/dex/str nodes, I think can post a very slightly improved tree when I get home from work if you like, assuming I'm not so overworked that I'm reading the nodes wrong.

Thanks. If you saw something I missed, I'll be glad for the upgrade to my tree. :)

Shockwave Totem was what I was *going* to use for added DPS. I just ended up finding one for the first time at level 60. Good reminder. Sadly, end-game wise, you don't have much gem-space, but I need to see if it can work - it does add a nice safety/DPS boost.

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CantripN wrote:

Thanks. If you saw something I missed, I'll be glad for the upgrade to my tree. :)

Instead of Cruel Preparation and Deep Thoughts, you might go for Heart and Soul instead. It's the same amount of points, it gives you more life, and it better sets you up to eventually go for those nice +16% Witch spell damage nodes. Also, for just three more points you can grab Trickery and Coldhearted Calculation:



The only issue is that it starts to look a lot like my build at that point :P

I figured you'd say that :)
Yes, Heart and Soul is 5% more Life than the Deep Thoughts+Cruel Prepration. However, instead of 5% Life, I get 5% Resist, more Int, and 20% Mana Regen. If it wasn't for the Mana Regen, I wouldn't bother with either, since you "waste" a few nodes on the way.
If you don't need those, I'd suggest just taking the Shadow's Soul Siphon (and we all level with it, I'm sure). Eventually, I'll probably retrain Deep+Cruel away, with good enough gear, since it wastes 2 points for 2% Mana, 20% Mana Regen and 5% Res.
For example, my level 90 tree will probably be:


And I highly doubt any Shadow EK caster will get the Spell Damage from Witch, at least not easily. It's just not cost-effective, compared to Aura/Cast Speed nodes, as well.

As for Coldhearted Calculation, it costs 2 extra points to link that way, at least, compared to linking to EB via the central INT nodes. Not worth it in my book. Now, if there was 1 less INT node on the way, I'd be all over it, but as is, it's just for Crit builds.

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CantripN wrote:

I highly doubt any Shadow EK caster will get the Spell Damage from Witch, at least not easily. It's just not cost-effective, compared to Aura/Cast Speed nodes, as well.

I grabbed those nodes, but I'm a dps strumpet. It becomes the best place to be at higher levels, but we're talking high 80s to early 90s, which can be nasty to get to.

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As for Coldhearted Calculation, it costs 2 extra points to link that way, at least, compared to linking to EB via the central INT nodes. Not worth it in my book. Now, if there was 1 less INT node on the way, I'd be all over it, but as is, it's just for Crit builds.

It makes up for the 20% mana regen that you wouldn't get from Deep Thoughts, and 12% increased spell damage (along with 20% increased elemental damage from Trickery) is no laughing matter.

I get why you designed the tree the way you did, and I think taking Cruel Preparation and Deep Thoughts is a clever choice if you never expect to hit up the Witch damage nodes. But what about the two 4% reduced mana reserved nodes next to Sovereignty? I'm pretty sure they're overkill. Without them it's still very possible to run 3 auras plus a Herald gem, as long as the gems are all linked with high level Reduced Mana. You know what? You could save six points by dropping the Influence circle and taking just one of the reduced mana reservation nodes next to Sovereignty. Yes, you lose 20% increased aura effect that way, but I wonder if 3 points in 4% cast speed nodes would be about the same dps boost, then you still have 3 points left.

Once my Reduced Mana gem is higher level, you may be right. I currently walk around with like 70 mana, though, at almost 50 mana a cast, so... :D
Later on, there's no real point to maxing mana reserved so long as you can cast non-stop with all 4 buffs.

However, I don't think losing the Influence circle is ever a good idea, if only for the buff to Clarity. It adds some nice DPS, but it's all about the Clarity. Another thing to consider is party-play, where I'm beloved for my auras.

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Tempada wrote:

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CantripN wrote:

Thanks. If you saw something I missed, I'll be glad for the upgrade to my tree. :)

Instead of Cruel Preparation and Deep Thoughts...

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking, but I was intending to replace it with Melding and Dreamer. You get a bit more mana, and more ES, slightly less mana regen, and 5% less resists, and the same life.

You can also skip out Melding and just finish filling out the Scion life wheel, and end up with more life overall.

I use vaal pact and it's pretty facerollish build, since you not care about reflect at all.
Also grabing 6-7 nodes to use another aura is very questionable. I tried that once and it completely worthless. Better to grab 15% or even more life + damage nodes.

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MCSMvsME wrote:

I use vaal pact and it's pretty facerollish build, since you not care about reflect at all.
Also grabing 6-7 nodes to use another aura is very questionable. I tried that once and it completely worthless. Better to grab 15% or even more life + damage nodes.

Glad to know that's working well for you.

That said, Reflect is never, ever, a problem for EK builds that don't use HEAVY crit. But hey, to each his own, I'm not here to tell you what to do.

At what point should you start using your auras and buffs? and in what order? like what buff should we start using first. Could you update the build with your current stats and with progessive passive points so like level 20, 40 etc... At the moment I've finised all the area around ranger and im heading up towards EB do i pick up the aura nodes on the way or just ignore those till endgame?

Thanks for the build btw