" The Winter-Arc Crit ": Simple, cheap, safe and high dps 30k+ ( 2.0 updated)

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Shadov1 wrote:

Is Vaal Pact absolutely crucial here? Well i just tried to write something but backspaced whole thing, point is, is it so hard on end game that you absolutely MUST have vaal pact? I never got so far.

It's not crucial but you'll have a really tough time with ele reflect. VP lets you basically ignore the threat of one-shotting yourself if you use LL gem.

lv 71 atm, having sooooo much fun with this build, its so good and more fun that i imagined.
my Arc damage around 7k, runnig 4 Auras (HoT,HoI,Clarity,PoE) ...

thnx alooot for this amazing build.

Hey, Thanks for the fun build! I'm plowing through a lot of the contents pretty easily, despite this character being the first character in this league for me.

Question: Which skill gems should I prioritize in using GCP on?

I'm already leveling a back up arc and other skill gems in case I use the GCP to reset the level. Which gems are absolutely crucial, or have the most benefit of leveling quality in this build?

So here's an update from my post on page 19. My character is now level 57 and has entered the Ship Graveyard in Merciless. I'm a bit over-leveled for this as I spent a bit of time in Cruel farming Piety and Docks for some item upgrades.

Skill Tree Progression

So at level 42 I'd attained Elementalist and Discipline and Training in the Templar area and had a stack of points saved up. As my character was managing content quite well I then used the points I had to progress into the right side of the tree and with an extra skill point I selected all the nodes along the way to (and including) Coldhearted Calculation. The extra spell damage was nice but the Mana Regen was even better.

From here there's a lot of flexibility in what you choose next and your decisions are likely to be based on your particular play style, what other skills (aside from Arc) you may be using, and critically your gear. For me I spent the next few points continuing into the Shadow tree by selecting Shock, Trickery and down to Blood Siphon. With just a few points here we received extra damage, increased possibility of shocking, slight increase to Crit chance, a good boost to life and very importantly some extra strength. Without a few increases to Strength and Dexterity you'll miss out on equipping a lot of items that could be very helpful so don't be afraid to pick up some nodes if you need them. Also keep in mind the Strength also gives you a small boost to life too.

From here I went a little bit north in the tree to pick up the life and energy shield nodes on the way to Doom Cast. This is a nice little double-bonus area giving you some nice survivability skills and then topping it off with a massive boost to Crit. Wow, you notice the impact this makes! Suddenly you're freezing enemies a LOT more and this is also boosting your survivability. I don't recommend getting this area earlier in the build because there are more important progression stages to be had but you'll be glad of the boost you get when you get here as it will likely coincide with your approach to the end of Cruel. This really helped in both Lunaris and Sceptre of God.

From here I've now gone back to the left of the tree in the Templar area picking up Retribution, then back to the left to Devotion for more life and Strength with the next goals being Celestial Punishment then Celestial Judgement. From here I think my next priority will be more life nodes so I'll either grab the circle around Purity of Flesh, or perhaps head down to Unrelenting (although we'd be wasting a number of nodes in strength to get there), or returning to the witch tree where I previously shunned Deep Wisdom and Heart and Soul. If things are going well I might even pick up Storm Weaver for a massive 43% increased Lightning damage.

Gameplay

Overall still a huge amount of fun and you really must have that totem. It's extra damage, extra survivability and a good distraction for enemies. I'd have been dead many times over without it.

I'm still not using Arctic Armour yet mainly because I can't sustain it even at level 5. Sure, I can use it, but as I'm running Clarity, HoT, and HoI (with reduced mana) my pool of mana is still pretty low and a summon of my totem with a couple of arc shots depletes my mana when running AA, even just standing still. For now though I'm OK without, I just need to be cautious around the Tentacle miscreations in Lunaris and those chimeral things that shoot in a similar fashion. They can rip you apart in seconds once your energy shield is down. So again, use that totem to peek around corners and save your bacon.

I think this is my first character that has taken on Cruel Dominus and beaten him first time without dying. I almost died to the minion that shoots dragon fireballs but only because my fire resistance was pretty low. Otherwise Vaal Skellies just mobbed him while me and my totem went to town. It was beautiful :)

Equipment

I'm compromising a little on my gear at the moment as I'm trying to get my MF up to farm for some extra equipment. It's a calculated sacrifice to aid future progression but it's working for me so far. I've had a number of Uniques drop for me (mostly low levelling types) along the way include Rainbowstride on my way to Piety. Plus there's also the rares enabling me to gear up from my previous items.




In changing my wand I sacrificed some xx% increased spell damage and gained +2 Lightning, 17% increased cast speed and extra crit. This boosted my LT tooltip by about 1000 over my previous wand, plus the cast speed benefits my other skills. Very happy with this right now :) My gloves are absolutely my weakest link right now but I want the extra 18% IQ dropped stat for my MF. I might swap them out for Aurseize in the near future though.

At this point reflect monsters are becoming more common and potentially lethal. So, if nothing else ensure your lightning resists are maxed. Stay attentive to that aura, use your totem and keep a Topaz flask in your belt!

So that's level 57 done and on my way to Merciless Piety and Dominus.

Hey, thanks for this nice build! Having great fun with it and no prob at all. Good when you start in a new league (sadly, just started torment, 1 month later).

Some questions for everyone:

1. Is it worth playing without Pyre? Without it you'll never shock stuff if I understand the mechanics correctly (herald of ice will not shock, because it's damage will not be converted into fire, which in turn shocks enemies from 3 dragons). I noticed a lot of people don't have it in their gear here. So, just play without stacking shock? Then what are those shock nodes in the tree for, just skip em?

2. Is the damage from herald of ice only enough to shock enemies?

3. Do you think there's enough crit in the tree? I never played arc before so I don't understand whether 20-25% crit chance with it is enough. It surely isn't enough for a crit bow build I played lately. Should I sacrifice some ele damage nodes in the right corner to get more crit chance, what do you think?

4. When playing a bow build utility shot does wonders (TS - curse on hit - assassin's mark). I'm planning on doing the same here (instead of spell totem or second CWDT setup). Has anyone tryed this here?

5. I noticed arc isn't so good against a single target (no chain). How do you deal with this? Tendrils for single maybe?

6. How do you make it Atziri viable? If you hit anything in mirror phase arc will chain to the mirror clone. Does Vall Pact help THAT much?

Thanks for the answers!

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dmitriyh25 wrote:

Hey, thanks for this nice build! Having great fun with it and no prob at all. Good when you start in a new league (sadly, just started torment, 1 month later).

Some questions for everyone:

1. Is it worth playing without Pyre? Without it you'll never shock stuff if I understand the mechanics correctly (herald of ice will not shock, because it's damage will not be converted into fire, which in turn shocks enemies from 3 dragons). I noticed a lot of people don't have it in their gear here. So, just play without stacking shock? Then what are those shock nodes in the tree for, just skip em?

2. Is the damage from herald of ice only enough to shock enemies?

3. Do you think there's enough crit in the tree? I never played arc before so I don't understand whether 20-25% crit chance with it is enough. It surely isn't enough for a crit bow build I played lately. Should I sacrifice some ele damage nodes in the right corner to get more crit chance, what do you think?

4. When playing a bow build utility shot does wonders (TS - curse on hit - assassin's mark). I'm planning on doing the same here (instead of spell totem or second CWDT setup). Has anyone tryed this here?

5. I noticed arc isn't so good against a single target (no chain). How do you deal with this? Tendrils for single maybe?

6. How do you make it Atziri viable? If you hit anything in mirror phase arc will chain to the mirror clone. Does Vall Pact help THAT much?

Thanks for the answers!

I'm using a version of this build that I tweaked, but it's basically the OP's same build, which is a really strong build. I can answer some of your questions. I'm currently level 83 on my Witch with some alright gear and 12k dps (and rising) on my arc.

1. I ditched Pyre pretty quickly. The shock is nice but you end up sacrificing way too much just for the ability to shock. Freezing is definitely the core to this build and since you are already using about 2 uniques (Three Dragons and Cloak of Defiance; although not everyone uses Cloak), you need every other slot to be as good as you can get it to be. Get a solid ring with life/res/crit on it and it'll be much better than running Pyre, imo of course. If you aren't running Pyre, btw, the shock nodes are indeed a waste. Try and grab some other crit nodes that aren't in the OP's tree, or get whatever suits your character best.

2. My level 18 Herald of Ice boosts my arc dps by 550, so even without Pyre it's useful. The ignite that it provides with Three Dragons is pretty minor but it does help with single target and just overall damage. If I were you, don't worry too much about shocking with this build.

3. Currently I have 21.6% chance to crit with 225% crit multi, which is alright. I crit VERY often, especially with how fast I cast and using Assassin's Mark. Get the crit nodes that aren't out of the way. The ones I've gotten are the Annihilation, Doom Cast, and Assassination nodes. Assassination might be out of the way for you if you follow the OP's tree. I felt like the shock nodes were a waste, so I was able to get some other nodes like Assassination that I felt were much better. Try to get a decent amount of crit on gear where you can, like jewelry, wands, etc.

4. No idea about this. I cast fast enough to the point where I don't mind casting my curse. Kinda seems like a waste of gem sockets to me tbh.

5. Vaal Storm Call. This skill is seriously amazing. It builds up super fast, and with a spell echo on it, I can literally just drop it on a pack, focus another pack, and kill two packs at once. This will also be your main single target ability. Curse > VSC > Arc. Bosses with mobs are the best because it allows you to build up 1-2 Vaal Storm Calls while killing the boss. I really dislike Tendrils as a skill, and VSC is pretty common in other Arc builds, I believe.

6. No idea about Atziri. To be honest I probably won't ever touch Atziri; exploding packs of mobs with freeze is enjoyable enough to where I don't see the need, hah.

Hopefully this helps, even though I'm no where near an expert.

IF you dont use Pyre do you still run both heralds even though the one wont proc?

Yeah, I'm running both herald of thunder and ice. The thunder freezes and the ice ignites, both do have a critical effect. You just won't be shocking any mobs without Pyre, which isn't that big of a deal. Freezing is definitely the biggest aspect of this build.

AH ok cool! Yea I bought a perfect Three Dragons for 2 alchs and higher rolled Pyre for 2 fusings...so far I am really enjoying this build although finding good gear has not been that great for me yet!

Appreciate the response

Hi guys. i have one question daulabuci. You have only 1 passive nod in three for multiplier 10% + you have 49% multiplier in neklace and 79% in gem ICD. It is 138% so base multiplier is 150% * your increase (100%+138%) = 357% multiplier. In your screenshot with arc you have 575% multipleir .... How??? you should have some more nods +% multiplier or other thing with multiplier ....
In screenshot with lightning tendrils its goog. you ahve there around 360% multipleir....
Can you tell me how you make 575% multiplier with arc ?