[2.3] "Vulcan's Exemplar" Crit Dual Strike Slayer with Bino/Catalyst by fiqst

The advantage of dual strike over attacks that alternate hands (like molten strike), is that the crit chances are calculated separately, so in every attack, it's almost guaranteed that it will be a crit, with 70% chance of a double crit with the catalyst.

The crit chance overall does not matter as much, because Assassin's Mark will always boost it by 9%. So it makes no difference if you can max chance at 95%, or if you needed to sacrifice 2 diamond rings making chance 86%. AM will max it.

Is possible to kill 79 Vaal temple map bosses with this build?

Hey all...

Long time lurker to this thread and figured it was time to contribute (for what it's worth). A little back ground... I first tried out this build a while ago when it was driven off of Molten Strike. I did not like using Bloodrage and having to manage it so, since I was playing a Shadow, I simply grabbed Adder's Touch and did away with my Snakebite gloves. Sure, using Adder's was a net DPS loss but I was still melting everything instantly.

At that time I was pushing about 68k DPS which was by far the most potent build I had ever played. I should note that I was using a Rat's Nest and Belly of the Beast 6L instead of the Abyssus/Coil combo.

Then came 1.3 and the infamous crit nerf. Once the patch landed I noticed that my build was netting 48k DPS with the same exact tree and gear. At first I was cool with that since it still felt strong and had planned to focus my post 1.3 attention to finding a build for my 85 Scion. Before that effort took launch I revisited this thread just to see what was up following the patch.

That was when I saw the discussion about ditching MS and going to Dual Strike with the new Physical to Lightning support. Intrigued by the DPS numbers you guys were posting I had to give it a try. I used my free respec and went with Fiqst's tree, if I recall correctly. I also decided to invest in an Abyssus, Daresso's and a few new leveled/quality gems that I didn't already have.

That was when I realized that I had serious issues with intelligence and resists. Having to dust off my Snakebites hurt as I lost all the resists I had on my rare gloves I was using. I then began looking for upgrades to my amulet, rings, belt and boots which quite honestly were already pretty good in my opinion. So far I am having no luck finding upgrades I can afford or getting sellers to respond to me. Work in progress.

In testing out the new build I noticed that I felt a wee bit too squishy (life pool dangerously spiking up and down quite a bit) and I also was not enjoying the constant degen of Bloodrage. So I made some minor adjustments and traded a decent sized chunk of crit chance but made gains with:

~ About 375 life
~ Accuracy
~ Gained another 1% regen (BR's degen is now barely noticeable)
~ Picked up 10 intelligence (every bit helps)
~ Some armour

So here is where I am at today. I had to burn 2 points on 30 int nodes and my lightning resists are only at 58 (others are capped).

My Current Tree


My Current Gear and Gems


Auras: HoT, HoA, Hatred

Current stats are as follows:
98k DPS (with auras, without charges)
60.7/41.4 crit chance main and offhand
444% crit multiplier
87% hit chance
14% damage reduction
27% evasion
Plus all the other typical things this build provides

I am currently sitting on two unspent points, two points being used for 60 int that I can get back if I can crack that nut with gear, and one point I plan to gain back from the merciless bandit power charge reward that I chose on a build I was running long ago. That's 5 points I can add to this tree. Plus I am close to hitting level 84 and should be able to grind out a few more on top of that. My plan right now is to head back to reclaim the Disemboweling wheel to get back that 135% crit chance I gave up.

For now though I am holding onto some points that may be spent a few different ways depending on the outcome of my search for gear upgrades. I could always grab the two nodes to the left of Warrior's Blood to pick up 15% resist all (and some armour), or grab the two nodes to the right of Warrior's Blood to gain an additional .8% regen to completely negate the BR degen (and some life and armour). Hopefully I won't have to use points on this but it's an option.

The good thing is there are plenty of sweet nodes available right off my current paths so no shortage of improvements to be gotten.

Well that's all I can think of for now. I certainly welcome any feedback or suggestions anyone has. I know I don't always spec for every last shred of DPS I can get, I'd rather err on the side of not dying (which infuriates me). When I run maps I don't blaze through them at lightning speed, I take my time and try not to miss anything - which is why I dislike the BR degen - did I mention that before ;)

For now, safe hunting to all.

URGatorbait

Great detailed writeup Gator. Thank you for persevering with the build.

I've added your current build to the community list as a good example of altering things to make it work. And as another alternate Shadow start tree.

I too hate the Blood Rage drain, and i've seen the dreaded "commited suicide" caption a few too many times. This is why i have 4.6% life regen on the tree, so you can survive without chaos resist (with small drain) or equip 1 piece of 30% chaos resist (plus Bino) to nullify it. The 5.6% in your tree complete negates the need for chaos resist.

I hope you find the needed stats in your equipment to optimise your tree the way you want it. Keep us updated please.

Nice writeup @URGatorbait.
Ping me in game (IGN: CritFiftyTwo), maybe I can help with some gear to get you to the needed INT and maxed res.
It was a bit challenging for me, but eventually I got there at a relatively low cost.
Right now having 155 INT, and 97/76/89/-48 Res (max is 75 ofc).

Since people are sharing their builds here I guess its time for me to add my build as well.
Short background:
I came from another build of 1h + shield block AR/ES hybrid which was a bit tanky buy not a lot with so so DPS (~50K).
It was nice but I felt that I wanted something more potent and that got me to look at new builds.

fiqst's other build ("Cyclonus") had caught my eye, but by the time I was going to invest in a new build, this one came out and I felt it was the better of the two, at least for me.

Then came along 1.3 and killed my other build since its heavily based on block.
So I started a new build from scratch, determined to make this one work.

My notes regarding this build:
So far I am enjoying it a lot, its challenging but rewarding when it all goes well.
Life can be spooky sometimes, with events of life getting very low and completely refilled all in about 1 sec.
Clear speed is AMAZING, very fast and allows for aggressive play style that makes you strike quickly on the battlefield, swiftly annihilating everything that comes in your way, leaving nothing but a trail of decimated foes.
I like the fact that I can perma freeze almost everything, even high lvl bosses.

Economics wise, I like that this build can become very powerful without a very big budget.
Most of my items are now settled and other than my belt, I have bought every item I currently use, while making sure I get high rolls where needed, I spent no more than 30Ex totally, probably even less.

So far the last peace is the Daresso chest which I 6S and 5L myself, planning to 6L it in the future.

My tree is standard duelist, taken as is:


Gear and stats:





I just hit lvl 20 on some of my main gems so now starting to lvl again after 20Q.

While I am at it, I would like to thank fiqst for his great build, his constant determination to perfect it and all of the info shared in this thread.
He is very open to ideas and a really nice guy to talk to in game, cheers mate !

Awesome post, thanks mate.

Added your current build to the list. It shows how much power you can get with a 5L.

Always great to chat to you ingame and you've helped a lot with min maxing and complex calculations, thank you!

Back again with a little update. I gave leveling another go, and after spamming 78 rotations, I had gotten to 30% and was starting to see the light. Then it started happening. I'm now at 15% after another 4 deaths. That's another 60+ 78 maps worth of xp out the window.

I've decided to either do some bigger changes to the build, or find something else to play. It's a great build for sure, but it's not meant for leveling at very high levels unless you're fine with just standing and watching as your 5 teammates do everything for hundreds of maps in a row.



Apocalypse Finger is a filler ring. Belt could be a bit better. Everything else is pretty much as good as it can get. I would upgrade the belt and ring, but I spent the last currency I had on the other ring.

As for how my setup can change:

Main hand: Horror Skewer is best in slot
Off hand: Doryani's is probably best for a weapon (not that I'd try, but a 2nd mirror dagger would be crazy), but a shield could provide needed defense. I'd need to run a 4-link with HoA-EP-RM-IBD though
Chest: Not convinced Daresso's is the best option. Other options are Coil and Belly which are also mentioned in the op.
Boots: Higher movespeed is unnecesarry and more armor is negligable, so these are pretty much bis
Gloves: Atziri's Acuity is bis
Helmet: Abyssus is definitely king of DPS, but Rats Nest, which is also mentioned, could be a less risky substitute.
Belt: Rustic/Leather Belt with Life, Armor, WED and tri-res would be bis
Amulet: Vengeance Collar is bis
Ring 1: Behemoth Coil is bis
Ring 2: Diamond Ring with phys dmg, WED, Life, Strenth, Accuracy and chaos res would be bis (not enough strength from more defensive tree)

You could also choose to change close to everything by going CI. That would almost certainly require the use of a shield. Possibly helmet as well.

Absolutely awesome!

I knew my advanced Spec push some boundaries when it came to end game melee, but i really wanted someone to find the upper limits of the build with even better gear.

There's no better gear than KiPad jewellery and AXN dagger, Behemoth Coil is perfection (literally) and Vengeance Collar is the best, and although i would've mirrored the life version, the leech version will sell better later.

I'd like to see your tree because there's been feedback about how spiky life can get, i'm beginning to think the 153% i use may be a bit low.

I will test Coil and Belly versions and post results.

Amazing build!
I've switched Dual Strike with flicker, giving amazing clear speeds on 73+ maps.
Hold mouse button down, everything dies.. speedy :)

Yes flicker is a powerful single target skill and works well with everything else. It can be easily swapped for a change of pace.

The P2L allows you to not worry about reflect as well. Change the CoC-IC to frenzy and you're set.