ThereIsAnother's Lightning Tendrils Build - Build of the Week S3E11
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History
So, I made a scion (respec was available) with self cast spark. It worked pretty good clearing up through palace dom. Level 88 scion. Then, I swapped it to ball lightning because it seemed a little more fun. I specced out of increased duration nodes and into the small AOE nodes in witch area. Now, I have tendrils plugged in. I had thought that a good spell damage shield would be what I needed however I was proven wrong by reflect in high maps. Saffel's Frame lacks some dps and life but increases survivability. The Present Currently here is my gear
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here is my tree. I am using a Scion because that was the character available for respec. As you can see a witch could also be used. Tooltip: with AoE is currently (lvl18 tendrils Qual 20%) 37.6K ~30% crit chance withOUT power charges 49K and 42.3% crit with 5 charges. The Herald of Thunder is linked to Blind - RM - Purity of Lightning at this moment. This has zero mana increase but blinds enemies from herald of thunder effects (not on hit). You could also use Culling Strike which would increase the damage of herald's lightning strikes but keep in mind it has a 1.1 mana multiplier. The Questions Are Atziri Items Required?? No.
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The catalyst frees a slot for prolif. You can just as easily place the ice spear on a 4Link and put herald of thunder, RM and Purity of lightning in a wand (or put your cwdt setup minus the increased duration and ice spear in boots). Higher spell damage and some cast speed would be preferred. Then, you can use a master to add lightning leech. It's only a 4 chaos charge. The belt is the same thing. It's optimal as it provides leech and some damage but it is not necessary to run the build. You can use a high life leather belt just as easy or even a chain belt with life to add life/mana. The only real requirements are: source of lightning leech (masters can provide this), Cloak of Defiance, tendrils gem (duh) and purity of lightning. Doryani's Catalyst and belt are just optimal. Saffel's Frame also a big upgrade against reflect at the cost of life, spell damage and higher ES/mana you would get from a rare shield. Why not Curse on Hit? Up to you really.
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I found I can self curse just fine when I feel the need to. Power charges are from ice spear which has the dual purpose of freezing packs and tendrils is a mostly melee skill even with AoE added. Blind is extremely helpful for survivability while Curse on Hit is more a quality of life mechanic.
Really, trash mobs die fast anyhow and on a boss like atziri I don't want to rely on the curse for power charges that only happen during the regen phase. In fact, on my atziri run I hit her with ice spear when I couldn't get close to provide damage (and ice spear does good damage) and charges for when I can get close. Why are you not using Aoe and Conc effect together? Conc is higher dps yes but always has some cost.
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echo gives better mana cost (unless conc is 20% then it's close to even mana cost per cast).
I tried to swap it with Spell Echo (which locked me in place during atziri) and have a higher dps more often since I don't always keep up power charges during the fight. So, Conc and AoE may be used for atziri. In fact, in the video I do not use this but mention at the end that it is an option. I probably should use it for that fight. The only issue is that it truncates the AoE which gives you less room to maneuver. Conc is left out because it's faster to clear (more aoe) to leave conc out and dps difference is small. 41K vs 37.6K without charges, 54K vs 49K with charges; both replacing echo. I'd rather not lose that AoE than gain 5K. (level 18 tendrils) All instances of conc effect obviously shortens the AoE. So, is the damage increase enough to make up for less coverage? Replacing echo with conc will shorten overall cast time so you wont feel locked in place. THe DPS is slight as outlined above. Replacing faster casting will have even more dps but the longest overall cast time locking you in one place longer. Replacing with aoe gives the most dps by a fair amount however you drastically shorten your aoe. I found the setup presented the best for ease of clearing and game flow but it is up to your preference. How do you level? I began this spec with a different skill in mind (spark) before tendrils were announced/released. This was a respec of an older character. I haven't tried leveling with this build.
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I will try to take a look at my tree and come up with some idea of a leveling plan. Tendrils are a first quest reward and so I would imagine they can be used leveling but of course you could always level the same as an arc build.
I would probably suggest focusing on life and some pathing leaving some crit, crit multi and some elemental damage for later. For instance, starting from Scion I would grab Annihilation and then wait a little while to grab elemental dominion. So, this may be my 75pt tree. But it really is open to you, the user, to determine what is needed more and when. Feel like you have plenty of life and need more dps? Then grab some more dps nodes instead. Up to you, your gear and your playstyle. It is not a rigid build. Why are you using Echo?? Because it makes you stronger at little difference.
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With echo cast time is 0.25 seconds. That means it is actually 0.5 seconds because it casts twice.
WIthout Echo cast time is 0.42 second and dps difference at the moment would be 36.5K with echo vs 24K without. No brainer and causes me to revisit my thoughts on replacing it during atziri Video of Courtyard Map melting
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New Video of Courtyard - Curse immune, increased damage http://youtu.be/ncTeDm69brQ Old video - http://youtu.be/EjyO_fk4zOc Sorry for the low quality, first time recording a vid looks like I need to adjust the settings better :) and I know it wasn't a full clear vid but again was my first time recording. Figured I showed enough killing and then the power even without conc for the bosses. I'll work on more when I get time. Video of Atziri Kill 1 death which was avoidable. A note here. Yes, the saffel frame is legacy. NO you do not need a legacy version. It's the only one I had in my stash and haven't bothered getting a non legacy version. I killed her without it once using a rare shield (and without purity of lightning) so I know it would be fine with any saffel frame. A different helm chromed to have purity of fire is used. Just need ES, whatever resists to cap fire/lightning, and life. Also, it's easier to swap GMP for LMP. I did not do this before my death because I forgot my lmp gem. This way on split phase you can hit the one you want without hitting all. Also, still gives some aoe for regen phase.
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The Screenshots
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Level 18 Tendrils gem at 20% Quality and level 18 Herald of Thunder 0% Qual AoE Gem without charges  AoE gem With 5 charges  Conc Effect gem replacing AoE Without power charges level 18 tendrils  Conc Effect gem With 5 power charges  also, this respec character has Oak, Kraitlyn and all. So, the 2nd bandit is attack speed (old buzzsaw) which is not what I'd want. Probably go passive there and power charge on third. Oak - All - Alira The Gear
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The Options -Bandits on this character (being a respec) are not ideal (oak/krait/all). Really, you can do anything you like so long as you kill Oak in normal. I'd suggest Oak - kill all - Alira -You can use a high spell damage wand with some cast speed. Add lightning leech through masters and you'd be set there. While leveling I imagine a moonsorrow would also work until you get a better wand or doryani's. -the belt and doryani's are more or less optional for a while as they are ultimately optimal for the build. The key here is to have something with elemental leech. Cloak of Defiance is necessary for survivability. Saffel's Frame becomes about necessary towards endgame. You can make due with Purity of Lightning until that time to deal with reflect. Group and Self Bonuses -With Doryani's you get to prolif your ice spear. When playing you cast ice spear ahead then run forward. Generally an entire pack is frozen. Curse them (if you want) then kill them with tendrils. Power charges build up pretty fast. In a group you play the same but the group may kill instead. This provides great support. Real Example: Zana mission in a museum map. We enter the boss room. I cast ice spear repeatedly. The pack including the bosses are frozen and hammered on by the group. -Blind: After killing a shocked enemy (which is nearly every kill since even ice spear will have some lightning damage from Herald of Thunder and crits) casts lightning bolts like a storm herald. A lot of enemies get blinded which increases everyone's survivability. -Clarity and Purity auras provide their bonuses to nearby party members. -curses are self cast so no competition on which curse to use. -Ranged attack with ice spear and closer attack with Tendrils provides diversity to Elreon assitance. Feed you fit within the area of the circle. Defend you can ice spear all around and freeze enemies for others to kill or kill yourself with ice spear. Pacific (GMT -8) Time Last edited by Madcow1120 on Nov 10, 2014, 11:45:48 PM
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-for fun I may toss on a three dragons and see if everything freezes. Could be cute
***need fire damage in main attack to apply any shock. Bolts only rain down when a shocked enemy is killed making that part of the setup useless. Tried adding herald of ash (with doryani's isn't terrible) for fire damage but it isn't enough. Going through just merc dom it isn't worth it. The one thing that was nice was adding Ball lightning instead of ice spear to proc freeze. That was neat. -Will look into inner force to see if the buff to base damage added by heralds (as well as AA and Clarity) would be worth it and how to accommodate this. ***I do not think it is worth it. -tendrils went up 1 level to 13 and herald to 12 and now 25.7 without charges (up from 22.4). very promising. -swapped increased lightning for AoE for faster map clear. -Killed Atziri. Took a couple deaths a few of which were avoidable but with Only level 16 tendrils subbing in conc effect for inc aoe during atziri and on the third trio boss. Died once at trio and 3 times at atziri. 54.1K tooltip using conc effect with zero power charges. Now have 5 possible power charges. Only level 16 tendrils no quality at the time. Since then I have revised the survivability by adding Saffel's Frame and for atziri purity of Lightning. need to get time to video atziri run. Need to fix settings first. -Look into Vaal Pact ***Vaal Pact is not good. The amount of leech does not lend itself to using Vaal Pact. The lack of life regen is noticeable and it feels more squishy. Will not be used. -helped myself against reflect by carrying a topaz, using saffel's frame and purity of lightning. It is not part of the build Pacific (GMT -8) Time Last edited by Madcow1120 on Nov 9, 2014, 1:30:22 AM
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Looks good just wondering why you dont use Increased AoE, feels good in my Opinion
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" Wasn't sure what to sub out for it. You give up damage for a little more AoE. THere are AoE nodes left on the tree. 1 not used currently by witch and 3 coming off scion start. Could possibly use those. Next passive likely grabbing power charge in the shadow area. Heck, could justify taking a passive from elsewhere (like 10% lightning damage node) for it now. Pacific (GMT -8) Time
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I may test dual wielding those but not sure. Anyhow it's an extra cast but I freeze almost everything while still keeping a high dps around 31K (before 2 heralds).
level 16 tendrils. Also, I don't have any more aoe increase than the 2 nodes in the witch area. I could (and just may once it's leveled to 19) swap a gem for AOE. RIght now dropping one gem brings to 26K Pacific (GMT -8) Time
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Added lightning damage is a bad choice for lightning tendrils because of the 25% damage effectiveness. A level 17 ald adds just 23 damage on average to the base (without the increases). For a lvl 17 LT that is just 15% more damage. On the other hand concentrated effect will give up to 69% more damage although it doesn't show up on the tooltip. Even if you have to replace both ald and increased crit. for CE and increased aoe you will have a higher damage and therefore a higher leech.
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" yes, been toying with gems. Tooltip doesn't agree with that swap though tooltip can be misleading. right now the crit damage makes a lot of sense since base crit is 33% and in the mid 40's with power charges. i clear fine but may swap aoe for faster clear and conc for any bosses i find difficult. for instance, if I try atziri she'd get that. right now added lightning adds not just base lightning but also chance to shock and shock duration (quality bonus) Pacific (GMT -8) Time
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Uploaded new video of Courtyard clear.
Boss fight is at 10:20, gem setup in the beginning and in my thread, passive tree (also in thread) and at 13:05 if it freezes at times well... it's what my computer is capable of. Gameplay itself is smooth but the video capture may stutter (i notice after watching a piece back) not sure why it uploaded in 380 should be clearer.... will look into Pacific (GMT -8) Time Last edited by Madcow1120 on Oct 28, 2014, 11:24:40 PM
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Added Atziri Kill video
Pacific (GMT -8) Time
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Now featured on Build of the Week Season 3, Episode 11.
The current gear does not show cull gem in herald of lightning. This is due to me adding purity of lightning to help mitigate reflect damage. It can easily be put back (and likely will) by putting purity in gloves, ass mark in place of vaal storm call (which i rarely use) and cull back in helm. It's quality actually enhances the heralds lightning strikes at only 1.1 more mana. When my tendrils hit level 18 i purchased a 20% lv18 tendrils. I only just hit level 19 (i dont get to play as much as I'd like). The quality was a small boost within 1K. However leveling the gem gave about 9k. Level 20 will be significant. Because the damage is good i dont use conc effect. Yes, you can have higher dps by using conc effect but always at a cost of aoe which is a QoL decision. It is enough dps (especially in solo) to not require conc. However, replacing echo with conc will shorten overall cast time so you wont feel locked in place. Replacing faster casting will have more dps but the longest overall cast time locking you in one place longer. Replacing with aoe gives the most dps by a fair amount however you drastically shorten your aoe. I found the setup presented the best for ease of clearing but it is up to your preference. Pacific (GMT -8) Time Last edited by Madcow1120 on Nov 10, 2014, 5:23:21 PM
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