[1.3] Jay's Spectral Throw CoC Shadow - Acro/Ondar's/Evasion/Vaal Pact
|
Hey guys, first I just wanted to say that this is not anything new or ground breaking, but I've had quite a few people ask how I am still playing CoC after nerfs and if I could make a guide. I've been playing CoC chars a long time and between 1.2 and 1.3 I don't notice much of a difference. This build can also be made as a scion or ranger but with slightly less effectiveness at the end game level. I only play HC leagues so don't ask me if this is hardcore viable. If it weren't I wouldn't play it.
Levelling
To level I would recommend using whatever spell you enjoy. Ek, Freezing pulse with LMP, Flameblast, Fire trap prolif, all are great options. Just do whatever keeps you entertained up until level 60 or so. I personally use Freezing Pulse to level because it actually benefits from nearly all of the nodes you will take while you level up. Just grab the dagger crit notes later on when you are going to start using CoC.
I have levelled from 31 and on using just CoC before. Its doable but it feels weird until you can rely on your crits to start dealing damage. Using a tabula's and dual Ungil's Gauche will give you nearly 25-35% crit at lvl 31. Just use a quality Additional Accuracy or Increased Critical Strikes with Ungil's Harmony amulet. A few levelling trees would look like these: Grab what you need first. If you have incredible gear with life/res then get the dagger crit nodes first and start using CoC. If you used a tabula until lvl 70 like I did finish the scion life wheel and then start looking for the last minute crit nodes. With just the level 80 tree you should have 60%+ crit chance without curse or power charges.
Bandits
Oak Skill Point (or Kraityn for Attack Speed - I usually take the skill point) Skill Point or Alira for power charge. (I took the Power Charge)
Gear
Chest
If you're lazy and have the currency buy a 5-6 link Voll's Protector and colour it GGGBBB for easy power charges. Tabula is great for levelling but should be replaced after lvl 70-80 for survivability. With tabula I used PCOC for the majority of the time - less lag and you don't need to worry about cursing to maintain charges. Ideal end game chest would be ES/EV (easier to colour) or pure EV 5 link or 6 link. Having a 6 link is not mandatory but will obviously add a lot to your damage. Weapon Any dagger with 1.75+ Attacks/sec with at least 8% crit chance. An amazing end game dagger will have 2.0 APS with high crit and spell damage rolls. Even better if it has an open affix for Catarina to craft cold/fire leech. Don't take Vaal Pact on the tree if you don't have these leech crafts. A perfect dagger will have attack speed, spell damage and crit. And will leave you room to master craft Elreon's multimod and both Catarina's fire/cold leech. Jewellery I prefer to craft using Elreon's diamond rings as bases. This isn't required but is very nice. Any ring with life and resists will do just fine. Diamond ring base is ideal for extra crit chance. If you can craft 2 Elreon's rings with -7/-8 roll's then your spectral throw will cost zero mana. And this is a beautiful thing. For an amulet just find something with life and resists. Global crit chance is awesome here as well. And for a belt, just look for life and lots of resists. If you know a lot about the affixes in the game don't be afraid to use the poe.trade search parameters. I often find the best deals just by looking for a life and dual res belt (example) that has an open affix for me to craft the third resist. Don't always think that you need to buy a GG life + tri res belt. Shield For levelling I used a kite shield with high resists and life. I switched to a Saffell's at around level 70 when I dropped tabula and had enough resists. Saffell's adds spell damage but also gives you 79% max resists. This helps quite a bit with reflect. Taking acrobatics/phase acrobatics now makes the spell block lower (only 10-15%) but mitigation is mitigation. Feel free to use whatever you like, but when you are tired and aren't prepared for a reflect pack of crustaceans Saffell's can save you from ripping. Helm Level with a Goldrim's if you can, but be aware that Goldrim's can be difficult to find a replacement for when you are higher level. If you gear around its 40% resist then you might have a hard time finding a helm later with life AND 40%+ resists. I try to use an armor/ev based helm so that I can fit my CWDT setup here. Gloves Any evasion based gloves with life + resists will do, but attack speed here will help a lot. I use Maligaro's Virtuosity for the attack speed and crit chance. I have decent life on other gear and am more than resist capped. Boots Just life and resists needed here. Evasion base is ideal.
Gems
Weapon
Whirling Blades + Faster Attacks + PCOC or whatever you want (Movement) Chest In order of importance: Spectral Throw (lvl 10 max for mana cost) + Cast on Crit + LMP/GMP + Spell + Spell + PCOC/Spell/Increased Critical Strikes For spells I recommend Fireball, Arctic Breath, Ice Spear, Arc, EK, or Ball Lightning. (In that order.) I generally use Fireball, AB and Ice Spear. Arc if nobody in my party shocks. Quality is ideal on Spectral Throw, COC, Arc, GMP/LMP, EK. Helm Your typical CWDT setup. CWDT + Enduring Cry + Immortal Call + Increased Duration With high evasion and acro/ondars you wont get hit often. But when you do it will probably hurt. This just helps prevent multiple big hits at once. Level increased duration to the max. The rest just level them as you feel necessary. (Based on hp, etc.) Gloves I use my gloves for my aura setup. For auras I run Grace + Herald of Ice + Herald of Thunder + Reduced Mana. I used a lvl 3 Clarity instead of HoT and tried to keep a piece of jewellery with % mana regen until I crafted my second Elreon's ring. Drop Clarity at this point for Herald of Thunder for more extra spell damage. I swap Haste in for Grace when I'm in a party with someone else that has Grace running. Boots I have my curses and Smoke Mine here. I use Smoke Mine for strongboxes so that I don't rip to box lag if I'm playing solo. If you prefer to lazy cast your spells use a second Spectral Throw with Curse on Hit + LMP/GMP + Curse I only usually curse bosses with Assassin's Mark (packs die too fast to care about cursing) or Ele Weakness on mobs with high resists. Projectile Weakness is also a good curse for this build - more damage and the knockback is innately defensive. Shield I use Lightning Warp + Faster Casting + Reduced Duration here because I'm lazy and cliffs/ledges/walls/hills/doors suck and lightning warp op.
My Current Gear
I started this league as a different cookie cutter build to get some currency going. And have ripped many characters in Bloodlines so far (its been a rough month lol.) Due to high demand from friends etc, I decided to reroll a CoC char this league. My gear is not perfect, my gems are low level, and my character is low level. But I still haven't been in a party where I don't carry the group or crash/lag their computers. (Best part is even if their pcs crash they still rejoin my party and deal with it cause the exp is awesome.) In the near future I'll be upgrading my life flasks. My goal is to get/craft a Surgeon's Eternal Flask of Staunching and a Seething Divine Flask of Heat. Seething flasks are great for that "oh !%@#" moment and having a Surgeon's Eternal is basically free hp. Rolling Surgeon's on your granite/ruby/sapphire flask will grant nearly 100% uptime. Feel free to drop the ruby flask for a second granite if you use Arctic Breath + Ice Spear for your CoC spells. Ice spear is just as good as fireball with slightly less ranged aoe clear speed. But ice spear can do a lot of damage if you have a high hp rare mob and several mobs behind it. If you target far away the ice spear spread will be small enough for 3-4 of them to pierce the rare mob. Its gimmicky but you can get good at this. Feel free to use a spinoff of this build as a wander or windripper or whatever you would prefer. Daggers are just my preference because they are generally less expensive to get decent to good rolls and they are more consistent for CoC output and less "bursty" than a barrage wander/bow user. Also with saffell's you are much more safe to reflect than a bow CoC. Barrage will be better vs a single mob and GMP/LMP Spectral throw will shine vs a pack of mobs. After a few more levels should easily be capable of doing Atziri if you know the fights. Would suggest dropping heralds for purity of lightning/fire and using a Surgeon's topaz on Atziri fight. Your resists will be 92-93% with a flask up so the damage should not be too heavy. With 13%~ spell block and 30% spell dodge you should be fine. With grace your evasion should be 95% against projectiles so bleed spears aren't much of an issue either. TL;DR ranged CoC is not dead. I haven't seen many people playing it in Bloodlines yet (Torment may be different) but the playstyle is still by far my favourite in the current meta. Been playing CoC chars since the gem came out and probably will unless it gets nerfed to silliness. Any questions feel free to leave a comment here or PM in game @Jaypoc. Last edited by Jaypoc#3937 on Jan 17, 2015, 9:59:50 AM
|
|
|
01/15/15 - Edited with gear upgrades and crafted new flasks.
01/16/15 - Edited the Finished Passive Tree, shuffled some points around for efficiency. Last edited by Jaypoc#3937 on Jan 16, 2015, 10:27:37 AM
|
|
|
Very nice, I've just started Bl today and wondered if I could play a COC build here since I love the dmg burst and the fireworks :D Could you please make some videos, piety, domin, map standard stuffs, even Atziri if possible? I wanna know whether this build requires skill and attention since it's pretty glass cannon on Torment in my exp :D
Finally, is this build difficult to gear up as a starting build? Last edited by wiwigvn#7566 on Jan 15, 2015, 9:34:30 PM
|
|
" Hey thanks for the feedback. Im currently working on levelling and will get into Atziri and some higher end maps when I get there. Ill consider doing some videos once I am there and doing everything comfortably. In my experience you can definitely start a league as a CoC build but I would recommend to level as freezing pulse or another self cast spell until you have either a 5link or a tabula rasa. After that it gets easy. Just start levelling all your CoC gems as soon as you can and play through the game normally. You should be able to easily transition into CoC by merc ledge or so. It is a bit squishy but with Ranged/Evasion/Acro/Ondars/Vaal Pact you dont get hit very often and with a doryani's belt or leech craft you refill your life pretty quick. I rarely even need to use life pots. I have even been able to run reflect maps. Just drop one spell for PCOC, and use only LMP for less overkill for dense packs. There arent very many mobs in the game that hit for over 4000 dmg in a single blow anyways. And with a surgeons life flask you can pretty much just keep spamming it if you are worried. In terms of pricing, cast on crit gear seems to be insanely cheap at the moment. Ungil's Harmony is 1 alch or 1 chaos, and its an insane lvling amulet for CoC. Daggers with just 2 aps and 8%~ crit chance are only a couple of chaos. An exalt or two on the high end. 5link evasion/hybrid chest is maybe 5-10 chaos. The rest you could self find and get away with. Just look for crit chance -> life -> resists -> evasion -> accuracy. Once you get to maps you should have enough currency just to buy the few odd upgrades you need to stay safe. Last edited by Jaypoc#3937 on Jan 15, 2015, 11:01:48 PM
|
|
|
Hey there Jay! Nice guide, currently following but i'm wondering how do you stay alive against reflect packs? Seeing that you did not link a leech gem into your 6-L setup! :)?
|
|
|
-
Last edited by FloatingEmpire#1392 on Jan 16, 2015, 9:43:47 AM
|
|
" Hey thanks for the comment! I deal with reflect by using Phase Acrobatics, Saffell's for 79% resists/13%~ spell block and I carry a Surgeons Ruby/Sapphire (89% resist with flasks up) most of the time. Though I almost never actually need to use the flasks - its nice to have for a really dense pack of reflect zombies that are underground or crustaceans etc. I have a dagger now thats crafted with 1% fire/cold leech which completely negates most reflect mobs. Even in a reflect map I only need to use flasks with a huge pack or a double reflect mob. Sometimes I spam them just to be safe but with surgeons they are almost always full anyway. Also its worth mentioning that if you struggle with reflect you can drop heralds for Purity of Ice/Purity of Fire and only use fire/cold spells. I have a PoI/PoF/PoL levelling on swap all the time. Will need PoF and PoL for Atziri later anyway. Last edited by Jaypoc#3937 on Jan 16, 2015, 10:21:07 AM
|
|
|
Hey maybe you haven't noticed but why take the 3 AS nodes near the starting shadow area when u can take berserking Vaal Paact ?
Aside from that, look like a solid build |
|
|
Hey Jay, thanks for the quick response!
I'm currently leveling with Tabulas and double Ungil's when did you do the swap to shield and 1 dagger? |
|
" Hey I appreciate the feedback. I plan to drop these nodes for berserking soon as I get some regrets. I took the attack speed nodes at shadow start early on and havent respecced them yet. Appreciate the advice and I'll update the tree. " I used ungil's and tabulas until I bought this for I think about 2c. Around that time I also picked up a Saffell's. So if you find a good dagger thats about 1.8+ aps and 7.8+ % crit chance. Then find a decent shield and level with that. In beyond I dropped ungils for a dagger and shield at about level 40. I used Perandus shield because the block is so strong, plus life and resists. Would've done the same here if I could have found a dagger with lower level requirements. Last edited by Jaypoc#3937 on Jan 16, 2015, 3:37:50 PM
|
|
