[1.3.*] Budget Low Life Crit Arc Without Shav/Lorica/Void Battery

The concept is to create a Low Life Crit Arc build foregoing Lorica/Shavs & Void Battery. If you have either shavs or void battery, they fit as best-in-slot chest and weapon choices.


By nature, low life builds are expensive. My build aims for the middle class player base out there (10-14 exalt for the full items/quality gem build). See gear section for individual price breakdown for budget players.

This build also does not require anything more than a 4L (The Vertex helm for main dps).
Physical damage mitigation from Evasion/Rumis block/CWDT setup.
Elemental damage mitigation from resistances 75/78/79/75
Auras: Discipline, Herald of Ice, Herald of Thunder, Purity of Lightning, Purity of Ice and Clarity.



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TREE

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ITEMS & GEMS

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Pricing Breakdown
Gear
The Vertex ~1-2 exalt
Prism Guardian ~2 exalt
Voidbringers ~1-2 exalt
Crit wand ~1 exalt
High ES chest 15 chaos or less
Raindbow strides ~0.5-1 exalt
Doryani's invitation (lightning) ~0.5-1 exalt
rings and ammy total 15 chaos or less

Essential gems
Q20/20 Arc - 2 Exa
level 3 empower (look for a fail corrupt one, they are cheaper)- 2 Exa

Grand Totals: (high) 14 Exalts - 10 Exalts (low)
Perspective: My total item cost is 1/4 the cost of an unlinked shavs (40 ex), and 1/3 the cost of one void battery (30 ex). Easily the cheapest way to play low life :)





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BANDITS

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Kill all (this was my choice)
or kill, kill, power charge
or kill, cast speed, power charge


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DISCUSSION POINTS

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I've maximized the +1 level benefits of all three (Void bringers, The Vertex, Prism Guardian) items such that 3/3 gems gain +1 level from prism guardian, 2/3 gems gain +1 level from voidbringers and easily 4/4 from the vertex.


7k ES, 400 unreserved life, 15k dps w/ 5 power charges & 3 frenzy charges, 75/78/79/75 resistances, 22% chance to block attacks 5% chance to block spells (the shield is meant to be buffed by my rumis mainly) and ~2k eva. Self cast spell echoed enduring cry also allows for frequent physical damage mitigation with immortal call on cwdt. Self cast assassin's mark for power charge generation.

Obviously the main weak point of my build is chaos damage. It's the only thing I've actually died from, notably rogue exiles & bosses that use chaos damage. rare mobs / trash mobs that deal chaos damage are fine however, so I'd say ~85% of the time soloing 75+ maps I feel very safe.

This build requires skill and your full attention to play. You cannot afk your brain and right-click spam to victory. You must constantly be aware of the enemy types you're facing: Do they have chaos damage? Monitor your life constantly. If it ever begins draining due to chaos, you must be ready with a low-life recovery flask. Self-casting enduring cry will allow for physical damage mitigation. Big physical hitters can be scary, but they are manageable. Spell casters are a non-issue, no fears here. Your resistances are so high that everything they do is trivial. You will out-leech their damage (even if they are a reflect pack) entirely.

If you are entering a map with heavy chaos damage and you're worried about dying, you could always toss on a lorica. Since this build does not require a 5L chest, any 1chaos lorica will do. You'll lose lots of es however, expect at least a 2-3k loss.



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CREDIT

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This build was inspired by a recent forum post on low life leveling without a Lorica/Shavs.
Additionally, you can follow his guide to level your new characters before transitioning into my build for late game.
Build idea credit: [Guide] Low-life leveling without Lorica/Shavs and transitions

I'm playing this build daily, so expect frequent updates

 

voidbringers add a huge amount of survivability and damage to my build. The heralds of thunder and ice both benefit from the +1 level they provide, the crit chance and es are huge. The downside to the gloves are mitigated by The Vertex's mana cost reduction and a higher level clarity. With these two, mana potions are not needed to sustain freely casting arc. These gloves are now a corner stone in the build.

 

Updated with more efficient level 80 tree.

What's your DPS/crit chance on Arc?

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bottlehead93 wrote:

What's your DPS/crit chance on Arc?

Current Dps with 5 power charges and 3 frenzy charges is ~14-15k

I've been playing around with Blood Rage for frenzy charge generation. If i could link blood rage to a Q20 blood magic i could leverage the additional cast speeds on low life for even more dps.

further optimization of the tree.

Testing with enduring cry in taunt totem's spot, freeing up wand for Lightning warp setup.