[2.2] I Cast Magic Missile! - Cantrip's guide to Ethereal Knives / Bladefall. 7K Life, 100K+ DPS!

Hi,
I'm loving the build, its fun and very strong!
I could need some advice what I should do from now on, upgrade items? What items should I upgrade?
Is the tree ok?
Are my jewels ok? Which ones should I replace?

Thank you so much for the build and any advice is appreciated.

Gear:

Jewels:

Tree:

Hello!

My latest vid; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-_es4kF4Q4

Anyway the build has been great! This is probably my last EK video for a while since I pretty much dismantled the whole character.

Like the title suggests I got a mjolner and I have been wanting to build around it for a long time .
So now I just have to get a devotion and I’m all set.

I think my peak dps with this build was around 60k. That being said the biggest downside is def. the fact that you go into end-game with ‘only a tabula’. However most of the times this isn’t really a problem. I do think that the best end-game gear, is a +1 coil / defiance (just for endu), but who in his right mind is going to science that shit on league. Not me anyway.

For me the build was pretty solid up until 77/78 maps. I even did Whakawairua Tuahu and Poorjoy’s.

Overall I would say perfect leveling / upgrading build. With very good end-game potential. Even vs the crit ones.

Thx CantripN for the build!

@Teevox - For Jewels, only the ones with Life + damage are truly end-game viable (unless it's something crazy like ~40% damage and Immunity to Silence), so you only really have 2 good ones (one of those I'd Divine later on).

GET A q20 EK! 20/20 EK is like 20c max atm, I think, on Warbands?

Dagger - Craft a higher tier Mana Regen, otherwise decent.
Shield - get one that can add Cast Speed, and has more Spell Damage / Life. ES is useless.
Head - I guess if it saves you points because it adds a level to Enlighten it's ok, but I'd try to get as much mana as I can on gear so you can wear a Rare helmet with Life / Mana / Res.
Belt - A rare is better, but that will work for now. Just less Life, which is a shame.
Woe Eye (ring) - has no Life, and a Crit Base, for a non-crit build?
Granite Flask with Acro does very little, I'd get another Life Flask, or perhaps another Jade with Curse Immune maybe? Jades need to have +20 Charges, ALWAYS.

Looking good, mostly, though :)

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@sklipnoty - Sorry to see you go, but Mjolner all the way. When you get tired of getting kicked from parties, you may be back :D

so... yeah.

Vaals, anyone? :D


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For now, this will do:


66K DPS with 7 Charges, a LOT more Evasion+Dodge.

Hello!

Since the thread has been a bit inactive lately, I thought I ought to leave the shadows and bump it by writing that I have been running this build a while in Tempest (great build, great guide!), and just hit 88. Totally viable without too much currency (only ever saved for my 5L coil, 6L will be rough though..), thanks CantripN!

(And in line with the guide; the rare vaal orb roll immune to silence makes quite a crazy nice passive point to the tree; soo nice when those Hexfont mobs come at you :D)

Working on 6Ling my chest, might take a while... For now, considering Iron Will instead of Added Fire for when I do. DPS will be less, no doubt, but it'll be mostly Physical, and ~98% Spell Damage isn't a low amount.


In my case, it's 8796 damage instead of 20K with Added Fire. Added Fire probably wins, but depends on the map... On lower Regen maps, or +80% Fire Res maps, this wins.

Some news from tempest, and guess what, I'm still alive :p, on my road for level 92, 91 23% atm. I just can't get better stuff since i get my 106% spell dmg dagger.
Last improvement is more an adaptation to run elemental weakness maps and I actualy it myself : can afford to leave the fire resist of my last helm since I have this : .

Still playing with that +1 tabula, it's kind of imposible to improve this I guess.

Lastly I finaly decid to 20% quality all my support gems (except added fire, though the less worth it right?) and yeah that give a realy nice DPS bonus xD... Problem is that with this bonus cast speed without rallying cry and with my 6frenzy I just can't sustain my mana, I'm trying to cast it every time I can, but it's still realy great, actualy greater. Crazy clean speed, and I reach 61k DPS with rallying + 6 frenzy.

tooltip is :
- 35.300 without aura
- 44.160 with aura
- 45.435 with fire golem
- ~58k 6 frenzy
- ~59-61k rallying cry

Atm i'm doing map level 73-76, but prety sure I can run higher, just don't loot them, my map pool of 75+ is rly small.

Hmmm I think I comment you everything. If you want to know more, or something tell me :)
If you have any advice too CantripN :)

Thanks again for this guide!

Hi again!

I thought I'd post my current build and see if I can get any advice (apart from the obvious ). I'm currently running ~76 maps (but my map-pool is drained, so 74-76 ;( ), and I feel that survivability is not a problem (if I play smart.. have had some close calls due to stupidity), but I have difficult increasing my dmg output. I'm using "the even safer route" of this build with a 5L coil instead of a tabula (hence the obvious dmg drop..), and my current stats are as listed below.

Status (copy-pasted from your nice template!)
Level 88 [Tempest]
6210 Life (286-609 Regeneration) + 115 ES
108/1081 Mana (143.1 Regeneration)
25525 DPS without Charges
32760 DPS with 6 Frenzy Charges
(these are all numbers before Rallying Cry / Enduring Cry / other buffs)
Physical dmg reduction: >50-60% if I play smart and not lazy (Coil/Chaos golem/Fortify/3 endurance charges)

Resists = 174/161/170/63 (enough to do Ele Weakness)
2334 Evasion (21%) => 7479 Evasion (41%) [Although when solo I run hatred rather than grace]
Block = 15%
Dodge = 40% vs Attacks / 30% vs Spells
Vaal Grace Dodge = 73% / 63% (2x Vaal Grace)
(I'm Immune to Silence)

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Gear (& gems):


Offhand (just leveling stuff):


Jewels (in use):

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Passive tree:

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Current goals for increasing dmg output:
- My obvious #1 goal is getting a 6L coil, but with my current economy it's quite a far-away one ...
- Grinding for my attack gems to hit lvl 20 (atm, ~30-50% at lvl 19).
- Possibly finding/rolling a +1 charges blood dance.

Moreover, atm my mana pool is self-sustainable, but I'm keeping my eyes out to replace the coral ring I use that lack mana regeneration. Also, if I win the lottery with some imba drop, I'll switch my Enlighten lvl 2 to a lvl 3. (If/when going 6L, I might have to tackle this problem).

I do have the alternative of switching to fire golem for dmg, but I'm trying to use rather-safe-than-sorry tactics, hence the chaos golem. Also, since I'm around 50% phys. reduction, those ~5% extra from the golem will effectively mean 10% for me, so I'm really trying to keep my chaos mate.

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Do you have any insights/tips? Mainly how I increase damage output :/ I see it as difficult finding a better dagger/shield with my current economy, and really wanna put all my currency into the far-out goal of a 6L coil.

Also a question: I know I have few life nodes (5%) that I could pick in the large life circle (atm I have prioritized another jewel instead), but I'm thinking of--given that I survive 3 more levels--using next 3 points to pick another jewel at the 10Dex-10Dex-Jewel extension near the +1 frenzy charge in the top right of my tree (I'll naturally start with 5%-5% life and respec when (and if!) I hit 91). What do you think? Should I prio 15% life or 20dex+7%life(jewel)+extra jewel damage?

Great guide and great build, thanks alot CantripN!

@artradis - Well, I think you should at least try the Tabula +1 before you discount it. More DPS, when it's a LOT more, is in fact a form of defence - the faster they die, the less damage they deal. And LC only helps vs Phys, which is not usually the biggest threat in maps. If you're that scared of Phys damage, add IC to your CwDT Setup, or even as a seperate CwDT (I don't feel like Phys is a real threat usually with a large enough Life pool + range).

There is no Flat Spell Damage on your Dagger, so that can help a bit, and you should certainly get an Amulet with Cast Speed + Spell Damage, and some better Jewels for Life/DPS. The need to balance the resist penalty from LC makes your Jewels FAR worse, as well, as you rely on them for Resist (which is a plain DPS and/or Life loss).

In short, ditch the LC (unless it's a +1 gems one :D).

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I agree a good Jewel might be worth it in that case, yes. But only if it's REALLY good.

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Glad to hear all you Tempest peeps are still kicking!

@CantripN

Thanks for you quick reply! Maybe I should try a Tabula after all, given that I put some much resists into my Jewels atm. I do think physical is scary though (all my close calls so far has been physical), but maybe flask, fortify and endurance buffs will be enough to make me feel safe :) Maybe elemental is the worse scenario on those higher maps (which I havent reached yet)? I'll see if I can grab a tabula +1 until I can get 6L coil at least. Coil +1 will be quite impossible in a league ;D Generally, do you have any feeling about what minimal tooltip DPS one should have to manage 78+maps?

Ah I didn't think about flat damage on the Dagger, I'll keep an eye out for that, thanks! And yeah, the amulet...

Hehe, I love rolling jewels, half of the fun in this game (all so far except for 1 are homebrewed!). So I'll keep rolling and take the life nodes until that perfect jewel comes up :D

Thanks!