Shock Nova
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I like the skill much better than before, because now it's harder to aim, which makes it interesting.
Build of the week #2 : http://tinyurl.com/ce75gf4 Last edited by zriL#4590 on Feb 15, 2012, 7:26:07 AM
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So played a little bit more on my 63 shock nova witch in .96c with as similar as I could make her build to .95.
She pretty much sucks now. Swapping the positions of my shock nova and spark gems increased my killing speed in Chaos by probably 50%. That's it. Using supports and a build designed for shock nova (increased aoe, no crits, etc...) was instantly worse than using spark with the same gear and supports. I can just imagine how much better I would be with supports/gear/talents designed to use Spark instead of Shock Nova. PS - Where is lightning bolt / chain lightning at! Last edited by Zaanus#7185 on Feb 15, 2012, 1:17:47 PM
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@Zaanus - please provide a link to your build and the supports you used when testing shock nova. Also, please describe how you used it in your ability rotation when dealing with a pack of oncoming monsters. What sucks about your witch now? The dead zone near your character when casting Shock Nova?
Spark and Shock Nova are both very effective. However, Spark became much easier to use, and Shock Nova requires stricter positioning to hit monsters. When you adjust to the donut, you should realize the damage is more consistent. | |
" It is slightly insulting to say that a 63 HC light witch doesn't know how to position for nova :p. Spark isn't just easier to use, it's flat out far superior now. It's so superior, it's even better without it's key supports or even a build for it. But to humor your suggestions that I might be a newb :) Chaos Maelstrom, using Temporal Chains, Elemental Weakness, and Zombies (hp/speed) Basically kite mobs around until I can get bodies for Zombies (about 25% of the time it's a boss pack I have to leave zone and reset). If/When I get zombies, get them engaged then chains/weakness, position for nova and spam it until stuff dies or I need more zombies. I frequently have mana issues too between having to raise zombies so often and killing non white mobs. Chains really makes the zombies live longer. If the below link isn't working, basically hex master, lighting dmg and +aoe passives, and then over to the templar starting tree for more of the same. http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAQMAtfy5b-yVfPLqjuqY92Y7SeYSgmXgIiIfzcpmY0MYi7e8gbjmMNo5cFb3EJQOJuRFF-EUDxqdWbSb8CrFvSG7VmbHNds_nl9N7de5eFzZ3xSzHDimYEcEyUlHOJwy6rnsp5h6kVdgxb0hedp6D2ZMTHyGyhmxKGCjZRFytfnheK9T-uiv4vYHPWeYDgHLQR0Rhcp3rYXlV9yn5w2menHH_JktYbfzX-1WPYww9UHuORaNF2JjaA1hmfU5uo8ETGTDlhxlauVj0FTu69Dt5E26Sj6IjOV_qsge4jL7dRi6bYTgS2y2Z-4J6oKqKcS49X_t2ZuoEjbSHOr9mG3TRCAJoG7B1fFyoJ9TwL_LyHL2CH8TuZa7mFSqZL0pmYB89tCakGlTJTAa61k= |
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@Zannus - I apologize, after reading my post again it did sound a bit insulting; however, that was not my intention. I was curious what you were doing differently from me, since shock nova seems to be working great for me. I did get your passive tree link working but it required some edits to the link. I'll offer some critiques of the tree. (just suggestions, don't be offended)
Immediately what jumps out at me is way too many mana passives (more than 0 is too many). Please refer to Strill's thread regarding mana usage here. I think you would be better off taking the Static Blows cluster instead of the 6% lightning damages up near Elemental Equilibrium. Also, I assume you have a nice high quality shock nova so now with Static Blows you are close to 50% chance to shock every time you hit with lightning damage using elemental weakness. Not sure if you are using a focus, but I would highly recommend it now. Tempest shield and the level 31 tribal focus will increase your survivability more than those extra ES passives, while also giving great synergy and shocked debuffs when you block. Definitely keep Spark around, you need something to cover the dead zone (which is pretty large from all those increased AoE radius passives) and to get your army started. In my build I use Elemental Equilibrium, so I alternate Ice Nova with either Shock Nova or Lightning Strike depending on my positioning. The zombies are slowing you down. With Hex Master and Temporal Chains I'd say minions are unnecessary (especially if you are using Tempest Shield). When all the aggro is chasing you instead of being staggered between you and your minions, positioning them in a circular path is much easier and each Shock Nova will hit more monsters per cast. Temporal Chains with Ice Nova would be the route I took instead of minions. Another suggestion would be trying Voll's Protector and Power Charge passives to get more AoE radius, crits (shocked stacks), spell damage, and cast speed. Your tree is bordering almost all the Charge clusters so it would be convenient. I spent an extra point, but here is a suggested tree revision. I think it would greatly improve your Shock Nova experiences. Left the minion nodes in there, but they could be cut. Try using Minion Health instead of Speed on Zombies. Maybe try supporting Shock Nova with Increased Area of Effect, Concentrated Effect, and Mana Leech or Increased Critical Strikes. If you are interested in trying the changes just suicide over to default and I'll provide the regrets. | |
" Suicide to default??? /horror Access to volls is somewhat limited here in HC, what with dying being permanent and all :) Last I checked I was around 35-40th on the HC ladder minus whoevers died lately. For the mana passives, I didn't really *want* to take them, but feel like very little choice in the matter. I'm still running oom frequently. TC and elemental are nice, but they aren't enough against archer packs in Chaos. I simply must have zombies against ranged mobs and hex immunes. I did get and use tempest shield, and it helps a lot. For skill gems, unfortunately my shock nova is 0% quality. I haven't found concentrate AoE but I'd definately use it. Increased crits support raises mana cost by 9 but only increases dps of nova from 2079 to 2090 lol... cause of 3% base crit chance most of the crit gem is wasted getting you to the 5% floor anyways. My focus Unavailable Oh yeah, my zombies have both HP and Speed. Thanks for the well thought out advice, I'm not sure I can make it to any more significant passives with mobs capped at 60, but I don't feel that my build is fubar and deserving of a sucky toon or anything. Some items in this post are currently unavailable.
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Almost all ppl using lightning did migrate to cold (me included).
I didn't find a single exile leading a chaos run with shock nova or spark I switched to icespear , costed me alot of regret just 20min after making my ex lightning build. Shock Nova is victim of its early game efficiency, it got way too much nerfed imo after lv 65 (and even before) ppl should be able to lead chaos partys, because playing alone doesnt grant enough xp anymore, and with shock nova its just NOT possible to handle group of mobs Current exiles under command :
Snoop Lv 73 cold witch Normal Razagaal Lv 63 Fire summoner witch legacy Daggoth Lv 50 AoF summoner Templar legacy |
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Yea, not sure what else to say. I don't feel like shock nova is viable to the average player. I won't go into a ton of detail because I don't need a lecture on my passive layout or my terrible gear and 0% quality gems, but I'll say this much at least... I can make it through chaos in relative safety with spark, and I can't do that with shock nova. Blame it on my lack of skill/gear/passives/whatever, but that's the fact, and it doesn't look like I'm the only one.
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" ran some dps calculations on spark recently, it looks like Elemental damage and spell damage are stacking multiplicatively instead of additively, this may be causing incorrect DPS numbers for a large amount of skills in the game. not sure if GGG is aware of this at the moment. -Meteoric Destiny!
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"quoting response from other thread: "Additive increases are stacking additively, and multiplicative ones are stacking multiplicatively. |
