Storm Weaver // The permanent freezing storm.

////Will increase quality of the guide when I have time, including more videos and screenshots./////

First of all, twitch.tv/vicpagani . That's my Twitch channel, I stream sometimes. I talk in Brazilian-Portuguese there, but you guys can come and talk to me in English and I'll happily answer you guys. :3

Currently I'm playing on TORMENT and this is a SOFTCORE BUILD.



VIDEO



What's the idea?

The idea is dealing damage using HERALD OF THUNDER.

How?



Pros



Cons



ITEMS


The build uses SEVEN uniques. That's a huge amount of uniques. This means:
"Fuck, my lightning res is -20%"
"Omg, I have to level up all the way to 75 before the build starts being fun"
"Fuck, no flat life on ANYTHING..."

You need the unique helmet and ring to make the build work, the rest is up to you.
Why I use them:

>MALIGARO'S RESTRAINT gives a HUGE amount of DAMAGE and some MOVE SPEED. (It also KILLS YOU A LOT if you play poorly). And it's visual effect is FUCKING NIIIIICE.
>DORYANI'S CATALYST gives you an INSANE amount of ELEMENTAL DAMAGE and LEECH. The rest is completely ignorable.
>SAFFEL'S FRAME gives you a good boost to your resistances, and since you're SHOCKED 98% of the time, it's a really good idea to have 79% in every resistance. Most of the normal mobs' elemental damage is a joke because of that, even when you're shocked. But elemental bosses still wreck your shit.
>CARCASS JACK gives a big boost to your AREA OF EFFECT and AREA DAMAGE. Also, LIFE.
>Tricurse action using WINDSCREAM. You'll need a 5L CARCASS JACK or other armor before, though.

You CAN work around the items and use different things, suit yourself.

I bought the really nice rare ring for 5 chaos. The amulet I dropped. You NEED items with DEXTERITY, or else, you won't be able to level up HERALD OF ICE and equip CARCASS JACK. Work around what you need. DEX, LIFE, RESISTS. Everything else is good, but not that necessary.
[/spoiler]

GEMS



Your set of defense. Because you're SHOCKED, and you have no ARMOR at all, physical damage wrecks you. Just render yourself immune to it. get your hands on a 20% Immortal Call. Do it. Now.



GLACIAL CASCADE is only going to be used to kill bosses, basically. Because sometimes you'll run out of juice in your LIGHTNING and you'll have to beat the shit out of them yourself.



BALL LIGHTNING is your "main skill", I mean, the one you actually cast. It has enough damage by itself to kill most white/blue mobs. And it has no support gems related to increasing damage on it. CURSES play a big role on this build. TEMPORAL CHAINS makes the SHOCK and FREEZE status last basically enough for you to kill everything. Enemies with WARLORD'S MARK, that's going to keep you alive and also makes this build work without any MANA REGENERATION, plus ENDURANCE CHARGES for you to use IMMORTAL CALL without having to stop to ENDURING CRY. It also helps SHOCKING and FREEZING mobs by itself.ELEMENTAL WEAKNESS for more damage and extra FREEZE and SHOCK action. I used to use ICE NOVA, but BALL LIGHTNING is much safer.



This skills is just sexy as fuck. Deals INSANE amount of AREA DAMAGE. FREEZES the shit out of mobs, and is just 16 SOULS. This means you can use it all the time. Makes ROGUE EXILES and some BOSSES perma-frozen. It's just insane. I use it manly when I'm running close area maps, and I have to open a door. I open a door, cast it in the middle of the room and wait outside. Also, while it's up, LIFE LEECH + VAAL PACT will render you immune to DEATH, unless you get one-shot... but there's always a chance of getting one shot to rares in this build.



Your main source of damage. FREEZES mobs, deals A LOT of damage and increases BALL LIGHTNING and GLACIAL CASCADE damage with the really nice buff. It's a DURATION skill. With the nodes on the skill tree, the duration is huge, you can finish a pack and run all the way to the next one and you're still hitting them with LIGHTNING. Also, bosses are do-able because of the ELEMENTAL PROLIFERATION that renders them FROZEN.



Almost same thing as HERALD OF THUNDER. AoE DAMAGE, buff to your SPELLS. It makes that cool chain reaction. You BALL LIGHTNING a pack, and once a single mob dies, it shatters and blows shit up, killing literally everything, but the rare mob that's left with like 15% HP, or maybe he's even dead too.[/spoiler]

HOW SHOULD YOU PLAY?



SKILL TREE and LEVELING



MAPS



DEFENSE

Up

Up

hm. meh
It's an interesting idea to use HoT as main source of damage but unfortunately its not very effective...

and you get the effect you achieve with many crit lightning builds anyways..like my HoT deals 3k avg dmg and i didnt build for it, procs all the time tho because of crit shocks.

I think a problem about this is that HoT cant shock itself and you solved this issue very smart via HoI.
But still, its not worth the effort IMO

Your Pro section sounds to me like a lie :D deals huge damage? hmm. compared to what?
You say It's not really expensive as a pro, but you say its not really cheap as a con...kinda confusing.
and well. Your Con section is just bigger than the pro section lol.

The most annoying thing is that you cant do some bosses because there are no adds...like atziri.

3k life is a joke, and maligaros restraint is a joke aswell lol. you get 50% increased damage for doing 60% increased damage...not that much if you think about doryanis which gives you 110% increased ele damage.

Why dont you just get tons of cast speed and crit, Spark the whole room all the time to do damage and shock to proc HoT. Oh and CoH is bossy on HoT.
(Whith whispers of Doom/Doedres Damning/Windscream)

maybe HoT+CoH+Conductivity+warlords/assassins+faster casting 5L

Spark+Spell Echo+Inc. crit chance+lighting pen on 4L

"

Powerlenny wrote:

But still, its not worth the effort IMO

The idea is just being different, trying new things, even if it's stupid. The belt is the main thing that breaks the build, but there's nothing to do, it's part of the build theme and I'm not going to take off flavor to make it work better, even if it sounds stupid.

And about the links, I COULD get a 5L on carcass, but probably not the colors because it insists in rolling green a lot.

Also, crit doesn't work because the heralds don't have "crit chance", that's why I got elemental status chance.

CoH goes on ice nova, it's way better, then I can focus on putting support gems that increase damage and effectiveness.

The main thing in my opinion is being able to dual curse something else or triple curse. I think I'll try taking off Asenath's Gentle Touch and use Conductivity or Ele weakness. Maybe take off Increased Duration on Herald of Thunder and use another damage support gem, probably faster casting.

I'm just afraid I won't keep the status effects long enough without the Temp Chains... D:

Thanks so much for your ideas, I think the build is going to be way better now, once I switch some things around!

I updated the build now that I am level 80.

Added some more information.

Up

Build updated and finished!

It's very similar to my Three Dragons Herald of Thunder freeze proliferation build. Some important distinctions:

- I use two Doryani's and no Maligaro belt. This results in overall a LOT less damage taken (seriously, perma-shock. What were they thinking?), and even MORE increased damage, something along the lines of 250% total.

- I use corrupted Asenath's Gentle Touch to dual-curse without taking up any links on my attacks.

- I use Cyclone as a primary attack skill. Other attack skills can be used, but I like the extra defensive value Cyclone has in being un-stunnable and being able to avoid leaping enemies without getting locked into a cast/attack animation. As a consequence I have to spend a lot more passives and gearspace on managing it's insane mana cost, but as a four-link it's not an impossible task (and a quality Reduced Mana would certainly get there with only a slight increase on your single-target skill dependence).

- I use all three heralds to suppliment Cyclone's damage. This allows me to "multi-dip" on my massive amount of increased elemental damage, as I am killing enemies with my Cyclone and all three heralds at the same time, in tandem. The burns from Herald of Fire are particularly useful as extra DPS against bosses and high-health enemies. As a result, I can basically insta-gib packs with only a four-linked primary aoe skill.

- I use Static Strike for single-target DPS, which scales insanely well with dual Doryani's. At the point I'm at, I can consistently freeze Necropolis Merveil (level 75) and occasionally freeze some of the other bigger bosses, and once I get a six-link and make the gear-space for a Rashkaldor's, I'll probably be able to tackle just about any content except that which is specifically freeze-immune.