Velvet's elemental buzzsaw {crit} ~ Atziri deathless/map clearing 1.3 Updated!

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caldsteven wrote:

Would a Geofri's Crest be an ok substitute until I can get an Alpha's Helm?
When does the build start to pick up?
I'm level 25 and having quite a bit of mana trouble and DPS trouble.

About Geofri's... sure it can work until you can put an alpha's on. Basically anything that you find useful can work at low levels.

About when the build picks up... it will be a while. The core mechanics of the build are more or less impossible until lvl 60+ and even then you will need 10-15 levels to get to the juicy bits of the tree.

Nevertheless it can be done: prioritize getting your auras (in the order: Wrath, Anger, HoT, HoI) then the others. You should be able to afford the mana reservation by the time you put the alpha's on. Then you can fill in the gaps as you go. Just follow the leveling guide. ALSO if you have mana problems (and I understand that at low levels) you should consider using BM on ST. Say in a 4L try to use: ST -> LMP -> BM -> Leech/WED. The choice between leech and WED is hard but I would still go with leech and as soon as you get your hand on a 5L you will use both.

Hope this answers some of your questions and helps you out. Good luck out there!

Thanks for the advice!

WHat about the new physical to lightning gem? I am using it and i get such a huge dps boost from it.

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MrGuardian wrote:

WHat about the new physical to lightning gem? I am using it and i get such a huge dps boost from it.

That must be because you deal significant physical damage. That should not be the case though, at least not with a typical elemental ambusher:


The physical dps with that thing is lame. Also you get a huge dps boost compared to what other gem(s)? Because I don't see Phys2Light giving more dps than WED/Faster attacks/crit multiplier. If your crit chance is very low (leveling your character?) then crit multi might actually be bad, but don't expect that to last long.

Short note: for single target higher DPS there are 2 options for swapping out LMP/GMP: additional accuracy(1) or added cold damage(2).

I just tested with a 20/20 Add Acc and a lvl 20 Added Cold and the DPS is slightly higher with the second.

As of now:
dps with (1) is 40.646 and 48.533 with 4 PC.
dps with (2) is 41.800 and 50.239 with 4 PC.

I should note that with my current gear, if I put (1) on I still do not have capped accuracy rating (92% to be precise :-/ ).

To sum up: best DPS boost is given by Added Cold. Add Acc does make the attacks more reliable and I would lean towards it. Then again I do not know if the price difference is in any way justified: Add Acc needs the Quality too, while Quality on Added Cold is just a bonus.

I would say the conclusion is this: you can actually get away with not spending the 2 ex or so for Add Acc. Added Cold works just as fine :)

Im level 74 and my build is pretty much the same as your but have not gone in to the two crit with dagger clusters yet.

I started Bloodlines two days ago without any currency so my gear is not the best, most of it is self found or a few chaos. I can only have Anger, Herald of Thunder and Wrath on.

My damage is so low, I can do 66 maps but its slow compared to other builds I have done. I will try to save up for a Alpha's Howl and a good dagger later but cant spend more than a few chaos right now.

My gear:

@Caroso

I am glad you are trying my build out. I'm sorry you're running into trouble, but from what you said it's pretty clear where you're lacking DPS.

First, this build is a crit build and without the two dagger clusters and with a 6% crit weapon you probably don't crit that much (I'm not even asking for diamond rings at this stage). You need an ambusher my friend. Even if it doesn't have any added elemental damage. I understand it might get expensive but it's worth it (cheapest version is to find/roll a T1-2 attack speed and craft crit. just these two mods are enough).

Second, you don't have an alpha's, therefore you can't run HoI, so you're missing out on some DPS there too. You should save for an alpha's since it's the bread and butter of the build. It's like trying to make a RF char without Rise of the Phoenix... kind of.

Third, you're using a 5L. Try going for a Tabula. It's the first stepping stone towards a good 6L. Also, you're using mana leech and no clarity. I understand but I hope you see how this deviates from the 'blueprint'.

In any case, I think you know what you need to do. With a bit of fine tuning your char will become a monster. But there is no way around it I think: in the end you will have to invest some currency :-/
Good luck out there!

Want to try this build out soon. Currently using an elemental buzzsaw build but with resolute technique so I would like to try a crit variant. One question though, you said in the guide the best build path is to start with the Shadow? Does this still hold up in the current patch?

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Austy wrote:

Want to try this build out soon. Currently using an elemental buzzsaw build but with resolute technique so I would like to try a crit variant. One question though, you said in the guide the best build path is to start with the Shadow? Does this still hold up in the current patch?

The remark regarding shadow being the optimal starting class was made right after 1.3 was launched. And I still think Shadow has a slight edge IF you aim for the evasion variant (not self cast EC+IC). Scion and Ranger are obviously almost as good, but I would still give a 1% advantage to Shadow because of the amazing ele dmg start.

Note though that Scion has advantage if you plan to go for the self cast EC+IC. 1% advantage that is :)

Hope this helps!

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SFXisMag1c wrote:

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Austy wrote:

Want to try this build out soon. Currently using an elemental buzzsaw build but with resolute technique so I would like to try a crit variant. One question though, you said in the guide the best build path is to start with the Shadow? Does this still hold up in the current patch?

The remark regarding shadow being the optimal starting class was made right after 1.3 was launched. And I still think Shadow has a slight edge IF you aim for the evasion variant (not self cast EC+IC). Scion and Ranger are obviously almost as good, but I would still give a 1% advantage to Shadow because of the amazing ele dmg start.

Note though that Scion has advantage if you plan to go for the self cast EC+IC. 1% advantage that is :)

Hope this helps!

Thank you that helps a lot! Will be trying this build now. Great information and thanks for quick reply.