[2.5] Tempada's Dreamfeather Lightning Flurry Raider: Acro, Alpha's/Blood Dance/QotF, 200k+ DPS

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scrooge999 wrote:

This builds looks like a lot of fun! I'm going to respec my level 88 Ranger into it. Though upon opening your passive tree, I was a bit shocked by only 150% increased maximum life with evasion so I promptly changed the tree a bit to at least filling out the Scion wheel and taking some other life.

My level 95 tree has 177% increased life (not counting jewels), and the level 100 tree shows all convenient life possibilities (202% total before jewels), but definitely take what you want before damage. I still haven't filled out the Scion life wheel and my life is over 5300, so hopefully you won't need to sacrifice too many damage nodes. I'd say 5000 life is the sweet spot.

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It also bugs me that I can't path efficiently to these amazing life/mana leech nodes near Duelist (not going to use Blood Magic) but I guess Warlord's Mark + Essence Sap will have to do for sustain.

Same! I'd probably try to get over there if I were using Cyclone, but Cyclone is not the most effective skill with this build. Also, the leech from those nodes isn't even necessary. Between Poacher's/Warlord's Mark, Atziri's Promise, and life regen/potions that work well because of the evasion buffer, you should be fine in terms of life sustain. With mana, it very much depends on gear. For example, at high levels (~90+) with Elreon accessories and Enlighten, you shouldn't need any tree mana leech or mana-only nodes.

Let me know how it goes!

First impressions: Damn that build is FAST! However, that speed also leads me to very reckless playing, just jumping into packs and swinging away. Dangerous...but very fun!

While the build has a lot of damage increases (from tree and Dreamfeathers) the base damage seems rather low as we're relying heavily on Wrath + added damage from gear. In order to try and get more base damage I did some calculating and noticed that by taking two 4% reduced mana nodes up at Templar I can run Wrath + Grace + Herald of Thunder and still have exactly 65 mana left due to the mana increases in the latest patch (thanks GGG). Since melee skills are now incredibly cheap mana-wise (thanks GGG) 5-link Cleave is only 22 mana. With exactly ONE mana leech node for 0.4% I can sustain it perfectly.

I'm still thinking about whether the lost life and lower base evasion of Blood Dance against Atziri's Step is worth the frenzy charges. Sadly no RRBG items for me to combine Leap Slam + Curse on Hit + Poacher's Mark (and Poacher's is very bad when cast off low-level Cast When Damage Taken).

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scrooge999 wrote:

First impressions: Damn that build is FAST! However, that speed also leads me to very reckless playing, just jumping into packs and swinging away. Dangerous...but very fun!

That's exactly how it went when I started. However, I JUST hit level 96, so I've learned to control myself, at least a little ;)

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While the build has a lot of damage increases (from tree and Dreamfeathers) the base damage seems rather low as we're relying heavily on Wrath + added damage from gear. In order to try and get more base damage I did some calculating and noticed that by taking two 4% reduced mana nodes up at Templar I can run Wrath + Grace + Herald of Thunder and still have exactly 65 mana left due to the mana increases in the latest patch (thanks GGG). Since melee skills are now incredibly cheap mana-wise (thanks GGG) 5-link Cleave is only 22 mana. With exactly ONE mana leech node for 0.4% I can sustain it perfectly.

Yep, the Templar reduced mana nodes will give more mana at the expense of more points. Wrath + Grace + HoT is the most fun combo to use, but you might eventually want to replace HoT with AA for better survivability. I'm glad the mana's working out.

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I'm still thinking about whether the lost life and lower base evasion of Blood Dance against Atziri's Step is worth the frenzy charges. Sadly no RRBG items for me to combine Leap Slam + Curse on Hit + Poacher's Mark (and Poacher's is very bad when cast off low-level Cast When Damage Taken).

The original build used Atziri's Step, which is still awesome, but it's not as good as Blood Dance. Blood Dance generates charges that increase both damage and life regen, then damage can be boosted again through Blood Rage since you won't have any regen worries (outside of certain map mods). It's pretty potent.

I actually use Poacher's Mark more for the potion charges than for the life on hit. It may be more beneficial than you think... If you don't like it, you can use a souped up version when you get the right colors for Curse on Hit (or go with another curse).

So instead of risking my sanity with Chromatics, I just bought gloves with three off-color sockets. Poacher's is really nice to have now!

Damage is a bit low for me though I don't think tooltip DPS is correct with dual-wield Cleave. Killing level 75 mobs takes too long for my liking with a map mod like Enfeeble or Elemental Equilibrium or Lightning resistance on. But survivability is very nice, and I really like the concept of boosting both defense and offense with a single stat. It also FEELS so fast that I can hardly bear to play my other characters who take ages to reach the next mob.

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scrooge999 wrote:

Damage is a bit low for me though I don't think tooltip DPS is correct with dual-wield Cleave.

I'm pretty sure tooltip dps is accurate (aside from unlisted dps from shock, Celestial Punishment, and lightning penetration/curses, so really your dps is higher than what's listed). I asked about it before on the forums and was told the wiki is incorrect/out-of-date where it says "The character tab DPS display is inaccurate for this skill because it doesn't currently account properly for dual wielding attacks."

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Killing level 75 mobs takes too long for my liking with a map mod like Enfeeble or Elemental Equilibrium or Lightning resistance on.

Yeah, those map mods are nasty, especially in combo. Elemental builds have it rough in comparison to physical ones... Things that help: Curse on Hit + Conductivity/Elemental Weakness, max gem levels and 20% gem quality, the Static Electricity jewel, Atziri's Promise + Taste of Hate (long-term goal, I know it's expensive). Being able to keep three flasks (the two I mentioned plus Jade Flask of Reflexes) up throughout most of a map is a gigantic dps boost.

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It also FEELS so fast that I can hardly bear to play my other characters who take ages to reach the next mob.

The struggle is real! My Dreamfeather character has ruined most everything else for me. Nothing else feels right.

Updated a bit in early preparation for Ascendancy. Trees have been adjusted.

Tempa how did you level from 50 to 66?

How bad was it getting those sockets on your queen? I'm about 400 chromies in and haven't even seen 3 reds. Is it possible to do with 2 reds for cleave?

Build looks super interesting, I'm almost there.

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Rewnzor wrote:

Tempa how did you level from 50 to 66?

I actually turned a level 80 or so character with a free respec into my Dreamfeather character, so I didn't level from the beginning with this build in mind. Now I would probably level with Lightning Strike while keeping other attack gems on swap for the xp, then test out the other gems as you go to see what you like best.

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How bad was it getting those sockets on your queen? I'm about 400 chromies in and haven't even seen 3 reds. Is it possible to do with 2 reds for cleave?

I initially hit my colors in maybe 10 tries with Vorici's 1 red 1 blue recipe, but that's HIGHLY unusual; my exact colors are crazy hard to roll. With Cleave you really do need 3 red. In a 4L you want Multistrike + Weapon Elemental Damage/Added Lightning/Added Cold + Faster Attacks. In a 5L, use Multistrike + WED + FA + Added Cold/Added Lightning. It's easier to get the right colors for Lightning Strike.

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Build looks super interesting, I'm almost there.

Thanks! Good luck, have fun, and, if you feel like it, let me know how it goes.

Hi there!

I like your build it has very interesting mechanics and synergies.

In your F.A.Q. section you say that wearing a shield is not an option because this is a dual wield build.

It seems like the benefit you get from wearing a soul taker is the attack speed bonus and mana sustain. Would it be a terrible idea to use a 1500+eva shield if mana is not a big problem and is there something that I'm missing about the importance of dual wielding for this build?

Thank you for your time!

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Lord_OverShadow wrote:

It seems like the benefit you get from wearing a soul taker is the attack speed bonus and mana sustain. Would it be a terrible idea to use a 1500+eva shield if mana is not a big problem and is there something that I'm missing about the importance of dual wielding for this build?

Hi, good question! Using a second weapon provides the dual wield bonus: 10% more attack speed, 15% block chance (though this gets lowered a bit by Acro), and 20% more physical attack damage (this works well with Soul Taker). This bonus is a solid damage boost, more than you'll get from the extra evasion on a shield. On top of that, if you're not using Soul Taker you should really use a second Dreamfeather because that damage increase is too much to ignore.

In short, the loss of damage when using a shield isn't worth the extra evasion and life.